Deschooling society introduced by Illich (1926-2002) who also taught at the University of Bremen, is a big issue in the current debate on reforming education and changing educational institutions (cp. Graham Attwell’s numerous posts on re-thinking schools and education on Pontydysgu.org). However, as we can see the concept of deschooling is not only discussed by pedagogues or in the framework of hacking and redesigning education, but has also become an issue in the arts, art education and curating:

“This two-day conference brings together international artists, curators, and writers to discuss and debate the changing relationship between art and education. Speakers have been invited to present critical ideas on collective and participatory practice, pedagogical experiments and how such art can be understood and discussed.

Deschooling Society takes its title from Ivan Illich’s seminal 1971 book, one of the most influential radical critiques of the education system in Western countries. Issues at the heart of that critique have been increasingly debated within the art world in recent years, and the subject of education has attracted renewed attention from artists, curators, academics, and collectives. Pedagogical models are currently being explored, re-imagined, and deployed by practitioners from around the world in highly diverse projects comprising laboratories, discursive platforms, temporary schools, participatory workshops, and libraries. Simultaneously, progressive globalization has led to a revaluing of the collective knowledge and agency of local communities.

The conference is a collaborative event marking the start of a Hayward Gallery research project culminating in the transformation of the gallery space into an alternative art school during Summer 2012. It also addresses the urgent issues that have arisen from the Centre for Possible Studies, part of an ongoing Serpentine Gallery project in the Edgware Road neighbourhood, and is the second part of the Serpentine’s collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art, New York, following the conference Transpedagogy: Contemporary Art and the Vehicles of Education at MoMA in May 2009.

Speakers include: Christopher Robbins (keynote), Martha Rosler (keynote), ARTSCHOOL/UK, Lars Bang Larsen, Dave Beech, Claire Bishop, Tania Bruguera, Marcelo Expósito, Harrell Fletcher, Jeanne Van Heeswijk, Pablo Helguera, Hannah Hurtzig, Suzanne Lacy, Pedro Lasch, Carmen Moersch, Nils Norman, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Paul O’Neill, Marion von Osten, Adrian Rifkin, Irit Rogoff, Ralph Rugoff, Terry Smith, Lisa Tickner, Gediminas Urbonas, Mick Wilson.

Panel session topics include:
– From Discursive Practices to the Pedagogical Turn
– Insertions, Alterations, and Rearrangements within Existing Institutional Frameworks
– Protest in Art School: Rituals of Power and Rebellion Since the Sixties
– Performative and Participatory Models for Exchange
– Presentations of artists projects and alternative art schools”

Click here for further information and check Hayward Gallery and Serpentine Gallery here.

text via e-flux, photo via www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Since I am interested in creativity, innovation, and education through the arts, my research looks at coupling arts, sciences, engineering and technology in trans-disciplinary education. ART&SCIENCE is an approach discussed in the LEONARDO community in terms of new curricula as well as new study programs in practice at university level.
The Artists-in-Labs-project initiated by Jill Scott brings together artists and scientists and aims to verify “the need for the arts and the sciences to work together in order to develop more creative and conceptual approaches to innovation and presentation.” (Scott, 2006).

However, in the context of arts&science and technology, I ran across the below conference entitled “ART AND TECHNOSCIENCE – Practices in transformation”. It is a conference organized by the Academy of Fine Arts in Finland, in collaboration with the Finnish Bioart Society and Pixelache festival, to take place over 24-25.3.2010 in Helsinki:

“The beginning of the 21st century is characterized by an overwhelming awareness of environmental issues. Facing the threat of global warming, the findings of scientific research have become a subject of intensive political debate. The ethical questions traditionally discussed in the green-wing marginals have become mainstream, as science has become a coffee-table topic.

The field of art that interacts with the practices of science and its technologies is commonly referred to as ART&SCIENCE. During the past decades, this hybrid field has become more or less established, with landmark works, major institutions and written histories. However, with the new wave of environmentalism, a further wave of artists working with methods and questions related to scientific research has also emerged.

The conference seeks to contextualize the practices of ART&SCIENCE both in the contemporary political atmosphere and the history of contemporary art.

The first day of the two-day conference focuses on the practices in transformation as a result of research-orientation and cross-disciplinarity, characteristic to the field of ART&SCIENCE.

The second day of the conference looks at the technologies of encounter between human and non-human worlds. The aim is to address the ethical discourse taking place in art practices which look at the interaction between humans and non-humans.

