Drew Browning

Drew Browning is an electronic artist/designer whose work began with the video art movement of the early '70s, including interactive video installations and video performances, now focuses on interactive digital media and virtual reality. His work is centrally about creating dialog about the issues of difference, about using the power of technology to challenge viewer perspective, about calling attention to what makes us human, and the human condition. He is also involved in research and development of technology for persons with disabilities and universal design. He is an Associate Professor of both Electronic Visualization and Industrial Design and Director of the Design Visualization lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Recent commissions with Annette Barbier included the Museum of Science and Industry/Chicago for "Waiting in Line" (2003), an interactive computer installation engaging visitors in scientific principles through creative play; United States Vietnam Arts Program (USVAP formerly ArtSynergy)/Chicago for "River of Many Sides" (2004), an interactive, multimedia performance with two Vietnamese artists expressed their shared histories as both artists and citizens of countries with a contentious history; Bradley University, Slane Scholar in Residence/Peoria for "Stream-ing" (2006), an interactive installation about the interdependent relationship of people and the environment using the Illinois Waterway from Chicago to Peoria as an interconnection metaphor.

Excerpts from selected Video and Computer Graphic work:

image of traffic based mandala ”You Are Here" ©2006
Installation; Browning, Barbier; "You Are Here" was projected onto the facade of the gallery building taking live image information from the nearby expressway to create an abstracted meditation on our frenetic pace of travel. The title of the work plays on the common kiosk guide map dot and familiar spiritual phrase "Be Here Now" (Ram Dass), reflecting on the pace of our existence and gently questioning whether our obsession with speed is really getting us anywhere. Viewed from the Kennedy Expressway (I-94) at North Ave, Chicago.

image of floor projection ”Stream-ing" ©2006
Interactive installation; Browning, Barbier, Ferolo; “Stream-ing" is about the interdependent relationship of people and the environment. The Illinois Waterway from Chicago through Peoria, which includes the Chicago and Illinois rivers, is the metaphor for this interconnectedness. Exhibited at the Fifth Annual Discovery Forum, Peoria, IL, and WTVP, Central Illinois's public television station. Produced as Slane Scholar in Residence at Bradley University, Peoria, IL. http://www.stream-ing.com/

Image of Eleventh & State street intersection. "Preserving Disorder" ©2005
Flanked by the former Chicago Police Headquarters at 11th and State and the anti war protests at Michigan Ave, "Preserving Disorder", an interactive sidewalk installation at 11th and Wabash, recalls the images and dynamics of the summer of '68 in Chicago. University Film and Video Association Conference (UFVA) August 2005.

Image of journaey down a virtual river. "Path of the Dragon" ©2005
The river journey is the form of this installation in which a participant is a traveler in a mythic voyage through the ages of a nation, Vietnam. Beginning at dawn, the participant navigates through three levels: a past lived close to nature, a time of horrific upheaval and violence, and a time of adapting and rebuilding. University Film and Video Association Conference (UFVA) August 2005 and Gosia Koscielak Gallery April/May,.2006.

image of harmonic waveform. "Wave Harmonies" ©2005
Interactive Installation; Browning, Barbier. "Wave Harmonies", an interactive installation that represents the visual world in terms of waveforms, "International Digital Media and Arts Association Conference 2005", Orlando, FL, Juried exhibition March 16-19, 2005; AWARDED Second Place.

image of River of Many Sides poster. “River of Many Sides” ©2004
Interactive, multimedia performance; Browning, Barbier, Krinkle, Minh Ngoc, Quoc Thao. Commissioned by United States Vietnam Arts Program (USVAP formerly ArtSynergy), River of Many Sides addresses issues of violence and its effects. In June of 2003, five artists embarked on a journey of collaboration and understanding that began with travels to one another's countries and that culminated in the performance: River of Many Sides. Each of the artists has profound personal and cultural associations to our countries' intertwined histories.

”Waiting in Line” ©2003
Interactive Installation; Browning, Barbier. Commissioned by the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, "Waiting In Line" is an interactive computer installation of visually rich, graphical representations of waveforms. The exhibit encouraged those waiting in line for tickets in the Great Hall to participate in creating a series of Lissajous figures, a pattern of lines which may be familiar from science fiction movies of the 1950's. The images were displayed on a large-scale screen. Guests used sheets of colored paper to control the horizontal and vertical frequencies of the complex, changing patterns.

image of US flag, target and roll of duct tape. ”Homeland Insecurity” ©2003 (Excerpted Suite - QuickTime movie 800K)
Interactive web3D; Browning. This suite of works addresses our national paranoia inspired by the events of 9/11. The pieces collectively respond to our need for security and our fear of exposure in a threatening climate. The touch screen (installation mode) allows the viewer to put his finger on the source of our discomfort; the act of touching makes the viewer complicit in creating our collective malaise. Installed at the University Film and Video Conference (UFVA) 2003, University of South Carolina. For the complete interactive web3D work visit http://www.evl.uic.edu/drew/HI

image of a house at end of street "HOME " ©2001 (QuickTime movie 800K)
Interactive web3D; Browning, Barbier. Home is an interactive work-in-progress which explores various concepts of home by allowing the viewer to move through a virtual building created in the computer. The action of moving through the space calls up images, stories, movies, animations and sounds contributed by writers and artists in music, film, and graphic art on the meaning and nature of home. HOME2001 exhibited at ISEA Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts 2001. For the complete interactive web3D work visit http://www.soc.northwestern.edu/barbier/home/

