\“SYNAPTIC TIME TUNNEL” @ SIGGRAPH 2023 [transSTT]

A major generative, transmodal, and interactive installation for SIGGRAPH 2023, funded by AUTODESK. © transLAB, MAT, University of California, Santa Barbara, et al., 2023

“SYNAPTIC TIME TUNNEL” @ SIGGRAPH 2023 [transSTT]
This major generative, transmodal, and interactive installation for SIGGRAPH 2023 celebrates the 50th conference of this most famous computer graphics conference series.
Photographs of the “SYNAPTIC TIME TUNNEL” at SIGGRAPH 2023 [transSTT], Los Angeles Convention Center, 2023.
Credits: Weihao Qui
research team:
Marcos Novak - MAT Chair and transLAB Director, UCSB
Graham Wakefield - York University, UCSB
Haru Ji - York University, UCSB
Nefeli Manoudaki - transLAB, MAT/UCSB
Iason Paterakis - transLAB, MAT/UCSB
Diarmid Flatley - transLAB, MAT/UCSB
Ryan Millett - transLAB, MAT/UCSB
Kon Hyong Kim - AlloSphere Research Group, MAT/UCSB
Gustavo Rincon - AlloSphere Research Group, MAT/UCSB
Weihao Qiu - Experimental Visualization Lab, MAT/UCSB
Pau Rosello Diaz - transLAB, MAT/UCSB
Alan Macy - BIOPAC Systems Inc.
JoAnn Kuchera-Morin - AlloSphere Research Group, MAT/UCSB

performers:
Devon Frost - MAT/UCSB
Alysia James - Department of Theater and Dance/UCSB
supervisor: Marcos Novak
with the support of the Siggraph history archive team.
Special thanks: This project was realized with the generous support of AUTODESK, 
without which it would not have been possible.

Contribution:
Lead Technical Artist (Architectural Pre-Visualization, Main-Visual System Design, Interaction Integration, Individual Artistic Layer)

More information about the Synaptic Time Tunnel can be found in the following news articles:
Why "Synaptic? By referring to neural nets, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and cognitive neuroscience, the "synaptic concept connects the last fifty years to the next.

Imagining the past, present, and future of the SIGGRAPH archive as a dense evolving network of artificial neurons, dendrites, and synapses, and likening the spread of ideas to branching neural signals firing across countless synaptic connections, flashing like lightning, this interactive, performative, and data-driven work traverses the landmark developments of an ever-emerging ever-expanding field, tracing the propagation of influences and innovations across time, extrapolating from the past fifty years to the future fifty.

Fusing past (five decades of SIGGRAPH archival materials). present (live interactivity, generativity, and performance). and future (Al/ML extrapolations of the past fifty years into the next fifty), this transmodal project explores synaptic interconnections between pioneering individuals, landmark ideas, technical innovations, breakthrough projects, and visionary artworks that carried the computer graphics revolution from the edge of research through the mainstream of global culture and on into the restless invention of the future.

Perforated Systems: In a gesture toward holistic thought about the environment, a multi-layered structure of "perforated systems" creates a self-balancing ecosystem of sights, sounds, and behaviors, in which the overall environment has equal agency. Many authors have provided many layers, all communicating with one another in a model of open but self-balancing collaboration inspired by the biodiversity of rainforests and coral reefs.

This project originates at the MAT transLAB at UCSB, and is a collaboration between the transLAB and AlloSphere at MAT, the Alice Lab at York University, SBCAST (Santa Barbara Center for Art Science and Technology), Biopac Systems Inc., and the ACM SIGGRAPH Archive team. Many alumni and friends of MAT have also contributed to this work.
EXHIBITIONS:
-ACM SIGGRAPH 2023 - Time Tunnel Experiences- “Synaptic Time Tunnel”, Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, California / August 2023

-Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC). Presentation/ Exhibition of “S50_transLAB Synaptic Time Tunnel (SIGGRAPH 2023 Excerpt)", Troy, New York / May 2023
-UCSB, Media Arts and Technology program- End of the Year Show @ California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) Elings Hall, MAT Program, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara / June 2023 (excerpt)
-UCSB, Media Arts and Technology program- End of the Year Show @ SBCAST, Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara / June 2023 (excerpt)