BREAKFAST, Author at BREAKFAST

August 17, 2021 — No Comments

BREAKFAST unveils “Cedar Point Reeds” kinetic sculpture in Denver, CO.

Denver, Colorado — BREAKFAST, a Brooklyn-based new media Art Studio, has unveiled a new interactive kinetic art sculpture at the new Block 162 building in downtown Denver.

Cedar Point Reeds is a kinetic sculpture visualizing the wind and wind energy production occurring at the Cedar Point Wind Farm—a 252 megawatt wind farm 80 miles east of Denver. The mechanical Reeds that make up the artwork move based on the real-time wind speed and bearing occurring at the wind farm. The power generation is represented by the illumination of the Reeds.

As we are all part of creating our sustainable future, the sculpture responds as one approaches it. The reeds will gather and illuminate in front of you, representing how we fit into the bigger story of achieving a clean energy future.

How it Works
Cedar Point Reeds is made of 400 Reeds—a medium developed and created by BREAKFAST specifically for this sculpture at Block 162 in Denver—which use silent stepper motors to quietly and smoothly move the elements back and forth. The sculpture downloads the latest wind data from the internet every minute to update the sculpture so it reflects the current wind values.

About BREAKFAST
BREAKFAST is a new media art studio who create high-tech, digitally reactive artworks, including over 18 large-scale pieces in museums and lobbies around the world. They recently exhibited two new pieces at Christie's Art+Tech Summit in June, will be installing their largest Brixels piece to date in Hudson Yards later this month, and will have an upcoming piece going up for auction at Christie's this December.

Press Contacts
Zolty
BREAKFAST
Director / Co-Founder
zolty@breakfastny.com
917-544-9479

Published by BREAKFAST in Brixels, Flip-Discs

November 26, 2019 — No Comments

Christie’s to Auction Its First Internet-Connected Kinetic Artwork

New York - This December, storied auction house Christie’s will offer its first-ever Internet-connected kinetic work — a digitally-responsive, mechanical portrait that blends visualizations of real-time arctic temperatures with images of its viewer, created by Brooklyn-based art studio, BREAKFAST.

The first in a groundbreaking limited-edition series on Climate Change, ”Svalbard Ice“ uses BREAKFAST’s patented Flip-Discs medium to reflect changing weather patterns in one of the world's northernmost archipelagos, (halfway between Norway and the North Pole), as well as the effects of global warming.

Blue and gold Flip-Discs artwork called "Svalbard Ice" about Climate Change. Created by BREAKFAST.

Measuring 34.7 inches square, “Svalbard Ice” features 3,136 patented electro-magnetic Flip-Discs that intelligently flip between multi-blue and gold to create a continuously evolving representation of live oceanic data, and combine it with any viewer’s silhouette.

“‘Svalbard Ice’ is a deeply interactive work meant to raise a powerful and complex set of questions about the world we live in, and the future of our species. Using forward-looking technology, it asks each of us to consider what will happen as we find ourselves underwater in an increasingly atomized society, and what to do when, despite an exponentially-growing abundance of knowledge, we still fall victim to our own dubious abilities to avoid catastrophe—especially when each of us is acting alone.” —Zolty, Co-Founder and Director of BREAKFAST

“It’s always a pleasure to experience art in new media, and what BREAKFAST is doing is far beyond the cutting edge. Svalbard Ice is a testament not only to BREAKFAST’s creative ingenuity and commitment to climate awareness, but to technology’s potential for revolutionizing artmaking.” — Noah Davis, Specialist and Head of First Open, Christie’s

“Svalbard Ice” will be part of the First Open | Post-War and Contemporary Art auction which will take place online from December 9-18. Christie's has set the estimate of “Svalbard Ice” at $8,000 - $12,000. The only other two pieces currently in the series, “Venice Water” and “Mauna Loa Air,” sold just last week for $25,000 each at the 2019 TEFAF Fall New York Show.

Flip-Discs artworks called "Venice Ice" and "Mauna Loa Air" about Climate Change at TEFAF New York. Created by BREAKFAST.

"Venice Water" (left) and "Mauna Loa Air" (right) are two other pieces from the Climate Change series that both sold at TEFAF in New York last week for $25,000 each.

The inclusion of BREAKFAST’s work in Christie’s sale reflects the art world’s growing interest in forward-looking works that incorporate new technology, also evidenced by Pace Gallery's launch of PaceX this fall. In 2018, Christie’s sold its first painting created by artificial intelligence, “Portrait of Edmond Belamy” for $432,500—more than 43 times its initial high estimate.

