1980s : Artists Team Up for the Future
In the early 1980s, Sandor explored the relationship between photography, sculpture, and video art, while being inspired by the spiritual nature of Outsider Art. Her unique vision to integrate more traditional with nascent art forms including computer graphics, resulted in a new medium she called PHSColograms–3D barrier-screen computer-generated photographs and sculptures. In 1983, she formed the (art)n collective with SAIC peers, James Zanzi, Gina Uhlmann, Gary Justis and Randy Johnson, whose debut installation of PHSCologram ’83 made the cover of the New Art Examiner.
Ellen Sandor forms (art)n and coins the term 'PHSCologram,' an acronym for Photography, Holography, Sculpture and Computer Graphics; PHSCologram ’83 debuts on Wacker Drive and makes the cover of the New Art Examiner with Michel Ségard’s article, Artists Team Up for the Future
Ellen Sandor meets Tom DeFanti and Dan Sandin from the Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago for a showing of PHSCologram '83 that inspires them to add interactivity to three-dimensional environments as the Virtual Reality CAVE
The Computer Camera Technique was developed to feature computer-generated content in three dimensions, inputting frames captured with a video camera
(art)n collaborates with Larry Smarr, Donna Cox, George Francis and Ray Idazek to create a PHSCologram of the Etruscan Venus, a four-dimensional model first created at NCSA
The first computer generated three-dimensional image of the AIDS Virus is created, based on real scientific data published in Scientific American, and was included in 'PHSColograms' at Fermilab Gallery and featured on the cover of Computer Graphics and Applications
The Stealth Negative Process was developed, creating a computer generated method for making PHSColograms entirely on the computer, awarded a US and International Patents and published in the SPIE Proceedings (art)n collaborates with scientists from NASA Ames Research Center and the Scripps Research Institute (art)n: Beautiful Stranger at Feature, Inc.
PHSCologram ’83 attracted the attention of Dan Sandin, Tom DeFanti and Phil Morton, followed by Larry Smarr and Donna Cox. New innovations emerged from their exploration of PHSColograms, and were produced through a collaborative methodology called Renaissance Teams, a term coined by Donna J. Cox, in which artists became producers and directors of these initiatives.
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1990s : visualizing the invisible
“Scientists are the Rockstars of the Future.”
–Ellen Sandor
As more scientists began commissioning PHSColograms to show their research, Ellen Sandor was successful in having them shown as works of art by Hudson at Feature Inc. and other museum venues, including the ICI’s traveling exhibition, From Media to Metaphor: Art About AIDS, Art Futura ’91 and the Science in Depth Traveling show, sponsored by the ACM. Collaborations with the late great Chicago Imagist, Ed Paschke, Miroslaw Rogala and Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation began alongside important commissions for the Museum of Jewish Heritage, The Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the National Institutes of Health.
The potential of PHSColograms for medical applications was also explored with Picker International and 3M to create EpiView, a real-time app (before the term was invented) in which physicians could print PHSColograms as 3D X-Rays to prevent invasive procedures and was used in hospitals. A similar app was created to print iGrams, real-time PHSColograms from EVL’s VR CAVE. Commercial projects included pieces for Nintendo of America and other video game companies as well. (art)n’s website was launched in 1993 while at IIT, and won many awards after moving to Northwestern University’s research park in ‘94 and later, above the School of the Art Institute’s Gallery 2 location in Greek Town.
Science in Depth, sponsored by ACM SIGGRAPH travels to NASA AMes Research Center, Computer Museum and Museum of Science and Industry
After it’s SIGGRAPH Art Show ’90 Dallas debut, The Politics of Pleasure/Robert Mapplethorpe/The Nineties traveled to Barcelona for Art Futura during the Persian Gulf War. The Virtual Bust/Beauty Myth detail from the POP sculpture was part of the SIGGRAPH Traveling Show, and was later added to the Patric Prince Archive at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Rotated Computer Interleaving was developed as an improvement to show a smoother three-dimensional view of an object and could also include animation, awarded a US and International Patents and published in Computers & Graphics Commissioned to create works for the Spanish Pavilion at the World's Fair in Seville, Spain
(art)n's website is launched, offering viewers a future glimpse of some of the earliest virtual exhibitions and virtual galleries - combining art historical images with new media content First PHSCologram collaborations begin with Christopher Landreth for Franz K, who was nominated for Academy Awards best animation shorts. Rhona Hoffman Gallery shows a selection of (art)n’s works, including Franz K. and an homage to Sol Le Witt.
