currents
an augmented reality (AR) salmon run
Alina Nazmeeva & Alex Kosnett
Inspired by the unique ecology of the Puget Sound (also known as Whulge by some Coast Salish peoples) Watershed and the southern reach of the Salish Sea, Currents celebrates salmon and related species and their role in the broader ecosystem of Pacific Northwest and Seattle.
Digital ebbs and flows create layered and complex spatial composition reminiscent of salmon runs, and invite the viewer to explore a dialogue between the city and its special geographic location. Each path represents one of many creeks and riverbeds that comprise the Puget Sound. Colorful shapes—both one and many—continue its course, follow the paths, grow and oscillate in the digital currents, while reflecting Seattle's urban context.
X
On Display
Bumbershoot Weekend
Aug 31st – Sep 1st
HOW TO ACTIVatE:
1. SCAN THE QR CODE
(auto opens instagram filter)
2. ALIGN TO FOUNTAIN
2. TAP FOUNTAIN TO ENGAGE
4. INTERACT, LISTEN, and SHARE
Located in the Animation District, in the courtyard of the Cornish Playhouse in Photography below by Rachel Sweeney (@soundvisionproductions)
About the Artwork
Currents invites the viewer to contemplate the beauty of salmon life cycles from their birth in creeks and riverbeds, their passage to the ocean where they live most of their years, to their eventual homecoming to create new life at their source. After or even during the trek to spawn, salmon die and leave their bodies to feed wildlife inland, ultimately fertilizing their home forests in one of the few cases on Earth where nutrients flow from the ocean to the land.
This cycle throughout millions of years has created the unique landscape of the region, braiding together the lives of countless peoples, inclusive of flora, fungi, and fauna. Even in the face of colonial and industrial intervention in the flow of water or the growth of forests, salmon persist and are returning to places such as the recently undammed Elwha River to play their part in restoration.
This piece was first shown as part of the inaugural AUGMENT Seattle showcase in 2022
Interact in
Person
Bumbershoot is a ticket-only event
Watch Artist Talk on
Youtube
Join the Artists in special online discourse
Future Arts LIVE! from Bumbershoot 2024
11-11:30AM PST || Sat, Aug 31st - Artist Talk with Alina & Alex
5:30-6:30pm PST || Future Arts LIVE! from Animation District
Cornish Playhouse Courtyard
About the Artists
ALINA NAZMEEVA
Alina Nazmeeva (she/her) | is a media artist and educator based in Chicago. She is an Assistant Professor of Computation at the UIUC School of Architecture. Alina creates simulations and worlds that analyze the intra-actions of physical and digital spaces and objects, and their cultural, economic and political ramifications. Using XR, gaming engines, CGI software, machinima, physical and textile installations, their creative and research practice examines the oscillations and murmurs between virtual and concrete, life and animation, organic and the engineered. She holds a Masters degree from MIT School of Architecture and Planning. She was a Taubman fellow at the University of Michigan (2022-24), researcher-in-residence at Canadian Centre of Architecture (2022) and a research fellow at Strelka Institute of Media, Design and Technology (2017). Her work was exhibited at Venice Biennale of Architecture, FutureArts Seattle, Boston Cyberarts, Liberty Annex Gallery in Ann Arbor, Chicago Gamespace, A+D Museum in Los Angeles and Bumbershoot festival (forthcoming). Her writing has appeared in Plat, Voices (Towards Other Institutions), and Media-N, among others.
ALEX KOSNETT
Alex Kosnett (They/them) | (Artwork Research Collaborator, Sound) is an urban planner and ecologist living in Portland, Oregon working to improve safe access for people to conservation lands in the Northwest. Alex defies the false binary separating humans and nature and believes that the most direct way to "connect" people with the natural world is to show that they've never left it. A student of bird language and wildlife tracking, Alex hears and sees stories broadcast by our more-than-human kin every day and hopes that VR and AR can expand our perception of the world and guide us to a healthier, more grounded, entwined future.
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