For those of you interested in smart textile and low cost wearables as an artistic context to engage young women in technology and engineering in education, feel free to check the International Journal of Art, Culture and Design Technologies (IJACDT), ISSUE ON CREATIVITY, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGIES CULTURES edited by Gianluca Mura (2011), p. 12-21. You can access the abstract here, or view a sample PDF here. The Guest Editorial Preface by Gianluca Mura, Politecnico di Milano University, Italy can be accessed here. You might as well like to refer the Journal (IJACDT) to a Librarian via this link.

“The International Journal of Art, Culture and Design Technologies (IJACDT) links art, design, science, and culture with emerging technologies. IJACDT provides a forum for exchanging ideas and findings from researchers across the design, arts, and technology disciplines. This journal covers theoretical and practice experiences among industrial design fields, architecture, art, computer science, psychology, cognitive sciences, humanities, cultural heritage, and related fields. IJACDT presents different arguments within project culture from the historical, critical, philosophical, rhetorical, creative, pedagogic, and professional points of view.”

Please find below the Call for Papers for the ‘Mobile learning: Crossing boundaries in convergent environments’ Conference, to take place over Monday to Tuesday, March 21st to 22nd, 2011 in Bremen, Germany:

The conference is hosted by the University of Bremen, run by the Department for Media Education and Design of Multimodal Learning Environments and by the Institute Technology and Education (ITB) in association with the London Mobile Learning Group (LMLG), Pontydysgu and MirandaNet.

The ‘Mobile learning: Crossing boundaries in convergent environments’ Conference builds on a series of mobile learning research symposia hosted by the WLE Centre for Excellence at the Institute of Education, University of London between 2007 and 2009. It will focus on the challenges of developing new pedagogic approaches and on the potential of mobile devices for learning in formal and informal contexts. As mobile learning is not only about learning with mobile technologies, but also considered to be “new” learning, the conference will look at challenges for research and practice in understanding the changing social and technological structures allowing the use of technology for learning that are present in our personal lives, in school and in work places. Thus mobile learning crosses the boundary of institutional learning and looks at practical fields like work-based learning and medicine, too. Also, the conference will look at the latest developments in hardware and software which can support personalised learning. By focusing on theory and practice, development and use, teaching and learning, formal and informal contexts, the conference intends to offer spaces for researchers, practitioners, developers, the industry and policy makers to exchange ideas, experiences and research around issues and approaches to mobile learning, including sociological and educational issues and their effectiveness and desirability as learning spaces as well as the design of environments.

The conference is preceded by the EduCamp, a BarCamp for people interested in media and learning, which will take place in Bremen from March 19-20, 2011. In collaboration with MirandaNet, the conference is running a MirandaMod on March 21-22, 2011 which addresses teachers and practitioners who are interested in teaching and learning with new technologies.

The call for papers and further information is available at the conference website: http://bremen.londonmobilelearning.net.

Important dates:
* October 31, 2010: submission opens
* November N.N., 2010: registration opens
* December 5, 2010: submission closes
* March 6, 2011: registration closes
* March 21-22, 2011: conference

We are looking forward to seeing you in Bremen.

The Organising Committee
Klaus Rummler (LMLG; University of Bremen, FB12, Department for Media Education and Design of Multimodal Learning Environments)
Judith Seipold (LMLG; Bremen)
Prof. Karsten Wolf (University of Bremen, FB12, Department for Media Education and Design of Multimodal Learning Environments)
Dr. Norbert Pachler (LMLG; Institute of Education, University of London)
Dr. Eileen Lübcke (University of Bremen, Institute Technology and Education (ITB))
Graham Attwell (LMLG; University of Bremen, Institute Technology and Education (ITB))

text via Klaus Rummler, photo via conference Web site

Presented by The European School of Visual Arts (EESI), the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne (KHM) and the Vilnius Academy of Arts (VDA)

Migrating:Art:Academies:

Conference – 15-16 October 2010, 13:00 – 18:00
Exhibition opening – 14 October 2010, 19:00
Exhibition – 14-16 October 2010
Opening times – daily between 10:00 – 19:00

Collegium Hungaricum, Dorotheenstrasse 12, Berlin

The two-year project Migrating Art Academies (MigAA) comes to a close with its Laboratory V Migrating:Art:Academies:. This exhibition and conference, organized in cooperation with Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, will map the territory around an ensemble of new and innovative forms of creative practice. During MigAA students from the European School of Visual Arts (EESI, FR), the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne (KHM, DE), and the Vilnius Academy of Arts (VDA, LT) traveled in Media RVs (recreational camping vehicles) throughout Europe, engaging the local cultural and environmental milieu, and creating art works “on the road.”

“The wealth of Migrating Art Academies was unanimously proclaimed by both the participants and by those who they encountered in the course of the project. This creative experiment was also an excellent educational laboratory and such laboratories undoubtedly play a critical role in a time of European-wide reforms in art education” â?? says Sabrina Grassi-Fossier, the MigAA coordinator and director of European School of Visual Arts, Angouleme/Poitiers.

The combined MigAA exhibition and conference does not claim to be a full picture but rather a presentation of life-sketches, fragmentary practices, and evolving processes. These active threads together chart a new territory for learning that turns away from most traditional academic strategies. This open event is meant to critically address this new approach and to open it up for public dialogue.

On Thursday, 14 October, Migrating:Art:Academies: will open with an exhibition of works by more than thirty students from the three European art academies at the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin. The selected projects, developed during the four consecutive MigAA laboratories in Berlin, Vilnius, Linz, and Royan, range from drawings and maps to installations and interactive works.

The laboratory will also present a 300+ page reader as a summary of the two years of distributed and mobile research. The book, divided into three essential parts – Migrating:, Art:, and Academies: – serves as a navigation supplement for the exhibition and the conference as well as the overall project.

The conference will take place on Friday and Saturday, 15 – 16 October and is divided into four panels: Migration, Education, Technology, and a final Round Table session with the participating students.

Friday, 15 October
13.00 : Migration panel
16.00 : Education panel

Saturday, 16 October
13.00 : Technology panel
16.00 : Final Round Table

About Migrating Art Academies

Migrating Art Academies is an ongoing joint educational project of three European higher education institutions: the European School of Visual Arts (EESI, FR), the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne (KHM, DE) and the Vilnius Academy of Arts (VDA, LT). Its primary purpose was to research and develop a progressive model of education that combines new and innovative forms of creative practice, collaboration, cooperation, and production. For the duration of the project, students had the possibility to work in an autonomous zone situated between virtual and real worlds, as well as between their normal home environment and new, unfamiliar places. The students investigated and engaged the local environment at the same time as developing creative projects in response to their experiences. The MigAA project is financed by the European Commission Culture Program 2007-2013. For more detailed information, please visit: http://www.migaa.eu/.