The first CT Angiography of the human brain is created as a PHSCologram from real patient data supplied by Picker International that led to the development of the epiView(tm) process in 1996 for creating PHSColograms in hospitals as a surgical tool for physicians
Collaborates with Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation on a series of Auschwitz Barracks. Oskar Friedl Gallery curates one of the first exhibitions to include videogames with (art)n’s videogame PHSColograms juxtaposed with The Equation of Terror, which was reviewed in the New Art Examiner. The Equation was included in the MCA’s Art in Chicago 1945-1995 exhibition.
Commissioned by A Living Memorial to the Holocaust - Museum of Jewish Heritage and Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History First collaborations with Ed Paschke, No Fumare por Favore and Primondo Smithsonian Installation
US Art in Embassies Program shows 'No Fumare por Favore' in Bonn, Germany and the 'AIDS Virus, Third Edition' in Zimbabwe. CameraWorks commissions Pet Study I/Reconstructing Rodin for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art's, Out of Science: Imaging/Imaging Science, the first contemporary art exhibition of art and science works since the museum's collaboration in 1967 with John Szarkowski at MOMA. PET Study is cover of Hank Whittemore’s Your Future Self.
Developed IGram process for creating PHSColograms within a Virtual Reality CAVE, published by IEEE Society (art)n collaborates with TJ McLeish on 'Townhouse Revisited' sponsored by the Graham Foundation, receiving an honorable mention
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2000s : ARTISTS AS STAKEHOLDERS
"Art saves. Tough art and science really saves.”
–Ellen Sandor
In the early 2000s, (art)h was commissioned by the City of Chicago to honor WWII Veterans who bravely fought during the Battle of Midway. The Memorial is presently installed at Midway Airport and was based on oral histories from WWII veterans who recalled their personal reflections and shared their experiences. PHSCologram murals depicted the battle as the turning point of WWII, based on vital code-breaking intelligence solved by a covert team of service men guided–by a female intelligence officer and hidden figure–Agnes Driscoll. After developing iGrams to print PHSColograms from the VR CAVE, (art)n co-producd a VR piece, Special Treatment, that takes viewers inside of a barracks at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Additionally (art)n collaborated with Martyl, the designer of the Doomsday Clock who gave Ellen Sandor and (art)n their first show at Fermilab in 1987, to create a PHSCologram of the clock, juxtaposed with Martyl’s Tent Rocks painting. While the clock was created in the aftermath of WWII for warnings of nuclear war, beyond 2000, the clock has been moved for climate change, terrorism and potential misuse of developing technologies.
(art)n collaborates with Karl Wirsum Galerie Darthea Speyer in Paris shows No Fumare por Favore (art)n is included in Paris in 3D: From Stereoscopy to Virtual Reality 1850-2000, Musée Carnavalet
Commissioned by City of Chicago, Public Art Program and Department of Aviation to create a Battle of Midway Memorial for Midway Airport, Chicago No Fumare por Favore is included in Chorus of Light: Photographs from the Sir Elton John Collection at the High Museum of Art (art)n creates Telomeres Project on Imminent Mortality; In 2009, U.S. Researchers awarded Nobel Prize for their discovery of telomeres, which is the first time the prize had gone to more than one woman
2002 - (art)n collaborates with Martyl on a PHSCologram of the Doomsday Clock.
Telomeres Project on Imminent Immortality is featured in Genomic Issue(s): Art and Science at The Graduate Center Art Gallery, City University of New York for the 50th anniversary of the discovery of DNA.
Retrospective '(art)n Virtual Illusion 1994-2004/Pixels in Perspective', at Digital Art Museum, Berlin
(art)n collaborates with Chris Landreth on a PHSCologram from Ryan, which won the Academy Award for Best Animation Short as a tribute to Canadian animator, Ryan Larkin. Special Treatment - VR project debuts at (art)n Lab
Commissioned by State of Illinois Art in Architecture Program to create PHSCologram sculpture for new NCSA building at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Retrospective for Ellen Sandor and (art)n at IIT: 3D Pixels Realized 1982-2006
(art)n collaborates with Carla Gannis and Claudia Hart with new works featured at Kasia Kay Projects Gallery. No Fumare por Favore included in A Mind at Play at The Art Institute of Chicago.
