CAC Lab is a place dedicated to the inquiry of present-day matters regarding art, design, science, technology and their impact on global contemporary culture and society. Through artistic practice, technological tools and research methods, we enable creative processes that result in works of art of high production and academic value. The Lab is a space of flux which encourages artistic practice as a generator of new knowledge, a territory where art and science converge into a contemporary and experimental field of academic research; free from mainstream cultural thought, technological stress and economical diversions.
Creative Research Strands
Research/Creation (R/C) is a field of knowledge-based-production emerging from the increasing number of artists-researchers pursuing investigations in creative fields within academic settings. R/C integrates art practice with scientific methodologies in experiments leading to the conception and production of artworks. It disrupts the traditional artistic mindset based on individual and emotional expressions while emphasizing on research and inquiry (in both cultural and technological terms) as the basis and prerequisite for contemporary artistic practice. R/C encourages trans-disciplinary works, collaborations, and collective thinking, enriching the creative process in pursuit of generating new academic knowledge. The Lab focuses on the following areas:
— Networks: Interrogation of diverse types of digital networking infrastructures, often with the help of physical computing (sensors, wearables, trackers, biofeedback, connected devices, etc.) to unravel hidden dependencies of complex technological systems, produce immersive experiences, performances, games, interactive artefacts and environments
— Data Inquiries: Dealing with data (through servers, APIs, databases) and visual front-ends (user interfaces) to make information systems more tangible and transparent, develop experimental applications, generative and net art, interactive installations
— Augmented Critical Narratives: Experiments with augmented and virtual reality to develop non-linear, experimental and experiential narratives that question realities by detaching from them; autonomous audiovisual systems that make use of first-person participatory dynamics to further blur the distinction between the physical and the virtual
— Existential Technologies: Examination of fundamental ontological and epistemological questions regarding the nature of reality and human perception in the age of technology; synesthesia, sensory substitution and augmentation, critical reflection upon the notion of ‘quantified-self’
— It From Bit (and Back): Aesthetic objects that challenge the definitions of simulation and representation by bridging digital and physical forms. The transmutation of bits into atoms and vice-versa becomes a transversal manifestation of new forms of art in the field of mixed and mediated reality.
Tools and Facilities
- ‘OPTITRACK’ motion capture system
- 2x ‘Oculus Rift’ VR headsets and a PC with sufficient graphics
- various screens
- monitor speakers
- medium-sized k40 laser cutter
- Flashforge Creator PRO 3D printer
- sander belt
- band saw
- drill press
- prototyping tools
- soldering station
- various electronic components
- shared desk space
Current Head of Research/Creation at Chronus Art Center
Vytas Jankauskas is an artist, designer and researcher interested in how emerging technologies inhabit and shape our domestic mundane. His practice encompasses the Internet of Things, data ownership, digital citizenship, social media and their influence on our everyday.
He is the co-founder of a project-based critical design practice VJF with Jon Flint. He is part of the Cached Collective that seeks to raise awareness around data and privacy via tangible and immersive experiences. Vytautas is a permanent resident at the Pervasive Media Studio, Bristol, UK, since 2018.
Vytas holds a BA in Media Art from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts andd MA in Media Design from HEAD — Genève.
Vytas’ work has been exhibited at the V&A (Digital Design Weekend, ‘The Future Starts Here’), CCCB (‘After the End of the World’), Chroniques Biennale, Salone Internazionale del Mobile (‘Animal Party’), ISEA (‘Lux Aeterna’), and Cité du Design St.Etienne (‘Culture Interface’), amongst others. He has been awarded the Core77 Speculative Concepts Runner-Up prize in 2016 for his piece ‘How to Build a Water Filter: a Youtube Tutorial from the Future’.
Between 2015 and 2018 Vytautas was a a visual designer and researcher at the London-based critically-acclaimed futures design studio Superflux. As part of the practice, he has given talks and represented the company in multiple shows.
Previous Head of Research (2015-2019)
Fito Segrera is an artist, and technologist. He studied fine arts and Audiovisual / Multimedia production at Jorge Tadeo Lozano University of Bogotá, Colombia and completed an MFA in Design and Technology with honors at Parsons, The New School, New York, while being a Fulbright Scholar from 2013 until 2015. His current research and creative practice appropriates elements from digital philosophy, artificial intelligence, monism and modern physics while using physical computing, software programming and information / telecommunication technologies to inquiry in fundamental ontological questions regarding the nature of reality and the physicality of the universe.
Some of his most recent shows include: I am here to lear: On Machinic Interpretations of the World, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany, 2018, UNREAL: The Algorithmic Present, House of Electronic Arts (HEK), Basel, Switzerland, 2017 & Chronus Art Center, Shanghai, 2017, VARIATIONS, Paris, France, 2016, PLUNC Festival Lisbon, Portugal, 2016, Migrating Fronteers, Chronus Art Center, Shanghai, China, 2016/2015, Shanghai Art and Design Fair, West Bund Art Center, Shanghai, China, 2016, SIGGRAPH, Vancouver, Canada, 2014, Collision 20 & 21, Boston Ciberarts Gallery, Boston, U.S.A, 2014, Huston International Performance Biennale, Huston, U.S.A, 2014, SXSW, Austin, U.S.A, 2014, Emoji, EYEBEAM, New York, U.S.A, 2013, Dorkbot, New York, U.S.A, 2013, Harvestworks, New York, U.S.A, 2013.