ARTECH 2015. 7th International Conference on Digital Arts – Creating Digital e-Motions. Óbidos, Portugal, March 18-20, 2015

ARTECH 2015 is the Seventh International Conference on Digital Arts, this time hosted by Universidade Aberta in the ancient village of Óbidos, Portugal. The goal of the conference is to promote the interest in the current digital culture and its intersection with art and technology as an important research field, but also as a common space for discussion and exchange of new experiences.

PROGRAM

***A detailed version of the programme can be dowloaded here ***

***The proceeding may be downloaded here ***

Confirmed keynote speaker: Christa Sommerer

Title: Evaluating Interactive Art: from Attention Economy to the Art Market

Abstract: Attention is becoming the new currency in our information and media society. The art market is using art as commodity that can be invested in, and on which one can make profit. That profit can be increased with the help of marketing and attention accumulation strategies. We will present a series of our recent interactive artworks that deal with the economy of attention and the evaluation of art value on the basis of user attention.

Christa Sommerer is a internationally renowned media artist working in the field of interactive computer installation. She is Professor at the University of Art and Design in Linz Austria where she head the Department for Interface Culture at the Institute for Media. Sommerer previously held positions as Professor at the IAMAS International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences in Gifu, Japan and as Researcher and Artistic Director at the ATR Media Integration and Communications Research Lab in Kyoto Japan. She also was Visiting Researcher at the MIT CAVS in Cambridge US, the Beckmann Institute in Champaign Urbana, IL, USA and the NTT-InterCommunication Center in Tokyo.

Sommerer’s artworks have been called “epoch making” (Toshiharu Itoh, NTT-ICC museum) for developing natural and intuitive interfaces and for often applying scientific principles such as artificial life, complexity and generative systems to their innovative interface designs. Mignonneau and Sommerer created pioneering interactive computer installations such as “Interactive Plant Growing” (1992), “Anthroposcope” (1993), “A-Volve” (1994), “Trans Plant” (1995), “Intro Act” (1995), “MIC Exploration Space” (1995), “GENMA” (1996), “Life Spacies” (1997), “Life Spacies II” (1999), “HAZE Express” (1999), “VERBARIUM” (1999), “Industrial Evolution” (2000) and “PICO_SCAN” (1999/2000) and “Riding the Net” (2000), “The Living Room” (2001), “The Living Web” (2002), “Nano-Scape” (2002), “Mobile Feelings” (2003) and “Eau de Jardin” (2004).

Confirmed keynote speaker: Álvaro Barbosa

Creative Industries in Macau: Innovation and Tradition at USJ
Macau is one of the regions with the fastest growing economy, heavily based on an entertainment, gaming and tourism industry, and that is developing a sustainable model that articulates complementary sectors within the cultural and creative industries. The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) has a long tradition as an International University in this region and stands out as the host to a leading Faculty and Research Center in the field of Creative Industries. This presentation will introduce the recent developments at USJ in the field of communication & media, design and architecture, as well as research in interactive media technology, urban soundscapes, virtual reality immersive audiovisual environments and digital fabrication.

Álvaro Barbosa (Angola 1970) is an Associate Professor and Dean of Faculty of Creative Industries at University of Saint Joseph (USJ) in Macau SAR, China. Prior to this position, He was the acting director of the Sound and Image Department at the School of Arts from the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP-Porto) until September 2012, co-founding in 2004 the Research Center for Science and Technology of the Arts (CITAR), in 2009 the Creative Business Incubator ARTSpin and in 2011 the Digital Creativity Center (CCD). He also promoted several new innovative curricula such as the PhD Program in Science and Technology of the Arts, the Master Program in Creative Industries Management and the Post-Graduation Degrees in Photography and Digital Design. Holding a PhD degree in Computer Science and Digital Communication from Pompeu Fabra University in Spain and a Graduate Degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from Aveiro University in Portugal, his academic activity is mainly focused on the field of Design foir Audio and Music Technology, in which he worked for five years as an Resident Researcher at the Barcelona Music Technology Group (MTG). His recent R&D work, on experimental Network Music and Interactive Sound-Design Systems, was largely fostered in 2010 during a Post-Doctoral Research Position at Stanford University in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). His projects, in collaboration with other artists and researchers, have been extensively presented and performed internationally, with special emphasis in Sound and Music Design pieces, Collaborative Interactive Installations, Live Electronic Music, Computer Animation short-film, Design Thinking and Systematic Creativity.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS These pre-conference sessions are intended for students, professionals and general public (it is not necessary to be registered for the conference). They take one morning or afternoon. There is a registration fee (25€ till 31/1/2015 and 30€ after) and their realization depends on the number of confirmed subscriptions (see Registration page).

