My work is always highly conceptual, and then-- I don't know how would I describe it, but I relied on dreams and visions and experimentation with material, almost prehistoric in that way. I always have this contemplative moment. But sometimes, I do just create paintings, freehand energy release paintings. And some I kept. Some, I was like, OK, this got to go.
You are listening to WREK Atlanta, and this is Lost in the Stacks, the research library rock and roll radio show. I'm Charlie Bennett in the studio with the whole gang. It's been so long. Alex McGee, Charlie Gibbons, and Fred Rascoe are here, although we're missing our normal hanger on. I hear he got a job.
Cody. Man, where are you, dude? You should have put it in your contract for your new job to come here Fridays at noon, hang out at Lost in the Stacks. Oh well. Congratulations on your new job, Cody.
Congrats, Cody, and we will now forge ahead. Each week on Lost in the Stacks, we pick a theme and then use it to create a mix of music and library talk. Whichever you are here for, we hope you dig it.
Our show today is called Growing Art at the Georgia Tech Library. It's the fourth in the occasional series that we call artist in residence. The Georgia Tech Library launched an artist residency program a few years ago. Each artist in residence uses the library to create and install a large scale artwork. We've seen a lot of color on windows so far. CHARLIE BENNETT: All kinds of colors.
The artist in residence also leans into the arts-based programming and engagement that is part of the library's mission, by holding events and workshops for the Georgia Tech community. CHARLIE BENNETT: For today's episode, I spoke with Dr. Bojanna Ginn, the library's third artist in residence, after she completed her piece, Orchid Dreams, and installed it in the library's interactive media zone. It's up until November 18. If you want to go look at it in person.
And our songs today are about collaborations with great groups of people using art as a way to relate to the world and growing fungus.
Growing fungus.
Yeah, well, you know, art can be about absolutely anything, and it can be absolutely anything, even fungus. So let's start with "Absolutely Anything" by The Brilliant Colors right here on Lost in the Stacks.
I didn't know you went to art school, Fred.
That was "Absolutely Anything" by The Brilliant Colors. Our show today is growing art at the Georgia Tech Library, part 4 of our artist in residence series. Our guest is Dr. Bojanna Ginn, who just completed her residency at the Georgia Tech Library. CHARLIE BENNETT: Bojanna's art fuses elements of digital media, biology, and immersive environments to explore themes of wellness, sustainability, and the human experience in the digital age. So it's a perfect fit for the library.
Perfect?
As perfect as it gets in an imperfect world, Fred.
OK.
Let's play the interview.
What was your first impression when you got to Tech? And I'm sure you've seen it in some way before, but when you first got to Tech knowing I'm going to do art here, what did you think?
Well, you know, when you say a first impression, I kind of have to start with the interview because interviews are usually stressful. But for me, interview process was wonderful. It was so in-depth. It was so relaxed. Everybody was very welcoming and curious, and we just start talking, and I felt like I was having a chat with my friends. It kind of set the tone for my residency. When we left, I mean, I was excited, and Catherine Mansi was with me, and she was excited.
Nobody wanted to say anything, of course. I wasn't sure if I'm going to be picked, but just the feeling was fantastic. And then, to be honest, then it's kind of a little foggy. I don't remember how-- we were just, there were so many things to be done, things to be decided. Which way should I go? I had lots of freedom. They liked a couple of different projects. But immediately, we knew that we wanted to build the sculptures.
I was thinking, wow, I didn't even know how many resources Georgia Tech has. And when that became clear to me, I was like, OK, I'm going to make this part time residency a full time job, and I'm going to squeeze every ounce of juice that I can because it's such a special opportunity for artists like myself.
I'm working with art, science, and technology, and the technology is moving so fast that if you, as a studio artist, want to acquire it and learn it, it's a lot of resources, lots of learning, and by the time you learn something, another technology comes out. And so being surrounded with people who know so much and have equipment and willingness and excitement to work with the artists and make things happen was just a fantastic opportunity.
So from the beginning, I knew we were going to make some wonderful things.
