Category Archives: Symposium

SYMPOSIUM ON ASPECT CHANGE, 21 – 22 October 2021, Bern, Switzerland

Image for Symposium on Aspect Change containing an apple and the Hochschule der Künste Bern HKB logo.

Symposium on Aspect Change

Next week, starting October 21st, VCD MA student João Emediato and head of MA programme in Visual Communication Design Arja Karhumaa will give talks in the “Symposium on Aspect Change” in Bern, Switzerland. The symposium is arranged by Hochschule der Künste Bern HKB. The event is held in English.

The multidisciplinary event will be streamed live and there is no admission!

TIME & PLACE

MORE INFO

Hochschule der Künste Bern HKB – Symposium on Aspect Change

COMPARING CULTURAL PRACTICES AND VOCABULARIES RELATING TO SHIFTING MEANINGS
With interdisciplinary contributions from international researchers in THE ARTS, PHILOSOPHY, GEOGRAPHY, DESIGN, LITERATURE, COGNITIVE SCIENCE

Hosted by Tine Melzer, INSTITUT PRAKTIKEN UND THEORIEN DER KÜNSTE, HKB

*** Please note: On site attendance with valid COVID certificate ***

Streamed on Youtube on the dates: http://www.tinemelzer.eu/aspect-change/

Online attendance registration for Zoom link via here.

https://www.hkb.bfh.ch/de/aktuell/fachveranstaltungen/forschung-aspect-change-21-10-21/

Contact via email

PROGRAM – Thursday 21st of October

9.30 Registration

9.30
Batia Suter
artist, Amsterdam
Film: Radial Grammar, 2018
(excerpts)

10.00 – Welcome
Tine Melzer
artist and researcher, HKB
»Towards Aspect Change «

10.30
David Zürcher
singer & film maker, Bern
Film: »Prekäre Dinge« 2017

10.45
Tobias Servaas
philosopher, Amsterdam
»It is always before one’s eyes – Wittgenstein on aspect change«

11.15
Silvia Maier
cognitive scientist, Zürich
»What you see is what you expect – A brain’s perspective on aspect change«

12.00
Alexandra Leykauf
artist, Berlin
»Both Sides Now«

BREAK

14.00
Christa-Maria Lerm Hayes
art historian, University of Amsterdam
»Aspect Change, Oscillation, Parallax, Untranslatability: Approaching inconsistencies in Joseph Beuys’ work«

15.00
Uta Eisenreich
artist, Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam
»It goes without saying«

BREAK

16.00
João Emediato
artist, graphic designer & performer, Aalto University Helsinki
»Atlas of Work«

16.45
Alina Maria Frieske
artist, Berlin
»Tracking Connections – Imagined Recordings«

17.30
Broersen&Lukács
artists, Amsterdam
Film: »Forest on Location« 2018 (10m)

PROGRAM – Friday 22nd of October

9.30 registration

10.00
Hinrich Sachs
visual artist and writer, Basel
»Taparanco yaycuuan or To my Fellows in the Future«

11.00
Benjamin Hennig
geographer, Reykjavik, University of Iceland
»Rediscovering the world: New maps and visualisations of a changing planet«

12.00
Lizzie Ridout
artist, Falmouth University UK
»Little clouds: Speech balloons and the air of language«

12.45
Tanja Schwarz
artist and researcher, Bern
»Panic for Beginners«

BREAK

14.00
Arja Karhuma
graphic designer & text artist, Aalto University Helsinki
»The horizon of typographic expectation«

14.45
Ilse van Rijn
art historian & writer, Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam
»Diatomaceous meditations«

BREAK

15.45
Raymond Taudin Chabot
artist, HKB
Film: »Cigars«, 2021 (14m 13s)

16.15
Florian Göttke
artist, writer & researcher, Dutch Art Institute Amsterdam
»Performance and Perception: Make Belief and Aspect Change«

