Jasia Reichardts lecture „Our dreams change, we don’t”
When: 18th May 2013
Where: Laznia CCA, Parakino, ul. Jaskółcza 1
Time: 5.30 p.m.
The theme of Jasia Reichardt’s talk “Our dreams change, we don’t”, is how our dreams and desires might be realized. It can happen by chance as well as by design. Some of our wishes and desires are surprising, others are dangerous. If you build a house for yourself, how many people would you like to live in it with you? If you build an ideal machine, what do you think it should do? And, how should we treat it? Is communication with machines essential and if so what should we do to facilitate it? And if you have a relationship with the machine, how far should it go? Many of the questions that we asked ourselves 40 years ago still remain unanswered and will probably continue to be so. One of these questions is: what is art? Answers change with time. And now, since we know that anyone can be an artist, we might even have to change the question.
Jasia Reichardt (born in 1933) is a writer on art, art critic and exhibition organizer. She was born in Poland but has lived in London most of her life. She was Assistant Director of the ICA in London (1963-71) and Director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery (1974-76). She is principally interested in the relationships between art and science, art and technology and art and the history of ideas. Some of her best known exhibitions, such as “Between Poetry and Painting” (1965) and “Cybernetic Serendipity” (1968) were about the connections between one field and another. The principal idea of “Cybernetic Serendipity” exhibition was to examine the role of cybernetics in contemporary arts. She has written several books , including “The Computer in Art” (1971), “Robots – Fact, Fiction and Prediction” (1978) and edited “Cybernetics, Art and Ideas” (1971). She also worked on visualization of mathematics, a project called “Fantasia Mathematica”. She was one of the directors of ARTEC biennale in Japan (focused on art and technology) between 1989-98. In 1998 she staged an exhibition called “Electronically Yours” about electronic portraiture at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. Since 1988 she has been looking after the Themerson Archive, the archive of a writer and an artist, whose avant-garde publishing company, Gaberbocchus Press, launched in 1957 a Common Room for artists interested in science and scientists interested in the arts. She continues to pursue her interests in the relationship of art and technology.
Curator: Ryszard W. Kluszczyński
Project Coordinator: Krzysztof Miękus
Stelarcs lecture “Meat, Metal & Code: Zombies, Cyborgs & Chimeras”
When: 18th May 2013
Where: Laznia CCA, Parakino, ul. Jaskółcza 1
Time: 7 p.m.
Bodies increasingly perform as extended operational systems with Augmented and Mixed Realities: cyborg and robot constructs of alternate anatomical architectures. The contemporary chimera is a hybrid biological machine and virtual system. Aliveness and affect are expressed in choreographies of remote interface and interaction of both Fractal and Phantom Flesh.
Stelarc – (born in 1946) artist explores alternate anatomical architectures. He has performed with a THIRD HAND, a STOMACH SCULPTURE and EXOSKELETON, a 6-legged robot. Performances such as FRACTAL FLESH remotely actuate the body with electrical stimulation. PING BODY and PARASITE explore the body choreographed by internet data streams. PROSTHETIC HEAD, a conversational agent that speaks to the person who interrogates it, now has further embodiments with the ARTICULATED HEAD, the FLOATING HEAD and SWARMING HEADS. EAR ON ARM is a surgical and cell-grown construct that will be internet-enabled, for people in other places. In 2000 he was awarded an Honorary Degree of Laws by Monash University. Stelarc is presently Chair in Performance Art, Brunel University West London. In 2010 he received a Special Projects Grant from the Australia Council and was also awarded the Ars Electronica Hybrid Arts Prize. His artwork is represented by SCOTT LIVESEY GALLERIES, Melbourne.
BIP