Category Archives: Theory

Doctoral Seminar //  15.10.2020

New Media / Doctoral Seminar (DOM-L0007)

Welcome to the second New Media Doctoral Seminar of the semester.

Presentations are open to everyone!

Join us in Zoom:

Thursday // 15.10.2020 // 16:30-19:30

https://aalto.zoom.us/j/68065435302

Mediated by Professor Lily Diaz-Kommonen we will have two fascinating presentations + Q&A discussion after the presentations.

Presentations by:

Andrew Gryf Paterson(Doctoral Candidate / Aalto University / Department of Media /  School of Arts, Design and Architecture)

Vytautas Michelkevičius(Curator, researcher and associate professor. Head of Photography and Media Art Department and Doctoral Programme in Fine Arts in Vilnius Academy of Arts)

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Andrew Gryf Paterson (Doctoral Candidate / Aalto University / Department of Media /  School of Arts, Design and Architecture)

Autoarchaeologies / of an artist-organiser

(doing fieldwork) in Finland and Latvia.

Abstract

As we live our lives in environments which are increasingly digitised—pervasively recorded in databases and archival systems, with each social exchange and encounter—the more concerns exist about personal data, metadata, and the digital shadow or footprint that we leave behind in our mobilities using mobile devices. How to make sense of and re-present activities and experiences— that have happened as open-ended events and processes in multiple contexts—over time? How do seemingly disparate activities or agencies relate to each other? How do past, present and future practices relate to each other in timelines? What do gaps reveal within our personal data archaeological record, and the stories we make? How does linear-temporal objectification of lived experience and work relate to non-linear foldings and relationships of what I—and we—organise, research, create, make and do?

This article-based doctoral dissertation develops a particular practice-based methodology, named here as autoarchaeologies, to reflect upon the author’s ‘artist-organiser’ practice over an extended durational period of 2002-2020, mostly in Finland and Latvia, with particular focus on the later decade. There are 5 roles of ‘Artist as’.. -organiser, -researcher, -archivist, -archaeologist and -activist which are presented as interweaving into a hybrid arts method. Each of these roles are elaborated with reference to practice-based inspiration or literature. The author presents themselves as a researcher with an autoethnographic ‘artistic fieldwork’ approach to reflecting and contextualising hybrid arts in the social process and environment of its development, which includes media arts festivals & network culture scenes in North-East Europe. However, innovatively, the methodological perspective is to combine perspectives and data-recording methods from traditional and contemporary archaeologies ‘of the recent contemporary past’, which address the data records we are leaving in databases as we live, work, and travel in the contemporary world.

Early inspiration in the research process extended earlier augmented reality research using stratigraphy as an authoring metaphor, which then morphed into explorations of metadata and context with the emerging mobile media interfaces and concepts, such as locative media, in the early-mid 2000s. Participatory arts, design and online platforms have influenced a non-mediated, post-media perspective, and led towards a mix of meta-data coding, printing and mapping large-scale diagrams of the author’s Curriculum vitae. Additional hand-drawn lines were added with the imagination of recovering a literally-personal touch to the mass of objectified and abstract data  (2011a).

Each of the 4 single-author case articles (2011b, 2013a, 2016, 2020) offer a different way to reflect and narrate the process that the author has been involved in over shorter or longer time periods. Each have their own loci, context, and stories, but are heterogeneous to each other, which—with the exception of author centred in narrative each in reflection—need their own meta-narrative. Hence, the ambition of the stratigraphs. However, as the thesis comes to it’s conclusion, there are still subjectivities and externalities that typically are left out from the narrative. It is this very personal data and perspective which the author tries to face up to at the end of the process as an outcome, to move onwards, still outgoing.

In the context of increased meta-data-augmented documentation of practices and everyday life, via ubiquitous mobile computing and online publishing platforms, there is arguably an increasing amount of personal (small or big) data to interpret and analysis. Critical activist-scholars are increasingly concerned with the age of surveillance capitalism, data-(self-)colonisation. As a contribution to this field, this thesis chimes with the multitudes of data available about our own and others past activities, and the need to develop interpretative tools independent of corporate online platforms. It argues alongside prominent contemporary archaeological theorists that we can all (potentially) be archaeologists and narrators of our own personal data. This author joins the argument that we urgently need ways to take back control of our personal data on our own terms, and find ways to de-colonise ourself from platform capitalism. It offers a slow research, long-overview and personal approach, via practice-based research, of self-determination in how we can tell about our past, but also the potential freedom to share our lives in present and future societies.

