Powers of the Hoard: Artistry and Agency in a World of Vibrant Matter by Jane Bennett :: September 13, 2011; 6:30 pm :: Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, Arnhold Hall, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor, New York City.

How can objects sometimes be vibrant things with an effective presence independent of the words, images, and feelings they may provoke in humans? This question is posed by Political theorist Jane Bennett delivers the inaugural lecture as the Vera List Center for Art and Politics embarks on a two-year exploration of “Thingness,” the nature of matter. In the face of virtual realities, social media and disembodied existences, the center’s programs will focus on the material conditions of our lives. Continue reading

ISEA2011 presents Southern Ocean Studies :: Pro­jec­tion on the Cupola: September 14 - 21, 2011; 9:00 am - 11:00 pm :: Discussion: September 16; 8:00 - 10:30 pm :: Çem­ber­l­i­tas Hamam (built by Mimar Sinan in 1584).

Lan­franco Aceti, ISEA2011 Is­tan­bul Artis­tic Di­rec­tor and Con­fer­ence Chair, in­vites you to dis­cuss is­sues of con­tem­po­rary ecol­ogy, melt­ing of the poles and the im­por­tance of water in world cul­ture while bathing in the sur­round­ings of this his­tor­i­cal build­ing adorned with the art­work of Gavin Baily, Tom Corby and Jonathan Macken­zie.

The art­work you will see here shows the South­ern Ocean cir­cu­lat­ing the Antarc­tic land mass (cen­tral). The pro­ject soft­ware runs in real-time gen­er­at­ing the ocean cur­rents on the fly, to which are mapped var­i­ous other eco­log­i­cal data sets. Continue reading

The New Media Art and Video Festival TRANSITIO_MX 04: Collateral Affections is the only event of its kind in Mexico. This year, our main theme explores the notion of technology as affection: How does technology affect us? How does it intervene in aesthetic activities? This festival is open to all those who are interested in digital culture and creative production via electronic media: videoart, netart, installations, composition, and similar endeavors. International exhibition, symposium, workshops and more.

Participants: Agnes Meyer-Brandis (Germany), DJ Spooky (USA), Continue reading

Sensing Place | Placing Sense :: September 3-4, 2011 :: afo architekturforum oberösterreich, Herbert-Bayer-Platz 1, Linz, Austria.

The mental image of the city has become more complex. Since mobile phones have become geo-social devices, location-based data is increasingly shaping the way we navigate, experience and define the urban environment. Media art practices have played an important role in shaping, investigating and problematizing this development. The Symposium and the exhibition will investigate the potential of experimental and artistic forms of inquiry for helping us making sense of the city, and discuss practices that create new public infrastructures and define new places. Continue reading

ISEA Istanbul presents Unsitely Aesthetics: the Reconfiguring of Public Space in Electronic Art — Chair Per­son: Maria Mi­randa; Pre­sen­ters: Bran­don La­Belle, Dar­ren Tofts, Re­nate Ferro, Tim­o­thy Mur­ray :: Sep­tem­ber 17, 2011; 9:00 - 10:30 am :: Sa­banci Cen­ter Room 2, Sa­banci Cen­ter, Lev­ent.

This panel ex­plores the mul­ti­ple and di­verse ways artists are work­ing in pub­lic space within the con­text of net­work cul­ture where being in two places at once, or the su­per­im­pos­ti­tion of real and vir­tual space has be­come the com­mon ex­pe­ri­ence.

With the growth of the in­ter­net and mo­bile tele­phony across the globe we are wit­ness­ing new con­fig­u­ra­tions of pub­lic space and pub­lic cul­ture. Continue reading

Blowup: Every Artist, A Journalist: Examining the tension between documentary methods and artistic expression, and address where notions of truth and beauty fit in this mix — with Lino Hellings (NL), Alfredo Cramerotti (UK), Gair Dunlop (UK) :: August 25, 2011; 8:00 - 11:00 pm :: V2_, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam.

Documentary images are a common method to measure and reflect on the monumental scale of change occurring in contemporary society. These images are also highly aestheticised, making beauty even of images of the most desolate slum or industrialised landscape. As a crossover point between art and journalism, the documentary image also allows us to question the veracity of world events from multiple viewpoints, often offering multiple uncomfortable realities instead of a single, easily-digestible worldview. Continue reading

Experimental Arts Conference :: August 19-20, 2011 :: National Institute for Experimental Arts (NIEA), College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, GPO Box 259 Paddington NSW 2021 Sydney, Australia.

What is experimentation? What makes art ‘experimental’? What are the results of aesthetic experiments and why do we need them? Could artists invent new modes of experimentation with/for science? What are the differences between experiments and inventions; experiments and failures; experiment and innovation? How do we set up ethico-scientific-aesthetic experiments?

This conference will showcase and discuss innovative arts projects by leading practitioners, thinkers and research groups that model new forms of transdisciplinarity and offer new ways of addressing real-world issues. Continue reading

UPDATE: Over 600 participants have signed up from 30 countries! Border Haunt by Ian Alan Paul — a border database collision at borderhaunt.com on July 15, 2011.

“Border Haunt is an attempt to bring two different databases associated with the U.S.-Mexico border into contact with one another for the duration of one day. It is an invitation to join a temporary network of people from across the world and participate in an aesthetic and political experiment, in what I’m calling a border database collision.

The first of the two databases involved in the collision acts as an archive of migrants that have died while attempting undocumented crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border territory. These deaths are caused by the extreme environmental conditions of the desert, the anonymous violence of vigilantes, abusive law enforcement officers, and other causes. There are over 2000 entries in this database. Continue reading

[Image: Insurance.AES256 by Michael Takeo Magruder. See video below.] All That Fits: The Aesthetics of Journalism — Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti & Simon Sheikh :: until July 31, 2011 :: QUAD Gallery, Market Place, Cathedral Quarter, Derby, DE1 3AS.

The exhibition All that Fits: The Aesthetics of Journalism presents the provocative idea that art and journalism are two sides of a unique activity; the production and distribution of images and information. The exhibition brings to the surface how images and information are communicated, and the aesthetic principles used in the act of transmission.

Whereas journalism provides a view on the world, as it ‘really’ is, art often presents a view on the view, as an act of reflection. Continue reading

File Type - curated by Chaz Evans and Lorelei Stewart :: June 17 - July 30, 2011 :: Opening reception: June 17; 5:00 - 8:00 pm :: Gallery 400, 400 S. Peoria Street, Chicago, Illinois.

The specificity of work in electronic media warrants investigations that refine categories past “the digital” or “the internet.” File Type is an exhibition which analyzes the cultural character of digital file formats such as the .pdf, .tiff, .jpeg etc. These and many other file types contain narratives that give specific bodies to the often invisible entities that construct electronic culture. Formats and file types represent ways that artwork in digital or internet media create particular standards of representation. Continue reading