The International Digital Media and Arts Association kicked off its tenth anniversary conference at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, FL, November 8, 2012. With the theme Fast Forward, the conference featured speakers and presenters from a wide variety of disciplines presenting their thoughts and research on where digital media and digital arts are headed.
The conference began with a keynote by David Gallo, PhD, Director of Special Projects, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. In his address, “Inspiration, Education & Exploration,” Gallo shared his experiences exploring the bottom of the ocean, only 5% of which has been explored. Advances in technology has allowed him to record and collect data from 2 miles below the surface of the ocean, previously impossible.
Greg Mitchell, Cinematics Director, Epic Games Studio, in his talk, “Everything I learned about Making Movies in Games came from TV,” shared his convergent journey from 8mm home movies and his Atari 2600 to editing video on an early Avid and becoming interested in video games on his PS2. All of his experiences, mirroring many in Gen X, lead him to producing cinematics for Epic Games, including the Gears of War franchise, which recently passed 19 million in sales.
Kurt Kratchman, founder of BLACKBOX, presented on the work of Frederick and Laurie Samitaur Smith and their recent project, the ArtTower in Culver City, CA. ArtTower is an urban, interactive venue that allows for public exhibition of art, and is an innovative approach to urban planning.
A number of special topics presentations were made by academics across the nation, as well. Jeff Nyhoff, Calvin College, and Brenda Bakker Harger, Carnegie Mellon University, talked about “Computer Games as Theatre: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Student Game Design.” Yana Sakellion, American University, spoke on “Processing Baroque Music in the Age of Reponsive Media.” Matthew Nelson and James Ferolo, Bradley University talked about their large-scale multiplexing project, “The Image Pool: A Large-Scale Visual Installation.”
The first night featured the iDEAS Art Opening and the Student Showcase in the New World School of the Arts Gallery. Artists from across the nation exhibited their work, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the IDEAS exhibit. Students from the following schools shared their work with the conference: University of Akron, SUNY Oswego, University of Houston Clear Lake, University of Georgia, University of Florida, University of Detroit Mercy, East Tennessee State University, Utah Valley University, University of Toledo, Columbia College Chicago and New World School of the Arts.
The International Digital Media and Arts Association (iDMAa) was founded in early 2004 by a group of 15 universities. iDMAa is dedicated to serving educators, practitioners, scholars, and organizations with interests in digital media by forging interdisciplinary partnerships to create opportunities and stimulate explosions of creativity.
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