The conference language is English. Admission is free.

Migrating Art Academies team:
Mindaugas Gapsevicius (top e.V.), Sabrina Grassi-Fossier (Coordinator, EESI), Jonas Hansen (KHM), Žilvinas Lilas (KHM), Alvydas Lukys (VDA), Sylvie Marchand (EESI), Vaclovas Nevcesauskas (VDA), Martin Rumori (KHM).

Online, e-mail, or telephone pre-registration is available and highly recommended until 10 October.

Contact person:
Mindaugas Gapsevicius, Tel. 0179 5462260
press@migaa.eu

This year’s Leonardo@Ars Electronica 2010 symposium focuses on the dual issues of interdisciplinary research in art, design, science and technology as well as relevant models of PhD degree studies. It is organized as a public event for media and art educators, teachers and researchers to take place on September 6 at the University of Art and Industrial Design, Hauptplatz 8, 4020 Linz, A&B rooms (see here for venue). The symposium is coordinated by Nina Czegledy, Leonardo/ISAST and Dr. Daniela Reimann, KIT, in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Angelika Plank, University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz and in conjunction with Ars Electronica. Please find below the preliminary program:

10.00
Welcome. Prof. Dr. Angelika Plank, Head Departments of Art Education and interim of Media Design /Teacher Training Program, University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz

10.15
Greetings: Representative of the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture

10.30
Welcome: Nina Czegledy on behalf of Leonardo/ISAST

10.40
Introduction: Educational research and new models of knowledge transfer.
Nina Czegledy, KMDI University of Toronto, Concordia University Montreal

11.00 DI Christopher Lindinger, Ars Electronica Futurelab, Visiting Professor Media Design/Teacher Training Program, University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz Future Elevation

11.30 Dr. Daniela Reimann, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT, Institute of Vocational and General Education, KIT-focus “Humans and Technology”, researcher, and consultant of the Media Design/Teacher Training Program, University of Art and Industrial Design Linz:
Crossing the borders of arts, science and technology in education

12:00 Prof. Dr. Jillian Scott, Head Head, Karmen Franinovic, The Zürich Node of
Plymouth University in the Institute of Cultural Studies, Zürich University of the Arts
- www.z-node.net

12.30 Lunch Break

13.30 Dr. Lanfranco Aceti, Associate Professor, Contemporary Art & Digital Culture Sabanci University, Istanbul, Artistic Director and Lead Curator ISEA2011, Istanbul:
Transmediation of content and people across disciplines: The challenges of hybrid teaching and Hybrid Students.

14.00 Karen Lancel, artist and educator, HKU Utrecht, Academy Minerva, Groningen
currently developing a policy paper on practice based PhD studies. New parameters
for an online practice based phd.Case study: TELE TRUST

14.30 Michael John Gorman, Founding Director of Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin:
The Art-Science Interface and the public face of the research university: Lessons from the first two years of Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin”

15.00 Open discussion.

15.30 Closing Remarks

16.30 end of session

Symposium Abstract
An increasing need is manifested to develop new curricula informing innovative qualifications, new job profiles in the field of media design research and education, that is design inspired research, and design strategies including a research approach.
Working towards a sustainable convergence between educational research in design, science and technology remains a burning issue. The introduction of new forms of art practice and design at the intersection of media, arts, science and technology requires the introduction and application of distinguished qualification for educators. Yet in several European countries PhD degrees are not yet available in media arts and interdisciplinary studies.

What kind of new art genres are being developed by artists’ creative use of mixed media technologies, visual culture and communities and what is their impact on education? How is design research and education being embedded in the new modular curricula structures? What are the most effective elements of curricula to educate artists as well as art teachers for the future? Media design today is not only a means for research, but also an overall approach towards research shaping new possibilities opening up through design, design research (Laurel, 2004) as well as learning through (game) design (Kafai, 1994). The artistic aspects of interaction have been gradually explored and implemented within the framework of Interface Culture by Sommerer and Mignonneau (2008). An emerging tendency towards research orientation can be also observed as a broader trend in the field of arts and design. Interactive media art is blurring disciplines and has been reflected as a means to trigger and inspire creative processes in education (Reimann, 2006). The tool of design as social intervention is also becoming a hot topic for scholarly research as well as applied studies.

The changing media and art education institutions require an interactive debate on the conditions and evaluation criteria for developing new models for institutional networks and qualifications that allow implementing the media arts across curricula structures. Thus the symposium investigates through international presenters and open discussion the increasingly important issues of interdisciplinary research and higher teaching qualifications, including the initial art and design teacher training programs.

Aims and objectives:
To inspire an open discussion by educators and the public on burning issues towards developing an international dialogue.

For updates please access the Ars Electronica Web site here or the Web site of the Media Design Teacher Training @ the University of Art and Industrial Design for program details.

Please find the Web site of Ars 2010 here at:

Deschooling society introduced by Illich (1926-2002) who also taught at the University of Bremen, is a big issue in the current debate on reforming education and changing educational institutions (cp. Graham Attwell’s numerous posts on re-thinking schools and education on Pontydysgu.org). However, as we can see the concept of deschooling is not only discussed by pedagogues or in the framework of hacking and redesigning education, but has also become an issue in the arts, art education and curating:

“This two-day conference brings together international artists, curators, and writers to discuss and debate the changing relationship between art and education. Speakers have been invited to present critical ideas on collective and participatory practice, pedagogical experiments and how such art can be understood and discussed.

Deschooling Society takes its title from Ivan Illich’s seminal 1971 book, one of the most influential radical critiques of the education system in Western countries. Issues at the heart of that critique have been increasingly debated within the art world in recent years, and the subject of education has attracted renewed attention from artists, curators, academics, and collectives. Pedagogical models are currently being explored, re-imagined, and deployed by practitioners from around the world in highly diverse projects comprising laboratories, discursive platforms, temporary schools, participatory workshops, and libraries. Simultaneously, progressive globalization has led to a revaluing of the collective knowledge and agency of local communities.

The conference is a collaborative event marking the start of a Hayward Gallery research project culminating in the transformation of the gallery space into an alternative art school during Summer 2012. It also addresses the urgent issues that have arisen from the Centre for Possible Studies, part of an ongoing Serpentine Gallery project in the Edgware Road neighbourhood, and is the second part of the Serpentine’s collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art, New York, following the conference Transpedagogy: Contemporary Art and the Vehicles of Education at MoMA in May 2009.

