Curated by Christiane Paul, adjunct curator of media art at the Whitney Museum of American Art. ‘Scalable Relations’ is a series of networked exhibitions that present media artworks by faculty of the UC Digital Arts Research Network (DARnet) across UC campuses from January 9 – March 14, 2009. The exhibition takes place at the BEALL Center for Art + Technology at UC Irvine as well as other venues at UCDARnet institutions. ‘Scalable Relations’ brings together works that explore digital media’s capability of representing a growing amount of data in constantly evolving relations. Addressing a range of issues, the projects in ‘Scalable Relations’ illustrate the complexities and shifting contexts of today’s information society.
Artists in the exhibition: Sheldon Brown, George Legrady and Angus Forbes, Rebeca Méndez, Greg Niemeyer, C. E. B. Reas, and Warren Sack.
Rebeca Méndez’s At Any Given Moment, Fall was exhibited at ‘Scalable Relations.’
Rebeca Méndez Design (RMD) is a multidisciplinary studio focused on design for art, architecture and other cultural clients as well as for nonprofit organizations. RMD’s practice is in various areas of design including brand identity strategy and design, architectural immersive spaces, interface design, way-finding systems, experience design, advertising, and book design.
Curated by Christiane Paul
‘Second Natures,’ the UCLA Department of Design | Media Arts exhibition — curated by Christiane Paul, adjunct curator of new media arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art — features work by faculty members Rebecca Allen, Robert Israel, Rebeca Méndez, Vasa Mihich, Christian Moeller, C.E.B. Reas, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Victoria Vesna. The exhibition is on view in the first- and second-level spaces of the new Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center designed by Getty Center architect Richard Meier.
The works presented in the exhibition to varying degrees all reference the concept of a ‘second nature.’ Some projects literally reflect on natural processes or depict landscapes or present a simulated nature. Others simulate natural processes in organic visual structures and use principles of artificial life and intelligence to create a programmed nature. Yet another body of works is based on principles of optics and shows how light and the eye mediate the perception of our environment.
In their different approaches and media, the works included in second natures construct a multi-faceted picture of the possible meanings and connotations of nature — a picture that is very much of its time and informed by the current cultural and political climate. Nature appears as processed, both in the sense of natural resources and the medium that represents it. It presents itself as designed, simulated, technologically connected and filtered through human perception, or as an imaginary space.
The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue. Faculty teaching theory in the D | MA department, Erkki Huhtamo and Katherine Hayles, contributed essays to the catalogue.
Rebeca Méndez is professor at UCLA, Design | Media Arts Department in the School of Arts and Architecture. She teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses with focus on art, media art, and design research and practice.