Speakers include Roy Ascott (artist, researcher, UK), Jill Scott (artist, researcher, AUS/CH), Andy Gracie (artist, UK/ESP), Ingeborg Reichle (art historian, DE), Adam Zaretsky (artist, US), Tuija Kokkonen (theatre director, FI), Terike Haapoja (artist, FI), Pau Alsina (researcher, ESP), Ulla Taipale (curator, FI/ESP), Anu Osva (artist, FI), Erich Berger (artist, coordinator ArsBioarctica, AUT/FI), Leena Valkeapää (artist, FI), Laura Beloff (artist, researcher, FI), Manu Tamminen (microbiologist, FI), Eija Juurola (forest researcher, FI), Raitis Smits (artist, curator, LV), Jan Kaila (artist, professor, FI), Antti Sajantila (professor, medical doctor, FI), Minna Långström (artist, FI), among others.”

Contact:
Erich Berger
Coordinator ArsBioarctica
eb [at] randomseed [dot] org
+358-50-4338898

http://kilpiscope.net

Terike Haapoja
Artist, Phd researcher
mail [at] terikehaapoja [dot] net
+358-50-4058341

http://kuva.fi

via sprectre

The EUROPEAN MEDIA ART FESTIVAL OSNABRUECK will take place over 21 – 25 April 2010 (the exhibition will be held over 21 April – 24 May 2010). Unfortunately there is an overlap with the ARTECH 2010 conference on digital arts to be held over 22-23 April in Guimarães, Portugal. However, here is the information about the festival 2010:

“The 23rd European Media Art Festival arouses great international interest. Once again, there is a great deal of international interest in this year’s Media Art Festival in Osnabrück. Over 2100 artists from every corner of the globe have sent in films, videos and installations. The entries were sent from countries such as Mexico, South Korea, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and France. Entries were received from a total of 60 different countries, whereby Germany, the USA and Great Britain are most strongly represented. However, there are also works from Afghanistan, Palestine and the Arab Emirates, as well as from Russia, the Czech Republic and Argentina.

This year, the European Media Art Festival (EMAF) is co-operating at the national level with Ruhr.2010, as part of the “National Heroes – German Cities of Culture” programme. This project was devised to integrate the cities that competed against one another nationally for the title of the European Capital of Culture. In other words, the former rivals have now become partners which, as a co-operation of cities, are engaging in the programme of the Capital of Culture RUHR.2010.

The festival also maintains good contacts to other European countries. For instance, an additional new award will be presented at this year’s EMAF: the “Live2011.com Grand Prix Event Award @ EMAF 2010″. This
award, which is worth 1500 euros, is part of the overall competition “Live2011.com Grand Prix”, announced by the European City of Culture 2011, Turku in Finland.

Another national co-operative project is currently in the decisive phase: MEDIA ART BASE. In collaboration with the documenta archive in Kassel and the Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe, an online database for archiving major international media art works will be completed by 2011. This project receives major funding from the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

In addition, the EMAF has gained membership to two European support networks, both of which are used by the EU to support the production of artistic projects via its cultural programme. On the initiative of the EMAF, a new multimedia artwork by the internationally renowned artist Candice Breitz is facilitated with the MOVING STORIES project.
Also, the EMAF heads the co-operation TRANSIT, in which art institutions from Germany, France, Belgium, England, the Netherlands, Poland and Lithuania collaborate. Within TRANSIT, young talented artists hope to create and present their new works by 2011, and to exhibit them in Osnabrück.”

Please join us at: facebook, twitter, flickr, vimeo.

Concept and directors board: Hermann Nöring, Alfred Rotert, Ralf Sausmikat

// SPONSORS
nordmedia – Die Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH
Stadt Osnabrueck
Auswaertiges Amt, Berlin
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Berlin
EU Funding EFRE
as well as donations from further sponsors.

Contact/Address/Postal:

European Media Art Festival
Lohstrasse 45 a,
D-49074 Osnabrueck

phone +49 (0) 5 41 – 2 16 58,
fax +49 (0) 5 41 – 2 83 27,
mail: info(at)emaf.de
www.emaf.de

via EMAF

I ran across this interdisciplinary symposium disseminated via Yasmin:

The Universe Resounds: Kandinsky, Synesthesia, and Art Symposium
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
2–7 pm

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Peter B. Lewis Theater
1071 Fifth Avenue
(entrance on 88th Street)
New York City

http://www.guggenheim.org/universe-resounds

In conjunction with the final days of the Kandinsky exhibition on view through January 13, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is pleased to announce The Universe Resounds: Kandinsky, Synesthesia, and Art, an
interdisciplinary examination of painting, synesthesia, and abstraction from modern to contemporary times, including from the perspectives of art history, neuroscience, music, film, physics, and performance. A reception and exhibition viewing follows the symposium.