Speakers include: Christopher Robbins (keynote), Martha Rosler (keynote), ARTSCHOOL/UK, Lars Bang Larsen, Dave Beech, Claire Bishop, Tania Bruguera, Marcelo Expósito, Harrell Fletcher, Jeanne Van Heeswijk, Pablo Helguera, Hannah Hurtzig, Suzanne Lacy, Pedro Lasch, Carmen Moersch, Nils Norman, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Paul O’Neill, Marion von Osten, Adrian Rifkin, Irit Rogoff, Ralph Rugoff, Terry Smith, Lisa Tickner, Gediminas Urbonas, Mick Wilson.

Panel session topics include:
- From Discursive Practices to the Pedagogical Turn
- Insertions, Alterations, and Rearrangements within Existing Institutional Frameworks
- Protest in Art School: Rituals of Power and Rebellion Since the Sixties
- Performative and Participatory Models for Exchange
- Presentations of artists projects and alternative art schools”

Click here for further information and check Hayward Gallery and Serpentine Gallery here.

text via e-flux, photo via www.southbankcentre.co.uk

However, in the context of arts&science and technology, I ran across the below conference entitled “ART AND TECHNOSCIENCE – Practices in transformation”. It is a conference organized by the Academy of Fine Arts in Finland, in collaboration with the Finnish Bioart Society and Pixelache festival, to take place over 24-25.3.2010 in Helsinki:

“The beginning of the 21st century is characterized by an overwhelming awareness of environmental issues. Facing the threat of global warming, the findings of scientific research have become a subject of intensive political debate. The ethical questions traditionally discussed in the green-wing marginals have become mainstream, as science has become a coffee-table topic.

The field of art that interacts with the practices of science and its technologies is commonly referred to as ART&SCIENCE. During the past decades, this hybrid field has become more or less established, with landmark works, major institutions and written histories. However, with the new wave of environmentalism, a further wave of artists working with methods and questions related to scientific research has also emerged.

The conference seeks to contextualize the practices of ART&SCIENCE both in the contemporary political atmosphere and the history of contemporary art.

The first day of the two-day conference focuses on the practices in transformation as a result of research-orientation and cross-disciplinarity, characteristic to the field of ART&SCIENCE.

The second day of the conference looks at the technologies of encounter between human and non-human worlds. The aim is to address the ethical discourse taking place in art practices which look at the interaction between humans and non-humans.

Speakers include Roy Ascott (artist, researcher, UK), Jill Scott (artist, researcher, AUS/CH), Andy Gracie (artist, UK/ESP), Ingeborg Reichle (art historian, DE), Adam Zaretsky (artist, US), Tuija Kokkonen (theatre director, FI), Terike Haapoja (artist, FI), Pau Alsina (researcher, ESP), Ulla Taipale (curator, FI/ESP), Anu Osva (artist, FI), Erich Berger (artist, coordinator ArsBioarctica, AUT/FI), Leena Valkeapää (artist, FI), Laura Beloff (artist, researcher, FI), Manu Tamminen (microbiologist, FI), Eija Juurola (forest researcher, FI), Raitis Smits (artist, curator, LV), Jan Kaila (artist, professor, FI), Antti Sajantila (professor, medical doctor, FI), Minna Långström (artist, FI), among others.”

Contact:
Erich Berger
Coordinator ArsBioarctica
eb@randomseed.org
+358-50-4338898

http://kilpiscope.net

Terike Haapoja
Artist, Phd researcher
mail@terikehaapoja.net
+358-50-4058341

http://kuva.fi

via sprectre

The EUROPEAN MEDIA ART FESTIVAL OSNABRUECK will take place over 21 – 25 April 2010 (the exhibition will be held over 21 April – 24 May 2010). Unfortunately there is an overlap with the ARTECH 2010 conference on digital arts to be held over 22-23 April in Guimarães, Portugal. However, here is the information about the festival 2010:

“The 23rd European Media Art Festival arouses great international interest. Once again, there is a great deal of international interest in this year’s Media Art Festival in Osnabrück. Over 2100 artists from every corner of the globe have sent in films, videos and installations. The entries were sent from countries such as Mexico, South Korea, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and France. Entries were received from a total of 60 different countries, whereby Germany, the USA and Great Britain are most strongly represented. However, there are also works from Afghanistan, Palestine and the Arab Emirates, as well as from Russia, the Czech Republic and Argentina.

This year, the European Media Art Festival (EMAF) is co-operating at the national level with Ruhr.2010, as part of the “National Heroes – German Cities of Culture” programme. This project was devised to integrate the cities that competed against one another nationally for the title of the European Capital of Culture. In other words, the former rivals have now become partners which, as a co-operation of cities, are engaging in the programme of the Capital of Culture RUHR.2010.

The festival also maintains good contacts to other European countries. For instance, an additional new award will be presented at this year’s EMAF: the “Live2011.com Grand Prix Event Award @ EMAF 2010″. This
award, which is worth 1500 euros, is part of the overall competition “Live2011.com Grand Prix”, announced by the European City of Culture 2011, Turku in Finland.

Another national co-operative project is currently in the decisive phase: MEDIA ART BASE. In collaboration with the documenta archive in Kassel and the Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe, an online database for archiving major international media art works will be completed by 2011. This project receives major funding from the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

In addition, the EMAF has gained membership to two European support networks, both of which are used by the EU to support the production of artistic projects via its cultural programme. On the initiative of the EMAF, a new multimedia artwork by the internationally renowned artist Candice Breitz is facilitated with the MOVING STORIES project.
Also, the EMAF heads the co-operation TRANSIT, in which art institutions from Germany, France, Belgium, England, the Netherlands, Poland and Lithuania collaborate. Within TRANSIT, young talented artists hope to create and present their new works by 2011, and to exhibit them in Osnabrück.”

Please join us at: facebook, twitter, flickr, vimeo.

Concept and directors board: Hermann Nöring, Alfred Rotert, Ralf Sausmikat

// SPONSORS
nordmedia – Die Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH
Stadt Osnabrueck
Auswaertiges Amt, Berlin
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Berlin
EU Funding EFRE
as well as donations from further sponsors.

Contact/Address/Postal:

European Media Art Festival
Lohstrasse 45 a,
D-49074 Osnabrueck

phone +49 (0) 5 41 – 2 16 58,
fax +49 (0) 5 41 – 2 83 27,
mail: info(at)emaf.de
www.emaf.de

via EMAF

I ran across this interdisciplinary symposium disseminated via Yasmin:

The Universe Resounds: Kandinsky, Synesthesia, and Art Symposium
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
2–7 pm

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Peter B. Lewis Theater
1071 Fifth Avenue
(entrance on 88th Street)
New York City

http://www.guggenheim.org/universe-resounds

In conjunction with the final days of the Kandinsky exhibition on view through January 13, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is pleased to announce The Universe Resounds: Kandinsky, Synesthesia, and Art, an
interdisciplinary examination of painting, synesthesia, and abstraction from modern to contemporary times, including from the perspectives of art history, neuroscience, music, film, physics, and performance. A reception and exhibition viewing follows the symposium.