17.00
Leila Peacock
artist, Zürich
Audio: »Factual Uncertainties« with Robin the Fog, 2011

17.15 Closing Panel

 

 

Getting by: Negotiating Future Livelihoods in the Arts

A Symposium organised by Kiasma, University of the Arts Helsinki, University of Helsinki and Aalto University.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018
at 10:00 – 14:00
Kiasma Theatre
Free entrance

This symposium addresses the future of the artists’ livelihood. Hosted by Kiasma, and co-organised by Uniarts Helsinki, Aalto University and the University of Helsinki, the event focuses on the rapid changes in contemporary society and new affordances that those changes introduce for the professionals working in the arts field. The precarious work market suggests new roles for arts professionals and their education, but also opens up new opportunities for art researchers to probe into the complexities of the late modern society, culture and working life. These and other questions around artists’ future livelihood, along with questions of societal responsibility, are discussed during the symposium.

The symposium invites artists, art-related researchers, art educators, art students, and other stakeholders interested in the artist’s livelihood on Tuesday November 13, 2018, 10 am – 2 pm, at the Kiasma Theatre. Participation is free of charge.

The symposium language is English.

From: Uniarts.fi website

HLS2018: Hybrid Labs Symposium at Aalto

Hybrid Labs Symposium

The Third Renewable Futures Conference

May 30 – June 1, 2018,
Aalto University, Otaniemi Campus, Espoo City
Venues: Otakaari 1X (30–31 May), Otakaari 7 (1 June)

Rooms in Otakaari 1X: A1 (1st floor) and A2 (2nd floor)
Rooms in Otakaari 7: Studio Kipsari and Meeting Room 283 (1st floor)

Hybrid Labs is the third edition of Renewable Futures conference that aims to challenge the future of knowledge creation through art and science. The HYBRID LABS will take place from May 30 to June 1, 2018 at Aalto University in Espoo, Finland, in the context of Aalto Festival. Celebrating 50 years of Leonardo journal and community, the HYBRID LABS conference will look back into the history of art and science collaboration, with an intent to reconsider and envision the future of hybrid laboratories – where scientific research and artistic practice meet and interact.

Our three-day media event medley includes:

May 30, 2018 – Exhibition Opening 

Opening Programme features Oslofjord Ecologies Extended exhibition opening. The exhibition is based on results of artistic research processes following common workshops, field trips and earlier exhibitions and performances linked to the Creative Europe project Renewable Futures and the Nordic collaboration Hybrid Labs. Curated by Kristin Bergaust on behalf of Art in Society research group at HiOA, this cross-disciplinary exhibition includes contributions from visual arts, art and science,  theatre, performance, design, visual culture, art didactics and urban research. See more.

May 31, 2018 – Renewable Futures Conference

Renewable Futures conference will begin with keynotes addressing HYBRID LABS topic from different broader perspectives. Parallel tracks of presentations will discuss the future of HYBRID LABS, art and science collaboration, focusing on five main topics: hybrid practices (in art and science), hybrid storytelling, hybrid fabrication, hybrid reality, and hybrid economies.

June 1, 2018 – Collaboratory Day, Celebrating Leonardo’s 50th Anniversary  

Collaboratory day and Leonardo birthday celebration includes guided tours of several of the Otaniemi campus laboratories and a workshop on collaboratory methods during the morning followed by afternoon keynote, sauna, and dinner. The topic of the keynote will be about Arts and Science collaboration and planetary healing. Also throughout the Lab tours, we want to stress the heritage aspects of the spaces, the campus and innovative aspects of art and science collaboration.

See programme Hybrid Labs Symposium 2018.