Topics and Speakers

Kandinsky’s Synesthetic Vision: Color/Sound/Word/Image
Magdalena Dabrowski, Special Consultant, Department of
Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art, Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York

Notes on Kandinsky and Schönberg
James Leggio, Head of Publications, Brooklyn Museum, New York

Kandinsky’s Legacy in Film and Popular Culture
Kerry Brougher, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.

Nonobjective Films
Courtesy the Center for Visual Music, Los Angeles

Neuroscience and Music
David Soldier, Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Pharmacology, Columbia University Medical School, New York, with Brad Garton, Director of the Columbia Computer Music Studio, Columbia University,
New York

Hypermusic Prologue
Matthew Ritchie, artist, New York

Moderated Discussion
Caroline Jones, Professor of Art History and Director, History Theory Criticism Section, Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston

For complete information, schedule, and tickets check online or call
the Box Office at 212 423 3587, Mon–Fri, 1–5 pm.

Eyetracking Forum
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
9 am
Martin Segal Theatre
The City University of New York Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street)
New York City

Science & the Arts at the CUNY Graduate Center and the Sackler Center for Arts Education are pleased to announce an Eyetracking Forum. This session for art and science professionals examines the science of
eyetracking from multiple perspectives, including filmmaking, interface technology, psychology, and data visualization, and concludes with an exhibition walkthrough.

Moderators: Adrienne Klein and Grahame Weinbren

Space is limited, RSVP required: publicprograms [at] guggenheim [dot] org

Participants

Kenneth J. Ciuffreda, O.D., Ph.D., is the former Chairman of the Department of Vision Sciences at SUNY State College of Optometry, New York, whose current research involves normal and abnormal oculomotor
systems.

Isaac Dimitrovsky is a programmer who lives and works in New York.

Rebecca Shulman Herz is Senior Education Manager of the Learning Through Art program at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and author of Looking at Art in the Classroom: Art Investigations from the
Guggenheim Museum (Teachers College Press, 2010).

Bruce Homer is Associate Professor for the Ph.D. Program in Educational Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Adrienne Klein is Co-Director of Science & the Arts at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Ken Perlin is Professor of Computer Science at New York University, directing the NYU Games for Learning Institute.

John F. Simon, Jr. is a practicing new media artist who works with LCD screens and computer programming.

Paula Stuttman is an artist, independent art lecturer, and part-time Assistant Professor at the New School, New York.

Grahame Weinbren is an interactive filmmaker whose work is represented in the permanent collection of the Guggenheim Museum; he is also a member of the graduate faculty of the School of Visual Arts, New York.

George A. Zikos, O.D., M.S., directs the Manhattan Vision Associates/Institute Vision Research, New York.

via Yasmin, image via http://www.guggenheim.org

I would like to introduce you to Sandrine Han who holds the International Art Education Association (InAEA) in SL, a non-profit organization located in the virtual world of Second Life (SL) and on the Web.
She just developed the InAEA’s constitution and statement documents. Sandrine is a doctoral candidate at Northern Illinois University. Her dissertation is about distance learning and visual culture in 3D visualized virtual worlds. Her SL name is Kristy Handrick in Second Life. We had the pleasure to meet her with the students in InAEA’s representation in Second Life.

The International Art Education Association (InAEA) is a non-profit organization located in the virtual world of Second Life and on the Web. The goal of InAEA is to build bridges among art educators around the world and promote the importance of art education. InAEA is a free membership organization. Everyone around the world who loves art, education, and art education is welcome to join. All members are encouraged to devote their knowledge to the association, attend the monthly meeting, and post related articles on the InAEA website.
InAEA has held monthly meetings since October 2007. The InAEA meeting time was change to every Month the First Tuesday, at 7AM SL time.

For more information, please visit the InAEA Web site at: http://www.inaea.org/ or access InAEA in SL, or join the Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=166051974787#/group.php?gid=165766354265

Since I work at the intersection of arts, design, computer science and media technology, am following the increasing interest in trans-disciplinary approaches being embraced by the research community in the field of arts, science and technology. As I addressed in earlier posts, there is an increasing interest of introducing the art practice based PhD in the framework of new study programs at art academics at the international level. However, one example of current trans-disciplinary research conferences I came across is the symposium entitled Claiming Creativity: Art Education in Cultural Transition presented by the Columbia College Chicago in partnership with The European League of Institutes of the Arts.

