V2_ Newsletter May 2014 www.v2.nl
On Wednesday the 21st of May DEAF Biennial 2014 kicks off. The festival features a large exhibition, performances, keynote lectures, working sessions and much more. The program is co-curated by V2_, and you will find some highlights in this newsletter. Also the deadline for the Summer Sessions is extended, and in June V2_ presents three works at the Thingworld media art exhibition in Beijing. DEAF Biennial 2014 – The Progress Trap 21 May–9 June 2014 Arminius, Het Nieuwe Instituut, and V2_, Rotterdam v2.nl/events/deaf-2014 DEAF Biennial 2014 will kick off on the 21st of May. The theme is The Progress Trap. The program features a large exhibition (see below), performances, keynote lectures, working sessions and much more. ‘The Progress Trap’ occurs when innovation becomes an end in itself. Do innovations lead to progress in society, or just to new technologies? Three keynote lectures by Ronald Wright, Adam Greenfield and Alexa Clay tackle this subject head-on. DEAF also presents the ‘Evening of' the legendary thinkers Buckminster Fuller and Marshall McLuhan by Van den Hil/ Zipson/ Franzen/ Debackere on Friday 23 May, calling into attention their ideas on innovation and technological progress. On Saturday 24 May DEAF and de Brakke Grond present the evening of Angelo Vermeulen which delves into the issue of long-term space travel. There are also seminars (a.o. Anab Jain of Superflux), workshops, performances (including Geert Mul and PIPS:lab), drone demonstrations and a festive closing night. V2_ and The New Institute are the main partners of DEAF. Check out the latest news and information on the program and tickets at deaf.nl DEAF 2014 Main Exhibition 22 May–9 June 2014 Het Nieuwe Instituut, Museumpark 25, Rotterdam v2.nl/events/deaf-2014-main-exhibition-1 DEAF2014’s thematic exhibition The Progress Trap showcases artistic responses to the lure of technological innovation, how it feels to be trapped by this relentless pursuit of progress, and how to escape it. The Progress Trap questions the contemporary techno-centric perspective on progress and is a social commentary on the seductive qualities of technological innovation. Featuring works by amongst others Louis-Philippe Demers, Nam June Paik, Jenny Holzer and Alicia Framis, the exhibition is open till June 9th. Summer Sessions: Deadline Extended The call for the Summer Sessions Residencies 2014 is extended. Submit your video before the 26th of May. www.summersessions.net v2.nl/lab/blog/summer-sessions-2014-call The Summer Sessions are short-term residencies for young artists organized by a network of cultural organizations all over the world. The Summer Sessions offer a highly productive atmosphere with production support and expert feedback to jumpstart your professional art practice. Are you an ambitious, early career artist, full of ideas and ready to realize your project this summer? Then apply by submitting a video, in which you briefly explain your project, the support you need and why you should be a part of the Summer Sessions. Watch the video at www.summersessions.net. More info on www.summersessions.net/apply. (Photo: Johannes Langkamp, working on Analog Sun Tracking). Thingworld V2_ presents three artists at the International Triennial for New Media Art in Beijing. 11 June–7 July 2014 NAMOC, Beijing v2.nl/events/thingworld V2_ presents work by Zoro Feigl, Jessica de Boer, and Ronald van der Meijs at the International Triennial for New Media Art in Beijing. The theme of the Triennial is Thingworld: “The world is a thingworld. For without things there would be nothing to describe, to interpret, to comment on, there would be no evocative signifiers that trigger imagination, conjure up representation, neither would there be societies nor cultures.” The exhibition is on show at the NAMOC in Beijing from 11 June till 7 July 2014. The Evening of Fuller / McLuhan 23 May, 20:00–22:00 Arminius, Museumpark 3, Rotterdam v2.nl/events/an-evening-of-fuller-mcluhan The ideas of Buckminster Fuller (short ‘Bucky’) and Marshall McLuhan have had an enormous influence on how we think about the future, and the place of humanity in a technological world. In a theatrical performance Fuller and McLuhan set forth their most important concepts, and find out if they are still relevant today. The Evening of Fuller / McLuhan is a V2_production by Van den Hil / Zipson / Franzen / Debackere, and is performed on Friday 23 May in Arminius as part of DEAF2014. Blueprints for the Unknown 21 May–9 June 2014 v2.nl/events/blueprints-for-the-unknown The exhibition Blueprints for the Unknown investigates the gap between the promises of engineering biology and the complex and conflicted world we live in. Each scenario is set in a very specific context, ranging from healthcare to green politics and bonzai grooming, and probes the potential impact of biotechnology on society and culture. Blueprints for the Unknown is a project by Design Interactions Research at the Royal College of Art in London, and features work by Superflux, Tobias Revell, Raphael Kim, Koby Barhad, Cohen Van Balen, Studio Nand, and David Benque. You can visit the exhibition at V2_ during DEAF2014. Giving and Taking Our new book Giving and Taking, Antidotes to a Culture of Greed will be published on 24 May. v2.nl/publishing/giving-and-taking What if the exchanges we call economic were part of a much larger, far older and more diffuse system of exchange? What if value were defined not by accumulation but by circulation, and circulation not by supply and demand but by honor, glory and beauty? For one thing, it would be impossible to develop a critique of political economy from a political or economic viewpoint, because something in this notion of value utterly escapes both disciplines. In this volume, a diverse set of authors share a strikingly similar analysis. The crisis of our institutions of government, finance and knowledge, they argue, should be attributed not to a lack of political will but to a lack of glory and honor – categories that have been linked to gift and sacrifice from time immemorial. Giving and Taking, Antidotes to a Culture of Greed is edited by Joke Brouwer, Arjen Mulder and Sjoerd van Tuinen, and published by V2_. It will be presented at the DEAF Biennial on 24 May 13:00–14:00. ______________________________________________ SPECTRE list for media culture in Deep Europe Info, archive and help: http://post.in-mind.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre