Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI) - In the spotlight January 2005

The game as devised by Herman Hesse in his novel, The Glass Bead Game -- a book that has been seen as prophetic about the personal computer itself (Timothy Leary), a version on paper of an interactive video game -- is the frame holding together Art Digital 2004. It is through the presentation of digital works embodying this interactivity, that the festival aims to become a melting pot where art, music, science, philosophy, mathematics, and spirituality all converge. The gallery becomes the place where the Homo Ludens meets the Homo Faber.

Art Digital 2004 is the biggest exhibition to date on art and new technologies ever shown in Russia. It is an unprecedented attempt to diffuse and propagate the discourse about a type of art that has suffered from lack of access to exhibition venues in the past. Although it includes sophisticated interactive installations (some even online and employing cultured neurons from an embryonic rat cortex), the festival does not want to be a glorification of optical sensors, chips and fast net connections. It simply wants to celebrate art above all possible classifications.

Artists: Lorenzo Pizzanelli (Italy), Melanie Manchot (UK/Germany), Feng Mengbo (China), Blue Noses (Vyachelasv Mizin and Aleksander Shaburov) (Russia), Olga Kisseleva (France/Russia), Robert Dean Arnold (USA), and others.

Art Digital 2004 is produced by the Association Mâ€™ARS and it is part of the official programme of the First Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art.

Antonio Geusa
Contemporary Art Center Mâ€™ARS
Pushkarev 5, Moscow, Russia
tel./fax 007 095 9235610
http://www.marsgallery.ru

SciArt Commissions...

Collaborations between art and science is a buoyant field of activity. Visual art, music, digital media, film, creative writing and the performing arts provide fresh and exciting ways of interacting with scientific research, intriguing and captivating spectators and engaging a wide range of audiences in scientific issues. In turn, science - with its vivid history, complex contemporary advances and the social, ethical and emotional implications - offers an inexhaustible supply of inspiration for the arts.

Projects should aim to explore new modes of enquiry and stimulate fresh thinking and debate in both disciplines. Innovation and experimentation are crucial. At the same time projects should be accessible to diverse audiences and should attempt to engage the public in the philosophical and ethical issues that surround contemporary biomedical science.

Deadline: April 22, 2005

Full Details: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/node2530.html

"Space: Planetary Consciousness and the Arts" is the theme of the 9th workshop and symposium on space and the arts which is being co-organized by the O.U.R.S. Foundation, Leonardo/Olats, Maison d'Ailleurs and the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and its Commission VI. It is scheduled to be held at the ChÃ¢teau and Museum of Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland from 19-21 May 2005.

The idea of 'Planetary Consciousness' is directly associated with the famous image of the 'Whole Earth' taken by the Apollo astronauts â€“ our home planet as an island of life floating against the vast blackness of the cosmos. This image has since become a universally embraced symbol used equally by the environmental and globalization movements that dominate society today. On a fundamental level it directly reflects upon the interconnectedness and interdependence of all life on Earth and the Universe.

Scientists have focused their space technologies on the planet and have begun an extensive monitoring of the state of its well being. Not only are environmental and ecological changes and developments being scrutinized and analyzed on an ongoing basis but human affairs such as political and military developments are being monitored from space as well. Space technologies have also catalyzed a radical expansion of our species' abilities to communicate, exchange and access information and this is having an exponential impact on its collective knowledge base.

In the late 60's, theoreticians, like Marshall McLuhan and Buckminster Fuller have proposed visions of this "global unique earth", through the 'Global Village' for McLuhan and the 'Spaceship Earth' notion for Buckminster Fuller. In the 1970's James Lovelock introduced the 'Gaia' theory that speculates that the Earth behaves as if it were a "superorganism", made up from all the living things and from their material environment. These ideas are being much discussed today, revised and pushed further by a new generation of theoreticians and artists alike.

Workshop and Symposium Format will begin with a Welcome Event on Thursday evening 19 May 2005. The two-day formal workshop and symposium will take place in the ChÃ¢teau d'Yverdon on 20-21 May 2005 and will consist of oral presentations from both invited and contributing speakers. One half-day session will be open to the general public.

There will be no charge for participation in the workshop. Participation in the workshop will be limited to 25 persons. Only one author per presentation will be eligible to participate in the workshop unless special arrangements for joint presentations have been made in advance. Travel and accommodation expenses are the responsibility of each participant.

Venue: The workshop will be held in the picturesque city of Yverdon-les-Bains and conducted in the 13th-century castle in the heart of town (http://www.ylb.ch) and will take place the context of the "Science ET citÃ©" festival http://www.festival05.ch/events/fr.aspx

Contact: Any questions concerning the "Space: Planetary Consciousness and the Arts"
workshop and symposium should be sent to: workshop2005@arsastronautica.com

The OURS Foundation [co-organizer] is a cultural and astronautical organization http://www.ours.ch/information.htm

Up-Coming Event
March 16-19, 2005 - "The Impact of Space on Society: Cultural Aspects" (Budapest) http://www.impactofspace.hu