Into the Sunlight and Begin a New Day

Mixed Media on Canvas | McKinney, TX

This construct of 12 canvases—hand stretched, painted, and framed—calls on nostalgia to remind us what technological innovation promises to bring. Advertisements, images, and other ephemera allude to discoveries and innovations in science and technology that are stepping stones to our present life, from gold mining to space travel. The narratives and symbols found in this work collectively tell the larger innovation story of how we got here, and where we might be heading.

TLP#1 (Traveling Light Project)

Wood, Mirror Acrylic, RGB LED’s, Touch Controller, Hardware | Denver, CO

Parson’s art combines hardware, software and fabrication materials into a junction where possibility and practicality meet.  These include mirror polish stainless steel, mirror acrylic, colored acrylic, clear acrylic and MDF (medium density fiberboard). He cuts these surfaces using computer-controlled routers, lasers and water-jet machines, and then assembles the components in his studio. He adds RGB LED lights that are controlled by micro-controllers such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi programmed through a smartphone or touchscreen.

A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes

Mixed Media | Greenville, SC

The truth is increasingly difficult to decipher.

For Arrow, Grace explores the theme of truth and how we must seek it. The base is made from map fragments from all over the world. Then he adds his own text, some of which is true, while other elements are intentionally questionable. He tears this text into fragments that are collaged into the painting.  His use of shredded magazines symbolizes how the evidence of truth often is destroyed. The result is a tapestry of imagery that leaves the viewer searching for the truth.

Home of the Future

Painting | Greenville, SC

We usually are surprised at what is just barely around the bend. 

The concept of “Five Years Out” prompts the Grishovenkos to imagine characters in their painting, while recalling the campy 'futurism' that was a hallmark of the Fifties. 

Their painting 'The Home of the Future' highlights the fact that we never really know what the future will bring. It reflects on the creation of technology as ultimately serving our warm, very human needs. They took Arrow's promise to deliver 'the right technology, at the right place, at the right time' as a suggestion that we need to know the past to imagine the future, and that this vision must be shared by the community in that time and place.

Riding the Wave of the Future

Mixed Media Sculpture | Allison Park, PA

The collective genius of human minds and hearts fit together in an intricate puzzle and are bringing humanity to the technology landscape emerging on the horizon known as The Internet of Things. 

The concept for this piece is that a great wave is rising from the cumulative ocean of the ever-evolving human mind, and humanity is riding on this wave in a ship made of a complex puzzle, sailing forward by the power of the Cloud. Little figures aboard this vessel represent people’s conflicted attitudes towards this future.  Some are celebrating and embracing this journey, others bask in its luxury, learning how to use it and looking forward. Meanwhile, other passengers are trying to jump ship, or are immobilized by inertia. A few passengers are trying to figure out a way to pirate this vessel – and the future – for their own purposes.

Universal Smile

Ceramic Sculpture  | Lakeland, FL

Kidd’s ceramic sculpture represents a planet Five Years Out which has found peace and harmony with all its living organisms. Each pod on the surface of this orb represents a life form. From the largest to the smallest, each of these life forms has its unique contributions which creates a beautiful balance and results in a healthy and happy whole. That’s why the planet is looking up into space with a wide, peaceful smile.

Always A Driver

Engraved Assemblage on Wood & Aluminum | Monticello, GA

Inspired by their stories, Hequembourg selects individual subjects to portray a narrative that connects need to innovation, producing engraved assemblages from salvaged materials. The subject of Always a Driver is Sam Schmidt, former Indy Racing League driver and now team owner.

Sam has always been a driver, through early childhood and into a successful professional career. A career that was seemingly cut short by a horrible accident, paralyzing him from the collarbone down. But then, in partnership with Arrow, technology came into his life, and now Sam is a driver again.

Below the portrait includes images from Sam’s life as a driver. Above the portrait are the possibilities for the technology that changed Sam’s life. When technology becomes tangible, there is no end to the possible ripple of lives it will benefit in the future.

Safe Passage

Ceramic Sculpture | Santa Fe, NM

Every innovation begins with a commitment to a creative journey. Safe Passage illustrates the phases of the innovation process. The “boat” form of the piece represents the journey. The white orb at the uppermost lookout of the vessel symbolizes the seed of inspiration. The spinning wheel in the hull of the boat represents the day-to-day labor necessary to transform the Five Years Out idea from inspiration to completed innovation.

