SIGGRAPH

The overarching goal of the 2005 Art Gallery is to show artwork that maps data or traces threads in time and space. This year, the art gallery will show digital artwork from the cerebral to the visceral, work that challenges the audience's perceptions of time and place. Each piece is inherently digital: it cannot exist without computer graphics. The artists examine the passage of time in their work: some lingering, some looping, some humorous, some perennialSix award-winning artists have graciously accepted my invitation to exhibit their works in the SIGGRAPH 2005 Art Gallery: Camille Utterback, Shelley Eshkar and Paul Kaiser, Perry Hoberman, Jim Campbell, and John Gerrard. Each of these esteemed artists expresses threading time in a unique way. They are among the most innovative contemporary artists using digital media today.Artwork in the SIGGRAPH 2005 Art Gallery is organized by content rather than by media, to emphasize meaning. Here the technology is in the service of the art. Themes include: mapping, dynamic landscape, moving gestures, portraiture, narrative, generative art, networked projects, artificial life, body and identity, media activism, surveillance, commercialization, and convergence. Six Art Papers are presented in the catalog. The Art Gallery features Artist Panels and Artists' Talks that frame contemporary digital art practices.Threading Time was juried by a preeminent group of jurors, artists, curators, and computer graphics and arts professionals. From more than 1,100 submissions, the jury selected 52 artists whose works are both figurative and abstract. To provide a deeper window into the artists' work, more artwork by fewer artists was selected. Some of the work is code driven, and some is narrative; some is political and intellectual, while other work is personal and emotional. Some of the work maps aesthetic preferences, while other work creates aesthetic experiences interactively.The jury considered work that:•Addresses the theme and traces threads through time and space•Is content driven•Is visually compelling•Uses the technology in the service of the art•Demonstrates a clear reason for the use of digital media2005 is a time for cooperation, community, and networking. In this spirit, The 2005 SIGGRAPH conference is rich with collaboration among its programs and beyond. Emerging Technologies and the Art Gallery are sharing overlapping space to show six interactive art installations. These two programs are also demonstrating the very nature of collaboration by presenting compelling distributed performances and art panels on the Access Grid. The Art Gallery is collaborating with the Computer Animation Festival to present, for the first time in SIGGRAPH history, a mini-show of storyboard and concept art. Art animations, juried through the Computer Animation Festival, are shown in an intimate screening room in the Art Gallery. Some of the Art Gallery artists are participating in Sketches and the Web Program.We have reached a true paradigm shift in art making. Digital technologies are ubiquitous, and artists are using them in exciting ways to express time-honored as well as new ideas. And these ideas are evolving with the technology. The SIGGRAPH 2005 Art Gallery: Threading Time showcases these artworks.