In the beginning of the Millennium Bio Art has become one of the central genres of contemporary art. It is signified by thematizing the advent of the age of biotechnology with all its prospects in manipulating the living of the world: the body, animals and plants for various objectives, such as the food industry, medicine, pharmacy, aesthetics, etc. For the art that won the title Bio Art it is significant to include biotechnology in its procedures and displays this inclusion in its performances, production of the living “sculptures”, performative installations, and workshops. With this imperative the Bio Art projects become very demanding in their realization and sometimes rather hermetic in their discourse.

Bio Art could be recognized as a Western or capitalist phenomenon in the sense of its ensign or promotion, but there exist also very critical and innovative, even avant-garde encounters with biotechnology in the truly transdisciplinary art-biotechnology-humanities projects, by default produced in the ex-communist countries.

Polona Tratnik, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate and Associate Professor for philosophy of culture, is president of the Slovenian Society of Aesthetics and holds courses at the Faculty for Education, University of Maribor and the Faculty for Design, University of Primorska. She is Associate Professor for theory of art and media at Singidunum University, Faculty for Media and Communication. She was Head of the Department for Cultural Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Primorska. In 2012 she was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar and a Guest Professor at University of California Santa Cruz. She was a Guest Professor also in Bejing, Helsinki and Mexico. She is an author of five monographs, among others of the Hacer-vivir más allá del cuerpo y del medio (Mexico City: Herder, 2013). Since 2010 she is a member of the research group Arte+Ciencia at the Faculdad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

AC-DC: Augmented City – The Space for Digital Creative Citizenship

Friday, October 9, 18.30

Contemporary art, relying on new media and technologies (digital art, media art, post-internet art) is found at the intersection of art-as-we-know-it, new media and technologies, internet economy, (post)politics and bio- and techno-science. It interacts intensively with these fields, which includes reciprocity, adaptation of methodological devices and approaches, exchanging areas of operation, hybridization and amalgamation. It is important in this respect that art is by no means a passive and second-rate link in these interactions, which means it is simply not scientificized, economized and politicized, but that there is a growing trend of artistic innovations entering into other fields, which become artified; they are becoming kindred to art.

In the lecture we will be discussing those particularities of contemporary reality, which are affected by art; it is why they are changing and becoming artistic in a certain way. Rather than the aestheticization of politics and everyday life, we will focus on the artification of the crucial areas of today’s reality. Contemporary art is the generator behind numerous changes, which should be catching the attention of modern sciences, economy, the media and political theory. Art is more of a first ascensionist in the sphere of today’s vast social and conceptual changes, paradigm shifts and innovations, than their (late-coming) derivative.

Photo: James Bridle: Drone Shadow 007: The Lavender Hill Drone, 26 June 2014.

Associate professor Janez Strehovec, PhD, is director of the Institute of New Media Art and Electronic Literature and a researcher. He is a part-time lecturer in New Media Art Theory at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. Recent essays include: The e-literary text as an instrument and a ride: novel forms of digital literature and the expanded concept of reading. In: Cornis-Pope, Marcel (Ed.). New literary hybrids in the age of multimedia expression: crossing borders, crossing genres. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2014, 340–356. E-Literary Text and New Media Paratexts. In: Examining Paratextual Theory and its Applications in Digital Culture. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2014. 46–62. E-Literature, New Media Art, and E-Literary Criticism.CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 16.5 (2014): http://dx.doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.2486. His latest book Text as a Ride will be released next year.

Friday, October 9 (16.00)

The lecture and discussion with Tomaž Grušovnik is a follow-up on a topic addressed during the former International festival of computer arts: the issue of artistic and cultural production – and their pitfalls – in the era of mature market economy. We will be discussing whether what we like to call “alternative” is even a possibility within the ubiquitous grip of a (capitalist) market economy. Namely, as Karl Marx had already pointed out, in the case of culture we are dealing with a “superstructure”, which – like any form of spiritual production – is but a mere consequence of the relations that govern at the level of material goods production. Therefore, the artists and cultural workers that function according to the principle of marketing and promoting their intellectual creations, given that they are, much like vendors, forced to promote their products as “novelties” and “innovations” on the cultural market, can hardly describe their activity as being “alternative”. Is it then, that the word “alternative” has become a mere decorative adjective – perhaps even a marketing trick – if it is not supported by an alternative mode of production, which differs from the modes of production of all the other goods in our social system?

Tomaž Grušovnik, PhD, is assistant professor of philosophy of education at the University of Primorska, Faculty of education. His current research is dedicated to philosophy of education, environmental and inter-species ethics and theory of film. He has exhibited on several occasions in Slovenia and abroad.

Friday, October 9 (13.00)

Martin Kusch is a Senior Artist and Artistic Researcher, Dept. Digital Art, University for Applied Arts Vienna; kondition pluriel Artistic Co-Director

This presentation describes the mission of the teaching and artistic research activities of the Digital Art Department at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Digital art constitutes the fundamental research and development of innovative aesthetic and socially relevant forms of activity at the intersection of culture, technology, economy, and science. The design methods and strategies of digital art are deployed in a context where economic and political interests support the use of digital artifacts, but at the same time, limit their social impact due to specific standardization processes. The aim is to use existing media technologies and various devices and communication tools in a manner that deliberately transgresses their conventional purpose, thus opening up new possibilities for digital artists to carry out socially critical, altering artistic-aesthetic interventions.

