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Hi, Tickets are now available for the *Digital Ecologies and the Anthropocene* symposium. Please see below for further details, best wishes Charlie Tweed > > > > *DIGITAL ECOLOGIES AND THE ANTHROPOCENE* > > > *One-Day Symposium: Friday April 28th 2017 09:30 - 20.00* > *Media Convergence Research Centre, Commons (CM119 and CM120), Newton > Park Campus, * > > *Bath Spa University, **Newton St Loe, Bath BA2 9BN* > > > > *Book tickets here* > <https://www.bathspalive.com/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=digitalecologies&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=> > > > > *Keynotes Speakers:* > > > *Dr Ele Carpenter, *Goldsmiths College, London, associate curator of Arts > Catalyst > > and editor of the *Nuclear Culture Source Book* > > *Professor Charlie Gere*, The Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts, > Lancaster University > > > *Joey Holder*, Artist > > > *<image_1.png>* > > > The* Media Convergence Research Centre* at Bath Spa University is proud > to host the first *Signal Effects* symposium titled: *Digital Ecologies > and the Anthropocene* and it will take place on Friday April 28th 2017. > The symposium will include a dynamic range of theoretical and practice > based responses from researchers, artists, filmmakers, writers and > theorists. > > > In August 2016 the International Geological Congress said that a new > geological epoch known as the Anthropocene needs to be declared due to the > fact that the human impact on the earth is now so profound. Timothy Morton > uses the term hyperobjects to discuss some of the characteristics of the > anthropocene and why it is often invisible to the human: he notes that > hyperobjects are ‘so massively distributed in time, space and > dimensionality’ that they defy our perception, let alone our comprehension, > therefore the condition of the anthropocene is easily ignored. Among the > examples Morton gives are climate change and radioactive plutonium. ‘In one > sense [hyperobjects] are abstractions,’ he notes, ‘in another they are > ferociously, catastrophically real.’ > > Another of these hyperobjects relates to the human relationship with > machines and we can trace their impact on the earth back to the invention > of the steam engine in 1781 by James Watt and its deposits of carbon on the > earth’s crust. > > Today’s contemporary technologies appear to be different and are crucial > to enabling human life and culture to function as well as realising the > production and distribution processes of capital. They also provide us with > useful tools for visualising processes such as climate change and tracking > the earth’s own movements and seismic activity. > > However the notion of these technologies being ‘clean’ or ‘virtual’ is > soon unraveled by tracing their material realities which are made up of > complex meshes of human and non-human moving parts. Today’s machines are > heavily enabled by the extraction of raw materials, the use of fossil fuels > and the production of material waste at sites such as Guiyu, China which > has been called ‘the electronic graveyard of the world’. > > In her book *Digital Rubbish *Jennifer Gabrys notes that the electronic > extends from technologies to markets and to modes of waste, decay and > disintegration, articulating the relation between the signal and the thing > and how they are bound into a shared material process. > > The history of the internet and today’s pervasive media technologies is > also closely tied to the study of the earth and an observation of the > ecological. It emerges from the development of military and nuclear > technologies, the conception of cybernetics and the design of > self-governing computer systems with built in feedback loops. These > machines and systems end up as actors within a complex mesh of networks, > hyperobjects, production processes, waste disposal and notions of deep time. > > In terms of responses to these conditions Christophe Bonneuil describes > the ‘shock of the Anthropocene’ as a space for generating new political > arguments, new modes of behaviour, new narratives, new languages and new > creative forms and this symposium is focused on bringing some of these > emerging discourses to the surface across theory and practice. > > *Themes include: * > > • The Anthropocene and forms of waste > • Digital ecologies, hyperobjects and new materialities > • Deep time and new temporalities > • Creative strategies and responses > > *Other Confirmed speakers include: * > > > *Professor Owain Jones,* Environmental Humanities, Bath Spa University; *Philip > Hüpkes*, University of Vechta, Germany; *Dr Joshua McNamara, *University > of Melbourne; *Jeff Scheible,* Kings College, London; *Ramon Bloomberg*, > Goldsmiths College, University of London; *Dr Mike Hannis*, Bath Spa > University; *Teresa Carlesimo*, Queens University; *Chris Bailey*, > Plymouth College of Art; *Matthew Lovett; *University of Gloucestershire; *Charlie > Tweed*, Bath Spa University; *Dr Garfield Benjamin*; *Saul Williams* > > > *Film Screenings and performances include:* > > > > *Joey Holder **OPHIUX* (2016); *Dr. Oliver Case and Dr. Adam Fish* *System > Earth Cable - Einstock Mountain* (2017); *Peter Bo Rappmund, * > *Topophilia *(2015); *Andy Weir*, *The Plureal Deal *(2016); L*ucy Pawlak* > , *WE EAT THE EARTH **THE EARTH EATS US *(2016); *Nathan Hughes*, *OBJECT* > (2016); *Sasha Litvintseva*: Asbestos (performance) (2016) > > > > *Keynote Speaker Biographies:* > > > > *Ele Carpenter* is a curator. Her Nuclear Culture curatorial research > project is a partnership between Arts Catalyst and Goldsmiths University of > London, where she is Senior Lecturer in MFA Curating and convenor of the > Nuclear Culture Research Group. The Nuclear Culture project involves field > trips, commissioning new work and curating film screenings, roundtable > discussions and exhibitions including: Perpetual Uncertainty Bildmuseet, > Sweden (2016-17); Material Nuclear Culture KARST Gallery, Plymouth (2016); > Actinium, S-Air, Sapporo (2014). Carpenter is editor of The Nuclear Culture > Source Book published by Black Dog Publishing in partnership with > Bildmuseet and Arts Catalyst. > > > > *Charlie Gere *is Professor of Media Theory and History in the Lancaster > Institute for Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University. He is the author of *Digital > Culture *(2002), *Art, Time and Technology *(2006), *Non-relational > Aesthetics*, with Michael Corris (2009), and *Community without Community > in Digital Culture *(2012), as well as co-editor of *White Heat Cold > Technology* (2009), *Art Practice in a Digital Culture* (2010), and *Unnatural > Theology: Religion, Art, and Media after the Death of God* (Bloomsbury, > forthcoming), as well as many papers on questions of technology, media and > art. His current project is tentatively entitled *I Hate the Lake > District*, and is a kind of anti-travel book. In 2007 he co-curated > *Feedback*, a major exhibition on art responsive to instructions, input, > or its environment, in Gijon, Northern Spain, and was co-curator of > *FutureEverybody*, the 2012*FutureEverything* exhibition, in Manchester. > > *Joey Holder* received her BA from Kingston University (2001) and her MFA > from Goldsmiths (2010). > Recent solo/duo exhibitions include 'Ophiux', Wysing Arts Centre, > Cambridge (2016), 'TETRAGRAMMATON', LD50, London (duo w/ John Russell) > (2016), 'Lament of Ur', Karst, Plymouth (duo w/ Viktor Timofeev) (2015); > 'BioStat.', Project Native Informant, London (2015) and 'HYDROZOAN', The > Royal Standard, Liverpool (2014). Recent group exhibitions include 'Winter > is Coming', Georg Kargl, Vienna (2016), Deep Inside, 5th Moscow > International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow, Russia (2016), 'The Uncanny > Valley', Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (2015); BODY HOLES, New Scenario, > online exhibition at the 9th Berlin Biennale, Berlin, Germany (2016), > 'Sunscreen', online and at Venice Biennale (2015); 'A Plague of Diagrams', > ICA, London, UK (2015), '#WEC- Whole Earth Catalyst', The Composing Rooms, > Berlin, Germany (2015); 'h y p e r s a l o n', Art Basel Miami, USA (2014); > 'Vestige: The Future is Here', Design Museum, London (2013) and > 'Multinatural Histories', Harvard Museum of Natural History, Massachusetts, > USA (2013). > > > For directions to Newton Park Campus: https://www.bathspa.ac > .uk/about-us/find-us/ > > > For more information please contact: Charlie Tweed ([log in to unmask]) > > > * Book tickets here: * > > > https://www.bathspalive.com/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WSc > ontent::loadArticle::permalink=digitalecologies&BOparam::WSc > ontent::loadArticle::context_id= > > > > > >