2009 - Retrospective for Ellen Sandor and (art)n at Zhou B Art Center, 'Concepts of Construction' including new commissioned works for Murphy/Jahn. Michelle Litvin, Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala, 2009, 17 in. x 22 in. (43.18 cm x 55.88 cm), Vintage Digital C-Print
Scientific breakthroughs were also percolating at (art)n with the creation of an interactive sculpture, Telomeres Project on Imminent Immortality, which was based on the underground research of scientists who were exploring the potential of telomerase to prevent aging and life-threatening diseases. A trio of scientists, including two women, later shared the Nobel Prize for their discoveries of telomeres. The sculpture debuted at SIGGRAPH '01 in Los Angeles and was included in a traveling exhibition that celebrated the 50 year anniversary of the discovery of DNA. (art)n also continued working with medical scientists to create PET Study PHSColograms that were shown at the International Center of Photography’s How Human: Life in the Post-Genome Era exhibition. Additional artworks produced include a commissioned virtual sculpture, Universal Atmospheres for NCSA's new building plus PHSColograms of historic landmarks, groundbreaking works of architecture and an homage to the late great Chicago Imagist, Roger Brown.
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2010s : herstory & beyond
"What I know for sure is . . .
Cooperation and collaboration rock even more than competition. Partnerships within relationships are mutually inspiring. Family makes it all worthwhile."
–Ellen Sandor
In the early 2010s, explorations of architectural landmarks and experimental works continued with PHSColograms and VR pieces in the Starchitects Revisited series. Additional PHSCologram sculptures were made of Nouvelle Nouveau–an homage to Piet Mondrian and The Garden of Digital Delights, inspired by Nam June Park's Garden of Earthly Delights, with embellished painterly PHSCologram details of photographs by Man Ray, Imogen Cunningham, Robert Mapplethorpe and Charles Csuri. Selected pieces were shown at Galeria Arteconsult, Panama, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, The University of Oklahoma, and the National Arts Club, Gramercy Park, NYC. In 2014, Ellen Sandor received an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received an MFA in Sculpture. In 2016, she was awarded Fermilab's Artist in Residency for (art)n to collaborate with Fermi scientists on PHSColograms, VR and Projection Mappings of their neutrinos research. From this unique collaboration, a rich tableau of new media artworks that create 'art meets science' relationships with Jackson Pollock, David Smith and Victor Vasarely were shown at the Fermilab Gallery in Batavia. After (art)n's Fermilab exhibition, (art)n created a PHSCologram sculpture and VR experience of the Doomsday Clock in memory of the late great Martyl.
(art)n: Virtually Visionary - Exploring 2D Forms in 3D Space, Galeria Arteconsult, Panama, September 15-October 9, 2010
Ellen Sandor receives an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Fermilab Residency & Neutrinos in a New Light: Selected Works of Art & Science, Fermilab, December 2, 2016-March 17, 2017
Doomsday Clock VR experience, featuring Martyl's stunning paintings of landscapes in the background reveals a moving timeline of world events as the clock shifts towards midnight. Ellen Sandor is honored by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists for longstanding commitment to integrating art and science.
Collaborates with Jennifer Doudna and Doudna Lab on CRISPR sculpture; Jennifer awarded Nobel prize in 2019.
New Media Futures is published by University of Illinois Press in June 2018. Book signings include NCSA's Herstory Symposium, Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois and EXPO Chicago.
Mighty Microgla Sculpture and VR collaboration with the Stevens Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital and The Stanley Center at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
(art)n’s Virtual Exhibition Visualizing in a New Light during pandemic
BRACA Gene Burst of Hope Sculpture + iLon Gallery Brain + Love + exhibition New Media Futures Paperback Edition is released
We are on the cusp of many life changing advances in the neurosciences. What are the secret keys to human life? What does it mean to be a human being living in today’s technologically advancing world? What roles do artists play in co-creating our future? How can art, when intermingled with science, shape and evolve our destiny to create a better life for future generations?
Fearless was in. Ellen Sandor, being inspired by her grandson, Caleb Sandor Taub, who is a non-verbal autistic young man, was able to communicate with her for the first time, while in his late teens using the RPM method with emotional depth and intelligence. Cal encouraged his grandmother to create PHSCologram sculptures and VR that explore mRNA gene editing possibilities with CRISPR to solve life threatening diseases and conditions like autism. A trio of works, two sculptures and VR were produced in collaboration with Nobel award winning scientist, Jennifer Doudna and her team at Doudna Lab, University of California Berkeley. Another trio of PHSColograms and VR explore microglia and pruning the synapses with Beth Stevens and her team at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard University. Additional sculptures and VR explore the BRACA Gene and Thoughts about Choice, shown at the Jean Albano Gallery. New Media Futures was also published during the University of Illinois Press Centennial, documenting the oral herstory interviews of 22 trailblazing book contributors. Some of their groundbreaking collaborations propelled the digital revolution, making the Internet and social media possible, that provided continuity for the workspace, education and personal connections–all vital to our society during the pandemic and beyond.