Alice Arnold's Electric Signs (2013) - the future of urban screen spectacles

7-9pm at Harvestworks
www.urbanmediaaesthetics.org
Curated by Tanya Toft

ELECTRIC SIGNS is a poetic and timely documentary about signs, screens and the urban environment, directed by Alice Arnold. The film's narrator, a city observer modeled on the critic Walter Benjamin, takes us on a journey thru a variety of urban landscapes, examining public spaces and making connections between light, perception and the culture of attractions in today's consumer society.

The film is structured as a documentary essay in the spirit of city symphony films, and features Hong Kong, Los Angeles and New York, as well as Tokyo, Las Vegas, Shanghai, Vienna, Macau, Berlin, Seoul, Prague, and Kaohsiung. Also featured are interviews with prominent lighting designers; advertising and marketing professionals; urban sociologists and visual culture experts; community activists; a public space artist whose work offers alternative ideas about the use of media in the public sphere; and with people in the city who walk, sit, work, shop and daydream in these spaces. The spine of the film is a voice-over narrative by a 'city observer' (inspired by the work of Walter Benjamin) who takes us on a journey thru a variety of urban landscapes and who weaves together the film’s themes, cities and various personalities.

The conversation following the screening between the director Alice Arnold and curator Tanya Toft will address the notions of spectacle, politics and perspectives on future critical engagement with urban screens.

The screening and conversation is part of an ongoing curatorial project titled Urban Media Aesthetics (urbanmediaaesthetics.org), launching in December 2013 and curated by Streaming Museum curator Tanya Toft. This is a platform for research, reflection and critical discussion on urban media aesthetics. Its ongoing research is conducted through interviews with curators, artists, architects, cultural planners and artistic producers who, through their practices, have contributed to the shaping of a territory, which is also the territory of possibilities for future practices. The platform facilitates various public events based on the issues brought up in the underlying research and interviews, through screenings, salons and urban art installations, in partnership with various platforms and communities for art and technology. It also facilitates a series of critical writing responses, which from multiple viewpoints investigate themes and subjects particularly relevant to urban media aesthetics now.

Urban Media Aesthetics is initiated with support of CuratorLab / Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design.