Exploring the interrelations between new technology and traditional arts
By Katie Wagner
Staff Writer
Princeton University’s fourth “/@rts” lecture series will kick-off Sept. 27 with a presentation from Clifford Ross, the visual artist and developer of a still image film camera able to capture at least 200 times the amount of detail of today’s digital cameras.
Mr. Ross is one of six speakers that are scheduled to participate in the lecture series, which aims to explore the interrelations of new media, technology and traditional forms and practices of arts and humanities, during the fall and winter semester of the school year. The university is working on extending the series to the spring semester, which hasn’t happened in previous years. So far, Daniel Levitan, author of “This Is Your Brain on Music”, has committed to speaking in April.
”The original thinking about the series was that it could create a place where people from both the arts and science-technology could come together and hear from colleagues elsewhere, who were doing related work,” said Lorene Lavora, manager of education and outreach services for the university’s Office of Information Technology.
”We’ve been very well-represented in the visual and performing arts but are looking to bring in more writers,” Ms. Lavora added.
Mr. Ross’ lecture will take place at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Jimmy Stewart Theater, located at 185 Nassau St.
The painter, sculptor and photographer will be speaking about how his desire to express the “grandeur and sublime nature of a piece of the American landscape” drove him to seek help from engineers, machinists and other experts to create the R1, a still image camera that captures highly detailed imagery.
”When I fell in love with Mount Sopris, I knew that there was no camera in existence that could capture it in a way that would fulfill the impact it had on me,” Mr. Ross said, referring to the 12,953-foot Colorado mountain.
In addition to speaking about the R1 view camera, which produces 9- by 18-inch negatives, Mr. Ross will unveil some of the artwork he created using the R1 and the R2, an extremely high-resolution video camera that he also developed with engineers and other experts.
Mr. Ross added that he will focus on the opportunities that technology and technologists have given him to fulfill his artistic vision and how artistic discoveries, like technological discoveries, can occur exactly when least expected.
The public is invited to attend the /@rts lectures. For a list of all scheduled talks, visit http://webscript.princeton.edu/~slashart/.

