In the same manner as the symposium’s dialogic approach, and in an attempt to stimulate further reflection, three conversations among curators, artists and researchers will take place throughout February and March 2021 via our viewing platform. Following these discussions, there will be exchanges with the public, who will then have access to the presentations’ archives.
Conversation 1 —
Empathy and Solidarity for the Times to Come
Carmen Salas (ESP)
Kefiloe Siwisa (ZAF)
10h (UTC-5) — February 23 2021
Carmen Salas (ESP)
bio
Carmen Salas, a curator and cultural producer, has more than 15 years of experience in the fields of art, technology and digital culture. She is the founder and artistic director of Connecting the Dots, an international forum on creativity, art and digital culture that has been taking place in Mexico City since 2018. From 2017 to 2019, she curated the forum Paradigm Shift for the Mapping Festival in Geneva. In 2009, she co-founded Alpha-ville in London, an international festival dedicated to exploring the intersection of art, technology, society and digital culture through a series of conferences, exhibitions, workshops and audiovisual events. Her most recent projects and reflections concern the role that art and culture have in driving systems change.
Kefiloe Siwisa (ZAF)
bio
Kefiloe Siwisa is a cultural worker and curator based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Currently an Associate at Stevenson Gallery, she previously has served as curator of Turbine Art Fair and assistant curator of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fairs' public programme. Siwisa has collaborated with institutions in South Africa, United Kingdom, United States and Morocco. She holds an MFA in Curating from Goldsmiths University of London and a BA in Art History and Visual Culture from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
In a forward looking perspective, this discussion will explore the potential of strategies that call for benevolence and altruism in the digital arts sphere. The discussed issues will be guided by a focus on the social resonances of curatorial practices within our communities.
Moderator: Tamar Tembeck
Tamar Tembeck is an art historian, curator and researcher whose work engages with visual cultures of illness and medicine. She is artistic director of the artist-run centre OBORO.
Carmen Salas (ESP)
bio
Carmen Salas, a curator and cultural producer, has more than 15 years of experience in the fields of art, technology and digital culture. She is the founder and artistic director of Connecting the Dots, an international forum on creativity, art and digital culture that has been taking place in Mexico City since 2018. From 2017 to 2019, she curated the forum Paradigm Shift for the Mapping Festival in Geneva. In 2009, she co-founded Alpha-ville in London, an international festival dedicated to exploring the intersection of art, technology, society and digital culture through a series of conferences, exhibitions, workshops and audiovisual events. Her most recent projects and reflections concern the role that art and culture have in driving systems change.
Kefiloe Siwisa (ZAF)
bio
Kefiloe Siwisa is a cultural worker and curator based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Currently an Associate at Stevenson Gallery, she previously has served as curator of Turbine Art Fair and assistant curator of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fairs' public programme. Siwisa has collaborated with institutions in South Africa, United Kingdom, United States and Morocco. She holds an MFA in Curating from Goldsmiths University of London and a BA in Art History and Visual Culture from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Conversation 2 —
Collective Voices for Digital Decolonization
Jepchumba (KEN/USA/ZAF)
John Hampton (Chickasaw/CAN/USA)
10h (UTC-5) — March 2 2021
Jepchumba (KEN/USA/ZAF)
bio
Jepchumba was on Forbes Magazine’s list as one of the 20 youngest power women in Africa in 2012 and in The Guardian as one of Africa’s top 25 Women achievers. A cultural ambassador, Jepchumba is the Founder and Creative Director of African Digital Art, a collective and creative space where digital artists, enthusiasts and professionals can seek inspiration, showcase their artistry and connect with emerging artists. Jepchumba is dedicated to promoting the growth of creative technology in Africa. Originally from Kenya, she has lived in many places, travelled the world and given talks about her commitment to Africa’s culture of creating with technology. An African digital artist, she is passionate about producing unique digital experiences. She enjoys experimenting with motion and sound and her current concern is to create visual projects that are live and react to the intensity of the environment, crowds and circumstances: what she describes as “creating magical moments.”
John Hampton (Chickasaw/CAN/USA)
bio
John G. Hampton (he/him or they/them) is a curator, artist and administrator living in oskana kâ-asastêki/Regina. He recently was appointed the Executive Director and CEO of the MacKenzie Art Gallery, where he has served as Director of Programs since October 2018. John is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, the United States and Canada, and previously has held positions as Executive Director of the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba and Artistic Director of Trinity Square Video. In addition to his role at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Hampton holds an adjunct curator appointment at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, adjunct professorship at the University of Regina, and is the co-chair of the Indigenous Curatorial Collective board of directors. He holds a MA in Visual Studies – Curatorial Studies from the University of Toronto, and a BA in Visual Arts from the University of Regina.
This talk aims to stimulate reflection on the power of collective mobilizations to create spaces of exchange to further the emancipation for under-represented communities, particularly in the world of digital art. Platforms as diverse as Future Lab Africa, African Digital Art and The Indigenous Curatorial Collective will be at the core of the discussed issues.
