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

Thu Mar 9 11:42:42 CET 2006

I fully agree with Jose-Carlos. Last year was the "Year of Brazil in 
France" and the @rt Outsiders Festival was dedicated to "Brazilian New 
media art". In the catalogue, that I guest edited, I included a strong 
focus on the Brazilian pionneers, such as Cordeiro, Palatnik, but also 
Oiticica, etc. We also included 2 texts specially about 2 organisations 
in Brazil that focus on exhibiting new media art. It is only 2, because 
... catalogs have limits in term of pages ;-)
The catalog, for those of you who might be interested, has been 
published by  Anomalie/Hyx  and the texts are both in French and 
English. Its title is "://Brasil". All the authors are brazilian. It 
includes texts by the artists in the exhibition and texts about the 
currents trends in Brazil and historical perspectives that I just 
mentionned.
The exhibition, curated by Jean-Luc Soret, included current Brazilian 
new media art and an historical piece by Esmeraldo (kinetic work, 
without motors but based on electro-static electricity). And it was 
important, as a curatorial statement, to show that new media art exist 
outside the "usual paths" with a high level of creativity, 
understanding, etc. In this case it was Brazil. But Riccardo dal Farra 
has done a whole research (with the Langlois Foundation) on 
computer-electronic-music in South America that encompasses many more 
countries.

Also, on the Leonardo/Olats web site, in the Pioneers & Pathbreakers 
(Pionniers et Précurseurs) project, we have information and 
documentation about Palatnik. I know that this site is mostly in French, 
but still, it does exist and shows that "new media art" is not only 
"Western" and that pionneers were also, in this case, in South America.

Annick

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.
>>
>>----------------------------------
>>Art Research Communication
>>newsletter at a-r-c.org.uk
>>www.a-r-c.org.uk
>>----------------------------------
>>
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