Rapid!Fire!

Upgrade! Montreal :: !RAPID!FIRE! SESSION! :: In the spirit of community exchange and ageless potluck, UpgradeMTL presents the first in a series of !RAPID!FIRE! sessions dedicated to presenting fresh work in the technology arts.

It's first come, first serve. The formula is simple: present, perform and show-and-tell your work; receive feedback from artists, curators, freaks & geeks. Ask questions, get answers, seek technical expertise, trade and sample concepts, files and stuff in a friendly atmosphere of collective energy. Expect socializing and cheap beer.

Presentation is organised in advance with a maximum of 4 presenters per session. Yes that is FIRST COME FIRST SERVE to milk the public brainwaves. Each of the 4 presenters will have 15 minutes to exhibit their work, followed by questions, discussion and much merriment. There will be a projector, soundsystem and net connection. Bring your own laptop or let us know in advance if you need one.

:: PROPOSALS :: email [[ tobias @ upgradeMTL . org ]] Please include the following: name, telephone, URL, short project description (200 words max), short bio (200 words max) and a snappy title. First come, first serve.

:: LOCATION / DATE & TIME ::
March 15th, 2007 . 19H00 - 22H00
StudioXX [ http://studioxx.org ]
338 Terrasse St.Denis
(just south of Sherbrooke)

UpgradeMTL :: Rapid!Fire!:: is presented by StudioXX and hosted by tobias c. van Veen, Angela Dorrer and Kyd Campbell. Thanks to StudioXX for the space.

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Second Life

Upgrade! Paris SL :: Who: ALAIN DELLA NEGRA and KAORI KINOSHITA with MARIE LECHNER as moderator :: When: 2 march 2007 at 1 PM - PST :: Where: Michinaga-Lichty Arts Center, Han Loso (65, 31, 137), SECOND LIFE :: Live on Radio WNE.

Alain Della Negra and Kaori Kinoshita are artists, working on virtual worlds. They present their last documentary about Second Life univers and users. For those who wish to live in this virtual world, Second Life offers the chance to create, manage and develop their own alternate reality. With these kinds of possibilities, and a population that is in constant growth, Second Life has political ramifications. Who decides the rules applied in this virtual world? What laws, what measures need to be defined? Where is the frontier between the virtual and the real, and how is it transmuted? This documentary aims to elucidate the porous nature between real and virtual worlds.

The Upgrade! Paris sessions are organized by Incident.net. They are public and monthly. Artists, researchers, architects, theorists present during one hour their recent work. Partners: RYBN, CITU, Ars Longa, Upgrade! International.

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Activism + Social Transmission

Second Life may or may not be overhyped, and may or may not be the future of the web, but I thought I'd share my experiences with it as I've worked on a documentary about political activism in SL. I've been surprised at how much I'm starting to appreciate its possibilities.

I've taken to heart Clay Shirky's critique that SL has been overly hyped by its creators, and I've been especially interested in Ethan Zuckerman's criticisms of a virtual Camp Darfur, which he argued is an inadequate tool for publicizing such a large scale tragedy; last May he wrote, "given that roughly 100,000 people log into Second Life in a given month - compared to roughly one billion using the Internet as a whole - I suspect people trying to call attention to global issues are better off making a website than a 3D space."

Nevertheless, many people are finding SL useful as a space for activists and organizers to model behavior and create idealized versions of things that are, in reality, broken.

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Networks and Social Change

The third of Mills� criteria specified the necessity to transform opinions into action even against, if necessary, the prevailing system of authority. Although a thorough examination of the relationship between technology, agency, power and social change is beyond the scope of this study, I would like to make some general observations regarding the potential for using networks to promote social change. This attempt is relevant because if, as Mills (1956) suggests, a mass cannot really claim the agency to contest the prevailing authority, then to the extent that networked ICT�s are said to transform publics into masses, they can be said to stand in the way of authentic social change.