And your art, it's resource-heavy, isn't it? I mean, it takes a lot of work and tools and material to make what you make.
It does, it does. I call my art practice phygital. This is like word merging physical and digital. Because in digital era that we live, for me, using hand is very much important. Like, me as an artist is something embodied and just this innate desire to sculpt, to mold, to paint. And I never wanted to let go. So my studio has everything from painting and drawing and sculpture and tools for wood and tools for moldings.
So, like, there's so much just for that, let's call it, moderate traditional media even though I use it in contemporary way. And then you have video editing software, projectors, computers, lights, systems for interactive light that I use before, and VR headsets, all kind of cameras, stands. I always forget. But there's a lot, right? So, organization is a big part of my practice.
So like, coming to tech and actually being able to just have all this amazing new technology and resources already in place, and I can just come and pick the cream, right? I was very happy. I was ecstatic from the beginning.
I'm sure you've done art through your whole life, but you've been a practicing artist for about 10 years. Is that right?
Well, when I came to the States, which is like 22, almost 23 years ago, I immediately knew that it's an opportunity for me to switch careers.
OK.
I was a medical doctor, and I liked it. But I loved, like, some aspects of medicine. Really love genetics. I really like neurology. But I was deeply-- there was this drive toward art. I was not happy at the place. And when I came to the United States, I had to start from the beginning. So I immediately decided to start doing this full time. But I would call myself amateur at the beginning. Like, I was a self-taught painter, and I did some drawings.
So it's kind of started, like, I had exhibitions. People purchased my art. But it wasn't until 2010 that I decided, hey, I'm going to go to school, and I'm going to pursue this, like, professionally. And then I went to SCAD, and I finished as a sculptor, masters in sculpture.
Yeah, so I was cheating a little bit. I knew your graduation year on SCAD, and I was kind of marking--
Yes, 2013. Yes, yes.
At what point in that process did this phygital really come into your mindset? When did you really start pursuing? And I know that the answer probably is oh, it was happening the whole time, but do you remember a sort of inciting event that made you jump from sculpture and painting into this kind of art?
Yes, it started during my school, during my master's program, when I got-- I think my husband bought this very cute little projector. So I brought it into my studio, and I just loved the quality of color that would hit the wall. And I always-- I used to-- always have this relationship with the wall. As a painter, as-- I used to, like, paint and make murals.
But then as a sculptor, my sculpture usually created really interesting shadows, and that was always very fascinating to me, like translating this 3D form organically into something flat on the wall. And suddenly, with the projection, they were like these beautiful colors and pixels. You can see the pixels of a projection on the wall. And there was something there that I really liked. There were some other projects also during my studies. One day was interactive.
But the word phygital I remember discovering in this London-based magazine, and it just kind of jumped at me. And I was like, oh, that's perfect. That's kind of like how we all live today between digital space like we do now and the physical world.
This is Lost in the Stacks. We'll be back with more from Bojanna Ginn about her art residency at the Georgia Tech Library after a music set.
File this set under N6494.I56W67.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(SINGING) And if we close our eyes together Then we will see where--
That was "Sing This Song Altogether" by The Orange Bicycle, and before that, "Me and My Friends" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, songs about the great things that happen when we collaborate together.
This is Lost in the Stacks, and today's show is called growing art at the Georgia Tech Library, part four in our artist in residence series.
You're listening to an interview with Dr. Bojanna Ginn, the most recent artist in residence at the Georgia Tech Library. CHARLIE BENNETT: There's a phrase we use on the show, the material oomph. And it's what we use to just kind of sum up that feeling of there's something about approaching a physical object, a tactile experience, that adds to whatever's going on.
And so when we first started talking about the material oomph, it was to say, oh no, we're losing it because we were going to be a much more electronic library, digital services, e-resources, and things like that. And in the time since we've been saying that, like 15 years or so, I feel like the phygital is almost the reclaiming of the tactile, the reclaiming of the substance of the digital world that we found ourselves in.