Articles included within thesis

#1  Paterson, A. G. (2011a). Stratigraphical recall: An auto-archaeological interpretation for artistic fieldwork, In Lily Diaz (ed.), Special issue of Journal of Visual Arts Practices, Vol. 10 # 1, ISSN 1470-2029. Bristol: Intellect Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1386/jvap.10.1.51_1

#2  Paterson, A. G. (2020). ‘Kitchen labs: Spilling one’s guts / Deep fry together’. Accepted September 2020 as full paper to ‘Art of Research’ Symposium, Helsinki, 3-4.12.2020.  https://artofresearch2020.aalto.fi/

#3  Paterson, A. G. (2016). Reflections on soil future(s), present(s) and past(s), In Rasa Smite, Armin Medosch, Kerstin Mey, Raitis Smits (eds.), Acoustic Space #15: Open fields, Peer-reviewed Journal for Transdisciplinary Research on Art, Science, Technology and Society, Riga-Liepaja: RIXC-MPLab, 2016. Accessible from: https://archive.org/details/agryfp-2015-soil-presents-pasts-futures

#4  Paterson, A. G. (2013a). Mountain crowberries: Foraging and measuring knowledge or experience, In Laura Beloff, Erich Berger & Terike Haapoja (eds.), Field_Notes: Field and Laboratory as Sites for Art&Science Practices , Helsinki: Finnish Bioart Society, 2013. Accessible from: http://bioartsociety.fi/book/Field_Notes-From_Landscape_To_Laboratory-2013.pdf

#5  Paterson, A. G. (2011b). From a pull-down screen, fold-up chairs, a laptop and a projector: The development of Clip Kino screenings, workshops and roles in Finland, In Geert Lovink & Rachel Somers Miles (eds.), Video Vortex Reader II: Moving images beyond YouTube, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2011. p.81-94. Accessible from: http://networkcultures.org/videovortex/vv-reader/

Additional Reference links

• Presentation in the ‘Creative Disruption in Archaeological Theory and Practice’ track within 2018 Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) international conference, 19-23.3.2018, at University of Tübingen, Germany. ‘Towards Autarchaeological Archiving’ [EN]: https://archive.org/details/agryfp-2018-towards-autoarchaeological-archiving

• Presentation at National Centre for Contemporary Arts (NCCA) Kaliningrad, Russia, with title ‘Artistic Fieldwork in Finland and Latvia’ [EN/RU]: https://archive.org/details/agryfp-2013-artistic-fieldwork-in-finland-latvia-ncca-kaliningrad

Bio

‘Artist-organiser’, cultural producer, educator and independent researcher. Specialises in developing and leading inter- and trans- disciplinary projects exploring connections between art, digital culture and science, cultural activism, ecological and sustainability movements, cultural heritage and collaborative networks. Originally from Scotland, Andrew has been most active in the past decades in Helsinki, Finland, aswell as Latvia and the Baltic Sea region, in particular. He works across the fields of media/ network/ environmental arts and activism, pursuing a participatory practice through workshops, performative events, & storytelling.

His main involvement of recent years has been with memembers of Pixelache Helsinki node of Pixelache Network. From early 2011 until end of 2014, he was coordinator and facilitator of the ‘Pixelversity’ around-the-year informal educational programme for Pixelache [http://pixelache.ac]. Within Pixelache context, he was most recently involved in the collaborative work-group project ‘Ferment Lab’ (2015-2018) and BioSignals (2018-2020). Over the longer period since 2003, his experience, reflections and findings have been written as articles in various international cultural publications, journals, presented in inter and trans-disciplinary festivals.

He is currently completing a long-term Doctor of Arts candidacy at Aalto University School of Art and Design, Media Department, with working thesis titled “Autoarchaeologies”. Paterson already holds a multi-disciplinary education, with a BA(Hons) Fine Arts degree from Glasgow School of Art (1997), and a MSc degree in Computer-Aided Graphical Technology Applications from University of Teesside (2001).

