The New Observatory  

Voyager (Micromégas), Thomson & Craighead, 2013

Voyager (Micromégas)

Thomson & Craighead

Listening to Shetland Wool

Felicity Ford

Screen capture of multi-coloured digitally generated flowers

Flowers

Daniel Brown

Three Hundred and Sixty Seconds, Dan Hett, 2016. Algorithmically generated live coding production stills (from an ongoing series)

Three Hundred and Sixty Seconds

Dan Hett

Re-knitting 'tester' Jumper, Amy Twigger Holroyd, 2013. Hacked knitted garment

Re-knitting ‘tester’ jumper

Amy Twigger Holroyd

Image of an illuminated digital fountain dark blue on black background

Fountain

Katriona Beales

The spectrum of re-knitting treatments, Amy Twigger Holroyd, 2012. Digital print on paper

The spectrum of re-knitting treatments

Amy Twigger Holroyd

Pillars of Hercules, James Brooks, 2014

Pillars of Hercules

James Brooks

Corruption, Thomson & Craighead, 2014

Corruption

Thomson & Craighead

Weather Gauge, Thomson & Craighead, 2009

Weather Gauge

Thomson & Craighead

Metrography, Benedikt Groß & Bertrand Clerc, 2012. Print on aluminium

Metrography

Benedikt Groß and Bertrand Clerc

Installation photo of red frame, number display and construction

53°32’.01N, 003°21’.29W, from the Sea

David Gauthier

Twenty Thousand Seconds, Dan Hett, 2016. Algorithmically generated live coding image film (from an ongoing series)

Twenty Thousand Seconds

Dan Hett

photo of sensor hanging in a darl room with two screens

Measure for Measure for Measure

David Gauthier

image of a screen with four chairs each with a ventriloquists half-masks hanging above each

Recruitment Goes Wrong

Thomson & Craighead

Flipped Clock, Thomson & Craighead, 2008

Flipped Clock

Thomson & Craighead

image of black and white animation on a screen of women and a wire fence

There Are Worlds Out There They Never Told You About

Jackie Karuti

image of screen and aerials in gallery

Open Space Observatory

Kei Kreutler and Libre Space Foundation

The Clandestine Purse, Natasha Caruana, 2008

The Clandestine Purse

Natasha Caruana

Photo of multi story wooden tower

A Machine for Living

James Coupe

KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook, Felicity Ford, 2014. Crowd-funded publication

KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook

Felicity Ford

Married Man, Natasha Caruana, 2008

Married Man

Natasha Caruana

Still Lifes and Oscillators 1, Ben Garrod, 2012. Paint

Still Lifes and Oscillators 1

Ben Garrod

The Doffing Misstress Takes a Stroll, David Littler, 2016. Participatory installation. Piano player, paper scores, materials for contribution

The Doffing Mistress Takes a Stroll

David Littler

Forkbomb, Alex McLean, 2001. Perl script computer code with paper output

Forkbomb

Alex McLean

{poem}.py

{poem}.py

Pip Thornton

Watching the Watchers, James Bridle, 2013. Multiple mounted colour prints

Watching the Watchers

James Bridle

Image of ghostly woman on black background (CIPHER artwork)

CIPHER

Katriona Beales

kinetic artwork of a circular wooden base and brass arches with a small brass seasaw with a weight

Allusive Protocols (prototypes)

Julie Freeman

black and white image of booklet called Daemons of the Shadow World

Daemons of the Shadow World

Giles Lane

Fairytale for Sale, Natasha Caruana, 2011

Fairytale for Sale

Natasha Caruana

Rates for the Job, Sam Meech, 2016. Order form and performative contractual exchange action 

Rates for the Job

Sam Meech

Dystopian digital city landscape

Cover designs for William Gibson’s Neuromancer trilogy

Daniel Brown

Punchcard Economy, Sam Meech, 2013. ODI: 3.5 x 0.5m knitted banner, FutureEverything: 5 x 3m knitted banner & knitting machines

Punchcard Economy

Sam Meech

abstract sculpture in blue and pale pink

Public Protection, Private Collection

Felicity Hammond

Gallery photo of someone in a VR helmet viewing artwork

Substance – A whole history of hollows and reliefs

Phil Coy

Circular blue, black and white inverted image of tree

Inverted Night Sky

Jeronimo Voss

Listening to Shetland Wool, Felicity Ford, 2013. Interactive online aporee sound map

