Matteo Farinella and Pamela Parker

[July 5- 11] 

The Department of Amphibological Research

At DiNaCon, Parker and Farinella will collaborate on a playful drawing project in which image recognition software will be (mis)used to interpret the natural world. Inspired by William Beebe’s historical team at the Department of Tropical Research, we’ll employ the new technologies at our disposal as a means for exploration and artistic discovery. In a digital game of ‘telephone’ we will use only computer-generated descriptions of the island’s flora and fauna to communicate with each other the as a basis for illustrations. The results of feeding natural observations through multiple human and computer interpretations will create the basis for game of natural discovery with surreal and potentially revealing results. We will display the final drawings along with their AI descriptions as part of a small exhibition.

Matteo Farinella is an interdisciplinary scientist, illustrator and science communicator. He combines his background in neuroscience with a lifelong passion for art and storytelling to make science more fun and accessible for everyone. He is the author of the graphic novels Neurocomic and The Senses. He is currently a presidential scholar in Society and Neuroscience at Columbia University, New York.

Pamela Parker is a designer and artist interested in drawing connections and telling stories. She makes environmental graphic design work for exhibitions, installations for public spaces and urban play projects for fun. She spends a lot of time thinking about what makes a space into a place.