Colton Hash
November 14th – December 13th, 2024
Generative Landscapes is an exhibition of digital artworks created from different computer graphics algorithms. From code that embodies competing logics of industrial and natural processes, these generative systems continually produce unique visuals. These experimental projects immerse viewers in fictitious spaces to engage with dynamics of climate change and urbanization.
Generative Architecture is created by an algorithm that produces an endless series of buildings that arise in virtual space. This installation embodies CPU driven computation that is hierarchical and deterministic, producing familiar forms with discrete geometry. Although each building is unique, the simple logic of this system encodes architectural homogenization that defines modern cities. Generative Architecture was created to reflect the context of gentrification in Victoria and Vancouver, where new buildings continually rise in the wake of displacement.
Hydrosheds is an interactive simulation that depicts landscape relationships between an urban community and the surrounding watershed. Within different landscapes, a city is generated with a stormwater management system that conveys water away from critical infrastructure. The GPU driven water simulation is created through a cellular automata system, where individual cells are influenced by interconnected neighbors. The urban infrastructure network is calculated by CPU based logic, which breaks down as climate conditions become more extreme. Viewers can alter the urban landscape and explore how changes in surface conditions can affect stormwater runoff, pollution and soil permeability. Hydrosheds was created as an exploratory artwork that bridges environmental communication, fostering understanding of how cities are shaped by water and how urban infrastructure affects regional watersheds.
About the Artist
Colton Hash is a digital artist and educator who resides on Songees, Malahat and Sc’ianew territory in Langford on Vancouver Island. Through a unique coding process, Hash creates impactful digital installations to foster nuanced thinking about ecological relationships. Programming his own creative tools, Hash produces interactive simulations that visualize complex realities and depict imaginative futures. Exploring environmental data as material, Hash strives to create accessible experiences for diverse audiences to consider their cultural relationships with regional ecosystems.
Hash was the inaugural artist-in-residence for Ocean Networks Canada and received the Witness Legacy Award for Social Purpose and Responsibility Through Art (ProArt Alliance, 2019). For his interactive artworks, Hash was a finalist for the Emerging Digital Artists Award (EQ Bank, 2019) and the Salt Spring National Art Prize (SSNAP, 2021). Hash received his MFA in Visual Arts from the University of Victoria, and has multi-disciplinary foundations in Computer Science and Environmental Studies. Hash is continuing to develop his simulation-based artworks through project grants provided by Canada Council for the Arts and BC Art Council.
About Factory Media Centre
Factory Media Centre is Hamilton’s not-for-profit artist-driven resource centre for film, video, new media, installation, sound art, and other multimedia art forms. Our mission is to develop and support a vibrant, sustainable, creative, and diverse community of Members and non-Members within Hamilton and its surrounding region.
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