[ISEA2020]

[Overview] [Presentations] [Workshops] [Art Events]


ISEA2020 header26th International Symposium on Electronic Art [ISEA2020]

Online from Montréal, Canada. October 13-18, 2020. Organised by Montreal Digital Spring (Printemps Numérique) .


Overview

The 26th ISEA was originally planned for May 2021, but due of the break out of the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first postponed to October and then it was decided to organise the symposium almost entirely on-line. Over 4000 participants registered, which is the highest number of actual registrants for an ISEA symposium ever, sofar. As Mehdi Benboubakeur, Executive Director of Montreal Digital Spring, stated: “ISEA returns to Montreal after 25 years. Back in 1995, ISEA positioned Montreal as a digital art center and brought emerging local artists under international spotlight”.

ISEA2020 IN NUMBERS

  • 4,193 Attendees
  • 1732 ISEA2020 Arts Website Visitors
  • 300 Academic Programme & Talks Participants
  • 133 Local & International Artists
  • 12 Online/On-Site Workshops, 26 Facilitators, and over 200 Participants
  • More than 15 team members, 9 production staff, 5 technicians and collaborators,
  • and 25 invaluable volunteers

As part of ISEA2020, a Summit on New Media Art Archiving was organised as a joint event of the Archive of Digital Art – ADA (AT), the Ars Electronica archive (AT), the ISEA Symposium archives (NL) and the SIGGRAPH Digital Art Show Archive (USA)


ISEA2020 Online Teaser


Introductory Notes, Closing Events 


Committees

Organising Committee

  • General Director: Mehdi Benboubakeur
  • Programming Directors: Erandy Vergara-Vargas (Artistic Programme) & Manuelle Freire (Academic Programme)
  • Communication: Pauline Barthe, Margaux Davoine & Stephanie Creaghan
  • Workshop Coordinator: Sylvaine Chassay
  • Production Coordinator for the Online Artistic Programme: Sarah Wendt
  • Technical Director: Pascal Dufaux
  • Webmaster: Maximilien Briat Martin
  • Production Coordinator: Iriana Rakotobe
  • Production assistant: Laurence Yelle
  • Branding, website & design: Monarque Communication
  • Development: Marine Villedieu

Academic Committee

  • Christine Ross – McGill University (Montreal, Canada) – co-chair
    Chris Salter – Concordia University/Hexagram (Montreal, Canada) – co-chair
  • Pau Alsina – Open University of Catalunya UOC (Barcelona, Spain)
  • Joel Ong – York University (Toronto, Canada)
  • Philippe Pasquier – Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada)
  • Louise Poissant – UQAM & Fonds de recherche du Québec Société et culture (Montreal, Canada)
  • Bart Simon – Concordia University (Montreal, Canada)
  • Christa Sommerer – University of Art and Design (Linz, Austria)
  • Jonathan Sterne – McGill University (Montreal, Canada)
  • Marcelo Wanderley – McGill University (Montreal, Canada)

Artistic Committee

  • Erandy Vergara – Printemps Numérique (Montreal, Canada) – co-chair
  • Alice Jim – Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) – co-chair
  • Caroline Andrieux – Darling Foundry (Montreal, Canada) – co-chair
  • Sofian Audry – Clarkson University (N.Y., U.S.A.)
  • Skawennati Fragnito – Concordia University (Montreal, Canada)
  • Bertrand Gervais – UQAM (Montreal, Canada)
  • Christiane Paul – The New School (N.Y., U.S.A.)
  • Cheryl Sim – Phi Foundation (Montreal, Canada)
  • Tamar Tembeck – OBORO (Montreal, Canada)
  • Irma Vila – Open University of Catalunya UOC (Barcelona, Spain)
  • Soh Yeong Roh – The Art Center Nabi, Seoul, South Korea

Summit Organising Committee

  • Wendy Coones & Oliver Grau, ADA
  • Bonnie Mitchell, SIGGRAPH
  • Wim van der Plas, ISEA
  • Christina Radner, Ars Electronica

