Eric Forman is a New York-based artist and designer best known for his signal blocking chandelier sculpture Dis/Connect (2021), his installation Heart Squared (2020) in collaboration with MODU, and his sound object TreeShell (2013). Dis/Connect was featured as one of Fast Company's 2021 World Changing Ideas. Heart Squared was selected by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum as the winner of the Times Square Heart 2020 Design Competition. Throughout February 2020, Heart Squared was seen by over 300,000 people a day. TreeShell was selected by the Museum of Modern Art Design Store for its 2013 “Destination: NYC” series.
Biography Eric Forman received his B.A. from Vassar College in 1995, where he created his own course of study in “The Philosophical Ramifications of Computer Technology.” His studies culminated in a thesis titled “Virtual Reality: The Refiguring of Space, Real, and Subject”(1995), which investigated the conceptual impact of VR on media theory and philosophy. In the mid-1990s, he was one of the early members of Pseudo Programs, one of the world's original online streaming content services, where he worked on creating virtual environments for the early internet service provider Prodigy. Forman received his master's degree from ITP at Tisch School of the Arts (NYU) in 2002.
Eric Forman Studio was founded in 2003 and has produced primarily sculpture and installation art concerned with the intersection of technology and human, using “playful interaction to reveal issues of language, simulation, and perception.” In 2012, his studio became a founding member of New Lab at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Forman has also taught “Physical Computing” to artists and designers since 2003. He has taught at SIGGRAPH, RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) MFA Digital+Media, and SVA (School of Visual Arts) in New York City, where he is currently the Head of Innovation in the MFA Interaction Design department.
Selected achievements +AchievementLocationYearFast Company World Changing Ideas Awards 2021 Honorable MentionNew York, NY2021Times Square Heart 2020 Design WinnerNew York, NY2019Invited to present retrospective on careerUniversity of Delaware Department of Art & Design2018Træna artist residencyTenk Træna, Nordland, Norway2016Autodesk Pier 9 artist residencySan Francisco, CA2014-2015Jerome Fellowship and Franconia Sculpture Park artist residencyShafer, MN2014Spotlight Series Visiting Artist lectureUniversity of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA Spring2013Selected for MoMA Design Destination: NYC collectionNew York, NY and Tokyo, Japan2013Invited speaker for “Creativity and Innovation” panelCreateTech, Brooklyn, NY2013Invited by New York City EDC to present artwork made locally with new technologiesNY Design Week, BMWi Ventures, New York, NY2012Invited to present work and participate in panel “Slowness: Responding to Acceleration”ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic Art), Istanbul, Turkey2011Toyota HEYA Artist Innovation GrantNew York, NY2008
Selected exhibitions and works +WorkPlaceYearDis/Connect New York, NY2021Heart Squared (with MODU)Times Square, New York, NY2020UnBuildingCitygroup Gallery, New York, NY and New Lab, Brooklyn, NY2019Un-Urban ExperimentDOGA (Design & Architecture Norway)2018Under Dytte Lyset [Under This Light] Bodø Biennial, Norway2016Sculptural Light InstallationMotherboard New York, Brooklyn, NY2016RadiolarianSunsychronous orbit around Earth2015Auto-Surveillance Encounter IIArt Souterrain, Montreal, Canada2015Scale/Scape Light Panel series IIAutodesk Pier 9 Gallery, San Francisco, CA2015RadioscapeFranconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN2014Futur Absolu (with Stephan Breuer)Château de Compiègne, Oise, France2013Consensual Navigation Shirt Conflux Festival, New York, NY, part of “Test Dérive” curated by Seth Carnes2010Constrained Flight StructureSolar One, New York, NY2010What the Rain has SeenDUMBO Art Under the Bridge Festival, New York, NY2008Untitled (performance)24HrsNonStopArt, Tigh Fili Cultural Centre, Cork, Ireland2008Every Drop Counts (with Cynthia Lawson)Exit Art, New York, NY2006Auto-Surveillance EncounterShow & Tell Salon curated by Leejone Wong, New York, NY2004Autonomous Harmonizing Robotic SculptureThe New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY2003branch/ingThomas Street Gallery, New York, NY2002DropITP/Tisch, New York, NY2002TransLinkITP/Tisch, New York, NY2001SoundBotITP/Tisch, New York, NY2000
Other professional work Source:
Eric Forman Studio also develops interactive technology for clients, most notably Marina Abromovic, Anthony McCall, Line Healthcare, Kate Spade, and The Living.
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