CAA 2020

NMC at the 2020 College Art Association Annual Conference 

Chicago, February 12th – 15th

Last updated 06 Jan 2020

Wednesday_ 2/12/2020, 10:30am-–12:00pm

HERSTORY: Digital Innovations    

Hilton Chicago, Room: Wilford C  

Since the inception of this seminal oral history project, our goal has been to reveal infrequently told stories of women active in the arts during the digital revolution from the 1970s through the 1990s. Although cultural revolutions are rarely isolated, undeniable midwestern events gave rise to artistic innovations that played a major role in the birth of New Media Arts. Social developments, including the emergence of civic leadership in education and the arts, aligned with the merits of Chicago’s women’s movement and shaped the milieu from which the intersecting narratives presented in New Media Futures: The Rise of Women in the Digital Arts unfold. The University of Illinois and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago provided a foundational framework for the Chicago arts community that supported synergistic cultural environments in which the creativity and careers of the women featured in this book could flourish.

From late 2008 through 2012, we recorded interviews of twenty-two women whose contributions focused on 1985 as a pivotal point for a set of questions. We personally know many of these vibrant, creative women, and in the process of editing the book we discovered many more. This selection represents a breadth of generations and approaches that serve as exemplars from influential years in the twentieth century’s digital revolution.

Panelists:  

  • Ellen Sandor, (art)n
  • Janine Fron, (art)n
  • Donna Cox, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • Carolina Cruz-Neira, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
  • Copper Giloth, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Tiffany Holmes, Maryland Institute, College of Art
  • Margaret Dolinsky, Indiana University Bloomington
  • Abina Manning, School of Art Institute of Chicago
  • Barbara Sykes, Independent Artist
  • Mary Rasmussen, Independent Artist
  • Maxine Brown, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Dana Plepys, University of Illinois at Chicago

Contact: Janine Fron, janine@artn.com

Wednesday_ 2/12/2020, 12:30-1:30pm

New Media Caucus Business Meeting

Wilford C

Wednesday_ 2/12/2020, 2:00–3:30 pm

Dematerialization of the Art Experience

Media Lounge (Salon C-2) 

Rachel E. Clarke, Cal State University, Sacramento and Tom Burtonwood, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

This roundtable will explore the physical-virtual shift from 3D printing practices to Virtual Reality (VR) and Extended Reality (XR) experiences in new media. What VR/XR practices are extant, and what new practices are emerging? A discussion will follow ten lightning talks. Organized by Rachel Clarke and Tom Burtonwood.

Free and open to the public. No CAA Registration required.

Panelists:  

  • Nadav Assor, Connecticut College
  • Nick Bontrager, Texas Christian University
  • Jon Chambers, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Chicago
  • Meredith Drum, Virginia Tech
  • Richard Haley, Wayne State University
  • Mona Kasra, University of Virginia
  • Brenda Lopez, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
  • Agatha Park, Harvard Graduate School of Design
  • Kate Parsons, Pepperdine University, Art Center College of Design
  • Chelsea Thompo, Grand Valley State University
  • Kristin McWharter, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Contacts: Rachel Clarke recsep@gmail.com + Tom Burtonwood tburtonwood@saic.edu

Thursday_ 2/13/2020, 2:00–3:30pm

Edge of Being

Media Lounge (Salon C-2)

Laura Hyunjhee Kim, University of Colorado Boulder

Edge of Being is a hybrid-lecture-performance and presentation featuring provocations by artists Laura Hyunjhee Kim, Ryan Wurst, Melanie Clemmons, Zak Loyd who bend new media tools as a medium to situate hypermediated bodies in virtually simulated environments. From fantastical reimaginings to phantasmagoric envisionings of embodiment that oscillate between the virtual and physical, kinesthetic experiences brought forth by the situated absence and presence of synthetic bodies heighten the evocative metaphysical nature of posthuman experiences. Intermingling corporeal sensations with emergent forms of expression, the projects in conversation transcend the repertoire of ready-made digital platforms and uncannily resonate beyond the edges of the screen. In this experimental engagement, the participating artists will take each other’s ideas and projects out for a virtual walk, a departure point for visitors to ponder what it feelosophically means to sense the world as transient screen-based-beings of the now.

Free and open to the public. No CAA Registration required.

Contact: Laura Hyunjhee Kim

Thursday_ 2/13/2020, 4:00–5:30pm

Being (T)here: Presence and Embodiment in Video and Digital Art

ARTspace (Salon C-4) 

Sarah Elizabeth Lasley, Indiana University, Masha Vlasova, Wofford College and Sue Huang, University of Connecticut

This panel investigates artistic questions of presence, body, and site-specificity within new media art, including projects that straddle the boundary between body and site, humyn and digital, irl and simulation. Organized by Sarah Lasley (Indiana University) and Masha Vlasova (Wofford College); moderated by Sue Huang (University of Connecticut).

Free and open to the public. No CAA Registration required.

Contacts: Sarah Lasley sarah.lasley@gmail.com + Masha Vlasova masha.vlasova@aya.yale.edu

Thursday_ 2/13/2020 8:00-10:00pm

Eleventh Annual New Media Caucus Showcase 

Bar Louie, 47 W Polk St, Chicago, IL 60605

The NMC showcase is a curated series of rapid-fire presentations by 10 NMC members. It has proven to be an excellent forum to get to know the work of a fellow members in a lively atmosphere and is the signature offsite event of the New Media Caucus. Food and select drinks are provided, and the venue features a cash bar. This event is free and open to the public, but RSVP via Eventbrite is required. No CAA registration needed.

Talks from:

Contacts: Liat Berdugo  + Byron Rich

Friday_ 2/14/2020, 8:30–10:00am

Coding as Feminist Practice

Media Lounge (Salon C-2)

KT Duffy, Northeastern Illinois University, Alejandro Toledo Acierto, Vanderbilt University, and Tiffany Mikell, Managing Director, ZaMLabs, Inc

This hybrid lecture-workshop will lead with a presentation of pedagogical research examining intersectional feminist values through the praxis of art and technology-based pedagogy, wherein Feminism is defined as the collective making, sharing, and practical strategies which employ a step-up-step-back approach that enables and empowers multiple voices to be present within the space of making. Alejandro Acierto, Tiffany Mikell, and KT Duffy will present project methodologies that allow for alternative ways of hypothesizing and planning and which explore the potential for a logic of feminism where objects (object-oriented programming) are reoriented within a radical feminist discourse. The lecture will follow with an experimental coding/making workshop. Limited registration; Participants should register for the workshop here. Participants will need a computer. Organized by KT Duffy.

Free and open to the public. No CAA Registration required.

Contact: KT Duffy ktduffyinc@gmail.com

Saturday_ 2/15/2020, 2:00–3:30pm

Mediated Reenactments and the Post-photographic Moment

Media Lounge (Salon C-2)

Niharika Dinkar, Boise State University and Catherine Zuromskis, University of New Mexico

Organized by Niharika Dinkar (Boise State University) and Catherine Zuromskis (Rochester Institute of Technology), this panel considers the visual culture of contemporary mediated reenactments (documentary, art, journalism, VR, etc.). What is at stake—historically, aesthetically, affectively, technologically—in the revivification of the past and what are its politics of representation?

Free and open to the public. No CAA Registration required.

Contacts: Niharika Dinkar niharikadinkar@boisestate.edu + Catherine Zuromskis czpph@rit.edu