----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
Welcome to January on –empyre soft-skinned space:
The Notion of Interactivity: What Now?
Moderated by Patrick Lichty with invited discussants
January 3 to 10th: Interaction, Performance and Introductions to Bodies and
Space
Patrick Lichty (US), K.A. Wisniewski (CA), Second Front (Global), Alan Sondheim
(US)
January 11th to 17th Week 2: Implicit Bodies, Affect, and Embodied Media
Art
Sandy Baldwin (US), Alan Sondheim (Continued), Nathaniel Stern (US), Katja
Kwastek (DE)
January 18th to 24rd Week 3: Glitch as HCI Conversation
Curt Cloninger (US), Daniel Temkin (US)
January 25th to 31st Week 4: Display and Response: Bodies, Wearables, and
Interaction. Also: Interaction in Social Spaces (Hamilton)
Susan Ryan (US), Matt Kenyon (US), Sarah Hamilton (CA)
Welcome to the January discussion, The Notion of Interactivity: What Now?
In the 1990's, the trope of interactivity was one of the key mythological
staples of the emergence of "New Media". The contested ground in which
Manovich, Galloway, et al problematized the cybernetic tug of war between
author, interactor, and computational process created endless debate in
community listservs (Rhizome, Nettime, Furtherfield, Empyre, Spectre). As we
pass the 10th anniversary of Manovich's seminal text, we are currently in an
era of "posts"; "post-Internet", The Art Formerly Known as New Media (Dietz,
Cook), and so on. As Katja Kwastek posits in her book, Aesthetics of
Interaction in Digital Art, this area of aesthetic investigation has been
problematic for curators and critics for years. Furthermore, the intellectual
community has brought objecthood and materialty back into question, while, as
Nathaniel Stern writes, interactivity has become the product of a process-based
affective process. Clearly, the morphology of Interactivity in media art has
shifted greatly since the publication of Manovich's seminal book, (and even
underlined by his new book, "Software Takes Command.") I only use this as a
milestone as it institutionalized the phrase, and embedded interactivity as
part of the debate concerning media art. For this month of Empyre, we will
entertain the morphology of interactivity in media art in the last 15-20 year
(at least), inviting dialogue in the areas of interactive art, glitch as
dialogue, and much more.
Biographies:
Moderators:
Patrick is a media “reality” artist, curator, and theorist of over two decades
who explores how media and mediation affect our perception of reality. He is
best known for his work as an Artistic Director of the virtual reality
performance art group Second Front, and the animator of the activist group, The
Yes Men. He is a CalArts/Herb Alpert Fellow and Whitney Biennial exhibitor as
part of the collective RTMark. He has presented and exhibited internationally
at numerous biennials and triennials (Yokohama, Venice, Performa, Maribor,
Turin, Sundance), and conferences (ISEA, SIGGRAPH, Popular Culture Association,
SLSA, SxSW). He is also Editor-in-Chief of Intelligent Agent Magazine, and a
writer for the RealityAugmented blog. His recent book, “Variant Analyses:
Interrogations of New Media Culture” was released by the Institute for
Networked Culture, and is included in the Oxford Handbook of Virtuality. He is
a Lecturer of Digital Studio Practice at the Peck School of the Arts in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Weekly Guests:
Week 1:
January 3 to 10th Interaction, Performance and Introductions to
Bodies and Space
Patrick Lichty (US),
K.A. Wisniewski (CA),
Second Front (Global)
Alan Sondheim (US)
Week 2:
January 11th to 17th Implicit Bodies, Affect, and Embodied Media Art
Sandy Baldwin (US)
Alan Sondheim (continued – US)
Katja Kwastek (DE)
Nathaniel Stern (US),
Week 3:
January 18th to 24rd Glitch as HCI Conversation
Curt Cloninger (US)
Daniel Temkin (US)
Week 4:
January 25th to 31st Display and Response: Bodies, Wearables, and
Interaction. Also: Interaction in Social Spaces (Hamilton)
Susan Ryan (US)
Matt Kenyon (US)
Sarah Hamilton (CA)
BIOS:
WEEK ONE:
Alan Sondheim
-was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; he lives with his partner, Azure
Carter in Providence, Rhode Island. A cross-disciplinary artist, writer, and
theorist, he has exhibited, performed and lectured widely. In the past
year, Sondheim has had a successful residency at Eyebeam Art +
TechnologyCenter in New York; while there he worked with a number of
collaborators on performances and sound pieces dealing with pain and
annihilation. He also created a series of texts and 3d printing models of
‘dead or wounded avatars.
