Compiled by the TRINITY SESSION and ISEA2018 Artistic Director Marcus Neustetter with the Assistance of Tyla Coppinger and Gabriella Peppas
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Image: Samora Chapman ISEA2018 INTRODUCTION ISEA2018 - the 24th International Symposium as illustration, design, dance, fashion, on Electronic Art - which came to DurBan architecture, photography, film and music), from 23 to 30 June, created a city-wide re-invented and re-considered to make them showcase of dozens of exhibitions, events, interesting and relevant in a new-media, installations, walks, festivals and activities, technologically-savvy world. In most and a major global conference on new media instances there was a cross-over with science; art, all talking to the theme of Intersections. mostly with a research component. ISEA2018 was the first ISEA to Be held in the Some experiences included virtual reality- African suB-continent. Hosted in venues based art viewed only through a tablet or across Durban, this event incorporated the smart-phone; tiny solar-paneled robots; large- fifth iteration of the DurBan University of scale building projections; electronic jazz Technology’s DiGital Festival (DiGiFest), performed to a silent film about Innovate Durban’s 2018 Innovation dinosaurs; underwater sound-scapes; Festival (IF DurBan) and the 9th Interpret imagining the Zambian space race; digital DurBan event in a strategy to build a local artworks; app-guided walking tours; video partnership and legacy. installations on the beach and animated wire art. ISEA2018 - a festival in two parts: an academic symposium at DUT City Campus (25-27 June) The cultural programme was structured in comprising peer-reviewed papers, panels and such a way that visitors could follow the daily keynote presentations for registered diary and be part of a set schedule – visitors delegates travelling from around the world; followed the ISEA itinerary and move from and then the dozens of events on the cultural one event to the next. programme (23-30 June) and public workshops (22-24 June). Partner venues included DUT City Campus; KZNSA Gallery; Durban Art Gallery; Denis To the uninitiated, the public cultural Hurley Centre; Emmanuel Cathedral; BAT component of ISEA2018 was an intense and Centre; Bond Shed; Green Hub; Warwick lively ten-day festival featuring some of the Junction; Treasure Island; uShaka Marine world’s most prominent digital artists, World; KCap; Bulwer Park and Durban City comprising a vast array of interesting, brave, Hall amongst others. fun, innovative and insightful happenings taking place in various venues across the city. Events were open to the public, are family- The works combined existing art forms (such friendly and are free of charge. ISEA2018 / DigiFest05 / IF DURBAN 1 ISEA2018 culminated on Saturday evening, 30 all of this happened in very complex and June, with the ninth edition of Interpret challenging conditions. A special thank you to Durban taking over the magnificent Durban all the supporters, participants and artists. City Hall – inside and outside the whole Only through their generocity and building from 6pm. The space was re- engagement was ISEA2018 possible.” imagined by a team of artists from all over the world – using the spaces in an unusual way, Local ISEA2018 / DigiFest05 / IF Durban and displaying art in various forms throughout partners are Durban University of the building. Technology’s Faculty of Arts and Design, Innovate Durban, eThekwini Municipality, “ISEA2018 / DigiFest05 / IF Durban’s theme, Durban KwaZulu-Natal Convention Bureau Intersections, brought new audiences, and The Trinity Session. academics, and practitioners together. It positioned creative technological innovation as an activist engagement into public space Facebook: and allowed for creative collaboration @ISEA2018Durban between artists, artisans, designers, Instagram: technologists, entrepreneurs, engineers, @isea_intersections scientists and inventors. Intersections brought #isea2018durban together projects networks and programmes that not only push the local debate on art, science and technology collaboration but buildt a national network of practice and About ISEA2018 and ISEA International: collaboration,” explains ISEA2018 ISEA symposia are coordinated by ISEA artistic director and The Trinity Session International. Founded in the Netherlands in director, Marcus Neustetter. 1990, ISEA International (formerly Inter- Society for the Electronic Arts) is an “The city-wide cultural programme hosted international non-profit organization fostering local and international projects and interdisciplinary academic discourse and presentations in public spaces across Durban exchange among culturally diverse and surrounding areas. This included artist organizations and individuals working with interventions and performances, site-specific art, science and technology. ISEA International workshops, talks in alternative spaces, Headquarters is supported by the University thematic exhibitions and activation tours. And of Brighton (UK) Image: Samora Chapman ISEA2018 / DigiFest05 / IF DURBAN 2 Image: Samora Chapman ISEA2018 THE ACADEMIC PROGRAMME INTRODUCTION The 24th International Symposium on DigiFest was approached to be involved in Electronic Art (ISEA2018) will be hosted in ISEA2018, to engage with international sub-Saharan Africa for the very first time, scholars and practicing electronic artists, so as thanks to Durban University of Technology to enhance and grow our Durban festival. (DUT), eThekwini Municipality, KZN Rooted in a University with direct links to Convention Bureau, Innovate Durban and The industry and the city, DigiFest is committed to Trinity Session. ISEA2018 presents a providing students with a platform to culmination of collective efforts from a range experiment and showcase their work. We are of individuals, across disciplines, committed to pleased to present a selection of our electronic arts and design. interdisciplinary, collaborative DigiFest- incubated projects at ISEA2018. Our DigiFest DUT’s Faculty of Arts and Design, the home of app and various design and layout DigiFest, is pleased to co-host ISEA2018. City contributions to ISEA2018 are all the work of Campus, with its rich history, is itself an DUT students and graduates. We are pleased intersection of heritage, tradition, innovation to have been selected as an ISEA2018 legacy and the future, intersecting with highways project and hope to draw on partnerships to and throughways, public and private spaces; consolidate and sustain our local festival. immersed in a confluence of cultures, communities and activities. Our inner–city university campus provides an engaging space René Alicia Smith, PhD for experimental, innovative work from Executive Dean: Faculty of Arts and Design, Durban emerging digital artists, and our Arts and University of Technology Design Digital Festival (DigiFest) provides a ISEA2018 Academic Director and DigiFest Director platform for engagement. ISEA2018 / DigiFest05 / IF DURBAN 3 ISEA2018 THE ACADEMIC PREFACE & SUBTHEMES The overall theme of this year’s ISEA, Intersections, allows for a reflection and Academic Symposium Subthemes: engagement on the transformative nature of art and its convergence with science and Hybridisation and Purity: technology. In conceptualisng the ISEA2018 The sub-theme provides for contributions experience we were guided by ISEA reflecting the purity of numbers, code and International requirements for a localised technology interfacing with art, as well as festival, offering unique experiences of an hybridisation in relation to art, science and interdisciplinary symposium, comprising “an technology. This sub-theme includes academic conference, art exhibitions, contributions on identities, diversity and performances, public events, and related pluralism, migration and urbanisation as well activities”, as well as incorporating “aspects of as notions of democracies - all in relation to local culture, history and traditions”. art, science and technology. We are located at intersections of African and Emancipation and Pain: colonial heritage; first and ‘second’ The sub-theme provides for contributions on economies; local and international cultures; the politics of art, science and technology in simulated and lived experiences. ISEA2018 its broadest sense. This includes critical provides a platform for encounters and assessments on surveillance and intelligence; interaction with innovation and activist ‘high art’; elitism and exclusivity, popular engagement in public and private spaces. culture and inclusivity. Symposium subthemes include: hybridisation and purity; emancipation and pain; spirit and Spirit and Flesh: flesh and in-between the cracks and The sub-theme provides for contributions on submissions explore (amongst others) art intangible and tangible heritage; on mobius interfacing with networks, urbanisation and and teleos; as well as indigenous knowledge