PUBLIC TALK: Jill Scott Artists Talk: AURALROOTS

AURALROOTS is a quasi-real interactive sculpture inspired by the behaviour of the outer hair cells and inner hair cells and auditory nerves of the cochlea. It combines tactile and augmented technologies with the strategies of scale to allow the viewer to hear biological and traditional stories about the way we hear on a visceral level (in the womb), on a survival level (in the landscape and on a communication level (tests in the science lab). This exploration also triggers augmented reality, visuals that can be seen on screens and changes in a display of supporting hair cells in vitro. (Collaborators: The Auditory Lab: UWA)

Jill Scott was born in Melbourne and has been working and living in Switzerland since 2003. She is Professor for Research in the Institute of Cultural Studies in Art, Media and Design at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZhdK) and Co-Director of the Artists-in-Labs Program (a collaboration with the Ministry for Culture, Switzerland), which places artists from all disciplines into physics, computer, engineering and life science labs to learn about scientific research and make creative interpretations. She is also Vice Director of the Z-Node PHD program on art and science at the University of Plymouth, UK-a program with 16 international research candidates.

Her recent publications include: Artists-in-labs Processes of Inquiry (2006 Springer/Vienna/New York) and Coded Characters Hatje Cantz (2002, Ed. Marille Hahne). She was awarded a PhD from the University of Wales (UK) and has a MA from the University of San Francisco, as well as a Degree in Education (University of Melbourne) and a Degree in Art and Design (Victoria College of the Arts). Since 1975 she has exhibited many video artworks, conceptual performances and interactive environments in USA, Japan, Australia and Europe. Her most recent works involve the construction of interactive media and electronic sculptures based on studies she has conducted in neuroscience- particularly the somatic sensory system artificial skin (e-skin) 2003-2007 and on neuro-retinal behaviour in relation to human eye disease ("The Electric Retina", 2008) and ("Dermaland", 2009).