9-10-11th may 2007  |  Español

T h e   F i r s t    I n t e r n a c i o n a l    C o n g r e s s   A R T    T E C H   M E D I A

The First International Art Tech Media Conference has been set up in order to reflect upon and analyse questions currently being raised about art and new technological media within an international context.

In a globalised world, dominated by communication technologies, with countless questions concerning a future that affects our everyday life, it is essential to make this analysis and to consider, from different perspectives, how our polyhedral, altered reality is being effected by the widespread use of new technology as a support for new ideas and possibilities that are almost infinite. We need to investigate how this occurs in different societies and cultures and to propose models that may go beyond what has been known until now.

The Conference will focus on three clearly complementary regions: national, international (European, Asian) and Ibero-American.

The conference is open to the general public, especially those connected to the visual arts and in particular those working in digital art.

Congress dates
The event will be held on the 9th, 10th & 11th May 2007.

The Congress will be held at three venues:

1. Ministerio de Cultura: debates and lectures related to Spanish and international issues.
2. Instituto Cervantes: lectures and roundtables on the relationship between Spain and Ibero-America.
3. Casa América: Lectures on the Ibero-American sphere and projection of video art.

Main Objectives of the Congress

1. Art, as an expression that is common to all human societies, overrides frontiers. As such, regardless of the logical importance given to the different art sectors within Spain, the international and Ibero-American context will be given priority.

2. To reflect, analyse and debate by sectors the current situation in art and new media to gain a better understanding of its different realities and necessities.

3. To present proposals that will energise and improve the relationship between the different sectors in order to stimulate and promote Spanish digital art both nationally and internationally.

4. To favour the presentation of proposals related to the opportunity and need to create an “Institute of Digital Arts”, how it may be organised, its functions, objectives and its relationship with other Institutes and international institutions.

5. To optimise the creation of more Centres of Production and Research in collaboration with institutions and the private sector for the development of an innovative industrial and economic infrastructure.

6. The presentation of the book Art Tech Media 06, of selected lectures and communiqués as well as a survey made among various sectors related to digital art.

7. The conclusions and proposals of the Conference will be presented to the Ministry of Culture and other national and international institutions.

Congress Structure: Round tables, lectures and communiqués

1. Round tables – The conference will be structured into roundtables by sector in which different issues will be analysed, alternative proposals to current models presented, and a study made of international experiences, and the most effective way to establish a collaborative, operative and stable Interface Platform whose objective in part will be the optimisation of resources with shared products, research and exchange of information.

The roundtables will be formed by 5/6 people with a moderator whose main functions will be to lead debate and present conclusions.

Duration of the roundtable: 50 minutes.

Round table themes:

- Art, Science, Technology and Industry
- Museums, Art Centres, Medialabs: centres for production and exhibition
- University: research and teaching plans.
- New market for Art: galleries, fairs, biennials.
- Digital art and Patronage
- Cultural politics
- Copyright, reproduction and exhibition
- Media in the digital era
- Curation, exhibition and collectors
- Institute of the Digital Arts
- Ibero-American and Spanish cooperation
- International cooperation with Spain

2. Lectures and communiqués

The participants at the Conference will be able to present lectures and communiqués referring in particular to the situation of digital art in Spain, alternatives to current models and international experiences at avant-garde centres.

A selection of these lectures will be read during the Conference

To be considered, the transcripts should be presented before the 16th March 2007.
Successful candidates will be informed from 2nd April.

Maximum duration of a lecture/talk: 15 minutes

First International Art Tech Media Congress Survey

This questionnaire is aimed at gaining an insight into opinions from all sectors linked to digital art, its current situation, and the models that need to be adopted in order to promote and set up mechanisms for greater and better production and exhibition at both a national and international level.

The results of this Survey will be presented at the First International Art Tech Media Conference to be celebrated in Madrid on the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th of May 2007. Later, the conclusions of the Conference will be sent to the appropriate bodies.

The responses should be brief and if possible answer all the questions. Additional questions that have not been included in the original format may be included if they are considered important.

It is hoped that as wide a range of participants as possible will contribute in order to give a real sense of the overall situation, and as such we would be grateful if you would also re-send the questionnaire to your own email contacts.