Keynote Speakers:

  • Roger MALINA / Physicist, Astronomer / Executive Editor, Leonardo Publications at M.I.T Press / Professor, the University of Texas at Dallas, USA
  • Gediminas URBONAS / Professor, the MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT-MIT) / Associate Professor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Architecture, Cambridge, USA
  • Nina CZEGLEDY / Artist, Curator and Educator on Art, Science and Technology / Leonardo Community, Toronto, Canada
  • Judith VAN DER ELST / Anthropologist, Independent Researcher, Netherlands
  • Vladimir IVANOV / Professor, St. Petersburg Technical University, Collaboratory methods/heritage workshop
  • Toni KONITK / Professor of Design of Structures, Aalto University, Department of Architecture, Finland
  • Saara HACKLIN / Curator, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
  • Pia FRICKER /Adjunct Professor, Department of Architecture, Aalto University, Finland

Click for more information on Keynote speakers and their presentations.

On-the-door tickets available at the registration desk (Otakaari 1X, 1st floor):

30 May: 12:00–14:00, and 16:00–18:00
31 May: 8:00–9:00

Price: 48 € / 25€ students
Payments only with card.

The fee allows for participation in the whole programme excluding Friday 1 June Dinner and coffees and snacks.

Call for Proposals: RF 2018: Hybrid Labs Symposium

Call for Proposals

RF 2018: Hybrid Labs Symposium

May 30 – June 1, 2018
Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
– – – – – –
Deadline – extended to 5 March, 2018
APPLY NOW: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=hls2018
– – – – – –
http://hybridlabs.aalto.fi
Hybrid Labs is the third edition of Renewable Futures conference that aims to challenge the future of knowledge creation through art and science. The HYBRID LABS will take place from May 30 to June 1, 2018 at Aalto University in Espoo, Finland, in the context of Aalto Festival. Celebrating 50 years of Leonardo journal and community, the HYBRID LABS conference will look back into the history of art and science collaboration, with an intent to reconsider and envision the future of hybrid laboratories – where scientific research and artistic practice meet and interact.

Our three-day media event medley includes:

May 30, 2018 – Exhibition Opening
Opening Programme features Oslofjord Ecologies Extended exhibition opening. The exhibition is based on results of artistic research processes following common workshops, field trips and earlier exhibitions and performances linked to the Creative Europe project Renewable Futures and the Nordic collaboration Hybrid Labs. Curated by Kristin Bergaust on behalf of Art in Society research group at HiOA, this cross-disciplinary exhibition includes contributions from visual arts, art and science, theatre, performance, design, visual culture, art didactics and urban research.

May 31, 2018 – Renewable Futures Conference
Renewable Futures conference will begin with keynotes addressing HYBRID LABS topic from different broader perspectives. Parallel tracks of presentations will discuss the future of HYBRID LABS, art and science collaboration, focusing on five main topics: hybrid practices (in art and science), hybrid storytelling, hybrid fabrication, hybrid reality, and hybrid economies.

June 1, 2018 – Collaboratory Day, Celebrating Leonardo’s 50th Anniversary
Collaboratory day and Leonardo birthday celebration includes guided tours of several of the Otaniemi campus laboratories and a workshop on collaboratory methods during the morning followed by afternoon keynote, sauna, and dinner. The topic of the keynote will be about Arts and Science collaboration and planetary healing. Also throughout the Lab tours, we want to stress the heritage aspects of the spaces, the campus and innovative aspects of art and science collaboration.
– – – – – –

Keynote Speakers:

  • Roger MALINA / Executive Editor, Leonardo Publications at M.I.T Press / Professor, the University of Texas at Dallas.
  • Nina CZEGLEDY / Artist, Curator and Educator on Art, Science and Technology / Leonardo Community, Toronto, Canada
  • + others – to be confirmed

– – – – – –

More info: http://hybridlabs.aalto.fi/hls-2018-cfp-hybrid-labs-symposium-2018/

– – – – – –

Registration:

Early Bird fee until 15 April, 2018.

Early Bird Full Price: 68 EUR (normal price 86 eur).
Early Bird Student Price: 42 EUR (normal student price 56 eur).

Included: Coffee and Snacks, Sauna and Dinner (Lunch is not included).