Download abstract, table of contents & bibliography 

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Vytautas Michelkevičius (Curator, researcher and associate professor. Head of Photography and Media Art Department and Doctoral Programme in Fine Arts in Vilnius Academy of Arts)

“Atlas of Diagrammatic Imagination” (2019): How Can Maps Transfer Knowledge in Artistic Research”

Abstract

How does a diagram differ from a text? What are the pros and cons of diagrams when compared to text? Can a map be a research component, an artwork, and a scientific means of communication, all at the same time? How do diagrams mediate between different cognitive systems? How can diagrams convey bodily experiences and gestures? How do they facilitate education? These are only few questions that delineate a general research territory where the book authors’ imaginations overlap.

Even though cartographic references play an important role, many of the maps presented and discussed in this atlas go beyond the geographical notion of map, and they often bear no reference to either a location or its representation. They may involve multilayered diagrams, trajectories of a freely moving body or a hand, visual signs of hesitancy, tools of material or visual thinking, charts of tacit knowledge, notations of sensual data, or the models of research hypotheses or findings.

This research is also a response to the times we live in. In the face of ever-increasing information flows and the challenges of big data processing and rendition, a linear text is not always the most suggestive form of communication. Meanwhile in maps, within a single plane, we can operate with multiple layers of knowledge, and use different means of expression in order to discover unexpected links.

And yet, in the context of our lifestyles as driven by ubiquitous touchscreens, this atlas might appear as a capricious act of dissent.  We call our readers and users to slow down, get comfortable, and immerse or even lose themselves in the essays, diagrams, and fold-out maps.

“Atlas of Diagrammatic Imagination: Maps in Research, Art and Education”, Lina Michelkevičė & Vytautas Michelkevičius (eds.), Vilnius Academy of Arts Press, 2019

Bio

Dr. Vytautas Michelkevičius (Vilnius, LT) is a curator, writer and researcher whose focus was gradually shifting from photography in expanded field to media art & theory and lately to artistic research in academia and beyond. He is teaching art practice & theory BA, MA and DA/PhD students in Vilnius Academy of Arts and served as artistic director of Nida Art Colony (2010-2019). Since 2019 he is the head of Photography and Media Art Department and Doctoral Programme in Fine Arts in the same academy. He has curated numerous symposiums and exhibitions, among them Lithuanian Pavilion in Venice Biennale. He has edited and authored more than 10 books on art, media and residencies.https://vilnius.academia.edu/VytautasMichelkevicius

Doctoral Seminar // 24.09.2020

New Media / Doctoral Seminar (DOM-L0006)

Welcome to the first New Media Doctoral Seminar of the semester!

Thursday // 24.09.2020

16:30-20:00

Join us in Zoom

https://aalto.zoom.us/j/61323477009

We start by having a catch up with the M’Labbers between 16:30-17:00

The presentations are OPEN TO EVERYONE and will start at 17:00

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Mediated by Professor Lily Diaz-Kommonen we will have two great presentations + Q&A discussion after the presentations!

Massimo Menichinelli (Doctoral Candidate / Aalto University / School of Arts, Design and Architecture)

Open and collaborative design processes. Meta-Design, ontologies and platforms within the Maker Movement

ABSTRACT

The emergence of the Maker Movement has taken place in the context of a design practice and research that is now open, peer-to-peer, diffuse, distributed, decentralized; activity-based; meta-designed; ontologically-defined; locally-bounded but globally-networked and community-centered. For many years the author participated and worked in the Maker Movement, with a special focus on its usage of digital platforms and digital fabrication tools for collaboratively designing and manufacturing digital and physical artifacts as Open Design projects. The author’s main focus in practice and research as a meta-designer was in understanding how can participants in distributed systems collaboratively work together through tools and platforms for the designing and managing of collaborative processes. The main research question of this dissertation is: How can we support and integrate the research and practice of meta-designers in analyzing, designing and sharing open and collaborative design and making processes within open, peer-to-peer and distributed systems?

