SIGGRAPH Art Gallery.(Portfolio)

When Sue Gollifer was named chair of the SIGGRAPH 2004 Art Gallery, she was determined to select a title for the gallery that was contemporary and described the theme of this year's exhibits: works that stimulate and explore new connections--technological, aesthetic, and critical--among the senses. She chose Synaesthesia, which, by definition, is an involuntary cross-modal association whereby the stimulation of one sense prompts the stimulation of another sense.

Illustrating this theme, the gallery will feature 2D, 3D, interactive, multimedia, telecommunications, installation-based, and screen-based (online) works that viewers can see, hear, touch, or smell. "I wanted to focus on how artists can excite the senses through a range of technologies," says Gollifer, an artist and principal lecturer of fine art at the University of Brighton in the UK.

The exhibit, on display during the annual ACM SIGGRAPH conference and exhibition, contains more than 150 juried selections from a record number of 850 submissions. The featured works, created by established and novice artists alike, were produced using various techniques, from high-tech 3D computer graphics to low-tech digital plotters. "Our jury of industry professionals looked for interesting, thought-provoking images and installations that reflected a range of work and technologies," says Gollifer of the vetting process.

Gollifer, the first European to chair the SIGGRAPH Art Gallery, has worked to raise the profile of the conference and the gallery throughout Europe. As a result of her efforts, the prestigious Ars Electronica conference, held annually in Linz, Austria, has agreed to display prize-winning exhibits from its 2003 show in ...