BOJANNA GINN: My work is always highly conceptual, and then--
I don't know how would I describe it,
but I relied on dreams and visions and experimentation
with material, almost prehistoric in that way.
I always have this contemplative moment.
But sometimes, I do just create paintings, freehand energy
release paintings.
And some I kept.
Some, I was like, OK, this got to go.
CHARLIE BENNETT: You are listening to WREK Atlanta,
and this is Lost in the Stacks, the research library
rock and roll radio show.
I'm Charlie Bennett in the studio with the whole gang.
It's been so long.
Alex McGee, Charlie Gibbons, and Fred Rascoe
are here, although we're missing our normal hanger on.
I hear he got a job.
FRED RASCOE: Cody.
Man, where are you, dude?
You should have put it in your contract for your new job
to come here Fridays at noon, hang out at Lost in the Stacks.
Oh well.
Congratulations on your new job, Cody.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Congrats, Cody, and we will now forge ahead.
Each week on Lost in the Stacks, we pick a theme
and then use it to create a mix of music and library talk.
Whichever you are here for, we hope you dig it.
ALEX MCGEE: Our show today is called Growing Art
at the Georgia Tech Library.
It's the fourth in the occasional series
that we call artist in residence.
The Georgia Tech Library launched an artist residency
program a few years ago.
Each artist in residence uses the library
to create and install a large scale artwork.
We've seen a lot of color on windows so far.
CHARLIE BENNETT: All kinds of colors.
FRED RASCOE: The artist in residence
also leans into the arts-based programming and engagement that
is part of the library's mission,
by holding events and workshops for the Georgia Tech community.
CHARLIE BENNETT: For today's episode,
I spoke with Dr. Bojanna Ginn, the library's third artist
in residence, after she completed her piece, Orchid
Dreams, and installed it in the library's interactive media
zone.
It's up until November 18.
If you want to go look at it in person.
FRED RASCOE: And our songs today are
about collaborations with great groups of people
using art as a way to relate to the world and growing fungus.
MARLEE GIVENS: Growing fungus.
FRED RASCOE: Yeah, well, you know,
art can be about absolutely anything,
and it can be absolutely anything, even fungus.
So let's start with "Absolutely Anything"
by The Brilliant Colors right here on Lost in the Stacks.
CHARLIE BENNETT: I didn't know you went to art school, Fred.
ALEX MCGEE: That was "Absolutely Anything"
by The Brilliant Colors.
Our show today is growing art at the Georgia Tech
Library, part 4 of our artist in residence series.
Our guest is Dr. Bojanna Ginn, who just completed her residency
at the Georgia Tech Library.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Bojanna's art fuses
elements of digital media, biology,
and immersive environments to explore
themes of wellness, sustainability,
and the human experience in the digital age.
So it's a perfect fit for the library.
FRED RASCOE: Perfect?
MARLEE GIVENS: As perfect as it gets
in an imperfect world, Fred.
FRED RASCOE: OK.
MARLEE GIVENS: Let's play the interview.
CHARLIE BENNETT: What was your first impression when
you got to Tech?
And I'm sure you've seen it in some way before,
but when you first got to Tech knowing
I'm going to do art here, what did you think?
BOJANNA GINN: Well, you know, when you say a first impression,
I kind of have to start with the interview
because interviews are usually stressful.
But for me, interview process was wonderful.
It was so in-depth.
It was so relaxed.
Everybody was very welcoming and curious,
and we just start talking, and I felt
like I was having a chat with my friends.
It kind of set the tone for my residency.
When we left, I mean, I was excited,
and Catherine Mansi was with me, and she was excited.
Nobody wanted to say anything, of course.
I wasn't sure if I'm going to be picked,
but just the feeling was fantastic.
And then, to be honest, then it's kind of a little foggy.
I don't remember how--
we were just, there were so many things to be done,
things to be decided.
Which way should I go?
I had lots of freedom.
They liked a couple of different projects.