The focus evolved and changed with three main phases: from facilitating collaborative design processes with 1) guidelines for a generic design approach, process and tools, to the use of 2) design tools and workshops that encode the methodology to developing 3) a digital ontology and the related digital platform. In the latter, the ontology for describing, documenting, sharing and designing collaborative design processes was developed as part of a broader conceptual framework, OpenMetaDesign, that builds the ontology on top of concepts describing design processes, and encodes it in a digital platform. The role of the ontology is to support the practice and research with a Research through Design approach that works not just on understanding the practice but also informing it, navigating it and continuously redesigning it. This dissertation is an exploration of the possible role, practice and profile of meta-designers that work in facilitating distributed, open and collaborative design and making processes in the Maker Movement. As a result, it provides insights on the practice and artifacts of the author and also a strategy and tools for applying the same exploration to other meta-designers. Following a Research through Design framework for bridging practice and research, the dissertation redefines Meta-Design in the Maker Movement as the design of digital ontologies of design processes as design material. Ultimately, the practice of designing a Metadata Ontology for Ontological Design through the design of bits (digital environments) and atoms (physical artifacts) with and for Open, Peer-to-Peer, Diffuse, Distributed and Decentralized Systems. Finally, it redefines meta-designers as designers, facilitators, participants, developers and researchers embedded in social networks that define their activities, profiles and boundaries for the ontologies they design.

 

BIO

Massimo Menichinelli is a designer and researcher who works on open, collaborative, and co-design projects and the systems that enable them since 2005. Massimo has published several books and scientific articles about Fab Labs, the Maker movement, Open Design and collaborative design processes; furthermore, he has given lectures and workshops in various countries including Italy, Spain, Finland, Germany, United Kingdom, Mexico, Colombia, South Korea and Singapore. He worked on the development of several Fab Labs including the Aalto Fab Lab (Helsinki), the MUSE Fab Lab (Trento) and Opendot (Milan), and has facilitated more while working as a Director at Make In Italy Italian Fablab & Makers CDB Foundation where he researched and facilitated Fab Labs and Makers in Italy. He lectured on Digital Fabrication and Open Design at Aalto University, SUPSI (Lugano) and at the Fab Academy edition at WeMake and Opendot (Milan). He also worked as a project manager for research projects at IAAC | Fab City Research Lab / Fab Lab Barcelona, especially in the MAKE-IT, SISCODE and DSISCALE Horizon 2020 European projects, as coordinator of the DDMP – Distributed Design Market Platform project of Creative Europe and as project manager of Fablabs.io, the official and open source platform for the global Fab Lab Network. He currently is Research Fellow at RMIT University – Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, in its European Hub in Barcelona, managing the Horizon 2020 MSCA-RISE project OpenInnoTrain.

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André Rocha(Adjunct Professor at the Higher School of Education from the Polytechnic of Lisbon)

ABSTRACT

GROUU is a Research through Design process aimed at understanding the role of Tacit Knowledge (TK) in an Open Source Agriculture ecosystem. To do so, different iterations of the same system – GROUU – will be introduced to different real agricultural contexts and communities.

‌GROUU is also an Open Source modular system formed by a set of sensors and actuators. GROUU automates some agricultural tasks, like fertilizing and watering, to optimize it by recognizing success patterns from Sensor and User-Generated Data. Optimization is directly related to the amount and diversity of data and users.

This Research project explores the hypothetical formation of Digitized TK through a diverse implementation of Open Source Agriculture, and by assuming that some of the sensor data recorded throughout the process is formed by practical actions of the Farmer over its surrounding environment (the farm) and therefore by TK.

The project is divided into three stages:

  • The first focuses on GROUU’s adoption by diverse Users and tries to understand it by testing different dissemination strategies.
  • Then, it will address the engagement of users in the design process. Open Source is fundamental, but what about the engagement of the actual Users: Apart from Makers and motivated designers, how can Farmers and Farming communities engage in developing Open Agriculture?

The last step is about the possible implications and applications of TK in Open Agriculture:

    • On a technical level, to digitize and integrate it into Open Source Agriculture.
    • On a design level, to generate new Open Data streams between different agricultural contexts and communities:

Can Agricultural TK become Open Agricultural Knowledge? So, therefore, a Common?

Bio

André Rocha is Adjunct Professor at the Higher School of Education from the Polytechnic of Lisbon.

André ran his own design office (EVOL/LEVO) between 2003 and 2017 when he decided to dive into full-time design education and research.As a senior designer, André has the privilege of working in a wide variety of contexts.This mixture turned him into a maker, enchanted by creative and productive processes.His research also tries to blend these, by continually looking at expanding design into/on fields such as informal education (fabschools.pt) or agriculture (grouu.cc).

The later – GROUU – being the project through which he pursues his PhD at Nova University of Lisbon / University of Porto Digital Media Program.He recently (2019) graduated from Fab Academy, an intensive 6-month digital manufacturing and rapid prototyping program led by Neil Gershenfeld at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA).

At the Higher School of Education from the Polytechnic of Lisbon, where he teaches Product and Interaction Design, he co-manages the local Fablab (Fablab Benfica), coordinates its participation in the Distributed Design Platform, and is in charge of Maker Faire Lisbon.

Lastly, as an Open Culture and Design activist, he co-founded DAR – a non-profit association – and is currently Open Design and Tech Lead at the Creative Commons Portuguese Chapter. At DAR, he was director, manager at the Fablab and ran a one hundred episodes interviews radio show/podcast about Open Culture. He is an active collaborator of the Creative Commons Global Network and an organizing committee member of the CC Global Summit since 2016.

Media Lab Doctoral Seminar; Environmental Media: a study on the mediation of technology in ecological artistic practices.

On the 25.04.19, at 16.30-19:30, led by Professor Lily Díaz in Learning Centre, JUHO the doctoral student Juan Duarte will present his on-going research titled:

Environmental Media: a study on the mediation of technology in ecological artistic practices

Abstract:

The research aims to work around technologies on location, that are used on open environmental data sensing for intermedia art context. The production of devices aims follow a usability process of Interaction Design focusing on principles of sustainability and maker culture. As an outcome of the research, I expect to collect field experiences active communities Accompanying study cases, the research wants to question the role of media technologies in the field of environmental arts to support the development of both art and science collaborations.

The existing scientific proof of planetary issues such as global warming still seems trivial to an important sector of the population. Thus a data platform for environmentalist art could support scientific research by bringing attention to environmental degradation. Artistic research could help reconcile society with a planetary vision through citizen initiatives that empower us with tools that help with making decisions, such as monitoring pollution levels or mapping relations between technological footprints, and planetary cycles.

Bio:

Mexican-born media artist Juan Duarte Regino works on interaction as a tool for generative art experiments. He is part of Pixelache – art and activist group based in Helsinki. Currently a doctoral student in New Media in Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, he reflects on the information society paradigm from the point of view of his background in media art, with a special focus on open source technologies developed in DIY communities and grassroots initiatives. Duarte’s work has been presented in IAMAS, Spiral Gallery, Ljudmila, Radio, and TV Museum of Lahti, Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Mänttä Art, Generate! Festival, CTM Festival, Lofoten Sound Art Symposium.

His background is in Audiovisual Communication (Bachelor of Arts), and New Media Arts (Master of Arts). His research is around technologies on location, to be used for open environmental data sensing in an intermedia context. The sensing devices developed follow an Interaction Design process focusing on principles of sustainability and maker culture. The outcome of the research (consisting of workshops, lectures exhibitions, and live media performances) expects to collect field experiences from a community of creators, specialized on potentialities of locative media, in order to serve environmental queries through artistic and scientific procedures.

Guest speaker: Martin Howse

Abstract:

Symbiotic ur-networks of silent fungal and root chatter and earth vibration, named chemical gradients tasted by rooty and human tongues fruit forest-wide in fairy rings, rising up in form and outgrowing Jodrell bank and Arecibo, outclassing them unknown in bringing down the stars to Earth.Martin Howse, 2017

Noting simple parallels between the scaled formations of radio telescope arrays, and the arrayed forms of certain mushroom bodies such as those of Amanita Muscaria, Martin Howse aims to further explore this spored coincidence of cosmos and micro-cosmos, initiating the first forest Radio Mycelium Array.

Conventional radio telescope arrays make use of a technique called interferometry to combine signals received on multiple smaller antennas, creating a larger, more precise view of the electromagnetic Universe. In the case of the RMA, the arrayed Amanita mushrooms act as receiving antennas for deep space signals, to be combined in underground mycelial electrochemical signals. Star dust and mushroom spore combine imaginatively, with both technologies provoking potentially meaningful earth and cosmic signals.

Radio Mycelium Array (RMA) is exhibited both as a speculative prototype (mushroom bodies connected to a digital interferometer device and display), and as documentation of “working” forest studies with similar equipment. Audio recordings of received signals are also available (inscribed on vinyl in sleeves printed with copper spore patterns from the Amanita mushrooms, the antennae).

