_.noocambriidæ._

Synthetic/Organic, digital/biological, virtual/actual, noocambriidæ brings into being monstrous entities that are born out of the compost pile of the collective unconscious as it operates through cyberspace. Though the exact date and attribution are uncertain, the term ‘noosphere’ is commonly linked to Vladimir Vernadsky, Teilhard de Chardin and Edouard Le Roy, as early as the mid-1920s. This concept refers to the third stage in the earth’s development, where the emergence of human cognition will fundamentally alter the geosphere and biosphere of the earth. noocambriidæ positions the noosphere not just as an emergent field, but as a substrate where entities can come into being.  Through 3D animation and 10-channel spatialized sound, noocambriidæ acts as a nooscope into this realm of more-than-human behaviors, speculating on a second cambrian explosion of autonomous creatural forms born out of primordial cyborg potentials.

ess whiteley is a composer, intermedia artist, and electronic musician whose diverse musical output takes the form of performances, recordings, installations, and scores. Their work engages with Posthumanism and emergent cyborgian subjectivities arising in response to technologically-mediated life. They are interested in using sound as an inter-material, intersubjective force that makes audible human and more-than-human entanglements, enacting possible visions of being, becoming and relationality and new ways of experiencing time, memory, and futurity. Ess’s work been performed, exhibited and awarded internationally at MATA (New York, USA), Int-Act (Bangkok, TH), MIXTUR (Barcelona, ES) Dublin Music Current (Dublin, IE), SICMF (Seoul, KR), Nuova Consonanza (Rome, IT) SMC (Graz, AT), MANTIS (Manchester, UK), Espacios Sonoros (Salta, AR), Darmstädter Ferienkurse (Darmstadt, DE), Vox Electronica (Lviv, UA), ICMC (Boston, USA), TIER (Berlin, DE), Echofluxx (Prague, CZ), WOCMAT (Hsinchu, TW), Centro Ricerche Musicali (Rome, IT) amongst others. A winner of the Martirano Composition Award and MA/IN Matera Intermedia Festival Honourable Mention, ess’s work has been commissioned by ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, Riot Ensemble, and Popebama, and featured on publications like Pitchfork, The Wire, New Music Handbook and Relevant Tones. ess received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Composition from McGill University and are currently a PhD Candidate in Composition at the University of California, San Diego.

Andrew Wharton is a San Diego-based artist exploring the membrane between the organic and synthetic. Working across machine learning, physical computing, alchemy, digital fabrication and simulation, he produces sculptures, environments, and systems where natural and intelligence-directed systems meet, intertwine, and meld in an effort to rupture the natural-unnatural binary. His work speculates on machinic consciousness and post-human futures in the wake of environmental breakdown. Andrew received his Bachelor’s degree in Spatial Studies from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is currently pursuing his MFA at the University of California, San Diego.