REGISTER AT: https://eage.aalto.fi/?f/en/HLS2018

– – – – – –

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

We welcome submissions by academic researchers, designers, artists, scientists, students, social entrepreneurs, visionaries and other creative thinkers and practitioners to submit their proposals related to the topics (below).

List of Topics

  • hybrid practices – combining art and science, technology and ecology, digital and biological in research and education
  • hybrid storytelling – heritage and storytelling for linking virtual with the material domain of everyday life
  • hybrid fabrication – innovative maker trends in art and design practices
  • hybrid reality – interventions into the uncritical excitement about virtual reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning
  • hybrid economies – artistic practices in-between sharing and selling, networking and fabricating

Submission Guidelines

The proposals could be submitted for the following forms of presentations:

  • academic papers (full / short)
  • artistic presentations (performative lectures / performances / participatory sessions)
  • poster sessions

The conference proposals should include:

  • Title and abstract (250 words max – text fields ‘Title’ and ‘Abstract’), mandatory;
  • five to six keywords (text field ‘Keywords’), mandatory;
  • short biography: 100 words (text field ‘Comments’), mandatory;
  • you can also upload a file containing any additional relevant information, optional;
  • please indicate in your abstract if you want to submit pictures or videos (max 100Mb) as part of your final submission.

Deadline for Conference Proposals (Abstracts) – February 19, 2018
Notifications of acceptance – March 2, 2018
APPLY NOW: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=hls2018

– – – – – –

Conference Submissions – for Selected Abstracts:

After receiving the notifications, the selected participants will be asked to submit their Full/Short Papers (working version – for pre-review), Posters (layout) and Artistic Presentations (Slides) by May 14, 2018.

1. Full/Short Paper Submission:
If your abstract for full/short paper will be selected, you will be asked to submit full/short paper for pre-review before the conference (working version). All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference:
– Full papers are up to 6000 words long including references and the presenter must prepare 20+10 minutes presentation.
– Short papers are up to 3000 words long including references and the presenter must prepare 10+5 minutes presentation.

2. Artistic Presentations:
Presentations should be prepared as powerpoint or keynote slides.

3. Posters:
Posters should be made in A1 format, and submitted as PDF.

Publication

Shortly after the conference, the selected participants will be asked to submit their final version of the paper for peer-review. The submitted papers will undergo the double-blind peer-review process to be published in Acoustic Space journal series (Vol. 18, 2019).

– – – – – –
When submitting your final papers, you should keep in mind the following:

  • Your name. Delete your name from the first page or where ever it is mentioned in the paper.
  • Acknowledgements. Please delete or mark “Acknowledgements removed”, if you have acknowledgements or thanks to those who helped you with the paper.
  • Document properties. Please don’t send word or similar documents, because it might include personal information in the document (for example in Word, go to file à properties).
  • Send your paper in pdf-format.
  • Self-citation. Please anonymize your references or citations to your previous works.
  • Images and Videos. Please hide all such information that can reveal you in videos or images you are sending along with your paper.

More info about the Acoustic Space, peer-reviewed journal series:
http://acousticspacejournal.com

– – – – – –

Conference website http://hybridlabs.aalto.fi
Submission link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=hls2018
Proposal submission deadline February 19, 2018
Notifications of acceptance March 4, 2018
Deadline for selected abstracts May 14, 2018
REGISTRATION TO CONFERENCE: https://eage.aalto.fi/?f/en/HLS2018

– – – – – –

COMMITTEES

Conference Chair
Prof. Lily Díaz

The Local Conference Organisational Board
Prof. Lily DIAZ-KOMMONEN / Head of Research Department of Media, Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Espoo, Finland
Prof. Rasa SMITE / Liepaja University / RIXC / Riga, Latvia
Prof. Kristin BERGAUST / Oslo and Akershus University, Norway
Nina CZEGLEDY, Leonardo Community, Toronto, Canada
Juhani TENHUNEN / Aalto Studios, Espoo, Finland
Saara MÄNTYLÄ / Department of Media, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland.

