CAA Panel & Art Interactive-Upgrade Talk in Boston

Look out, Boston! I'm there this week, and I'm looking forward to a fun time.

First I'll be moderating a panel, on behalf of the New Media Caucus at the College Art Association's annual conference.

The title of the panel is "From database and place to bio-tech and bots: relationality vs autonomy in media art." It's a mouthful! When I first proposed it, I had in mind looking at current new media practices (including specific works by some of the artists who ended up being on the panel), in order to reconcile what I saw as points of overlap and discrepancy in Bourriaud's Relational Aesthetics and Bey's notion of the "Temporary Autonomous Zone"

Yes, it's kind of a nerdy premise, but I thought that we'd all be ready to go there in Boston, while also looking at some very interesting art work.... I'm very pleased that my panelists are all artists, in addition to being theorists, historians, and/or curators of new media. Some of the presentations will register on the more theoretical side of the scale, while some will be much more practice-oriented. We're going to take a more conversational approach, and present a number of work samples, in exploring the semiotic, political, and formal connotations of 'relationality' and 'autonomy' in media art.

It should be fun! Here are the key details:

"From database and place to bio-tech and bots: relationality vs autonomy in media art"
Moderator: Marisa Olson, Artist; Editor & Curator at Large, Rhizome.org; Rhetoric/ Film, UC Berkeley
Panelists:
Tad Hirsch, Artist, Institute for Applied Autonomy
Warren Sack, Artist; Professor, University of California, Santa Cruz
Brett Stalbaum, Artist, C5; Lecturer, University of California, San Diego
Helen Thorington, Artist; Co-Director, Turbulence.org, New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.

This panel will take place, in room 304 of Boston's Hynes Convention Center, on Thursday (2/23) at 12:30-2:00 pm and is FREE and open to the public at large. Get directions here.


I'm also giving an artist talk at Cambridge's Art Interactive, as part of the Upgrade series, from 7-9pm, on Friday, the 24th. The talk/series is organized by Turbulence.

I'm nervous that no one will show up on a Friday night to hear me yack about my work, but we'll see...