Golan Levin

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Golan Levin
Golan Levin in 2019.jpg
iPhone self-portrait by Golan Levin (2019)
Born1972
New York City
Occupation Composer, multimedia artist, performance artist, university teacher
Employer
Awards
Website flong.com  
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Golan Levin (born 1972) is an American new media artist, composer, performer and engineer interested in developing artifacts and events which explore supple new modes of reactive expression. [1]

Contents

Career

Levin received a self-designed bachelor's degree in Art and Design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1994, and a master's degree in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Lab in 2000, as a student in John Maeda's Aesthetics and Computation Group (ACG). Between degrees, Levin worked as an interface designer at Paul Allen's Interval Research Corporation, where he was introduced to the field of interactive new media art by Michael Naimark, Brenda Laurel, and Scott Snibbe, among others. Levin was an Eyebeam resident in 2002 and 2003. [2] [3]

After his graduate work at MIT, Levin taught computational design in various schools in New York City, including Columbia University, Cooper Union, and Parsons School of Design before accepting a position at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in 2004. [4]

Levin is a Professor of Electronic Time Based Art in the CMU School of Art, [5] with courtesy appointments in the CMU School of Computer Science, School of Design, School of Architecture, and Entertainment Technology Center. There he teaches computation arts and researches new intersections of machine code and visual culture. [4] From 2009 to 2023, Levin also held the position of Director of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at CMU, [6] an interdisciplinary research unit dedicated to supporting projects at the intersection of arts and technology.

Work

Free Universal Construction Kit by Levin and Shawn Sims, Ars Electronica, Offenes Kulturhaus [de] museum, Linz (2012) Free Universal Construction Kit at Ars Electronica 3.jpg
Free Universal Construction Kit by Levin and Shawn Sims, Ars Electronica, Offenes Kulturhaus  [ de ] museum, Linz (2012)
Free Universal Construction Kit (detail) Free Universal Construction Kit at Ars Electronica 4.jpg
Free Universal Construction Kit (detail)
Scrapple Golan Levin in 2005.jpg
Scrapple

Golan Levin's artwork focuses on the design of systems for the creation, manipulation and performance of simultaneous image and sound, as part of a more general inquiry into formal languages of interactivity and of nonverbal communication in cybernetic systems. Through performances, digital artifacts, and virtual environments, often created with a variety of collaborators, Levin applies creative twists to digital technologies that highlight our relationship with machines, make visible our ways of interacting with each other, and explore the intersection of abstract communication and interactivity. [9] From 2002 to 2007, Levin and Zachary Lieberman collaborated on a variety of projects together, using the name Tmema to represent their collective work. [10]

Levin's 2012 collaboration with Shawn Sims, a collection of open source 3D-printable adapters for popular toy construction systems called the Free Universal Construction Kit (F.U.C.K.), is in the collection of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). [11] [12] [8] [13] The work was also included in MoMA's 2025 exhibition, Pirouette: Turning Points in Design, [14] featuring "widely recognized design icons [...] highlighting pivotal moments in design history," such as the Bean Bag chair, the Sony Walkman portable cassette player, and the NASA Worm insignia. [15] [16] [17]

Levin also led collaborations to develop Terrapattern (2016), an open-ended tool to support visual query-by-example in satellite imagery, [18] and Augmented Hand Series (2014), a real-time interactive software system that presents playful, dreamlike, and uncanny transformations of its visitors' hands. [19]

Levin has exhibited, performed, and lectured widely in Europe, America and Asia. His work has been shown at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, The Kitchen, the Neuberger Museum, and The Whitney Biennial, all in New York City; Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria; [20] The Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei, Taiwan; The NTT InterCommunication Center in Tokyo, Japan; the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe, Germany; and MoMA, [14] among other venues. His funding credits include grants from Creative Capital, [21] The New York State Council on the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Rockefeller MAP Fund, The Greenwall Foundation, the Langlois Foundation, Turbulence.org, and the Arts Council England.

Projects

Golan's lecture at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design Golan Levin at RMCAD.jpg
Golan's lecture at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design

Levin's work combines equal measures of the whimsical, the provocative, and the sublime in a wide variety of online, installation and performance media.