International Programme Committee

  • Wim van der Plas, ISEA Symposium Archives
  • Bonnie Mitchell, Bowling Green State University
  • JIllian Scott, Zurich University of the Arts
  • Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Lehman College / City University of New York
  • Eugenia Fratzeskou, Publication Integrity & Ethics (P.I.E.)
  • Marco Pinter, Interactive Media Artist
  • Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo, Texas A&M University
  • Carlos Grilo, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria
  • José-Carlos Mariategui, Alta Tecnología Andina
  • Jennifer Parker, University of California Santa Cruz
  • Philippe Pasquier, Simon Fraser University
  • Paz Tornero, University of Granada, Spain
  • A. Bill Miller, University of Wisconsin Whitewater
  • Alejandro Valencia-Tobon, Universidad EAFIT
  • Philip Galanter, Texas A&M University
  • G. Mauricio Mejia, Arizona State University
  • Felipe Cesar Lodoño, Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano
  • Peter J. Bentley, UCL
  • Jeremy Hight, Washington State University
  • Miwako Tezuka, Reversible Destiny Foundation
  • Jesse Drew, University of California, Davis
  • Eleonora Bilotta, University of Calabria
  • Klaus Fruchtnis, Paris College of Art
  • Alain Lioret, Université Paris 8
  • Claus Pias, Leuphana University
  • Annet Dekker, University of Amsterdam
  • Martin Warnke, Leuphana University Lüneburg
  • Tanya Toft Ag, City University of Hong-Kong
  • Katerina El Raheb, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
  • Chris Kiefer, University of Sussex
  • Anne Nigten, The Patching Zone
  • Nikos Stavropoulos, Leeds Beckett University
  • Judith Doyle, OCAD University
  • Amilcar Cardoso, University of Coimbra
  • Esteban Garcia Bravo, Purdue University
  • Scott Rettberg, University of Bergen
  • Daniel Cermak-Sassenrath, ITU, Copenhagen
  • Alessandro Ludovico, Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton
  • Pat Badani, ISEA International Board
  • Vanissa Law, City Univerisy of Hong Kong
  • Anton Nijholt, University of Twente
  • Sue Gollifer, ISEA International
  • Fernando Lazzetta, Universidade de São Paulo
  • Deborah Cornell, Boston University
  • Gunalan Nadarajan, Stamps School of Art and Design, University of Michigan
  • Claudia Costa Pederson, Wichita State University
  • Diane Willow, University of Minnesota
  • Simon Colton, Queen Mary University of London and Monash University
  • Ian Clothier, Intercreate/Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki
  • Tammer El-Sheikh, York University
  • Rodrigo Alonso, Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA), Argentina
  • Kevin Hamilton, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • Michel van Dartel, V2_ Lab for the unstable Media / Avans Centre of Applied
  • Research for Art, Design and Technology (CARADT)
  • Claudette Lauzon, Simon Fraser University
  • Mariana Perez Bobadilla, City Univerisy of Hong Kong
  • jake moore, University of Saskatchewan
  • Maryse Ouellet, University of Bonn
  • Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda, Simon Fraser University
  • David Johnson, Fraunhofer IDMT
  • Penesta Dika, University of Art in Linz
  • Gilbertto Prado, Universidade de São Paulo/Universidade Anhembi Morumbi
  • Peter Anders
  • Sarah Cook, University of Glasgow
  • Priscila Arantes, Pontificia Universidade Católica de SP, Universidade Anhembi Morumbi
  • Alanna Thain, McGill University
  • Manuela Naveau, The University of Art and Design Linz / Ars Electronica Linz
  • Daniel Temkin
  • Tomas Laurenzo, School of Creative Media CityU of Hong-Kong
  • Alison Loader, Concordia University
  • Nina Czegledy, University of Toronto, OCAD University
  • Aleksandra Kaminska, Université de Montréal
  • Nathalie Bachand, Independent curator
  • Mariela Yeregui, Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero
  • Navid Navab, Topological Media Lab
  • Annick Bureaud, Leonardo/Olats
  • Paul Thomas, University of New South Wales
  • Annette Weintraub, The City College of New York, CUNY
  • Elizabeth Demaray, Rutgers University
  • Everardo Reyes, Université Paris 8
  • Michael Prokopow, OCAD University
  • Christa Sommerer, Interface Cultures, University of Art and Design LInz
  • Cheryl Sim, Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art
  • Philippe Pasquier, Simon Fraser University
  • Louise Poissant, UQAM
  • Patrick White, UQAM
  • Elizabeth Demaray, Rutgers University
  • Gabriel Tremblay-Gaudette, UQAM
  • Enrico Agostini Marchese, UdM
  • Sofian Audry, Clarkson University
  • Mélodie Simard-Houde, Université Laval
  • Christiane Paul, The New School / Whitney Museum
  • Christophe Collard, Free University of Brussels
  • Alexander Wilson
  • Joel Ong, York University
  • Alexandre Castonguay, UQAM
