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"RESPONDING: ARTWORK, TECHNOLOGY, COMMUNITY, SELF."
The Calling project, digital residencies for Black artists, wraps up with a
conference on 6 May 2005, during which the artists will present their
finished work. “Responding” will be a unique opportunity for audiences in
Bristol and the South West region to engage in dialogue and debate on
issues of place, innovation and inclusive practice within digital arts.

Watershed and Kuumba are delighted to welcome Beverley Harvey of The Public
(formerly Jubilee Arts), Keith Piper, UEL, and Emma Posey of Bloc, Powys,
as guest speakers at this important event, together with Gary Stewart of
inIVA as chair.
Fee: £10 individual, £30 institutions, to include Buffet lunch. To book
contact Watershed Box Office on 0117 9275100

http://www.calling.org.uk

Speaker biographies:
Beverley Harvey has been with The Public since 1986. During this time
Beverley developed, managed and implemented an extensive range of community
arts projects ranging from visual arts to digital media. Her work
internationally has included a three month residency in Northern California
exploring, with artists, creative methods to engage people to use artistic
means as self expression; projects in Poland; the development of a cultural
exchange project in Martinique; and presenting at "Globalizing the Streets:
Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Youth, Social Control and Empowerment in the
New Millennium", a conference organized by The Street Organisation Project
of New York. In 1997, Beverley became a Director of then parent company
Jubilee Arts and, with her team, led the organisation to obtain a national
reputation for interactive multimedia titles, the content of which comes
from community groups. One of these, Lifting The Weight, in collaboration
with a theatre group 'Geese Theatre', was an interactive CD ROM game
addressing common rehabilitation issues facing male offenders. It won a
British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) Interactive
Entertainments Award in 1998. This was the first time in forty years that
the famous BAFTA mask was awarded to creative excellence in a field outside
film and television. At present Beverley is the Director for International
Collaborations which seeks to attract international partners in developing
projects with a focus in working alongside communities using a variety of
art forms and practices including digital media.

Keith Piper is an artist who uses digital media to explore issues of racial
identity and cultural diversity. A curator, educator and writer, he has
exhibited both nationally and internationally and is currently Principal
Lecturer in Media Production in the School of Cultural Innovation Studies
at the University of East London. Before this he was Assistant Professor in
Electronic Time Based Art at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh USA.
Keith Piper, as an artist, is pre-eminent among his generation, which
includes such artists as Sonia Boyce, Lubaina Humid, Zarina Bhimji, Sutapa
Biswas, Isaac Julien, John Akomfrah and Eddie Chambers. Though closely
associated with the second generation of Black British artists who emerged
into the cultural life of Britain in the 1980s, Piper’s influence has
reached beyond the boundaries of British art and into the international
arena. His work has been purchased for national and regional collections in
the UK, and is also present in museum and gallery collections in the USA
and Europe. Since 1986, when he bought his first computer, Keith Piper has
been at the forefront of developing digital media as a visual arts
practice. Keith Piper's research interests are: Visual Art practice
focusing upon digital multimedia and interactivity, Afrofuturism and Post-
Colonial Theory. In 2004 he received a major decibel visual arts award to
support two years of practice-based research.

Emma Posey is an artist and writer focusing on the effects of technology on
place. She is founding Director of Bloc, a Creative Technology organisation
based in Wales which promotes creative work using computer technology.
Bloc’s constituents range from visual artists, graphic designers,
academics, curators, arts organisations, to micro businesses and
small/medium enterprises. Since its inception five years ago, Bloc’s work
has ranged from running professional forums, developing a range of public
seminars and conferencing, facilitating collaborative working between
constituents, publishing and acting as a key information point and voice
for new media and the visual arts in Wales. She is co-director of May you
Live in Interesting Times, the festival for creative technology programmed
for October this year in Cardiff. Emma’ s doctoral thesis focused on the
effects of technology on place. She has lectured and written widely on art
and technology. She is editor and consultant on a number of visual arts
publications and projects including Remote, a series of essays on
Creativity, Technology and Remoteness. In her own work she incorporates
photography, video, electronics and microprocessors.

Gary Stewart is head of Multimedia and Research at inIVA, institute of
international visual arts.

Conference programme
10.30 - 11.00 Registration and coffee.
11.00 - 11.20 Introduction to the Calling project.
11.20 - 11.50 Beverley Harvey: on inclusive practice and digital arts.
11.50 - 12.20 Keith Piper:on digital vernaculars. 12.20 - 12.50 Emma Posey:
on multifarious place. 1.00-2.00 Lunch. 2.00-3.00 Presentation from the
Calling artists, Jenny Davis, "Threads"; Dalila Hamdoun, "Triptych: Veiled
Woman"; Gloria Ojulari Sule, "In Other Words". 3.00-3.15 Additional
comments from Leiza McLeod of Kuumba and Folake Shoga of Watershed. 3.15-
3.30 question time. 3.30-4.00 coffee break. 4.00-4.30 Panel discussion.
4.30-4.45 Questions from audience. 4.45 End.


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