Leonardo Art, Science and Technology Lecture Series
The Technical Distribution of Sensibility

Speaker:
Mark B.N. Hansen

Date:
02.06.2018 Saturday

Time:
15:00 – 17:00

Language:
English (with Chinese interpreting)

Venue:
Chronus Art Center (No.18, No.50 Mo Gan Shan Rd, Shanghai)

Co-organized by Chronus Art Center, CAFA Center for Art and Technology, CAFA Art Museum
In collaboration with Leonardo / ISAST

*Free Admission
To book ticket, please click here.

About the Lecture

This lecture will explore the possibility of an aesthetics that is shared between humans and machines. We will mobilize French philosopher Gilbert Simondon’s conception of information as receptivity without a pregiven receiver to explore the operation of environmental individuation and the double role that technical media plays in it – both as an intensifier of the sensitivity of humans to the environment and as a surrogate “presentifier” of the causal lineages informing both human and environmental individuations. By thinking with some selected artworks, we will explore how humans share the world of sensibility with machines, and what this means for the role of aesthetics in experience.

5000 Feet is the Best, Omer Fast, 2011. Coutesy of the artist.
im here to learn so :)))))), Zach Blas & Jemima Wyman, 2017. Courtesy of the artist.

 

About the Speaker

Mark B.N. Hansen is the James B. Duke Professor in the Program in Literature and in the Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies, as well as co-founder of the Program in Computational Media Arts & Cultures, at Duke University.  His research, writing, and teaching focus on the role played by technology in human agency, environmental process, and social life, and in the philosophy of human-machine individuation. In work that ranges across a host of disciplines, including literary studies, film and media studies, process philosophy, phenomenology, science studies, cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and environmental studies, Hansen has explored the meaning of the relentless technological exteriorization that characterizes the human as a form of life. Hansen is the author of Bodies in Code: Interfaces with New MediaNew Philosophy for New Media, and Embodying Technesis: Technology Beyond Writing.  His most recent book, Feed-Forward: On the Future of Twenty-First-Century Media (Chicago 2015) explores the role of computational processes in contemporary culture and their diffuse, nonperceptual impact on human experience. Current projects include Designing ConsciousnessLogics of Futurity, and  Topology of Sensibility: Towards a Speculative Phenomenology.

Project: ALIA: ZǓ TÀI, a co-commission by CAC and CTM and co-funded by Goethe-Institut's International Co-Production Fund.

Artists: Marco Donnarumma (DE), Nunu Kong (CN)

Keywords: experimental dance/theater, interactive sound, robotic prosthesis, physicality, hybridity

Call type: Performer (salary-based)

Application Deadline: June 3rd, 2018

 

<WHAT WE LOOK FOR>

We are looking for one performer to join Donnarumma and Kong, so as to form a team of 3 performers. Dancers and performers working in the field of experimental dance, experimental theater, improvisation, butoh, as well as physical theater are all welcome to apply. We are searching for someone who is accustomed to push the limits of the body, both physically and conceptually; someone who is accustomed to hybrid forms of performing art and who is interested in developing an in depth understanding of technology through corporeal experimentation. Given the concept at the core of the project, we are looking for a performer with a particular body presence. We are therefore interested in performers with any body size, shape, color or gender identification.

Selected applicant will be expected to join rehearsals, premieres and tour(see production details below). Salary includes fee for rehearsals and performances. Costs of travel, accommodation and per diem in Berlin will also be provided.

 

<PRODUCTION DETAILS>

Duration: 
The production will begin in June 2018 and end in December 2018.

Where & When: 
First production phase between June and July in Shanghai. The performer selected through this open call will join rehearsal by June 18th.

Second production phase between October and November in Berlin (flight to Berlin, accommodation and per diem in Berlin will be covered by our co-production fund).

Premieres: 
The piece will be premiered in Berlin in the end of November, and in Shanghai in the beginning of December, venues are being confirmed.