At the center of this issue are the ways in which networks in capitalist societies commodify social participation. Borgmann (2004), for instance, rightly points out that commodification is the distinguishing feature of the online social interactions that networks make possible. "To commodify something economically is to pull something that is outside of the market into the market" (p. 64), or in other words, to transform things with no monetary value into things with monetary value �or commodities� through their subordination to the logic of capitalism. Borgmann suggests that the commodification of the social happens when a social practice is taken out of its localized context and offered in a re-packaged format online. Thus, chatting becomes online chatting, dating become online dating, etc. Borgmann attempts to establish that networked sociality robs communities of their original meaning and commodify the cultural production of social space:

The Internet is culturally commodifying by its nature. It frees us from the limitations of space and time... What happens in fact is that commodification reduces ourselves and those we encounter on the Internet to glamorous and attractive personae. Commodification becomes ...

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a slick infographical (& quite provocational) movie discussing some of the US political issues involved in the Iraq war.

looks visually similar to the more recent google master plan.

[link: knife-party.net(mov) & video.google.com|thnkx Theo]

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This semester I will publish selected lectures for my Sociable Media course. Podcasting is great but it is also a bit petrifying to hear my Germano-British accent. Listening to it, I had to confront my occasional generalization but it's a rich pesentation that,  I think, will be worth your while. You can subscribe to this podcast series of lectures. If you listen to it in Itunes or Jukebox you'll miss the presentation slides). Alternatively, you can download the video of the first lecture here (34 MB, 45 mins, m4B file opens in Quicktime or VLC).

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Perry Lowe:

There are two great full-time positions Eyebeam is currently seeking to fill:

Technical Manager and Director of Communications & Marketing

The Eyebeam Technical Manager is a senior position in the Technical and Production Team at Eyebeam. S/he oversees the Audio Visual Technical requirements of the three Labs operated by Eyebeam, ensures that the technical needs of all Eyebeam Fellows and Residents are met to the best of our ability, oversees technology installation requirements for all exhibitions, public programs and special events and ensures that equipment in the labs is well maintained.

The Director of Communications & Marketing is a results-oriented, creative individual familiar with the contemporary art and new media/technology worlds who will assume a key role in strategically repositioning Eyebeam as it approaches its 10th anniversary. Responsible for planning, development and implementation of all of Eyebeam's marketing strategies, marketing communications, and public relations activities, both external and internal. Must use both traditional and non-traditional methods to develop and implement a comprehensive program. Oversees generation of all necessary materials and services, as well as relevant staff and consultant relationships.

For more information and application instructions please visit http://www.eyebeam.org/about/about.php?page=jobs

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Eyebeam is now accepting applications for six-month Residency opportunities. Artists, hackers, designers, engineers and creative technologists are invited to apply to be Residents at Eyebeam, to work for six months on projects or research of artistic endeavor or creative expression. The ideal Resident has experience working with and generating innovative technological art and/or creative technology projects and has a passion for interdisciplinary exchange. Application deadline has been extended to March 5.

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Rhizome is pleased to announce that in 2007 we will commission eleven new works of Internet-based art with awards ranging from $1000-3000. The deadline for proposal submission is April 2! This year, we are funding in two categories: (1) New Works of Internet-based Art and (2) A Community Project. In the first category, the works may manifest offline, in an exhibition space, on a handheld device, or on other media, but must use the Internet as a primary source. The second commissions category is new this year and will be awarded to one artist or group whose project will benefit our community by enhancing communication, participation, or the user experience on the Rhizome website. The commissions are awarded both by jury and by Rhizome Members through a community voting process. In addition to receiving an award, the commissioned art works will be exhibited on Rhizome.org, installed at the New Museum of Contemporary Art for a celebratory event, and archived in our ArtBase archive of digital art. We encourage you to get involved and spread the word! - Rhizome.org

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«Cybernetic Serendipity» and presented at the ICA in London in 1968. It was the first exhibition to attempt to demonstrate all aspects of computer-aided creative activity: art, music, poetry, dance, sculpture, animation. The principal idea was to examine the role of cybernetics in contemporary arts. The exhibition included robots, poetry, music and painting machines, as well as all sorts of works where chance was an important ingredient. It was an intellectual exercise that became a spectacular exhibition in the summer of 1968. Jasia Reichardt London 2005.

Cybernetic Serendipity; ICA, London, 1968.

http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/exhibitions/serendipity/

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