Bienvenido and thank you for taking some time to review my work,

My intent as an art, music, and media science practitioner is to execute three layers of interest to serve the purposes of community need.  These layers reflect my educational and career goals, both of which I see as one in the same.  My three layers of interest are:  to improve my skills of artistry through scientific research; to collaborate within interdisciplinary communities and to express ideas as well as perspectives supported by my life's experiences.  My motivation to execute these layers is governed by my desire to pursue better ways to communicate, problem-solve, peacfully negotiate, and collaborate on multiple levels.

There has been a considerable body of research that has been done in Human Computer Interaction that is centered upon the development of novel systems to address human to computer control and feedback within the framework of closed-loop interactive environments. Few of these examples provide a framework for the communication and collaboration of multiple people in a single mixed-reality space. Effective interactive environments designed for multiple participants may help encourage communication that can lead to the development of sustained creative collaboration. I am interested in constructing and researching multi-user interactive environments to create culturally sensible social spaces for sustained collaboration.

To achieve culturally sensible models for experiential media construction, I am working with researchers and communities to understand and create a design framework for what we call "Indigenous Media." This term is used to describe a movement of experiential media construction based upon the appropriation of technology by Indigenous cultures to create innovations that make sense within a given culture's perspective, as well as to contribute towards the sustainability of that culture.

The kind of digital place-making that I propose is to create mixed-reality spaces that encourage sustained creativity and peaceful negotiation among multiple participants that inspires forms of interpersonal behavior and support that can lead to the emergence of new knowledge. I envision that this framework can be successfully applied to policy development, learning, play, support group rehabilitation, storytelling, peacemaking, mathematics, art, music, and the development of sustainable cross-cultural partnerships. The aforementioned interests encapsulate a broad possibility of research relevant to my interests at the Arts, Media and Engineering Program at Arizona State University. These aforementioned interests are important to me because I wish to apply this knowledge in an effort to respond to local and broader community needs that are defined and identified by these communities themselves.  I seek knowledge through experimentation and instruction so I may grow in my ability to utilize the languages of art, media and engineering for the innovation of ideas that respond, and are accountable to cultural curves.

With the advancement of technology, we are pushing further into space as we examine and redefine spatial concepts. These explorations continue to affect human cultures as well as human experiences.  We are executing forms of music with precision using new algorithms for sound, and we are developing interactive systems that are sensitive to embodied expressions and intelligence.  At the same time, the world faces technology enhanced threats such as the proliferation of corporate paradigms in public education, population increase, surveillance, dwindling resources, war, monoculture and other effects of globalization, as well as environmental issues related to global warming.  To insure our continued survival, it will require multidisciplinary communities to solve complex three-dimensional problems that reverse the effects of these threats.  It is therefore, my directive to participate in communities where people assemble to fuse knowledge to peacefully solve complex problems through collaboration.

I believe artistic expression is used to support human survival, as well as the evolution and preservation of societies.  I feel that curiosity is our primary asset, and that art and science function to satisfy our will to discover.  The unique expressions and abilities that form individuals make every human being a creative addition to the transformational conditions of our world.  As both an agent of change and custodian of my cultural heritage, I believe it is my obligation to allow the growth of my knowledge and skills to continue as I aspire to meet my potential.

I have great hope that through the execution of the aforementioned layers of interest, I will spend my life learning and teaching.  I seek to engage the arts and sciences, and by working with and identifying processes that I am passionate about, I hope to approach art forms with a greater sense of humility, and wisdom concerned with, or affecting the soul.

Sincerely,

Cristóbal Martínez / Christopher Martinez