I agree, and I think that this digital era also encouraged people. Like, we have so much more craft right now. People are fascinated with craftsmanship. And you can see on social media when people share things that we took for granted, like how belts are made or, I don't know, you know? And suddenly, people see, wow, wow. Look at this, what people can do with their hands. But talking about material oomph, I remember as a student, again, I was listening to this really famous artist.
And she was talking about how material was talking to her. And I was like, half of me was like, hm, and half of me was rolling the eyes. And then when I got deeper in my practice, I had this moment like, oh my God. Like, that's actually true. Material is talking to me, right? Because you kind of dive in, and you experiment on what can I do with this. And suddenly, something you didn't even anticipated can happen, happens. And this material takes you to a new direction of your work.
And I guess I'll call it oomph from right now.
It's a fun thing to say.
Yeah, it is.
I want to ask you a really naive question. When you make art, do you find yourself sort of imagining an idea that you want to bring forth? Do you start by saying, well, what am I going to play with and see what it says to you? Is it a mix of both. Like, when do you see what you were trying to make?
Well, to be straightforward, long time ago as a young artist or when I was just playing around, it was always-- it started with visions. I always had-- and now this is a little weird, but you can edit it. But I remember I would just close my eyes, and I had these visions, almost like somebody was playing, like, video projection of works of art, all kind of different ideas. And I would just kind of pick one, and I would make it. That was a long time ago.
But since I started merging these ideas that are very important to me and with my art practice, when I realized that art doesn't have to be just art, but that you can bring in science or anything that interests you-- I mean, if you're into ice cream making, you can make art based on ice cream making. Then it just kind of merges one to another. Sometimes, it starts with a concept and fascination with the idea. Sometimes, it's a vision.
Sometimes, you're working on something in the studio, and suddenly, those happy accidents happened. Something falls and things kind of turn in some way and something drips into something else. And suddenly, you're like, oh my God, look at this. And then you change your direction. So it's kind of rolling. It's constantly rolling one to another.
And you said in your interview you got the sense that this would be a very collaborative residency if you got it. And--
Yes.
--did that kind of translate people, students, library faculty, whomever, sort of being part of the knocking things over and dripping paint aspect of the art?
Yes, yes. Me and Catherine had that moment. But no, this is a good moment for me to give thanks individually to people that I work with. And I work the most with Catherine Mansi, and she is kind, intelligent, resourceful, helpful, playful. I just very much enjoyed kind of our interactions on a daily basis. She really understood my process. She was very supportive and everybody else like Kim, Kimberly, Sheldon, Jason, Jason Wright.
I mean, I know them by first name, but I'm going to-- and then the library staff, Kirk and Connor. Everybody was very helpful and wonderful. I worked with two students. I worked with Supratim Pait, and he is an interactive media designer who helped me create this interactive therapeutic video that is at the IMZ, Interactive Media Zone. So I brought my visuals. I brought my concepts, and he was very good in what he does when it comes to interactivity.
But he's also-- he's from India, and he always loved being a part of that Diwali festival. And he showed me some photographs of making mandalas, a beautiful work. So he's really wonderful with color and shape. So I could ask him, hey, what do you think about this, or let's try that. And so we've really had a wonderful collaboration. And then I worked with Ben Collins and Mya Love Griesbaum. They are into material sciences, and we created these bio sculptures.
So we did those three different projects, and then we organized a lecture by Arthur I. Miller, who's a famous and wonderful artist who is an amazing writer on art and science. And Georgia Tech was a part of Atlanta's first international art fair. And we had our own booth. So, many thanks to Jason Freeman and Birny Robert for organizing everything and bringing tech and myself and a couple of other Georgia Tech professionals to the fair.
You are listening to Lost in the Stacks, and we'll talk more about art, collaboration and fungus--
Hey!
--on the left side of the hour.
Hi, I'm Mandy, the accordion-playing data librarian, and you are listening to Lost in the Stacks on WREK Atlanta.
Today's show is called growing art at the Georgia Tech Library. Our guest is Dr. Bojanna Ginn, an interdisciplinary artist who just served as the Georgia Tech Library's third artist in residence. Her installation, Orchid Dreams, is on display in the interactive media zone at the library until November 18. After that day, you can find images and video of the installation on the library website because, you know, the world's phygital now.