The International Scientific Board of Renewable Futures Conference
Prof. Lev MANOVICH / Cultural Analytics Lab / The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA
Ph.D. Jussi PARIKKA / Winchester School of Art / University of Southampton / UK
Ph.D. Geoff COX / School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Denmark
Assoc. Prof. Laura BELOFF / IT University, Copenhagen / Finnish Bioart Society, Helsinki, Finland
Prof. Ursula DAMM / Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany
Dr. Vytautas MICHELKEVICIUS / Nida Art Colony, Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania
Ph.D. Margrét Elísabet ÓLAFSDÓTTIR / Art Education at the University of Akureyri, Iceland
Assoc. Prof. Ilva SKULTE / Riga Stradins University, Latvia
Dr. art. Piibe PIIRMA / Tallinn University / Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, Estonia
Ph. D. Raivo KELOMEES / Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, Estonia
Prof. Miško ŠUVAKOVIĆ / Faculty for Media and Communication, University Singidunum, Belgrade, Serbia
Dr. Ellen PEARLMAN / Parsons / New School University, New York, USA
Ph.D. Chris HALES / Assist. Prof. and Study Director of New Media Art Doctoral Programe, Liepaja University, Liepaja, Latvia
Raphael KIM / PhD Student, Media and Arts Technology, Queen Mary University London, UK

Venue
Aalto University, Otakaari 1 x, Espoo Finland

Contact
lily.diaz@aalto.fi / saara.mantyla@aalto.fi

Sponsors
NORDPLUS
Aalto University

– – – – – –
Please note that this call was updated after its first publication.

HELDIG DI­GITAL HU­MAN­IT­IES SUM­MIT 2017

Oct 18, 2017, 9:00–18:00  (Wednesday)

University of Helsinki, Main Building, Small Hall (Pieni juhlasali), 4050
Fabianinkatu 33, Helsinki, FINLAND

Helsinki Centre for Digital Humanities (HELDIG) was launched by a kick-off symposium on Oct 6, 2016 that was attended by some 200 friends of Digital Humanities. HELDIG Digital Humanities Summit 2017 provides a snapshot of activities within the centre and its collaboration network after the first year of operation, facilitating networking and sharing results within the Finnish community of Digital Humanities research and education and beyond.

PRO­GRAMME
After opening the Summit, the first presentation slot of the day contains talks from the seven faculties of the University of Helsinki involved in the HELDIG initiative. After this, presentations from collaborating organizations of the HELDIG network are heard. After the lunch, talks about projects, research, and applications underway are given.

After the presentations, there is a networking event based on posters and demos in the lobby, with nibbles and cocktails served.

SEE MORE: https://www.helsinki.fi/en/helsinki-centre-for-digital-humanities/heldig-digital-humanities-summit-2017

RE­GIS­TRA­TION
Participation in HELDIG Digital Humanities Summit 2017 is open and free, but registration is required for catering.

Register here Tuesday 10th October latest :

https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/81397/lomake.html

 

CFP: Leonardo PhD Symposium

Leonardo Three-Year Symposium on the Ph.D. in Art and Design

Ken Friedman and Jack Ox, Guest Editors

In 2017, the journal Leonardo celebrates 50 years of publishing research and works of art at the intersection of art, science and technology. As part of the celebrations, we initiated a 3-year symposium to address issues surrounding the development of the Ph.D. in Art and Design. The first articles are about to appear.

Universities around the world are now debating this issue. While the MFA is a terminal degree for professional practice, the Ph.D. is a research degree — the doctor of philosophy. The debate began in the U.K. when independent art and design schools merged with universities or obtained university status in their own right. This led to the question of the standards for appointment and promotion to programs once located in separate institutions that are now located within universities. Universities in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America have joined the conversation by establishing new Ph.D. programs or initiating serious debates on whether — and how — to build them.

