[ISEA2018] Artists Statement: Andreia Oliveira, Ashleigh Ruiters, Cassio Lemos, Dikeledi Maponya, Eduardo Custodio, Evaristo do Nascimento, Fabio Almeida, Fanie Ndlovu, Indira Richter, Luyanda Zindela, Reddy Bambi, Sarah Kieswetter, Tasneem Seedat & Timothy Adeliyi — Same, Same, but Different

Artists Statement

Same, Same, but Different is a transdisciplinary collaborative project between the Laboratory of Art and Science at Durban University of Technology (South Africa) and the Interdisciplinary Interactive Laboratory (LabInter) at the University of Santa Maria (Brazil). This project brings together people from Fine Arts, Engineering, Computer Science and Video to create an interactive electronic artwork that uses water as a conceptual metaphor for access to internet bandwidth and information as a human right and commodity which should be widely available without restriction, as essential to human life, and to which every person is entitled. This project seeks to bolster existing collaborative transdisciplinary initiatives along a South-South axis between South Africa and Brazil, in light of the two countries facing similar artistic, cultural and socio-economic challenges.

LabInter is composed by artists, teachers, researchers and students from visual arts, design, music, letters, architecture, cinema, computer engineering and computer science. The lab has developed research projects in game art, interactive applications, augmented reality, mixed reality, interactive installations, visual music, web art, telematic art, and, recently, a Fulldome proposal. LabInter is associated with the Graduate Program in Visual Arts at UFSM/Brazil. Andreia Oliveira, Cassio Lemos, Eduardo Custodio, Evaristo do Nascimento, Fabio Almeida and Indira Richter are members of the LabInter’s team.

  • Andréia Oliveira has a Doctorate in Computing Technology in Education, researching Art and Technology, from UFRGS, Brazil and the Université de Montreal/UdM in Canadá (2010). She is the founder and Director of LabInter at UFSM since 2012. Her artistic and academic production has been published in books, annals and indexed academic journals and presented at national and international events: STS-Barcelona 2016; ISEA Manizales 2017, Hong Kong 2016, Dubai 2015, Sydney 2014, Istanbul 2011. She is professor in the Graduate Program in Visual Arts/UFSM/Brazil.
  • Sarah Kieswetter is South African Durban based multi-disciplinary visual artist. Kieswetter graduated from the Durban University of Technology in 2016 and is currently completing her Master’s degree in Fine Art at DUT. She has participated in many group exhibitions in and around KwaZulu Natal and received second place in the KZNSA’s 2017 group exhibition “Character”. Her body of experimental work is feminist in nature and critiques issues of misogyny and hegemony in technology and on the internet.
  • Luyanda Zindela is a young artist who was born, raised and currently lives and works in Durban, South Africa. He completed his BTech Degree in Fine art in 2012 and is currently studying towards his Master’s Degree in Fine Art at the Durban University of Technology. Luyanda was the recipient of the ABSA L’atelier Art Competition Merit Award in 2014, and became a fellow of the Ampersand Foundation’s artist’s-in-residency programme in New York in 2015. Luyanda has participated in various national exhibitions.
  • Tasneem Seedat is a Lecturer in the Department of Media, Language and Communication at Durban University of Technology (DUT). With a background in television and educational video, she began making films while a post-graduate. She has edited a wide variety of genres from documentary to reality TV, working at a number of production houses. She currently lectures Video: Theory and Practice in the Language Practice programme and her expertise in the communication field extends into the English and Communication Programme.