Lev Manovich on Fri, 24 Apr 1998 05:31:54 +0100 |
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Syndicate: COMPUTING CULTURE Symposium |
The Visual Arts Department, University of California, San Diego presents: _______________________________ COMPUTING CULTURE: DEFINING NEW MEDIA GENRES, the Symposium <http://jupiter.ucsd.edu/~culture/symposium.html> Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2 Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA) Address: 408 University Center (off of Russel Lane), UCSD campus CRCA phone number 619-534-4383 <http://crca-www.ucsd.edu/> The symposium will explore new conceptual categories appropriate for analyzing computer culture and its objects focusing on four categories: database, interface, spatialisation, and navigation. We will interrogate these categories and use them to map out two key genres of computer culture: the multimedia database and navigable space. Participants: SHELDON BROWN (UC San Diego) ADRIENE JENIK (UC San Diego) MARSHA KINDER (Univeristy of Southern California) NORMAN KLEIN (California Institute of the Arts) PETER LUNENFELD (Art Center College of Design) STEPHEN MAMBER (UC Los Angeles) LEV MANOVICH (UC San Diego) MARGARET MORSE (UC Santa Cruz) MARCOS NOVAK (UC Los Angeles) VIVIAN SOBCHACK (UC Los Angeles) VICTORIA VESNA (UC Santa Barbara) FABIAN WAGMISTER (UC Los Angeles) JOHN WELCHMAN (UC San Diego). ______________________________________________________ COMPUTING CULTURE: DEFINING NEW MEDIA GENRES New media requires a new critical language -- to describe it, to analyze it and to teach it. Where shall this language come from? We can't go on simply using technical terms such as "a web site" to refer to works radically different from each other in intention and form. At the same time, traditional cultural concepts and forms prove to be inadequate as well. Image and viewer, narrative and montage, illusion and representation, space and time -- everything needs to be re-defined again. The goal of our symposium is to explore new conceptual categories appropriate for analyzing computer culture and its objects. We focus on four categories: DATABASE, INTERFACE, SPATIALISATION, and NAVIGATION. Each of these categories provides a different lens through which to inquire about the emerging logic, grammar and poetics of new media; each brings with it a set of different questions. DATABASE. After the novel and later cinema privileged narrative as the key form of cultural expression of the modern age, the computer age brings with it a new form -- database. What are the origins, ideology and possible aesthetics of a database? How can we negotiate between a narrative and a database? Why is database imagination taking over at the end of the 20th century? INTERFACE. In contrast to a film which is projected upon a blank screen and a painting which begins with a white surface, new media objects always exist within a larger context of a human-computer interface. How does a user's familiarity with the computer's interface structure the reception of new media art? Where does interface end and the "content" begin? SPATIALISATION. The overall trend of computer culture is to spatialise all representations and experiences. The library is replaced by cyberspace; narrative is equated with traveling through space ("Myst"); all kinds of data are rendered in three dimensions through computer visualization. Why is space being privileged? Shall we try to oppose this spatialisation (i.e., what about time in new media)? What are the different kinds of spaces possible in new media? NAVIGATION. We no longer only look at images or read texts; instead, we navigate through new media spaces. How can we relate the concept of navigation to more traditional categories such as viewing, reading, and identifying? In what ways do current popular navigation strategies reflect military origins of computer imaging technology? How do we de-militarize our interaction with a computer? How can we describe the person doing the navigation beyond the familiar metaphors of "user" and "flaneur"? During the symposium we will interrogate these categories and use them to map out two key genres of computer culture. That is, creating works in new media can be understood as either constructing the right interface to a multimedia database or as defining navigation methods through spatialised representations. Why does computer culture privilege these genres over other possibilities? We may associate the first genre with work (post-industrial labor of information processing) and the second with leisure and fun (computer games), yet this very distinction is no longer valid in computer culture. Increasingly, the same metaphors and interfaces are used at work and at home, for business and for entertainment. For instance, the user navigates through a virtual space both to work and to play, whether analyzing financial data or killing enemies in "Doom." To articulate the critical language of new media we need to correlate older cultural/theoretical concepts and the concepts which describe the organization/operation of a digital computer. INTERFACE, DATABASE, NAVIGATION and SPATIALISATION: are these the categories that bridge the gap between more traditional genres and the evolving forms of new media? Join us as we interrogate the logic of computing culture. -- Lev Manovich _______________________________ SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM Friday, May 1 7:30 pm Opening Party @ CRCA (Music, food and drink) Featuring a selection of computer games, animations and video clips which suggests new interface and navigation strategies for new media. Protected by etoy <www.etoy.com>. Saturday, May 2 10:00 am Symposium welcome and introduction: Lev Manovich 10:15 am - 12:15 pm Session 1: DATABASE/INTERFACE Introduction: John Welchman Presenters: Vivian Sobchack, Fabian Wagmister, Victoria Vesna, Stephen Mamber, Marsha Kinder. 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Session 2: NAVIGATION/SPATIALISATION Introduction: Adriene Jenik Presenters: Marcos Novak, Sheldon Brown, Margaret Morse, Norman Klein, Peter Lunenfeld. 4:00 pm Closing remarks, refreshments to follow _____________________________ COMPUTING CULTURE LECTURE SERIES, Spring 1998 <http://jupiter.ucsd.edu/~culture/lectures.html> Grahame Weinbren, March 13, 7:00 pm Shu Lea Cheang, April 6, 3:00 pm Bit Plane (Natalie Jeremijenko and Kate Rich), May 13, Time: TBA _______________________________ All events are free and open to the public. Computing Culture events are organized by the New Media Visitors Committee of the Department of Visual Arts. Chair: Lev Manovich. Members: Sheldon Brown, Adriene Jenik, Rachel Mayeri, John Welchman. Events Coordinator: Laura Nix Visual Arts Department (0327), UC San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0327. Phone: 619-534-2860 <http://visarts.ucsd.edu> _______________________________ Computing Culture Lecture Series <http://jupiter.ucsd.edu/~culture/lectures.html> Computing Culture: Defining New Media Genres, the symposium <http://jupiter.ucsd.edu/~culture/symposium.html> _______________________________