[spectre] Call for participation: in/compatible.research

[Geoff Cox]

Call for participation: in/compatible.research
International PhD workshop and conference, organised by Digital 
Aesthetics Research Centre/Centre for Digital Urban Living, Aarhus 
University, in partnership with the transmediale festival for art and 
digital culture, and Universität der Künste, Berlin.

November 16-18, 2011
Vilém Flusser Archive, Universität der Künste, Berlin.

"Transmediale.12 postulates that incompatible beings drive the logic of 
contemporary cultural production. in/compatible beings are understood as 
aesthetic things and processes that do not necessarily connect on the  
terms we are used to. The festival wants to raise the question of what 
happens when such incompatible beings are brought to the fore rather 
than hidden away in the dark underbelly of digital culture?"

In the context of developing a platform for knowledge exchange, and 
research across the arts and sciences, transmediale and Aarhus 
University have established a partnership to foster new forms of 
collaborative peer-review and knowledge dissemination. The first project 
will be a PhD workshop and conference departing from the theme of the 
25th transmediale festival upcoming in early 2012: in/compatible. This 
theme addresses unresolved tensions in-between different technologies, 
their cultures of production and use, as well as the tensions between 
different approaches to contemporary media culture.

"The simultaneous monumental failure and global ubiquity of technology 
seems to move us beyond the polarity of utopia and dystopia. Instead we 
are entering the blurred environments of the unadapted, monstrous and 
'uncorporated'. These increasingly unclear tension-states between open 
and closed, military and civilian, idealistic and commercial, are giving 
rise to a new kind of 'techno-cultural uneasy'. The in/compatible in 
this context is a singular moment where it becomes evident that certain 
technologies or models of thought are not possible to use in 
combination. Artists, practitioners and thinkers engage this imperfect 
nature of technology. They give it a cultural shape, developing a 
critical reflexivity that responds to the ever-changing social and 
economical terrains of the networked world."
(From Open Call for Works, transmediale 2012: in/compatible. Read the 
full thematic call at http://www.transmediale.de/festival/call-for-works)

The aim of the in/compatible.research PhD workshop and conference is to 
explore the compatibility and incompatibility of various objects, 
processes and systems. For DARC, the workshop is a continuation of 
research in interface criticism and the role of artistic practices and 
aesthetic theory within interface culture. One of the assumptions is 
that critical insights and new possibilities derive from the various 
incompatibilities of interfaces (including those between humans and 
machines, as well as within humans and machines). For transmediale, the 
workshop represents a beta project of its new "resource for transmedial 
culture," which is a framework for transmediale related events happening 
before and after the festival. The resource is a new distributed working 
methodology of the festival based on continuous knowledge development 
and community involvement throughout the year; thus the workshop is both 
an independent event and a research-based exploration of the forthcoming 
theme of transmediale.

We are looking for proposals from PhD researchers to take part in this 
international workshop and conference to explore the forthcoming theme 
of transmediale: in/compatible.

A total of 15 PhD international researchers will be selected and asked 
to participate: firstly initiating a discussion process in a blog, and 
then in the PhD workshop held at the Universität der Künste, Vilém 
Flusser Archive in Berlin, Nov. 16-18. The outcome of the process will 
be published in a transmediale thematic publication and presented as 
part of the programme of the festival in 2012. In the selection of 
participants, we are looking to address the theme of in/compatibility in 
terms of the diversity of research traditions and disciplines 
represented, including practice-based research. Across the same days as 
the PhD workshops, an international research conference will be held to 
create a platform of exchange between scholars, researchers and artists 
exploring the in/compatible topic.

We are looking for contributions that broadly align to the following 
headings:

INCOMPATIBLE INTERFACES
Various socio-technical systems communicate with each other in networks, 
but how do they distribute sense perception and relations of power and 
control, and not least what are the aesthetic and critical responses to 
these distributions (such as glitch, sousveillance or FLOSS)?

INCOMPATIBLE METHODS
There are ever more competing ways of understanding and addressing 
knowledge production, so what is the role of emergent practice, artistic 
research methods and more traditional research methods across the arts 
and sciences (such as media archaeology, speculative realism and 
aesthetic theories)?

INCOMPATIBLE MARKETS
In the collapsing distinctions of production and consumption, and with 
new models of socialisation and exchange, what are the alternative 
economies and business models that emerge (in the context of the 
marketisation of research, creativity and sociality)?

Applications will be reviewed by a panel comprised of representatives 
from Aarhus University and transmediale. The workshop is free, but 
participants will need to cover their own travel and accommodation 
expenses. For fundraising purposes, letters of support can be issued 
upon request. 5 ECTS credits are offered for full participation. Some 
places will be reserved for students coming from the organizing 
institutions.

We are seeking proposals consisting of a biography (500 characters), a 
statement on current research/description of PhD project (1000 
characters), and an abstract for a paper presentation (1500 characters).

Proposals should be sent using the online form: 
http://www.transmediale.de/content/incompatibleresearch-call-participation

Deadline: Aug. 15
Acceptance: Sept. 15

Organised by:
Digital Aesthetics Research Centre, Aarhus University, DK 
(http://darc.imv.au.dk)
Centre for Digital Urban Living, Aarhus University, DK 
(http://www.digitalurbanliving.dk/)
transmediale festival for art and digital culture, Berlin, DE 
(http://www.transmediale.de)

Promoted by:
transmediale resource and Vilém Flusser Archive, Berlin.

Hosted by:
Universität der Künste, Berlin (http://www.udk-berlin.de).

Nov. 16-18, 2011

For more information, go to http://darc.imv.au.dk/?page_id=2401

-- 
Center for Digital Urban Living
Aarhus University
Wiener 137
Helsingforsgade 14
DK-8200 Aarhus N
Denmark

W: http://www.digitalurbanliving.dk/
E: imvgc at hum.au.dk
skype: geoffreycox