Manibus

Mixed Medium on Paper & Wood | Des Moines, IA

These works were created in conjunction with professional dancers from the Colorado Ballet. Each dancer took turns wearing a motion-sensing control device that relayed instructions to a wireless painting robot called Manibus. Their dance movements were translated into dynamic, painted works of art. Choreographed by Colorado Ballet Mistress, Sandra Brown, the dancers performed to music composed by Colorado Symphony Resident Conductor, Scott O’Neil, to represent the Arrow Five Years Out brand. Manibus is Corso’s iteration of innovation in painted form.

Zen and the Art of Technology

Mixed Medium | Tampa, FL

The power of art is in its ability to resonate with and move another person simply by communicating with color, composition and form. We connect with each other, and our greater humanness, through something beautiful. But to have that experience, we must be present for it. Carstensen believes that as society’s dependence on screens has increased, our ability to connect with the arts has decreased.

This piece represents the growing disconnect. The original oil painting is framed with screens representative of technological advances expected to materialize in the next five years and contribute to this dilemma. This is a statement of hope that brings awareness to the situation and the first step toward collectively finding a healthy balance between technology and the arts.

Reaching Forward, Reaching Back

Digital Art | Portland, OR

Posters had been the king of public communication since the invention of the printing press. But in the last 50 years, electronic media ended their reign. Television and the Web have taken this amazing commercial art form out of the public sphere and turned communication into a segmented, private media experience. Today, many of the electronics we use rely on printed circuit boards to function. Using that technology, this piece inverts the relationship and brings print media into the 21st Century, and back into the public eye, by making interactive art that can both communicate and entertain through the universal language of music.

The Ethical Viewer: Perceptual Fog

Interactive Sculpture | Cranston, RI

The Ethical Viewer: Perceptual Fog is an interactive sculpture that manifests both the virtues and criticisms of storytelling. It inspires and actualizes a confluence of principles in art making. In the spirit of Five Years Out, it harnesses innovation and technology by fusing sculptural and computational methodologies towards accessible and socially minded art. The innovation space is as much about the ethical practices in the expressive application, as it is the inventive integration of both emerging and established technologies.

Reliquary for the Future

Wood sculpture | Fort Collins, CO

The word, “relic” refers to something from the past. But in this case, the relic is the future or, more precisely, the promise of a future represented by a maple tree seed. The reliquary that houses this future maple tree is made from maple plywood, which are maple trees from the past. While mankind appears to be increasingly functioning within the ether, it is the earth, where we and the trees live, that anchors us all in the present. This piece simultaneously represents the past, present and future.

Platonic Challenge

Mixed media acrylic | Crontone, Italy

In this anamorphic work, Aspinall explores the dilemma that symbols, objects and even events often have vastly differing significances depending on the subjective and cultural standpoint of the observer or interpreter. He reveals differing subjects when viewed from different angles, symbolically encapsulating our long-lasting search to understand the very nature of the savage universe in which we exist, and mankind’s attempts using mental tools of mathematics, science and philosophy to define and codify the cosmos.

Seamless

Mixed media painting & wood | Flagstaff, AZ

Innovation is more about ideas than hardware. That belief is embodied in Seamless, a work that explores the way we see technology—futuristic today, but likely as a dated novelty to future generations. Each panel appears black or white when viewed simultaneously with its neighbor. But when viewed individually over a period of minutes, colors begin to emerge, and the viewer sees that the apparent black or white field is much more complex, bringing a temporal dimension to the viewing experience. The piece breaks several conventions of traditional painting, yet still works intuitively, just as future innovations will question today’s preconceived ideas.

Philosopher’s Stone

Porcelain sculpture | Vineyard Haven, MA

Philosopher’s Stone represents a beacon for innovation. Encircling and nesting arrow forms cradle an egg, which is the philosopher’s stone of perpetual creation. Something imagined but unattainable in the world of Five Years Out and beyond. As the form grows and opens, the new egg is revealed inside, in continuous progression. The beacon seems to pulse, as waves from the universe are transmitted and received. The arrows point out to all directions.