The question of the Ph.D. for art and design raises many challenging issues. First among these is the nature of research, research training, and the Ph.D. While this issue is obvious to those who have earned a Ph.D. in the natural sciences, social sciences, or liberal arts, it remains complicated in understanding the Ph.D. for art and design. What is the Ph.D. in art? What is the Ph.D. in design? What should a Ph.D. be in a field of professional practice? Should there be several kinds of Ph.D. in art and design or one major model? Why pursue such a degree? What is the nature of such a Ph.D. with respect to research quality as distinct from the quality of art or design practice? Why are so many programs struggling or going wrong? Why do universities and accrediting authorities permit problematic programs to continue? Why, in the past, did artists interested in research choose to take a Ph.D. in disciplines outside art? Are there specific skills all researchers require without respect to their discipline? These are questions to consider, and there are people who have something to say about them, including experienced supervisors. With this symposium, we are reaching out to those with solid experience in doctoral education to draw on their skills and wisdom.

The fresh debate on the Ph.D. for art and design taking place in North American universities has global implications. This debate makes it imperative to consider the different models of doctoral education elsewhere in the world. Is it reasonable to earn a Ph.D. for a practice-based thesis with an artifact or an exhibition in place of the thesis, accompanied by an essay of 20,000 words? Should doctoral programs admit students to research training programs without undergraduate experience in such key skills as analysis, rhetoric, logic or mathematics? Can undergraduate art and design students with a focus on studio skills hope to succeed in doctoral work when they have had little or no experience in the kinds of information seeking or writing that form the basis for earning a research degree? Is it possible to award Ph.D. degrees for skills and capacities completely different from those in any established research field? In North America, an exhibition of artifacts with a short thesis is the basis for awarding an MFA degree; in the UK and Australia and at some European art schools, this is the basis for awarding a Ph.D. Is it possible to merge these two traditions?

The SEAD and STEAM Challenge

One of the specific challenges we face internationally is finding new ways to enable collaboration between science and engineering with the arts, design and the humanities (SEAD). The United States National Science Foundation funded a SEAD study highlighting a number of international developments and best practices that inevitably will influence the question of the Ph.D. in art and design. One of the areas in this study was the emerging discussion on “STEM to STEAM.”

Call for Papers

The Ph.D. for art and design has become a significant issue in worldwide university education. As the world’s oldest peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal for the arts, sciences and technology, Leonardo has a responsibility to serve as a forum for the conversation. This symposium is our contribution to the emerging dialogue on this issue in North America and around the world.

We seek several kinds of contributions to a 3-year symposium on the Ph.D. in art and design.

• First, we seek full-length peer-reviewed articles for publication in the Leonardo addressing key issues concerning the Ph.D. in art and design.

• Second, we seek significant reports, research studies and case studies. Since these will be longer than journal articles, we will review them for journal publication as extended abstracts with references, and we will publish the full documents on the Leonardo web site.

• Finally, we will welcome Letters to the Editors in response to published articles and to the documents on the web site.

Questions and correspondence should be sent to Jack Ox at: jackox@intermediaprojects.org

Manuscript proposals and articles submitted for publication consideration should be sent to: leonardomanuscripts@gmail.com

Ken Friedman PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS, is Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies at Tongji University; University Distinguished Professor at Swinburne University; and Adjunct Professor at James Cook University.
Jack Ox PhD, MFA, Research Fellow at ART/SCI Lab, ATEC, UTDallas Research Associate with the Center for Advanced Research Computing (CARC) University of New Mexico.

Dank Contemporaneities: One-Day Symposium on the Post-Internet

SAVE THE DATE

Dank Contemporaneities:
One-Day Symposium on the Post-Internet
Tuesday March 21, 2017

Adding to the long list of “post” conditions, the term “post-internet” offers a fairly recent attempt to characterize a certain social, political, historical, and material condition that artists, curators, educators, and critics are currently working with. For some, it provides a language to articulate the complex entwinements between online and offline, while for others, it presents yet another blasé attempt to excite the neoliberal art world.