Tour: 
The piece will tour throughout 2019 in Asia and Europe. Dates and venues will be announced.

 

<ABOUT THE PROJECT>

Taking its title from the Latin “alia” - the other – and the Chinese “zǔ tài” - configuration, “Alia: Zǔ tài” will be an experimental dance/theater and interactive music performance.

Three dancers wear three artificially intelligent robots on their bodies. The robots are like prostheses, but behave according to their own agencies. The dancers and the machines thus engage in a re-discovery of the self and the other, transporting the audience in a sensual, stirring and poetic choreography of movement, sound and light.

Produced in Germany and China, the piece will explore new identities emerging from the increasing use of artificial intelligence and robotics in both countries. How do those technologies influence the way we understand, categorise and discriminate human bodies across cultures? What differs in German and Chinese culture? What kind of body is “normal”, why and where?

 

<ARTISTS BIOGRAPHIES>

 


Marco Donnarumma's performance work inhabits an uncommon aesthetic space between contemporary performance and media art. He distinguishes himself by his use of emerging technology to deliver performances that are at once intimate and powerful, oneiric and uncompromising, sensual and confrontational. He is renown for the unsettling intensity of his shows, as well as for his physical use of sound. Writing regularly on body, music, technology and performance studies, he is published by MIT Press, Oxford University Press, Routledge and Springer. Donnarumma began his career in 2004, and since then his performances toured over 60 countries worldwide collecting several prizes across the years, most notably Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction in Sound Art (AT, 2017), 1st prize Cynetart Award for Computer Based Art (DE, 2014) and Guthman New Musical Instrument Competition (US, 2012). Donnarumma is currently Research Fellow at the Berlin University of the Arts (DE) in partnership with the Neurorobotics Research Laboratory at Beuth Hochschule.

http://marcodonnarumma.com

 

Nunu Kong began her choreographic career in Shanghai in 2005. She has the established her own independent dance project “BrandNuDance”, which has become one of China’s most innovative experimental performing arts exchange platforms. Promoting experimental dance as a new and vital medium in contemporary art, she has produced numerous international dance productions, commissions, workshops, lectures and presents Chinese independent performing artist’s work beyond the underground. Through her work, Kong develops a characteristic form of expression, playing with time and space in poetic and illusionary dimensions at both visual and dramaturgy levels, with a particular sense of humor instinctively blended into her choreography. She is the recipient of several international awards, including  Dutch Doen Foundation “Young Choreographer Project” (NL, 2007),  Theatrical Talent Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation (CN, 2008), two Gluck Art Foundation Grants (2011 and 2012, US) and the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship (2015-2016).

http://nunu.we23.org

 

<APPLICATION GUIDELINES>

 

ELIGIBILITY

-    Only applicants living and working in Shanghai can apply

-    Applicants should be able to use English as working language

 

HOW TO APPLY

Please download ⇒the application form and submit it with necessary attachments via email to: nikitalin@chronusartcenter.org.

Please use “Your Name + Apply for Performer_ALIA” as your E-mail subject line.

All applications must be received electronically by 23:59 (Beijing Time), Sunday, June 3rd, 2018.

Applicants will be informed about their application status by June 13th, 2018. Selected applicants will be invited to an audition in Shanghai with Donnarumma, Kong and our producers (dates to be confirmed).

Please send further inquires to nikitalin@chronusartcenter.org with “Inquiry + Apply for Performer_ALIA” as your Email subject line.

Tutor: 
Fito Segrera

Language:
English

Date: 
26/05/2018

Time: 
11am – 5pm

Location: 
Chronus Art Center (No.18 Bldg, No.50 Mo Gan Shan Rd)

Event Ticket
Workshop                             200
CAC Member                         120
Student                                100

Join CAC Membership to enjoy 40% off!

*Only 15 seats available, R.S.V.P

Please click here to book ticket.