Dr Ginn and I spoke for longer than we could fit into three segments. So I pulled one of the library centric questions out for this mid-show break. When you think of the Georgia Tech Library, what comes to mind? Is there a spot somewhere that you think of as, oh yeah, that's my GT library?
Oh, first people. People are always first to me. What a great people. And then books. I love books. I'm a bookworm. Is that's how they call it, a library something?
We like to say bibliophile now.
I am a bibliophile, always were. And I love something that Lesley Sharpe said. And also, I heard Katherine said that. The library was always spreading information. Books were always spreading information. Today, we have information through different mediums like digital computers and laptops and datas and iClouds. But also, art is a way to share information.
So for me, it was-- I just love that history of people who wrote all books and who are kind of my family, but they worked with their own mediums in the time in which they lived. And for me, to come there and be surrounded with all that wisdom and knowledge and beauty and kind of to make my own little contribution, it's very inspiring. And we had a little rock from the moon on exhibition.
So my exhibition is right next to that little rock on the moon and the small step for man and a big step for humankind, right?
File this set under QK617.R68. You just heard "Let the Rain Be Me" by The Magic Mushrooms and, before that, "Mushroom" by Murmur. Songs about a fungus and what makes it grow.
This is Lost in the Stacks, and our show today is called growing art at the Georgia Tech Library. You're listening to an interview with Dr. Bojanna Ginn, who recently concluded her artist residency at the Georgia Tech Library. We finished the last segment talking about collaboration, and Bojanna continues with that thread in this segment.
Something that might be interesting for you was this, like, everything happens with this serendipity, right? So when I was standing next to IMZ Station, I didn't with whom I would work. We thought we need to send some emails and see who's going to be interested. And this young man came, and we start talking . And he was like, yeah, I'll do it. I was like, I was like, hey, we are really serious, you know? I'm serious. I'll do it. So that's how it happened.
And then when we had the tour at the material labs, I was telling students there that I want to create this bio art because my sculptures are made of this thermoplastic polyester that is recyclable. But I wanted to kind of go further, and I learned of these fungi and different organisms that can digest plastic, turn it from synthetic into organic, and in the process create this almost like a bilateral material.
And I thought it would be amazing to create a sculpture that is synthetic and then, in front of your eyes with this biological process, it turns into something different. It's like magical. So as I was talking, Anastasia, one of the students, said, oh, there's a student here, Maya Love, and she is working with plastic-eating fungi. And I was like, wow, can you connect us? Yes, I'll connect you. So we immediately connected, and we started. And Maya is abroad. She studies.
We had some online conversations. But her colleague Ben Collins, he's here, and he did these inoculations. And so I worked with him a lot. And again, he is so, like, a positive. And when we talk, we go from mushrooms all the way to dinosaurs and what kind of flora and fauna. And it's just the conversations at Tech are always fantastic.
What's the time scale on that, the fungi eating the polyester? What's the-- like, how long will it take to become something different?
So we're actually experimenting to decide that because in their lab, they work with polyester fabric. And so they got answers. They know that material really well. The sculptures I made, they're based also-- it's a kind of polyester resin. But it's much thicker. So we don't know. We inflated them, and we put them in these containers where we can feed them and kind of take care of them and observe them. So we are basically researching this now.
And when we see some changes, I think we're going to look with electronic microscope and see how much of the materials are actually ingested. There are some fun things happening. Like, there's this mole that tried to kind of infect the system. But the mole was actually good because mold can degrade plastic. It has stronger enzymes. So maybe working in tandem, these two can do something. It's an experiment.
