Babs Smith
I work with physical and virtual materials to travel between online and offline processes. I re-present the 2D in 3D and vice versa to extract something that I know exists in an abstract sculptural form. I explore subjects such as movement, light, energy, sound and time, in the landscape of the Anthropocene. Utilising programs such as Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, my hand makes a visceral direct contact as far as is possible with the medium. I respond to the same subject in a traditional medium such as painting, print or sculpture with a ‘what if’ process, jumping in and out of both methods to deepen my understanding. I liken this to our unique combinations of daily digital and IRL immersion, and the extent to which we are unknowingly affected by Artificial Intelligence.
Collaboration with artists, musicians and researchers creates a new landscape in which the online and offline can be straddled. Working with scientists at Para Lab Manchester, facilitates collaborations based on science-based evidence of climate change. Decisions are challenged, assumptions exposed and the digital permeable layer that exists between the two, is pushed to its limits in a process of thinking through materials. This co-art begins with a shared experience or thirst for knowledge; How can this manifest and translate visually to communicate our perception of the world around us as we endeavour to explore that place of inertia in which we currently stand in relation to the climate crisis? Listening and engaging in conversation with viewers completes my work and drives me forward.