[spectre] Re: How International is Media Art ? The Role of the Curatorial Practice

Tue Mar 7 13:18:43 CET 2006

Dear Jose-Carlos,

You raise some important questions.

Actually there was a great deal of discussion amongst the Symposium 
steering group as to how best we could reflect the kind of discourse 
you are suggesting around "non-Western" approaches.
When organising an event at a specific time and place this does not 
always chime with the availability of individuals who could contribute 
meaningfully to such a discussion. So it's fair to say that we have not 
been able to represent that discourse directly, that is through the 
presence of a person who could talk from that perspective.

To avoid the syndrome you describe of "a bunch a friends that talk 
about the same stuff over and over again", we asked presenters at the 
Symposium to emphasise wider questions, talk about the practice of 
others, in order to broaden the debate. Hopefully this will also enable 
some critical distance. Too often at festivals and conferences we are 
treated to the speaker's illustrated curriculum vitae, which can be 
very interesting and illuminating, but when such presenters do the 
rounds of the international circuit, this makes it increasingly 
difficult to tell one event from another.

We hope to provide something distinctive. When the Symposium takes 
place, we'll know if our aspirations were fulfilled.

Regards

Chris

On 7 Mar 2006, at 06:06, Jose-Carlos Mariategui wrote:

> Dear Chris and friends:
>
> I just came up with this interesting announcement of the International
> Symposium on Curating New Media Art.  Yes, but it is Western-side
> International Symposium, not a real International one.  It is a pity 
> that
> though there are so many projects going on at a wide (real) 
> International
> Scale, there is still the need to "Westernize" as much as possible the 
> arts.
> This is similar to the reasons why in the majority of books on the 
> so-called
> history of New Media there is not a single discussion on what happened
> outside Europe, Japan or the USA.  This reflects a conformism and lack 
> of a
> real consideration of the ways in which new media art has been 
> evolving,
> quite successfully in many cases, through out the world, and I say the 
> world
> (including the so-called emergent 'others' that in economic terms
> represented in 2005 more than half world's GDP).
>
> So when you discuss of point out questions around 'learning from 
> pioneers',
> to what pioneers are you referring, to the semi-blind western sight?   
> Is
> that what makes a good curator of media art?   I believe that one of 
> the
> most important points around the curatorial process is to understand a
> context and the development of a history (in that sense perhaps the
> work/efforts of Oliver Grau are worth mentioning) but lets be OPEN, 
> not just
> in OpenSource terms, lets admit that media art and therefore its 
> curatorial
> practice is a wide international activity and not just a bunch a 
> friends
> that talk about the same stuff over and over again.
>
> I hope we try in the future to talk about the concept of International 
> in a
> much more real (or critical) sense, and not just by defining it from 
> one
> side of the world.
>
> Jose-Carlos Mariategui
>
>
> on 3/7/06 2:13 AM, Chris Byrne at chris at crowriver.net wrote:
>
>> Art-Place-Technology
>> International Symposium on Curating New Media Art
>> Liverpool School of Art & Design and FACT Centre
>> 30 March - 1 April 2006
>>
>> Just ten days left to take advantage of our early bird registration
>> offer: ends on 17th March.
>> Register now and save 35% on the full registration fee.
>> Further programme details and online registration:
>> http://www.art-place-technology.org
>>
>> New media art is a global phenomenon: a rapidly changing and dynamic
>> field of creative practice which crosses conventional categories and