Topics and Speakers

Kandinsky’s Synesthetic Vision: Color/Sound/Word/Image
Magdalena Dabrowski, Special Consultant, Department of
Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art, Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York

Notes on Kandinsky and Schönberg
James Leggio, Head of Publications, Brooklyn Museum, New York

Kandinsky’s Legacy in Film and Popular Culture
Kerry Brougher, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.

Nonobjective Films
Courtesy the Center for Visual Music, Los Angeles

Neuroscience and Music
David Soldier, Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Pharmacology, Columbia University Medical School, New York, with Brad Garton, Director of the Columbia Computer Music Studio, Columbia University,
New York

Hypermusic Prologue
Matthew Ritchie, artist, New York

Moderated Discussion
Caroline Jones, Professor of Art History and Director, History Theory Criticism Section, Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston

For complete information, schedule, and tickets check online or call
the Box Office at 212 423 3587, Mon–Fri, 1–5 pm.

Eyetracking Forum
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
9 am
Martin Segal Theatre
The City University of New York Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street)
New York City

Science & the Arts at the CUNY Graduate Center and the Sackler Center for Arts Education are pleased to announce an Eyetracking Forum. This session for art and science professionals examines the science of
eyetracking from multiple perspectives, including filmmaking, interface technology, psychology, and data visualization, and concludes with an exhibition walkthrough.

Moderators: Adrienne Klein and Grahame Weinbren

Space is limited, RSVP required: publicprograms@guggenheim.org

Participants

Kenneth J. Ciuffreda, O.D., Ph.D., is the former Chairman of the Department of Vision Sciences at SUNY State College of Optometry, New York, whose current research involves normal and abnormal oculomotor
systems.

Isaac Dimitrovsky is a programmer who lives and works in New York.

Rebecca Shulman Herz is Senior Education Manager of the Learning Through Art program at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and author of Looking at Art in the Classroom: Art Investigations from the
Guggenheim Museum (Teachers College Press, 2010).

Bruce Homer is Associate Professor for the Ph.D. Program in Educational Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Adrienne Klein is Co-Director of Science & the Arts at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Ken Perlin is Professor of Computer Science at New York University, directing the NYU Games for Learning Institute.

John F. Simon, Jr. is a practicing new media artist who works with LCD screens and computer programming.

Paula Stuttman is an artist, independent art lecturer, and part-time Assistant Professor at the New School, New York.

Grahame Weinbren is an interactive filmmaker whose work is represented in the permanent collection of the Guggenheim Museum; he is also a member of the graduate faculty of the School of Visual Arts, New York.

George A. Zikos, O.D., M.S., directs the Manhattan Vision Associates/Institute Vision Research, New York.

via Yasmin, image via http://www.guggenheim.org

I would like to introduce you to Sandrine Han who holds the International Art Education Association (InAEA) in SL, a non-profit organization located in the virtual world of Second Life (SL) and on the Web.
She just developed the InAEA’s constitution and statement documents. Sandrine is a doctoral candidate at Northern Illinois University. Her dissertation is about distance learning and visual culture in 3D visualized virtual worlds. Her SL name is Kristy Handrick in Second Life. We had the pleasure to meet her with the students in InAEA’s representation in Second Life.

The International Art Education Association (InAEA) is a non-profit organization located in the virtual world of Second Life and on the Web. The goal of InAEA is to build bridges among art educators around the world and promote the importance of art education. InAEA is a free membership organization. Everyone around the world who loves art, education, and art education is welcome to join. All members are encouraged to devote their knowledge to the association, attend the monthly meeting, and post related articles on the InAEA website.
InAEA has held monthly meetings since October 2007. The InAEA meeting time was change to every Month the First Tuesday, at 7AM SL time.

For more information, please visit the InAEA Web site at: http://www.inaea.org/ or access InAEA in SL, or join the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=166051974787#/group.php?gid=165766354265

Since I work at the intersection of arts, design, computer science and media technology, am following the increasing interest in trans-disciplinary approaches being embraced by the research community in the field of arts, science and technology. As I addressed in earlier posts, there is an increasing interest of introducing the art practice based PhD in the framework of new study programs at art academics at the international level. However, one example of current trans-disciplinary research conferences I came across is the symposium entitled Claiming Creativity: Art Education in Cultural Transition presented by the Columbia College Chicago in partnership with The European League of Institutes of the Arts.

Interestingly the symposium includes a program strand on Arts, Science and Technologywhich outlines the following questions:

“-What are disciplines?
- What is between the disciplines?
- What is beyond the disciplines?
- Is art a discipline?
- Can disciplines talk to each other?
- Is technology a medium?
- How active is technological interactivity?
- How creative is science?
- Will the hype for social networking tip over into a desire for much more intimacy and privacy?
- Who is still interested in the millions of pictures of ‘my’ dog with a bent ear?”

What do you think about the questions? Are those the ones of most importance when looking at future education and development?

In the Leonardo Education Forum community, there is big debate on the issue of Arts&Science, especially addressing the impact of nano technology on the arts as well as nano arts.
However, the symposium is outlined as follows:

“Claiming Creativity seeks to re-position creativity as a driver not only for our economies, but also for art making, for transformational processes, and for social and cultural development and change. The working assumption is that the vitality of our common future is linked tightly to creative practice in many forms. This symposium will place artists, designers, architects and other active “creators” and those who teach in the creative disciplines squarely at the center of these important conversations along with leaders in industry and commerce who share an interest in the life of the imagination and its value to society.

Educators and other leaders in the arts, business, science, commerce, industry, public policy as well as other areas relevant to the symposium topics are invited to submit proposals to present research, works in progress, case studies, or summaries of research already completed that have the potential to stimulate lively and productive debates among symposium participants. Proposed presentations must include room for participant interaction so that the symposium sessions will be as interactive as possible.

A special feature of Claiming Creativity is the symposium online forum, which will be available beginning January 18, 2010 and will lead into the Chicago event. Successful proposal abstracts will be posted to the online forum for discussion by other symposium participants. These online discussions will provide additional ideas for special sessions at the symposium in Chicago designed specifically around the web forum discourse. Additionally, a symposium “journal” will be published through Columbia College Chicago’s academic press.
the workshops attached to it address Networked Realities / Receive and Respond:
Art paradigms exist on a continuum from the individual voice creating objects for contemplation to the engagement of groups in the performance of shared, responsive environments. This workshop tackles the notion of art as conversation, and considers the implications of interactivity on contemporary art practice.”
Further it addresses the topic of Unlikely Cohorts:

“How does Art compute Science? How does Science grapple with Art? Scientists and artists mediate the world with similar methodologies. They pursue inquiries with no preconceived answers. Research and artistic production lead both to creative analysis. As technologies thrive, more information is available for interpretation and scrutiny creating new arenas for scientists and artists to work collaboratively. This workshop will look at these areas of intersection to consider ideas of research, creativity, and new untraditional partnerships.”

