NEW YORK.- Eyebeam is pleased to present three new installations that examine and articulate aspects of our natural and cultural environments through innovative use of sound and light. The artworks which fix and define spatial environments were developed in Eyebeam’s studios by artists Jeff Fedderson, Elliott Malkin and Theodore Watson. The exhibition is complemented by online projects from students in Eyebeam’s after-school program New Media Collaborative, which map personal and collective experiences of life in New York City through audio recordings. The exhibition is open to the public from 12-6pm, Tuesday through Saturday and is free of charge with a suggested donation.

Eyebeam is located at 540 W. 21st Street between 10th & 11th Aves in Chelsea. Jeff Fedderson's EarthSpeaker is series of large-scale, autonomous, solar-powered sculptures. Drawing their inspiration from dusk-active creatures like crickets, bullfrogs and fireflies, the sculptures are designed to absorb and store solar energy during the day and retransmit the energy as acoustic sound for a brief period at dusk. As the sun sets the system creates and broadcasts a short, distributed chorus of sound that lasts until the day’s stored solar energy is consumed. EarthSpeaker was commissioned as a permanent installation for free103point9's Wave Farm in Acra, NY, where it will travel to after its exhibition at Eyebeam. In order to create an aesthetic, durable and energy-efficient installation for a harsh outdoor environment, Fedderson explored energy storage options and alternative speaker functions within the context of formal display.

Elliott Malkin's Modern Orthodox creates a next-generation eruv, the symbolic or physical structure used by orthodox Jewish communities to enable certain daily activities to remain in accord with Jewish law. An eruv usually consists of a series of poles connected by a cord that circumscribes an urban neighborhood. Malkin’s version will use low-power laser beams spanning the width of 21st St. in Manhattan, to create a space at the forefront of global eruv architecture while still adhering to sacred Talmudic principles. The two laser beams, or lintels, will be "supported" by doorposts made of chalk, outlining a volume of space on the street, within which one can transfer objects on the Sabbath. The mass of the eruv line is composed of a continuous stream of photons which, while interruptible, are not susceptible to permanent breakage. A branch of a tree, for example, may impede the flow of photons but will not permanently damage the eruv apparatus. In this way, the laser eruv is self-healing.

Theodore Watson's Audio Space is an interactive environment that allows users to leave audible messages in specific locations within a room. Wearing a headset comprising both headphones and a microphone, participants hear sounds in simulated 3D audio left by previous visitors, allowing them to pinpoint the location of the sound and find it in the space. The space becomes a memory of the people who have interacted with it. Users can respond to messages left by other visitors or seed conversation for future discussions. The result is a rich, evolving atmosphere of sounds, whose combined inputs create a sonic archive of a location, and bring it to life for the visitor.

Students from the 2005-06 New Media Collaborative (NMC) Program explored their everyday environments and collected sounds that define the borders and cracks of our personal and collective experiences. By asking the questions, "What is sound? What is a city? What does your New York sound like?" students from the Bayard Rustin Educational Complex led by teaching artist Daniel Perlin, created unique self-portraits and mapped shared experiences.

Participating Artists: Jeff Feddersen is an artist, musician, and engineer interested in new musical instruments and sustainable energy. He has developed several new means of musical expression, including robotic sonic sculptures, real-time composition software, multi-modal digital input devices, and amplified acoustic instruments. He has exhibited and performed at the Chelsea Art Museum, the Apple Soho Store, and UC Irvine's Beall Media Arts Center, and the Lincoln Center. He has taught electronics, sustainable energy, and digital audio at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, where he was also a Resident Researcher, and has worked for the Technology Development group of Honeybee Robotics. http://zaftig.org/

Elliott Malkin is a new media artist exploring modern religious behavior in America and the way new media is used in our culture as a proxy for memory. Historical reconstructions and reinterpretations interrogate the documentation of experience, the ways religion is used as a basis for memorials, and how people invest objects with the power to “sanctify” space. Recent work includes, eRuv, is a digital graffiti project that used semacodes to reconstruct an eruv dismantled in Lower Manhattan in 1955 and Crucifix NG, a next-generation crucifix that broadcasts a radio frequency version of the Lord’s Prayer. Elliott is originally from Chicago and currently lives in New York City. He also works as an Information Architect. http://dziga.com/art/

Theodore Watson is a new media artist and designer from London, currently residing in New York City. Theodore has shown his work in New York, Paris and Austria. He is currently developing software based animation tools for children that allow them to animate in fun and intuitive ways. Http://muonics.net.