----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- Hi Renate, All, Yes—thank you for your prompt. I enjoyed reading the list during the first week and do see (joyful!) parallels between interventionist tactics and the works I will mention here. There are projects throughout the book Judy and I are working on that creatively reimagine, undo, or expand technologies through social engagement and participation. I’ll share a few of them here:
In the Magical Machines section, Lauren Elder showcases The Art Bank, "a repurposed, ‘trickster' ATM machine [which] served as a media kiosk showcasing a collection of creative work by teens, their college mentors, and an animated short. The animation pairs Lauren Elder, the project director, with a Hopi youth who submitted his artwork by mail from Arizona State Prison, where he was incarcerated for hitting a cash dispenser when it failed to return his card.” Dalida Maria Benfield writes about a VR project for the Expansion section: "VR Utopia is an iterative, experimental virtual reality space for knowledge exchange and collaboration for the global community of artists, designers, and transdisciplinary researchers of the Center for Arts, Design, and Social Research (CAD+SR), co-designed with design researchers M. Eifler and Evelyn Eastmond (Microsoft) and a focus group of CAD+SR.” Joseph DeLappe shares a body of work in the Re-imagination section: "Woven through all of the works described is a keen sensibility of engaging issues surrounding memory, violence, peace, and social justice. Such projects have involved either the creation of temporary, large scale low polygon sculptures and installations created on site with local communities/collaborators; internet based engagements including an early experimental global sing-a-long; and a series of crowdsourced rubber stamping projects to intervene with political symbols on cash.” I know Margaretha has either just written or is about to write to the list, so I will leave this short(er) in anticipation of her post. My best, xtine > On Mar 11, 2021, at 11:56 AM, Renate Ferro <rfe...@cornell.edu> wrote: > > Dear xtine and our -Empyre- guests and subscribers, > The book sounds fascinating and actually resonates with last month’s feature > of artists who use the code of Social Media code as a tool against itself. > In fact artists Derek Curry and Jennifer Gradecki will join us once again > this month. > > These artists use code, data and other technological tactics to turn social > media in on itself through obfuscation, education, and other critical means. > I expect there are artists in the Expansion section of your text that do > like-minded interventions. > > Where does your own artistic work fit? The juxtaposition of practice and > theory have been seminal in my own work, perhaps you would share with us how > you see the influences of both on one another especially when it comes to > socially engaged work? > Sent from my iPhone > Renate Ferro > >> On Mar 8, 2021, at 12:35 PM, xtine burrough <xtineburro...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- >> Thank you, Renate, for your introduction. Hello Empyre—long time reader, >> first time contributor :) >> >> Judy and I are artist/academics collaborating on an anthology, Social >> Practice Art: Technologies for Change to be published by Routledge near the >> end of this year. >> >> This book centers on the voice and works of artist-author contributors >> across six sections (listed below), which we are pairing with section >> introductions written by art historians and critical scholars. >> >> Social Practice Art: Technologies for Change demonstrates how artists use >> their creative practices to raise consciousness, form communities, create >> change, and bring forth social impact through technologies, from ATM >> machines to artificial intelligence. This book, a collection of case >> studies, is envisioned as a resource for artists, faculty, and students who >> engage with technology as a conduit for creative expression, and who want to >> explore social practices, such as cultural commentary and criticism, >> participatory art, and community engagement. >> >> The book begins with “Seeds and Tools,” a section that includes chapters >> grounded in digital investigations of ecosystems then traverses the digital >> wild. In “Windows and Mirrors,” we highlight the wisdom of powerful artists >> who consistently create socially-engaged art that employs technological >> practices then reflect their processes back to the readers. Moving on to >> Section III, “Magical Machines,” we focus on the supernatural, including >> magic, science fiction and time travel; themes that many are craving during >> these unprecedented times. In the “Expansions” section, we include artists >> who discuss art as social practice that forefront the affordance of digital >> forms, virtual spaces, and algorithmic experimentation as part of the >> creative process and expand consciousness across networks and in virtual >> spaces. Embedded in Section V, artist-authors draw on “Reimagination,” to >> confront, change, or rethink humanity using emerging platforms and on-demand >> processes. And finally, artist-authors create entirely new platforms for >> social exchange in “Radical Matrices,” which we felt was a fitting theme to >> end the journey. >> >> We imagine that intuition, perhaps through improvisation, is greatly at play >> in the works featured throughout this book. Digital media projects with >> collaborative lifeforms (mushrooms and artificial intelligence, for >> instance, in Cesar and Lois’ work) require agile and flexible approaches to >> artistic projects centered on participation. >> >> We would like to invite some of the contributing artist/authors to this >> conversation, including Kim Abeles, Dalida Maria Benfield, Christopher Blay, >> Margaretha Haughwout, Praba Pilar, Lucy HG Solomon, and Victoria Vesna (tag, >> you’re it!). >> >> Warmly, >> xtine and Judy >> >> _______________________________________________ >> empyre forum >> empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au >> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu _______________________________________________ empyre forum empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