Sonic Pattern and the Textility of Code

Felicity Ford

image of pylon-like communications tower inverted white out of red

http://s33.820180e151.184813.com.au

Evan Roth

Transmission series

Transmission One and Transmission Two

Dan Hett

Five 3D printed pale yellow shell-like objects

Lifestreams

Proboscis

multicoloured cartoon collage with 3D rendered large golden hand

Unauthorised Copy

Antonio Roberts

Image of computer generated object in natural woodland

Shifting

Katriona Beales

Six Years of Mondays, Thomson & Craighead, 2014

Six Years of Mondays

Thomson & Craighead

balck and white photo of sign in countryside landscape

50.080697, -5.694138

Evan Roth

Body 01000010011011110110010001111001, Stanza, 2012. Perspex, Arduino, electronic components, internet connection

Body 01000010011011110110010001111001

Stanza

Black and white abstract image

Shadows of the State

Lewis Bush

20Hz, Semiconductor, 2011. HD + HD 3D single channel video. 05.00 minutes

20Hz

Semiconductor

Mini Rugs and their Friends

Mini Rugs and their Friends

Riitta Oittinen

person in white wearing a sci-fi helmet with lots of protrusions

Quasar-2A

Field

Illluminated acrylic sculpture of a red-lit person holding a book

The Reader

Stanza

Photo of The Promises Machione a wooden display with embedded screen

The Promises Machine

Rachel Jacobs

Canal Observatory

AusBlau

Re-knitting step by step guide, Amy Twigger Holroyd, 2012. Digital prints on paper

Re-knitting step by step guide

Amy Twigger Holroyd

Gallery installation of multiple photos

The Longest and Darkest of Recollections

Liz Orton

Close up of lightbulbs from The Future artwork

The Future

Alicia Eggert and Safwat Saleem

Data as Culture - Art that uses data as a material

Freeman’s multi-part work uses real-time data to allow us a peek into the lives of a colony of electronically tagged naked mole-rats. It embodies a broad series of unconventional approaches to working with data to evidence different structures and forms of life. It also pushes the possibilities of data into new artistic territory.

A Selfless Society 2016
Data visualisation website and associated artworks
A Selfless Society is an abstract animation of forms whose shape and behaviour are influenced by the activity patterns of a naked mole-rat colony – the animals are tracked using an RFID (Radiofrequency identification) system to provide this live activity data. Freeman’s interest in these animals stems from their cooperative lifestyle. The colony as a whole has the strongest chance of success, while lone individuals have little chance of survival. Naked mole-rats are ‘eusocial’ like bees, meaning only the queen breeds. What would happen if human society were restructured in this way? Would non-breeding females be considered selfish or selfless? How would political, economic and other systems be re-routed to serve the interests of the whole? What would become of the individual?

Collaborator: Marcin Ignac

This is Nature Now 2016
Real-time data-driven silicone kinetic sculptures (documentation version); 3 x single channel HD digital video with sound. Duration variable
This is Nature Now represents live data from a naked mole-rat colony through physical movements of an artificial-material. It explores the body language of objects through techniques in soft robotics. The work asks us to reflect on how specific technologies mediate our experience of the natural world, and how we now encounter nature through our devices and broadcast mechanisms. Can living things be represented through data? If so, what are the traits a non-biological physical object requires to convey this sense of life?

Collaborator: Professor Kaspar Althoefer

Colony Omega Redacted Portraits (2016)
24 C-type photographs. 351 x 234mm
Should data privacy be restricted to humans? RAT.systems involves tracking (but not experimenting on) Colony Omega – a colony of naked mole-rats maintained in an artificial environment designed for behavioural observation. Freeman has blocked out all of their eyes. This humorous act strangely highlights the individuality of each of the naked mole-rats. It also stems from, and refers to, wider and more serious concerns. Poachers are said to be using metadata from tourist’s photographs on safari, or even academic papers, to locate and kill endangered animals. Respecting an animal’s right to privacy may become akin to respecting their right to life. The work re-contextualises more human-centric privacy issues.

Portraits by Lorna Ellen Faulkes, commissioned by Julie Freeman and Dr. Chris Faulkes