Mon 23 August 2010
10:00–12:00h,
13:00–14:30h (continued)
Orchesterzentrum|NRW, Dortmund

Hosted by KHM (Academy of Media Arts Cologne)

Moderated by Christopher Salter (qc/ca)

The panel discussion will rethink the role of material and medium in the present, challenged by artistic practices based on new materials. The aim of the panel is to intensify the discourse on the concept of media, to register how media have changed, how they have influenced our lives, and how artists can influence media developments in the future. In this context the panel will try to stimulate a debate on the material turn in electronic arts.

1. 10:00h
1. Monika Wagner (de): Materiality, Mediality and Concepts of Touch
2. Marta de Menezes (pt): Biology as a New Art Medium and Its Possible Implications in Art Research
2. 13:00h
1. Leah Buechley (us): Technology, Materiality and Aesthetics
2. Georg Vrachliotis (de/ch): Sn the Resistance of Materials and the Question of Precision in Digital Architecture and Fabrication

ISEA2010 Conference Proceedings | P4 Heavy Matter (PDF, 140 KB)

Christopher Salter (qc/ca)

Christopher Salter is an artist, Professor for Computation Arts at Concordia University and researcher at the Hexagram Institute in Montreal. Currently he is guest professor at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.

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Monika Wagner (de)

Materiality, Mediality and Concepts of Touch

The relationship between materiality and mediality, between hand and eye, touch and visuality is a topic which had been controversially discussed long before the advent of the digital era even before the scopic regime (M. Jay). This relationship concerned both, the production as well as the reception of art works. Until today the notions of medium and material seem to be in latent conflict, though the materiality of the medium and the mediality of the material may be regarded as two different functions of the same work.

ISEA2010 Conference Proceedings | Materiality, Mediality and Concepts of Touch (PDF)

Monika Wagner is professor of art history at Hamburg University, was chair of the Funkkolleg Moderne Kunst, fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. Major fields of research: fine arts since 1800, history of perception, iconography of materials (Das Material der Kunst. Eine andere Geschichte der Moderne, 2001. Lexikon der künstlerischen Materials, ed. with D. Rübel, S. Hackenschmidt), 2002.
Further Information: uni-hamburg

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Marta de Menezes (pt)

Biology as a New Art Medium and Its Possible Implications in Art Research

What is art research and what is its methodology?
Is there such a thing as art research and if so how can we define it, describe it or even draft some guidelines to evaluate it? Part of this complicated process seems to be the incorporation of the Art Schools (which in many cases have always been separate from Universities) in the official higher education system at an academic level.

ISEA2010 Conference Proceedings | Biology as a New Art Medium and Its Possible Implications in Art Research (PDF)

Marta de Menezes is a Portuguese artist with a degree in Fine Arts by the University in Lisbon, a M.S.in History of Art and Visual Culture by the University of Oxford, and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Leiden. She is currently the artistic director of Ectopia an experimental art laboratory within a biological research institute in Lisbon.
Further Information: martademenezes

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Leah Buechley (us)

Technology, Materiality and Aesthetics

In technology design, aesthetics happen on the surfaces of objects; an elegant computer is a computer with an elegant form and an elegant skin, typically a form and a skin that is rectangular, smooth, and hard. There are good reasons why this is the case—the components that make up interactive devices (circuit boards, processors, sensors, and screens) are hard and rectangular themselves, and, perhaps more importantly, they’re fragile. They can’t be bent, they can’t get wet, and they’re sensitive to light, dust, and static electricity. Given these constraints, is it possible (or desirable) for aesthetic design to move away from the surface of interactive devices? What might this mean and what would it entail?

ISEA2010 Conference Proceedings | Technology, Materiality and Aesthetics (PDF)

Leah Buechley is an Assistant Professor at the MIT Media Lab where she directs the High-Low Tech research group. She is a well-known expert in the field of electronic textiles (e-textiles). She holds MS and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a BA in Physics from Skidmore College.
Further Information: web.media.mit

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Georg Vrachliotis (de/ch)

On the Resistance of Materials and the Question of Precision in Digital Architecture and Fabrication

Looking back to classical architectural theories the concept of materiality and construction was regarded as the sole and consistent topic in architecture. In the 19th century architect and theorist Gottfried Semper has complained that they could cut granite, such as cheese. He criticized that the technical progress would overcome the resistance of the material and that architecture runs the risk to lose control over the building process. What would Semper have said to current developments in digital architecture and fabrication?

ISEA2010 Conference Proceedings | On the Resistance of Materials and the Question of Precision in Digital Architecture and Fabrication (PDF)

Dr. Georg Vrachliotis - Academic assistant at the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture at the ETH Zürich, and guest lecturer in architectural theory at the Institute of Architectural Theory of Vienna University of Technology. He is the co- editor of Context Architecture. Fundamental Concepts between Art, Science and Technology.
Further Information:
http://www.gta.arch.ethz.ch/personen/georg-vrachliotis/kontakt

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