Content of the questionnaire:

  1.  Digital Art in a global and spectacular world?
   2.  Museums, Art Centre and Media labs: Are new models needed for the production, exhibition
       and  conservation of digital art?
   3.  Art galleries, fairs, biennials and the internet in the new art market.
   4.  Are cultural policies at different institutions adequate?
    5.  Are current incentives for private patrons, foundations and businesses, and the encouragement
        of  collectors sufficient?
   6.  Copyright, reproduction and exhibition: one law for all?
   7.  Curators, art criticism and the exhibition of digital art
   8.  University, research and teaching?
   9.  Is it necessary for the media to be more specialised in the digital era?
10.  Is it necessary for an Institute of the Digital Arts to be created, that would coordinate and foment        research, production and exhibition for the national and international promotion of digital art.
11. Function of the Institute of Digital Arts
12. Other questions.

Considerations – History – Presentation

At this dawn of a new millennium, spectacularly universal, auguring a more just and democratic social order, science and technology are evolving unequivocally as foundations for the great changes that humanity will undergo.

Since the 18th Century we have constructed around them the modern myth that an increase in scientific knowledge and the emancipation of humanity go hand in hand. This enlightened creed soon acquired the embellishments of a religion which held to the deeply-rooted belief that there only exists one way of being modern and it is always the best way. Nevertheless we know that it isn't always like this. Modernity has also created monsters that attempt to sequester and dominate the human desire to progress, with unidirectional messages of confrontation (the clash between civilisations and cultures).

Throughout the 20th century a technological revolution has developed with new tools and resources that bring with them new languages and concepts leading to new ways of doing, seeing, thinking and being, with a clear influence on art and society as a whole.

In this new century, the process has accelerated vertiginously with the explosion of digital technology and the popularisation of the internet, computers and mobile telephones, whose implementation has transformed our manipulated reality: virtual and enhanced reality, hybridisation, software and hardware, 3d modelling, robotics, interface. bioinformatics, cybervision, moblog, nanotechnology, etc. And all this comes hand in hand with new forms of artistic expression such as net art and digital art.

The application of these new tools and resources for the artist implies a questioning of structural relationships on which the art world has been based. It changes how we create; it changes the solitary artist into a collaborative nomad belonging to multidisciplinary, transnational groups; it changes the materials used, the concept of the unique work and its inherent rights, its exhibition and the function of the general public. Consequently, the roles of museums and art centres, gallery owners, curators, public and private institutions, media etc. also change. There is a permanent evolution, subject to continuous revisions.

Lining in a technological society allows us to find solutions to multiple problems but it also forces us to reflect upon numerous issues that concern the globalised world.

The use of technological tools makes it necessary to learn the implicit codes that they carry. This knowledge and its use can become an end in itself, given the complexity of existing languages, or could serve as a way of glimpsing into the new hardly intuited scenarios in which we have become immersed, without meaning to or even being aware of it. The technology isn't neutral, it is more than just a tool, it has its own discourse that transforms and alters everything it touches.

However, only a small elite seem to know the secret code that is coming into play. The inexistence of a conceptual, aesthetic or even ideological framework that clearly defines where art is at the moment, makes it necessary to reflect both on its practice and its interpretation.

Within this context, an intensive debate needs to take place on the influence and transformations that new media is producing in art, there needs to be a greater understanding of the foundations for more effective cooperation between the different sectors linked to digital art, and proposals need to be devised for the development of national and international collaborative networks in order to improve production, research, exhibition and promotion.

The future is already here and it's here to stay, with us or without us.

Background

In October 2004, we began to contact practically all the Museums and Contemporary Art Centres in Spain, as well as Media Labs, Foundations, a large number of Artists, Art Galleries, Critics and Curators, the Media, Associations of Visual Artists, Producers, Cultural Agents, Public and Private Institutions, and in general all sectors relative to art and new technologies, inviting them to participate in Encuentros Art Tech Media 06.

Two years later, now that these Encounters had been held at nine Spanish museums, and given the great participation and the opinions collected, its seems clear that this is an ideal time to celebrate the First International Art Tech Media Conference. It represents a great opportunity to hold a transversal debate in order to devise proposals that will lead to greater and better coordination among the different sectors of art, aimed at strengthening its development.

more: : www.artechmedia.net/artechmedia06.htm

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-- books
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-- Strategic Plan
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-- official opening
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