The 9th CYBERFEST Comes to Pratt Institute (February 2016)
The era of a real :: virtual global series… CYFEST comes to NYC (February 2016) where CYLAND and Pratt Institute connect those engaged in the borderless, multidisciplinary, progressive movement redefining the intersection between Art :: Tech.
CYFEST NYC: PATTERNS OF THE MIND
Digital networks provide the traditional means of communicating within a new borderless set of parameters,creating a whole new structure of collective consciousness where dynamic, self-assembling tribes can unify instantaneously. Enabled by digital catalysts, society has gone from local to national and from national to transnational tribal behavior and congregation.
In this post-post-modern epoch, what defines one’s place in the virtual and the physical world is the ability to communicate convincingly reality or fantasy. Medium matters, but only up to a point, as a conduit for the message.
CYFEST NYC: Patterns of the Mind enquires into the primacy and power of a creator’s message, in which any medium is only the tool used to carry it across.
CYFEST NYC: PROGRAMMING
EXHIBITION «Patterns of the Mind»
Feb 6 – Mar 3, 2016
Mon to Fri 9am-5pm; Sat noon-5pm
@ The Rubelle and Norman Schafler Gallery, Pratt Brooklyn Campus
200 Willoughby Ave (G or C train to Clinton-Washington)
Curator: Anna Frants. Read Curatorial text
Artwork by: Justin Berry, Petr Belyi, Svjetlana Bukvich, Alexandra Dementieva, Marianna Ellenberg, Carla Gannis, Elena Gubanova / Ivan Govorkov, Pavel Ivanov, Peter Patchen, Vitaly Pushnitsky, Alexander Terebenin, Alyona Tereshko, The Window / Romanian Project, Bryan Zanisnik, Alexey Grachev and Sergey Komarov.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS «Digital Tribalism in Contemporary Art»
Feb 6 (2pm – 3:30pm)
@ Pratt Digital Arts Department
536 Myrtle Ave, 4th Fl (G train to Classon or Clinton-Washington)
Moderator: Anna Frants (artist and Founder / CYLAND, CYFEST)
Panelists: Alexandra Dementieva (artist), Carla Gannis (artist and Assistant Chair, Dept of Digital Arts / Pratt Institute), Natasha Kurchanova (Art Historian / Eastern European Art Critics Society), Lev Manovich (Professor / CUNY Graduate Center), Peter Patchen (artist and Chair, Dept of Digital Arts / Pratt Institute)
Cutting edge technology has made possible global communication and created a “digitaltribalism” phenomenon – in which artists band together not on geographical grounds, but byinterests. Historically, cultural tribes have formed among people sharing ideas, observations, andviews in proximity to each other. As the world grew a virtual parallel, networks now connect like-minded members regardless of location. This panel will explore the transition of self-assembled,dynamic network structures from tangible roots to digital reality.
«Infrastructural Aesthetics»
Feb 6 (11:30am – 1pm)
@ Pratt Digital Arts Department
536 Myrtle Ave, 4th Fl (G train to Classon or Clinton-Washington)
Moderator: Tyler Coburn (artist and Assistant Professor, Dept of Photography / Pratt Institute)
Panelists: Ian Hatcher (poet), Shannon Mattern (Associate Professor of Media Studies / The New School), Nicole Starosielski (Assistant Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication / NYU), Lance Wakeling (Filmmaker)
In modern times, “Infrastructure” departs from its conventional definition by becoming a relational field that various agents can potentially influence. Recently art has explored a wide range of sophisticated (often covert) systems, from military black sites to the electromagnetic signals that suffuse our everyday life. Culturally, these artworks speak to the broader concern of contemporary“infrastructure” — a term geographers Steven Graham and Simon Marvin attest doesn’t just describe what “runs ‘underneath’,” but comprises the “multiple, overlapping and perhaps contradictory” arrangements of politics, technology and economy. Drawing on their work in Media Studies, poetry, and film – panelists will inquire into how art can engage with systems that rarely have singular forms, but concatenate physical, immaterial and a signifying processes.
«Redefining Women in Technology:Tools, Agency, and Representation»
Feb 6 (3:30pm – 5pm)
@ Pratt Digital Arts Department
536 Myrtle Ave, 4th Fl (G train to Classon or Clinton-Washington)
Moderator: Faith Holland
Panelists: Seung Min Lee (artist), Mendi Obadike (artist and Assistant Professor, Dept of Media Studies / Pratt Institute), Martha Wilson (artist and Director / Franklin Furnace, Associate Professor / Pratt Institute)
In a reality where technology is not new but constantly evolving, multiple generations of artistshave developed approaches to various media. Panelist Martha Wilson was an early adopter ofvideo technology as a way to document her performances that challenge the constraints offemininity. Panelist Seung Min-Lee's work uses live performances and installation to reflect ourvaried relationships to technologized food across races and classes. A discussion on how womencan mobilize digital media toward political and artistic agendas — this panel will explore the wayfemales, as an intersectional group, can deploy technology to create new pathways to agency and (self-) representation.
PERFORMANCE «Subjectivization of Sound»
Feb 6 (6:30pm)
@ Digital Arts Gallery, Myrtle Hall 4th Floor
Artists: Alexey Grachev and Sergey Komarov (CYLAND MediaArtLab)
There are two technologies of sound synthesis: digital and analog. If we are to forego serial solutions for any given synthesizer, we can find an infinite number of options for creation of sound forms, from simple oscillators to complex generative algorithms. The path of the authors is the ambition to achieve a sound minimalism and a continuity of creative process during the creation of musical compositions and forms where the choice comes down to the subjective tendency of each one to a certain sounding.