But immediately, we knew that we wanted to build the sculptures.
I was thinking, wow, I didn't even
know how many resources Georgia Tech has.
And when that became clear to me, I was like,
OK, I'm going to make this part time residency a full time job,
and I'm going to squeeze every ounce of juice
that I can because it's such a special opportunity for artists
like myself.
I'm working with art, science, and technology,
and the technology is moving so fast
that if you, as a studio artist, want to acquire it and learn it,
it's a lot of resources, lots of learning, and by the time
you learn something, another technology comes out.
And so being surrounded with people who know so much
and have equipment and willingness
and excitement to work with the artists and make things happen
was just a fantastic opportunity.
So from the beginning, I knew we were going
to make some wonderful things.
CHARLIE BENNETT: And your art, it's resource-heavy, isn't it?
I mean, it takes a lot of work and tools
and material to make what you make.
BOJANNA GINN: It does, it does.
I call my art practice phygital.
This is like word merging physical and digital.
Because in digital era that we live, for me, using hand
is very much important.
Like, me as an artist is something embodied
and just this innate desire to sculpt, to mold, to paint.
And I never wanted to let go.
So my studio has everything from painting and drawing
and sculpture and tools for wood and tools for moldings.
So, like, there's so much just for that, let's call it,
moderate traditional media even though I use it
in contemporary way.
And then you have video editing software, projectors, computers,
lights, systems for interactive light that I use before,
and VR headsets, all kind of cameras, stands.
I always forget.
But there's a lot, right?
So, organization is a big part of my practice.
So like, coming to tech and actually
being able to just have all this amazing new technology
and resources already in place, and I can just
come and pick the cream, right?
I was very happy.
I was ecstatic from the beginning.
CHARLIE BENNETT: I'm sure you've done art
through your whole life, but you've been a practicing
artist for about 10 years.
Is that right?
BOJANNA GINN: Well, when I came to the States, which
is like 22, almost 23 years ago, I immediately
knew that it's an opportunity for me to switch careers.
CHARLIE BENNETT: OK.
BOJANNA GINN: I was a medical doctor, and I liked it.
But I loved, like, some aspects of medicine.
Really love genetics.
I really like neurology.
But I was deeply--
there was this drive toward art.
I was not happy at the place.
And when I came to the United States,
I had to start from the beginning.
So I immediately decided to start doing this full time.
But I would call myself amateur at the beginning.
Like, I was a self-taught painter,
and I did some drawings.
So it's kind of started, like, I had exhibitions.
People purchased my art.
But it wasn't until 2010 that I decided,
hey, I'm going to go to school, and I'm
going to pursue this, like, professionally.
And then I went to SCAD, and I finished as a sculptor, masters
in sculpture.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Yeah, so I was cheating a little bit.
I knew your graduation year on SCAD,
and I was kind of marking--
BOJANNA GINN: Yes, 2013.
Yes, yes.
CHARLIE BENNETT: At what point in that process
did this phygital really come into your mindset?
When did you really start pursuing?
And I know that the answer probably
is oh, it was happening the whole time,
but do you remember a sort of inciting
event that made you jump from sculpture and painting
into this kind of art?
BOJANNA GINN: Yes, it started during my school,
during my master's program, when I got--
I think my husband bought this very cute little projector.
So I brought it into my studio, and I just
loved the quality of color that would hit the wall.
And I always-- I used to-- always
have this relationship with the wall.
As a painter, as--
I used to, like, paint and make murals.
But then as a sculptor, my sculpture usually created really
interesting shadows, and that was always very fascinating
to me, like translating this 3D form organically into something
flat on the wall.
And suddenly, with the projection,
they were like these beautiful colors and pixels.
You can see the pixels of a projection on the wall.
And there was something there that I really liked.
There were some other projects also during my studies.
One day was interactive.
But the word phygital I remember discovering
in this London-based magazine, and it just kind of jumped
at me.
