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Public debate on collecting digital art to be held at UCLAN
The Harris Museum & Art Gallery and folly's Current: an experiment in
collecting digital art project will culminate with a debate at the
University of Central Lancashire on Tuesday 24th May 2011 from 9.30am - 2pm.
The event will provide a platform to share the findings of the experiment
with the wider public and sector professionals.
The day will start at the Harris Museum with breakfast and a private view of
the exhibition, then participants will head over to the Mitchell & Kenyon
cinema at the University of Central Lancashire for the debate. Chaired by
Beryl Graham, Professor of New Media Art at University of Sunderland and
co-editor of CRUMB, speakers will include Alex Walker, Head of Arts &
Heritage, Preston City Council; Taylor Nuttall, CEO of folly, Lancaster; and
artist Alison Craighead. Staff who worked on the project will outline the
methodology used and present their findings including the selection
process, conservation issues and initial feedback before opening the debate
to delegates. Lunch is included in the ticket price of £10 which provides
an opportunity for networking and further informal discussion.
An optional session entitled Œ Where do we go from here?¹ will also be held
from 2.15 4.30pm aimed mainly at sector professionals. Breakout groups
will debate issues such as how we can strengthen the perceptions of digital
art within the wider visual arts sector, and with the public, and the role
both museums and the education sector will play in this.
Those interested in PURCHASING A TICKET for this event should contact Steph
Fletcher in the first instance [log in to unmask]
The Current project is the first of its kind in the UK - a pioneering
practical case study in the collection of digital art which will encourage
debate from visitors, artists and sector professionals about the process of
integrating digital artworks into existing permanent collections.
On display until 4 June, the free exhibition at the Harris features the
acquired artwork by Thomson & Craighead plus new and recent work by
boredomresearch, Michael Szpakowski, James Coupe, and Harwood, Wright,
Yokokoji. Each of the artists embraces technology in very different ways,
from live networked installations through to moving image and sound. They
have all exhibited internationally and are well respected within this field
of work.
The project has been supported by the Friends of the Harris Museum, folly,
Arts Council England & Renaissance Northwest.
Further information can be found at www.current-experiment.org.uk.
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Editor's notes including artist biographies
1. The Harris Museum & Art Gallery is a magnificent Neo-classical Grade I
listed building which opened to the public in 1893 in Preston city centre,
and houses the largest galleries in Lancashire - including stunning
contemporary gallery spaces. The museum holds strong collections of fine and
decorative art and local history, including work by Lucian Freud, JMW Turner
and video artist Robert Cahen.
2. folly (www.folly.co.uk) is a leading digital arts agency, based in
Lancaster and working across England¹s North West. folly aims to lead,
promote, maintain, improve and advance the field of cultural activities that
embrace the creative interaction between arts and technology, by presenting
an artistic programme that provides collaboration between artists and the
wider public.
3. The project has been supported by the Friends of the Harris Museum,
folly, Arts Council England & Renaissance Northwest.
€ Short-listed artists will each receive an exhibition fee of £1000
€ Final artwork will be acquired for an acquisition fee of £10,000
4. Artist Biographies
Collaborating as boredomresearch, Southampton based artists Vicky Isley and
Paul Smith make artworks inspired by the diversity that exists in nature.
boredomresearch use computational technology to explore this diversity often
using techniques similar to those used by scientists. They simulate natural
patterns and behaviours, creating new intricate forms and compositions of
intrigue and beauty. boredomresearch is internationally renowned for
creating software driven art, highly aesthetic both visually and
acoustically of which include interactive artworks, public artworks, online
environments, prints and generative objects. Their artwork has been awarded
an honorary mention in Transmediale.05, Berlin (2005) and VIDA 7.0 Art &
Artificial Life International Competition, Madrid (2004). boredomresearchs¹
artwork has been widely exhibited internationally their recent exhibitions
include [DAM]Cologne (2011); Today Art Museum,Beijing (2010); Laboral, Gijon
(2010); MAXXI, Rome (2010); iMal, Brussels (2008) and Instituto Itaú
Cultural, São Paulo (2008).The artists are represented by
[DAM]Berlin/Cologne and are ArtSway Associates, and you can find their
artwork in many collections including the British Council¹s. Further info:
www.boredomresearch.net http://dam-berlin.de
Michael Szpakowski is an artist, composer, writer & educator. His music has
been performed all over the UK, in Russia & the USA. He has exhibited work
in galleries in the UK, mainland Europe, Australia & the USA. His short
films have been shown throughout the world. He is composer & video artist
for Tell Tale Hearts Theatre Company & a joint editor of the online video
resource DVblog.
