A more general input about encouraging women into technology sectors....
For us it is a relief to see this strand occurring on this list, a debate on representation within the digital art sector taking place - both on the gender issue (which involves half the world) and on the cultural issue (applicable equally to women and men). Many women suffer from being held back/unrecognised by both gender and cultural identity. Whether through "unconscious bias", lack of awareness or what ?, the digital arts sector is guilty, as with all sectors, of not fully dealing with these imperative problems.
Working for over 25 years within digital arts female-led collectives we have managed (in the main) to curate a balanced gender mix in our programmes of work (whether through shinkansen, Future Physical or body>data>space). We have had to research more intensely and really keep our fingers on the pulse, as to create a genuine gender balance is not easy, and yes, the female pioneers are few in this sector. Our collective long term work on cultural identity and gender balance is based on a deep belief that, unless we engage in a mix of diverse views from a wide range of backgrounds, we are not having a debate, we will not vision forward in the most positive ways for the world overall, we will not meet the right needs in the right way. Undervaluing and underusing the talent, skills, visions and knowledge offered by women is no longer an option, we need to work together, women and men, to design our digital future. As creative digital artists in the world are at the forefront of this design vision, this balance needs to be urgently enabled.
We realised this most intensely during our recent programme of work Robots and Avatars (EU Culture programme with digital art partners Kibla/Maribor, AltArt/Cluj Napoca and with co-organisers including FACT/Liverpool) The gender problem came right in our faces. In the call for the exhibitions / commissions for robotic and virtual world artworks we had applications from 27 countries, yet a very low number of women applied. The final programme did include excellent work from Mey Lean Kronemann, Marloes de Valk, Oriana Persico, Shu Lea Cheang, Anna Dumitriu, Chris Segru and Karina Smigla Bobinski and additionally we involved as many women as possible in the workshop activities and debates. At the end of Robots and Avatars however the partners decided that we needed to address this problem and we held a small Forum and workshop on Women In Technology (Kibla, May 2013). Our aim was to find out a bit more about why women, past and present, are not hugely recognised for their inputs into the arts technology movement, and how this effects women entering the profession today?
You can see the reportage here
http://www.robotsandavatars.net/documentation/writing/women-in-technology/
and links to a set of vox pops by women talking about their experience working within the digital arts and technology sector
http://www.robotsandavatars.net/documentation/video/women-in-tech/
The resultant urgent issues were followed through by body>data>space at the end of last year with a second larger gathering in London called Women Shift Digital. This bought 200 women and men together from the arts, creative industries, design, STEM, education and business to celebrate women in digital careers, to network the networks and to influence the influencers. The belief being advocated is that a balanced gender agenda add value for us all.
Ruth Catlow from Furtherfield led a working group on the importance of STEAM studies in education, rather than STEM (Science,Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), furthering an ongoing UK debate advocating the integration of Art and Design into STEM (hence the A in STEAM). The base of this discussion was linked to ensuring balanced gender inputs at all stages of the design process, to the obvious advantage of the end users. A second working group explored "What Men Should Do?" - a discussion about men beginning to challenging men on the gender imbalance, and how this may be the only way to enable truly significant changes to take place.
Female digital artists presented and showcased their work - Mitra Memarzia, Anna Dimitrou, Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino (designswarm), Emilie Giles and Becky Stewart (Codasign), Paula Graham (Fossbox), Ruth Catlow (Furtherfield), Dr. María Mencía, Chisato Minamimura to name a few. Beryl Graham's PHd curating student Marialaura Ghidini attended for CRUMB. (these names can all of course be added to Marcs list :-))
In the UK the arts / creative industries are living in a blurred ecology. However only 7% of technology based startups (SMEs) are led by or founded by women. This percentage is near enough repeated across many countries in Europe and also in the United States, but not in South east Asia, Australia and South America where SMEs cultures are rising to 30% women founded/ led. Why ? Western world dominance by men?
Women Shift Digital highlighted some significant work being done by micro-enterprises in London to enable girls in school to learn to coding, work with robotics, electronics etc - skills recognised to be difficult for girls to get involved in due to the intense boy / lad culture encountered in these learning environments. For example, through needs must, in coding/programming skills development The Stemettes, TeenTech, Codasign, Young Rewired State, Flossie, GeekGirls, BlackGirlsCode and many many other micro-activist groups have sprung up, working really hard to get younger women skilled up to join the digital workplace, to start their own companies, and hopefully many will do this in the creative and arts sectors.
