announces the much-awaited
return of theArriving this
spring, directly from SOUTH AFRICA and from NEW YORK...
«1
KATHRYN SMITH
Artist, curator and author from Johannesburg, Kathryn Smith engages
with technology from a perspective that's both political and philosophical.
Her work combines video, found footage, text and photography.
With the artists, writers and curators Marcus Neustetter and Stephen
Hobbs, Kathryn completes the Trinity Session, an independent contemporary
arts production team. Assuming the form and economy of a flexible
socially-engaged consultancy, they produce public art projects,
curated exhibitions, video screenings, research and critical writing.
Their work focusses particularly on urban development, criticism,
technology and the body, and new media art.
http://onair.co.za/thetrinitysession/directorsks.htm
http://www.artthrob.co.za/03dec/artbio.html
:: 29.04.04 5:30PM :: Artist Presentation
Media Urbanscapes: excess/access and development
at La Centrale 460, Sainte-Catherine Street Ouest #506,
Montréal
During her presentation, Kathryn Smith will discuss the Trinity
Session's research into the confluence of public space and digital
culture, placing an emphasis on the creative interventions of
powerless groups faced with an acute shortage of technological
resources. Drawing on her experiences in Johannesburg, South Africa,
where the juxtaposition of extreme 1st and 3rd-World conditions
is particularly apparent, Kathryn will encourage participants
to reflect on the different ways that rich and poor segments of
society relate to technology.
Free for members / $4 for non-members
:: 01.05.04
9:30 -5PM :: Interactive Seminar
Media Urbanscapes: Lo-Tech Resolutions
at Studio XX 338, Terrasse Saint-Denis, Montréal
In this experimental workshop, Kathryn Smith will elaborate on
the reflections undertaken during her presentation. With a socio-political
and feminist regard, she'll examine the dynamics of technology
in South Africa and on the African continent in general. Participants
will be invited to work in small groups to conceptualise the cityscape
using a variety of technological resources at their disposal.
Emphasis will be placed on using accessible, "lo-tech"
means of communication.
BONUS! : the activity will take place on the
rooftop of the building where Studio XX is located; participants
will be inspired by an unmatched view of the mediatised island
on which they live!
The first seminar speaks to artists, activists, critics and all
those who feel particularly engaged by the concepts:
• digital
divide
• technology and the third world
• gender issues
• creative industries
• transforming societies
• urban spaces under construction
$20 members/
$30 non-members
« 2 MONICA PRABA PILAR
A New York/Colombian
multidisciplinary artist, Praba Pilar has worked on multiple projects
in the public sphere through public art, site installations, performances,
and websites. Her background in community work and political activism
establishes the platform from which she artistically confronts
the conflict between humanitarian, political and economic motivations.
In 1999, Praba expanded the scope of her investigation to encompass
information technologies. She has worked to increase dialogue
around issues of race, sex and class, and of access to content
production on the World Wide Web. Notably, she founded Artactivist.com,
a website that serves as a vehicle for dialogue between various
artist and activist groups around the country and around the world.
http://www.prabapilar.com
:: 20.05.04 7PM :: WORLD PREMIERE
of the performance
Computers Are a Girl’s
Best Friend
at The Local 7154, Saint-Urbain Montréal (corner
of Jean-Talon)
Appropriating De Beers Diamond Company's marketing strategy of
producing the 1953 musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, with its
theme song "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend," Praba
Pilar transposes the lyrics and dance routine to a new hit. Computers
Are A Girl’s Best Friend is an exploration of the contradictions
that exist between the hyperbolic rhetoric of the computer industry
and the dreadfully real effects on the lives of women. This piece
will counter the sexiness of the computer industry by disrobing
the truth of the exportation of toxic electronic waste to Asia,
the trafficking of women online, the globalization of maternal
love, telesexuality, Real Dolls and other extraordinary effects
of the computer revolution on the female subject. The musical
comedy will feature ribald musical theater interspersed with monologues,
audio of interviews with cyber-theorists Anne Balsamo and Paulina
Boorsook, and video montages.
$3 members/ $5 non-members
:: 21.05.04 9:30—5PM ::
TechnoMythologius Interactive Seminar
at The Local7154, Saint-Urbain, Montréal (corner
of Jean-Talon)
The day will be launched by a special ceremony: the Techno Santeros
Mass.
Inspired by her experience of artistic interventions with the
collectives Los Cybrids and The Hexterminators, Praba Pilar will
facilitate critical debate on the evolution of ubiquitous computerisation,
of wireless communication and of the surveillance society.
Participants will be encouraged to work collectively to develop
strategies that all class and ethic groups could use to combat
the centralisation of surveillance techniques via computer networks.
Los Cybrids:
La Raza Techno-Critica is a junta of three poly-ethnic cultural
diggers of the Latino sort dedicated to the critique of cyber-cultural
negotiation via techno-artistico activity. Los Cybrids ascribe
to the increasingly widening liminal spaces of culture, hybridity
and decentred identities reinforced by the new electronic technologies.
http://www.prabapilar.com/pages/projects/cybrids.html
The Hexterminators:
SuperHeroes of the Genetix Devolution is a group of artists, activists
and scientists who have done multiple collaborative installations,
performances, panel discussions and university lectures that explore
the economic and environmental impacts of biotechnology on so-called
"ethnic communities" around the world.
http://www.prabapilar.com/pages/projects/biolife1.html
This experimental workshop is particularly appropriate for artists,
activists and anybody interested in performance.
$20 members / $30 non-members
Everyone is welcome to attend these activities.
The presentations and workshops will be conducted in English.
Translation will be available by request.
For each of the interactive seminars of the MÉTA FEMMES
BR@NCHÉES,
15 to 20 seats will be available by reservation:
ateliers@studioxx.org
514.845.0289
In order for the artists to adequately prepare, participants are
asked to submit a few lines about themselves (short bio or resume)
indicating what issues they want most to explore during their
MÉTA FEMMES BR@NCHÉES workshops.
