'Digital Awareness for Sustainable Futures' Exhibition
Leonardo presents Digital Awareness for Sustainable Futures
organized for
ESPRONCEDA - Institute of Art & Culture
DIGITAL AWARENESS: FROM EDUCATION TO SOCIAL IMPACT AND HUMAN IDENTITY
Exhibition, June 10-June 18, 2022. Barcelona, Spain
Photo Credit: Patricia Olynyk, Eureka!
Tempe, Arizona; Barcelona, Spain, June 2022 – Leonardo ISAST (International Society for Art, Science and Technology) presents “Digital Awareness for Sustainable Futures” as part of Espronceda’s Digital Awareness Exhibition in Barcelona to explore the Possibles of global futures that ReImagine Everything for a more vibrant, just and regenerative world. Selected from collaborations across the Leosphere in partnership with Wisdom VR, ASU’s Seize the Moment, Meteor Studio and Interplanetary Initiative, viewers experience immersive VR, AR and video art tackling challenges of climate change, war and sustainability.
Digital Awareness, a major exhibition and workshop series in collaboration with national and international artists/entities, is curated by Alejandro Martín at Espronceda.“Today’s society moves between the physical and the digital, both territories are part of the same reality, so it is necessary to become aware of that flow through education, the social awareness of all our actions with respect to humans and our terrestrial ecosystem. The exploration of new worlds, metaverses, digital, is a great challenge to the conscious use of advanced technologies and at the same time, it is important to maintain cultural heritage, material and immaterial, linked to artistic creation and communities.” Espronceda’s Digital Awareness is an extended program of ISEA2022 Barcelona and the New European Bauhaus Festival (side events).Leonardo CEO, Diana Ayton-Shenker, will give a presentation at ISEA2022 on Leonardo’s vision to ReImagine Everything, including “Digital Awareness for Sustainable Futures” (13th June, 5-7pm, at CCCB). Digital Awareness is also at Espronceda Virtually
PROGRAM INFO
Specific Activities and related Events:
● 10th June: PRESS PREVIEW (5-7 pm CEST)
● 10th June: EXHIBITION OPENING & GUIDED TOUR with artists and partners (7-9 pm CEST)
● 13th June: LEONARDO OPEN HOUSE with LEOSPHERE Artists (4-6 pm CEST)
● 13th June: GUIDED TOUR for ISEA2022, Barcelona experts and visitors (7-9 pm CEST)
● 13th June: ISEA2022 TALK: Diana Ayton-Shenker “ReImagine Everything” (5-7 pm CEST) CCCB(link is external)
DIGITAL AWARENESS FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURES PRESENTS:
Anthropocene (by Rachel Bowditch, Steven Beschloss and Karen Jean Martinson) a video installation, and Turn it Around (by Adriene Jenik, Andrew Freiband, Ann Nielsen and Iveta Silova) a net-native, interactive piece, both represent works-in-progress from Seize the Moment, a joint initiative of Leonardo, the ASU Humanities Lab, and Global Futures Lab.
Interplanetary Sustainable Futures explores a VR environment linking space art to earth sustainability with digital images that illuminate or inform each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This VR experience culminates a research collaboration with ASU's Interplanetary Initiative and Leonardo, reviewing scholarly literature on space science and the SDGs. The VR art environment is designed and created in collaboration with Interplanetary Initiative, Meteor Studio and Sara Kane.
Project credits: William T. Ayton, Bettina Forget, Beyond Earth artist collective (Elena Soterakis, Yoko Shimizu, Richelle Gribble), Annette S. Lee, Ellen K. Levy, Ranger Liu, Adam Hogan, Patricia Olynyk, Ryan Powell, Sarah Rosalena, Meredith Tromble, Victoria Vesna, Ian Winters
New World City, an augmented reality art sculpture of digital urban futures, was the first AR art published by MIT Press and Leonardo (Volume 54, no. 3, June 2021). Conceived and created by William T. Ayton and Diana Ayton-Shenker, it was originally designed for the 2112 Foundation’s juried exhibition “City Without Senses” (December 2020, San Francisco), through which it received the 2020 Visionary Award.