K. A. Wisniewski
-is a doctoral student in the Language, Literacy, and Culture PhD Program at
the University of Maryland Baltimore County and lecturer in the Public History
program at Stevenson University. A poet, translator, and book artist, he is
the editor of The Comedy of Dave Chapelle: Critical Essays and has published
articles on topics including film, new media, and comedy and satire. His
current research investigates the history of reading, critical practice,
networked writing, and digital publishing.
SECOND FRONT:
Bibbe Hansen
- born in New York City, 1953, to Fluxus artist Al Hansen
<http://www.alhansen.net/> and actress Audrey Hansen
<http://www.bibbe.com/audrey.htm> , began performing professionally at age
eleven playing leading child <http://bibbe.com/miracle.htm> and ingenue roles
in prestigious east coast summer stock companies. In New York City,
concurrently, she regularly performed in her father's avant-garde theater
pieces called "Happenings" and participated in the presentations of his
contemporaries at such historical venues as La Mama, Circle in the Square and
Judson Church. She studied dance with Phoebe Neville and Lucinda Childs, sang
in an Elizabethan music group and was filmed by underground cinema champion
Jonas Mekas <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTTTeAfqU9w> . A chance meeting
with a record producer at age 13, led to her recording a single for Laurie
recordswith her friends Janet Kerouac (daughter of Jack) and Charlotte
Rosenthal. They were called
<http://lostinthegrooves.blogspot.com/2005/12/secret-history-of-whippets-nyc-girl.html>
"The Whippets" and their hastily recorded single hit the pop charts in Canada.
After a stint as a delinquent street kid, runaway and truant she became a
"guest" of the State of New York at the infamous Spofford Street Youth House
and several other NY institutions for child criminals where she was able to
refine her survival skills and work on her freestyle group dancing techniques.
Directly following her release, Bibbe met Andy Warhol who suggested they
collaborate on a film about her recent experiences. The film was called Prison
and stars Bibbe Hansen, Marie Mencken and Edie Sedgwick. Bibbe also made three
other films with Warhol and danced briefly with the Velvet Underground. A
random late-60's sojourn brought Bibbe to Los Angeles where she founded a
theater company, acted in "B" movies and participated in the local punk scene
as musician, and documenteur. She is the mother of three wonderful children,
Beck, Channing <http://www.channinghansen.com/> and Rain; a pop musician, fine
artist and poet respectively. From 1990 -1995 she operated Troy Cafe
<http://www.bibbe.com/troy.htm> . The café became thecenter of a multicultural
renaissance in downtown Los Angeles and was home to a generation of musicians,
comedians, artists and filmmakers.
Today Bibbe is part of the Second Front Collective and is represented by Gracie
Mansion Gallery <http://www.artnet.com/gallery/697/gracie-mansion-gallery.html>
in New York City. She recently completed the first draft of her memoirs and
she lectures frequently on art and the creative process.
Patrick Lichty
- is a media “reality” artist, curator, and theorist of over two decades who
explores how media and mediation affect our perception of reality. He is best
known for his work as an Artistic Director of the virtual reality performance
art group Second Front, and the animator of the activist group, The Yes Men. He
is a CalArts/Herb Alpert Fellow and Whitney Biennial exhibitor as part of the
collective RTMark. He has presented and exhibited internationally at numerous
biennials and triennials (Yokohama, Venice, Performa, Maribor, Turin,
Sundance), and conferences (ISEA, SIGGRAPH, Popular Culture Association, SLSA,
SxSW). He is also Editor-in-Chief of Intelligent Agent Magazine, and a writer
for the RealityAugmented blog. His recent book, “Variant Analyses:
Interrogations of New Media Culture” was released by the Institute for
Networked Culture, and is included in the Oxford Handbook of Virtuality.