Aesthetica Sculptura

Crowd sourced, 3D printed resin sculpture | Chardon, OH

Aesthetica Sculptura reflects innovation at the intersection of crowdsourcing, evolutionary algorithms and connectivity. It uses the concept of “survival of the fittest” to morph into a sculpture that is more likely to succeed. A website was created to allow visitors to help define the physical parameters of this interactive sculpture. The site was free to use, and allowed the user to modify some basic elements of the circular-like sculpture. As more users interacted with the site, the art became more sophisticated and beautiful. The final piece is displayed in the case shown. The process itself is part of the artwork, and the early iteration versions are also displayed.

Nova

Electronic sculpture | Brooklyn, NY

Imagine a future where fluid transformation is prevalent. A future where boundaries between art, material, function and the human form stretch, blend and take new shape. The butterfly is a classical reference to metamorphosis. By creating something that blends humanity and art, another transformation takes shape. Nova takes art off the walls and into the world. This wearable installation speaks to light, to community, to gathering, and has an open ethereal dream like quality that gracefully dances and glows. From person to butterfly, from individual to art, this convergence is a conversation already happening in worldwide culture. Nova is meant to inspire graceful changes in the way we think about our relationship with technology and with each other.

Magical Collision

Painting on Glass | Longmont, CO

A star’s life begins with the gravitational collapse of interstellar gas. The force of gravity compresses massive amounts of atoms until the fusion reactions begins, and a new star is born. The piece gives the illusion of the universe when a star’s life begins. It captures the magic and beauty in a glass box, making us believe that we can reach the unreachable. Botero’s Magical Collision is intended to reflect the Arrow values and ideas of universal impact and commitment to help reach the unthinkable.

r+Evolution ➔2020

Digital Art | Chattanooga, TN

In creating r+Evolution → 2020, Thetford placed a modern-day Copernicus in the center of the image encircled by his own diagram of the cosmos. A mix of mathematical equations, electronics and artifacts orbit around him. Today’s technological advances are the result of the confluence of ancient and modern revolutionary thinkers. It is in merging the revolutionary with the evolutionary, and the theoretical with the practical, that they build the bridge between where we are and where we will be.

Into the Cloud

Metalwork | Woodbine, MD

Into the Cloud is a mobile platform that can be stationed anywhere she is needed to provide cell phone, Wi-Fi, television and radio service along with cloud storage and internet server functions. Modern equipment can be so sterile in appearance, but this piece is designed with a Victorian flair and a touch of whimsy to bring comfort to those who see her.

Powered and supported by clean hydrogen, built of super strong yet lightweight material, and adaptable to a wide range of missions, Into the Cloud may be Five Years Out, but she is on her way, as she takes to the sky.

Consciousness and Thermodynamics

Digital Art | Chicago, IL

The basic idea is that life and consciousness are the inevitable result of increasing entropy. Energy released from the creation of our local universe dissipates more efficiently as more and more seemingly ordered states of matter are created, including life and consciousness. Consciousness, self-awareness and intelligence strive to find meaning and purpose, and in this striving innovation is rewarded. Thus, innovation is self-sustaining as its effects change the environment. It reveals new challenges, which require further innovation; the broadest of all themes represented in the piece.

Birth of Flight

Sculpture | Duluth, MN

Birth of Flight conveys the source of human potential. The bright colors that surface through the seams imply infinite technicolor possibilities that lie within. Constructed from one continuous piece of wood, Byrns combines traditional materials and techniques with new technology and self-developed sculpting methods. Both the process and the form suggest that art needs to utilize both tradition and technology to remain relevant and evolve.

Invisible Hieroglyphics

Digital Print | New York, NY

Mobile devices have dramatically transformed the way we communicate and interact with each other. The fingerprints left behind on our devices’ screens illustrate how intimate we are becoming with the device itself. Remove the device, and you are left with smudges illustrating the story of how we communicate. The artwork shows that our devices are simple canvases, and what we do with them is the art that society continues to unknowingly create. The message is invisible yet remains a hieroglyphic of our future direction. 