The aim of this one day symposium is to offer entry points to the post-internet logic, its conceptualization, and its critique by examining its (ab)uses in artistic, educational, and curatorial practices. We ask, why and how to engage with or disengage from the post-internet and what happens when the post-internet enters the institution.

The symposium is free and open for everyone. Detailed program will be published soon.

Organized by the Department of Art, Aalto ARTS.

Date: March 21, 2017
Location: Arabia campus, Hämeentie 135 C, Room 5022.

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/666088703563801/

Tags: memes & millennials, insta fame & tumblr dirt, fuckbois & Spice Girls, “how to get into the (Anthropo)scene” vs. “how to seem cool in your (Chthulu)scene”, temporary work & persisting affects, pop-up start-up fuck-up, biennale bomber jackets & moldy bananas, classist new age spiritualism & crippling depression, three stripes materiality, etc.

For more information, please contact Juuso Tervo (juuso.tervo(at)aalto.fi) and Elina Nissinen (elina.nissinen(at)aalto.fi).

Art as technology – Symposium

Art as technology

Symposium 15.12.2016
Organized by: Art and Technology network, University of the Arts Helsinki
Location: WHS Union Theatre, Unioninkatu 45/Siltavuorenranta 18, Helsinki

Art and technology have been closely related to each other throughout the history of Western culture. Their relation, however, is highly variable and constitutes a multifaceted set of questions for the Humanities. Within past few years, lively debates have emerged around “digital humanities”. New challenges in the areas of big data processing, open source practices and hybrid cognition have opened up a gap between “critical humanities” and “big humanities”. How do the new computational conditions influence the arts? Is there a gap between “critical arts” and “big arts”? Should we speak of “digital arts” analogously to “digital humanities” or should we envision “arts of the digital” in parallel with “humanities of the digital”? The question whether and how new technologies change the arts has been discussed widely over decades, but how to consider the arts as technologies in wake of a series of theoretical turns, shifts and new eras? Is there something new to the arts as technologies today?