And I was like, oh, that's perfect.
That's kind of like how we all live today between digital space
like we do now and the physical world.
CHARLIE BENNETT: This is Lost in the Stacks.
We'll be back with more from Bojanna Ginn about her art
residency at the Georgia Tech Library after a music set.
MARLEE GIVENS: File this set under N6494.I56W67.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(SINGING) And if we close our eyes together
Then we will see where--
ALEX MCGEE: That was "Sing This Song Altogether"
by The Orange Bicycle, and before that, "Me and My Friends"
by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, songs about the great things
that happen when we collaborate together.
CHARLIE BENNETT: This is Lost in the Stacks,
and today's show is called growing art
at the Georgia Tech Library, part four in our artist
in residence series.
FRED RASCOE: You're listening to an interview with Dr. Bojanna
Ginn, the most recent artist in residence
at the Georgia Tech Library.
CHARLIE BENNETT: There's a phrase
we use on the show, the material oomph.
And it's what we use to just kind of sum up
that feeling of there's something about approaching
a physical object, a tactile experience, that
adds to whatever's going on.
And so when we first started talking about the material
oomph, it was to say, oh no, we're
losing it because we were going to be
a much more electronic library, digital services, e-resources,
and things like that.
And in the time since we've been saying that, like 15 years
or so, I feel like the phygital is almost
the reclaiming of the tactile, the reclaiming
of the substance of the digital world
that we found ourselves in.
BOJANNA GINN: I agree, and I think that this digital era also
encouraged people.
Like, we have so much more craft right now.
People are fascinated with craftsmanship.
And you can see on social media when people share things
that we took for granted, like how belts are made
or, I don't know, you know?
And suddenly, people see, wow, wow.
Look at this, what people can do with their hands.
But talking about material oomph, I remember as a student,
again, I was listening to this really famous artist.
And she was talking about how material was talking to her.
And I was like, half of me was like, hm, and half of me
was rolling the eyes.
And then when I got deeper in my practice,
I had this moment like, oh my God.
Like, that's actually true.
Material is talking to me, right?
Because you kind of dive in, and you experiment on what can
I do with this.
And suddenly, something you didn't even anticipated
can happen, happens.
And this material takes you to a new direction of your work.
And I guess I'll call it oomph from right now.
CHARLIE BENNETT: It's a fun thing to say.
BOJANNA GINN: Yeah, it is.
CHARLIE BENNETT: I want to ask you a really naive question.
When you make art, do you find yourself
sort of imagining an idea that you want to bring forth?
Do you start by saying, well, what
am I going to play with and see what it says to you?
Is it a mix of both.
Like, when do you see what you were trying to make?
BOJANNA GINN: Well, to be straightforward,
long time ago as a young artist or when I was just
playing around, it was always--
it started with visions.
I always had-- and now this is a little weird,
but you can edit it.
But I remember I would just close my eyes,
and I had these visions, almost like somebody
was playing, like, video projection of works of art,
all kind of different ideas.
And I would just kind of pick one, and I would make it.
That was a long time ago.
But since I started merging these ideas that
are very important to me and with my art practice, when
I realized that art doesn't have to be just art,
but that you can bring in science or anything
that interests you--
I mean, if you're into ice cream making,
you can make art based on ice cream making.
Then it just kind of merges one to another.
Sometimes, it starts with a concept and fascination
with the idea.
Sometimes, it's a vision.
Sometimes, you're working on something in the studio,
and suddenly, those happy accidents happened.
Something falls and things kind of turn
in some way and something drips into something else.
And suddenly, you're like, oh my God, look at this.
And then you change your direction.
So it's kind of rolling.
It's constantly rolling one to another.
CHARLIE BENNETT: And you said in your interview
you got the sense that this would be a very collaborative
residency if you got it.
And--
BOJANNA GINN: Yes.
CHARLIE BENNETT: --did that kind of translate people, students,
library faculty, whomever, sort of being
part of the knocking things over and dripping
paint aspect of the art?
