Chris Joseph

for remixworx, from running on empty

flash source/font: ROE_leaffallmix.zip [44KB]

Ranulph Glanville

No Longer a Shrinking Violet?

2 December 2008 - 6:30 for 7:00
Institute of Archeology - Room 410
University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY
Nearest tubes: Euston Square, Warren Street & Russell Square
Map: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/intro/UCLmap.htm

The significance of cybernetics in the development of computer arts is apparent in the title of Jasia Reichart’s Cybernetic Serendipity Exhibition, now celebrating its 40th anniversary (which is also the 50th of the Philips Pavilion and the 60th of Wiener’s eponymous book). It featured, prominently, the work of several cyberneticians whose art is currently being very positively re-evaluated (see for instance www.paskpresent.com, and exhibition of work coming out of Gordon Pask’s work and ideas).

Yet 1968 is also often seen as the beginning of the very rapid decline of cybernetics to the point that, by the early 1970s, some were referring to it as dead.

However, 1968 also sees the beginning of a transformation of cybernetics that occurred through the application of cybernetic understandings to the field itself. For convenience, we can take this as initiated by Margaret Mead’s paper “Cybernetics of Cybernetics”. For some reason, this transformation has not received the recognition of the earlier version of cybernetics, or of other, contemporaneous developments. But it is alive, and well, if something of a shrinking violet!

In this talk, I will discuss the development of this so called second order cybernetics, and will present some of the central understandings and concepts. Many of them seem to me to be much more sympathetic to artists and the arts than those of 1968, and to bring an all together much more sophisticated world view, one that is much less mechanistic than the original.

Read more

InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre in Toronto accepts submissions of original projects from emerging, mid-career and established artists, curators and collectives on an annual basis. Our mission is to expand the cultural space of technology, and we achieve this through diverse activities in our gallery and production facilities. We are seeking proposals for our 1,000 sq. ft. gallery space at Queen and Ossington in the heart of Toronto’s Queen West Gallery district. We support electronic, interactive and new media works which explore this territory in unique critical ways, including connections and cross-over with sculpture, installation, video, site-specific work and performance art.

This year, InterAccess is prioritizing projects which can facilitate ties with the production studio, and artists who can lead workshops in conjunction with their exhibitions. We are selecting works for our 2010 and 2011 programming years. We also encourage artists working with ideas of scale (size, music, the law, lizards?) to submit work for 2010.

Application Deadline: 1 December, 5:00 p.m.

For more information, type the words help and me and put a period in-between them, then the interaccess dot org part.

http://www.interaccess.org/about/calls.php

Have you read The Golden Notebook? Did you try it but never quite make it through to the end? Did you love it way back when and wonder what you’d make of it now? Did you hear some of it serialised on Radio 4 recently and think, “I must read that.” Well, now you can read it along with the comments of an international team of readers and an online community around them.

if:book London and Apt, the new media design and marketing consultancy, have collaborated on a groundbreaking project devised and curated by Bob Stein of the Institute for the Future of the Book and supported by Arts Council England.

Bob Stein writes:

“On November 10th, The Institute for the Future of the Book kicks off an experiment in close reading. Seven women will read Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook and carry on a conversation in the margins.

“The idea for the project arose out of my experience re-reading the novel in the summer of 2007 just before Lessing won the Nobel Prize for literature. The Golden Notebook was one of the two or three most influential books of my youth and I decided I wanted to “try it on” again after so many years. It turned out to be one of the most interesting reading experiences of my life. With an interval of thirty-seven years the lens of perception was so different; things that stood out the first-time around were now of lesser importance, and entire themes I missed the first time came front and center.

“When I told my younger colleagues what I was reading, I was surprised that not one of them had read it, not even the ones with degrees in English literature. It occurred to me that it would be very interesting to eavesdrop on a conversation between two readers, one under thirty, one over fifty or sixty, in which they react to the book and to each other’s reactions.

“And then of course I realized that we now actually have the technology to do just that. Thanks to the efforts of Chris Meade, my colleague and director of if:book London, Arts Council England enthusiastically and generously agreed to fund the project. Chris was also the link to Doris Lessing who through her publisher HarperCollins signed on with the rights to putting the entire text of the novel online.

“Fundamentally this is an experiment in how the web might be used as a space for collaborative close-reading. We don’t yet understand how to model a complex conversation in the web’s two-dimensional environment and we’re hoping this experiment will help us learn what’s necessary to make this sort of collaboration work as well as possible. In addition to making comments in the margin, we expect that the readers will also record their reactions to the process in a group blog. In the public forum, everyone who is reading along and following the conversation can post their comments on the book and the process itself.

“I’m writing you now with the hope that you will help spread the word to everyone who might be interested in following along and participating in the forum discussions.