Liz Solo
- is a performance artist, media artist and musician currently creating live
performances and media events in online virtual communities and MMORPGs. Liz is
also a punk rock musician and singer/songwriter with seven independent audio
releases - solo and with her bands The Black Bags and the Lizband. Most
recently The Black Bags released a full length recording on CD and vinyl in
June 2013. She is co-founder of the St. John's based artist's collective The
Black Bag Media Collective, is a founding member of the notorious online
performance art collective The Second Front and is a composer and player with
the online orchestra – The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse. She is manager of the
Odyssey Contemporary Art and Performance Simulator in the virtual environments
of Second Life. Her performances, videos and online events continue to be
screened and presented around the world. Recent online performance and video
work has been seen at: ISEA Istanbul; FILE Electronic Language International
Festival, São Paolo; Chromatose Anymation Festival, St. John's; MaMachinima
International Machinima Festival, Amsterdam; The Big Screen Project, Times
Square NYC; Inhuman Resources (co-exhibit with Mez Breeze), Alternator Centre
for Contemporary Art, Kelowna BC; The Festival of New Dance, St. John's, NL.
Also of Second Front:
Doug Jarvis
Yael Gilks
Scott Kildall
WEEK TWO:
Alan Sondheim (See WEEK ONE)
Sandy Baldwin
- is Associate Professor of English and Director of the Center for Literary
Computing at West Virginia University. He received his PhD from New York
University and is a Fulbright Scholar. His work imagines the future of literary
studies in a digital age. He is on the Electronic Literature
Organization'sBoard of Directors, where he serves as the ELO Treasurer, and is
Executive Editor at Electronic Book Review.
KatjaKwastek
- is an art historian with a focus on new media art and media aesthetics.
Currently, she is professor of modern and contemporary art at the VU University
Amsterdam. Prior to this, she has been teaching at the
Ludwig-Maximilians-University (Munich), the Rhode Island School of Design
(Providence, RI) the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Media.Art.Research (Linz,
Austria), and at the Humboldt-University (Berlin). Early on, she extended her
research into the fields of media history and theory and aesthetics,
performance and game studies, as well as the so called ‘digital humanities’. In
2004, she curated the first international exhibition and conference project on
“Art and Wireless Communication”. She has lectured internationally and
published many books and essays, including her most recent “Aesthetics of
Interaction in Digital Art” (MIT Press, 2013).
Nathaniel Stern
- is an artist and writer, Fulbright grantee and professor, interventionist and
public citizen. He has produced andcollaborated on projects ranging from
ecological, participatory and online interventions, interactive, immersive and
mixed reality environments, to prints, sculptures, videos, performances and
hybrid forms. His book, Interactive Art and Embodiment: The Implicit Body as
Performance <http://implicitbody.net/> , takes a close look at the stakes for
interactive and digital art, and his ongoing work in industry has helped launch
dozens of new businesses, products and ideas. Stern has been featured in the
likes of the Wall Street Journal, Guardian UK, Huffington Post, Daily Mail,
Washington Post, Daily News, BBC’s Today show, Wired, Time, Forbes, Fast
Company, Scientific American, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Leonardo Journal
of Art, Science and Technology, Rhizome, Furtherfield, Turbulence, andmore.
According to Chicago’s widely popular Bad at Sports art podcast, Stern has “the
most varied and strange bio of maybe anyone ever on the show,” and South
Africa’s Live Out Loud magazine calls him a “prolific scholar” as well as
artist, whose work is “quite possibly some of the most relevant around.” Dubbed
one of Milwaukee’s “avant-garde” (Journal Sentinel), Stern has been called ”an
interesting and prolific fixture” (Artthrob.co.za) behind many “multimedia
experiments” (Time.com), “accessible and abstract simultaneously” (Art and
Electronic Media web site), someone “with starry, starry eyes” (Wired.com) who
“makes an obscene amount of work in an obscene amount of ways” (Bad at Sports).
According to Caleb A. Scharf at Scientific American, Stern’s art is “tremendous
fun” but also “fascinating” in how it is “investigating the possibilities of
human interaction and art.”
