“Pixilerations” in Providence

From my review of “Pixilerations,” the sixth-annual digital art festival in Providence:

Strapped into Erik Conrad’s electronic vest, I stood waiting for the personal digital assistant, attached by a wire to the outfit, to make a GPS connection. Conrad, who resides in Buffalo, New York, GPS-tagged several Providence buildings, converted their images into sound, and “then optimized for vibrotactile playback,” which I was supposed to be feeling through the vest.

The project, titled Bark Rubbings: City As Forest, is the artist’s contribution to the First Works Festival’s “Pixilerations [v. 6]” (through October 11), the sixth annual roundup of digital art and music. When I picked the outfit up at RISD’s Sol Koffler Gallery (169 Weybosset Street, Providence), Maya Allison, “Pixilerations” director as well as gallery director at 5 Traverse, advised: “If the vest gets too intense you can loosen it up or turn it off.” This sounded promising.

Read the rest here.

“Pixilerations,” RISD’s Sol Koffler Gallery, 169 Weybosset St.; 5 Traverse Gallery, 5 Traverse St.; and various other locations in Providence; Sept. 24 to Oct. 11, 2009.

Pictured from top to bottom: Clement Valla, “McDunco,” 2008; Paul Myoda, “Glittering Machine,” 2009; Christa Erickson, “Debt Reducer,” 2007-8; Andrew Ames, “Space Invader Returns Home,” 2009.