Martin Kusch (AT) studied art history, philosophy and painting in Berlin, and media arts with Peter Weibel at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, where he has also been teaching since 1997. He is the project leader of the fulldome-lab at the Dept. for Digital Art, University of Applied Arts Vienna and director of the E/M/D/L project. Founder and artistic co-director of the Media performance group kondition pluriel, he is particularly interested in the transformation processes of the electronic media inside performative contexts, and on how digital technologies influence our perception of the body and space. His works have been presented at numerous festivals and institutions, such as: Ars Electronica (Linz), CYNETart (Dresden), CDA (Enghien les Bains), EMPAC (Troy), FIND (Montreal), ICA (London), ISEA (Nagoya, Helsinki, Essen), SAT (Montreal), Transmediale (Berlin), Mois-Multi (Quebec City), ZKM (Karlsruhe) and Museumsquartier (Vienna).

Photo Credit
Annika Sophie Müller / Noah Rieser, mostly cloudy with occasional rain, 2013, sound installation, photo: KünstlerInnen.

– Friday, October 9 (11.00)

Fine artist Luciana Haill will conduct an interactive exploration of ‘Flicker’ through Brion Gysin’s Dreamachines. She will demonstrate with audience members how brainwaves shift while viewing the flickering sculptures.

Brion Gysin’s invention of the Dreamachine was the first work of sculpture made to be viewed with eyes closed. Luciana will present a talk illustrated with her personal collection of brainwave (EEG) recordings made during flicker viewing and meditation. She will then interact with audience members, exploring their brainwaves when viewing the dreamachines.

The effect can be augmented with curated music to accompany the experience. Visions and fleeting inspirational ideas are the most desirable side-effects.

Photo credits Grete Hjorth-Johansen

For information about the artist visit: http://lucianahaill.co.uk/

(Not suitable for persons with photo-sensitive epilepsy or migraine)

The School of Arts of the University of Nova Gorica is a young and dynamic school offering up-to-date studies with regard to teaching methods as well as teaching staff. In fostering our students’ development, we pursue a personal approach, support e-learning, are intermedia friendly, and practice interdisciplinary cooperation. We value each student as an independent and creative personality developing in the group and community. With innovative approaches to teaching, research, and production processes, we encourage independent creative and academic student work.

The School of Arts currently offers two programs:
Bachelor of Arts in Digital Arts and Practices
Master of Media Arts and Practices programme

Presentation by Rene Rusjan and Boštjan Potokar

More at: http://vsu.ung.si

The 2nd level postgraduate MA study program of Product Design at University of Maribor enables the students to study industrial design based on the “inside-out” design approach. The method was autonomously developed over the course of the past eighteen years and proved to be exceptionally successful, but most of all it established the difference in relation to the most other technologies and design schools. The “inside-out” design method integrates scientific methods from the praxis of mechanical engineering to the greatest possible extent and introduces them gradually at different levels of the design process to the very essence and core of a device or product.

The LIO Lab (Laboratory for product design) at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Maribor is a lab-based form of organization that facilitates project work for students. At the LIO Lab, students can take on various projects, from mandatory traineeships to individual tasks in the frame of study requirements; acquiring practical working experience, new skills, individually or as team work, and upgrading in the fields of recent technologies for planning and production, which are generally still underrepresented in our environment. At the same time, students can also enter into projects, which are implemented directly for specific organizations in the economic sector.

In terms of organization, the work at the LIO Lab is carried out on two levels, namely:

1st level: LIO LAB – 3D Incubator, a prep-lab for students. In this training section, students become acquainted with the available hardware and software at the LIO Lab; they are introduced to the working process and familiarized with the working habits.

2nd level: LIO LAB – 3D generator, a form of advanced laboratory work, where students participate in the planning and implementation of projects for firms and companies. The head of the lab organizes projects, the students present different variants of execution (parts or whole), but the final project includes only the solutions approved by the client and the project manager, who carries the responsibility. At the same time, these project variants also serve as the basis for performing certain study requirements, which the student can suggest in the frame of individual study subjects. Members of the LIO Lab 3D generator also perform introductions for new members of the LIO Lab incubator, thereby learning to form working relationships and to prepare co-workers for team work, while getting to know each other and their range of skills, learning about self-organization in relation to the type of problem that is being treated etc.

(Vojko Pogačar, Head of LIO-Lab)

2015 1007 Dizajn+LIO Lab-all

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The department educates students talented in art who wish to develop their art sensibility, discover the richness of art creation and receive training for responsible and creative educators. The Department of Fine Arts is a single-subject study that trains art teachers for elementary and secondary schools. The study is based on an active approach to visual creative work, understanding the laws and principles of fine art, and developing the ability to transfer this knowledge onto children and youths at all levels of education.

Presentation by Matjaž Lenhart and Nina Pufič

Other words – literary circuit for small and minority languages

Thursday, October 8, 17.30