Below is an outline of a series of talks I am doing in Dundee, Duncan of Jordanstone, starting this Friday.
The talks are primarily aimed at the students on the postgrad courses but are also open, and free, to anyone else who wishes to attend. Train times are at the bottom of the listing, anyone who needs directions should email me directly. best wishes, Si. ================================= Electronic Cultures - talk series ================================= Five talks presenting a series of overviews of electronic and digital culture from its early developments to present-day practices. The series will feature work by artists, designers and theorists across various media including: sound, moving image, and software-based works. Presented by Simon Yuill. Entry to all talks is free. Venue: Lecture theatre 5017 Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Perth Road Dundee all talks start at 10:30am Talks: Talk 1: "Electricity", Friday 14th February, 10:30 - 12:30 am The harnessing of electricity and the electromagnetic spectrum has been the main material basis on which the "new media" of the past 100 years have developed. Serving as an introduction to the series as a whole, this talk will summarise the major technological innovations of the electronic era, from the Voltaic battery to the mobile phone, and their role in the development of contemporary culture. It will focus on the work of inventors and artists/designers whose work exposes the materiality of electronic media, including: Leon Theremin, Raymond Scott, King Tubby, Kraftwerk, Mary Beth Ellen, John Whitney, Joseph Beuys, David Bainbridge, Colin Andrews, Judy Spark and Dunne + Raby. Talk 2: "Sound", Friday 21st February, 10:30 - 12:30 am Developments in sound have frequently led developments in both technological and conceptual/creative approaches to electronic media. Amplification and electronic recording have led towards an approach to sound as a medium which differs dramatically from that of previous "music"-based cultures, bringing "noise" and the sounds of daily life into artistic practice. This has been paralleled by the creation of entirely new sounds through synthesizers and audio software. This talk will look at relevant theories of sound and the work of various practitioners, composers, sound designers, djs and noise artists, including: Walter Ruttman, John Cage, Stockhausen, William Burroughs, Pauline Oliveros, Walter Murch, Farmers Manual, Afrika Baambata, People Like Us and Otomo Yoshihide. Talk 3: "Image", Friday 28th February, 10:30 - 12:30 am The 20th century has been described as an "ocularist" era, obsessed with the visual image. In the 21st century it is almost impossible not to be part of a recorded image anywhere in the Western world. This talk will cover developments in the moving image from early experimental animation through pioneering computer graphics, special effects, games/multimedia and vjs. It will also look at surveillance culture and reality tv. Artists include: Oskar Fischinger, Hans Richter, John Whitney, Andy Wharhol, Vito Acconci, Dan Graham, Douglas Gordon, Emergency Broadcast Network, Natalie Jeremijenko, JODI, Chris Cunningham and 242.pilots. Talk 4: "Code", Friday 7th March, 10:30 - 12:30 am >From the first major electronic medium, the telegraph, code systems have been an integral part of how we utilise electronic media. Artistic developments throughout the 20th century were marked by various experiments and innovations in notational and code systems: from the animator's dope sheet to John Cage's musical notations to trademarks and universal signage systems. With the emergence of Conceptual Art in the late 1960's code systems came to the forefront as a medium in their own right. This development can be paralleled with the rise of information visualisation in the sciences and media. The current use of computer programming as an artistic platform can be placed within this broader history which will be addressed by this talk. Artists/designers/programmers include: Norman MacLaren, John Cage, Bernard Tschumi, Jenny Holzer, Joseph Kusoth, Edward Tufte, Max Matthews, Ken Knowlton, JODI, John Maeda, Netochka Nezvanova and Forced Entertainment. Talk 5: "Connectivity", Friday 14th March, 10:30 - 12:30 am Both the electrical lightbulb and the internet have been creditied with changing the shape of modern society. This talk will examine the relationship between electrical technologies and new social formations which have emerged alongside them. The cinema, the disco and the online chatroom can all be thought of as new forms of social space which these technologies have enabled. Gaming and computer simulation have also brought the notion of "toy" societies into existence, temporary creations in which we can variously play as god, citizen and mutant warrior. Creative practice has both fed and critiqued these developments. Artists and examples in this talk will include: Nina Pope + Karen Guthrie, Sesame Street, the Sims, StarLogo, Linux, Japanese "communication" games, Heath Bunting, Atelier van Lieshouts, LambdaMOO, Hakim Bey, RTMark, Cornelia Sollfrank and the Jamaican sound system. Travel (train times): Aberdeen - Dundee: 8:55 departure - 10:08 arrival Edinburgh - Dundee: 9:10 departure - 10:21 arrival Glasgow -Dundee: 8:42 departure - 10:01 arrival allow 10 - 15 minutes walk from train station to college. ------------------------------------------------- a m b i t : networking media arts in scotland post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] archive: http://www.mediascot.org/ambit info: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and write "info ambit" in the message body -------------------------------------------------
