If you are anywhere in the vicinity of San Jose, CA in September please come participate in a solar toy hacking workshop called DIY Solar Sculptures.  There is still space available.  Sign up online here.  Below is a little more about the overall event…hoping for mostly sunny days.

Tiffany Holmes will be showing solarCircus in Out of the Garage Into the World, a large exhibition that is part of the 2010 01SJ Biennial curated by Steve Dietz and Jaime Austin (http://01sj.org/).

Holmes’ solarCircus (2009-2010) is an interdisciplinary platform for eco-dialogue about the future of renewable energy in urban spaces. Inside South Hall, visitors can browse a resource library, hack a solar toy, and experiment with solar cell construction. Outdoors, a miniature city of the future displays the creative potentials of solar power. This imaginary world is constructed from recycled materials, various electronics, and solar panels.

From September 4-25, 2010, solarCircus will be exhibited at the 01SJ Biennial in South Hall.  solarCircus (2009-2010) is an interdisciplinary platform for eco-dialogue about the future of renewable energy in urban spaces. Inside South Hall, visitors can browse a resource library, hack a solar toy, and experiment with solar cell construction. Outdoors, a miniature city of the future displays the creative potentials of solar power.

I will be conducting workshops and drop-in demonstrations from September 16-19 and Beth Ferguson from Sol Design Lab will be facilitating workshops from September 5-14.  Sign up for all 01SJ workshops here.

On September 18th the project will take to the streets and be part of the Green Prix parade.   The Green Prix is an all day festival that surrounds sustainable, ecological friendly, and fun modes of transportation—artful “eco-motion.”

LISTING OF SOLAR TOY HACKING WORKSHOPS (SOUTH HALL)
All workshop participants invited to contribute a sculpture to the large outdoor solar city.

Sunday, 9/5/2010, Hours: 2-4pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Beth Ferguson (Sol Design Lab)

Friday, 9/10/2010, Hours: 5-7pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Beth Ferguson (Sol Design Lab)

Saturday, 9/11/2010, Hours: 10am-12pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Beth Ferguson (Sol Design Lab)

Thursday, 9/16/2010, Hours: 5-7pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Tiffany Holmes

Friday, 9/17/2010, Hours: 5-7pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Tiffany Holmes

Saturday, 9/18/2010, Hours: 5-7pm
Workshop: DIY Solar Sculptures
Participants: 5-10
Instructor: Tiffany Holmes

The FRESH project attempts to raise awareness about the high cost of bottled water in the USA, a country that has very good quality tap water. The FRESH 3.0 project is a street level intervention that invites visitors to examine computer generated animation composed of fantasy landscapes appropriated from the imagery from bottled water labels while engaged in bottled vs. tap water taste tests.

For the Watershed Project, FRESH 3.0 included a one-night performance on Thursday, July 8th from 6:00pm-9:00pm in the Riverwest neighborhood (on Center Street, in front of Riverwest Film and Video) to bring the bottled vs. tap debate into the street for discussion. Passerby were asked asked to identify the best tasting water sample: tap or bottled.  Thankfully, the Riverwest residents mostly selected Milwaukee’s fine tap water as the better tasting sample (Note: the bottled water was either Pure American or Aquafina).

Overall, the exhibition Watershed: Art, Activism, and Community Engagement addresses the shifting ecological and political dimensions of water. This project, organized by Raoul Deal and Nicolas Lampert, uses art as a form of activism to comment on water issues in Milwaukee and the Great Lakes Basin, and their impact on the world at large.  It deals with issues such as water shortages, notions of abundance, water privatization, invasive species, industrial pollution, and water as a human right.

There are three components to Watershed: (1) Community Outreach: Fall 2009- Summer 2010: silkscreen workshops with students at the Bruce Guadalupe Middle School and the Walnut Way Conservation Corp in Milwaukee to create images that address water issues. (2) Public Interventions: (July 2010) local and national artists work on art actions along in the shores of  Lake Michigan, the banks of Milwaukee’s three main rivers,  in the city, and the surrounding suburban and rural areas. (3) Gallery Exhibit: January, 2011, UWM Union Art Gallery, documentation of the first two events, and new installations by Raoul Deal, Nicolas Lampert, and Colleen Ludwig.

