Collider 8: voxel [akron] is the newest edition of the Collider series to examine the impact, implications and inspiration of the phenomenon generally categorized under the umbrella term New Media within the design practice and fine arts. Now in its 8th year, Collider’s co-creators Markus Vogl and Anthony Samangy of The University of Akron’s design faculty are presenting exciting works utilizing voxels, a computational 3D volume—think 3D pixel!
The works in the exhibition feature several incredible techniques. The ‘Tiny Cinema’ pieces showcase video shorts on 96 x 64 pixel video screens, encapsulated by 3D printed sculptures. Zoetropes enter this show, weaving themselves between historic and contemporary practices. The devices no longer are limited to the typical 2D images, but are now 3D printed objects, spinning to create a moving image. The exhibition includes the work of 19 regional and national artists. Among the grouping are acclaimed artists such as Mark Amerika, Rachel Clarke, Kasumi, and Jason Ferguson.

Strataform: Philip Beesley & Myers Forum Students—Philip Beesley is a Toronto-based visual artist, architect and Professor in Architecture at the University of Waterloo and Professor of Digital Design and Architecture & Urbanism at the European Graduate School. His work is focused within the rapidly expanding technology and culture of responsive and interactive systems.
Strataform is the product of Beesley collaborating with students in the Myers Forum Class at the Myers School of Art to create an immersive architectural installation using his interactive systems. By integrating kinetic functions with lightweight structures, together Beesley and Myers students will create a responsive environment indicative of hybrid forms of nature. Under his supervision, students in the “maker lab” at the Myers School of Art have been using plexi glass, mylar, and test tubes for laser cutting and thermoforming as well as LED lights, computer processors, and projectors that interplay with a web-like veil. Within Strataform, responsive lights react to movements below them and reflect off small vials of water within the river of stretched acrylic patterns.