BOJANNA GINN: Yes, yes.
Me and Catherine had that moment.
But no, this is a good moment for me
to give thanks individually to people that I work with.
And I work the most with Catherine Mansi,
and she is kind, intelligent, resourceful, helpful, playful.
I just very much enjoyed kind of our interactions
on a daily basis.
She really understood my process.
She was very supportive and everybody else
like Kim, Kimberly, Sheldon, Jason, Jason Wright.
I mean, I know them by first name, but I'm going to--
and then the library staff, Kirk and Connor.
Everybody was very helpful and wonderful.
I worked with two students.
I worked with Supratim Pait, and he is an interactive media
designer who helped me create this interactive therapeutic
video that is at the IMZ, Interactive Media Zone.
So I brought my visuals.
I brought my concepts, and he was
very good in what he does when it comes to interactivity.
But he's also-- he's from India, and he always
loved being a part of that Diwali festival.
And he showed me some photographs
of making mandalas, a beautiful work.
So he's really wonderful with color and shape.
So I could ask him, hey, what do you think about this,
or let's try that.
And so we've really had a wonderful collaboration.
And then I worked with Ben Collins and Mya Love Griesbaum.
They are into material sciences, and we
created these bio sculptures.
So we did those three different projects,
and then we organized a lecture by Arthur I. Miller, who's
a famous and wonderful artist who is an amazing writer on art
and science.
And Georgia Tech was a part of Atlanta's
first international art fair.
And we had our own booth.
So, many thanks to Jason Freeman and Birny Robert
for organizing everything and bringing
tech and myself and a couple of other Georgia Tech professionals
to the fair.
MARLEE GIVENS: You are listening to Lost in the Stacks,
and we'll talk more about art, collaboration and fungus--
CHARLIE BENNETT: Hey!
MARLEE GIVENS: --on the left side of the hour.
SUBJECT 1: Hi, I'm Mandy, the accordion-playing data
librarian, and you are listening to Lost in the Stacks
on WREK Atlanta.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Today's show is called growing art
at the Georgia Tech Library.
Our guest is Dr. Bojanna Ginn, an interdisciplinary artist
who just served as the Georgia Tech Library's
third artist in residence.
Her installation, Orchid Dreams, is
on display in the interactive media zone at the library
until November 18.
After that day, you can find images and video
of the installation on the library website
because, you know, the world's phygital now.
Dr Ginn and I spoke for longer than we
could fit into three segments.
So I pulled one of the library centric questions out
for this mid-show break.
When you think of the Georgia Tech Library,
what comes to mind?
Is there a spot somewhere that you think of as,
oh yeah, that's my GT library?
BOJANNA GINN: Oh, first people.
People are always first to me.
What a great people.
And then books.
I love books.
I'm a bookworm.
Is that's how they call it, a library something?
CHARLIE BENNETT: We like to say bibliophile now.
BOJANNA GINN: I am a bibliophile, always were.
And I love something that Lesley Sharpe said.
And also, I heard Katherine said that.
The library was always spreading information.
Books were always spreading information.
Today, we have information through different mediums
like digital computers and laptops and datas and iClouds.
But also, art is a way to share information.
So for me, it was--
I just love that history of people who wrote all books
and who are kind of my family, but they
worked with their own mediums in the time in which they lived.
And for me, to come there and be surrounded with all that wisdom
and knowledge and beauty and kind
of to make my own little contribution,
it's very inspiring.
And we had a little rock from the moon on exhibition.
So my exhibition is right next to that little rock
on the moon and the small step for man
and a big step for humankind, right?
MARLEE GIVENS: File this set under QK617.R68.
You just heard "Let the Rain Be Me"
by The Magic Mushrooms and, before that, "Mushroom"
by Murmur.
Songs about a fungus and what makes it grow.
CHARLIE BENNETT: This is Lost in the Stacks,
and our show today is called growing art at the Georgia Tech
Library.
