Urban Screens Manchester

It’s About Content!

Manchester Conference: 11 + 12 October 2007
Public arts + events programme:  11 - 14 October 2007

SPECIAL OFFER - BOOK BEFORE SEPTEMBER 30th 
Two days: GBP80 / GBP60 concs
One day: GBP60 / GBP40 concs

DELEGATE RATES AFTER SEPTEMPER 30th
Two days: GBP100 / GBP80 concs
One day: GBP80 / GBP60

Which curatorial criteria should be applied to the creation and curation of
urban screens? Do urban screens suit a presentation of elaborate artistic
content or will entertainment win over art? These questions along with many
others will be addressed on day two of the conference, accompanied by two
inspiring screenings from the art & events programme. Read on…..

Focus Session: Curating Screen Art for an Urban and Architectural Context,
Cornerhouse
Moderator Mike Stubbs (UK) is Director of FACT in Liverpool. His own
internationally commissioned artwork includes media installations and
large-scale projections for public environments. He will lead the discussion
on the role that curators and new media experts could play in the conception
of media facades and other urban screens. At present, many existing urban
screens lack the comprehensive sophistication that allows exploration of
spatial, architectural or medial potentials. 

Sylvia Kouvali (GR) is the initiator and curator of Yama, the first
international space for publicising contemporary art in Turkey that opened
in July 2007. Based on this experience, Kouvali will present a dialogue on
how democratic or populist the content of the imposing and omnipresent
screen can be and how much one can really show in public.

Michelle Kasprzak (CA/UK) is a curator, writer, and artist. She argues that
presenting artwork on urban screens comes with a special set of
considerations, challenges, and advantages that are unique to that context.
Kasprzak will examine the opportunities that are opened up to artists and
curators within this emerging format. 

Dooeun Choi (KR) is the curator at Art Center Nabi which opened in 2000 as
the first media art centre in Seoul, Korea. She will introduce COMO, an
extended media platform located in the centre. Since 2004, the LED displays
have been known as a unique multi-media installation which integrates art
and architecture to create a new convergence. The focus is not on the
outcomes but the creative energy emerging from free and imaginative human
communication. 

Otherworldly & Best of Transmedia, All screens
Curated by Michelle Kasprzak, Otherworldly premiered on the public screen at
Federation Square, Melbourne, and features contributions by artists that
take viewers on a journey through spaces that are at once familiar and
alien. Best of Transmedia is a programme for which artists produced
moving-image work that is very short (often a minute or less), and that
could be sandwiched between advertisements. But as with most limitations,
the condition of using urban screens as a platform fosters innovative work.

Communication <--> Spaces, All Saints 
Dooeun Choi has curated Communication <--> Spaces, a time–based visual poem
and collaboration between the Korean motion graphics designer Weong-Woong
Cheong and artist Bill Seaman. The work poetically explores notions of the
space of communication, underlined by traditional Korean music and
experimental dance music.

Register your interest now at www.manchesterurbanscreens.org.uk

Urban Screens Manchester has been curated by Dr Susanne Jaschko .
Urban Screens Manchester has been supported by Cornerhouse and BBC.
It has been funded by Arts Council England, Manchester City Council,
Marketing Manchester. With support from MDDA and Manchester Knowledge Capital.