KENNESAW, Ga. | Jan 7, 2025

Upon entering a small room at Northlake Mall, a person steps onto a lighted floor. Underneath their feet, a heat illustration radiates away, animals flee, and plants shrivel and die.

The person is experiencing the latest piece by Kennesaw State University assistant professor of digital animation Jeremy Speed-Schwartz, titled The Paper Ecosystem, which seeks to immerse patrons within the artwork itself.

“Based on where you are in the room and how many people are in the room, you'll have different effects on the simulated ecosystem itself,” said Speed-Schwartz, who joined KSU’s School of Art and Design in Fall 2023. “The more people are in the space, the greater that effect is.”

The Paper Ecosystem is part of a larger exhibit at the Atlanta Science Gallery called Resilient Earth, which takes on themes of environmental degradation and preservation. The exhibit shows through April and features artists from throughout North and South America. Speed-Schwartz’s piece uses nearly 90 different sequences of stop-motion animation, with his own software sensing multiple presences in the space to create thousands of possibilities for one-of-a-kind illustrations.

In late 2023, The Atlanta Science Gallery put out the call for art seeking interactive pieces that would bring home the message of climate change and preservation of the ecosystem. Speed-Schwartz immediately saw an opportunity for digital animation to serve as the medium and the message for all ages.

“They were looking for pieces that engaged interactively and in space, pieces that would be more experiential and potentially responsive to the visitors,” he said. “This piece as it's conceived is something of a gamification of climate change, and when you see children engage with this, they immediately walk around the space and get to feel very powerful, kind of like Godzilla.”

Speed-Schwartz also engaged his students in the installation process in hopes of exposing them to the potential of interactive animation in large scale like The Paper Ecosystem, and to get them thinking about animation beyond screens large and small.

“I want to encourage my students to think about the future of this kind of medium, whether that’s through augmented reality, projection mapping, or other technology, and think broadly about its potential applications,” he said. “How do we think about animation outside of those traditional screen spaces? I would love to get more students involved in this kind of work.”

Speed-Schwartz credited KSU’s University Information Technology Services for providing computing power for The Paper Ecosystem, which checks another potential box for the future of digital animation at KSU. Ultimately, he’d love to see similar installations to The Paper Ecosystem on campus.

“We are certainly well-equipped and well-positioned here to do work like that on campus,” he said. “I hope to see another piece similar to The Paper Ecosystem in one of our spaces.”

– By Dave Shelles

Photos by Darnell Wilburn

A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its more than 47,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 7 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.