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.
