The Aquatic Messenger, an immersive arts/science virtual reality world about the importance of plankton for freshwater ecology by artist Kathleen Ruiz opens at the Center for Holographic Arts in NYC in conjunction with City of Water Day on Governors Island July 14, 15, & 16, 2017.

(Friday 2-4pm, Saturday 11am-5pm, Sunday 11am – 4pm)

Explore microscopic messengers of time inspired by micro-paleontology and plankton research from the Jefferson Project and the Darrin Freshwater Institute DFWI.

Please join our team for a premier of our prototype at this special event!

For more info please see: TheAquaticMessenger

Kathleen Ruiz, abd Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Department of the Arts and co-founder of the Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is honored to be exhibiting her new vr artwork The Aquatic Messenger at the Center for Holographic Arts, curated by Director, Martina Mrongovius, Ph.D. in NYC.

“The Aquatic Messenger is about Plankton and their vital importance for freshwater ecology. Many people do not know about these tiny plants and animals, yet they are crucial to life on our planet.” K. Ruiz

“You can scale yourself to plankton size and virtually reach out and touch them. Experience their world as you learn about them. Journey back in time and discover patterns in their evolution influenced by environmental changes that may help us in the future.” K. Ruiz

Originator, project lead designer, director, producer, Kathleen is working with an amazing trans-disciplinary team that includes biologists, micro paleontologists, geologists, and a number of her students. For more info: TheAquaticMessenger

Supported in part by a grant from NYSCA (The New York State Council on the Arts) in partnership with Wave Farm: Media Arts Assistance Fund (MAAF), an Academic Research Grant from NVIDIA Corporation, development support from 1st Playable Productions, and support from The Jefferson Project and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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Kathleeen Ruiz is an internationally exhibiting media artist who has shown at major institutions and venues worldwide. She works with simulation, games, augmented reality, sculpture and photography. Her work explores perception, especially the interplay between the virtual and “the real” and involves a strong focus on first-person experience, intentionality, and the possibilities for simulation media to approach a non-colonizing understanding of others and of the environment. She is currently Associate Professor of Arts & GSAS at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Recent work includes three large scale, immersive art projects: The Watershed Project, The World of Plankton, and currently The Aquatic Messenger. Working with trans-disciplinary teams of scientists and students, these works highlight the importance and complexity of freshwater ecosystems, using art and science to build critical awareness about the environment. In her customary style, these works are manifested both digitally as projected or immersive virtual realities, but also in conjunction with physical interfaces, objects, and artistic and scientific real world fieldwork experiences. Her current artistic and scholarly research is centered on simulation, perspective and empathy.

Her art work has been reviewed/published in the New York Times, Aperture, Art News, ARTI, Jornal do Brasil, The College Art Journal, The MIT Press, Reuters Video News International, Computer Graphics, Yale Art Gallery, Wired, USA Today, arteTV, TeknoKultura, Merrell, Thames and Hudson, and others.

Kathleen’s work is supported by grants from NYSCA (New York State Council on the Arts), the NSF (National Science Foundation), NVIDIA, KIP (Knowledge and Innovation Program) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Experimental Television Center, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, the Catskill Watershed Corporation, the NYCDEP (New York City Department of Environmental Protection), the U.S. National Forestry Service, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Department of Design and Construction, Percent for Art Program and others.

The Aquatic Messenger at the Center for Holographic Arts in NYC on Governors Island July 14, 15, & 16, 2017.