Women Shift Digital is ongoing now, with requests from colleagues and partners across the world for activities in their home countries. Over the last month is a growing twitter following @WomenShiftDigi and a Linked In Group. The written reportage from the event is going online very soon, the agenda, links and the videos of the panels and speakers are already online to view at http://www.bodydataspace.net/projects/women-shift-digital-conference/ and http://www.bodydataspace.net/content-pool/video-vault/women-shift-digital/
Women and men are living daily under the pressure and influence of the gender stereotyping in the media and by traditionalists. Many of the digital industries out there are re-emphasising this - for example the gaming world where very few women are involved in the making of games and, in the main, the representation of women in games is objectification in its worst form. We in the digital arts are lucky not to have to deal with the extreme levels of sexism many women in the tech world are dealing with daily, but we need to be aware that it is putting off younger women from entering the technology side of the arts sector as much as any other sector.
Please note, even with being based in Europe and in London cultural range and mix has to be consciously overviewed, but joyfully the naturally emerging ecology here is hugely culturally diverse. We had participants from many cultural backgrounds involved in all these projects.
If anyone on this list wants to get more deeply involved with Women Shift Digital, wants advice on women artists to invite to talk, workshop, show work we are happy to help. We are dealing with many requests.
best
Ghislaine
A few more interesting links
The BitCoin community also has a huge debate relating to gender issues - see here for two articles (and there are many more on the web!)
http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/blog/bitcoin-needs-women
http://ariannasimpson.com/post/74400025051/this-is-what-its-like-to-be-a-woman-at-a-bitcoin
There is a massive push worldwide through #changetheratio to address the lack of women speaking (and participating) at conferences - in particular technology sector conferences, follow that hashtag.
Geek Feminism has set up a Conference Anti-Harrassment Policy, which might help us all understand just why it is hard for women to fully and professionally take part
http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Anti-harassment_policy_resources
See their fascinating horrific Timeline of sexist incidents in geek communities goes back to 1973
http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_incidents
Ghislaine Boddington
Creative Director, body>data>space | b>d>s
Research Associate Artist, ResCen Middlesex University
@GBoddington
On 5 Feb 2014, at 15:26, roger malina wrote:
pedro
maybe thats equally disturbing given the large
number of pioneers in art and technology
in south america !!
roger
On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 9:24 AM, pedro <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> roger
>
> appreciate your comments, but in this specific case i dont see how they
> apply. the curator is spanish speaking and none of the "pioneers" are !
>
> but yes, i love nahum too :)
>
> best
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 10:08 AM, roger malina <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>> bronac
>>
>> yes we have already had a discussion on the yasmin list and one of the
>> points that i tried to make is that the gender issue is only one of many
>> exclusion mechanisms in our social processes- and that curators
>> as key gatekeepers in our ecology play important roles- this l,ist would
>> be a good place to discuss the diversity in curators themselves
>>
>> dont know what the gender statistics are for curators in the art-sci-tech
>> community of practice
>>
>> by coming back to the exclusion point- i also noted the research
>> these days about homophily in social media and that there is much
>> evidence that social media and on line behaviour tends to reinforce
>> like minded people to cluster - and greater polarisation than in physical
>> space
>>
>> an easy example is linguistic segregation and that curators naturally
>> work with artists whose language they share ( and i think that was
>> the comment re no french artists in the exhibition being discussed here)
>>
>> several of us have been going every year to the Kosmica events in mexico
>> city
>> organised by nahum mantra and one of the delights there- in an
>> esoteric community of practice- has been the bridging of language
>> groups in space arts and becoming aware of the work of mexican
>> artists in space arts- even though their work is on the web- we
>> tend to read web sites in our own language even if there are now
>> crude translation tools- of course the fact that search engines re inforce
>> the linguistic segregation adds to this..as a curator nahum mantra
>> navigates seamlessly between the english and spanish speaking worlds
>> and this translation role enables more inclusion
>>
>> so i think we need to broaden the gender discussion in the history
>> of our field to other exclusion mechanisms
>>
>> roger malina
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 8:35 AM, pedro <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> Annick, many thanks for the info - do you have links ? pdfs ?
>>>
>>> best
>>>
>>> pedro
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 9:38 AM, Annick Bureaud <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ricardo Dal Farra has done a comprehensive survey of South American
>>>> pionners in contemporary-electronic music.
>>>> Many researchers are currently working on pioneers in Chile.
>>>> The Brazilian are quite well documented (in English in Leonardo and in
>>>> French in the book I edited for the @rt Outsiders Festival in 2005)
>>>> This history is being writen, documented, and discussed in places like
>>> the
>>>> conf. Media Art Histories and also in some sessions at ISEA.
>>>> It is NOT the documentation that is really missing ...