What are your experiences in cross-disciplinary working and learning and how do you cope with working in between disciplines and learning cultures with students and pupils in formal and informal education settings? Looking forward to your comments.

For details about the symposium and the submission requirements please visit http://claimingcreativity.com

I always liked the work of Allison Druin, from the Human Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland very much. She introduced the idea of kids being design partners in software development (kids as designers) and published on robots for kids and Emotional Robots to tell Stories together with James Hendler (2000). Her most recent book on “Mobile Technology for Children” was published in 2009 (Morgan Kaufmann). However, here is a link to a talk she gave at Iowa State University on October 9 2009 on “Mobile Technologies for the World’s Children”. Please find below the audio file of the lecture disseminated by Gerry McKiernan. The video of her talk given in the framework of the “Women in HCI Lecture Series” can be accessed at Vimeo

“Colleagues/

The Audio Is Now Available For This Most Informative Presentation I Had The Opportunity To Attend.

/Gerry

Women in HCI Lecture / Allison Druin / University of Maryland / October 9, 2009 / Noon / Howe Hall / Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium / Iowa State University

Abstract > For many children (ages 2-12) in the United States, mobile technologies are now an integral part of their everyday living and play experiences. They commonly use mobile phones, netbooks, pen-based
computing, GPSs, computer-enhanced toys and much more.
But this is not the case for all children. There are still young people who live in places where mobile technologies are just becoming affordable. Others live in areas where there is no cell phone service at
all. And still other children live in places where basic living necessities outweigh the need for electronic technologies. There are extreme differences in children’s opportunities and challenges for
learning with new technologies. Therefore, in my talk I will discuss how to approach designing for these diverse children. This talk is not about how to make mobile technologies. It is about how to make BETTER mobile technologies for the world’s children.
I will demonstrate some of our newest work at the Human-Computer Interaction Lab in mobile collaboration and intergenerational mobile storytelling. I will also suggest how these new mobile technologies call
for new approaches to design.
Speaker > Allison Druin is the Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) and an Associate Professor in the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies and Institute for Advanced
Computer Studies. Her work includes: developing digital libraries for children; designing technologies for families; and creating collaborative storytelling technologies for the classroom.

Druin’s most active research is the International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL) [http://mobile-libraries.blogspot.com/2009/08/international-childrens-digital-library.html ] now the largest digital library in the world for children which she and colleagues expanded to a non-profit foundation.
She is the author or editor of four books, and her most recent book was published Spring 2009: Mobile Technology for Children (Morgan Kaufmann, 2009). [http://mobile-libraries.blogspot.com/2009/07/mobile-technology-for-children.html ] She received her Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of New Mexico, her M.S. in 1987 from the MIT Media Lab, and a B.F.A. in 1985 from Rhode Island School of Design.

Sponsored By > Women in Human Computer Interaction Series, Women in STEM
Speaker Series, and Committee on Lectures (funded by GSB).

Link To Audio Available At

[ http://tinyurl.com/ykcvmbn ]”

via Gerry McKiernan/Aha

photo via theHCIL Web site

Networkingart is a blog on activism, hacktivism and networking by Tatiana Bazzichelli, a.k.a. T_Bazz I came across in the context of hacking as an artistic strategy to be applied in media art education:

“It is the result and the evolution of an investigation in the field of hacktivism, networking and digital culture started in 1996 by Tatiana Bazzichelli, a.k.a. T_Bazz. Connecting hacker culture, experimental art and activism, Networkingart focuses on the activity of communities or individuals who create, act and write, exploring the unpredictable, the disruptive practice, the cultural ‘Trojan Horses’ – or better, social hacks – as a strategy for art. At the same time, it wants to reflect on the intersection between art and digital economy, focusing on the unpredictable as a business model, and a way to appropriate and creatively transform media and technology.

The art of networking embraces diverse practices and diverse media and technologies. And, most of all, diverse people. This blog is dedicated to them: to all the artists, hackers, free thinkers and open minds who
the author has had occasion to meet in the course of her investigation and those who will come next. It relates directly to the book ‘Networking. The Net as Artwork’ (Tatiana Bazzichelli, 2006; Eng. 2009), which describes the evolution of the Italian hacktivism and underground culture from the 1980s till today and which was an opportunity to share ideas, projects and strategies with hackers and activists from Italy and
Europe (mostly Middle and Northern Europe).

Networkingart starts in San Francisco, during a Visiting Scholarship of four months at Stanford University, in the context of a research about social networking, web 2.0 and art developed at Aarhus University, in
Denmark. Land of pranksters, artists and free thinkers, California is also land of exploration of new social and technological frontiers. This blog will evolve creating further connections and networks, both in the physical
and in the ‘virtual’ world.

Enjoy it!”

via the AHA list by T_Bazz

Please find below the press information (in German) about the upcoming media art workshops offered for kids and young people by the foundation SK Stiftung Kultur der Sparkasse KölnBonn to take place in Cologne. The Web site can be accessed at: www.sk-kultur.de/medienkunst.
Further information about SK Stiftung Kultur in English is available online here as well as here.

1. Gang: Kopf einschalten… 2. Gang: do it yourself!

Neue Medienkunst-Workshops im Herbst zum Mitmachen für 10- bis 16-jährige

In dem Projekt „1. Gang: Kopf einschalten… 2. Gang: do it yourself!“ bietet die SK Stiftung Kultur in Kooperation mit der sk stiftung jugend und medien Mitmach-Workshops für Kinder und Jugendliche von 10 bis 16 Jahren an. Die Kurse finden am Wochenende oder ganztags in den Herbstferien im Mediapark und in der Moltkerei Werkstatt statt. Sie werden von jungen, renommierten Medienkünstlern geleitet.

Jugendliche zwischen 13 bis 16 Jahren spricht der Workshop Musikvideo revisited: Experimentelle Formen von Bewegtbild und Klang (25.-27.9.) an. Mit professionellem Equipment und angeleitet von den beiden mehrfach ausgezeichneten Medienkünstlern Daniel Burkhardt und Gerriet K. Sharma – unter anderem Preisträger der Deutschen Video-Kunst- und Klang-Kunst-Preise und des Chargesheimer Stipendiums der Stadt Köln – können sie selber ihre eigenen bewegten Bilder, Töne und Klänge aufzeichnen und am Computer neue Formen des Zusammenspiels für Auge und Ohr kreieren! An die gleiche Zielgruppe wendet sich Wer will ich sein, Wie will ich wirken? Selbstdarstellung und Inszenierung – und was dahinter steckt (2.-4.10.). Internetplattformen wie YouTube, Facebook oder SchülerVZ bieten heute unzählige Möglichkeiten, sich visuell in Szene zu setzen. Martin Brand, der selbst zum Thema Jugendkultur und Identitätssuche arbeitet, leitet zu kreativen Experimenten mit Foto- und Videokamera an. Es wird ausprobiert, welche Möglichkeiten es gibt, sich mit und in den Medien zu inszenieren und zu präsentieren.