The War Room a VR experience and projected video wall art inspired by the anti-war, large-scale, painted installation, The War Room: You Can’t Look Away (2004) created by William T. Ayton and Diana Ayton-Shenker in collaboration with Meteor Studio, Aaron Toyne and Lizzie Ayton.
WisdomVR (by Gary Yost, Adam Loften, and Wisdom VR project team) provides an immersive VR experience of shared wisdom, through an award-winning series of 360-degree film portraits.
PRESS CONTACTS
In the U.S. Jenny Strickland, Program Coordinator I Leonardo-ASU | e: jastrick@asu.edu(link sends e-mail) I t: 602.402.2604 I School for the Future of Innovation in Society | Global Futures Laboratory
In EU Christiana Kazakou, Program Engagement Specialist I LEONARDO/ISAST I e: lasertalks@leonardo.info(link sends e-mail) I t: +44(0)7766701295
ABOUT PARTNERS
About LEONARDO/ISAST (International Society for Arts, Sciences and Technology)
Leonardo fosters transformation at the nexus of art, science and technology, because complex problems require creative solutions. We serve to empower an inclusive global network, a borderless community where all belong in pursuit of a more vibrant, just and regenerative world. A fearless pioneer since 1968, Leonardo serves as THE community forging a transdisciplinary network to convene, research, collaborate and disseminate best practices at the nexus of arts, science and technology worldwide. Since 2019, Leonardo-ASU has turned scholarly insight into creative practice for global impact. Together, we are advancing ASU to become the #1 leader inart-science creativity for transformation.
Institute of Art & Culture, powered by Lemongrass Communications S.L., was founded in 2013 to create an innovative platform for artistic and cultural research that could produce social impact and social change in society. Its mission is to provide a multidisciplinary environment for promoting international dialogue between artists, curators, critics, gallerists, collectors, culture managers, scientists, diplomats, academics across Europe and worldwide, allowing them to collaborate for the best cultural and social solutions. About New European Bauhaus Festival The Festival brings together people from all walks of life to debate and shape our future. A future that is sustainable, inclusive and beautiful. It is a great opportunity to network, exchange and celebrate – from science to art, from design to politics, from architecture to technology. The Festival brings the European Green Deal at the heart of our daily lives.
ISEA, International Symposium on Electronic Art, is one of the most important annual events worldwide dedicated to the crossroads where art, design, science, technology and society meet.
Amidst climate change, racial injustice, and COVID-19, Seize the Moment calls on the power of the arts and humanities to understand and address intersecting crises in the global community. Transformational, collaborative, and radically transdisciplinary, we are taking action to create a future in which we can exist. Seize the Moment is an initiative of the Humanities Lab, ASU Leonardo, and the Global Futures Laboratory.
About Interplanetary Initiative
ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative is creating the future of humans in space, and thus building a bolder and better society here on Earth. They are pioneering a new model for integrated research and learning to investigate, design, and communicate positive human space futures. Their research teams are deeply interdisciplinary and focused on producing rapid progress on the toughest challenges for human space exploration. Their education endeavors foster agency and empower learners with leadership and collaborative skills to solve problems and create knowledge through teamwork. They connect the private sector, universities, and government to build bolder futures in space and better societies on Earth.
WisdomVR creates immersive experiences of shared wisdom. The WisdomVR Project is creating a living library of immersive cinematic experiences and an open source, global educational platform. As they scale we will be developing a free curriculum so anyone, anywhere can create WisdomVR experiences in their own communities and share them with the world.
Meteor Studio is first and foremost an educational environment, geared for training graduate and undergraduate students to become high-potential researchers and engineers, primarily through applied research and design projects. Its mission is to grow students to become innovative leaders, equipped with forward-looking aptitude and scholarship; imagination and whimsy; professionalism and integrity; and resourcefulness and mindfulness.
William T. Ayton explores XR frontiers experimenting with large-scale AR public art and VR environments integrating 2D painting & drawing on human rights, sustainability & global challenges. Originally from northern England, he studied fine art at Edinburgh College of Art, then traveled & lived in Spain, France and the USA. His work has been shown at the U.N. in New York and in Geneva, and in galleries, museums, and public spaces in Europe, North America, and Israel. He is Artist in Residence at Meteor Studio, the Herberger Institute of Design & Art, Arizona State University, where he teaches 3D Digital Art.