Code Zebra

• curated projects

Code Zebra is a collaborative project led by Sara Diamond. CodeZebra draws upon debates about the relationship between art and science, the behaviors and characteristics of the inhabitants of those disciplines to create a series of provocations. CodeZebra includes spoken word and dance performances, club nights, games, workshops, and software development. In 2003 Diamond locked up pairs of artists and scientists in Habituation Cages for 24-hour periods and asked to discover new inventions, art works and concepts while real time video streams, documentary footage and online chats captured their every move. Such events and processes are captured in DVD form and on the CodeZebra website and are the core of this exhibition. CodeZebra OS software uses data visualization to provide analysis of dialogue and conversation taking place on the Internet. Responsive garments and costumes of CodeZebra bring communication, display and social camouflage back to the body.

Code Zebra in Toronto, presents a prominent example Diamond's art. Whether expressed through critical writing or video documented labor history has always been on the cutting edge. The Code Zebra project crowns this process by seducing us to explore a whimsical yet thoughtful space where art meets science. The metaphor of "zebra" is at the core of the project as the stripes of zebras show us reaction/diffusion patterns; provocative ways of describing dialogue. Since its inception in 2000, Code Zebra has been presented in various formats across the world.

In Budapest within the framework of the Digitized Bodies events, a splendid Code Zebra live performance linked to the Internet took place in the Ludwig Museum. In Colchester, UK, the emphasis shifted to interactive online chats, while the Code Zebra Habituation Cage installation presented at the Dutch Electronic Art Festival 2003 in Rotterdam brought established artists and research scientists together in a mediated lock-up environment monitored by a Code Zebra moderator team. Wearable fashion aspects of the project were highlighted in the summer of 2004 in Banff and recently at the Millennium Museum in Beijing, China. Code Zebra's arrival to the Women's Art Resource Centre in Toronto will introduce visitors/participants to yet another interpretation of this remarkable project, which appears exotic and playful, but according to its creator is in fact serious and viral.

Sifting Time, Shifting Space: A Panel at the Goethe Institute

This panel of artists, scientists and curators considers the ways that current questions of space/time have opened new parameters in scientific research, visualization, popular culture and art and curatorial practice. The panellists will discuss their discoveries and reflect on the ways that art and science provides new insights into the operations of space and time whether at the universal or human scale.

Moderator Nina Czegledy

Panelists: Sara Diamond, Dr. John Joseph Dubinsky, Dr. Markopoulo-Kalamara, Andy Patton