PROGRAMME
9:00 Coffee and a compilation of Pilvari Pirtola’s videos
Pilvari Pirtola is an artist and a doctoral student at the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki.
10:00 Mika Elo: Opening words
10:15 Susanna Lindberg: “Liberation – of art and technology + discussion”
”This lecture is a philosophical reflexion of the way in which art in the contemporary technological turn of art deals with the ancient rivalry between art and technology. Firstly, I will draw a schematic picture of the conceptual problems inherited from classical philosophy of art and technology, and that this art necessarily confronts. Secondly I will see how certain contemporary works of art attempt to solve some of these problems (e.g. Rebecca Horn, Anaïs Tondeur, Eduardo Kac, Tomás Saraceno). Through these reflextions I will finally ask if and how a dialogue between art and technology contributes to the liberation of one through the other.”
Susanna Lindberg is a philosopher. After a PhD at the University of Strasbourg, she has worked as lecturer and professor at the Universities of Helsinki and Tampere; at the moment she is an associate resercher at the Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense. Her publications include Le monde défait. L’être au monde aujourd’hui (Hermann, 2016), Heidegger contre Hegel: Les irréconciliables and Entre Heidegger et Hegel : L’éclosion et vie de l’être (L’Harmattan, 2010). She has also edited, with Sergei Prozorov and Mika Ojakangas, Europe Beyond Universalism and Particularism (Palgrave, 2014) and with Gisèle Berkman Limite – illimité, questions au présent. (Nouvelles Éditions Cécile Defaut, 2012). She has also published many articles on German idealism, phenomenology and contemporary French philosophy, as well as translations of French philosophy into Finnish (for instance Derrida, Nancy and Blanchot).
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Electronic Chamber Music – Otso Lähdeoja, Alejandro Montes de Oca, Aino Eerola, Nathan Thomson – Music + discussion
13:45 Morten Søndergaard: Sound + Art + Technology +
“It is hard to ‘fit’ sound art into any known discipline or research area. Sound art is a transdisciplinary and experimental practice drawing on as various sources as modern physics, technology, electronic media, psychology and more. It may not even be ‘art’, as it does not ‘fit’ any traditional categories or genres. Thus, ‘sound art’ is not a perfect ‘fit’ for any discipline, at all. Yet it exists as perhaps one of the most distinct expressions of innovative explorations of space and time, and for that very reason it calls for a study of sound art within the framing of art and technology. In my talk I will generally discuss this framing by presenting and analysing a ‘modern genealogy’ of sound + art + technology +.”
Morten Søndergaard is Curator and Associate Professor of interactive media art at Aalborg University Denmark. International co-coordinator of the Erasmus Master in Media Arts Cultures; Head of research on the Unheard Avant-garde Research Project since 2010 and co-founder of ISACS – International Sound Art Curating Conference Series. Curator and deputy director at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde (1999-2008). Served as General chair and Senior Curator at re-new digital arts festival in Copenhagen 2010-13 and as contributing editor at Leonardo Electronic Almanac 2011- 2014. He has published, edited and curated extensively in the field of media art and sound art.
14:45 Coffee
15:15 Jari Kauppinen: Performance + discussion
“My research aims to examine and experiment with different strategies of combining voice, space and media technology in performative contexts. I focus on the onset of the act of speaking, the brief moment of unfolding potentiality, the minute gradations of expression that operate there, in and between voices, texts, and technologies.”
Jari Kauppinen is Professor in Sound Design at Theatre Academy, Uniarts Helsinki. He is also a doctoral candidate at the Performing Arts Research Center.
16:00 Fernando José Pereira: “Besides all that (a deliberate dip in technology to build the possibilities to resist it)”
“The relationship between art and technology is now unquestionable and consensual. And yet, nothing tells us that we should not keep the degrees of scepticism at high levels. On one hand the widespread dazzle in what the latest technology relates; on the other hand, the fascination that obsolete technology produces both in artists and market. Both are presented as visible signs of a reality that is ours: the technological and digital society in which we live. The central issue still remains the determining of the origin of decisions: the utopia of artistic gesture or the aporia of the technological primacy. From the attempt to resolve this duality may arise the possibility of a critical and operational vision for contemporary artistic practices.”
Fernando José Pereira is an artist, co-director of the site www.virose.pt and a member of the electronic music project Haarvöl. He teaches at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, where he is also the coordinator of the PhD program and researcher at the I2ADS (Institute for Research in Art, Design and Society).
17:00 Panel with the speakers of the day and Tuomo Rainio, Dominik Schlienger, Päivi Takala 18:00 Closing

Intersectional Perspectives on Design, Politics & Power – Symposium Programme

Decolonising Design Platform is announcing that the program for the symposium “Intersectional Perspectives on Design, Politics and Power” is out now (file link below). The symposium will be held at the School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University, Sweden on 14-15 November 2016.
This event is open to the public but seats are limited. If you are interested in attending, please register here.

Diaphanes symposium: BLIND SPOT, 21 OCT 2016

Diaphanes:
BLIND SPOT SYMPOSIUM
21st October 2016
Exhibition Laboratory
Merimiehenkatu 36, Helsinki

Diaphanes is an interdisciplinary network aimed at connecting researchers from diverse disciplines with an interest in visuality.

The Blind Spot symposium, the first event organised by Diaphanes, serves as a forum for discussing and developing ideas of visual research. The visually inflected title refers to the fact that aims, notions, and questions shared in multidisciplinary research settings often mark decisive differences in approach as well. When addressed well, blind spots of these kinds can, however, function as generators of genuinely new insights with relevance across discipline boundaries.

DOWNLOAD PROGRAMME: BLIND SPOT