Janos Stone will install a monumental sculpture of immense scale — bisecting the entirety of Dumbo Arts Center on a diagonal.

Made of 112 3’x3’ gypsum board polyhedra, the sculpture, at first sight, reads as a hugely enlarged image of a reclining skeleton. Printed on the gypsum “MeCube” tiles are more than 550 Youtube and Vimeo stills of night skies from around the world, acting like the pixels that form the image of the skeleton. The entire installation measures 11.5’x1’x82’.

“Digital visual language begins with the pixel,” says Stone. “This tiny polyhedron is the primary structure of digital images and allows us to see and connect with each other in the virtual world. When this contact occurs through the digital fourth wall, we bring in aspects of ourselves, exchanging atoms for pixels. This connectivity creates avatars, extensions of our actual world persona who act as our ambassadors inside the virtual world.”

This constant travel across the actual and virtual border reinforces this fact: pixels and atoms are arguably one-and-the-same as we are all made of, and interact with, these fundamental building blocks. When the viewers engage with this piece, by stepping in closer or further away, they move in and out of micro and macro universes. They begin to sense our deep connectedness with the analog, or natural, and the digital world.

The title of the installation refers to Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law. A science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, Clarke formulated the Third Law to explain the source of our amazement as our limitation, rather than the impossibility of technology.

This event will take place at the old location of Dumbo Arts Center 30 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

Originally curated by Corinne Erni to take place at the Hungarian Cultural Center, the project was canceled at the last minute due to political upheaval in Hungary. DAC and Two Trees are proud to champion the creation of this ambitious art and are excited to present the installation at DAC’s space at 30 Washington Street.

Any Sufficiently Advanced Technology is Indistinguishable From Magic is made possible by generous support from the National Gypsum Company, TDSNY Printing and the members of DAC. Exhibition space provided by Two Trees Management Co. Additional support and transportation provided by Surroundart.

Janos Stone (American, 1975-) is an inventor and new/mixed media artist based in New York City. His practice blends digital technology (digital video, fabrication, video games, computer programs/code, etc.) with the formal traditions of sculpture. His work deals with the relationships we have through and with the Internet. His interest is focused on life lived between the virtual and actual world and the avatars we inhabit to do so. Recently, Stone has been looking at online dating services and the effect of relationships developed and experienced using digital media. In addition, by looking at connections in social media, eCommerce and quantum mechanics, he is developing a process by which the intensity of a biological/digital connection can be quantified and gauged.

At 22, Stone began teaching sculpture at Brown University, moving to Lesley University in 1999. He now teaches in Second Life, the on-line world, for SUNY Buffalo and lectures at Pratt and the School of Visual Art, New York City as well as through out the Northeast. His artwork has exhibited throughout in N. America and in Europe.

Under the cap of inventor/entrepreneur, he is focused on MeCube.com. MeCube is a simple-to-use, web based tool kit, which aids the user to design and personalize digital 3D objects for fabrication via rapid prototyping. In the summer of 2010 he was granted the patent pending on this process.

DAC will participate in the February 3, 2011 First Thursday gallery walk event.