ArcArt
ArcArt is a series of symposiums on media art to be hold in Tromsø, northern Norway. Our aim is to be an important arena for commenting and influencing the development in today’s media art. Through this symposium we want to discuss evolving tendencies and also inspire to the creation of new art. We hope to create an atmosphere were artists, academics and the public can meet and exchange thoughts on media art. Another goal is to have a flexible structure so that the ArcArt always can take up tendencies in the front of artistic development. Situating ArcArt to Tromsø during the dark winter is an ideal setting for experiencing new art, and will hopefully give the participants the feeling of being on new and neutral ground. The first symposium. ArcArt 02 - Art on the Edge, focused on extreme art practices and presented examples of media art on the edge of conventional borders. A long range of artist and theoreticians displayed and discussed cutting-edge media art, body art and genetic art.

ArcArt 04 - The Post Digital Fury
ArcArt 04 will focus on post digital art. Our aim is to discuss the problems around media art in an age where the digital hype has disappeared and media technology most of all is associated with the noisy backdrop of our modern culture. We wish to present artists working with Post Digital issues and analyze the influences of digital technologies on contemporary culture.

Going POST DIGITAL
Every generation makes its own revolution. The current one is Post Digital. It will be a zone for the new sensitivity experienced on the backdrop of past code-cold media, mirroring the new needs, hopes and actions experienced in a world ruled by conflicts caused by the New Economy and attempted globalism.

The post-digital is both a radical break and continuance to the digitalismus -the belief in digital technologies. It is a break-away because we have lost our faith in the computer and other digital "enabling" technologies being universal dream-machines. The technology has limits and must therefore be treated as specialized tools rather than magical boxes. On the other side, our society was forever changed by the digitalization that happened in the nineties, and that is why the Post-Digital is a continuation. It is a natural development, or a sobering up. No less it is built upon the ruins of our lost belief in technology.

What can we expect? Now, tired by the code-cold decade and (still) shocked by 911, we're heading towards a new paradigm locked onto the subject of the human - and beyond the digital technology. Any new technology of this Ground Zero decade will focus on the subject - not the abject of technology as we experienced it in the 90'ies. The most significant trend is the current fashion of committing suicide in the name of a higher cause, be that territorial protection, religious beliefs, ethnic defence - or simply out of pure desperation. Three dominating force-fields we’ll increasingly encounter in the Post Digital are: humanification of technology (self-sacrifice), radicalization of politics and instrumentalization of love. Self sacrifice is the branding of Post Digital actionism, politics the proclaimed cause and love as the manifestation of ideology. Instrumentalized love is the final cause of self-sacrifice, be that for the "nation", god or the family. In this sense the Post Digitalist leaves the 90ist escapist ideal of the cyborg behind, and moves towards the world of Romeo and Julie. Technology in the post-digital age will be ruled by human desires and human agendas more than industrial hype. Contemporary tendencies of the arts point towards this; a social-subjectiv concept of art; about art involved in complex processes on a human scale.

As a reflection of these trends in contemporary culture the arts have alredy changed. Now we have to develop a vocabulary to grasp this. The purpose of the Post Digital concept is to serve as a navigational device for the experimental art of this decade, setting the frame of the aesthetical discourse.

ArcArt 04 takes place at the height of the “dark season” – the darkest period of
the year. Nonetheless we sincerely and warmly welcome your arrival and
participation.
We look forward to your contribution and participation in this exciting venue.

The conference fee is € 40 (NOK 300) including lunch. Students pay € 20 (NOK
150).

REGISTRATION FORM:

Yes, I’d like to participate in ArcArt 04.

Name:
Position/affiliation:
Adresse:
E-mail:
Telephone:
Fax:

I pay full fee:
I pay reduced fee (students):
I need help with organizing a hotel: yes/no
The entrance fee must be paid at site in cash.

Please send your registration to gaute@arcart.no

 

The ArcArt team
Administrator: Gaute Barlindhaug - gaute@arcart.no
Technical coordinator: Jan Martin Berg - jan.martin@arcart.no
Project advisor: Prof. Stahl Stenslie - stahl@khm.de