Drew Browning
Drew Browning is an electronic artist/designer
whose work began with the video art movement of the early '70s, including
interactive video installations and video performances, and who now focuses on
interactive digital media and virtual reality. His work is about creating
dialog around issues of difference, about using the power of technology to
challenge viewer perspective, and about calling attention to what makes us
human. He is involved in research and development of technology for persons
with disabilities and universal design. Browning is an Emeritus Professor of
Electronic Visualization and Industrial Design and founder of the Design
Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Recent works include data driven sculpture (Approach,
Prairie Center of the Arts, Peoria 2012 and River Benches, Slane
Scholar in Residence, Bradley University 2006), interactive installations (Puff, IDMAa Conference 2011 and Elevator Music, Site
Unseen, Chicago Cultural Center 2009) and video (Winds of Change, IDMAa Conference 2011 and New Media Festival Los Angeles
2012).
Selected work:
Video of computer animation;
Browning, Barbier; Created using the same source data as sculpture below to be
projected large scale on buildings in three cities in Brazil. Video Guerrilha 2012, San Paolo, Rio, Brasilia, November 22-24, 2012.
Chicago projection works curated by Mat Rappaport. https://v1b3.com/projects/video-collections/video-guerrilha-2012/
“Expose, Intervene, Occupy: Re-interpreting
Public Space” ©2012 (video documentation)
unreal-estates and v1b3 have
produced an augmented reality application for internet enabled mobile devices
that interrogates the meaning of public space using models, images, text, and
movies overlaid on locations in Chicago’s Loop. http://v1b3.com/?page_id=733; Direct
link to “Street View” https://www.evl.uic.edu/drew/streetview/
“Approach Installation” ©2012 (video documentation)
Sculptural installation; Browning, Barbier; Created while
in residence at Prairie
Center of the Arts in Peoria, Illinois, Approach uses motion data of
two people, one in a wheelchair and one ambulating, coming together. This life size installation resides on a 75
foot fence adjacent to the Center’s building. With the giant processing
plant Archer Daniels Midland in the background, it reminds us of human scale
and presence in a highly industrialized environment. And it also speaks to the
traces we leave behind us in our passage through life, knowingly or not. documentation-of-approach
Three video pieces with a common theme of fragility
represented through QR codes printed in a catalogue of digital media art works
entitled SCAN2GO. Although intended to be viewed on smart phones and camera
enabled tablet computers, the works can also be seen through any internet
browser. Produced by the College Art Association Services to Artists committee
in collaboration with v1b3 (v1b3.com). The SCAN2GO catalogue was distributed
during the CAA conference in Los Angeles, February 22-25, 2012. Direct link: http://www.evl.uic.edu/drew/fragile/Fragile.html
“Puff” ©2011 (video documentation)
Interactive installation; Browning, Barbier; Puffing on a
wind sensor, the participant sees delightful responses in their self-image or
video clips. Exhibited at IDMAa IDEAS, International
Digital Media Arts Association Conference, October 13-15th, 2011. http://www.idmaa.org/idmaa2011/
Video - length: 5 min.; Browning, Barbier; Winds of Change
addresses the housing boom and bust as seen through a metaphorical window in a
formerly modest neighborhood. Includes computer animation driven by statistical
data and sound. Exhibited at IDMAa IDEAS
(International Digital Media Arts Association Conference), October 13-15th,
2011. http://www.idmaa.org/idmaa2011/
Synthesis:
Processing and Collaboration 2011
Exhibition curated by Dan Sandin featuring early image
processing videos from the 1970s including works by Drew Browning and Annette
Barbier. University of California, San Diego, gallery@calit2, Jan 14 - Mar 11,
2011
Video - length: 4 min.; Browning; A wryly
(and sometimes darkly) humorous investigation of this most private and
contemplative of spaces and its metaphorical significance as vessel of life.
From swimming in the primordial sea (or womb) to contemplating the generations
through portraits in the mirror; from emerging through the pipes and from the
faucet to meditating on memories found in the tiles, this work follows both an
individual life and those elements of consciousness, growth and change common
to all human beings.