Moderator: Armando Perla
Armando Perla is an independent curator, consultant and a board member of the International Council of Museums’ International Committee on Ethical Dilemmas. He was also a founding curator of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Jepchumba (KEN/USA/ZAF)
bio
Jepchumba was on Forbes Magazine’s list as one of the 20 youngest power women in Africa in 2012 and in The Guardian as one of Africa’s top 25 Women achievers. A cultural ambassador, Jepchumba is the Founder and Creative Director of African Digital Art, a collective and creative space where digital artists, enthusiasts and professionals can seek inspiration, showcase their artistry and connect with emerging artists. Jepchumba is dedicated to promoting the growth of creative technology in Africa. Originally from Kenya, she has lived in many places, travelled the world and given talks about her commitment to Africa’s culture of creating with technology. An African digital artist, she is passionate about producing unique digital experiences. She enjoys experimenting with motion and sound and her current concern is to create visual projects that are live and react to the intensity of the environment, crowds and circumstances: what she describes as “creating magical moments.”
John Hampton (Chickasaw/CAN/USA)
bio
John G. Hampton (he/him or they/them) is a curator, artist and administrator living in oskana kâ-asastêki/Regina. He recently was appointed the Executive Director and CEO of the MacKenzie Art Gallery, where he has served as Director of Programs since October 2018. John is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, the United States and Canada, and previously has held positions as Executive Director of the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba and Artistic Director of Trinity Square Video. In addition to his role at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Hampton holds an adjunct curator appointment at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, adjunct professorship at the University of Regina, and is the co-chair of the Indigenous Curatorial Collective board of directors. He holds a MA in Visual Studies – Curatorial Studies from the University of Toronto, and a BA in Visual Arts from the University of Regina.
Conversation 3 —
Connecting Realities: AI and VR
Iris Long (CHN)
Nora N. Khan (USA)
18h (UTC-5) — March 4 2021
Iris Long (CHN)
bio
Iris Long is a writer and independent curator. She currently works as a researcher on art, science and technology at Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing, China), with a focus on how art responds to the current global reality of ubiquitous computing and big data. She also lectures on data art at CAFA. Her work has been presented in “Art and Artificial Intelligence” (Open Conference, ZKM), “Korea Research Fellow” (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea), “Art Machines: International Symposium on Computational Media Art” (Hong Kong), "International Symposium on Electronic Art" and "Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts". She was shortlisted for the first M21-IAAC Award (International Awards for Art Criticism), and her translation work, “Rethinking Curating: Art after New Media,” received a nomination from "Award Art of China" in 2016.
Nora N. Khan (USA)
bio
Nora N. Khan, a writer of criticism, is on the faculty of Rhode Island School of Design, in Digital + Media, where she teaches critical theory, artistic research, writing for artists and designers, and technological criticism. Her texts have been published in Art in America, Flash Art, Mousse, 4Columns, The Brooklyn Rail, Rhizome, California Sunday, Spike Art, The Village Voice and Glass Bead, and she has written commissioned essays for exhibitions at Serpentine Galleries, Chisenhale, the Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou, Swiss Institute and Kunstverein in Hamburg. She received a Critical Writing Grant in support of her writing from the Visual Arts Foundation and the Crossed Purposes Foundation (2018), an Eyebeam Research Residency (2017), and a Thoma Foundation 2016 Arts Writing Award in Digital Art. Her research and writing practice encompass a wide range of artistic collaborations, which include librettos, performances, exhibition essays, scripts and a tiny house.
This conversation will address how AI and VR can affect interdisciplinary projects in the digital art sphere, with parallel concerns on how these technologies can facilitate – or complicate – the understanding of different identities and social issues. It will thus question how AI and VR can help to connect different worlds, either between colleagues and various research fields, or through the digital work’s capacity to trigger experiences of otherness.
Moderator: Dr. Rilla Khaled
Dr. Rilla Khaled is an Associate Professor of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia University. Her work, based in Human-Computer Interaction, Design, and Games Research, focuses on the use of interactive technologies to improve the human condition.
Iris Long (CHN)
bio
Iris Long is a writer and independent curator. She currently works as a researcher on art, science and technology at Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing, China), with a focus on how art responds to the current global reality of ubiquitous computing and big data. She also lectures on data art at CAFA. Her work has been presented in “Art and Artificial Intelligence” (Open Conference, ZKM), “Korea Research Fellow” (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea), “Art Machines: International Symposium on Computational Media Art” (Hong Kong), "International Symposium on Electronic Art" and "Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts". She was shortlisted for the first M21-IAAC Award (International Awards for Art Criticism), and her translation work, “Rethinking Curating: Art after New Media,” received a nomination from "Award Art of China" in 2016.
Nora N. Khan (USA)
bio
Nora N. Khan, a writer of criticism, is on the faculty of Rhode Island School of Design, in Digital + Media, where she teaches critical theory, artistic research, writing for artists and designers, and technological criticism. Her texts have been published in Art in America, Flash Art, Mousse, 4Columns, The Brooklyn Rail, Rhizome, California Sunday, Spike Art, The Village Voice and Glass Bead, and she has written commissioned essays for exhibitions at Serpentine Galleries, Chisenhale, the Venice Biennale, Centre Pompidou, Swiss Institute and Kunstverein in Hamburg. She received a Critical Writing Grant in support of her writing from the Visual Arts Foundation and the Crossed Purposes Foundation (2018), an Eyebeam Research Residency (2017), and a Thoma Foundation 2016 Arts Writing Award in Digital Art. Her research and writing practice encompass a wide range of artistic collaborations, which include librettos, performances, exhibition essays, scripts and a tiny house.