>>>>
>>>> annick
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Le 05/02/14 15:25, pedro a écrit :
>>>>
>>>> sarah, that is excellent news - thanks for that info.
>>>>>
>>>>> right ashok, only europe and united states (and one japanese,
>> resident
>>> in
>>>>> paris) are represented !
>>>>>
>>>>> ah sorry, there are 3 bogotá boys - emerging contemporary artists and
>>>>> university teachers - i can only imagine that they are friends of
>> the
>>>>> curator because they are certainly not "responsible for pioneering
>>>>> processes and innovations that we use regularly to communicate
>> research,
>>>>> ideas and ideology" ...
>>>>>
>>>>> laura - maybe you could ask John Angel to have a look at this thread
>> and
>>>>> help us understand the context of his curatorial decisions ... it
>> would
>>> be
>>>>> very helpful. Would be great to see the budget too (Bill Viola ?
>> Damien
>>>>> Hisrt (sic) ????) but that's probably asking too much.
>>>>>
>>>>> A pair of my favourite south american pioneers : Juan Downey (from
>>> chile,
>>>>> pioneer of video and interactive art, co-editor of Radical Software)
>> and
>>>>> Jacqueline Nova, the first electroacoustic music composer in
>> Colombia.
>>>>> Tellingly both artists lived much of their lives in the north (Juan
>> in
>>> NYC
>>>>> and Jacqueline in Paris). However, they are both dead.
>>>>>
>>>>> best
>>>>>
>>>>> pedro
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 7:56 AM, Sarah Cook <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> further to this discussion some of you may have noticed the
>>> Art+Feminism
>>>>>> Wikipedia Edit-a-thon which took place across the globe on Saturday
>>>>>> February 1st.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/ArtAndFeminism
>>>>>> http://artandfeminism.tumblr.com/
>>>>>> https://eyebeam.org/events/art-feminism-wikipedia-edit-a-thon
>>>>>> 80 or so new articles were created, and more than 60 expanded or
>>> cleaned
>>>>>> up, and a movement was started.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In Dundee we are going to host another one, probably March 13th, and
>>>>>> start
>>>>>> to have regular get-togethers to increase the amount of information
>>> about
>>>>>> women artists on that most global of resources.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If you want to add to the list of pages which need editing or
>> creating
>>> on
>>>>>> Wikipedia, please do so.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> and yes, I agree, it is a race and gender issue.... and I feel we
>> need to
>>
>>>>>> be
>>>>>> aware with exhibitions that they are a key part in the
>> historicisation
>>>>>> of a
>>>>>> field of practice, especially when they are the "first" show on a
>> topic
>>>>>> in
>>>>>> a place or a show that purports to show "pioneers" - how can we
>> balance
>>>>>> this hyperbole around the practice and complicate the picture of the
>>>>>> field
>>>>>> we work in? This particular show in question was collectively
>> curated,
>>>>>> but
>>>>>> raises an important problem in this regard.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> sarah
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 5 Feb 2014, at 12:35, Bronac Ferran <[log in to unmask]<mailto:
>>>>>> [log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Annick and colleagues
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The exhibition in Bogota was curated by John Angel Rodriquez - yes?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There has also be some exchange on the Yasmin list about this. One
>>>>>> contributor commented that there were no French artists involved. I
>>> don't
>>>>>> know if this was a serious comment.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Liliane Lijn is someone whose work has been pioneering in many
>> senses.
>>>>>> She
>>>>>> wrote a lovely essay recently called Poetry, Language, Code,
>> Industry
>>>>>> which
>>>>>> we commissioned for the Visualise: Making Art in Context publication
>>>>>> (published by Anglia Ruskin University November 2013). If anyone
>> wishes
>>>>>> to
>>>>>> contact me offlist I can try to send you the book or at least the
>>> essay.
>>>>>> Annick, it is not (yet) in French but I guess could be easily
>>> translated
>>>>>> -
>>>>>> I could ask Liliane - and certainly it offers good insights into
>> the
>>>>>> nature of being a female artist on pioneering ground over the past
>> five
>>>>>> decades.
>>>>>> Best wishes
>>>>>> B
>>>>>> Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: Annick Bureaud <[log in to unmask]<mailto:bur
>>>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Sender: "Curating digital art - www.crumbweb.org<
>>>>>> http://www.crumbweb.org>" <[log in to unmask]
>> <mailto:
>>>>>> [log in to unmask]>>
>>>>>> Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2014 12:51:18
>>>>>> To: <[log in to unmask]<mailto:
>>>>>> [log in to unmask]>>
>>>>>> Reply-To: Annick Bureaud <[log in to unmask]<mailto:bur
>>>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] digital / analogue exhibition
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The spontaneous list was necessary as a reaction, but I
>>>>>> would be more reluctant in building a map : it puts again
>>>>>> women in an inferior position.