Interestingly the symposium includes a program strand on Arts, Science and Technologywhich outlines the following questions:

“-What are disciplines?
– What is between the disciplines?
– What is beyond the disciplines?
– Is art a discipline?
– Can disciplines talk to each other?
– Is technology a medium?
– How active is technological interactivity?
– How creative is science?
– Will the hype for social networking tip over into a desire for much more intimacy and privacy?
– Who is still interested in the millions of pictures of ‘my’ dog with a bent ear?”

What do you think about the questions? Are those the ones of most importance when looking at future education and development?

In the Leonardo Education Forum community, there is big debate on the issue of Arts&Science, especially addressing the impact of nano technology on the arts as well as nano arts.
However, the symposium is outlined as follows:

“Claiming Creativity seeks to re-position creativity as a driver not only for our economies, but also for art making, for transformational processes, and for social and cultural development and change. The working assumption is that the vitality of our common future is linked tightly to creative practice in many forms. This symposium will place artists, designers, architects and other active “creators” and those who teach in the creative disciplines squarely at the center of these important conversations along with leaders in industry and commerce who share an interest in the life of the imagination and its value to society.

Educators and other leaders in the arts, business, science, commerce, industry, public policy as well as other areas relevant to the symposium topics are invited to submit proposals to present research, works in progress, case studies, or summaries of research already completed that have the potential to stimulate lively and productive debates among symposium participants. Proposed presentations must include room for participant interaction so that the symposium sessions will be as interactive as possible.

A special feature of Claiming Creativity is the symposium online forum, which will be available beginning January 18, 2010 and will lead into the Chicago event. Successful proposal abstracts will be posted to the online forum for discussion by other symposium participants. These online discussions will provide additional ideas for special sessions at the symposium in Chicago designed specifically around the web forum discourse. Additionally, a symposium “journal” will be published through Columbia College Chicago’s academic press.
the workshops attached to it address Networked Realities / Receive and Respond:
Art paradigms exist on a continuum from the individual voice creating objects for contemplation to the engagement of groups in the performance of shared, responsive environments. This workshop tackles the notion of art as conversation, and considers the implications of interactivity on contemporary art practice.”
Further it addresses the topic of Unlikely Cohorts:

“How does Art compute Science? How does Science grapple with Art? Scientists and artists mediate the world with similar methodologies. They pursue inquiries with no preconceived answers. Research and artistic production lead both to creative analysis. As technologies thrive, more information is available for interpretation and scrutiny creating new arenas for scientists and artists to work collaboratively. This workshop will look at these areas of intersection to consider ideas of research, creativity, and new untraditional partnerships.”

What are your experiences in cross-disciplinary working and learning and how do you cope with working in between disciplines and learning cultures with students and pupils in formal and informal education settings? Looking forward to your comments.

For details about the symposium and the submission requirements please visit http://claimingcreativity.com

I always liked the work of Allison Druin, from the Human Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland very much. She introduced the idea of kids being design partners in software development (kids as designers) and published on robots for kids and Emotional Robots to tell Stories together with James Hendler (2000). Her most recent book on “Mobile Technology for Children” was published in 2009 (Morgan Kaufmann). However, here is a link to a talk she gave at Iowa State University on October 9 2009 on “Mobile Technologies for the World’s Children”. Please find below the audio file of the lecture disseminated by Gerry McKiernan. The video of her talk given in the framework of the “Women in HCI Lecture Series” can be accessed at Vimeo

“Colleagues/

The Audio Is Now Available For This Most Informative Presentation I Had The Opportunity To Attend.