Stern is an Associate Professor of Art and Design in Peck School of the Arts at
the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and a Research Associate at the
Research Centre, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, University of
Johannesburg. He is represented by Gallery AOP in South Africa, and Tory
Folliard Gallery in the American Midwest. [Images from
<http://nathanielstern.com/artwork/giverny-of-the-midwest/> Giverny of the
Midwest.]
Week THREE:
Curt Cloninger
- is an artist, writer, and Assistant Professor of New Media at the University
of North Carolina Asheville (US). His art undermines language as a system of
meaning in order to reveal it as an embodied force in the world. By layering,
restructuring, hashing, eroding, exhausting, and (dis)splaying language, he
causes language to perform itself until its "meaning" has less to do with what
it denotes and more to do with how it behaves. His work has been featured in
the New York Times and at festivals and galleries from Korea to Brazil.
Exhibition venues include Digital Art Museum [DAM] Berlin, L'Instituto de
México à Paris, Living Arts of Tulsa, and The Art Gallery of Knoxville.
Cloninger has written on a wide range of topics, including new media and
internet art, installation and performance art, experimental graphic design,
popular music, network culture, and continental philosophy. His articles have
appeared in Intelligent Agent, Mute, Paste, Tekka, Rhizome Digest, A List
Apart, and on ABC World News. He is also the author of seven books, most
recently "Fresher Styles for Web Designers" (New Riders). He maintains
lab404.com, playdamage.org , and deepyoung.org in hopes of facilitating a more
lively remote dialogue with the Sundry Contagions of Wonder.
Daniel Temkin
- creates work exploring miscommunication between people and the mistranslation
between systems; thehumor as well as the loneliness and isolation that come
from the impossibility of being understood. Daniel has an MFA from the
International Center of Photography / Bard College, and has worked as a
programmer for fifteen years. He has exhibited his work in galleries and
festivals in the US and Europe and is currently an Artist in Residence at
Harvestworks.
WEEK FOUR:
Sarah Hamilton:
is a writer, editor, instructor and researcher based in Phoenix, Arizona. She
received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alberta in Art History and
Film Studies and most recently received her Master of Arts from the School of
the Art Institute in Visual and Critical Studies. She has written for CBC Radio
One, The Edmonton Journal, and Art Slant, and is currently researching the use
of image macros and internet memes in China, India and the Middle East.
Matt Kenyon:
- is an artist and educator who focuses on critical themes addressing the
effects of global corporate operations, mass media and communication,
military-industrial complexes, and general meditations on the liminal area
between life and artificial life SWAMP (Studies of Work Atmosphere and Mass
Production) of was founded in 1999 by artists Douglas Easterly and Matt Kenyon
who collaborated from the years 1999-2012. Kenyon now runs SWAMP solo in
addition to being an Associate Professor in the School of Art and Design at the
University of Michigan in the UnitedStates. Kenyon has been making work in this
vein since 1999 using a wide range of media, including custom software,
electronics, mechanical devices, and often times working with living organisms.
Kenyon’s work received the distinguished FILE Prix Lux Art prize as well as
first prize in VIDA 7.0 Art and artificial life completion. Kenyon’s work has
been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC; Exit Art, NYC; Science Gallery,
Dublin Ireland; The Edith Russ Site for Media, Oldenburg, Germany; The
Foundation of Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool, England; SIGGRAPH Art
Gallery, San Diego, California.
Susan Ryan:
- is Professor of Art History and Emogene Pliner Professor of Art at Louisiana
State University and Fellow of the LSU Center for Computational Technology
(CCT). She teaches contemporary and new media art history and helped found an
interdisciplinary Art/Engineering undergraduate minor at LSU entitled AVATAR.
Currently she is researching artists' wearable technology. With Patrick
Lichty, she curated Social Fabrics, an exhibition sponsored by the Leonardo
Educational Forum, for the College Art Association, Dallas 2008 (
<http://www.socialfabrics.org/> http://www.socialfabrics.org/). She has
lectured internationally on dress and creative technologies, and contributed
articles to Leonardo and the online journal Intelligent Agent. In June 2014 her
book, Garments of Paradise: Wearable Discourse in the Digital Age, will be
published by MIT Press.
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