Bio

Martin Howse’s work spans the fields of computing programming, writing, education and performance. A true explorer of urban scapes, his ideas consider our intimate and embodied relationship with our environment. His work has been received several awards (including first prize at Art & Artificial Life competition VIDA 8.0, 2005) and he has curated and participated in several seminars and performances (ICA, London, Transmediale, Berlin, Tuned City, Berlin & Brussels). In 2006 Martin co-founded xxxxx, organising one large-scale conference and concert series in London (xxxxx) and publishing the acclaimed xxxxx [reader]. From 2007 to 2009 he has hosted a regular workshop, micro-residency and salon series in Berlin, most recently under the banner of _____-micro-research. More recently micro-research has been established as a mobile platform for psychogeophysical research with ongoing projects in London, Peenemuende, Lyme Regis and Berlin. For the last ten years he has collaborated on numerous open-laboratory style projects and performed, published, lectured and exhibited worldwide.

http://1010.co.uk/org

Thermocultures of Memory by D.A Samir Bhowmik 

W E L C O M E  E V E R Y O N E
T O  T H E  L E C T U R E   

Thermocultures of Memory by D.A Samir Bhowmik 

12.04.2019 16.00-17.30 at Aalto Learning Center // Seminar room JUHO (1st floor room 126) 

Memory institutions depend on heating-cooling infrastructures for the long-term preservation and mediation of cultural heritage. The energy-intensive thermal regulation of object and data storage environments is guided by the need to ward off decay and to safeguard computer hardware and operations. Despite the tremendous dependence of memory institutions on thermal regulation, temperature has been regarded as merely metaphorical in media studies (Sterne & Mulvin, 2014; Starosielski, 2014). Digital studies in cultural heritage (Cameron and Kenderdine, 2007) have also bypassed the topic of temperature and humidity as it affects the representation of cultural memory. In fact, there hardly exists any literature on the evolution of thermal cultures of memory institutions even though they might be considered as thermally-dependent media institutions.

This talk explores how thermal infrastructures are entangled with the preservation of cultural heritage in order to show how the latter is linked to the expanding use of energy and the embodied energy of natural resources. Understanding the energetic and material impacts of thermal infrastructures and practices in museums and archives demands us to ask ourselves: What are the origins of temperature control and humidity in memory institutions? How did the superimposition of the thermal cultures of the factory affect the practices of the museum? In addressing these questions, my goal is not only to direct attention to the materialities of thermal practices but also to provoke an ecological approach for the future of the memory institution. Could a re-evaluation of thermal infrastructures and practices shape an ecological institution?

Bio

Samir Bhowmik’s multi-disciplinary art practice deals with contemporary issues in Media, Memory and the Environment. His research at Aalto Media Lab and the Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin examines the architectural, infrastructural and energetic entanglements of Cultural Memory. Samir graduated as a Doctor of Arts in New Media from Aalto University, Finland, and holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Maryland, United States. Samir’s current artistic research project “IMAGINARY NATURES: Extractive Media & the Cultural Memory of Environmental Change” is funded by the Kone Foundation (2019-22). His latest infrastructural performance art project ‘Memory Machines’ opened at the Helsinki Central Library in January 2019, as part of the Library’s Other Intelligences project organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute of New York.

 

 

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

 

ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH)

Special Issue on Evaluation of Digital Cultural Resources

Guest Editors
Maria Economou, University of Glasgow, UK
Ian Ruthven, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Areti Galani, University of Newcastle, UK
Milena Dobreva, UCL Qatar
Marco de Niet, University of Leiden Library, The Netherlands

Scope and Context

Digital technologies are affecting all aspects of our lives, reshaping the way we communicate, learn, and approach the world around us. In the case of cultural institutions, digital applications are used in all key areas of operation, from documenting, interpreting and exhibiting the collections to communicating with diverse audience groups. The communication of collections information in digital form, whether an online catalogue, mobile application, museum interactive or social media exchange, increasingly affects our cultural encounters and shapes our perception of cultural organizations. Although cultural and higher education institutions around the world are heavily investing on digitization and working to make their collections available online, we still know very little about who uses digital collections, how they interact with the associated data, and what the impacts of these digital resources are.