So I'm hoping sooner than later, but you know, it is a hope that if this process is a good-- this is very new science. And of course, like, in my mind, I believe strongly in synthetic biology. So anything that, you know, these, let's say, natural normal organisms can do, it can be enhanced to do that job better. So I just am excited to be part of all of that process.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Is this something that's going to follow you from tech, come with you from tech, and be a big part of your work going forward? Yes, I plan to continue all of these. So I created, like, three bodies of work. The one was collaboration with Ben and Maya with these, like, bio sculptures, another with super team with interactive media that's also therapeutic and can be diagnostic. And it's very much into this, like, health care as human right.
And then-- so both of these I would like to continue, and I would like to continue them as collaborations. And then sculpture, which, I was able to create this sculpture because I had the help of Montgomery Machining Lab and Scott Elliott, who worked there and who was super friendly. So that is something that I am going to continue myself in the studio, that kind of sculptural work. But now I how can it be done, which way it can be improved, and so on.
So yeah, definitely it would be nice to continue.
OK, so the big finish-- it's a very simple question. You'll be able to answer it with just a couple words. What does making art do for you?
Oh yeah, it's a part of who I am. It was with me since I was born. It's a way to understand the world, to understand myself, to understand what's happening around, to have answers to questions just like in science. Science can give you certain kind of answers. Art can answer those same questions in a different way. So it's just like, it's a way of being in the world in complete freedom.
This is Lost in the Stacks, and our guest is Dr. Bojanna Ginn, an interdisciplinary artist who just served as Georgia Tech Library's third artist in residence. Her installation, Orchid Dreams, is on display in the interactive media zone at the library until November 18.
File this set under PS163.W47. That was "Engineers" by Gary Newman, and before that, "It's Art" by The Bug Club, and we started that set with "Art Groupie" by Grace Jones. Those were songs about how acts of creativity help us all relate to our world, even the engineers that surround us now. Today's show is called growing art in the Georgia Tech Library, and we're burning towards the end of the show.
So, real fast, what's everybody's preferred medium for art, either as a creator or as an audience? Mine, turns out, is impasto paint because I can stare at one of those textured paintings for far longer than I think is totally appropriate. Marley, what about you?
I can only create two dimensional art, so I'm pretty fascinated by 3D art. So, sculpture-- it changes as you walk around. It's pretty cool. How about Fred?
Can I say music? Because that's pretty much the primary art that I consume.
I don't know what to do with this, Fred. I mean, are we talking about plastic arts? Is this a theory class. You know.
Oh, is--
Is music a medium or a form or a genre?
It's already beyond me.
Yeah, why don't you just-- Alex?
I mean, I was going to go with the same thing, Fred. So, two versus two.
Yeah, Charlie. Yeah.
I think it is a very powerful and evocative medium. So, yeah.
Oh my gosh. Do we have to have this conversation? No.
Another show.
No, we don't. Roll the credits. Lost in the Stacks is a collaboration between WREK Atlanta and the Georgia Tech Library written and produced by Alex McGee, Charlie Bennett, Fred Rascoe, and Marlee Givens.
Legal counsel and a stern warning to keep mushrooms away from wine were provided by the Burrus Intellectual Property Law Group in Atlanta, Georgia.
And he knows what he's talking about. Special thanks to Bojanna for being on the show, to Catherine Manci for keeping the artists in residency program going at the Georgia Tech Library, and Thanks, as always, to each and every one of you for listening.
Our web page is library.gatech.e du/lostinthestacks, where you'll find our most recent episode, a link to our podcast feed, and a web form if you want to get in touch with us.
Next week, we will not debate whether music is an acceptable medium to answer to a question what's your favorite. We will try to penetrate the black box that is Google Scholar. And spoiler, we do not succeed.
But that show hasn't happened yet.
Yeah, how do you know?
Well, I'm using predictive text, and that's what it he tells me.
Time for our last song today. Art is all about growth. People viewing the art grow new perspectives. An environment with art grows in aesthetic possibilities. The artist grows with each new work created. So to celebrate growth, let's close with a track by a musician whose art has been growing and inspiring for nearly 60 years, and he just turned 79 this week.
Hey!
This is "Homegrown" by Neil Young right here on Lost in the Stacks.
Plant that bell and let it ring.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
Yeah, yeah. No, it's nice [INAUDIBLE].