Video - length: 2 min.; Browning, Barbier; "The
American Dream" was projected on the Emily Carr University of Art + Design
building. In this typical suburban neighborhood, each house has a secret, and
each comment on our way of life: our
desire for privacy, the difficulty of finding balance, the fragile nature of
our illusions, and ultimately the undermining of the American dream. Exhibited
at v1b3 (Video in the Built Environment) FALL 2010 SHELTER, IDMAA
(International Digital Media Arts Association Conference), November 4-6th,
2010. Shelter: Fall2010
Vancouver, BC
Site-specific Installation; Browning, Barbier;
"Elevator Music", a commissioned audio installation installed in an elevator
at the Chicago Cultural Center, grapples with the difference between two
distinctly different views of disability: the medical model, which promotes the
idea of cure and the political model, which accepts and celebrates disability
as an identity. It replaces the traditional easy-listening music with
commentary and analysis using writings, interviews and
documentary sounds of disabled rights activists and the medical, media and
fundraising communities. So the elevator, a place of
passage particularly adapted to the needs of the disabled, also becomes a site
for the movement from definition by others to self-definition. Site Unseen Performance
Site-specific Installation; Browning, Barbier; Exhibition of
"Search Terms", an interactive installation that critiques ubiquitous
surveillance, tracking visitors' movements as they explore
"dangerous" and "suspicious" book listings and including
surreptitious views of gallery visitors projected on the gallery floor. Group
show “Echelon: who is watching you?” Polvo, August 3
- September 1, 2007
Site-specific Installation; Browning, Barbier; Koscielak
Gallery; "You Are Here" was projected onto the facade of the gallery
building taking live image information from the nearby expressway to create an
abstracted meditation on our frenetic pace of travel. The title of the work
plays on the common kiosk guide map dot and familiar spiritual phrase "Be
Here Now" (Ram Dass), reflecting on the pace of our existence and gently
questioning whether our obsession with speed is really getting us anywhere.
Viewed from the Kennedy Expressway (I-94) at North Ave, Chicago.
Interactive installation; Browning, Barbier, Ferolo; “Stream-ing" is
about the interdependent relationship of people and the environment. The
Illinois Waterway from Chicago through Peoria, which includes the Chicago and
Illinois rivers, is the metaphor for this interconnectedness. Exhibited at the
Fifth Annual Discovery Forum, Peoria, IL, and WTVP, Central Illinois's public
television station. Produced as Slane Scholar in Residence at Bradley
University, Peoria, IL.
“Preserving Disorder” ©2005
Flanked by the former Chicago Police Headquarters at 11th and
State and the anti war
protests at Michigan Ave, "Preserving Disorder", an interactive
sidewalk installation at 11th and Wabash, recalls the images and dynamics of
the summer of '68 in Chicago. University Film and Video Association Conference
(UFVA) August 2005.
“Path of the Dragon” ©2005
The river journey is the form of this installation in which a
participant is a traveler in a mythic voyage through the ages of a nation,
Vietnam. Beginning at dawn, the participant navigates through three levels: a
past lived close to nature, a time of horrific upheaval and violence, and a
time of adapting and rebuilding. University Film and Video Association
Conference (UFVA) August 2005 and Gosia Koscielak Gallery April/May,.2006.
“Wave Harmonies” ©2005
Interactive Installation; Browning, Barbier. "Wave
Harmonies", an interactive installation that represents the visual world
in terms of waveforms, "International Digital Media and Arts Association
Conference 2005", Orlando, FL, Juried exhibition March 16-19, 2005; AWARDED
Second Place. For more information: Wave
Harmonies.htm.
“River of Many Sides” ©2004
Interactive, multimedia performance; Browning, Barbier, Krinkle, Minh Ngoc, Quoc Thao. Commissioned by United States Vietnam Arts
Program (USVAP formerly ArtSynergy), River of
Many Sides addresses issues of violence and its effects. In June of 2003, five
artists embarked on a journey of collaboration and understanding that began
with travels to one another's countries and that culminated in the performance:
River of Many Sides. Each of the artists
has profound personal and cultural associations to our countries' intertwined
histories. For more information http://iam.colum.edu/abarbier/ROMSwebdoc/ROMSprospectus.htm.
