Tiffany Trenda creates digital environments using technology. Not fancy technology, in fact, she uses the sorts of things most people use, or at least interact with on a daily basis: cameras, video projectors, LCDs etcetera. Her work investigates how this technology has become part of us—almost literally in the sense that her work also centers on the body.

Her latest work is Body Code. Body Code premieres at Art Miami/Context on December 4, 2012 at a VIP preview from 6 to 7 p.m. and again at 8 to 9 p.m. During regular fair hours performances will take place from 1 to 2 p.m. and 3 to 4 p.m.  The performance is presented by Licht Feld Gallery. Work by Trenda will be shown at booth D56.

The piece is an examination of toxicity—of manmade chemicals and how they affect the human body. Trenda employed QR codes to achieve her end. When you scan her body with your cell phone you will be directed to the project website and a page on a particular chemical. The piece is as much about data and technology as it is a cautionary tale on dangerous chemicals.

“One day I was noticing that QR codes are an interesting material because it functions as both an embellishment and a portal into data,” says Trenda. “I started to ponder how can these codes be used in a performance piece that exemplifies this.”

The project has been a journey for Trenda. But the work isn’t just about facts about toxic chemicals it is about process and information in a broader sense.

“Research is always important to my work. So, yes, I did learn more about the toxicity of different chemicals. In retrospect, I was more interested in analyzing the Internet as just pure data,” says Trenda. “Also, during the performance, the audience is not as much interested in what the information actually is but the act, the engagement of scanning is what intrigues people. We are as a culture, are more addicted to the feel of information.”

How will the performance work?  What is the suit, how do the scans work?

“The work is interactive by encouraging the viewer to scan my body with their smart phone. This scan from the printed QR codes found on my latex suit, will take them to a certain page found on the Body Code website,” says Trenda. “Depending on where the viewer scans, they will read Google searches consisting of two key words: man-made chemicals and the corresponding part of the body eye, muscle, throat, etc. To partake in this performance, the viewer must download a QR reader (unless you already have one). “

Some examples of QR readers include

-Iphone: QR Reader by TapMedia Ltd

-
Droid: QR Pal
Blackberry App World


-Supports Most Cell Phones: Quick Mark

At the first viewing of Body Code Trenda hopes people gain knowledge about toxic man-made chemicals. There is, however, more to take from the piece.

“In a more comprehensive approach to the work, the work is about the information itself. For example, when the observer reads a Google search, they can see advertisements about other products that are sometimes in conflict of this significant material. Therefore, valid information becomes a commodity. I also question the rationality of the Internet data,” she says. “So, Body Code is more about the relationship of the human body to the information found on the Internet. In this technology-obsessed culture we live in, we are so accustomed to having data at our fingertips that the content is not as appealing as the act of downloading actually is. I represent this seductive side of data.”

As noted, Trenda uses technologies in her work. There is more to it than pretty lights. There is a forward-looking examination of how the body interacts with technology and where this is ultimately leading.

“My body of work utilizes screen and imaging technologies, such as LCDs and video projections, to create a digital environment with an embodied performance. With these constituents, I make my identity interchangeable by amalgamating screens with my body.  How far can we push the visceral qualities of the body until it becomes unrecognizable?” says Trenda. “In my work I become the digitized version of the human body and my actions are replicating that of a computer. The viewer is physically and visually immersed in the process of how the psyche evolves to relate to the screen (LCD, television, cinema, or a computer). We are not only dealing with issues of machine-implemented bodies but our identities and our human connection is through this notion of the screen. “

The discussion of implanting technology into our bodies, not to save our lives but for simple convenience is becoming louder and is soon to be reality.  This new world is the context for the artist’s work.

“In my practice, I question the authenticity of this relationship as being a perpetual state of hyperrealism. As technological objects continually become a part of our daily lives, we relate to these devices as if they are part of our skin,” she says. “This will change how we see others and ourselves with the assemblage of the human body with the advancement of new technology. My plans for the future are to continue with this discourse of the mediated body. “

Trenda is from Los Angeles and received her BFA at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and her MFA from UCLA. For more information head to the artist’s website, www.tiffanytrenda.com.

Luisa Mesa is an artist who uses photography, drawing and painting in her work. For four years she was an Artist-in Residence at Miami Beach’s Art Center.  Following this residency she opened her own studio, Luisa Mesa Artspace, in the Bird Road Art District.  This is a bit of a simplification of her career of course. She is an award winning artist with numerous successful shows (solo, group and at fairs) under her belt. Her work is also in numerous collections. She was born in Havana.

Work by Mesa will be on display at Art Miami/Context via Cancio Contemporary (booth D-67) during Art Week in Miami. Mesa has worked with Luky Cancio on various projects over the years.

Formations 1 will be on display (picture below). Formations 1 is part of a series dealing with the concept of fragmentation. You can see these pieces HERE. 

Her work is eye catching mix of photography, drawing and painting. Mesa uses digital images which are then woven into her multimedia pieces. The work is subtle, somehow soothing and always seems to stay with you.  This is art that requires you to look deeper and to see the layers there—both figurative and literal.

 “Formations 1 is created on 36 (12" x 12" x 4") wood panels (birch).  The media utilized are acrylic paint and enamel markers, so it is basically a drawing.” says Mesa.

Mesa goes about her work in a visceral, emotional fashion. Her pieces are part reality and part created “manifestations of an invisible world.” It is the latter world, the world beyond the tangible that informs Mesa’s work.

“My work is really intuitive, so I kind of work backwards... I start creating the piece and later, as it progresses, the meaning reveals itself.  I love the grid for many reasons,” she says. “Formations deals with the issue of fragmentation, much in the same way we are fragments of a larger whole... smaller components that make up something larger.  So in essence, we are all individuals but we are connected at a much deeper level.”

You will notice her other work blends the realism of photography with geometry and sometimes shapes with an almost hallucinogenic quality (see Dragonfly and In The Garden below).  Others have a calming essence about them. Her work often inspires primal, positive emotion.

Mesa is currently working on more pieces using drawing, painting, photography and digital art.  You can see some of the new work HERE.

“My plan is to make larger and larger work, mounting it on Plexiglas and incorporating certain elements of previous works.  This is my focus for now,” says Mesa. “The future is being built right now, so for me it's about that day-to-day experience of creating my work and enjoying the process.  And of course, the sky's the limit!”

Be sure to check out Mesa’s piece at Art Miami/Context and visit her website to keep up with her work.