Beauty in Technology

Our interview with new media installation artist: Rich Gilbank.

Courtesy of Rich Gilbank

What you’re looking at in the above photo isn’t a collection of Klu Klux Klan hats. Instead, they are Anthros: stationary tentacles that gravitate towards any person standing nearby. The artist behind this installation, Rich Gilbank, has incorporated technology (using human-centric applications) in order to create interactive artwork. The Cowgirls were totally blown away – seeing as they barely know how to turn on their laptop – so they decided to chat up this astute artist firsthand.

Pony: What inspired you to start combining technology with art?

Rich: Well, it definitely wasn’t intentional at first. They began as two mutually exclusive interests that slowly began coming together. The way I saw it, there was a time when technology was developed purely for the sake of developing technology, in the hopes that it might come to serve a useful purpose. Now, that time is coming and we’re beginning to find ways to use technology to supplement human experience. Once we’ve begun to do that though, how different is it really from art? Besides, one of the most highly regarded artists of all time (Da Vinci) was also one of the most talented inventors. I don’t think he particularly cared where the lines were drawn between the two, so why should we?

Pony: Your Anthros new media project received a lot of attention in the press recently. Can you explain how you came up with the idea?

Rich: The idea behind Anthros emerged from that same idea of technology augmenting experience. We’ve learned to adapt to technology, because technology itself wasn’t quite mature enough until recently to do the same. Is an 84-key keyboard and 2 or 3 button mouse really the best way for us ten-fingered, speaking, and gesture-based creatures to communicate? Anthros was an attempt to make an environment conform to people, rather than forcing the opposite.

Pony: What has Ryerson‘s New Media program taught you? Seeing as you’ve been working with technology from a young age.

Rich: The thing I’ve appreciated most is the people. I think the instructors and students you get the opportunity to meet and collaborate with are the most significant reason for programs like this to exist. With the rate things change these days, it’s not possible to teach everything people need to know. Wikipedia can do that. But the connections you build and conversations you have can’t be beat.

Courtesy of Rich Gilbank

Pony: What was the first thing you ever made? Ever?

Rich: Ahh, nostalgia. I think the thing that brings back the most memories for me was giving my clock radio “surround sound”. My dad and I, late one night, decided to add another speaker to my radio so I could lay in bed and have music coming from both sides. We cut the radio open, added an extra piece of wire in, and ran it along the wall to the other side of the bed where we attached it to a little radio shack speaker. It actually sounded pretty good!

Pony: Your Tempaural music blocks combine childhood building blocks with musical sounds. What made you explore this installation?

Courtesy of Rich Gilbank

Courtesy of Rich Gilbank

Rich: Tempaural was a project which allowed people to create their own music, using nothing but natural gestures. Large, tangible Lego-style bricks could be stacked on top of each other to control the music they were making.  This was one of my explorations into tangible media, because I think that’s where we’re headed – the ability to control large, complex systems by doing things we’ve learned to do through evolution, like moving things with our arms.

Pony: What’s been your biggest challenge to date?

Rich: Probably finding time. There’s so much to do but so little of it. Between working on my new media projects, running Groundhog Media (my web development company), and getting a healthy dose of traveling, I don’t have much free time. Fortunately though, I’ve just finished my last year at Ryerson, so hopefully I can begin to find some free time to just invent.

Pony: Are there other installation artists that you look up to?

Rich: I think my biggest inspiration recently has been the artistic developments of a German manufacturing company called Festo. Projects like their AirPenguin are elegantly constructed, both aesthetically and technically. It’s good to see large companies like this spending money on experiments and other projects that may not necessarily yield a direct return on investment.

Pony: It takes a lot of passion to do that. So why are you all considered nerds?

Rich: Because people don’t know any better! That, and our extensive knowledge of the flux capacitor.

Courtesy of Rich Gilbank

– Emma Farquharson.