Borders: Us and Them

From March 7th to May 30th, 2017, New York University Shanghai Art Gallery is proud to present “Borders: Us and Them,” an exhibition that probes the emergence and transformation of contemporary global borders, and their socio-political implications.

In Border Memorial: Frontera de los Muertos (2016), American public artist John Craig Freeman boldly applies virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies to a documentary video shot in Southern Arizona, early 2016. This results in a visual effect of life-sized, three dimensional geometric models of a skeleton effigy, or calaca, floating off into the sky on the US-Mexico border. Calcaca, an archaic Aztec imagery, is here invoked by the artist in commemoration to the thousands of migrant workers who have died along the U.S./Mexico border since the 1990s, in the attempt to cross the desert southwest in search of work and a better life. Freeman resurrects their souls, allowing them to float freely above this border in the virtual, public site. A memorial to those passed, his work also amounts to a vehement critique of American values on the other side of the border, built upon an economy sustained by these very migrant workers.

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Moving Image New York

Moving Image New York
February 27 – March 2, 2017

Hours
Opening reception: Monday, February 27, 2017: 6-8pm
Monday, February 27 – Wednesday March 1, 2017: 11am – 8pm
Thursday, March 2, 2017: 11am – 4pm

Waterfront New York Tunnel
269 11th Avenue, New York, NY 10001
Between 27th and 28th Streets

Virtual Saint Petersburg, John Craig Freeman, geo-located augmented public art produced on location in Saint Petersburg, Russia and relocated virtually in New York City for Moving Image New York, 2017. Video by Xueyi Yang, 2017.

Instructions: To view the work on location at Moving Image, Waterfront New York Tunnel, 269 11th Avenue, Between 27th and 28th Streets in New York City, with any late model iPhone, iPad or Android, Install the free Layar Augmented Reality Browser, http://layar.com and scan this code.

Augmented Reality: Innovative Perspectives across Art, Industry, and Academia

Sean Morey and John Tinnell, Augmented Reality: Innovative Perspectives across Art, Industry, and Academia, Parlor Press, Anderson, South Carolina, 2017, pp. 284–291.

A History of Visual Arts in Boulder

Celebration! A History of Visual Arts in Boulder revisits Boulder’s lively arts past, beginning in the late 19th century and continuing into the present – a long stretch designed for depth and context. As Boulder moves into the future, it seems vital to look back at, explore, and celebrate the city’s vibrant past to create a living archive and thereafter a lasting legacy for future generations.

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Operation Greenrun II, John Craig Freeman, eleven 10′ X 40′ mosaic laser prints on billboards, Highway 93, Rocky Flats, CO, 1991.

Exhibitions take place in 18 galleries city-wide and in Longmont (where many former Boulder artists now reside), from September 29, 2016 to January 15, 2017.

Extensions of Photography

A Visual Arts Faculty, Emeritus Faculty, and Alumni Exhibition

October 7 – December 9, 2016
Reception, Friday October 7, 5:30 – 8:00 pm

Extensions of Photography will highlight artistic practices by former and current UC San Diego-affiliated artists and alumni who redefined the photographic medium and contributed significantly to the cultural life of San Diego and the United States. The exhibition spotlights how these artists have employed photography in complex and layered ways to introduce themes of everyday life and reveal the pressing histories of gender, class, racism, and political resistance, while also experimenting with the medium.

Participating Artists: Amy Adler, Eleanor Antin, Kaucyila Brooke, Becky Cohen, Brian Cross, Moyra Davey, John Craig Freeman, Kip Fulbeck, Anya Gallaccio, Katie Grinnan, Nina Katchadourian, Fred Lonidier, Jean Lowe, Kim MacConnel, Babette Mangolte, Rubén Ortiz-Torres, Patricia Patterson, Martha Rosler, Elizabeth Sisco, Deborah Small, Phel Steinmetz, Blaise Tobia, and Ruth Wallen.

Арт Проспект Art Prospect Festival

Portal to an Alternative Reality, St. Petersburg
Музей Анны Ахматовой сад, Anna Akhmatova Museum Garden
Saint Petersburg, Russia
September 22–25, 2016

Portal to an Alternative Reality, John Craig Freeman, immersive augmented reality public art, Anna Akhmatova Museum Gardens, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2016.

Art Prospect Festival is St.-Petersburg’s largest annual festival of public art. Founded by the non-profit organization CEC ArtsLink in 2012, Art Prospect sets out to transform familiar urban landscapes, filling the city’s streets, courtyards, parks, and other public spaces with temporary, site-specific art. ART PROSPECT furthers the development of new forms of creative interaction, giving artists from Russia and abroad the opportunity to engage with local context, defining and reformulating its aesthetic, historical and cultural, and social components. Since the Festival’s inception in 2012 more than 150 artists from 20 countries all over the world have taken part in the festival and attracted more than 15 000 visitors.

Produced by public artist John Craig Freeman, Portal to an Alternative Reality, St. Petersburg acts as an access point where the public can immerse themselves in virtual and augmented reality experiences.

Image Feed:
September 22, 2016

September 23, 2016

September 24, 2016

 

 

ARt: Augmented Reality

Although the world is abuzz with the first successful and widely popular game using Augmented Reality (AR), Pokémon GO, artists have been creating AR art for years. Joseph Farbrook, John Craig Freeman, Will Pappenheimer and Zachary Brady are all pioneers and early adopters of AR technology. The Boston Cyberarts Gallery is proud to present these artists in ARt: Augmented Reality for our first exhibition of the season.

Green Street & AR, John Craig Freeman, immersive augmented reality, Cyberarts Gallery, Boston, 2016.

Drawing Constellations by Will Pappenheimer, in collaboration with Zachary Brady, is an interactive drawing, installation, and app that uploads drawings to a constantly moving and evolving 3-dimensional “constellation” situated within and outside of the gallery. Upon creating a drawing on a tablet, the user’s drawing is then transferred into 3D augmented reality space, superimposed and sited at the gallery by GPS location.
Defending Virtual by Joseph Farbrook is an AR artwork in which a one hundred-dollar bill rests on a traditional pedestal, inciting temptation. When viewed through a tablet screen, the bill is defended by a hand holding a gun, waving and aiming throughout the room, making threatening gestures at anyone who gets too close. As money is arbitrarily produced by governments, traded wildly on the stock exchange, and commoditized into debt, what exactly does it currently represent? Both its value and defense of its value have become entirely virtual, yet the consequences of this are often devastatingly real.
Green Street & AR, by John Craig Freeman, is a site-specific AR art piece for smart phones and mobile devices. There are particular locations around the world where network activity has become so intense that the virtual world has begun to penetrate into the real. Objects appear to replicate and float off into the sky. Entire buildings lose their mooring and drift away at the intersection of Green Street & AR.