>>>>>> Reacting, like in this case, is more important to me and of
>>>>>> course including them in exhibitions, conferences, etc. And
>>>>>> documenting their work through art history research and writing.
>>>>>> This said, in the Leonardo/Olats Pioneers & Pathbreakers
>>>>>> project : only one women + a couple !!! Ouch ! Should I do
>>>>>> what I advocate for ?!
>>>>>> OK. We did not move further into this project by lack of
>>>>>> fundings, but still...
>>>>>> If someone is ready to write in French about a woman, I
>>>>>> would be delighted. I would love to have something on Vera
>>>>>> Molnar. At the moment, I have zero budget to move on, on
>>>>>> this project ... and it does take real time to do it in a
>>>>>> professional way.
>>>>>> If someone is interested ....
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Annick
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Le 05/02/14 12:01, Prof. Monika Fleischmann a écrit :
>>>>>> .... working on a growing map would be a really nice idea.
>>>>>> Monika
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Am 05.02.14 11:39, schrieb Pauline van Mourik Broekman:
>>>>>> Hey Marc, no sweat, that's how I - for one - read it
>>>>>> completely; and I
>>>>>> really don't understand how anyone could be insulted by
>>>>>> such an incredibly
>>>>>> generous list. Clearly, we're not looking here for an
>>>>>> ultimate and newly
>>>>>> objective 'map', that's the whole point! We're looking
>>>>>> more for an
>>>>>> approach and awareness, of different partialities, and how
>>>>>> to robustly
>>>>>> tilt them......
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks for the hour, and hours, you put in :)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Pauline.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> marc garrett wrote:
>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I just wanted to respond to those surprised I did not
>>>>>> included them in
>>>>>> the list.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Well, of course I'm going to miss out names and you're
>>>>>> missing the
>>>>>> point. It's an example not a literal replacement.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I spent an hour of my time compiling the selected
>>>>>> 'female' names to
>>>>>> highlight how extensive this issue is.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We need to change this not by compiling lists (it's a
>>>>>> start) but by
>>>>>> challenging our own compliance allowing it to happen. It
>>>>>> misrepresents
>>>>>> our culture and practice and we should be embarrassed if
>>>>>> we let it go on.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When ever women and working class people, are viewed
>>>>>> through the usual
>>>>>> protocols and defaults of the patriarchal gaze of an
>>>>>> 'assumed'
>>>>>> objectivity. It implements a mythology via processes of
>>>>>> non-inclusion.
>>>>>> This enhances the condition to further introduce the idea
>>>>>> of women and
>>>>>> others not included as subordinates rather than as being
>>>>>> part of the
>>>>>> whole story.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Recognizing this condition is the start of being
>>>>>> conscious of it.
>>>>>> Critiquing this repeated behaviour demands another level
>>>>>> of engagement.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> To borrow a phrase from Haraway, it would have to be "a
>>>>>> feminist voice;
>>>>>> it is also a whisper of humanism".
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Wishing you well.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> marc
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ------------------------
>>>>>> Annick Bureaud ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>)
>>>>>> tel: 33/(0)1 43 20 92 23
>>>>>> mobile/cell : 33/(0)6 86 77 65 76
>>>>>> Leonardo/Olats : http://www.olats.org
>>>>>> Web : http://www.annickbureaud.net
>>>>>> Collectif Nunc : http://www.nunc.com
>>>>>> -------------------------
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ===
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Dr. Sarah Cook
>>>>>> Reader / Dundee Fellow
>>>>>> Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
>>>>>> University of Dundee
>>>>>> 13 Perth Road DD1 4HT
>>>>>>
>>>>>> phone: 01382 385247
>>>>>> email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The University of Dundee is a registered Scottish Charity, No:
>> SC015096
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------
>>>> Annick Bureaud ([log in to unmask])
>>>> tel: 33/(0)1 43 20 92 23
>>>> mobile/cell : 33/(0)6 86 77 65 76
>>>> Leonardo/Olats : http://www.olats.org
>>>> Web : http://www.annickbureaud.net
>>>> Collectif Nunc : http://www.nunc.com
>>>> -------------------------
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Roger F Malina
>> Is in Texas right now
>> please contact me by email but
>> for very very urgent things phone/text me me
>> 1-510-853-2007
>> blog: malina.diatrope.com
>>
>
>
--
Roger F Malina
Is in Texas right now
please contact me by email but
for very very urgent things phone/text me me
1-510-853-2007
blog: malina.diatrope.com
|