 Introduction 

This workshop is designed for anyone interested in exploring code from a creative point of view. We will be learning what creative programming is in its most basic and simple form, from creating simple geometrical shapes, forms and colors all the way to giving life to impressive animated visual patterns.

 

Technical Skills to Teach 

For this workshop we will be using P5.js (https://p5js.org/). It is a simple and ready-to-use framework for creative coding on the web. It is a javscript version of the famous Processingframework. But you don’t need to worry about any technicality, this workshop will teach you all the basics from scratch.

</Schedule

11:00 – 13:00

Basic programming concepts

Rendering basic shapes

(Break)

14:00 – 17:00

Applying color and transforming shapes.

Basic animation of shapes, forms and color

Interaction of shapes with mouse and keyboard/>

 

 

General Requirements 

The workshop will be instructed entirely in English. If you don't feel comfortable with English its recommended to come with someone who helps you translate.

 

System Requirements 
Bring your laptop and make sure you have Google Chrome Browser installed.

Resources 
If you want to explore on your own please visit P5.js Official Site:
https://p5js.org/

Examples of what other people do with code:
https://www.openprocessing.org/

 

Facilitator's Bio 

fito_segrera is an artist, technologist and Head of Research/Creation at Chronus Art Center, Shanghai. He studied fine arts and audiovisual/Multimedia production at Jorge Tadeo Lozano University of Bogotá, Colombia and completed a MFA in Design and Technology with honors at Parsons, The New School, New York while being a Fulbright Scholar from 2013 until 2015. His current research and creative practice appropriates elements from digital philosophy, artificial intelligence, monism and modern physics while using physical computing, software programming and information/telecommunication technologies to inquiry in fundamental ontological questions regarding the nature of reality and the physicality of the universe. His main exhibitions are: I Am Here To Learn: On Machinic Interpretations of the World (2018), UNREAL: The Algorithmic Present at HEK-Basel & CAC- Shanghai (2017), VIBVA Russia (2017), VARIATIONS Paris (2016), PLUNC Lisbon (2016), CAC Shanghai 2016/2015, SIGGRAPH 2014, Collision 20 & 21 at Boston Ciberarts Gallery 2014, Huston International Performance Biennale 2014, SXSW Austin TX 2014, EYEBEAM New York 2013, Agora Collective Center Berlin 2013, Dorkbot NYC 2013, Harvestworks New York 2013, Salon Regional de Artistas del Caribe, Web 2.0 Espacios alternativos 2012, Ripping mix, burn, rip 2010, Bogotá Biennale 2009.

http://fii.to

 

About CAC Atelier 

CAC Atelier will be a monthly series of workshops to introduce the basics of media creation technology to participants of all ages with no prior experience. It will cover programming, web design, music production,video-game development, and even gadget exploration. CAC Atelier will not only offer cutting edge technological knowledge to curious participants, but it will also offer a hands-on and innovative experience.

Free cold brew will be provided during the event to spark the intelligence and energy. Special thanks to SAY COFFEE COLD BREW for its generosity.

Leonardo Art, Science and Technology Lecture Series

Thinking and Acting Media 
Ideas and Praxises Towards an Expanded Hermeneutics

Speaker:

Siegfried Zielinski

Date: 
20.05.2018 Sunday

Time: 
15:00 – 17:00

Language: 
English (with Chinese interpreting)

Venue: 
Chronus Art Center (No.18, No.50 Mo Gan Shan Rd, Shanghai)

Co-organized by Chronus Art Center, CAFA Center for Art and Technology, CAFA School of Experimental Art

In collaboration with Leonardo / ISAST

 

About the Lecture 

This lecture will provide a tour d'horizont through the ideas, subjects and methods of an archaeology and Variantology of arts and media. A special focus will be on Zielinski’s concepts of artistic research within the framework of an inderdependency of the arts, sciences, and technology. Presentations of currant research projects and exhibition projects like Allah's Automata, DIA_LOGOS_Ramon Llull and the ars Combinatoria, 100 Masterpieces with and through Media.

