CANCELLED: Forest for the Trees

In order to minimize health and safety risks from COVID-19 to our patrons, the larger community, and Duke students, faculty, and staff, Duke University has adopted new policies on spring semester classes, residential life, travel, events, and campus visitors. In keeping with the university’s directives, we are cancelling public events at the Rubenstein Arts Center through April 20. More information.

Independent artist Heather Gordon developed the project Forest for the Trees while in residence at the Rubenstein Arts Center (Jul 15–Aug 23 2019). Join Gordon to learn how she used orphaned data from Duke Forest archives to both expand her artistic practice and inform her creative output with a more outward looking stance.

In her artwork, Gordon uses both personal and public data to construct origami folding patterns to show the shape of a specific narrative. For her Ruby Friday presentation, Gordon will trace the origins of her ideas about the ambiguities of numbers, the acquisition of meaning, and the fear of unperceived existence. Specifically, she will speak to how and why she creates geometric folding patterns to create visual information structures and give insight into her rule-based methods and data sets (including binary conversions, date and time intervals, and geographic locations).