Bio-Diversity of Major Vancouver Garden Now Includes Robots

Second  Site  collective  at  VanDusen  Botanical  Gardens (37th and Oak)
(June 30 to September 23, 2007. 11am to 4pm rain permitting)
(Opens on the Canada Day Weekend - June 30, July 1)

Presenting  the  work  of Diana  Burgoyne,   Peter   Courtemanche, David
Floren, Ken Gregory, Robin Ripley, Matt Smith,  and  Lori  Weidenhammer.

In the summer of 2007, Second Site collective will present  a  series of
outdoor  interventions  and  installations  at the  VanDusen   Botanical
Garden in Vancouver. Second Site collective  is a  group  of artists who
create and present electronic art  (sound,  kinetics,  robotics,  primal
circuitry, sculpture) in public spaces.  The collective  is particularly
interested in green spaces - parks, gardens, areas of urban
agriculture, beaches, and "urban wilderness". The art created  by Second
Site causes the audience to do a "double take", transforming  a familiar
space into a "meta-site". A meta-site is a place where  art has  created
a heightened sensory  experience.  It causes  a sense  of  curiosity and
enchantment in the viewer. A meta-site is a place where  one hears a set
of sounds behind the expected sounds, here familiar sites  are  remapped
and re-inscribed with artistic  inventions.  These  inventions  question
the connection between contemporary technology-driven  industry,  social
constructs, and our dependence on threatened agriculture and
bio-diversity. The works to be presented at VanDusen help to  illustrate
simple mechanisms of nature as well as form a hybrid between
bio-diversity  (as  opposed  to bio-industry)  and  electronic   art (as
opposed to industrial technology). The pieces includes hybrid  sculpture
that  merges  plants  with  electronics,  autonomous   robots   based on
insects, a seed collector-distributor  that  mimics  natural  processes,
and an examination of historical research about honeybee  communication.

The works include:

"If plants could sing" by Diana  Burgoyne,  "Preying  Insect  Robots" by
Peter  Courtemanche,  "Resin  Cloud"  by  David  Floren,  "Gregory's Sun
Suckers" by Ken Gregory,  "Mend"  by Robin  Ripley,  "Ponderer"  by Matt
Smith, and "Madame Doolittle's  Auditory  Hive"  by  Lori  Weidenhammer.

The works will be presented as interventions.  This  will  be  a loosely
scheduled series of events that will be installed in different  areas of
the gardens on different days. The artists will  be  in  attendance near
the art works and will be available to  talk  to the  public  and answer
questions.

Dates:

Opening on Saturday June 30/ Sunday July 1. Different  works/events will
run every day through the end of July,  and  then  sporadically  through
August and September with a finalé involving all  the pieces  on Sunday
September 23.

Please  visit  http://www.secondsitecollective.net/  for  more  details.