Symposium

Abstract Realism
Gisèle Trudel
Ælab
http://www.aelab.com/default.htm

Summary
Various artworks will be discussed from the point of view of transduction as a link between matter, mind, ecology and technology. The idea of the environment as a «stage» is explored, a living system being played out in the natural, scientific and cultural spheres, building on methods of receiving and transmitting in-form-ation and experiences in a constant revealing, a network of successive evolution, echoing the theories of French philosopher Gilbert Simondon.

Photo: Paul Litherland

One of these projects, DATA (2003-04) is concerned with the power of the image and its representation at different scales of perception, funded by the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science and Technology. We collaborated with Vicki Meli, then a PhD candidate, during an artist residency at the Nanolab of McGill University's Chemistry Department, Dr. Bruce Lennox, Chair and Director. A relationship blossomed over the eight month residency period with both scientists, which led to discussions about imaging, education, ethics, ecology, and the relationship between art and science. The lab gave us access to various digital micro and nano imaging technologies, including the SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and AFM (Atomic Force Microscope) with output as 2D files, 3D mappings of surfaces, and live video. Here, visualization occurs beyond the scopic regime and is mostly rendered through a sample’s conductive potential as well as its surface topography. Viewing matter at the atomic level gives the possibility to witness extended length and time scales in continual transformation, a highly destabilizing exchange, where the resulting vertigo of what inert or alive is questioned. Materials research toward energy conservation is one of the most promising venues of chemistry in nanoscience, and confirmed our interest to work in this discipline with regard to the constitution of matter itself.

Biography
Gisèle Trudel is a media artist and professor at the École des art visuels et médiatiques, Université du Québec à Montréal.

Founded in the summer of 1996 by artists Stéphane Claude and Gisèle Trudel, Æ is an artist unit that invites other collaborators to participate on a regular basis. Ælab designates production projects in a more anonymous context, clearly reflecting their focus on an ecological and technological conscience rooted in the arts and sciences. Æ seeks to reintroduce the world of animal/vegetal/minerals into the electronic arts. Æ produces audiovisual essays, performances, web projects, databases, site specific installations, publications, psycho-geographic walks, and audio recordings that are listened to in the dark...Their work has been shown internationally.