SURREPTITIOUS NETWORKS
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CRUMB Professional Development Workshop in collaboration with Pixel Palace
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Monday, 20 May 2013, 11am - 6pm
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Tyneside Cinema,
Figgis Room,
10 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 6QG
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This artist-led workshop, developed by CRUMB post-doctoral research associate Isabella Streffen and co-chaired by Dr. Sarah Cook of CRUMB, will focus on the “surreptitious networks” operating within artistic practices. The aim is to reveal how artists expose, work with, critique and create inadvertent or hidden networks in the development of their practices.
WORKSHOP

This artist-led workshop, developed by CRUMB post-doctoral research associate Isabella Streffen and co-chaired by Dr. Sarah Cook of CRUMB, will focus on the “surreptitious networks” operating within artistic practices. The aim is to reveal how artists expose, work with, critique and create inadvertent or hidden networks in the development of their practices. The event is being hosted with The Pixel Palace at the Tyneside Cinema.

The workshop will share knowledge from the practices, strategies and critical perspectives of four artists/artist groups working with digital and non-digital networks:

– Graham Harwood (YoHa, Mediashed, Mongrel, convenor of MA in Interactive Methods at the Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London and PhD candidate at CRUMB)
– Lise Autogena (Reader in Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University)
– Joanna Griffin (doctoral candidate, Transtechnology Research group, University of Plymouth) Isabella Streffen (Post-doctoral research associate at CRUMB)

Discussions will touch upon methods and meanings of network creation, both deliberate and accidental, and the relationship between the human and the non-human.


QUESTIONS that are likely to arise:

What other types of networks emerge as the by-products of digitally networked practices?

How can the exploration of networks most usefully seed other networks? What strategies do artists use to navigate and manage networks in their practice?

How do the “echo networks” of digitally networked practices differ from those of non-digital practices?


DOCUMENTATION AND WRITING BURSARIES

The presentations in the morning will be broadcast by BasicFM, while the afternoon workshops will offer a chance for participants to engage more closely with each of the artists to discuss strategies.

There are three CVAN-supported critical writing bursaries on offer for emerging artists and writers to reflect on networks, the workshop, or the practices shared by the participating artists with their resulting articles to be co-published by a-n and CRUMB. All documentation from the event will be co-published by CRUMB and a-n. For more information visit CVAN.


SPEAKERS / workshop leaders details:

Graham Harwood has lived and worked with Matsuko Yokokoji since 1994 (working under the name YoHa, English translation “aftermath”). YoHa’s graphic vision and technical tinkering has powered several celebrated collaborations, establishing an international reputation for pioneering arts projects, including the first online commission from the Tate Gallery London, and work for the permanent collections of the Pompidou Centre, ZKM, and Manifesta07. Harwood and Yokokoji co-founded the artists group Mongrel (1996-2007), and established the MediaShed free media lab in 2005. In 2009, they joined Richard Wright to produce Tantalum Memorial (which went on to win first-prize at transmediale). YoHa produced Coal Fired Computers at AV Festival in 2010, and Invisible Airs in 2011. Graham Harwood is convenor of the MA Interactive Media at the Centre for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths.

Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway have worked together for over twenty years on ambitious multimedia installations and data visualization projects that explore our relations to the networks, economies, geographies and technologies that surround us, and how our human experience is changed by incorporation into these systems. Their work is exhibited internationally, and they are best known for projects that include The Sound Mirrors Project, Black Shoals Stock Market Planetarium (seen at Tate Britain) and Most Blue Skies. They are currently working on Foghorn Requiem, which will be performed at Souter Lighthouse on June 22, 2013. Lise Autogena is Reader in Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University.

Joanna Griffin is an artist researcher who is interested in the experiential dimension of space technologies. She works on socially engaged projects using art practice to understand how space-faring enterprises merge with everyday life. She has been the recipient of the International Arts Council Fellowship at NASA Space Science Lab at UC Berkeley; has worked on commissions for The Arts Catalyst in the UK; and was instrumental in creating a major astronomy festival Kalpaneya Yatre: Journey of Imaginations, In Bangalore, India. She is a contributor to the artist/hacker collective Orbitando Satélites and mentored the Moon Vehicle project, an artist-led response to the launch of the Chandrayaan-1 mission to the moon. She has published in Leonardo and Cultural Politics journals, and is currently finishing her doctorate with the Transtechnology Research Group at Plymouth University.

Isabella Streffen is an artist working with military technologies and contested sites in fine art practice. She is currently post-doctoral research associate with CRUMB, where she is developing her new project Dronology. She has exhibited in Europe and the US, and has undertaken high profile residencies at the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Hadrian’s Wall, the Library of Congress and the Terra Foundation for American Art. She has a PhD in practice-based art from Newcastle University and in 2013 will be undertaking research around economies and networks of global capital as represented in art for the University of Manchester in partnership with the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art. http://isabellastreffen.net

WHO IS IT FOR?

Workshop is open to artists, curators and practitioners interested in this field of work.
Workshop is free but places are limited and booking is required.

HOW TO BOOK?

Please send an email to Isabella Streffen at streffen@mac.com by Wednesday 15th May including the following information:
1. Your contact details.
2. Up to 200 words on your particular area of practice in relation to this workshop, and what you hope to get from attending. Please include a URL.
3. Any special needs you have.

CREDITS:

This workshop has been organised by Isabella Streffen, post-doctoral research associate with CRUMB, as part of her fellowship made possible by the AHRC Cultural Engagement Scheme. This project is supported by CRUMB and the University of Sunderland, in partnership with CVAN, Pixel Palace and a-n.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE:

10:30 – 11:00am >> Tea and registration

11:00 – 11:20am >> Workshop welcome by Dominic Smith (Pixel Palace) and Sarah Cook (CRUMB) and introduction to the key questions by Isabella Streffen

11:20 – 1:00pm >> Speakers' Presentations and Q&A

1:00 – 1:45pm >> Lunch Break (participants to make their own arrangements, though space will be provided if you want to bring a packed lunch)

1.45 – 4:45pm >> Speakers’ Workshops (every participant will get to attend every artist’s workshop)

5:00 – 5:15pm >> Coffee/Tea break (refreshments provided)

5:15 – 6:00pm >> Final discussion and closing