TORNADO STOPPERS :

Living in the Southern part of the United States, one becomes familiar with tornado potential and its devastating effects on the land, homes and people. As storms are detected on weather radar systems, a repeating warning usually follows outlining the possibilities for tornadoes. In our region alone, we face an average greater than 25 tornadoes per year according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Although most tornadoes occur in the deep south, no state is immune. The peaks of tornado activity in the U.S. are April, May, and June between 3pm -9pm. However, tornadoes can and do occur throughout every season and at all times of the day and night. Tornado Stoppers is a weather modification project centered around the prevention of tornadoes. Using advanced computer simulations to isolate effective concepts and forms, the group will publish effective concepts and begin field tests & implementation of these public art works. Deserving cities, towns and areas within the deep south will benefit from these protective devices.

collaborators

Phillip Andrew Lewis CV[pdf]
Adam Trowbridge CV[pdf]
Jessica Westbrook CV[pdf]


*Working in partnership with the SimCenter: National Center for Computational Engineering

sample works ›

PDF BUNDLE














ACTION:
1 Create designs for stopping tornadoes. In partnership with the National SimCenter, we will begin running computer simulations to determine effective forms and counter forces to prevent these natural disasters. We will then use these simulations to build prototypes and test in studio.

2 Publish the results online and seek out interest from appropriate scientific journals, art institutions and organizations. Package work for exhibition and real life public implementation. Our ideas will be open-source and create potential collaboration across numerous disciplines.

3 Provide our services to cities, towns and individuals to further commission the appropriate devices to be built and installed in their particular locations. These of course would be site-specific and individually tested for effectiveness using advanced computer simulations and studio prototyping. These processes will take into account the topography of a place and meteorological history. The tornado stopper form is yet to be determined but will be an opportunity for an invaluable public art piece. This process and concept will evolve to encompass a variety of different undesirable weather conditions and world regions.



TIMING:
Month 1-2 : research, interviews, web design, initial sketches for SIM work
Month 3-4 : computer simulations/animations
Month 5-7: field tests & continued simulations
Month 8 : publish & seek exhibition

BUDGET:
Artists fee: $1500 ($500 each)
Simulations/Animations: $1000 (in partnership with National SimCenter)
Prototypes/Field Testing: $2500 (materials to be determined)
Website Design: $500 (domain registration & design)
TOTAL : $5500 (artist fees will be cut to accommodate for any shortfall)



Collaborators:

Phillip Andrew Lewis often connects his creative work with science and the landscape, constructing atmospheres for mental and physical navigation. His work continues to incorporate a site-sensitive approach to studying drone, repetition, vibrations, and the subsequent patterns that emerge. Phillip received his MFA from Memphis College of Art. He currently teaches and heads the photography+media program at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. In 2005 he established Medicine Factory, a contemporary art space in downtown Memphis. Lewis has exhibited his work both nationally and internationally. He was also the recipient of the 2008 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Commission, 2008 Public Art Grant from the UrbanArt Commission, 2009 Digital Art Commission from APSU New Media Program, and selected for Magenta Foundation FlashForward 2008.

Adam Trowbridge is focused on artistic research that fractures the intersection of sensation and cognition. Materially, his recent work has been in the form of theater, performance, computer-driven installation and video. He will complete his MFA in Electronic Visualization / Responsive Art at the University of Illinois at Chicago in May 2009. His work has been featured nationally and internationally including Anthology Film Archives, NYC; Pleasure Dome, Toronto, Ontario; Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ; MicroCineFest, Baltimore, MD; and Square Eyes Festival, The Netherlands. Trowbridge teaches time-based art, performance, expanded media, and programming for artists.

Jessica Westbrook is an artist working with photography, video, motion, semiotics, language, and information design. Her projects explore desire, cues, cultural artifacts, and contradictory sensations that vacillate between fortune and catastrophe. Increasingly semantic in nature and modular in form, she considers her work a section of visual language culled from a complex matrix of assets, reconfigured and repurposed per space and time. Westbrook received her MFA from Tyler School of Art and has exhibited nationally and internationally. In 2005 she established SEED, an artist collective based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Recent activity includes publication in Static, the Journal of the London Consortium, and a feature on Chicago’s artstorage.org. She is Assistant Professor of Art at UT Chattanooga where she teaches courses in both the photography/media arts and graphic design concentrations.


Stopper Concepts >