Your face is safe with me is a site-specific animation piece which uses imagery garnered from the Merchandise Mart’s surveillance camera system. This unique work was sponsored by Art Chicago and the Jean Albano Gallery.  Your face is safe with me will be located adjacent to the Partisan show gallery space on the 12th floor of the Mart near the Orleans street side of the building.

More information on Artopolis is available here: artchicago.com.  The art fair runs from April 30th through May 3rd.

I will be delivering a presentation for the first time at the ASES National Solar Conference on May 21, 2010 in Phoenix, AZ.  My talk will profile solarCircus, my new project in promoting renewable energy awareness via art made with hacked solar toys.

My solarCircus research and practice will be featured in a forum titled “Think Like an EcoSystem – Attracting People More Successfully to Renewables“ scheduled for Friday, May 21 from 10:30am to 12pm.  This forum was organized by Marda Kirn, the founding Executive Director of EcoArts Connections, an organization which brings together science, arts, and other organizations to advance public understanding of climate change and sustainable solutions. She is also the first Visiting Arts Professional at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Artists Mary Miss and Robert Tully will also be speaking on this panel.

At the 2010 College Art Association Conference, Holmes will deliver a talk titled “Beyond Eco-Art: Twenty-First-Century Eco-visualization.”  The presentation is part of the “Intersections of Art and Design” panel which will be chaired by Debra Riley Parr (Columbia College Chicago).  All details follow below.

Time and Location:
When: Friday, February 12, 6:30 PM–9:00 PM
Where: Grand A, Gold Level, East Tower, Hyatt Regency Chicago

Panel details:

Session title: Intersections of Art and Design

Chair: Debra Riley Parr, Columbia College Chicago

Recycle, Reuse, Readymade
Amanda Gluibizzi, Ohio State University

Environmental Affections: Women, Art, and Ecology
Adrian Parr, University of Cincinnati

An Art and Design Imperative: Ecomodernism Hybrid
Eric Benson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Beyond Eco-Art: Twenty-First-Century Eco-visualization
Tiffany G. Holmes, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Discussant:Annette Ferrara, IDEO

On January 19th, Tiffany Holmes successfully defended her PhD dissertation “Eco-visualization: Combining art and technology to reduce energy consumption,” at the University of Plymouth in the UK.  Examiners included Malcolm Miles, Professor of Cultural Theory from the University of Plymouth, and Tim Cooper, Head of the Center for Sustainable Consumption and Senior Lecturer in Consumer Studies, Sheffield Hallam University.

Oral examiners recommend Holmes be awarded the PhD degree at the University of Plymouth pending a few minor corrections.  The official award should come within 3-4 weeks.

Holmes’ PhD was earned via the Znode, a collaboration between the ICS: Institute for Cultural Studies, University of the Arts, Zurich and the Arts Department, University of Plymouth, UK.

Holmes will exhibit her interactive electricity visualization, darkSky (2009) and her generative animation FRESH 3.0 at the 13th annual Microwave Festival in Hong Kong located in the Hong Kong City Hall. The group exhibition, titled Nature Transformer will feature the work of Holmes as well as Natalie Jeremijenko (USA), Colin Ives (Canada), Petko Dourmana (Bulgaria), Akio Kamasato (Japan), and Victoria Vesna (USA).  The show opens November 13th and runs through December 11th.  Holmes will be doing an invited lecture on November 14th and a hands-on workshop on solar toy hacking on November 15th.  For more information see: microwavefest.net/festival2009.

Tiffany Holmes was awarded a 2010 Rhizome commission on June 29th to produce solarCircus.  The solarCircus project is a collection of related creative activities: hands-on workshops, nomadic solar-powered urban interventions, and online performances that explore sun-powered art.  Interns TC Eley and Real Chen will begin working with Holmes this July to begin production on the installation component of this project.

Join me on Thursday June 25th to discuss the ways in which technology has changed public art;
has it become a burden or a blessing, and where will public art go next?
My fellow panelists will include Hamza Walker, Daniel Sauter, and
Moderator Nathan Mason.

These free events are presented as part of HPAC’s 70 Days for 70 Years anniversary
celebration.

Public Art In the Digital Era: Panel Discussion
Thursday, June 25, 6 pm

Hyde Park Art Center, http://www.hydeparkart.org
5020 South Cornell Avenue
Chicago, IL 60615
773-324-5520