James Coupe is an artist who works with systems, autonomy and networks. His
controversial recent work with surveillance systems, in installation
projects such as (re)collector and Surveillance Suite, use computer vision
software to extract demographic and behavioural information from live video
footage. The footage is then automatically reorganized and recontextualized
into narratives. This has also extended into online explorations of
surveillance and the phenomenon of self-surveillance, with the Facebook
application Today, too, I experienced something I hope to understand in a
few days.
His work has been exhibited throughout the world, including Camden Arts
Centre (London), The Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art (Sunderland),
Artsadmin (London), Stills Gallery (Edinburgh), Lee Center for the Arts
(Seattle), The Junction (Cambridge), Lanternhouse (Ulverston) and
Cornerhouse (Manchester). He has received numerous commissions that include
New Contemporaries, Metapod, Low-Fi, SCAN, Lancaster City Council, Enter_,
and Abandon Normal Devices. His work has received all levels of national and
international awards including an AHRB Innovation Award, Creative Capital
and the Mellon Foundation.
http://jamescoupe.com
Graham Harwood, Richard Wright and Matsuko Yokokoji collaborated together
from 2004 to 2009, firstly as part of ŒMongrel¹ - an internationally
recognised artists collective. Previous projects involving the group include
the first online commission from the Tate Gallery, London, a BAFTA award
nomination and work in the permanent collections of the Pompidou Centre
Paris and the Centre for Media Arts in Karlsruhe (ZKM). Mongrel (1997-2008)
was founded by Richard Pierre-Davis, Graham Harwood and Matsuko Yokokoji in
1997 and joined later by Mervin Jarman and Richard Wright. Their work
involved helping people to do things for themselves by creating social
software and digital arts based projects that they then promoted to a state
of high visibility through their international network of arts connections.
In December 2005, Harwood, Wright, Yokokoji set up the MediaShed after a
visit from Sheffield based Access Space with their project Grow Your Own
Media Lab. Composed of artists, filmmakers, computer geeks and audiophiles
living and working in Southend, the MediaShed was the first ³free-media²
space in the east of England. In November 2007 the artists made a decision
to stop working together as Mongrel and credited their group projects as
Harwood, Wright, Yokokoji. Graham Harwood and Matsuko Yokokoji are now
working together as Yoha: www.yoha.co.uk. Richard Wright¹s current projects
can be found at: www.futurenatural.net
Jon Thomson (b. London) and Alison Craighead (b. Aberdeen) are fascinated
how trends of globalisation and networked global communications have been
re-shaping the way we all perceive and understand the world around us. They
live and work in London and Kingussie in the highlands of Scotland making
artworks for galleries, online and sometimes outdoors. In the last two
years they completed their second 'desktop' documentary artwork ŒA short
film about war¹, a global timezone clock, ŒHorizon', a youtube underwater
video triptich, 'Several Interruptions', a massive fly-poster installation
for the 2010 Museum of London re-launch ŒLondon Wall¹, and the painstaking
modification of a feature-length movie, ŒThe Time Machine in alphabetical
order¹. Recent exhibitions include; Highland Institute of Contemporary Art,
Scotland; Artists Space, New York; Tang Contemporary, Beijing; Moderna
Museet, Stockholm; and Dundee Contemporary Arts. Jon lectures at The Slade
School of Fine Art, University College London, while Alison is Reader in
contemporary art and visual culture at University of Westminster and
lectures in fine art practice at Goldsmiths University, London. For
information on forthcoming, current and previous work, you can follow their
blog at http://thomson-craighead.blogspot.com and explore their archive
website at http://www.thomson-craighead.net
Further information, images or interviews:
Marge Ainsley 07816 [log in to unmask]
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Sue Gollifer
University of Brighton, UK
School of Arts and Media
Director ISEA Headquarters
Course Leader MA Digital Media Arts
Tel: 44 (0) 1273 643042
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