Abstract (Short paper)
Keywords: Interactive Art, Aesthetics, Code Literacy, Activism.
The Aesthetics of Activism (2014) is an artwork that aggregates visual material from social networks into image and video collages. Visitors within an interactive zone can explore playback and correlation between images. The authors’ approach to transcoding aesthetically is grounded in their interpretation of both design and theatrical practices. They provide a detailed analysis of the artwork’s operation boundaries (e.g. spatial layout and themed structure) to support insight into the new roles and processes employed to translate code and aesthetics. Their approach to transcoding is a process that undermines the commercial platforms that rank, sort and filter the information on the Internet. Rather than enact document agency the artwork demonstrates the artistry required to transcode the representation of real world activism.
- Vicki Moulder, Artist, PhD Candidate, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada. ISEA2015 Performance Chair. interactionart.org
- Michael Heidt, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany
- Lorna Boschman, Post-doctoral researcher and Project Co-Ordinator, University of British Columbia Cancer’s Margins , Canada. Lorna Boschman is a leading Canadian new media/video artist whose work has helped to define community engagement within the field of social practice. She has achieved artistic accreditation and has been honoured with many awards (From the Inside/OUT!; (2000) NFB Kathleen Shannon Award, Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival; True Inversions; Judge’s Award, Northwest Film and Video Festival). Boschman’s video work is part of the National Gallery of Canada collection (Scars (1987); Our Normal Childhood (1988)). Her 20 plus years of media art production were celebrated during 2014 retrospectives in Brussels and Milan. Beyond new media art, her academic career has transcended the barrier between self-advocacy and health care. She has spent the last 7 years working as an artist who teaches people to use new media art practices to tell their own stories about health and self-advocacy. She has worked with health care professionals to reshape the way Canadians think about life-changing health conditions – a skill to which very few artists can aspire. * this ability (2010): In collaboration with the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion and the National Film Board, adults living with developmental disabilities directed video works reflecting their own experiences
* Cancers Margins (2013-current): Creating as designer-mentor with arts-based research with the LGBTQ community, cancer patients tell digital stories from their own perspective. queercancer.wordpress.com/stories
Full Text (PDF) p. 269-270