Syndicate: AFRICAN ART AND NEW TECHNOLOGIE

[isea <isea@isea.qc.ca>]

PRESS RELEASE - for immediate release

AFRICAN ART AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES
International event - Montreal

* CONTACT ZONE, International Colloquium, Friday April 23, 10am to 5pm,
	Cinematheque quebecoise, 335 boul de Maisonneuve E, Montreal

* CARREFOUR INFORMEL, Informal meeting with the African Artists,Thursday
April 22, 5pm to 7pm,
	SAT- Technological Arts Society, 307 Ste-Catherine W., # 610, Montreal

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ZONE DE CONTACT
Art africain et nouvelles technologies

Organized by ISEA with the  participation of the Canadian curator Sylvie
Fortin, this one-day seminar will
bring together African artists and experts from around the world to discuss
the various challenges, issues,
and strategies related to the development of new commu-nication and
creation technologies in Africa.

SESSION I: 10am-12:30 pm
SOFT FUTURES OR DIGITAL
IMPERIALISM
Analytical and Critical Perspectives on the Artistic and Social Impacts of
the Networking of Africa

Moderated by SALEM MEKURIA, this session brings together theore-tical
perspectives, critical analyses and
case studies to map out an expanded field from which to assess the effects
of digital technologies on the
production, dissemi- nation and discourses of contemporary African  art.
The real and imagined impacts of
digital technologies on local cultures and art practices, as well as the
modalities and     geographies of their
reception, will be discussed through African and diasporic experiences.

Moderator:

SALEM MEKURIA (Ethiopia/US)
Originally from Ethiopia and now based in Boston, Salem Mekuria is an
independent film producer, writer,
and director. She also works as Assistant Professor of Art at Wellesley
College in Massachussetts.

Participants:

IBA NDIAYE DJADJI (Senegal)
Dakar-based art critic, Iba Ndiaye Djadji is the author of numerous
publications on African art, culture,
education, and information technology. His presentation "African-ness in
Art and the Challenge of Modern
Technology" will address the choices faced by African artists.

FRANKLIN SIRMANS (USA)
Franklin Sirmans is a New York-based independent curator and writer. He has
participated in the publication
of numerous international art publications, and has written extensively on
the work of contemporary African,
African-American, and Caribbean artists. His presentation will examine the
uses of new technology as a tool
in the creation of conceptual art and pop culture.

CAMEL ZEKRI (Algeria/France)
Camel Zekri is an Algerian musician based in Paris whose practice fuses the
music of the Caribbean, North
Africa, and Black Africa with improvised computer music. His presentation
will deal with the Festival de l'Eau,
an international, multidisciplinary event which first took place on the
Niger river in 1996.


SESSION II: 2pm-4:30pm
ACCIDENTAL SUPPORTS AND OBSCURE DETERMINATION
Digital and Electronic Technologies as Creation Tools and Conceptual Relays

Moderated by AKRAM ZAATARI, this session features presentations by
individual artists who critically explore
the potentials and limits of new technologies. The invited artists will
discuss the integration of digital
technologies into their respective art practices. These artists use such
technologies as conceptual relays,
recognizing their intimate relationship to publicity and popular culture
and their influence on artistic
production and reception.

Moderator:

AKRAM ZAATARI (Lebanon)
Filmmaker and video artist Akram Zaatari currently lives in Beirut. He is a
founding member of The Arab
Foundation for the Image, a non-profit organization based in Beirut whose
aims are to promote
photography and new modes of image making - particularly video and digital
technologies - in Arab
countries.

Participants:

BILI BIDJOCKA (Cameroon/France)
Bili Bidjocka is a multidisciplinary artist born in Douala, Cameroon who
currently lives and works between
Brussels, Paris, and New York. Through metaphors of loss, absence and
memory, his work is an on-going
reflexion on notions    of nationality, indeterminacy and identity.

FATIMAH TUGGAR (Nigeria/USA)
Born in Northern Nigeria, she lives and works in New York City. Her work
with digital images deals with the
confrontation and insertion of African situations and characters in
Occidental contexts.

LAURI FIRSTENBERG (USA)
Lauri Firstenberg is an independent curator and writer based in New York
City. She will analyze the work of
Ike Ude, a Nigerian artist living in New York.


VERNISSAGE : 5pm to 7pm

DAKAR WEB
Presentation of the web-art projects created by the 20 artists who
participated in the ISEA workshops held in Dakar last February.
(http://www.isea.qc.ca/africa)

Vernissage of Algerian Artist Mila Younes. Presented by the Vues d'Afrique
Festival.


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*********
CARREFOUR INFORMEL
Informal meeting and presentation of the works of three African Artists:
Bili Bidjocka (Cameroon/France),
Camel Zekri (Algeria/France) and Akram Zaatari (Lebanon)

Thursday, April 22, 5pm to 7pm
SAT - Technological Art Society, 307 Ste-Catherine W., # 610, Montreal
T (514) 844-2033
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************

This event is organized in collaboration with the Vues d'Afrique Festival
(http://www.vuesdafrique.org), SAT - Technological Art Society
(http://www.sat.qc.ca)  and
OLATS/l'Observatoire Leonardo des arts et des techno-sciences
(http://www.olats.org) with the
help of Fonds francophone des inforoutes de l'Agence de la Francophonie
(http://www.francophonie.org)

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**************
Visit the DAKAR WEB projects and follow the African Art and New
Technologies Colloquium on-line
on ISEA website: http://www.isea.qc.ca/africa

Informations  ISEA
T (514) 281-6543
F (514) 281-6728
isea@isea.qc.ca
http://www.isea.qc.ca

*  ISEA- 307, Ste-Catherine O # 760.* C.P.508, Succ. Desjardins
*  Montreal Quebec H5B 1B6 Canada * Tel:1-(514) 281-6543 * Fax:1-(514) 281-6728
           *  email: isea@isea.qc.ca *  http://www.isea.qc.ca * 


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