In dem Workshop Kino selbst gedacht, Kino selbst gemacht (13.-16.10.) werden Kinder von 10 bis 13 Jahren zusammen mit vier NRW-Künstlern aus unterschiedlichen Sparten wie Klangkunst, Videokunst und Performance ihr eigenes Wunsch-Kino bauen und dabei alles neu erfinden und selbst gestalten. An die gleiche Altersgruppe richtet sich das Angebot Roboter bauen, Roboter sein (20.-23.10.): Was sind Roboter? Wie funktionieren sie und wie nehmen sie ihre Umwelt wahr? Die Kinder erlernen Grundlagen der Robotik, bauen und gestalten eigene Roboter und erfahren in Rollen- und Theaterspiel, wie diese sich im Raum bewegen und orientieren.
Die Ausschreibung als PDF befindet sich hier.

Die Kurse sind auf 10-14 Teilnehmer begrenzt – also schnell anmelden und einen Platz sichern! (In allen Workshops gibt es noch freie Plätze!) Die Teilnahmegebühr beträgt pro Workshop 10 Euro.
Infos und Anmeldung: Birgit Hauska, Tel: +49-(0)221 -226 2906, E-Mail: hauska [atnospam) sk-kultur dot de und auf unseren Webseiten: www.sk-kultur.de/medienkunst

Via Birgit Hauska,
Kulturelle Bildung / Vermittlung
Medienkunst und Film
SK Stiftung Kultur
der Sparkasse KölnBonn
Im Mediapark 7
50670 Köln

Does Twitter art [Twart] exist? – a question raised by Jools Matthews to stimulate debate in a Facebook forum on artists using social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace for art projects. Thinking about the use of Twitter as a medium for the arts I came across the project “Overhere“, an installation by Lauren McCarthy:

“In Overhere, the twitter feeds of the two characters are converted into whispered automated voices and play through speakers embedded in objects in the lobby. The feeds are experienced separately, intimately…requiring you to get close, to move, to listen, to work together to overhear the dialogue.

With the collective action of two or more participants, a full conversation is reformed in physical space based on the virtual communication of two fictional characters.

Overhere heightens the experience for those audience members coming to see the live performance but also stands alone as a voyeuristic experience. Overhere is free and open to the public:  June 5-28, Fri – Sun from 6pm – 8pm at the Gershwin Hotel, 7 East 27 Street between 5th and Madison Avenues.

The combined experience of these environments—the live bathroom performance, audio installation and website—mark a private world revealed in public space.“

About the artist the following can be read at www.lauren-mccarthy.com: “Lauren McCarthy is a designer, artist, and programmer currently living in Cambridge, MA. She recently graduated from MIT with degrees in visual arts and computer science. Her work explores the intersection of physical and virtual space, through participatory interventions that invite participants to question and engage with systems in both spaces simultaneously. She also works as a designer at Small Design Firm, creating interactive installations and media environments for various museums and institutions, including the Visitor’s Center at Monticello, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

via www.lauren-mccarthy.com

Overheredarkhorse.com and Overhere have been commissioned by a canary torsi:
http://overheredarkhorse.com/faq.html#overhere

Recent articles on Twitter in the arts can be accessed here at:
http://www.docpop.org/2008/10/23/robots-dont-know-anything-about-twitter.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/feb/23/art-twitter-twart

Here is the detailed information on Leonardo Education Forum , LEF @ARS Electronica 2009

Broad goals of the Leonardo Education Forum
The Leonardo Education Forum LEF is a working branch of the “Leonardo/ISAST – International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, San Francisco. Leonardo ISAST serves the international arts community by promoting and documenting work at the intersection of the arts, sciences, and technology, and by encouraging and stimulating interdisciplinary collaboration.
The Leonardo Education Forum LEF promotes the advancement of artistic research and academic scholarship serving practitioners, scholars, and students who are members of the Leonardo community; LEF provides a platform for collaboration and exchange with other scholarly communities.

Recent initiatives
Currently, a LEF group is working on an international initiative to interrogate the gap between arts, science and technology in education, with a focus on questions such as: “Media Art Education in the 21st Century – what can be done? What are the most inspired educational goals for the 21st century?”
Initial focal areas were identified as;

• The role of Curricula: Mapping the terrain
• The role of Institutions: Institutional / Organizational Capacities and Benchmarks
• The role of Research in media art & science & technology

A culture of research orientation can be seen as a wider trend in the media arts. What kind of new art genres are being developed by artists’ creative use of mixed media technologies, visual culture and communities and what is their impact on education?
New curricula have to be developed, which inform new job profiles of artist researchers and new qualifications. Innovative forms of art practice are being introduced at the intersection of media, arts, science and technology. What are the most effective elements of curricula to educate artists as well as art teachers for the future?
The changing media and art institutions require an interactive debate on new conditions and evaluation criteria for developing new models for institutional networks, which allow implementing the media arts across curricula structures. In January 2009 a short strategy summary, outlining focus issues and an action plan for a white paper on policy analysis and planning in media and new media education, was circulated. This was based on international meetings of experts and educators at Mutamorphosis, re:place, ISEA 2008 and ARS Electronica 2008. These meetings revealed that, although most of the sub questions in the identified focal areas overlap to one degree or another, there is also the need to add a discussion of,
• network-centric and intercultural learning methods and processes.

The LEF@ARS09 education session continues this process of international consultation and aims to further the development of a trans-national approach to research, looking at innovative models for educating media artists in the future.

Outcomes
This meeting will provide the opportunity to summarize the participants’ input on the focus issues (by means of working groups) and to identify a Steering Committee with leaders for each of the focal areas (which may be modified in the course of the discussions). After the meeting(s), the steering group will, among other things, lead the development, via email forum discussions, of longer papers containing strategic recommendations on policy analysis and planning in media art education in each of the focal areas. These recommendations are intended to outline a vision of education transformed by the context of new learning cultures, rather than one that relies on tweeking traditional models of pedagogy. This material will then be edited into one document intended for stakeholders in the field (practitioners, educators, researchers, theoreticians, historians, etc, as well as administrators and policymakers. The text will also be submitted to the Leonardo Journal of the International Society of Art, Sciences and Technology.