About BREAKFAST

Founded in 2009, BREAKFAST is a new media art studio focused on creating software-and-hardware-driven artworks that transform the online world into tactile experiences, while also connecting viewers to distant and disparate geographies, realities, and data-streams. The studio's practice employs a unique blend of computer science, mechanical engineering, and playful, emotionally-striking aesthetics to invite audiences to reflect on the relationship between the physical, the digital, the global, and the intimate in the Information Age, as well as the changing relationships between human bodies and technological innovation.

BREAKFAST's Mediums

Every two years, BREAKFAST invents a new kinetic medium that it can use to create new small-and-large-scale private and public artworks. Flip-Discs, unveiled in 2016, has been the basis for more than 40 exhibitions and permanent artworks across North America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Pulse is BREAKFAST's latest piece utilizing their kinetic medium called Brixels. It's installed at Equinox's new Global Headquarters which opened in Hudson Yards last month.

Brixels, the studio's latest medium, first appeared in 2018 with their piece Brixel Mirror. Their most recent piece which utilizes the medium was unveiled in September at Equinox’s new corporate global headquarters, which opened last month at Hudson Yards. The 22-foot tall, five-foot-wide permanent installation, “Pulse,” comprises 390 infinitely-rotating mirrored and matte-black kinetic bricks, synchronized to create a dynamic and fluid representation of movement, choreographed by software and controlled by data drawn from Equinox members entering their various locations around the world.

BREAKFAST’s next new medium will debut in December 2020 in Denver, CO, as part of a large-scale artwork stretching over 30-feet long.

Media Assets

Climate Change Series Webpage
Embeddable YouTube Video
Photos of “Svalbard Ice”

Press Contacts

Zolty
BREAKFAST
Director / Co-Founder
zolty@breakfastny.com
917-544-9479

Rebecca Riegelhaupt
Christie's
AVP, Senior Public Relations Manager, Post-War and Contemporary Art, Americas
rriegelhaupt@christies.com
917-999-6954

Published by BREAKFAST in Uncategorized

August 12, 2019 — No Comments

BREAKFAST unveils two new digital kinetic artworks at Empire Stores in Dumbo.

Brooklyn, New York — BREAKFAST, a Brooklyn-based new media Art Studio, is currently exhibiting two new interactive kinetic artworks in the main lobby of Empire Stores in Brooklyn Bridge Park (Dumbo). Awaken 1 and Multiply 1 will be on exhibition through September.

Walk into the lobby of Empire Stores at noon on a weekend and you'll find streams of people lining up to experience the two new art pieces recently installed at the center of Empire Store's main lobby, just in front of the recently opened Time Out Market. You'll find adults and kids alike dancing and waving in front of the pieces, watching as their movements cause each artwork to respond with both movement and sound.

Awaken

Awaken 1 is a 10-foot wide by 4-foot tall piece made up of an array of 168 mirrored stainless-steel "Brixels." Brixels are one of the technologies invented by BREAKFAST that they utilize as a medium to create their art. For Awaken 1, each Brixel reacts to a person's movement in front of it, responding by rotating the associated Brixel 90 degrees to reveal an illuminating light behind. As one's movement ceases, the Brixels rotate back to a flat position, where their subtle movements make the surface appear as though it was resting on a sheet of water. The piece is an exploration of human interaction with a robotic medium, with the medium expressing a reaction to a person’s movements through rotating Brixels with accentuated light. The piece can be used as a canvas by “drawing” with one’s hand in the air.

Multiply

Multiply 1 - Flip-Discs at Empire Stores in Brooklyn, NY
Multiply 1 utilizes another technology created by BREAKFAST called Flip-Discs. While Flip-Disc displays were originally invented in the 1960s for airport signage, BREAKFAST reinvented the technology in 2012, getting the discs to move over 10 times faster, and creating another medium to be utilized for reactive art. Multiply 1 initially appears as a static black canvas measuring about 4 ft x 1.5 ft, but as one approaches the piece the discs (about the size of a dime) come alive, revealing a high-gloss golden finish on the reverse side of the black. The piece displays a real-time version of yourself, and as you move, the discs create a "ticking" sound reminiscent of the old train-station signage from 70 years ago. As you begin to step back, your image duplicate, creating multiple versions of you to interact with. The piece allows one to see themselves in a simplified form, hear their bodies movements, and provide a new perspective on how they see their own form.

Multiply 1 Close Up - Flip-Discs at Empire Stores in Brooklyn, NY

Press Contacts
Zolty
BREAKFAST
Director / Co-Founder
zolty@breakfastny.com
917-544-9479

Published by BREAKFAST in Brixels, Flip-Discs