CADRE (Computers in Art, Design, Research & Education) - an interdisciplinary university research association dedicated to experimental applications of new media technology at San Jose State University.
Joel Slayton is Professor of Fine Art and Director of the CADRE Institute (Computers in Art and Design/Research and Education ) in the School of Art and Design at San Jose State University. Prior to coming to San Jose State University he was a Visiting Professor at the Center for Information and Communication Studies at California State University Chico. From 1978-82 Joel Slayton was Coordinator of the Visible Language Workshop at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Slayton received his MA in Photography and Cinema from Ohio State University.
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Joel Slayton's artistic endeavors involving performance, installation and digital imaging have been presented internationally. His most recent installation/performance work, Conduits was commissioned for the 1994 Palo Alto Centennial.
Projects: Conduits
Conduits explored the implications of human trust in electronic networking, communications and technology. The performance centerpiece involved a 30 foot high electronic telecommunications sculpture including over 50 video monitors and projection screens. Conduits included experimental forms of opera, choral music and jazz performed to an electro-acoustic score.
DoWhatDo is a conversational and learning systems theory. This emerging technology employs relational visual databases, on-line information resources, networking and integration visual presentation and delivery systems. DoWhatDo, provides the means for Conduits and represents the cutting edge of interactive multimedia performance.
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Joel Slayton received a 1991 National Endowment for the Arts Grant for a site specific installation and media performance, DoWhatDo, sponsored by the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art and the City of San Jose. DoWhatDo is best described as a techno urban 'drive-in' experience involving 200 performers and a vast array of automated performance technology. DoWhatDo premiered October 16th 1992 at the International Computer Music Conference.
Projects: DoWhatDo
This spectacular multimedia performance event was sponsored by the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, the City of San Jose, California and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Gala Premiere of DoWhatDo was October 16, 1992 in conjunction with the International Computer Music Conference hosted by San Jose State University with an additional public performance on the 17th.
DoWhatDo introduces the Techno-Urban Drive-In as a principal means of social interaction. The top floor of the city of San Jose's public parking facility is transformed into a hi-tech, multimedia drive-in, drive-through movie. The performance is experienced from strategic vantage points within automobiles.
DoWhatDo is a unique collaboration of interdisciplinary artists, musicians and performers with technologists that encompass computer graphics, engineering, interactive systems, video, networking, tele-communications and electro-acoustics. A one-year process of planning engaged cultural arts groups, civic organizations and corporate sponsors.
DoWhatDo is a theatrical space enabling total immersion of the audience into the actual performance. Two hundred performers present a cross-cultural re-definition of San Jose in a parade of circumstance and event. The performers engage the audience in a series of exhibitions and demonstrations of sport, dance and ceremony. Each act represents a sub-culture or ethnic tradition.
The performance environment is transformed through sequences of visual 'moments' and acoustic information. Visual projections of computer graphics and video occur on a large three-dimensional projection screen structure controlled by networked interactive multimedia computers. Live video-feeds of both performers and audience are composed with pre-recorded computer animation and digital movies through a real-time projection control system. Automobiles are directed through the environment to strategic viewing positions. An FM radio broadcast provides instructional information regarding audience participation. An original electro-acoustic music score creates a 3D sound environment complimenting specific presentations by live performers. A two-way microwave telcom link with an off-site auditorium provides for remote audience interactive viewing and participation.
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From 1989-91 Joel Slayton was Visual Coordinator for the George Coates Performance Works (GCPW) in San Francisco. The GCPW productions, Invisible Site and The Architecture of Catastrophic Change received rave critical reviews for their spectacular computer controlled multimedia-media effects. In 1990 Joel Slayton collaborated with the internationally renown choreographer Tandy Beal to produce 98.6 FM, an audience interactive performance work integrating computer media, video walls, image projections, microwave transmission and sculpture The performance culminated with a deep space message transmission, live from the theater.
Projects: 98.6 FM
Joel Slayton; Choreography by Tandy Beal and Company; Produced by the CADRE Institute San Jose State University; Santa Clara University Theater; 1992.
98.6 FM employs state-of-the-art performance control technology, video, computer graphics and deep space message transmission. Audience members interact with computer terminals in the theater lobby to assist in the construction of a deep space message transmission compiled utilizing expert systems software. Microwave antenna on stage transmit the video, acoustic and choreography into deep space with the message passing through the Cusp of Hercules constellation in 60,000 light years.
The unique collaboration of computer artists from the CADRE Institute, the extraordinary choreography of Tandy Beal and the experimental aesthetic of Joel Slayton combine result in an extraordinary visual, acoustic and dance spectacle.
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Computer installations have been featured at the Krannert Art Museum, Muskengon Museum of Art, San Francisco State University, Allegheny College and The Triton Museum of Art. Video screenings include: The Durban International Film Festival (South Africa), Tage Fur Nueu Musik (Germany) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Joel Slayton's digital images have been exhibited at the Zollar Gallery at Penn State University, Friends of Photography in San Francisco, New Mexico State University, the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, Smithsonian Institute, Brigham Museum of Art, Craft Alliance Gallery and Arnofilini Gallery in England.
Mr. Slayton has developed research projects in conjunction with Xerox Parc, NASA Ames Research Center, Polaroid Corporation, Sun Micro Systems, Silicon Graphics, Stellar Computer and Intel. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and symposia such as International Symposium on Electronic Arts, ACM Siggraph, CyberArts International and the National Computer Graphics Association. Recent visiting artist workshops include the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Mesa College AZ. Mr. Slayton has organized two national symposiums on art and technology, 1989 The Dimensions of Interactivity and the 1986 Silicon Valley Festival of Electronic Art.
He is currently coordinating CADRE's 10th Anniversary Exhibitions Program and Symposia on Virtual Reality for Spring 1995.