Volatilia at Barrister’s, and the Robot Parade!

VOLATILIA

Opening Saturday, November 10, 6-9pm

through December 3

Barrister’s Gallery
2331 St. Claude Ave.
New Orleans, LA

Averting this season’s squashed attempt at rallying limited resources for an annual Automata exhibit, we instead have concentrated efforts on a condensed exhibition at Barrister’s Gallery, called Volatilia.   This revised show will feature mechanical sculpture as well as experiments in static 2 & 3d work, hooked together by our new theme.

Volatilia is a pseudo-mystical exposition concerning the ephemera of escape, or, the debris that results from the efforts it takes to do so.

Volatilia is a latin word meaning:

matters of flight

flying things

of birdsrelated familiar words:  volatile, volare

Volatilia is seen in a biblical phrase meaning “the birds of heaven,” though I think it gets translated another boring way, so maybe I’m wrong.  It makes sense to think of volatilia as things that fly in gaseous, infinite realms, like Mrs. Whatsit as a centaur in A Wrinkle In Time.

Volatilia is also the title of one of Coleridge’s notebooks:

With self-deprecating humour, Coleridge alluded to the impossibility of pinning down anything as elusive as a thought by calling his later notebooks ‘Fly-catchers’: the notebook pages function like fly paper, trapping the living thoughts or ‘winged words’ and preserving them for all time, but at the cost of that very living quality which made them worth preserving.  A variation on this title occurs in Notebook 56, which bears the title ‘Volatilia or Day-book for bird-liming Small Thoughts, impounding Stray Thoughts, and holding for trial doubtful Thoughts’

Please click here to view the working list of artists, and visit Barrister’s Gallery for more information in the coming weeks.

THE ROBOT PARADE!  Sponsored by Git Hub.

No longer just flying robots, but a slew of as many varieties a krewe can manage.

H. Cole Wiley is coordinating the parade, and hosting workshops in his upper 9th ward studio.  The parade is still projected for mid-November, likely in the St. Roch neighborhood, with several great neighborhood partnerships in the works.  If you would like to participate or get more information, please add your name and contact to our Robot Parade spreadsheet under the “I am interested” category, or via this blog.

Be sure to add our facebook page, Automata New Orleans, and twitter feed for more frequent news updates!

Flying Robot Parade! Sunday, November 18, 2012

Everyone interested in drone technology and variations on flying machines are welcome to join us for the inaugural Spy vs. Spy picnic and parade in New Orleans during Automata!  The parade and picnic will take place on Sunday, November 18, in New Orleans– location and other info is still to come.

In addition:  Automata’s machine show opening night at the Ironworks is Saturday, Nov. 17, and all participants are welcome to bring their flying robots to the exhibit for some flying demonstrations.  We will work to provide a map of areas in New Orleans where DIY flyers can roam freely.

Two great items of news:

H. Cole Wiley will head organization of the Flying Robot Parade.  Cole is a code-writer, sculptor, and inventor and has already been indispensible to the carrying-on of Automata- he will be one of the great forces behind the show this year.

& thanks to Cole, our first sponsor of Spy vs. Spy is GitHub!  A perfect match!

Details to come!

Cole will bring you further updates on the Flying Robot Parade and on activities and developments with Automata, and information on our sponsors and how to sign up or show up for Spy vs. Spy and surrounding activities.
A brief resume- he is about to finish his degree at LSU, Baton Rouge in Sculpture, with a minor in Digital Art and Computer Science, after which he will spend some time in New Orleans working on Automata and his other projects-  including Decode72 design solutions.  Look for one of his installations at the Ogden Museum later this year.
More news on the near horizon!