SYMPOSIUM + COLLABORATION • Fall 2012 • www.isea2012.org

New Mexico Arts and Technology Symposium with the International Society

for the Electronic Arts (ISEA), hosted by UNM, 516 ARTS and partners

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In the fall of 2012, a group of New Mexico arts organizations will present ISEA2012 Albuquerque: Machine Wilderness, a symposium and series of events exploring the discourse of global proportions on the subject of art and technology, in conjunction with the prestigious International ISEA Conference. Held every year in a different location around the world, ISEA has a 30-year history of significant international acclaim (www.isea-web.org). The symposium will consist of a conference, a series of art exhibitions at various sites, public events, performances, screenings, tutorials and workshops.

The Albuquerque/Santa Fe area is fast becoming a national and international center of media production, visualization and art/science collaboration. However, in the US, New Mexico is geographically isolated, and within the state the many initiatives in the electronic arts are spread out and isolated from each other. ISEA2012 will not only give the region international exposure, but will provide an opportunity for centers of electronic art and media in New Mexico a chance to work together towards a common goal, to build audiences and to help revitalize the urban center of Albuquerque.

The title for the symposium is Machine Wilderness. As part of a region of rapid growth alongside wide expanses of open land, New Mexico presents a microcosm of this theme. Machine Wilderness will present artists’ and technologists’ ideas for a more humane interaction between technology and environment in which “machines” can take many forms to support and sustain life on Earth. The project focuses on creative solutions for how technology and the natural world can co-exist.

Themes for the ISEA2012 collaboration in Albuquerque/Santa Fe include: a bilingual focus, as this project has the potential to draw significant international participation from Latin America; an indigenous thread, focusing on Native American and other indigenous peoples woven into the main symposium; and a focus on land and skyscape. Because of our vast resource of land in New Mexico, proposals from artists will be solicited that take ISEA participants out into the landscape. The Albuquerque Balloon Museum may offer a unique opportunity for artworks to extend into the sky as well. Subthemes of the conference and symposium include: Ancient Cosmologies and Electronic Art; Getting Off the Planet; Land, Energy and Environment; and The Future of Creative Economies.

ISEA2012 EXHIBITION:

The large-scale, multi-site, international exhibition for ISEA2012 Albuquerque will feature artworks that explore perceptions of a larger universe, space travel, and the science of space and the cosmos. Artworks in all media will combine art, science and technology, demonstrating the role art can play in re-envisioning the world.

The exhibition will be curated through a two-part process, with an international call for proposals and works selected by the ISEA Board and selection committee; and a portion of the exhibition titled Getting Off the Planet curated by guest curators Patricia Watts and Jenée Misraje. The exhibition will feature both museum works and commissioned site-specific works located throughout the state, some in collaboration with scientific and technological communities. Albuquerque sites include 516 ARTS and The Albuquerque Museum.

Curators Patricia Watts and Jenée Misraje state, “‘Getting Off the Planet’ is seemingly in our DNA. If where we are now no longer seems suitable, we seek to go elsewhere. As populations rise beyond the Earth’s capacity to sustain us, leaving the planet appears to be the solution. Perhaps this next frontier is where we will find the inspiration needed to continue our existence on Earth with greater insight. The real and imagined prospects of leaving our planet have inspired intriguing works of art.”

LEAD ORGANIZATIONS:

UNM College of Fine Arts – Conference host
ISEA liaison, conference organizing, co-direction of ISEA exhibition
516 ARTS – Leader of community outreach and marketing for fall collaboration
Collaboration coordination, marketing/public relations, publications, co-direction of ISEA exhibition

DATES:

CONFERENCE: September 19 – 24, 2012
COLLABORATION: September – December, 2012

STEERING COMMITTEE:

Sherri Brueggemann, Manager, City of Albuquerque Public Art Program
Regina Chavez, Director, Creative Albuquerque
Andrew Connors, Curator of Art, The Albuquerque Museum
Andrea Polli, Associate Professor, UNM College of Fine Arts and School of Engineering
Suzanne Sbarge, Executive Director, 516 ARTS

PARTNERING ORGANIZATIONS TO DATE:

516 ARTS
University of New Mexico College of Fine Arts
The Agora Group/Z-Node
Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau
The Albuquerque Museum
City of Albuquerque Public Art Program
Creative Albuquerque
Currents: Santa Fe Video Festival
ecoartspace
¡Explora!
Film for Change & the Albuquerque International Film Festival
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
Los Alamos National Labs
New Mexico Museum of Natural History
STEM-A

CONTACTS:

Andrea Polli, Artistic Director, ISEA2012
Mesa Del Sol Chair of Digital Media and Associate Professor, Art & Art History and School of Engineering
College of Fine Arts
UNM Center for the Arts, Bldg. 62 MSC04-2570, Albuquerque, NM 87131
w. 505-266-2327, c. 718-909-5607, andrea@andreapolli.com

Suzanne Sbarge, Executive Producer, ISEA2012
Executive Director, 516 ARTS, 516 Central Ave. SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102
w. 505-242-1445, c. 505-235-7580, suzanne@516arts.org, ssbarge@swcp.com

Patricia Watts & Jenée Misraje, Guest Curators, Getting Off the Planet, ISEA2012
tricia@ecoartspace.org
jmisraje@gmail.com

Regina Chavez, Director of Economic Development & Outreach, ISEA2012
Executive Director, Creative Albuquerque, P.O. Box 27657, Albuquerque, NM 87125
w. 505.268.1920, regina@creativeabq.org

Jack Ox, Artist/Scientist Coordinator, ISEA2012
Research Assistant Professor, Art and Art History, College of Fine Arts
Associated Faculty Member with the Center for Advanced Research Computing, UNM
t. 505-217-2167, jackox@comcast.net

Mary Tsiongas, UNM Faculty/Student/Alumni Exhibition Coordinator, ISEA2012
Associate Professor Electronic Arts, UNM
tsiongas@unm.edu

Jane daPain, ISEAYouth Program Coordinator, ISEA2012
New Media Artist, STEM-A Founder/Instructor (http://stem-a.org)
jdap.newmedia@gmail.com