/Gerry

Women in HCI Lecture / Allison Druin / University of Maryland / October 9, 2009 / Noon / Howe Hall / Alliant Energy-Lee Liu Auditorium / Iowa State University

Abstract > For many children (ages 2-12) in the United States, mobile technologies are now an integral part of their everyday living and play experiences. They commonly use mobile phones, netbooks, pen-based
computing, GPSs, computer-enhanced toys and much more.
But this is not the case for all children. There are still young people who live in places where mobile technologies are just becoming affordable. Others live in areas where there is no cell phone service at
all. And still other children live in places where basic living necessities outweigh the need for electronic technologies. There are extreme differences in children’s opportunities and challenges for
learning with new technologies. Therefore, in my talk I will discuss how to approach designing for these diverse children. This talk is not about how to make mobile technologies. It is about how to make BETTER mobile technologies for the world’s children.
I will demonstrate some of our newest work at the Human-Computer Interaction Lab in mobile collaboration and intergenerational mobile storytelling. I will also suggest how these new mobile technologies call
for new approaches to design.
Speaker > Allison Druin is the Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) and an Associate Professor in the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies and Institute for Advanced
Computer Studies. Her work includes: developing digital libraries for children; designing technologies for families; and creating collaborative storytelling technologies for the classroom.

Druin’s most active research is the International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL) [http://mobile-libraries.blogspot.com/2009/08/international-childrens-digital-library.html ] now the largest digital library in the world for children which she and colleagues expanded to a non-profit foundation.
She is the author or editor of four books, and her most recent book was published Spring 2009: Mobile Technology for Children (Morgan Kaufmann, 2009). [http://mobile-libraries.blogspot.com/2009/07/mobile-technology-for-children.html ] She received her Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of New Mexico, her M.S. in 1987 from the MIT Media Lab, and a B.F.A. in 1985 from Rhode Island School of Design.

Sponsored By > Women in Human Computer Interaction Series, Women in STEM
Speaker Series, and Committee on Lectures (funded by GSB).

Link To Audio Available At

[ http://tinyurl.com/ykcvmbn ]”

via Gerry McKiernan/Aha

photo via theHCIL Web site

Networkingart is a blog on activism, hacktivism and networking by Tatiana Bazzichelli, a.k.a. T_Bazz I came across in the context of hacking as an artistic strategy to be applied in media art education:

“It is the result and the evolution of an investigation in the field of hacktivism, networking and digital culture started in 1996 by Tatiana Bazzichelli, a.k.a. T_Bazz. Connecting hacker culture, experimental art and activism, Networkingart focuses on the activity of communities or individuals who create, act and write, exploring the unpredictable, the disruptive practice, the cultural ‘Trojan Horses’ – or better, social hacks – as a strategy for art. At the same time, it wants to reflect on the intersection between art and digital economy, focusing on the unpredictable as a business model, and a way to appropriate and creatively transform media and technology.

The art of networking embraces diverse practices and diverse media and technologies. And, most of all, diverse people. This blog is dedicated to them: to all the artists, hackers, free thinkers and open minds who
the author has had occasion to meet in the course of her investigation and those who will come next. It relates directly to the book ‘Networking. The Net as Artwork’ (Tatiana Bazzichelli, 2006; Eng. 2009), which describes the evolution of the Italian hacktivism and underground culture from the 1980s till today and which was an opportunity to share ideas, projects and strategies with hackers and activists from Italy and
Europe (mostly Middle and Northern Europe).

Networkingart starts in San Francisco, during a Visiting Scholarship of four months at Stanford University, in the context of a research about social networking, web 2.0 and art developed at Aarhus University, in
Denmark. Land of pranksters, artists and free thinkers, California is also land of exploration of new social and technological frontiers. This blog will evolve creating further connections and networks, both in the physical
and in the ‘virtual’ world.

Enjoy it!”

via the AHA list by T_Bazz

Please find below the press information (in German) about the upcoming media art workshops offered for kids and young people by the foundation SK Stiftung Kultur der Sparkasse KölnBonn to take place in Cologne. The Web site can be accessed at: www.sk-kultur.de/medienkunst.
Further information about SK Stiftung Kultur in English is available online here as well as here.

1. Gang: Kopf einschalten… 2. Gang: do it yourself!

Neue Medienkunst-Workshops im Herbst zum Mitmachen für 10- bis 16-jährige

In dem Projekt „1. Gang: Kopf einschalten… 2. Gang: do it yourself!“ bietet die SK Stiftung Kultur in Kooperation mit der sk stiftung jugend und medien Mitmach-Workshops für Kinder und Jugendliche von 10 bis 16 Jahren an. Die Kurse finden am Wochenende oder ganztags in den Herbstferien im Mediapark und in der Moltkerei Werkstatt statt. Sie werden von jungen, renommierten Medienkünstlern geleitet.