Thank you

Bob Stein

“p.s. One last note. This is not essentially an experiment in online reading itself. Although the online version of the text is quite readable, for now, we believe books made of paper still have a substantial advantage over the screen for sustained reading of a linear narrative. So you may also want to suggest to your readers that they order copies of the book now. Whichever edition of the book someone reads (US, UK or online), there is a navigation bar at the top of the online page will help locate them within the conversation.”

Read about the readers and contribute your thoughts at:

http://www.thegoldennotebook.org

Call for Submissions 2009 Subtle Technologies Festival
Deadline January 5th 2009

The 2009 Subtle Technologies Festival in Toronto is currently seeking submissions for it’s festival under the theme of “networks” . The festival takes place in Toronto from June 11 to June 14th . As in previous years, the 2009 festival will explore it’s theme from a broad cultural and interdisciplinary perspective.

We live in an increasingly connected age, where flow of capital, material goods, people and information occur on a global scale in ever-shortening timescales. This increased flow is accompanied by pollution,contamination, infectious diseases and the rapid dissemination of ideas and economies. Metaphors of connectivity in information technology have matured and found resonance in art, science, and society at large. The availability of massive amounts of data supported by increased computing power and the rapidity of its propagation, has made the idea of interconnectedness more visible to us all. Science has made great strides in helping us to understand the connected age. The so called “small world problem” has revealed the ways networks of people form and become interconnected. Studies of oscillators, insects, heart cells, epilepsy, and crowds has shown us the natural affinity for various networks and systems to synchronize and self organize.The creation of new computer architectures based on biological networks has brought artificial intelligence ever closer to natural intelligence.

With the proliferation of online social networks, Web 2.0 applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Second Life have blurred the boundaries between public and private, virtual and real. Web 3.0 and the “internet of things”, where common household objects will become interconnected, will be one of the next major advances in digital networking. Increased bandwidth has made it possible for media artists to collaborate in online real time networked performances. “Network lag” is slowly disappearing from our vocabulary as our accessibility to bandwidth improves. It is time to critically discuss the network metaphor and how it affects the direction of various disciplines and our societies at large. Under this theme, we will be curating a symposium, exhibition, workshops and performances. Some specific topics which we will address at this years festival include:

* net art
* networked performance
* biological networks
* wireless networks
* social networking
* communication, transportation and economic networks
* virtual worlds
* systems theory
* community networks
* network theory
* collaborative and open source initiatives
* online culture
* “small world problem” and mathematical models
* genetic networks

To make a submission for exhibitions, symposium presentations, workshops, performances and poster presentations please go to http://www.subtletechnologies.com

www.radiator-festival.org

RADIATOR - CALL FOR ARTISTS

Festival | Symposium
Nottingham 13 -18 Jan 2009

EXPLOITS IN THE WIRELESS CITY

OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS - Deadline 25th Nov 2008

Since the abundant proliferation of digital communication technology, our (living) space has been expanded, transformed, reshaped. In our everyday lives we increasingly connect to mediated interfaces, be it consciously or without knowing.

Digital media is increasingly integrated seamlessly into all areas of everyday life and work. The so-called ‘virtual worlds’ created in this way are merging ever more dynamically with our physical environment generating new hybrid spaces, becoming a fixed part of our reality themselves.

Our cities are increasingly pervaded by data networks, watched over by cameras, skinned by media facades, populated by users of mobile communication devices carried around with every step. ‘City’ itself has become a media space, a complex fabric, in which an immaterial layer of data is augmenting the urban landscape, both merging ever more seamlessly.

Radiator continues its investigation into the way that artists engage with locality and site, real and virtual urban space. The ‘Wireless City’ brings deep cultural changes and our traditional spatial coordinates are gradually being superseded by an enhanced network.

Sharing their inferences and conclusions, artists are invited to reflect upon the challenges facing our freedom, the poetry of resistance and also the opportunities the ‘Expanded City’ has to offer.

Read more

On-line journal Hz (www.hz-journal.org) is looking for articles on New Media, Net Art, Sound Art and Electro-Acoustic Music. We accept earlier published and unpublished articles in English. Please send your submissions to hz-journal [at] telia.com

Hz is also looking for Net Art works to be included in its virtual gallery (www.hz-journal.org/netg). Please send your URL to hz-journal [at] telia.com

Deadline: 25 November, 2008

Hz is published by the non-profit organization Fylkingen in Stockholm. Established in 1933, Fylkingen has been known for introducing yet-to-be-established art forms throughout its history. Nam June Paik, Stockhausen, Cage, etc. have all been introduced to the Swedish audience through Fylkingen. Its members consist of leading composers, musicians, dancers, performance artists and video artists in Sweden. For more information on Fylkingen, please visit http://www.fylkingen.se/about or http://www.hz-journal.org/n4/hultberg.html

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KUNSTLERHAUS BUCHSENHAUSEN
INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME FOR VISUAL ARTS AND THEORY
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 2009/2010
***********************************************************************

Kunstlerhaus Buchsenhausen invites visual and media artists, art
critics, theorists, and curators to apply for the three fellowship
positions in 2009–2010. The period for which candidates can apply is
September 7, 2009 – July 2, 2010.

