This is an update on what I've been up to.
As a writer for the Peabody Award-winning Art21 blog I've been covering the Afrofuturist influence on contemporary art, including artists Sanford Biggers, Cauleen Smith and Kara Walker. Here are a few links:
Cauleen Smith: A Star is a Seed, A Seed is a Star
Sanford Biggers’ Conundrum: The Mothership Lands at Mass MoCA
Sanford Biggers: Contemporary Mandala and the Hip-Hop Ethos
Sanford Biggers’ Codex Navigates the Past, Present and Future
Recently President Obama signed an Executive Order establishing a White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. Acknowledging the significant racial disparity present in our educational system, the president's order is a significant game changer for millions of black students, their families and communities suffering from the impact of inadequate opportunities. The same is true for other underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. My contribution as an artist, educator and researcher is to merge art, culture and STEM-related topics to engage youth from underrepresented minority groups, including from Indigenous cultures.
My summer artist residency for ISEA2012 Machine Wilderness merged art with science, technology and math:
Augmented Reality in Open Spaces (AROS) explores culture and creative technologies in the open spaces of Albuquerque by working with local youth to create a mural that links to content on the web via Argon, an Augmented Reality browser developed at Georgia Tech. Participants use Culturally Situated Design Tools (CSDTs) developed at RPI to learn standards-based math and computing as they simulate designs that are combined to produce an outdoor mural. The experience of interacting with the mural through touchscreen, camera-enabled mobile devices blends virtual and physical spaces and results in a greater appreciation for STEM learning, culture and art.
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nettiebeatrice/sets/72157631086639226
Ethnomathematician Dr. Ron Eglash is one of my PhD advisors and is known for his research on African Fractals and he has featured AROS on his RPI website: http://csdt.rpi.edu/subcult/grafitti/curriculum.html
Other links to check out (not written by me) that explore art, Afrofuturism and STEM-related topics:
The Visual as a Quickening Sound Vibration: An Interview with Musician Oluyemi Thomas, Part I
The Visual as a Quickening Sound Vibration: An Interview with Musician Oluyemi Thomas, Part II
The Visual as a Quickening Sound Vibration: An Interview with Musician Oluyemi Thomas, Part III
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