>> disciplinary boundaries, challenging our assumptions about art.
>>
>> - How do curators engage with new media art?
>> - What makes a good curator of new media art?
>> - What can we learn from the pioneers of this field?
>> - What does the future hold for curating new media art?
>> - What common ground exists with other disciplines?
>>
>> These and other issues will be explored at Art-Place-Technology.
>> Speakers who are shaping the practice and theory of curating new media
>> art include:
>>
>> Inke Arns, Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund.
>> Sarah Cook, CRUMB, University of Sunderland
>> Pierre-Yves Desaive, Fine Arts Museum of Belgium, Brussels
>> Paul Domela, Liverpool Biennial
>> Lina Dzuverovic, Electra, London
>> Charlie Gere, Lancaster University
>> Beryl Graham, CRUMB, University of Sunderland
>> Ceri Hand, FACT, Liverpool
>> Drew Hemment, Futuresonic, Manchester
>> Kathy Rae Huffman, Cornerhouse, Manchester
>> Stephen Kovats, V2, Rotterdam
>> Amanda McDonald Crowley, Eyebeam Art & Technology Center, New York
>> Francis McKee, Glasgow International & CCA, Glasgow
>> Trebor Scholz, Institute for Distributed Creativity, New York
>> Dimitrina Sevova & Alain Kessi, codeflow, Zurich
>> Paul Sullivan, Static Gallery, Liverpool
>> Simon Worthington, Mute, London
>>
>> Art-Place-Technology will look at historical and current projects by
>> some of the world's leading curators of new media art, and discuss how
>> curating new media art creates interfaces with the art world, museum
>> culture, media, publishing and academia. The symposium also includes a
>> performance by LoVid, and a curator's tour of the exhibition "Howlin'
>> Wolf" by Mark Lewis at FACT.
>>
>> ---
>>
>> Programme Summary
>>
>> 30th March - DAY 1: FACT
>> 17:00 - Launch Reception and Symposium Registration.
>> Announcements: New postgraduate programme in Curating New Media Art, &
>> ARC Journal for Curating and Theorising New Media Art. Colin Fallows
>> (UK); Iliyana Nedkova (Bulgaria/UK); Chris Byrne (UK)
>> 18:00-19:00 - Curatorial Tour of Mark Lewis exhibition "Howlin' Wolf"
>> at FACT Galleries. Tour Host: Ceri Hand (UK)
>>
>> 31st March - DAY 2: Liverpool School of Art and Design
>> 09:30 - Introductions: Colin Fallows
>> 09:45 - Keynote: Amanda McDonald Crowley (USA)
>> 10:30 - Moderated Question and Answer Session: Ceri Hand (UK), 
>> Moderator
>> 11:15 - Presentations: Inke Arns (Germany); Pierre-Yves Desaive
>> (Belgium)
>> 12:15 - Moderated Question and Answer Session: Paul Domela (UK),
>> Moderator
>> 14:00 - Keynote: Charlie Gere (UK)
>> 14:45 - Moderated Question and Answer Session: Beryl Graham (UK),
>> Moderator
>> 15:30 - Presentations: Francis McKee (UK); Lina Dzuverovic (UK)
>> 16:30-17:00 - Moderated Question and Answer Session: Kathy Rae Huffman
>> (UK), Moderator
>> 19:00-20:00 - FACT - Presentation: Simon Worthington (UK)
>>
>> 1st April - DAY 3: Liverpool School of Art and Design
>> 09:30 - Introductions: Colin Fallows
>> 09:45 - Keynote: Trebor Scholz (USA)
>> 10:30 - Moderated Question and Answer Session: Paul Sullivan (UK),
>> Moderator
>> 11:15 - Presentations: Stephen Kovats (Netherlands); Dimitrina Sevova 
>> &
>> Alain Kessi (Switzerland)
>> 12:15 - Moderated Question and Answer Session: Drew Hemment (UK),
>> Moderator
>> 14:30 - FACT - Workshop: Sarah Cook (UK/Canada)
>> Followed by LoVid (USA) performance.
>> 17:00 END
>>
>> ---
>>
>> Further programme details and registration:
>> http://www.art-place-technology.org
>> Tel +44 (0)151 2315190
>> E-mail APT at ljmu.ac.uk
>>
>> Art-Place-Technology is hosted by the Liverpool School of Art & 
>> Design,
>> Liverpool John Moores University in collaboration with FACT and Art
>> Research Communication.
>>
>> Supported by Arts Council England North West, Media Arts Network.
>>
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