Diane Gromala Exhibition

Chronic Pain: Art + Science Collaborations

Prof. Diane Gromala, Founding Director of the Transforming Pain Research Group (TPRG) will be exhibiting the evolving work of this team of world-class researchers. Building on an extensive knowledge base from the fields of Pain Medicine, Interactive Art & Design, Computer Science, Neuroscience and Psychophysics, the research group is developing innovative technologies to address  chronic pain, a disease that affects 1 in 5 North Americans. Technologies include meditation, biofeedback, immersive Virtual Reality, visualization, robotics and social media.

Diane Gromala is an Associate Professor in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture, where she teaches in the graduate program in Information Design and Technology at Simon Fraser University. She is an adjunct faculty member in Industrial Design and a faculty member of the transdisciplinary GVU (the Graphics Visualization and Usability Center). Dr. Gromala was one of the first artists to work with immersive virtual reality, beginning with Dancing with the Virtual Dervish. Co-created with Yacov Sharir at the Banff Centre for the Arts' Art & Virtual Environments residency, this piece has been exhibited worldwide from 1993-2004. Subsequent immersive VR work was designed for stress-reduction and pain distraction during chemotherapy. Dr. Gromala's work is currently in use in over 20 hospitals and clinics.

Exhibition Dates: September 29 — October 31, 2011
Art + Sci Gallery
California NanoSystems Institute – UCLA
Room 5419