Computer graphics art from Siggraph

Siggraph, the Association for Computing Machinery's yearly conference on computer graphics, features a gallery of computer graphic art in 2D, 3D, 4D, audio, video and animation. This year's Siggraph 2006 Art Gallery theme is "Intersections." The art work will be on display in Boston from July 30 to Aug. 3.

Toshihiro Kamei of Kyushu University in Hukuoka, Japan, re-created the light reflection and movement of blown glass in a series of inkjet prints. One of them, "Code Line Green," is shown here.

"Reading the Space as an Entity" is a series of panoramic digital photographs of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan, Italy, stitched together by Murat German of Sabanci University in Instanbul, Turkey. The view, German notes in his statement on the piece, is an image that could not otherwise be seen by the naked eye. The work is from the exhibit "Conceptual Investigation: Technology, Message, and Meaning" being shown in the Siggraph 2006 Art Gallery.

"Abracadabra," by Jun Oh of New York University (with collaborators Min Jeong Kang and Michael J. Horan), is a live performance piece using both prerecorded and live video. A live performer's movements are coordinated by a program that integrates his gestures using MAX/MSP, a graphical programming software, and Jitter, a software extension of data processing objects optimized for 3D graphics and video.

"We focus on motion tracking and video tracking to allow only a 5- to 10-second time delay of video effects," Oh said in a phone interview.

"Kite Form: Laminate," by Professor Mark Millstein of the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, was produced using Adobe Photoshop, an Epson inkjet printer, pigmented inks on Ink-Aid-coated Kinwashi paper to improve ink reception, and dyed matchstick bamboo attached to the kite at the back.

"Using software tools, the forms are divided into sails, then tilted, inflated, and skewed as if affected by flight and wind," Millstein said in a statement on his Kite Forms 2006 series. "The frozen form is further wrapped with imagery that suggests other perspectives on volume, construction or reflection."

A clip from "Queensbridge Wind Power," by Andrea Polli, Morgan Barnard and Markus Maurette. The seven-minute film uses computer graphic modeling to depict a restoration of the Queensboro Bridge in Queens, New York City. The modeling shows how the original, destroyed bridge spires could be re-created with turbines that mirror the original design, and provide a source of wind energy. The piece's timing is impeccable, considering the massive power outages Queens has been experiencing this July.

Australian artist Phillip George layers multiple images manipulated into varying transparency to create a unified vision in "Mnemonicon 23."

"Sheep Jet Head," by Brit Bunkley from Quay School of the Arts, New Zealand, is a 2D Lambda Print created with 3D software.

"Moderation," an interactive algorithm project by Zack Booth Simpson, is based on the anime "Princess Mononoke," by Hayao Miyazaki. Stepping into the virtual pastoral scene triggers natural life and growth to interact with the participant. The program rewards calm behavior and movements, while too much stomping shows the participant the "unintended consequences" of making "over-aggressive demands on the environment," according to a statement from the artist.