ISEA 2015

BZ invited to present @ISEA 2015: Disruption!

COMPLEXISM:

Art + Architecture + Biology + Computation, A New Axis in Critical Theory?
Organized by Yvan Tina and Charissa Terranova

Depending on how you look at it, critical theory has been with us for some time. Its contents range from antiquity to the present, from the writings of Parmenides to Zizek, while it is largely a product of postmodernism and the critical turn in the humanities over the last thirty-five years. The new millennium brings with it exhaustion and renewal, global economic collapse coupled with the rapid-fire invention of disruptive technologies, all of which calls for the reevaluation of critical theory in terms of modernity reconceived. Altermodern, paramodern, modernity in the longue durée, or complexism: it is the contemporary time of not simply postmodernity’s past, but more importantly a union of art, architecture, and biology. Of these terms, we choose Philip Galanter’s “complexism” for two reasons. First, as a synthesis of modernism and postmodernism, it takes the best of all worlds. Second, it prioritizes the ecological paradigm of the complex biological system as means to rethink art, architecture, and the humanities broadly conceived.

We propose two panels – both titled COMPLEXISM: Art + Architecture + Biology, A New Axis in Critical Theory? – interrogating the concomitant disruption within critical theory that is the field of art, architecture, and biology. Building on past paradigms, from the Frankfurt School, Post-structuralism, and Deconstruction to embodiment, affectivity, and emergence, these two consecutive workshops unite artists, architects, and theorists to discuss the critical underpinnings of art, architecture, and biology now. Superseding any cultural divisions, each panel will be a mix of artists, architects and theorists. These two panels promise to open a discussion catalyzed by the following questions and more.

[Panel 20] on Tuesday August 18, 2015, 4-5:30pm

·      David Benjamin, Principal Architect, The Living and Assistant Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, New York

·      Dennis Dollens, Visiting Professor, BioDigital Architectures Master, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona. His most recent book is: Autopoietic Architecture: Can Buildings Think?

·      Patricia Olynyk, Director, Graduate School of Art, Washington University in St. Louis, MO

·      Charissa Terranova, Associate Professor of Aesthetic Studies, University of Texas at Dallas

·      Zenovia Toloudi, Architect, Artist, Assistant Professor of Studio Art at Dartmouth and Elected Member for Boston Society of Architects (BSA)

       http://www.zenovia.net/ 

Also check [Panel 19] 2pm-3:30pm

ISEA 2015: Disruption
21st International Symposium on Electronic Art

Vancouver, Canada

August 14 - 19, 2015