Hosts
Nicoletta Blacher (AT), Head of the Ars Electronica Center, Head Education Programme
Angelika Plank (AT), Head of Department of Art Education, Kunstuniversität Linz
Christa Sommerer (AT), professor, Department of Media, Interface Culture
Ars Electronica Futurelab

Organisers
Nina Czegledy (HU), LEF co-chair, board of Leonardo and Leonardo/Olats
scientific committee,
Daniela Reimann (D/AT), LEF representative Germany; Kunstuniversitaet Linz, Art Education
Lynn Hughes (CA), LEF representative, Concordia University Montreal

LEF @ ARS 2009 program

Friday, September 4, 2009, venue: ARS Electronica Center AEC, seminar room

9.00
Welcome by Leonardo Education Forum
Nina Czegledy, Ellen Levy, Andrea Polli, Daniela Reimann, Roger Malina, Victoria Vesna
on behalf of LEF

9.10
LEF initiative: state of the art & the White Paper
Lynn Hughes Nina Czegledy, Daniela Reimann
(presented by Lynn Hughes)

9.30
Keynote host: Nicoletta Blacher, Head of the Ars Electronica Center,
Head Education program

10.10
Patricia Olynyk, Director, Graduate School of Art Florence and Frank Bush Professor of Art; Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis/USA: Research/Creative work in Media Arts, Technology and Science in Academic Environments

11.00
Change of venue: University of Art and Industrial Design, Kollegiumsgasse 2, Audimax
see here on the map

11.30 Welcome by LEF: Nina Czegledy, Daniela Reimann Lynn Hughes

11. 40 Presentation of “Media Design” (“Mediengestaltung”) the new Teacher Training Programme for secondary schools of the University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz
Angelika Plank, Head of the Department of Art Education, Kunstuniversität Linz
University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz

12.30 lunch break

13-13.30
Presentation “Migrating Art Academies”, Mindaugas Gapsevicius, Vilnius Academy of Arts/ top e.V., Berlin

Discussion
14-15 Introduction to Working Groups – Daniela Reimann

Working Group Session (3 Rooms)
1. The Role of Research in media art & science & technology (Lynn Hughes, Dusan Barok)
2. Curricula: Mapping the terrain (Claudio Rivera-Seguel, Monica Bello)
3 . Institutions: Institutional / Organizational Capacities and Benchmarks (Maria Cristina V. Biazus, Annette Wolfsberger, Virtual Platform, NL)

15-15.15 Coffee break

15.15- 16 Working group session (3 rooms) continued.

16.15- 17 Working group summary session

19.30 Prix Ars, Brucknerhaus

Saturday, 5 September, 2009
venue: Kunstuniversität, Kollegiumsgasse 2, Audimax

10.00 Welcome by LEF: Nina Czegledy, Daniela Reimann Lynn Hughes

10.10 Christa Sommerer, Professor for Interface Culture, Department of Media,
Kunstuniversität Linz – university of art and industrial design,
The Cultural Interface

11.00 Coffee break

11. 10 Erika Pasztor, Head, Media Design Department, Budapest College of
Communication and Business: The future of media art and design is in the hands of education, but who will hold in hand the future of (this) education?

12.00 -12.30 Concluding session

Daniela Reimann, Nina Czegledy, Lynn Hughes

here is the detailed program as PDF file for distribution.

…and here is the Weather Pixie for Linz..

Dear colleagues,
As you are aware, we are working on an international initiative to interrogate the gap between arts, science and technology in education, with a focus on questions such as: “Media Art Education in the 21st
Century – what can be done? What are the most inspired educational goals for the 21st century?” The changing media and art institutions require an interactive debate on new conditions and evaluation criteria for developing new models for institutional networks, which allow implementing the media arts
across curricula structures.
In January 2009 a short strategy summary, outlining focus issues and an action plan for a white paper on policy analysis and planning in media and new media education, was circulated. This was based on international meetings of experts and educators at Mutamorphosis, re:place07, ISEA 2008 and ARS Electronica 2008.
The LEF@ISEA09 education session continues this process of international consultation and aims to further the development of a trans-national approach to research, looking at innovative models for educating media artists and art educators in the future.

This meeting will provide the opportunity to summarize the participants’ input on the focus issues (by means of working groups) and to identify a Steering Committee with leaders for each of the focal areas (which may be modified in the course of the discussions). After the meeting(s), the steering group will, among other things, lead the development, via email forum discussions, of longer papers containing strategic recommendations on policy analysis and planning in media art education in each of the focal areas. These recommendations are intended to outline a vision of education transformed by the context of new learning cultures, rather than one that relies on tweeking traditional models of pedagogy. This material
will then be edited into one document intended for stakeholders in the field (practitioners, educators, researchers, theoreticians, historians, etc, as well as administrators and policymakers. The text will also be submitted to the Leonardo Journal of the International Society of Art, Sciences and Technology.

Please find below the program of LEF@ISEA2009 Belfast, to take place at ISEA09, the 15th International Symposium on Electronic Art, on 29 August 2009 from 13.45- 16.45h, venue: BT Riverside Tower, Groundfloor

13.45 Welcome
Kerstin Mey Director of Research Institute of Art and Design,
University of Ulster. Artistic Director ISEA2009
Nina Czegledy LEF co-chair

13.55 Keynote Andrea Polli, Director, Interdisciplinary Film and
Digital Media Program, University of New Mexico,
LEF outgoing co-chair

14.15 LEF international initiatives & the White Paper
Nina Czegledy, Senior Fellow KMDI, University of Toronto
Adjunct Associate Professor, Concordia University, LEF co-chair

14.35 Introduction to LEF working group session
Daniela Reimann, University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz
LEF correspondent, Germany

14.45 Working groups
Focus:
1. The Role of Research in media art & science & technology
2. The role of Curricula: Mapping the terrain
3. The role of Institutions: Institutional / Organizational
Capacities and Benchmarks

16.15 Summary

We loook forward to seeing you. The next LEF event will take place at ARS Electronica Linz, 4-5 September at AEC and Kunstuniversitaet Linz.
LEF@ARS is hosted by AEC and the Department of Art Education at the Kunstuniversität Linz

Nina Czegledy and Daniela Reimann

…and here is the weather pixie for Belfast…

“Is this your luggage.com?” is a project by Luna Laboo. Since I am always worried about losing luggage on a flight (especially since we are not allowed to take a survival package in the hand luggage) I like the idea of this project, described on her Web site as follows, very much:

“I COLLECT LOST LUGGAGE, PHOTOGRAPH IT, AND THEN TRY TO FIND THE OWNERS.
IT’S A LITTLE ODD BUT NOT AS ODD AS STAMP COLLECTING, JUST A LITTLE HARDER TO FIND STORAGE SPACE.
WHEN A BAG GETS LOST THE AIRPORT OR AIRLINE WILL STORE IT FOR A WHILE AND TRY TO FIND THE OWNER.
IF THEY CAN’T IDENTIFY THE OWNER OF THE CASE THEY SEND IT TO BE AUCTIONED OFF WITH THE PROFIT GOING TO CHARITY.
I GO TO THESE AUCTIONS AND BUY THE CASES SO I CAN PHOTOGRAPH THEM FOR MY WEIRD VOYEURISTIC PASSION.
THE REASON FOR THE WEB SITE? I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO TRY TO FIND THE PEOPLE WHO OWN MY SUITCASES, SO IF YOU HAVE ANY FRIENDS WHO HAVE LOST A CASE PLEASE GET THEM TO HAVE A LOOK.”