image of FDR memorial " Disability Perspective #1 " ©1997 (QuickTime movie 510K)
Interactive web3D; Browning. The newly built Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Monument serves as a focal point for this immersive experience which addresses issues germane to the disabled community and to representation of minorities in general. Virtual Spaces exhibited at ISEA Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts 1997

picture of person with disability being arrested "Disability Activism" ©1991 (QuickTime movie 200K)
Video - length: 12 min.; Browning; Documentary in style, this videotape covers an eight year span of personal activism in the Disability Rights Movement. Significant to the approach was a desire to look at the Movement from inside. At times this perspective proved to be at odds with my participation as an activist while at other times it proved to be a tool for empowerment, changing the course of events.

picture of ceiling ornament by Louis Sullivan "Louis Sullivan: The Function of Ornament" ©1986 (QuickTime movie 82K)
Video - length: 7 min.; Barbier, Browning; Produced for the Chicago Historical Society. Promoting the exhibit "Louis Sullivan: The Function of Ornament" at the Chicago Historical Society, this tape shows some of Sullivan's themes and sources, using computer graphics to clarify some of his basic concepts.

picture from videotape "Now or Later" "Now or Later" ©1984 (QuickTime movie 108K)
Video - length: 5 min., Co-produced with Barbier, Moyemont, and Skura. A series of video dance/performance "sketches" leading to the production of "Chase Scene," the performance.

picture from videotape, dancer in front of on-stage video projection "So To Speak" ©1981 (QuickTime movie 90K)
Video - length: 16 min.; Co-produced with Barbier, Moyemont, and Kast. Based on the video/dance performance "So To Speak." This videotape combines the elements of the original videotape created for the performance with the live dance into a new multi-layered entity using digital and analog effects to achieve a synthesis.

picture from videotape of image processed dancers "Stereopticon III" ©1979 (QuickTime movie 125K)
Video - length: 20 min.; Co-produced with Barbier, Moyemont, Fahrenwald, and Gerber. Improvisational Video/Dance works which are sometimes dark and spare, sometimes spacious and soaring. Produced live, involving two camera people, two musicians, a video artist, and a dancer all with a common focus -- the video monitor. BEST VIDEOTAPE AND HONORS AWARD Eighth Annual Dance Video and Film Festival; New York, June, 1979.

picture from videotape of image processed dancer "Trilogy" ©1978 (QuickTime movie 260K)
Video - length: 8 min.; Co-produced with Barbier. Early Video/Dance works produced live, exploring movement of a dancer in counterpart with movement created by video and computer graphic technology. ONE OF TEN PRIZE-WINNING VIDEOTAPES Videotape: The Meaning is the Use; Bergman Gallery, University of Chicago, Chicago, May, 1978

picture from videotape of image processed dancer "Nancy Drew Patch" ©1974 (QuickTime movie 236K)
A pioneering work in Video/Dance performed in real time. One of the first works produced in color on the Sandin Image Processor.

Selected papers on Design for People with Disabilities:

· "Virtual Reality and Accessible Transit Design, The UIC / CTA New Access Methods Project" (1995)

Using visualization technologies, the DVL assisted the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) in developing alternative access methods to rapid transit stations for people with disabilities.

(QuickTime movie 701K)

· "Input Interfacing to the CAVE by Persons with Disabilities" (1994)

This paper describes the development of specialized interfaces for virtual environment exploration by people who use wheelchairs. These real, tangible interfaces are intuitive and most appropriate for wheelchair simulations.

(QuickTime movie 610K) (QuickTime movie 557K)

· "Projection-Based Virtual Environments and Disability" (1993)

This paper describes the use of a projection-based virtual reality (VR) interface (the CAVE) for persons with disability.

(QuickTime movie 532K)

· "Legged Mobility, A Wheelchair Alternative" (1988)

This research project was not funded beyond a prototype stage. The prototype was full scale and walked in the laboratory in October, 1988 with a simple linear gait. It did not carry a passenger. The power supply, electronics and computer were off board, connected by wire. The prototype has since been dismantled for other research at the VA.

picture of walking wheelchair "LEGS, Legged Electromechanical multiply-Gaited Superchair" (c)1987
Videotape length: 5 min.; Browning, Song, Trimble; Presented at "RESNA `87," (Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America), San Jose, CA, June 19-23, 1987. A computer animation of a wheelchair alternative. This first model of the walking chair is shown climbing stairs, raising and lowering, and walking in a straight level gait. Here are links to the various animated gaits:
Level Gait 1 (QuickTime 36K); Level Gait 2 (QuickTime 65K); Stair Climb 1 (QuickTime 33K); Stair Climb 2 (QuickTime 49K); Raise & Lower 1 (QuickTime 33K); Raise & Lower 2 (QuickTime 33K)

© Drew Browning, Assoc. Prof.,
Director, Design Visualization Lab,
UIC School of Art and Design MC036,
929 W. Harrison St., Chicago, IL 60607,
(312)-996-0156 lab; (312)-413-2333 fax,