The issue seeks to address this gap by bringing together interested parties from a range of disciplines (e.g. digital heritage, museology, information studies, digital humanities), practices and sectors to discuss the latest developments on evaluating the use of cultural digital resources.

Topics and Themes

The issue will appeal to academics and practitioners working in a range of disciplines: cultural heritage workers, arts professionals and scholars interested in issues relating to digital resources and their impact upon curation, education, engagement and outreach. We invite submissions of both theoretical and practical approaches, efforts and trends in this emergent field presenting innovative research. Topics and issues to be addressed include but are not limited to:

  • Who uses digital cultural resources, where, and how these resources changed the consolidated working practice
  • Addressing diverse users’ needs and expectations (i.e. from schoolchildren and families to students and researchers)
  • Assessing impact, use and value of digital cultural resources (methodologies, approaches and issues)
  • Ways of recording and assessing impact and value
  • Models of access to digital collections
  • Evaluating participatory models of work in digital cultural heritage (crowdsourcing, citizen science, co-creation, co-curation)
  • Moving from impact to value when assessing digital resources
  • Use of evaluation data in the curation of digital collections
  • Integrating evaluation when working with communities in digital cultural heritage
  • Adapting old and testing new innovative methods when evaluating quality, use and effectiveness of digital cultural resources
  • User studies
  • Metrics, webmetrics, infometrics and usage statistics
  • Evaluating emotional impact in digital heritage
  • Research on impact of social media on the usage of digital cultural resources

Organizers

The idea for this special issue arose from the activities of the Scottish Network on Digital Cultural Resources Evaluation (ScotDigiCH) (scotdigich.wordpress.com/), funded by The Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2015-2016, and particularly from the discussions and papers presented at the International Symposium on Evaluating Digital Cultural Resources (EDCR2016) which took place in Glasgow in December 2016 (scotdigich.wordpress.com/events/symposium/). ScotDigiCH is coordinated by Information Studies at the University of Glasgow in collaboration with The Hunterian at the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Life Museums, the Moving Image Archive of the National Library of Scotland and the Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Strathclyde.

This focused issue arises from the work of ScotDigiCH but invites submissions from all researchers and cultural heritage practitioners working in this area.

Paper Submission

Papers submitted to this special issue for possible publication must be original and must not be under consideration for publication in any other journal or conference. Previously published or accepted conference papers must contain at least 30% new material to be considered for the special issue.

Accepted papers will be published in the ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage. Papers will be reviewed following the journal’s standard review process. Please follow the format instructions for the journal (jocch.acm.org/authors.cfm). All manuscripts must be prepared according to the journal publication guidelines which can also be found on the website provided above.

All papers are to be submitted at mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jocch. Upon submission, under “Article Type”, please select “Evaluation of Digital Cultural Resources” or your manuscript will not be reviewed correctly for the special issue.

Please address inquiries to Maria.Economou@glasgow.ac.uk.

Important Dates

  • Paper submission deadline: November 30, 2017
  • First Author Notification: January 30, 2018
  • Revised papers expected: March 30, 2018
  • Final acceptance notification: May, 2018
  • Publication: Issue 4, 2018

 

Niklas Kullström

CfP: Helsinki Photomedia Conference 2018

Call for Papers

Helsinki Photomedia 2018

March 26 -28, 2018
Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland

helsinkiphotomedia.aalto.fi

Deadline for 500 word abstracts: October 31, 2017

Theme: Reconsidering the “Post-truth Condition”: Epistemologies of the photographic image.

Contemporary photography takes place in a world where the relation between facts and values is a social and political issue which has repercussions in art and education as well. The public discussions on information warfare, fake news and manipulated media contents have shaken the epistemology of news media and generally revitalized the questions of trustfulness of media representations. Problematic statements about the ‘post-truth condition’ symptomatically reflect this situation and pose new challenges to our understanding of the epistemology of the photographic image.

It is vital to reconsider the ‘post-truth condition’ as a discursive and imaginary formation. This implies that its claims cannot be taken at face value. At the same time, however, as a socially seducing phenomenon, it arranges new settings for old questions of photographic knowledge, authenticity, veracity and truthfulness. It postulates a political and social terrain where photographic images circulate and participate in the formation of socially efficient visual knowledge.

