Michael Wright (aka. Mrags Writer) is presenting his “Virtual World Project 09: Anarchy City” at The New Media Consortium Summer Conference

[Michael R Wright]

June 2010

Michael Wright (aka. Mrags Writer) is presenting his “Virtual World Project 09: Anarchy City” at The New Media Consortium Summer Conference Interactive Sessions , to be held June 9-12 in Anaheim, California hosted by the University of Southern California . This is the third year in a row that Wright’s project was chosen to be featured as part of the interactive showcase presented Thursday, June 10.The NMC Interactive sessions are designed to showcase current research, projects, and programs taking place at innovative institutions across the country.

The New Media Consortium (NMC) is an international not-for-profit consortium of over 260 learning-focused organizations dedicated to the exploration and use of new media and new technologies. NMC Brochure preview NMC member institutions are found in almost every state in the United States, across Canada, and in Europe, Asia and Australia. Among the membership are an elite list of the most highly regarded colleges and universities in the world, as well as a growing list of innovative museums, research centers, foundations, and forward-thinking companies. The consortium serves as a catalyst for the development of new applications of technology to support learning and creative expression, and sponsors programs and activities designed to stimulate innovation, encourage collaboration, and recognize excellence among its member institutions. Through its many projects, its comprehensive website, and its series of international conferences, the NMC stimulates dialog and understanding through the exploration of promising ideas, technologies, and applications.

Wrights virtual world project 09 involved three classes consisting of 66 digital media sophomore students participated in this project choosing an apocalyptic city as theme. The project required team building, out of the box creative thinking, introducing students to working with 3d & 2d virtual tools in real time, working with a budget, working with a deadline and working with a limited amount of building blocks (primitives). Three hours of in-class time and 10 hours of outside of class time were devoted to this build.

Michael Wright is a painter who began to explore Digital Media in the mid 1980s on an Amiga computer. He exhibited his first Digital Prints in 1989. He has exhibited digital and traditional works on a national & international level. Wright is currently exploring art and art education in virtual worlds.

Wright, a professor in the Digital Media and Liberal Studies Programs at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, is one of the pioneer artists mentioned in an article by new media art historian Patric D Prince in the spring 09 issue of the ”Art Journal” published by the College Art Association. The Prince article “Imaging by Numbers: A Historical View of Digital Printmaking in America” is one of three features dealing with early digital art making covered in the spring issue of the “Art Journal”. Wright is also a member of NMC, ACM, SIGGRAPH, Ylem, ASCI, and the Los Angeles Printmaking Society. Wright's digital work is represented in “The Art of the Digital Age” by Bruce Wands, “Going Digital” by Joseph Nalven and JD Jarvis, "Computer Graphics World" '25 year Retrospective of Digital Art" in its January 2002 issue and in the magazine’s "Portfolio" section of the November, 2001, issue. Wright is profiled in "Computer Graphics Companion" edited by Jeffrey McConnell Anthony Ralston and Edwin Reilly. His work also appears in "The Computer in the Visual Arts" by Anne Morgan Spalter of Brown University, published by Addison Wesley and is also published in Linda Jacob's seminal book, "CyberArts: Exploring Art & Technology". He and his work have been featured in Wired, Micro Publishing News, Computer Graphics & Applications and Agent X, Television Tokyo. Wright's digital prints are in the collection of the State Museum in Novorsibirsk, Russia and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London UK, the repository for British art book & print collections. Wright was one of six resident artists invited to SIGGRAPH’S first Artists in Residence Program at SIGGRAPH 2007, in San Diego California.