Paul Dolan (United Kingdom)
1 – Northumbria University
Paul Dolan
Paul Dolan is an artist living in Newcastle Upon Tyne. He is a Senior Lecturer of Animation and Programme Leader of the Animation BA course at Northumbria University. He has recently completed his PhD thesis entitled “In Silico: A practice-based exploration of computer simulations in contemporary art.” His work explores the points of contact between digital and natural environments, often with an ecological purpose. Through use of photography, computer simulation, game engines and visual scripting, Dolan explores the material properties of “immaterial” digital images, especially in relation to ecology and the natural world.
Abstract
From Silicon to Pixel: exploring the material origins of the simulated image
This paper will use ideas from the Geology of Media (Parikka, 2015) to explore how animation can be traced back to particular geographic locations via the materials involved in their construction. This will be elucidated via reference to my own practice, which includes an animated simulation of a silicon mine in North Carolina that supplies Intel raw silicon for micro-processor manufacturing. This work attempts to create a direct link between an animated landscape and one of its many real-world material origins.
The paper will be based upon my recently completed PhD thesis and practice-led research which uses animation to open up ideas about media, time, materials and the environment. Within the thesis I explored the relationship between the recalcitrant characteristics of the computer simulated image in the context of geology and more broadly, the Anthropocene.
Bibliography
Cubitt, S. (2017) Finite Media: Environmental Implications of Digital Technologies. Durham: Duke University Press Books.
Delanda, M. (2016) Assemblage Theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Fuller, M. (2007) Media Ecologies: Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture. New Ed edition: MIT Press.
Parikka, J. (2015) A Geology of Media. Minneapolis; London: University of Minnesota Press.
Palavras-chave: new materialist philosophies, media materiality, geology of media, silicon mines, Anthropocene
