SPECULUM ARTIUM 09

SPECULUM ARTIUM 09
Festival of Inter-Media Art
May 12 - 15, 2009
Delavski dom Trbovlje, Trbovlje, Slovenia

Organized by: Delavski dom Trbovlje / Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia / Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia / ArtNetLab Society for Connecting Art and Science.

http://black.fri.uni-lj.si/2009/index.php?option=com\_artnetlab&EventID=32

This year's edition of the festival of inter-media art SPECULUM ARTIUM 09 is a continuation of a cultural dialogue between two European academies and one from Asia. It places the chosen works of students right beside a selection of works of three recognised new-media artists chosen by the artist, theoretician and professor Peter Weibl from ZKM (Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe).

Three student works have been chosen from the University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology. Similarly, the selection was made by professor Christa Sommerer and assistant Michaela Ortner at the University of Art and Design in Linz and three student works have been chosen by professor Sreco Dragan, Chair of Video and New Media studies at the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design.

The students' works are contextual, interactive, conceptual and performative. They function as a subversive intermediary between art, technology and society. They are shown not only to enable a critical reflexion, but also to guide the visitor in the process of gaining new techno experiences.

The focus is on recognizing specific training techniques (modules) developed by the three academies and on the discovery of new strategies on the basis of connecting differences.
In this context the historical background of the Japanese society in which the traditional culture is still present, to this day, as an important part of their contemporary art and technology, has an exceptional meaning for the western digital society as a society inclined to exclude. On the other hand, it is interesting to observe what the development and placement of mobile and performative interactive projects in a public place mean to the students of Linz academy, where the yearly festival Ars Electronica is their natural social environment.

In this triangle of differences, we contribute the experience of connecting the chair of Video and New Media at the Ljubljana art academy to the Faculty of Computer and Information Sciences with common projects as a form of connecting an art concept to a scientific idea. It is a unique and successful netting of sociology and scientific sphere. At the same time we are constantly looking for places in which these experimental settings are shown. Not only are they shown in festivals, but also in research laboratories, vee-jay clubs, university classes, on the internet and through mobile technology companies. In a perpetual motion of finding the right spot and the most suitable partners to help us achieve our goals we have chosen this year the Delavski dom Trbovlje and the City Art Museum in Ljubljana.

TRBOVLJE - THE NEW MEDIA SETTING is the slogan of this town that counts on the chance to be able to write its name on the world map of active new media art happenings. This is the town that launched the group LAIBACH and Iztok Kovac with his ballet group EN KNAP.

The extended parallel program SPECULUM ARTIUM includes also: “Video Match 09” - a selection of student video works from the La Esmeralda academy from Mexico City curated by Neli Ružić and video works from ALUO Ljubljana chosen by assistant professor Dusan Bucar, “BREAKING THE SPACE” - a selection of Cyberfeminist Activist Net Art curated by Evelin Stermitz from Austria, an opening musical spectacle by Laibach, a workshop “Video Zone Trbovlje” that will enable the spectator to enter in private houses through a techno-performance as a link between the artist-performer and the public and a theoretical debate about current modules of university media studies.

Prof. Sreco Dragan
Chair Principal, Department of Video and New Media
Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia