Tristan Duke
Glacial Optics: Cold Cutting Edge
Location: 1080 Physics Research Building, Smith Seminar Room
Faculty Host: Harris Kagan
Abstract: Artist Tristan Duke will share work from his ongoing interdisciplinary, research-based project Glacial Optics. In 2022 the artist undertook an expedition to the Arctic where he made functioning camera lenses out of glacier ice, capturing portraits of the glaciers through their own ice. In July of 2023 Duke was awarded the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Art+Technology Lab grant to support further exploration of the glacier as a literal and poetic lens through which to understand our world. Duke will share highlights from this project including from his Fall 2023 artist residency at the Ohio State University Pulse Laser Holography Lab.
Bio: Tristan Duke is a Los Angeles based artist with a special interest in light, optics, illusion, and visual perception. Using innovative approaches to materials, craft and technology, Duke explores visual ways of knowing –building his own cameras, optical devices, and interactive installations to create new perspectives. His highly interdisciplinary approach has led to collaborations with a wide range of artists, scientists, and community members. As an inventor, Duke has pioneered numerous holographic technologies, including hologram vinyl records. He has created original hologram artwork for many albums and soundtrack releases earning him a Clio Award and wide acclaim with mentions on the Tonight Show, in Rolling Stone, Forbes, The Verge, Gizmodo and many more. He is Co-founder of the Optics Division, a collective devoted to recontextualizing photography as a land-based medium and social practice.
He has lectured and exhibited internationally including at LACMA, MASS MoCA, The Santa Fe Institute, The Exploratorium, The George Eastman Museum, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, and many others.
Photos from Colloquium:
