Géographies Variables: Martin Bureau and Mathile Chénin in Web Residencies :: until April 22, 2012 :: LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE, 185, Christophe-Colomb Est, G1K 3S6 Quebec City (Quebec), Canada.

Within the framework of the second edition of the Géographies Variables program, LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE will welcome the artists Martin Bureau (Quebec) and Mathilde Chénin (France).

Martin Bureau’s practice is concerned with the notions of geopolitics, colonization and the impact of systems. During his residency at LA CHAMBRE BLANCHE, he will focus on the prevailing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East by considering the problematic surrounding the wall between Israel and the West Bank. Continue reading

Video Vortex #8: The Politics, Cultures and Art of Online Video :: May 17-19, 2012 :: The Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Croatia.

Video Vortex has taken place twice in Brussels and Amsterdam and once in Ankara, Split and Yogyakarta. The Video Vortex network was founded in in 2007 and deals with the cultural, political and artistics aspects of online video. Video Vortex 8 is organized by the Kazimir Association in Split and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb in collaboration with the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam. Continue reading

Data Is Political: A Symposium on Art, Design and Information Politics :: March 15, 2012; 10:00 am – 6:00 pm :: Bergen National Academy of Art & Design, Strømgaten 1, 5015 Bergen, Norway.

Data Is Political brings together artists, designers and scientists to discuss such questions as: What are the aesthetic, ethical and spatial dimensions of information and its relation to power, the production of knowledge, and the construction of urban spaces? Speakers include Philippe Rekacewicz, Peter Sunde, Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas, Max Van Kleek, and Daniel van der Velden with contributions from Steve Dixon, Michelle Teran, and Jill Walker Rettberg. The event is organized by Amber Frid-Jimenez and Ben Dalton. Continue reading

This Is Not A Protest Song! Art, Civic Engagement And Networking :: Lectures: March 21, 2012; 9:30 am – 2:30 pm (open to all) :: Workshops: March 21-22 :: Wissenschaft & Kunst, Bergstraße 12, Salzburg, Austria.

This symposium covers questions of art, political engagement and activism by focusing on practical working methods.

Throughout history, art has been assigned a range of roles. Aside from the beautification of life, distraction or representation, the acquisition and transfer of knowledge and experiences are still seen as highly important. Continue reading

Low Lives:Occupy :: March 3, 2012; 6:00-10:00 pm (EST) :: Online.

Low Lives has partnered with Occupy with Art and The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics to present Low Lives: Occupy! a unique one-night-only program of live performance art, happenings, and public actions, simulcast to presenting host venues around the world. Low Lives: Occupy! partner Mark Read of the 99% Bat Signal / The Illuminator, will contribute a special projection and performance.

Jorge Rojas, Founding Director of Low Lives, comments: “Over the past four years Low Lives has developed a platform that invites and enables artists, audiences, and presenting venues to “plug in and participate” from anywhere an internet connection exists. Continue reading

The Transreal: Political Aesthetics of Crossing Realities (Micha Cárdenas, et al) explores the use of multiple simultaneous realities as a medium in contemporary art, including mixed reality, augmented reality and alternate reality approaches. Building on the notion of “trans” from transgender, signifying the crossing of boundaries, the book proposes that transreal aesthetics cross the boundaries created by a proliferation of conceptions of reality that occurred as a result of postmodern theory and emerging technologies.

Proposing three operations for dealing with multiple realities, The Transreal discusses artists and art collectives including Blast Theory, mez breeze, Reza Negarestani, Ricardo Dominguez and Zach Blas. Through these artists’ work and Micha Cárdenas‘ own artwork, including Becoming Dragon and collaborations with Elle Mehrmand Continue reading

Transformations Issue 23: The Internet as Politicising Instrument :: Call for Papers — Deadline: May 1. Continue reading

Seismopolite Journal of Art and Politics – Reimagining The Political Geography Of Place And Space :: Call for Papers – Deadline: March 5, 2012.

In the coming issue we wish to focus on political geographies, as well as artistic interventions in, and reimaginations of, such geographies. The distinction between “place” and “space” is of particular interest, as it is fundamental not only to much art, but also to our global situation within neoliberal political geography. If time has come for us to reimagine this geography, as well as the interrelationships between, and definitions of “space” and “place”, is it thinkable that art could be an ideal site for such reimagination?

The construction and exploitation of a particularism of the local also seems indigenous to the logic of neoliberalism, in the sense that it relies on the opposition between place and space to be able to expand in the first place. Continue reading

Designing Civic Encounter: Documents and Discussions on Urban Transformation in the Arab World curated and edited by Ursula Biemann and Shuruq Harb. Continue reading

[Sculptor Abdulrahman Katanani is one example of the fact that Arab artists are ‘already among us’ (Al Jazeera)] On nettime, Prem Chandavarkar wrote:

These are some speculations that have been bouncing around in my head for some time, particularly with reference to architecture — the discipline I practice — but perhaps having wider implications: Ever since the early stages of the modernist movement (since the second half of the 19th century) artistic innovation has been underpinned by the idea of the avant-garde.

The avant-garde are (to use a term from Thomas Kuhn) paradigm shifters. Their work consists of two facets that operate simultaneously. One is a deep critique of current paradigms of cultural production. And the other is production of artistic work that demonstrates a new paradigm and a new set of possibilities. Continue reading