“Waiting in Line” ©2003
Interactive Installation; Browning, Barbier. Commissioned by
the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, "Waiting In
Line" is an interactive computer installation of visually rich, graphical
representations of waveforms. The
exhibit encouraged those waiting in line for tickets in the Great Hall to
participate in creating a series of Lissajous figures, a pattern of lines which
may be familiar from science fiction movies of the 1950's. The images were displayed on a large-scale
screen. Guests used sheets of colored
paper to control the horizontal and vertical frequencies of the complex,
changing patterns. For more information: http://www.msichicago.org/scrapbook/scrapbook_events/experiments/.
“Homeland Insecurity” ©2003
Interactive web3D; Browning. This suite of works addresses
our national paranoia inspired by the events of 9/11. The pieces collectively
respond to our need for security and our fear of exposure in a threatening
climate. The touch screen (installation
mode) allows the viewer to put his finger on the source of our discomfort; the
act of touching makes the viewer complicit in creating our collective malaise. Installed
at the University Film and Video Conference (UFVA) 2003, University of South
Carolina. For the complete interactive web3D work visit http://www.evl.uic.edu/drew/HI
“HOME” ©2001
Interactive web3D; Browning, Barbier. Home is an interactive
work-in-progress which explores various concepts of home by allowing the viewer
to move through a virtual building created in the computer. The action of
moving through the space calls up images, stories,
movies, animations and sounds contributed by writers
and artists in music, film, and graphic art on the meaning and nature of home.
Since 1999 HOME has been installed in over a dozen exhibitions.
“Disability Perspective #1” ©1997
Interactive web3D; Browning. The newly built Franklin Delano
Roosevelt National Monument serves as a focal point for this immersive
experience which addresses issues germane to the disabled community and to
representation of minorities in general. Virtual Spaces exhibited at ISEA
Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts 1997
“Disability Activism” ©1991
Video - length: 12 min.; Browning; Documentary in style, this
videotape covers an eight year span of personal
activism in the Disability Rights Movement. Significant to the approach was a
desire to look at the Movement from inside. At times this perspective proved to
be at odds with my participation as an activist while at other times it proved
to be a tool for empowerment, changing the course of events.
“Louis Sullivan: The Function of
Ornament” ©1986
Video - length: 7 min.; Barbier, Browning; Produced for the
Chicago Historical Society. Promoting the exhibit "Louis Sullivan: The
Function of Ornament" at the Chicago Historical Society, this tape shows
some of Sullivan's themes and sources, using computer graphics to clarify some
of his basic concepts.
“Now or Later” ©1984
Video - length: 5 min., Co-produced with Barbier, Moyemont, and Skura. A series of video dance/performance
"sketches" leading to the production of "Chase Scene," the
performance.
“So To
Speak” ©1981
Video - length: 16 min.; Co-produced with Barbier, Moyemont, and Kast. Based on the video/dance performance
"So To Speak." This videotape combines the
elements of the original videotape created for the performance with the live
dance into a new multi-layered entity using digital and analog effects to
achieve a synthesis.
“Stereopticon III” ©1979
Video - length: 20 min.; Co-produced with Barbier, Moyemont, Fahrenwald, and Gerber. Improvisational
Video/Dance works which are sometimes dark and spare, sometimes spacious and
soaring. Produced live, involving two camera people, two musicians, a video
artist, and a dancer all with a common focus -- the video monitor. BEST VIDEOTAPE AND HONORS AWARD
Eighth Annual Dance Video and Film Festival; New York, June,
1979.
“SRAM Rap” ©1979
Video - length: 20 min.; Co-produced with Barbier.
Documentation of a childrens' video play produced for
the Chicago Artists in Residence Program featuring live video effects on stage
as a character in the play. Performed throughout the summer of 1979 at: Chicago
Public Library Cultural Center, Chicago, and Walt Disney Magnet School,
Chicago.
“Trilogy” ©1978
Video - length: 8 min.; Co-produced with Barbier. Early
Video/Dance works produced live, exploring movement of a dancer in counterpart
with movement created by video and computer graphic technology. ONE OF TEN PRIZE-WINNING VIDEOTAPES
Videotape: The Meaning is the Use; Bergman Gallery, University of Chicago,
Chicago, May, 1978
“Nancy Drew Patch” ©1974
A pioneering work in Video/Dance performed in real time. One
of the first works produced in color on the Sandin Image Processor.