Evan Tedlock & Keshav Prasad
Abstract
Psithaura is an immersive interactive installation inspiring reflection on our relationship to nature. It asks how we frame nature in the current geological age when human activity has been the dominant influence on the environment. Recent rollback of the United States environmental protections and a general denial of scientific facts about climate change have pushed the already dire ecological crisis over the edge. How can we work towards a solution when so many people, policymakers, voters, and citizens of the world, refuse to accept verifiable facts? When facts fail, how does one share a message that can be heard? In this age of 'gut feelings' and ‘alternative facts,’ we will discuss the role of art in reestablishing reality-based dialog.
Speaker Bio
Evan Tedlock is an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. As an animation artist, his work stands in opposition to the ubiquitous and aggressive epileptic nature of commercial media. Tedlock’s immersive experiences of the sublime have a slow developing rhythm that allow the viewer’s mind to wander. Referencing philosophical concepts such as Edmund Burke and Thomas Merton, these works distill high concepts into a simple complexity of geometric shapes and organic textures. Evan holds a BFA in animation from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, John C. Hench Division of Animation and Digital Media.
Ke$hav Prasad is an MFA candidate at USC School of Cinematic Arts' Interactive Media and Game Design Division. He works on designing virtual worlds, reactive and expressive intelligent spaces, and speculative creative rituals in mixed reality.