516 ARTS, The Albuquerque Museum of Art & History and partners present the main exhibition for ISEA2012 Albuquerque: Machine Wilderness, on view at seven sites. It is based at both The Albuquerque Museum of Art & History and 516 ARTS, with off-site projects at the following five locations: Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History, the Rainosek Gallery at the UNM School of Architecture & Planning, Richard Levy Gallery and the Alvarado Urban Farm. The exhibition features work that combines art, science and technology, demonstrating the role art can play in re-envisioning the world. It includes over 100 artists from 16 countries: Austria, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, the U.K. and the USA. (See attached list of artists). The exhibition was juried and curated through an international call for proposals, which drew close to 1,500 submissions from artists and presenters around the globe.

The ISEA2012 title “Machine Wilderness” references the New Mexico region as an area of rapid growth and technology within vast expanses of open land, and aims to present visions of a more humane interaction between technology and wilderness in which “machines” can take many forms to support life on Earth. Machine Wilderness focuses on creative solutions to the challenge of advancing technology while sustaining the global natural environment.

Many of the artworks are interactive, and invite the public to participate. Artists include Ivan Puig and Andrés Padillla Domene (Mexico) displaying SEFT-1, a “Manned Railway Exploration Probe” vehicle which travels on abandoned railways to document largely remote areas of the country, creating a futuristic exploration of Mexico’s past. New Mexico artist Agnes Chavez is featured with (x)trees, a socially interactive, virtual forest generated from search words found in tweets and text messages. Navajo artist William Wilson and collaborators present the eyeDazzler project, which combines traditional Navajo weaving and design with QR codes that lead viewers to the project’s website. Fred Paulino, Lucas Mafra and Ganso/Paulo Pessoa of the Gambiologia Project (Brazil) present their Gambiocycle, a mobile broadcast unit that is a tricycle containing electronic gear for interactive video projection and digital graffiti in public space. Other artists include Rubén Ortiz-Torres, Leo Villarael, Nam June Paik, Seoungho Cho (Korea) and many more!

516 ARTS produced the ISEA2012 conference September 19-24, and now the exhibition and season-long series of events continue through the fall. The project explores the discourse of global proportions on the subject of art, technology and nature. The International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) is the world’s premier forum for advancing exchange and innovation among artists, scientists and technologists. As host for ISEA2012, Albuquerque has joined Istanbul, Helsinki, Munich, Singapore, Sydney and other major cities worldwide as an international center for creativity and technology.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by the acclaimed Radius Books, which is available at www.516arts.org/store.

Main Exhibition Sites:

516 ARTS
516 Central Ave. SW, Downtown Albuquerque, 505-242-1445, www.516arts.org • Open Tue – Sat, 12-5pm

The Albuquerque Museum of Art & History
2000 Mountain Rd. NW, Albuquerque, 505-243-7255, www.albuquerquemuseum.org • Open Tue – Sun, 9am-5pm

Additional Exhibition Sites

New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science
1801 Mountain Rd. NW, Albuquerque, 505-841-2800, www.nmnaturalhistory.org • Open daily 9am-5pm

Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum
9201 Balloon Museum Dr. NE, Albuquerque, 505-768-6020, www.cabq.gov/balloon • Open Tue – Sun, 9am-5pm

Alvarado Urban Farm
101 Silver Ave. SW, Downtown Albuquerque, www.alvaradourbanfarm.com
Eden Project: Note venue change & shorter dates: 104 Gold Ave. SW, September 20 – October 13

Rainosek Gallery, UNM School of Architecture & Planning
The University of New Mexico Main Campus, Albuquerque, 505-277-0111, www.saap.unm.edu • Open Mon – Fri, 9am-5:30pm
Note shorter exhibition dates: September 10 – October 26

Richard Levy Gallery

514 Central Ave. SW, Downtown Albuquerque, 505-766-9888, www.levygallery.com • Open Mon – Sat, 11am-4pm
Note shorter exhibition dates: September 13 – October 12