INTRODUCTION AND CALL // Special Interest Group 2: Spatial Aesthetics and Artificial Environments

Dear members of SAR,

We cordially invite you to:

Special Interest Group 2: Spatial Aesthetics and Artificial Environments // The CALL //

THE GROUP

In this Special Interest Group (SIG) we want to intersect different practices and discourses as heterogeneous but complementary articulations of ‘space’, that address, operate on and contribute, in different ways and capacities, to the transformation of the contemporary environment and its challenges: the social, the infrastructural, the technological, the sensory, the virtual, the built and the unbuilt.

THE IDEA

The idea was and is to found a group of media theorists, composers, media artists, performers, linguists, architects, designers (…) for the interdisciplinary delineation of the field.
Therefore, moderated by Gerriet K. Sharma, the group started in January 2020 with a multidisciplinary exchange on the social impact of space(s) in our society
to be able to define certain strategies dealing with the multi-layered meanings of space in the mediatized everyday life and the arts.

See SIG2 webpage on RC:

CULTURAL SHIFTS

Through cultural-historical shifts of 'spatiality' throughout the history of knowledge, the concept of space is subject to fundamental change, which both reflects
the respective framework conditions in itself and leads the philosophical undertaking of an empirically-free categorisation ad absurdum:

For example, at the beginning of philosophising stands the metaphysical question of the beginning or the “ground” of all things (Greek: arche), to which space as a conception of origin provides an answer.

In the end, we find the insight into the ('anarchic') structure of space that cannot be justified by thought alone and an insight into its emergence from political, economic, historical and above all social contexts.

We are interested in these contexts within artistic research practices and want to provide a framework for contextualisation and reflection on these practices. What and where are SHARED PERCEPTUAL SPACES situated in our societies, and how can we describe them?

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Call for participation AND contributions: Artist-researchers working with space are welcome to contribute to our new Archive of Shared Perceptual Spaces, an online presentation of expanded approaches to spatial practices within the field of artistic research.
Examples from all fields are invited, focusing on specific aspects, processes, approaches or methods; ways of working, constellations of activity or framing patterns, particular projects or lines of enquiry-in-practice.
Deadline for submissions: November 8, 2021.

°See full call here

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OBJECTIVES

- Understanding spatial models as fundamental narratives of the status quo of our societies
- Utilizing spatiality as a parameter in cultural production (e.g. composition, performance, sciences, journalism)
- Understanding the arts as polyvalent representations of space(s)
- Developing personal research approaches with and of spaces.

 

NETWORK

We intend to build a network of RC exhibitions on spatial practices within the Research Catalogue and to provide an index of the different spatial concepts at work and in use within SAR linking all kinds of space-related activities. This network of links and references will be open to the public as well as are the topics and joint projects of the group on the RC.

The SIG has started creating several RC exhibitions dealing with different spatial practices within the group in 2020/21.
One exhibition was reviewed and accepted for the issue of JAR # 24: "Beyond the Visual - A research curriculum for explorations in spatiotemporal environments" wants to foster interdisciplinary spatial exploration for young architects.

There were two academic seminars derived from this SIG’s work last semester: "Auditive and Visual Perception of Space in Virtual Environments“ at the Department of Media Theory TU Berlin and at the Department of Architecture HCU Hamburg, and a lecture on: "The Situation of Space in Contemporary Media Art Environments" at the New Media Seminar, Aalto University Helsinki.

This summer there was an exhibition on an Artistic Research sound art project with vacant buildings at Errant Sound Berlin, curated by Janine Eisenächer, supported by the SIG and already archived with an RC exhibition.

BOOK

We are currently planning a joint book publication with keynote texts on spatial practices from the fields of media theory, linguistics, music, architecture, design, performance, fine arts  (…) with intermediary chapters that are either being developed interdisciplinarily or will consist of interviews. For this purpose, we want to interview practitioners from the context of SAR. After 2021 all this shall lead to a joint statement on hybrid (n-)spaces and their productions in the Now. For that, the Research Catalogue will serve as a platform for all this SIG’s activities.

Today, we are happy to invite EVERYONE interested in the field to join the group and contribute to this endeavour.

Kind regards,

on behalf of

SIG 2 - Spatial Aesthetics and Artificial Environments,

Dr. Gerriet K. Sharma