You're listening to an interview with Dr. Bojanna Ginn, who
recently concluded her artist residency at the Georgia Tech
Library.
We finished the last segment talking about collaboration,
and Bojanna continues with that thread in this segment.
BOJANNA GINN: Something that might be interesting
for you was this, like, everything happens
with this serendipity, right?
So when I was standing next to IMZ Station,
I didn't with whom I would work.
We thought we need to send some emails
and see who's going to be interested.
And this young man came, and we start talking .
And he was like, yeah, I'll do it.
I was like, I was like, hey, we are really serious, you know?
I'm serious.
I'll do it.
So that's how it happened.
And then when we had the tour at the material labs,
I was telling students there that I
want to create this bio art because my sculptures are
made of this thermoplastic polyester that is recyclable.
But I wanted to kind of go further,
and I learned of these fungi and different organisms that
can digest plastic, turn it from synthetic into organic,
and in the process create this almost
like a bilateral material.
And I thought it would be amazing to create
a sculpture that is synthetic and then,
in front of your eyes with this biological process,
it turns into something different.
It's like magical.
So as I was talking, Anastasia, one of the students,
said, oh, there's a student here, Maya Love,
and she is working with plastic-eating fungi.
And I was like, wow, can you connect us?
Yes, I'll connect you.
So we immediately connected, and we started.
And Maya is abroad.
She studies.
We had some online conversations.
But her colleague Ben Collins, he's here,
and he did these inoculations.
And so I worked with him a lot.
And again, he is so, like, a positive.
And when we talk, we go from mushrooms all the way
to dinosaurs and what kind of flora and fauna.
And it's just the conversations at Tech are always fantastic.
CHARLIE BENNETT: What's the time scale on that,
the fungi eating the polyester?
What's the-- like, how long will it
take to become something different?
BOJANNA GINN: So we're actually experimenting
to decide that because in their lab,
they work with polyester fabric.
And so they got answers.
They know that material really well.
The sculptures I made, they're based also--
it's a kind of polyester resin.
But it's much thicker.
So we don't know.
We inflated them, and we put them in these containers
where we can feed them and kind of take care of them
and observe them.
So we are basically researching this now.
And when we see some changes, I think
we're going to look with electronic microscope
and see how much of the materials are actually ingested.
There are some fun things happening.
Like, there's this mole that tried
to kind of infect the system.
But the mole was actually good because mold
can degrade plastic.
It has stronger enzymes.
So maybe working in tandem, these two can do something.
It's an experiment.
So I'm hoping sooner than later, but you know,
it is a hope that if this process
is a good-- this is very new science.
And of course, like, in my mind, I believe strongly
in synthetic biology.
So anything that, you know, these, let's say,
natural normal organisms can do, it can be
enhanced to do that job better.
So I just am excited to be part of all of that process.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Is this something
that's going to follow you from tech, come with you from tech,
and be a big part of your work going forward?
BOJANNA GINN: Yes, I plan to continue all of these.
So I created, like, three bodies of work.
The one was collaboration with Ben
and Maya with these, like, bio sculptures,
another with super team with interactive media
that's also therapeutic and can be diagnostic.
And it's very much into this, like, health
care as human right.
And then-- so both of these I would like to continue,
and I would like to continue them as collaborations.
And then sculpture, which, I was able to create this sculpture
because I had the help of Montgomery Machining Lab
and Scott Elliott, who worked there
and who was super friendly.
So that is something that I am going
to continue myself in the studio,
that kind of sculptural work.
But now I how can it be done, which way it
can be improved, and so on.
So yeah, definitely it would be nice to continue.
CHARLIE BENNETT: OK, so the big finish--
it's a very simple question.
You'll be able to answer it with just a couple words.
What does making art do for you?
BOJANNA GINN: Oh yeah, it's a part of who I am.
It was with me since I was born.