Untitled

Sculpture | Fort Wayne, ID

Japanese Shinto belief teaches us that all objects and organisms have spirits. In kindergarten, Ganz learned that items discarded before their time weep at night inside the trash bin. Driven by combination of sympathy for inanimate objects and passion for fitting shapes together, she creates forms that are alive and in motion. Building these sculptures helps her understand the situations that surround her. Even if there is conflict, there is a peaceful solution. 

Love Letters

Porcelain | Beijing, China

We express our feelings through letters. This action expresses maybe just a mood of emotion, like love, care or hate. Zhi chooses to exhibit these discarded love letters in delicate ceramic forms. They look like pure paper, but cannot be easily unfolded. You can see a portion, but cannot unfold to reveal the rest, as secret feelings are left fragmented. The finished piece is an interpretation of both artist and audience, demonstrating universal connection across cultures.

Five Years Out

Digital Art | Pacifica, CA

For more than 200 years, artists and musicians have dreamed of portraying music visually. Now, with the aid of fast computers, Wilson captures the spirit of music with images that are detailed and intuitively read. Analyzing the frequencies of a phrase of music, then displaying them three dimensionally over time as it plays. A true intersection of visual art, music and technology. Wilson invites you to explore these worlds of sound. To literally see music in an entirely new way.

C.H.O.N.

Sculpture | Denver, CO

Whether you look five years out, or five thousand years out, you cannot build anything without Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen (C.H.O.N). After millions of years, this beautiful stone surfaced to create C.H.O.N., composed of layers of resin, metal, wood, stone and ice. The main material in the sculpture is marble, which was formed through immense pressure. The scorched wood warns of possible disasters if we do not innovate to create a sustainable future. Within the bronze layer, the artists present binary code as a new element. All elements work together through a forward-thinking, symbiotic relationship.

Lost Sound Search Engine

Mixed Medium | Bridgeville, PA

Fraley envisions a future where a sonic time machine is the next big thing. Using proprietary algorithms and state-of-the-art technology, the Lost Sound Search Engine is born. The device retrieves voices from the past, thought lost to the ages, and plays them back. Though the concept is fictional, by using his own custom circuitry, Fraley makes this interactive piece appear to be a working unit.

Yes, I See

Electronic Art | Greensboro, NC

Through this brain-computer interface (BCI)-controlled LED sculpture, Niemchyk gives viewers the chance to participate in the art by influencing the light patterns with their individual brain scans. Yes, I See interprets electrical activity in the brain in a somewhat random pattern, creating a unique signature for each user. The user controls it by concentrating, meditating, focusing or becoming distracted. BCI technology is expected to bloom in the next five years.

e-scape v

Digital Art | Albuquerque, NM

e-scape v explores the presence of technology in open spaces, revealing with a sense of magical realism the ways in which electronics alter our perceptions of the outdoors. This series of ambient video loops features emerging writers and artists from Colorado. The content reflects a local geographic identity, while the process is unrestricted by distance. In that sense, the project illustrates a balance in working both locally and globally. Interwoven for single-channel display, the assemblage illustrates a series of abstract narratives: Nature revives a discarded TV, then consumes it; a window both divides and duplicates our view of a mountain landscape.

Motherboard Earth

Sculpture | St. Petersburg, FL

Five Years Out, the things we use today will seem primitive. Reflecting this idea is Motherboard Earth, an orb created from electronic devices, computers and consumer objects in common use today. The sculpture is a visual touchstone for how rapidly our world is changing. In five years, the devices featured in this piece will be considered outmoded, thus transforming this artwork into a time capsule of 2013 and an indicator of how fast technology is evolving.

Five Years Out

Sculpture | Marion, OH

Made of mirror-polished aluminum, the sculpture’s five columns symbolize the Five Years Out philosophy. The various heights signify the idea of added knowledge and change each year. The twists in the fifth column represent thinking outside of the box and how that action must be taken to make new discoveries. The polished mirror finish reflects the other columns, allowing the viewer to magically see an infinite number of twists or ideas and possibilities for the future.

Visioneer

Sculpture | Milwaukee, WI

To imagine the future of Five Years Out, we need a Visioneer. Someone to pull from the past while engaging in the present to forge ahead. Using tools and innovations from years past, this life-size figure navigates today’s life and sees potential everywhere. Promise in every instrument he picks up, every person he engages with and every action that he takes.