Levin's most recent work centers around interactive robotics, machine vision, and the theme of gaze as a primary new mode for human-machine communication. [39] Levin also did a Ted Talk discussing technology as art. [40]

References

  1. ↑ (hreschak@princeton.edu), Andrew Hreschak. "/@rts lecture series". Archived from the original on July 3, 2017. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Golan Levin and Zachary Lieberman | eyebeam.org". eyebeam.org. Archived from the original on February 6, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Golan Levin : Messa di Voce". fondation-langlois.org. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Wolf Lieser. Digital Art. Langenscheidt: h.f. ullmann. 2009. p. 135
  5. ↑ "CMU : School of Art". Archived from the original on June 10, 2007. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
  6. ↑ "STUDIO: Home page". Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Ars Electronica Archiv - Award of Distinction 2012; The Free Universal Construction Kit; Shawn Sims, Golan Levin". Prix Ars Electronica . Retrieved July 3, 2025.
  8. 1 2 3 The Free Universal Construction Kit . Retrieved April 12, 2025– via vimeo.com.
  9. ↑ Wolf Lieser. Digital Art. Langenscheidt: h.f. ullmann. 2009. pp. 251–53
  10. ↑ "tmema". Archived from the original on September 21, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
  11. ↑ "Golan Levin, Shawn Sims. Free Universal Construction Kit. 2012". The Museum of Modern Art . Retrieved May 10, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Free Universal Construction Kit: Interoperability in Children's Toys". Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum . January 9, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2025.
  13. ↑ Greenberg, Andy (April 5, 2012). "How A Geek Dad And His 3D Printer Aim To Liberate Legos". Forbes . Retrieved July 9, 2025.
  14. 1 2 Crook, Phillip (January 13, 2025). "Professor Golan Levin's Work Featured in MoMA's 'Pirouette: Turning Points in Design'". Carnegie Mellon University . Retrieved April 12, 2025.
  15. ↑ "NASA Worm as Art, Museum of Modern Art Opens Exhibition Featuring NASA Worm". NASA . January 23, 2025. Retrieved April 16, 2025.
  16. ↑ Pirouette: Turning Points in Design
  17. ↑ The Museum of Modern Art announces Pirouette: Turning Points in Design
  18. ↑ "Terrapattern is like a search engine for satellite imagery". WIRED.
  19. ↑ "Watch an experiment that turns people's hands into creepy visuals". WIRED.
  20. ↑ "Golan Levin". ARS Electronica. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  21. ↑ "Creative Capital – Investing in Artists who Shape the Future". Archived from the original on April 18, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
  22. ↑ "Audiovisual Environment Suite (AVES)". acg.media.mit.edu.
  23. ↑ "Scribble". acg.media.mit.edu.
  24. ↑ al., Golan Levin et. "THE SECRET LIVES OF NUMBERS". Archived from the original on February 20, 2002. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
  25. ↑ "Dialtones (A Telesymphony) – Interactive Art by Golan Levin and Collaborators". Archived from the original on September 24, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
  26. ↑ Levin, Golan; Feinberg, Jonathan; Curtis, Cassidy. "The Alphabet Synthesis Machine" (PDF). Flong.com. Retrieved May 7, 2025.
  27. 1 2 "Golan Levin : Messa di Voce". www.fondation-langlois.org.
  28. ↑ "Re:MARK – Interactive Art by Golan Levin and Collaborators". Archived from the original on July 25, 2008. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
  29. ↑ Super Uber (August 1, 2006). "Jaap Blonk performance – installation Messa di Voce". Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube.
  30. ↑ "Messa Text". Archived from the original on September 12, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
  31. ↑ "Manual Input Sessions". Archived from the original on October 29, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  32. ↑ Lieberman, Golan Levin, Zachary. "MANUAL INPUT SESSIONS – TMEMA 2004–2006". Archived from the original on September 20, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  33. ↑ "Ursonography – Interactive Art by Golan Levin and Collaborators". Archived from the original on August 7, 2011.
  34. ↑ "Whitney Artport Commissions: The Dumpster". Archived from the original on September 11, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
  35. ↑ "Eyecode – Interactive Art by Golan Levin and Collaborators". Archived from the original on April 21, 2009. Retrieved May 14, 2009.
  36. ↑ "Opto-Isolator – Interactive Art by Golan Levin and Collaborators". Archived from the original on April 1, 2009. Retrieved May 14, 2009.
  37. ↑ "Rectified Flowers – Interactive Art by Golan Levin and Collaborators". Archived from the original on August 15, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
  38. ↑ "Augmented Hand Series – Interactive Art by Golan Levin and Collaborators". Archived from the original on September 1, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  39. ↑ "Home". bitforms gallery.
  40. ↑ "Art that looks back at you". July 30, 2009.

Further reading

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