*New media art —> dead media art
RIAM 07 - LOW TECH
7th International Multimedia Art Meetings
25 february to 06 march 2010
Marseille
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Back to technological future.
Nowadays, artistic events devoted to connections between art and technology are facing a paradox : how to stand back from technological glorifications, in a consumerist world constantly saturated by new gadgets?
RIAM (International Multimedia Art Meetings) have always focused on analyzing and criticizing the technology’s role and the artists way of appropriate and embezzled it. Even if technology have transformed our everyday life in a distinct way, RIAM’s programming has never been blindly rushed into enthusiasm for new technological feats. It seems evident to us that media and technical evolution have radically transformed our way of organizing, interpreting and understanding the world. The German philosopher Friedrich A. Kittler (1) proposes a regard on technology which links it to cognitive models in history. According to him, technological tools are structuring thought, they aren’t neutral: if they are the result of human inventions’ capacity, they are also a mean to modify our link with the world.
Across technical history, this RIAM edition make a sort of inventions’ archaeology, reconsidering as well successively replaced media (16 mm film, super 8, audio tape, polaroïd, analogical synthesizer, pinhole, vinyl, video recorder) as functions, objectives (and dreams) which are often abandoned too.
In this context, many artists have recently taken an interest in low-tech technology, recycling obsolete analogical models. It consists in investing autonomy, according to a " do it yourself " principle. Others artists can take an interest in transfers between low and high tech, as existing in our everyday’s life practices, where phone coexist with virtual social networks. Some of them, are still applying to use with irony old technological terms when using high level tools, in a resistance to fascination produced by smooth images and media imagery.
At the heart of these artists reflections, there is a questioning about progress illusion, which have became the technological market’s catch phrase, constantly searching for new consummation horizons. In parallel, many artists are also wondering about production’s means bidding and imposed scale’s change in festivals and biennials contexts, which are dominated by communication strategy at the expense of real artistic’s issues.
So, this RIAM edition is aiming take a temporal step back, without falling into a retro-futuristic aesthetic. It rather consists in understanding the present by taking an interest in how past technology made us dreaming about an-other future.
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FULL PROGRAM :
http://www.riam.info/07/
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PROGRAM
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thursday 25th february
In Montévidéo at 7 pm
Yann Leguay (Artkillart)
«Cutter off»
Sound Performance
The artist presents Cutter Off, a performance version of the Dead_Media project which consist in a « dissection » of a vinyl with use of micro-contact plugged surgical tools. This is a scalable mix. Starting from a blank disk, the burning is realized in live, immersing people in a sound universe of industrial noise and acoustic-electronica.
http://www.phonotopy.org
Sister Iodine (Mego - Premier sang - Textile records)
Concert
French pioneer experimental rock band (trio) founded in the early 90’s, Sister Iodine made themselves known with 2 albums recorded on the R.I.P French label ’Semantic’; ADN 115 (1994) & Pause (1997), collision between the savage energy of No wave, the game of collage tapes and exploration of their instruments inspired by concrete music, their primitive love of Noise, and a primal free rock approach. From 1992 to 97 they did some wicked concerts in company of bands like Sonic Youth, Faust, US Mapple, Circle X, Keiji Haino, Flaming Demonics, Bästard, Krackhouse, Melt Banana, Tone Rec, amongst others.. Geographically separated since 1997 Sister Iodine began to play sporadically for some scattered events like some dates w/ Sonic Youth french tour 1999, Phonotaktik Festival, Vienna/1998, PS1 Contemporary Art Center NY/1998, each members focused then more on their own new electronic projets (Discom, duos w/ Tujiko Noriko, Evil Moisture) touring around the world. And still running... Back to pure and harsh electricity since early 2000’s , Sister Iodine continued their ufo like road, gaved brutal concerts here and there around their album came out on Textile records (Jackie O’Motherfucker, Magik Markers, Oren Ambarchi, Volcano The Bear, Chris Corsano & Mike Flower, Sun, and many more) on feb 2007, recorded @ Rare Book Room studio with Nicolas Vernhes. 2008/ Sister Iodine recorded his new album in his studio and did a few shows around like the one invited by Sonic Youth to play for the opening of the massive exhibition dedicated to the band "Sonic Youth, Sentational Fix" in Saint Nazaire.
http://www.sister-iodine.net
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friday 26th february
In Gallery Buy-sellf art club at 6:30 pm
Vincent Epplay & Samon Takahashi (FR: Artkillart)
Duo pour Synthi AKS et Janotron.
Since a tenth years, Vincent Epplay and Samon Takahashi are exploring opportunities of musical duo. From gigs (Plasm) to electronic composition, interpretations of anthology pieces (Trios de Tristram Cary), and psychedelic replay (on Pierre Clémenti’s films), their music is not only electroacoustic but extends in kraut rock, noise and groove. If there was a family of legends to situate them it would be between Schaeffer & Henry and Rox & Rouky, Ike & Tina and Heckel & Jeckel … Now, " Duo to Synthi AKS and Janotron " is a new device system in construction. Epplay and Takahashi are conversing, whispering, bawling through the legendary Synthi AKS and the home-made Janotron, multiple analogical instrument created by Jean-Marcel Busson. A hard sonic dual based on untempered and indomitable electronic instruments.
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saturday 27th february
In La Compagnie at 7:00 pm
Samon Takahashi & EmanueleCarcano
Low profiles (low-fi aesthetics’s historical overview)
Conference
Samon Takahashi combines music and contemporary art out of practical’s borders. Does his creations are made to be seen or to be heard ? Is he comic or engaged? Takahashi plays on senses and sounds, combining usefull and pleasant to disrupt the spectator. Takahashi invites us to enter in a comic universe, poetic and also reflexive.
Emanuele Carcano is a music editor devoted to avant-gardes, from noise-art poetry to electronic music. He is the creator of Alga Marghen editions (Milan).
www.algamarghen.com
with the support of Upgrade!Paris
http://incident.net/theupgrade/
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wednesday 03rd march
In Daki Ling wednesday 3rd march at 8 pm
artkillart
label introduction
Artkillart is a label based in Paris and Berlin, created in 2007. Its purpose is to promote experimental audiovisual and sound art. In reaction to dematerialized music, the artists of the label refocus on material objects. They are invited to conceptualize and design an object exploring the quality, the complexity and the limits of different media (including the dvd, cd and vinyl), and conceived as an experience both for the artist and the audience.
http://www.artkillart.tk
chdh
“Vivarium”
Performance A/V
chdh’s work is based on a symbiosis between sound and image. Between minimalism and industrial, chdh creates a single, cold but organic universe. Thanks to the use of mathematical algorithms and physical models, chdh brings a new vision on the practice of data-processing tools in digital creation. The use of audio-visual objects, having a sound and a video component controlled by the same parameters allows an effective management of the relations between the two medias. This project evokes a virtual world, made up with more or less autonomous abstract creatures. The aesthetics of the video and the sound is minimalist: sines, diracs and noises interact with cubes, spheres and other primitive in 3D on a black and white visual environment. vivarium is an audio/video DVD project based on chdh’s performance work. vivarium’s goal is to switch from a live expression form to written and composed pieces. This project is based on the years of work already provided by chdh, and on the experience due to the performances they’ve done in France and Europe.
http://www.chdh.net
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