Via www.isthisyourluggage.com

See also: Interview With Luna Laboo: Is This Your Luggage?

German speaking colleagues might know the BR online artmix.gallery series entitled “Hoerspiel und Medienkunst” I recommended earlier on the blog’s side bar (and kept it there as I am a collector). However, BR online now is on call for contributions for the “Techno Fossil” competition of the artmix.gallery:

“Media of communication usually disappear behind of what they’re trying to express: music, sounds, pictures.
Only when they refuse working, the machine itself attracts attention. Distorted pictures, noisy sounds, diffuse and disparate signals testify to the independent existence of the old apparatus. For this reason the new competition was created.

Dictaphone, cassette recorder, tape recorder, super 8 camera, rotary dial telephone, polaroid, shellacs, vinyls, commodore 64, cell phone: anything the analogue and digital range of technical devices offers.

By using allegedly “dead media” – reactivated, manipulated, maltreated – there are many possibilities to produce new radio dramas and videos, to create new stories and compositions.”

Please see here for terms of entry

Web site: http://www.br-online.de/hoerspiel

via BR Hoerspiel und Medienkunst-Newsletter

Please have a look at the below exhibition on Shared Robotics to take place from August 21th to November 29th 2009 in Odense, DK:

“RoboDays are proud to present the exhibition “Shared Robotics” at Kunsthallen Brandts in Odense from August 21th to November 29th 2009. In “Shared Robotics” two fields: robotics and contemporary art are fused.

Today robot utopias and dystopias have collapsed: Robots are neither slaves nor doomsday machines; on the contrary robots are an increasing part of our everyday lives. The exhibition “Shared Robotics” displays artworks that incorporate custom built robotics and converts industrial robots for new purposes. The exhibition seeks to show, how the actual coexistence between humans and robots can lead to creative developments.

The exhibition presents four very different art installations, each offering their take on, how the fusion of technology and art can create works that speak of our high-tech society and the technological and social implications it brings with it. For the exhibition a website has been developed: http://www.sharedrobotics.com, which takes you back in time and show, how robotics in a cultural perspective has been interpreted over time. The site is presented as a multi-touch wall in the exhibition and gives the audience a chance to explore and examine the various works.

Several of the participating artists are working directly from the idea that knowledge should be shared, not locked in copyrights and patents. It allows others to develop new projects based on the artist’s original ideas without restricting their use. At the same time the visitors get the opportunity to recreate and build on the art from the manuals that can be found at the exhibition.

Artists:
Sabrina Raaf, http://www.raaf.org resides in Chicago and has previously worked with robotics in her art. For this exhibition she cooperates with Danish industrial robot manufacturer Gibotech A/S, based in Odense to create an installation, where one of Gibotech’s robots is reprogrammed to cut corrugated plastic in large patterns. Over time, the patterns will transform into a sculptural installation spilling out on the floor or the exhibition space, evolving through the exhibition period. Sabrina Raaf is a DIVA residency artist supported by The Danish Art Council and is therefore staying in Odense, and working at Gibotech until the opening of the exhibition. Afterwards she will be present and work on the project during the exhibition opening hours. Visit http://www.robodays.dk to see when.

The Danish artist collective Illutron, http://www.illutron.dk, show their work “N7331227″ that brings an old industrial robot back to life. Using computer vision the robot has been equipped with the ability to see and have been programmed to read and reproduce the visitor’s drawings on a big wall consisting of 96 light bulbs.

The German artist Ralf Schreiber, http://www.ralfschreiber.com/ experiments with what he calls minimal robotics. Schreiber’s contribution to the exhibition is called “Living Particles # 58″ and consists of a room filled with rows of small robots hanging from the ceiling and creating an impression of life kept in a strict order.

Douglas Repetto, who resides in New York, is participating with the work “Foal”. “Foal” is a very simple mechanical robot, which in shape and movement resembles a newborn foal, staggering around trying to gain control over its legs. In the exhibition several small foals will stagger around on their uncertain legs. The artwork is an open prototype that can be built by anyone who wants to grabble with robotics and simple mechanics. In the exhibition you can also find instructions on, how to build your own foal.

About RoboDays
The exhibition is part of RoboDays Robot Festival from 10 to 12 September in Odense. RoboDays is an organization established in cooperation with RoboCluster at University of Southern Denmark and gathers knowledge about robotics in Denmark: http://www.robodays.dk/

Shared Robotics is supported by By- og Kulturforvaltningen in the Municipality of Odense, the Arts Council, the European Regional Development Fund and RoboCluster.”

Shared Robotics
August 21th – November 29th 2009

Kunsthallen Brandts
Brandts Torv 1
DK-5000 Odense C

http://www.brandts.dk

Photos and text via e-flux

I just came across some new e-books available for download @MIT Press and thought to share the sources with students and colleagues.  You might know the White Paper version , we used it during the last semesters. However, here is the e-book:

Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture, Media Education for the 21st Century by Henry Jenkins :

”Shifting the conversation about the “digital divide” from questions of technological access to questions about opportunities for being involved in participatory culture and acquiring the necessary skills.”

The  Future of Learning Institutions in the Digital Age by Cathy N. Davidson and David Theo Goldberg:

“Cathy Davidson and David Theo Goldberg focus on the potential for shared and interactive learning made possible by the Internet.”

Living and Learning with New Media - Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project, by Mizuko Ito, Heather A. Horst, Matteo Bittanti, danah boyd, Becky Herr-Stephenson, Patricia G. Lange, C. J. Pascoe and Laura Robinson:

“This report summarizes the results of an ambitious three-year ethnographic study, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, into how young people are living and learning with new media in varied settings—at home, in after school programs, and in online spaces. It offers a condensed version of a longer treatment provided in the book Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out (MIT Press, 2009). The authors present empirical data on new media in the lives of American youth in order to reflect upon the relationship between new media and learning. In one of the largest qualitative and ethnographic studies of American youth culture, the authors view the relationship of youth and new media not simply in terms of technology trends but situated within the broader structural conditions of childhood and the negotiations with adults that frame the experience of youth in the United States. The book that this report summarizes was written as a collaborative effort by members of the Digital Youth Project, a three-year research effort funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California.”