31 Mar 2009

COLLISION: science, technology and contemporary art
MIT Visual Arts Program Lecture Series

Collision is a cross-disciplinary lecture series that examines the intersection of research in science, technology and contemporary art. This event pairs current research from the MIT Visual Arts Program with cutting edge research in other disciplines including mobile communication design, renewable energy, and neuroscience. Brain, Body, Network is the fourth in a series of five events. The lecture series is directed by Ute Meta Bauer in collaboration with Amber Frid-Jimenez.

Brain, Body, Network: What is the connection between neural networks and networked culture? How does analyzing brain activity relate to designing platforms for distributed social action? What are the connections and dissonances between these two fields?

Speakers: Sebastian Seung is a Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a Professor of Physics at MIT. A revolution is happening in neuroanatomy (the study of the brain's structure). We can now generate images that reveal the full complexity of the brain's neural network using machines that slice brains into thin sections and microscopes that see at the nanoscale. Seung's lab develops artificial intelligence to analyze the images and extract 'connectomes'—maps of all connections between neurons in a brain. Amber Frid-Jimenez is an artist, technologist, and Visiting Lecturer at the MIT Visual Arts Program. Frid-Jimenez will address the dynamic between people and machines in distributed networks, including CLI-mate, a project in development with conceptual artist Mel Chin composed of a networked platform that aims to create an intense personal relationship between individuals and global climate change.

LECTURE SERIES SCHEDULE

02/23/09 - Energy, Community, Communication

Jegan Vincent de Paul is a second-year graduate student in the MIT Visual Arts Program. His Community Grid Project deals with global energy access. Wendy Jacob, an artist and research associate at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, directs the Autism Studio, exploring perceptual features of the broad range of autistic experience. Jae Rhim Lee, Visiting Lecturer at the MIT Visual Arts Program, directs the MIT FEMA Trailer Project, applying environmental justice and permaculture principles to a trailer's conceptualization and re-design.

03/02/09 - Tracking Trash

How can pervasive technologies and contemporary art expose the challenges of waste management and sustainability? Armin Linke is a new affiliate of the MIT Visual Arts Program. He is a multi-media artist based in Milan and Berlin, working in video, photography, sound, interactive installation spaces and design, combining different mediums to blur the border between fiction and reality. Carlo Ratti is a designer, engineer and agit-prop proponent. He teaches at MIT, where he directs the SENSEable City Laboratory. He also practices architecture in Turin, Italy.

03/09/09 - Bio-Diversity

Ruta Remake is an interdisciplinary project that transforms the ruta plant into a cultural icon, signifying the changing role of women in Lithuanian culture. Bodega Algae LLC is a startup company that designs systems to produce biofuel from algae, phytoplankton that absorbs greenhouse gases as they grow. From algae to energy or ruta to remix, these projects challenge our traditional notions of biodiversity. Gediminas Urbonas is a newly-appointed Associate Professor in the MIT Visual Arts Program (see below). Joe Dahmen is an architect whose work engages resource and energy consumption in the design of space and the infrastructure that supports it. He is Chief Executive Officer of Bodega Algae LLC.

04/06/09 - Brain, Body, Network

Sebastian Seung is a Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a Professor of Physics at MIT. We can now generate images that reveal the full complexity of the brain's neural network using machines that slice brains into thin sections and microscopes that see at the nanoscale. Seung's lab develops artificial intelligence that will analyze the images and extract 'connectomes'—maps of all connections between neurons in a brain. Amber Frid-Jimenez is an artist, technologist, and Visiting Lecturer at the MIT Visual Arts Program. Frid-Jimenez will address the dynamic between people and machines in distributed networks, including CLI-mate, a project in development with conceptual artist Mel Chin composed of a networked platform that aims to create an intense personal relationship between individuals and global climate change.

04/13/09 - On the WOW Pod: A Design for Extimacy and Fantasy-Fulfillment for the World of Warcraft Addict

Panel discussion about the inducement of pleasure, fantasy fulfillment, and the mediation of intimacy in a socially-networked gaming paradigm such as World of Warcraft (WOW). Co-sponsored by the MIT Museum, the MIT Visual Arts Program Collision Lecture Series, and the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program. Panelists include: Jean-Baptiste Labrune, Postdoctoral Associate at the Tangible Media Group, MIT Media Lab; Raimundas Malasauskas, Curator, Artists Space (NYC); Henry Jenkins, Co-Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program; Marisa Jahn, Artist in Residence, MIT Media Lab; Steve Shada, artist collaborator; Cati Vaucelle, HCI researcher, MIT Media Lab; and Laura Knott, Curatorial Associate, MIT Museum.

GEDIMINAS URBONAS JOINS FACULTY

The MIT Visual Arts Program is pleased to announce that Gediminas Urbonas has been appointed Associate Professor of Visual Arts. Gediminas and his partner Nomeda Urbonas have gained an international reputation for their socially interactive and interdisciplinary collaborative practice exploring the conflicts and contradictions posed by the economic, social and political conditions in the former Soviet countries. Combining the tools of new and traditional media, their work frequently involves collective activities such as workshops, lectures, debates, TV programs, Internet chat-rooms and public protests that stand at the intersection of art, technology and social criticism. The Lithuanian-born artist received his masters in visual arts from the Vilnius Art Academy in 1994.

ABOUT US

The MIT Visual Arts Program offers a two-year Masters of Science in Visual Studies (SMVisS). The program is focused on the development of artistic practices that challenge traditional genres and the limits of the gallery/museum context. The program is part of the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology