Research Catalogue

The ALMAT 2020 Symposium is interested in the genealogical, processual aspects of algorithms and their transformative potential. We seek critical approaches that avoid both mystification and commodification, that aim at opening the black box of "wonder" that is often presented to the public when utilising algorithms. We depart from the assumption that algorithms possess an inherent material agency that emerges from the intra-action between human and machine (K. Barad). In these exchange processes, we experience gaps, breaks and bends in the flow, the reconfigurative nature of the algorithmic which bounces back and reconfigures our thinking and approach to artistic work. When algorithms are inserted in the creative process, they actively shape this process and spread outside the boundaries of a particular medium or artefact. The symposium looks to rethink the relation between humans and algorithms (N.K. Hayles) in terms of an organic or ecological perspective (Y. Hui) in which actors are entangled and co-generative. The foundation for the symposium is given by the eponymous artistic research project ALMAT - Algorithms that Matter, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF AR 403-GBL) and hosted at the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz. ALMAT 2020 was originally planned to take place (06–07 July) adjoining the 8th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X – xCoAx (08–10 July). xCoAx is an exploration of the intersection where computational tools and media meet art and culture, in the form of a multi-disciplinary enquiry on aesthetics, computation, communication and the elusive X factor that connects them all. Due to the Coronavirus crisis, xCoAx is going into an online-only mode, and the ALMAT symposium has been replaced by an online assemblage of the submitted proposals only.

PENGERKATU 7 TYÖHUONE RESEARCH PROJECT PAGE

„N.N-Zwischenliegend“: Ich forsche zum Thema "Paradoxität" in einer Kunst (Praxis und Theorie) von einer Dokumentation (Realität) – Zeit, Raum und Körper. Eine künstlerische empirische Forschung. Diese Kunst-Forschung ist die Fortsetzung von der Kunst-Forschung „still/silent“ (This artistic research is the continuation of the artistic research "still/silent"). Erster Teil ist N.N-Zwischenliegend - a progressive investigation into errors/eine fortlaufende Untersuchung zu Fehlern (in der Bildwissenschaft und Ästhetik), diese Forschung geht es nicht um digitale photographische Technik, sondern um digitale photographische Technik und experimental Photography heute, und um (Neo-) Repräsentationstheorie (Multimodalität und experimental Dokumentation) : In part of my artistic research in the N.N-Zwischenliegend project – namely digital photography – I am investigating the potentiality of inspiring errors and imperfection, employing three research methods. First, according to the definition, “errors” in this artistic research are not intentional, but rather are created in the concept by chance due to natural phenomena in the digital camera. In the concept of experimental documentary photography of N.N-Zwischenliegend, I did not try to photograph things (Dinge) and objects (Gegenstände) only, but rather I tried to grasp temporal and spatial depth as well as the potentiality of the natural phenomenon. I have implemented this idea in an image with photographic techniques and double exposure, whereby these photographs were combined in the same documentary photo series. Second, I examine the photos for errors from the perspective of different disciplines such as photochemistry, physics, phenomenology, cognitive science, science of images, philosophy, and psychology to reflect whether there are flaws or gaps in the entire N.N-Zwischenliegend series. Third, in the N.N-Zwischenliegend project, I deal with the image as an error or gap with the philosophical reflection on the theme of “estrangement” in the photographic perspective as a narration. If the potential of the fault opened up to us, and if the error thus contributed to an “elasticity” of consciousness or the illusion of depth, I thus question the paradox of seeing in arts, which refers to the question: "Could the fault inspire us in this sense?". To answer this question, in this article I connect to the evolution of consciousness from the perspective of psychology and neuroscience. “The AST (Attention Scheme Theory) covers a lot of ground, from simple nervous systems to simulations of self and others. It provides a general framework for understanding consciousness, its many adaptive uses, and its gradual and continuing evolution.”1 At the same time, it deals with the question of experimental or digital photography today, its perfection and errors in both the world of artistic photography as well as digital culture. 1: Graziano, Michael, A New Theory Explains How Consciousness Evolved - A neuroscientist on how we came to be aware of ourselves, The Atlantic, June 2016.

The transmission and communication of musical concepts and the ways in which they influence or interact with creativity are central to the ontology of music, but this aspect is rarely tackled head-on by musicians themselves. In language, the typical realm of semiotics and semantics, translation theory serves as an interesting and rich field for investigations into the nature of meaning and communication of meanings. In my research, I propose that the application of various translation theories to the field of music opens up new ways of exploring the “meanings” of music, as well as new methodologies for creating musical novelties. To demonstrate this theory in practice, I have chosen to develop and apply translation theories to Evan Parker’s solo soprano saxophone music and translate this music to my own solo double-bass playing, creating new and original solo music on the double-bass.

This exposition conveys the final results of Anne Haaning's artistic research project Half Hidden, which she has been conducting as a PhD Candidate with Oslo National Academy of the Arts in collaboration with the Academy of Arts, UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme. ​ Through the prism of the mineral cryolite, extracted from Greenland by Denmark in the years 1857–1985, the project seeks to uncover hidden structures and histories imbedded in technology. It has done so by exploring analogical correspondences at a specific intersection of technology, myth and colonialism; the method it employs to this end is an investigation of the ontological context of digital image production. Denmark extracted the rare mineral cryolite in Greenland between the mid nineteenth and the late twentieth centuries. Essential to the mass production of aluminium, cryolite proved critical for the shipbuilding and aviation industries during World Wars I and II. The mineral was so important that the cryolite mine was put under US administration during the German occupation of Denmark in World War II. But this history has been virtually erased from the collective memory and consciousness of the Danes. Today, the flooded mine is a scar in the Greenlandic landscape covered by a pervasive mirroring water plane concealing a significant part of the Danish-Greenlandic colonial history.

The Pinacoteca de São Paulo museum, managed by the State of São Paulo Culture and Creative Economy Department, presents from October 26, 2019, to February 16, 2020, the show Adrià Julià: Nem mesmo os mortos sobreviverão [Not Even the Dead Will Survive] — the first solo exhibition of the artist, born in Barcelona in 1974, to be held in Brazil. The show is curated by Fernanda Pitta, the museum’s curator, and artworks will be displayed on the courtyard and in two rooms adjoining the long-term exhibition of Pinacoteca’s collection, on the second floor of the museum building. The works call into question the implications of the techniques of replication, printing and authentication that directed the flow of images in the early days of photography.