'The Digital Eye': photographic art in the electronic age

Seattle Times - You can't trust a photograph — and that's what makes it so fascinating.

Some surreal photographic visions involve no wizardry beyond elaborate staging. Other seemingly "natural" shots are the result of self-effacing camera trickery you'd never guess was at work unless you were informed about it.

In "The Digital Eye: Photographic Art in the Electronic Age," the new exhibit at the Henry Art Gallery, curator Sylvia Wolf places the latest computer-generated advances in the medium in a satisfyingly deep context by prefacing the digital goods on display with two small galleries of work from the pre-digital age.

She goes back as far as 1856 to show that photography, even in its infancy, always had a little hocus-pocus to it.  Read more.

Magical Film Screen Lures Londoners to Arad Spectacle: Review

Bloomberg - The designer and architect Ron Arad is good at rethinking familiar objects.

In 1993, he came up with “Bookworm,” library shelving that’s curvilinear rather than horizontal. His “Curtain Call” at the Roundhouse in London is equally simple yet surprising. It’s a projection screen that isn’t flat, solid and rectangular. It’s circular, translucent and flexible.  Read more.

Indianapolis airport removing art for video screen

Chicago Tribune - A decision by Indianapolis International Airport officials to take down a three-story sculptural painting and replace it with a video screen that will show advertising is being criticized by that artist and others.

The glass-and-canvas piece called "Chrysalis" will be removed by the end of August from its prominent spot over the main escalators in the passenger terminal where it has been since its opening in 2008, said Carlo Bertolini, a spokesman for the Indianapolis Airport Authority. He said the video screen displaying digital art and advertising will go up next month.  Read more.

Autodesk Releases 3D Sculpting and Painting App for iPad

Pad Gadget - Autodesk has just released 123D Sculpt, an app for the iPad that allows you to take shapes, colors and textures and turn them into personalized pieces of art. 123D Sculpt represents one of the latest entries into a category of apps that offer to nurture and expand our creativity more than the traditional entertainment or productivity enhancing experiences we are used to.  Read more.

Lancaster digital arts charity Folly set to close

BBC - The Lancashire organisation, which specialises in interactive digital arts projects, blamed the closure on the "present financial climate".

Founded as the Folly Trust in 1989, it has worked on a number of art projects across the north west of England.  Read more.

"Balloon Boys" unveil 20,000 square feet canvas

MIT to host the Electronic Literature Organization

MIT News - MIT has long been a premier center of technological innovation. On July 1, a new locus for literary innovation was added to the mix: the campus began hosting the headquarters of the Electronic Literature Organization.

The Electronic Literature Organization, or ELO, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization composed of an international community that includes writers, artists, teachers, scholars and developers. The Organization’s focus is new literary forms that are made to be read on digital systems, including smartphones, Web browsers and networked computers.  Read more.