 

About the Speaker 

Siegfried Zielinski, Professor of Media Theory, special research field archaeology and variantology of the arts and media at the University of Arts (UdK) Berlin; Michel Foucault Professor of Media Archaeology and Techno-Culture at the European Graduate School in Saas Fee; Rector of the University of Arts and Design Karlsruhe (2016-2018); Director of the Vilém-Flusser-Archive at the UdK Berlin (1998-2016); Founding Director of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (1994–2000). Publications include: Audiovisions (1999), Deep Time of the Media (2006), […After the Media] (2011), FLUSSERIANA (2015); chief-editor of the seriesVARIANTOLOGY – Deep Time Relations Between Arts, Sciences, Technologies (2005–2010) and numerous other books. Member of the North Rhine-Westfalen Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Academy of Arts Berlin, the Magic Lantern Society of Great Britain;  Honorary Professor and Dr. Phil. at the University of Arts Budapest (Hungary).

<CAC_Tools> is an open source community sharing knowledge, research, and tools within the fields of art, science and technology. <CAC_Tools> will consistently publish the resources and outcomes of CAC Research & Creation related programs on official WeChat channel and the website.

<CAC_Tools> #1 | Developed Tools Release
Floating Room: Multi-drone Control

Developer:
Samuel Adam Swope

Software Support:
Fito Segrera

 

Project's Description

As the recipient of CAC Research/Creation Fellowship 2016 Fall, Samuel Adam Swope conducted his three-month residency in Shanghai, worked closely with CAC Lab and developed a research-based aerial installation Floating Room. This piece of work is a unique aerial art installation that shifts domestic products into airborne whimsies, hovering within a staged house. It is a sensorial artwork that shapes interfaces between our things and flight, and between fantasy and digital realization. It transforms the domestic space; from static and quiet dust collecting rooms into sensational buzzing windy soundscapes. This turbulent room converges art, science and everyday matters. It is a poetic place where bodies passing through touch the control system by generating contradictory air currents.

Floating Room is a technological domestic hybrid that embraces rotor-craft technology. The products are sculptural entities that are embedded with quadcopters. The quadcopter domestic products are a physical message, one that mixes humor and narration into contemporary inquiries regarding emerging flight technologies and novel approaches to product delivery.

Floating Room’s ludic narrative is that products purchased remotely are actually drones that delivered themselves, and they stay in the house with the intention to never stop flying.

Floating Room, 2016, Installation view in the exhibition Hyperobject: Rendering the Non-Human at Chronus Art Center.

 

Developed Tools

For the development and presentation of this art installation we developed a series of software-based tools which are freely available here:

 

Each of these tools explores ways of accessing deeper layers of control and feedback for the ARdroneParrot. This specific device is a consumer level technology with some development tools, but it has no support for multi-drone flight. Our main objective with these tools was to develop an easy-to-use piece of code able to configure and fly multiple AR drones simultaneously. Some accomplishments are:

Experimenting with nodejs and javascript to access the ARdrone API. 

All source code available at

 

Accessing the ARdrone and make it hover in safe-mode over a QR code tag on the ground using its bottom camera. 

All source code available at

 

Scripting in order to hack the drones on each boot and change their main configuration. We were able to control 5 drones with one single computer and a WIFI router. The software allows to make drones fleets, fly together and follow QR code tags on the ground. 

All source code available at

 

About <CAC_Tools>

CAC Tools is an opensource community to share knowledge, research and tools in the disciplines of art, science and technology. Through Chronus Art Center’s official website and WeChat account, CAC Tools will publish relevant resourses and outcomes from CAC Research/Creation. This will include the tools developed by the Research/Creation fellowship winners during their residency at CAC, the outcomes of <CAC_Lab> and work related to the special program “A&T@“at Chronus Art Center.

Creative Commons License
This work by CAC_Lab, Samuel Adam Swope is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.