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METABOLIC SKIES

Patricia Olynyk is an artist, writer, and educator whose work explores science and technology-related themes and the ways in which social systems and institutional structures shape our understanding of the world. In 2007, she was appointed inaugural director of the unified Graduate School of Art and Florence and Frank Bush Professor of Art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University. She is Producer of the Creative Disturbance Podcast Series, Emergent Habitability, a program that explores the dynamic entanglement of humans, technologies, and cultural systems.

Olynyk also co-chairs the Leonardo NY LASER Talks program in New York with Ellen K. Levy. Her work has been featured in exhibitions and museums internationally, including the Los Angeles Biennial, The Brooklyn Museum, Venice Design 2018 at Palazzo Michiel dalle Colonne, the Saitama Modern Art Museum, Ars Electronica, Linz, Vienna Art Week, and the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. Her writing is included in Public Journal

CURATING IMMERSIVE WORLDS: AI VISIONS, SPATIAL NARRATIVE, AND SPECULATIVE MEDIA ARCHITECTURES

A rethinking of the New Media Architectures (NMA) conceptual framework emerges as media arts research and technology continue to evolve through a series of curatorial investigations situated at the intersection of art, design, education, and immersive virtual environments (IVE) research. This presentation explores a journey through the language of experimental media design practices and speculative spatial systems that examine the future of artistic production, technological and sensory culture, and interdisciplinary research.

The presentation frames an Art, Architecture, and Media Arts & Sciences research practice grounded in immersive design-engineered environments, computational worldmaking practices, and augmented media curatorial experiments. A range of creative research collaborations will be discussed, from investigations developed through the AlloSphere Research Facility to exhibition and community engagement initiatives presented through ACM SIGGRAPH conferences. The presentation will also reflect on a continuing series of online dialogues initiated at the beginning of the pandemic that explored AI, architecture, emerging

VISUALIZING DURATION: A QUANTUM PERSPECTIVE

This presentation offers an artist’s perspective on the fascinating interplay between science and fine art, particularly exploring the roles of duration, observer, chance, and uncertainty. Throughout the 20th century, radical experimental artists have challenged the fundamental questions brought to the surface by quantum mechanics, highlighting the invisible forces at play. Here, the observer is integral to quantum physics, becoming part of what is observed, shaping the visualisations of the elusive quantum phenomena.

Drawing examples of two artists, Thomas Wilfred, and Takis from the David Bermant Foundation, and artwork from Dr. Paul Thomas’ own practice, he will discuss the concepts of duration from a quantum perspective in connection to related visualising phenomena. The artworks create visual sensations and expressions of the immense complexity of visualising the invisible, ineffable, and intangible.

Dr. Paul Thomas, Honorary Professor at UNSW Art and Design and founder of the Studio for Transdisciplinary Art Research as well as the founder and series-chair of