Plug into cutting-edge arts and technology research during ICAT Day
Virginia Tech research that merges the arts and technology, blurs traditional discipline boundaries, and offers new ways to express and create will be showcased during “ICAT Day” on Monday, May 5. This free annual event spotlights the innovative projects designed by students and faculty affiliated with the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology.
The event, which will include technology demonstrations, hands-on activities, and expo-style informational booths, will be held in the Moss Arts Center, located at 190 Alumni Mall. Activities will be offered from noon until 7 p.m., unless otherwise noted.
Highlights of the event include
Video Game Festival
Twelve gaming consoles will be available for anyone interested in playing video games created by an interdisciplinary team of art and computer science students. These games are the final project for a video game design class led by Yong Cao, assistant professor in the College of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science, and Dane Webster, associate professor in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies’ School of Visual Arts.
Digital Interactive Sound and Intermedia Studio Spring 2015 Event
An evening of multisensory performances and experiences that fit no pre-existing form or template will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Moss Arts Center’s Cube. The event will feature the Kandinsky Trio; guest artist Chris McCormick; Virginia Tech faculty artists Ivica Ico Bukvic, Lee Heuermann, Eric Lyon, and Charles Nichols; Virginia Tech's Linux Laptop Orchestra (L2Ork); and students engaged in Digital Interactive Sound and Intermedia Studio (DISIS) and cinema curricula. The event is free and open to the public.
3-D Printing
Virginia Tech’s Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing Systems Lab will demonstrate one of its 3-D printers, complete with a display of printed objects. Researchers will also show how they design and create flexible textile structures, which can be easily manipulated into a fixed shape due to interference among the links of the printed textile. This research has potential applications in several areas such as the medical, textile, and fashion industries.
Projects from the Center for Human-Computer Human Interaction
Now part of the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology, the Center for Human-Computer Interaction will have a number of Virginia Tech student and faculty collaborative projects on hand for the event, including work from its creative computing studio. This class provides students with intensive immersion in different approaches to digital art, such as game design, interactive pieces, digital music, and immersive virtual reality. The work featured will include a visualization app designed to work with digital music service Spotify.
Connected vehicle derby demonstration
The College of Engineering’s physical computing course uses a hands-on approach to introduce students to the ways computing mediates a person’s interactions with the environment. Students from this class will host a demo version of their connected vehicle derby, which they designed for children based on research from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.
The students have outfitted a cardboard car with sensors that monitor speed, collision, and swerving. They have also developed a special driving course, which takes a human-centered design approach to exploring the range of expressions and affordances provided by physical objects when response is determined by computation.
More than 30 additional activities will be available throughout the Moss Arts Center for the community to explore. A comprehensive list of the day’s exhibitions and activities is available online.