[The closing date for submissions is December 5, 2008 (postmark)]

Read more

Close to the Surface: Digital Presence
Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
http://www.ica.org.uk/?lid=12173

Panel Discussion

4 november: 6.30pm:
£5/£4 concessions/£3 members:
to book a place: 020 7930 3647
http://www.ica.org.uk/Close%20to%20the%20Surface%20discussion+18391.twl

This project explores the role of surface within fine art digital print from a variety of perspectives including those of practitioners, critics, publishers and curators. It will investigate how it is possible to articulate the unique surface qualities of digital print and explore ways, through engagement with the technology, of creating personalised surfaces which reflect the artist’s needs.

Convenor and chair: Dr Barbara Rauch.

Participants: Professor Paul Coldwell, Dan Hays, Christian Nold, Bruce Gernand, Kathy Prendergast, Jonathan Kearney, Sissu Tarka.

http://www.ica.org.uk/Close%20to%20the%20Surface%20discussion+18391.twl

Exhibition

private view: 5 november: 6.30pm
to add your name to the private view guest list email closetothesurface [at] gmail.com

exhibition open: 3–9 november:
12–7pm (9pm thursday 6):
Digital Studio, Concourse & bar: free:

An exhibition of work-in-progress from a two-year project, The Personalised Surface within Fine Art Digital Printmaking. The works here explore the role of surface within an expanded concept of digital fine-art printmaking.

The exhibition will include work by Paul Coldwell, Bruce Gernand, Sissu Tarka, Dan Hays, Tim Head, Christian Nold, Kathy Prendergast, Barbara Rauch.

Curated by Barbara Rauch and Jonathan Kearney.

http://www.ica.org.uk/Close%20to%20the%20Surface%3A%20Digital%20Presence+18390.twl

http://www.faderesearch.com/digitalsurface/

supported by AHRC

Alexandra Antonopoulou
Once Upon a Time to Ever After
&
Dawn Scarfe
Audible Auras

Date: 20 November 2008
Location: Seminar Rooms, Ben Pimlott Building
Time: 18:00 - 20:00
Once Upon a Time to Ever After

Are fairytales fiction? Are “true” stories reality? How can we learn through narratives? Alexandra will explore interaction and learning through narratives, which is part of her
PhD research. Her Beauties and Beasts book was shown at the exhibition Blood on Paper in the V&A. Alexandra will also present her interactive cookbook, which connects generations via food.

ALEXANDRA ANTONOPOULOU is a PhD candidate at Chelsea College of Art and Design, The University of the Arts, London

http://thursclubalex.blogspot.com/
http://onceuponalex.blogspot.com/
http://everafteralex.blogspot.com/

.

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Audible Auras

This presentation considers the artistic practice of using resonance to generate emanations and vibrations from structures, creating ‘audible auras’ around them. It is an attempt to contextualise Dawn’s own practice, which deals with the natural resonances of objects and environments. Dawn will discuss her recent installation ‘Lenses’ (2008), a multi speaker work which uses wine glasses as lenses to focus and propagate sound, and David Tudor’s sonic environment ‘Rainforest Version IV’ (1973). She will consider how these works produce a sense of ‘aura’, how they engage their audience, and what they might be communicating.

Dawn’s research investigates the phenomenal experience of sound from musical and artistic perspectives. She is interested in how we experience our surroundings and creates installations, compositions and performances which encourage audiences to consider details in the process of listening. Her practice is situated between the fields of lo-fi electronic music, installation art and performance. Her main concerns are with the physical effects of sound (vibration, spatiality, relational dialogue with its surroundings), the creation of ‘walk in sound’ (Robin Minard) – immersive environments. Dawn will present Lenses, a multi-speaker installation which explores pitch and resonance.

DAWN SCARFE is a PhD Candidate in Music at Goldsmiths. She has exhibited in a diverse range of places, including the Whitechapel Gallery and Tate Britain (London), Modern Art Oxford, Smeaton’s Lighthouse (Plymouth) and Videotage (Hong Kong).
www.dawnscarfe.co.uk

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For more information check: http://www.thethursdayclub.net

THE THURSDAY CLUB IS ORGANISED BY GOLDSMITHS DIGITAL STUDIOS AND SUPPORTED BY GOLDSMITHS GRADUATE SCHOOL AND THE DEPT. OF COMPUTING

To find Goldsmiths check http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/find-us/