WORKSHOP 1: Sensors and actuators This workshop is composed of 4 parts. Each topic lasts 1 hour and focus on:

how to connect sensors and actuators?
how to use the Arduino?
what sensors / actuators can we use?
make an interactive, shocking and enigmatic installation

José Coelho is lecturer at the Open University. He is responsible for several programming courses in the area of information technology, including, Programming Digital Artefacts and Sensors and Actuators.

WORKSHOP 2: Open meeting about composition and other documentation in ephemeral practices of audiovisual live performance

Part of the creative process includes many artists not only to recording the various stages and, from these, develop documentation, such as music, text, images (drawing or photograph), incorporating books, documentary videos, etc.. Each participant is asked to intervene to suggest new directions for artistic practices that are, in essence ephemeral.

Ana Carvalho is a visual artist and performer, academic and web designer. Through live events, or setting up rules, Ana’s art work and visual performances are result of the interaction with others in the exploration of fictional biography, ways of knowing, everyday life and process as art. As co-editor of the Project VJ Theory with Brendan Byrne she has contributed to the development of a growing comunity of theorists and practitioners who reflect and develop theoretical work related to the practices of audiovisual realtime interactive performance. As part of the editorial body of VJ Theory, she has been giving presentations at,for example, Mapping Festval (Geneva, CH), Perform.Media (Indiana, USA) and Cimatics (Brussels, Belgium) amongst others. She has also conducted a few interviews published by VJ Theory, with Mark Amerika and Lance Blisters for example and wrote recently a text about communities related to this project, published by Vague Terrain.

WORKSHOP 3: Let´s be creative! Introduction to Interactive Media

This workshop is oriented to professionals from the arts, design and communication fields of knowledge, as well as to computer experts with an interest in creative areas. It aims to introduce interactive media in the context of art, design, communication, architecture and marketing. In the first part of the workshop, it will be presented several case studies and concepts associated with interactive media that have changed the way the public perceives, interacts and participates with content. These case studies will be artistic installations or activation products and brands in the context of interactive advertising involving participation of the general public. In the second part of the workshop, working groups will be formed to develop potential creative ideas – artistic or for the promotion of products and brands – to be discussed and monitored technically by the trainer. The workshop concludes with a discussion and presentation of the output of the brainstormings of the workgroups. This workshop lasts about 4:30 hours, with a break between the first and second part of it.

Rudolfo Quintas is an artist-researcher in the Media-Art Digital field. He has developed a series of artistic projects internationally awarded in the context of installations and performances, as well as a creative director of projects in the context of guerrilla digital marketing for TMN, FIAT, Optimus Alive, among others.

WORKSHOP 4: Avistar a programação musical This workshop will give a very brief introduction to music programming, privileging the glimpse of the creative possibilities it brings. Based on the free software music programming Pure Data ( http://puredata.info ), it will be illustrated techniques and possibilities of manipulation and interaction with sound, perhaps, resulting in a simple performance at the end of the workshop, in a “laptop orchestra” style. The workshop will last 3 hours and each student must have their own laptop to work with.

Filipe Lopes graduated in Music Education at the School of Education of Porto in 2003. In 2007 he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Composition at Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espectáculo do Porto (ESMAE) (ESMAE), creating strong ties with electronics and new technologies music. In 2006 he won the “best experimental audio” award in Black & White Festival and in 2007 he was resident composer at Miso Music Portugal (LEC). In 2009 he ends the Master in the Sonology Institute in The Hague, where he developed ODaiko, a generation of music in real-time software. He taught electronic music at ESMAE between 2009 and 2011, where he also founded the ensemble 343. From September 2010 to August 2012 he was curator of Digitópia project, the House of Music where he has developed regular business since 2007 creating workshops, concerts and software in the field of music education. He has developed work in the area of electronic music composition and multimedia installations and in the cinema, theater or video installation. In 2012, he was one of the prize winners of the Cri.D.A. organized by Guimarães European Capital of Culture, and in 2013 he won the European award ECPNM for electronic music works in real-time, with a piece where he uses software developed by himself the “Drawing and Sound”. He is currently a grantee of the FCT, performing a PhD in Digital Medium-at Porto University and UT Austin. Under the guidance of Carlos Guedes and Bruce Pennycook, investigates Composing Music with Space.