Program

Conferences

Interaction, Interactivity, Interactive Art - a buzzword of new media under scrutiny

Conference of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Media.Art.Research

04.09. | 10:00 - 19:30

Brucknerhaus

'Interactivity' has become virtually a magic word for the promotion of new media and the media arts alike. The term refers not only to a certain technology, it also stands for social concepts and visions ranging from grassroots democracy all the way to consumer freedom. This imbues the term with its broad-ranging impact, but also contributes to its dilution.

This year's conference of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Media.Art.Research. invites experts from different disciplines to examine the origins and applications of the various concepts of interactivity. It questions the extent to which interactivity should be considered a fundamental concept in the social and technological, cultural and artistic context, or as an outdated buzzword, useful only for the self-promotion of the different fields.

The conference will also present this year's winner of the Prix Ars Electronica Media.Art.Research Award, Arjen Mulder. This price, awarded for the second time this year, honours outstanding theoretical contributions in the field of Media Art Research.

Panel I – Interactive Art – with and without media
10:00 – 13:00

10:00 – 10:30 Welcome and Introduction by Dieter Daniels / Katja Kwastek
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Media.Art.Research., Linz (AT)

10:30 – 11:30 From Virtualities to Embodiment – Interaction in Media Art
Christiane Paul, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (US)

11:30 – 12:15 “I mistrust audience participation” – Überlegungen zur Partizipationskunst / Thoughts on Participation Art
Lars Blunck, Technical University Berlin, Department of Art History (DE)

12:15 – 13:00 Terms of Engagement: Interactivity in Visual Art Practices
Suzanne Lacy, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles (US)

13:00 – 14:00 break

Panel II – Interactivity - a key paradigm of modern society
14:00 – 17:00

14:00 – 14:45 Interaction & Interactivity - Die Perspektive der Kommunikationswissenschaft / the perspective of communication sciences Christoph Neuberger Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Department of Communication Studies (DE)

14:45 – 15:30 Control and Freedom: Interactivity and Invasion
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Brown University, Providence, RI, Department of Modern Culture and Media (US)

15:30 – 16:15 Designing Interaction
Gillian Crampton Smith / Philip Tabor
IUAV University of Venice, Faculty of Design and Arts (I)

16:15 – 17:00 Understanding Gameplay
Noah Wardrip-Fruin, University of California Santa Cruz, CA, Department of Computer Science (US)

17:00 – 17:30 break

Panel III – Interactive Art reconsidered
17:30 – 19:30

17:30 – 18:00 "User Art" - discussion of Peter Weibel's notion and exhibition, with video excerpts from the ZKM "You_ser" show

18:00 - 18:15 presentation of the Media.Art.Research Award 2008
Marie-Luise Angerer, Academy of Media Arts, Cologne

 18:15 - 19:00 Interactive Art meets Biology

WINNER OF THE PRIX ARS ELECTRONIC MEDIA.ART.RESEARCH AWARD 2008
Arjen Mulder, V2 Institute for the Unstable Media, Rotterdam (NL)

Winners of the Media.Art.Research Award
Arjen Mulder (NL) - Interact or Die! (published with Joke Brower, V2_Publishing / NAi Publishers, Rotterdam, 2007)
Award winning project

Mark B. N. Hansen (US) Bodies in Code. Interfaces with digital media (New York, Routledge, 2006)
Acknowledgement of a contribution to the field

Anna Munster (US) - Materializing New Media: Embodiment in Information Aesthetics (Hannover, NH: Dartmouth College / University of New England Press, 2006)
Acknowledgement of a contribution to the field

19:00 Discussion

Moderation: Katja Kwastek

Organizer: Ludwig Boltzmann Insitute for Media.Art.Research
Concept: Katja Kwastek