Hence, the controversial notion of post-truth actualizes questions of the quality of photographic information, knowledge and data. Rich in detail, photographs are able to communicate in a constative, laconic manner. Photographs are “dense data” and their mute appearances are malleable material for various information structures.

Helsinki Photomedia 2018 invites critical examinations, artistic reflections and presentations of educational projects of photography after the ‘post-truth condition’, especially work which addresses the variety of ends that photographic truth, authenticity, indexicality, manipulation and suspicion have to stand for. Photomedia 2018 will take up the multifaceted question concerning the photographic epistemology by focusing on topics including (but not limited to):

  • Evidence and testimony
  • Photography and knowledge
  • Technical aspects of photographic data
  • Visual information and counter-information
  • Strategies of authentication
  • Photography and education

 

———

Keynote speakers 2018:

Professor Robert Hariman (Northwestern University)

Professor John Lucaites (Indiana University)

Professor Barbie Zelizer (University of Pennsylvania)

Artist Keynote Professor Walid Raad (The Cooper Union, NYC)

Hariman and Lucaites are authors of The Public Image, Photography and Civic Spectatorship (2016) and No Caption Needed: Iconic Photographs, Public Culture, and Liberal Democracy (2007).

Zelizer’s work on photography includes the books About to Die: How News Images Move the Public (2010) and Remembering to Forget: Holocaust Memory through the Camera’s Eye (2000).

Artist keynote speaker Walid Raad is a contemporary media artist who’s works include The Atlas Group project about the contemporary history of Lebanon.

———
Helsinki Photomedia is a biennial photography research conference organized by four Finnish universities since 2012. The conference offers various platforms where artistic, philosophical, social, cultural, economical and technological approaches to photography meet. We welcome submissions from all areas of photography research. Since 2016 photography education has been one of the areas and we welcome submissions for the educational panel for presenting educational projects and related research. The conference language is English.

Important dates:

31 October 2017 – Deadline for submissions (500 word abstracts) by 23.59 Finnish time (UCT +2:00)

1 December 2017 – Notifications of Acceptance

1 March 2018 – Deadline for Registration

26–28 March 2018 – Conference in Helsinki

———

helsinkiphotomedia.aalto.fi

Call for Submissions: JAR Issue 16 – Spring 2018

Call for Submissions: JAR Issue 16 – Spring 2018

Journal for Artistic Research (JAR)

The deadline for consideration is 15 September 2017

JAR publishes artistic research from all arts disciplines, with or without academic affiliation, and includes the work of artistic research practitioners and theorists. Rethinking the traditional journal format, JAR offers its contributors a free-to-use online space called the Research Catalogue (RC) where text can be woven together with image, audio and video material. The Journal is specifically interested in contributions that reflect upon and expose artistic practice as research, and welcomes submissions from artists interested in exchanging ideas and opening up the processes and methodologies that underlie their practice. Please view our archive to get a sense of what we publish.

To be considered for Peer Review, the editorial board considers:

1. Whether the exposition exposes artistic practice as research. This engages with questions and claims about knowledge within practice. For a detailed articulation of this please read the editorial to JAR0

http://www.jar-online.net/issue-0

2. The degree to which the exposition is conceptually and artistically strong, considered, and significant to the field.

3. Whether the multimedia and design capacities of the RC have been used effectively and meaningfully to support the argument or understanding of the research.

To submit an article, contributors are required to register for an account on the RC and use the online space to layout and expose their research. JAR provides editorial and technical guidance with these processes.

For our guidelines on submissions visit:

www.jar-online.net/submissions/

For submissions information, and advice on whether your research is suitable for JAR, contact the Managing Editor, at submissions@jar-online.net

JAR works with an international editorial board and a large panel of peer-reviewers.

Editor in Chief: Michael Schwab

Peer Review Editor: Julian Klein

Editorial Board: Alex Arteaga, Annette Arlander, Sher Doruff, Barnaby Drabble, Mika Elo, Leonella Grasso Caprioli, Yara Guasque, Julian Klein and Mareli Stolp.

JAR is published by the Society for Artistic Research (SAR)

http://www.societyforartisticresearch.org/society-for-artistic-research

an independent, non-profit association. You can support JAR by becoming an individual or institutional member of SAR. More information can be found here

http://www.societyforartisticresearch.org/membership/membership-schemes
Contact: jar@jar-online.net