Jugendliche zwischen 13 bis 16 Jahren spricht der Workshop Musikvideo revisited: Experimentelle Formen von Bewegtbild und Klang (25.-27.9.) an. Mit professionellem Equipment und angeleitet von den beiden mehrfach ausgezeichneten Medienkünstlern Daniel Burkhardt und Gerriet K. Sharma – unter anderem Preisträger der Deutschen Video-Kunst- und Klang-Kunst-Preise und des Chargesheimer Stipendiums der Stadt Köln – können sie selber ihre eigenen bewegten Bilder, Töne und Klänge aufzeichnen und am Computer neue Formen des Zusammenspiels für Auge und Ohr kreieren! An die gleiche Zielgruppe wendet sich Wer will ich sein, Wie will ich wirken? Selbstdarstellung und Inszenierung – und was dahinter steckt (2.-4.10.). Internetplattformen wie YouTube, Facebook oder SchülerVZ bieten heute unzählige Möglichkeiten, sich visuell in Szene zu setzen. Martin Brand, der selbst zum Thema Jugendkultur und Identitätssuche arbeitet, leitet zu kreativen Experimenten mit Foto- und Videokamera an. Es wird ausprobiert, welche Möglichkeiten es gibt, sich mit und in den Medien zu inszenieren und zu präsentieren.

In dem Workshop Kino selbst gedacht, Kino selbst gemacht (13.-16.10.) werden Kinder von 10 bis 13 Jahren zusammen mit vier NRW-Künstlern aus unterschiedlichen Sparten wie Klangkunst, Videokunst und Performance ihr eigenes Wunsch-Kino bauen und dabei alles neu erfinden und selbst gestalten. An die gleiche Altersgruppe richtet sich das Angebot Roboter bauen, Roboter sein (20.-23.10.): Was sind Roboter? Wie funktionieren sie und wie nehmen sie ihre Umwelt wahr? Die Kinder erlernen Grundlagen der Robotik, bauen und gestalten eigene Roboter und erfahren in Rollen- und Theaterspiel, wie diese sich im Raum bewegen und orientieren.
Die Ausschreibung als PDF befindet sich hier.

Die Kurse sind auf 10-14 Teilnehmer begrenzt – also schnell anmelden und einen Platz sichern! (In allen Workshops gibt es noch freie Plätze!) Die Teilnahmegebühr beträgt pro Workshop 10 Euro.
Infos und Anmeldung: Birgit Hauska, Tel: +49-(0)221 -226 2906, E-Mail: hauska [atnospam) sk-kultur dot de und auf unseren Webseiten: www.sk-kultur.de/medienkunst

Via Birgit Hauska,
Kulturelle Bildung / Vermittlung
Medienkunst und Film
SK Stiftung Kultur
der Sparkasse KölnBonn
Im Mediapark 7
50670 Köln

Does Twitter art [Twart] exist? – a question raised by Jools Matthews to stimulate debate in a Facebook forum on artists using social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace for art projects. Thinking about the use of Twitter as a medium for the arts I came across the project “Overhere“, an installation by Lauren McCarthy:

“In Overhere, the twitter feeds of the two characters are converted into whispered automated voices and play through speakers embedded in objects in the lobby. The feeds are experienced separately, intimately…requiring you to get close, to move, to listen, to work together to overhear the dialogue.

With the collective action of two or more participants, a full conversation is reformed in physical space based on the virtual communication of two fictional characters.

Overhere heightens the experience for those audience members coming to see the live performance but also stands alone as a voyeuristic experience. Overhere is free and open to the public:  June 5-28, Fri – Sun from 6pm – 8pm at the Gershwin Hotel, 7 East 27 Street between 5th and Madison Avenues.

The combined experience of these environments—the live bathroom performance, audio installation and website—mark a private world revealed in public space.“

About the artist the following can be read at www.lauren-mccarthy.com: “Lauren McCarthy is a designer, artist, and programmer currently living in Cambridge, MA. She recently graduated from MIT with degrees in visual arts and computer science. Her work explores the intersection of physical and virtual space, through participatory interventions that invite participants to question and engage with systems in both spaces simultaneously. She also works as a designer at Small Design Firm, creating interactive installations and media environments for various museums and institutions, including the Visitor’s Center at Monticello, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

via www.lauren-mccarthy.com

Overheredarkhorse.com and Overhere have been commissioned by a canary torsi:
http://overheredarkhorse.com/faq.html#overhere

Recent articles on Twitter in the arts can be accessed here at:
http://www.docpop.org/2008/10/23/robots-dont-know-anything-about-twitter.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/feb/23/art-twitter-twart