Thomas Asmuth and Sara Gevurtz are researchers and artists who will use the residency to research and create new artworks for their Turbidity Paintings project. Over the past seven years, the partners have developed an expansive suite of transdisciplinary eco-projects that merge art and scientific research. Each of the Turbidity Paintings project activities uses the metaphor of co-mutualism (AKA symbiotic relationships) as concept and form. Co-mutualistic systems require synergy with the balance of provision and the need for each partner. The give and take are necessary to create a healthy hybrid (think of the lichen, a marriage of fungus and algae). Asmuth and Gevurtz use the term ‘eco-works’ rather than simply research or artwork because the project aspires for a conceptual symbiosis as scientific research and aesthetic product. The work has manifested in various forms, from color field print mosaics to visual and numerical databases, to sculptural and video installations, to custom scientific apparatus and product design.
While at Farwell House the artists will work on experimental processes for sculpture and film on location in south-central Illinois. The location of the Farwell House residency, being so close to the Illinois River, aligns perfectly with the goals of the project. The project’s original goal was to create a visual database of waterways. Therefore, the first activity is collecting water from local rivers and lakes for long-term investigation of color. Asmuth & Gevurtz will use the stabilized samples to create hybrid “data sculptures”. Asmuth and Gevurtz have also used this technique with samples from the Gulf of Mexico, near Pensacola, Florida, and the Umgeni River, Durban, South Africa.
Thomas Asmuth is an educator/artist currently living near the Gulf of Mexico. His projects are primarily interested in the intersections of science and art, identity, and robotics.
Thomas Asmuth is an artist and an Assistant Professor at the University of West Florida where he teaches courses in digital and experimental media at the UWF Department of Art. Asmuth utilizes science and technology as method and media to explore culture, aesthetics, social practices, and performance. Asmuth is an alumnus of the CADRE Laboratory for New Media at San José State (MFA 2009) and holds a BFA in Painting (2000) from the San Francisco Art Institute.
Asmuth’s process is a complication of disciplines that often defies categorization. In 2003, a physicist friend encouraged Asmuth to reincorporate scientific and technological media into his art. That year he built a series of meditative chambers that included homemade particle physics instruments which unveiled subatomic processes like cosmic rays, Muon decays and Alpha particles for the viewer. The subjects of Asmuth’s current research include autonomous robotics, portraits and imaging of the ‘Space Race’, invisible spectra, voxel aesthetics, and wearable computing.
Asmuth’s works and collaborations have been exhibited in the United States and internationally including NetArtizen, Thompson Gallery (San José State University), SECAC2013, Brick City Gallery (Missouri State University), 319 Scholes (NYC), turbulence.org (sic), the 17th International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA2011, Istanbul), the Laguna Art Museum (CA), 2006 Zer01 Biennial (2006, 2008, & 2012 San José, CA), Salisbury University (MD), and the Francis Tang Teaching Museum (Saratoga Springs, NY). http://thomasasmuth.art
Sara Gevurtz is an Assistant Professor of Animation at Auburn University. Gevurtz graduated from the CADRE Laboratory for New Media at San Jose State University where she received a Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Art. She received her bachelor’s degree in Evolution, Behavior and Ecology Biology from the University of California, San Diego. During her time at UC San Diego, she also minored in Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts and Studio Art. Due to her interdisciplinary background, her artistic research focuses on ecological and environmental issues. Gevurtz has been published nationally and internationally. She works collaboratively to develop a project using a rig and camera, with the goal to create a series of photographs that are both data and art. This project has been presented at both nationally and internationally. including at ISEA2017 in Manizales, Columbia, Balance Unbalance 2017 in Plymouth UK, and ISEA2018 in Durban, South Africa.
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