It's a way to understand the world, to understand myself,
to understand what's happening around,
to have answers to questions just like in science.
Science can give you certain kind of answers.
Art can answer those same questions in a different way.
So it's just like, it's a way of being in the world
in complete freedom.
MARLEE GIVENS: This is Lost in the Stacks,
and our guest is Dr. Bojanna Ginn,
an interdisciplinary artist who just
served as Georgia Tech Library's third artist in residence.
Her installation, Orchid Dreams, is
on display in the interactive media zone at the library
until November 18.
CHARLIE BENNETT: File this set under PS163.W47.
That was "Engineers" by Gary Newman, and before that,
"It's Art" by The Bug Club, and we started that set with "Art
Groupie" by Grace Jones.
Those were songs about how acts of creativity
help us all relate to our world, even the engineers
that surround us now.
Today's show is called growing art in the Georgia Tech Library,
and we're burning towards the end of the show.
So, real fast, what's everybody's preferred medium
for art, either as a creator or as an audience?
Mine, turns out, is impasto paint
because I can stare at one of those textured paintings
for far longer than I think is totally appropriate.
Marley, what about you?
MARLEE GIVENS: I can only create two dimensional art,
so I'm pretty fascinated by 3D art.
So, sculpture-- it changes as you walk around.
It's pretty cool.
How about Fred?
FRED RASCOE: Can I say music?
Because that's pretty much the primary art that I consume.
CHARLIE BENNETT: I don't know what to do with this, Fred.
I mean, are we talking about plastic arts?
Is this a theory class.
You know.
FRED RASCOE: Oh, is--
CHARLIE BENNETT: Is music a medium or a form or a genre?
FRED RASCOE: It's already beyond me.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Yeah, why don't you just--
Alex?
ALEX MCGEE: I mean, I was going to go with the same thing, Fred.
So, two versus two.
FRED RASCOE: Yeah, Charlie.
Yeah.
ALEX MCGEE: I think it is a very powerful and evocative medium.
So, yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Oh my gosh.
Do we have to have this conversation?
No.
ALEX MCGEE: Another show.
CHARLIE BENNETT: No, we don't.
Roll the credits.
Lost in the Stacks is a collaboration
between WREK Atlanta and the Georgia Tech Library written
and produced by Alex McGee, Charlie Bennett, Fred
Rascoe, and Marlee Givens.
MARLEE GIVENS: Legal counsel and a stern warning
to keep mushrooms away from wine were
provided by the Burrus Intellectual Property Law Group
in Atlanta, Georgia.
CHARLIE BENNETT: And he knows what he's talking about.
Special thanks to Bojanna for being
on the show, to Catherine Manci for keeping
the artists in residency program going at the Georgia Tech
Library, and Thanks, as always, to each and every one
of you for listening.
ALEX MCGEE: Our web page is library.gatech.e
du/lostinthestacks, where you'll find our most recent episode,
a link to our podcast feed, and a web form
if you want to get in touch with us.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Next week, we will not
debate whether music is an acceptable medium
to answer to a question what's your favorite.
We will try to penetrate the black box that
is Google Scholar.
And spoiler, we do not succeed.
MARLEE GIVENS: But that show hasn't happened yet.
ALEX MCGEE: Yeah, how do you know?
CHARLIE BENNETT: Well, I'm using predictive text,
and that's what it he tells me.
FRED RASCOE: Time for our last song today.
Art is all about growth.
People viewing the art grow new perspectives.
An environment with art grows in aesthetic possibilities.
The artist grows with each new work created.
So to celebrate growth, let's close with a track
by a musician whose art has been growing and inspiring for nearly
60 years, and he just turned 79 this week.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Hey!
FRED RASCOE: This is "Homegrown" by Neil Young right here on Lost
in the Stacks.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Plant that bell and let it ring.
FRED RASCOE: Have a great weekend, everybody.
SUBJECT: Yeah, yeah.
No, it's nice [INAUDIBLE].