The evening's first installment will take place in the Black Family Visual Arts Center and includes a digital music exhibition, a camera with background subtraction and video game and cell phone application demos. Hannah Williams '14, one of the event's student coordinators, said she was excited to take full advantage of the VAC.
"The space has not been used like this before," she said. "I think it's going to be incredible once all of the installations go in."
The showcase will also feature animation and live action screenings in Loew Auditorium.
All of the exhibits and screenings displayed tonight are student-created.
"This is a chance for them to show their friends their work and celebrate their successes," said Lorie Loeb, computer science professor and director of the digital arts minor. "It's equally important to get that feedback and to be able to see how people respond and how that work can be used in a number of ways."
The exhibition raises the profile of students' digital art.
"This is an opportunity for us to show everybody some of the cool things that we've been doing on campus that they may not have known about," digital arts apprentice Nate Seymour '12 said.
The four student coordinators, Williams, Seymour, Alannah Linkhorn '13 and Kevin Guh '16, worked closely with digital arts, digital music, digital humanities and film studies faculty to execute the event.
"I think there's going to be a really good selection of work from the different departments," Linkhorn said. "Everybody has their own areas where their department gets showcased."
With critical input from faculty, students took charge of the exhibition.
"They've been the driving force," Loeb said. "They've really done an amazing job of pulling this together."
In addition to tonight's exhibition, the coordinators held "Fab Lab" sessions this week in the Hopkins Center garage, consisting of student-led technology demonstrations and workshops. In the final session tomorrow, the Thayer School of Engineering will provide a 3D printer, a 3D scanner and a laser cutter that visitors can learn how to operate. Linkhorn said that Fab Lab workshops will give all students new exposure to this evolving technology and the chance to learn new hands-on skills.
"It's a really good way to advertise these little tidbits from around campus that people don't quite know about," Linkhorn said. "I think it's going to be a lot of fun."
The displays at the exhibition tonight and the workshops that took place this week explore the boundary between the artistic and the technological, an area that Loeb finds particularly fascinating.
"Often, for me, the most exciting work that's happening right now is the work that happens at the tension between art and technology," Loeb said. "They're different languages and processes, but when you play with that area and walk that tightrope between the two you get such extraordinary results."
The digital arts is a rapidly growing industry, and Loeb created the minor to meet overwhelming student interest.
"It was a combination of student interest and the need for this kind of multi-disciplinary program on campus," she said.
Williams hopes tonight's exhibition will encourage further interest in the digital arts and the arts in general among students.
"I am hoping that we will get students who don't already know about digital arts, and particularly about the space, more interested in it," Williams said. "I think some people are kind of intimidated by the art building, when really it's there for all students."
The event will be eye-opening for all who attend.
"I hope that the students participating with their work in the event feel accomplished when they see other people interacting with their work," Linkhorn said. "I also hope for people to have a lot of fun and learn something that they didn't know before."
