We stay in Switzerland this week for two more Art for Artemis pieces from the Basel School of Design, today Katrin Niedermeier presents her computer-generated image:

Credits: Katrin Niedermeier

What school are you studying at and what degree?

I did my master’s degree in fine arts at the Hgk in Basel, Switzerland.

Tell us about the technique used to make your Art for Artemis piece

My CGI (computer generated image) is a rendered image that I worked on in Cinema 4d. This is a 3 D software that is often used for animation and architectural projects. I had to pre-process some details and parts of this image in Photoshop to import them and use them as such in Cinema. Working in the digital space usually means a fluid workflow in different programs that work hand in hand. Generally speaking, you could also say that the more “languages” you speak, the more you can explore and create in the virtual.

What inspired you to make the artwork and who are your inspirations in general?

In my previous projects and video works I have worked with 3D objects, such as female avatars, flora and fauna offered on online 3D platforms.

Most of the time I was confronted with very gender stereotyped representations and common or collective notions of existences and took this as a starting point and inspiration for my work, which I have been pursuing for almost a year now, translating it into video, audio, CGIs and often as multimedia installations in the exhibition space. To envision a female cyborg and a hybrid dog being sent into space together and forming the starting point for new existences and interconnections inspired me very much to create this project.

Do you have any thoughts to share about the Moon and human spaceflight?

I see it as very controversial. As space travel is a way to discover and ultimately expand new human territory, experience and history have shown us.

On the other hand, it could be seen as a tremendous challenge and opportunity to rethink life as something that is more interconnected and in a constant cycle of ongoing networks of organic matter and non-organic life, potentially leading us to new spacelings and worldlings living on Mars and in space with newly created behaviours in living societies/networks.

Anything else you would like to add…

I believe that there is so much more to create and discover in the area of coexistence and synergy, linking diversity, technology and organic life, for humans and non-humans alike, that this could be seen as a great opportunity.

Hopefully it will be used more resourcefully and with more respect for each other.

And of course….

I would love to see more women working in space!