  • Jean Dubois, UQAM
  • Ricardo Dal Farra, Concordia University
  • Mike Phillips, i-DAT, University of Plymouth
  • Marcelo Wanderley, McGill University
  • Doug Van Nort, York University
  • Jonathan Sterne, McGill University
  • Marie Fraser, UQAM
  • Steven Loft, Canada Coouncil for the Arts
  • Alice Jarry, Concordia University
  • Barbara Clausen, UQAM
  • Eduardo Navas, The Pennsylvania State University
  • Nicolas Sauret, Université de Montréal
  • Yan Breuleux, NAD- UQAC
  • Kim Sawchuk, Concordia University
  • Natalia Fuchs, ARTYPICAL
  • Aleksandra Kaminska, Université de Montréal
  • David Howes, Concordia University
  • Nicolas Reeves, UQAM
  • Joanna Berzowska, Concordia University
  • Clemens Apprich, University of Groningen
  • Louis-Claude Paquin, UQAM
  • Philippe-Aubert Gauthier, UQAM
  • Paul Landon, UQAM
  • Wei Jo, Central Academy of Fine Arts China
  • Samuel Bianchini, École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs – Université PSL
  • Johannes Bruder, Critical Media Lab Basel
  • Andrea Sosa, National University of La Plata / National University of the Arts
  • Maude Bonenfant, UQAM
  • Manuelle Freire, Associate researcher EnsadLab – Paris
  • David Jhave Johnston, Concordia University
  • Jens Hauser, Medical Museion University of Copenhagen
  • Bertrand Gervais, UQAM
  • Tamar Tembeck, OBORO
  • Diane Willow, University of Minnesota
  • Monika Gagnon, Concordia University
  • Mariela Yeregui, Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero
  • Fenwick McKelvey, Concordia University
  • Martin Jarmick
  • Jane Prophet, University of Michigan
  • Robert Twomey, Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination, UC San Diego
  • Ha Na Lee, University of Utah
  • Roberta Buiani, The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences
  • Meredith Tromble, San Francisco Art Institute
  • Michael Palumbo, York University
  • Kristine Diekman, California State University, San Marcos
  • Inmi Lee, New York University Shanghai
  • Anna Ridler, Creative Computing Institute, UAL
  • Mary Bunch, York University
  • Jazmín Adler, CONICET – UNTREF
  • Tyler Fox, University of Washington
  • Rebecca Cummins, University of Washington
  • Ryan Stec, University of Ottawa / Artengine
  • Mark-David Hosale, Computational Arts; Arts, Media, Performance, and Design; York University
  • Kathy High, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  • Caitlin Fisher, York University, Canada
  • Federica Bressan, Stony Brook University, NY
  • Pedro Martins, CISUC, Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra
  • Neil Leonard, Berklee College of Music
  • Natasha Bissonauth, College of Wooster
  • Petra Gemeinboeck, UNSW, AU
  • Enric Mor, UOC – Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
  • Reilley Bishop-Stall, Concordia University
  • Leah Willemin, Parsons School of Design
  • Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo, Parsons School of Design
  • Rachel Clarke, California State University, Sacramento
  • Marta de Menezes, Cultivamos Cultura
  • Cecilia Vilca, MyAP (Microscopía Electrónica y Aplicaciones en el Perú)
  • Flavia Caviezel, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Academy of Art and Design
  • Dolores Steinman, University of Toronto
  • Joseph Malloch, Dalhousie University
  • Andrea Fitzpatrick, University of Ottawa
  • Simon-Pierre Gourd, UQAM, École des Médias
  • Boris Magrini, HeK (House of Electronic Arts Basel)
  • Daria Tsoupikova, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Afroditi David, University of Washington
  • Ian Hattwick, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Carrie Rentschler, McGill University
  • Kelly Thompson, Concordia University
  • Florian Grond, McGill University
  • Michael Montanaro, Concordia University
  • Andres Burbano, Universidad de los Andes

Art Jury

  • Ivan Abreu Ochoa, Artist
  • Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda, Simon Fraser University
  • Myriam Achard, Centre Phi
  • Jazmín Adler, CONICET; UNTREF
  • Tania Aedo, Independent curator
  • Rodrigo Alonso, Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA), Argentina
  • Priscila Arantes, Pontificia Universidade Católica de SP, Universidade Anhembi Morumbi
  • Nathalie Bachand, Independent curator
  • Pat Badani, ISEA International Board
  • Mehdi Benboubakeur, Printemps Numérique
  • Joanna Berzowska, Concordia University
  • Eleonora Bilotta, University of Calabria
  • Émilie Boudrias, Concertation Montreal
  • Yan Breuleux, NAD
  • Jonah Brucker-Cohen, Lehman College / City University of New York
  • Roberta Buiani
  • Andres Burbano, Universidad de los Andes
  • Annick Bureaud, Leonardo/Olats
  • Rejane Cantoni, Artist
  • Alexandre Castonguay, UQAM
  • Daniel Cermak-Sassenrath, ITU, Copenhagen
  • Samir Chenennou and Samy Lamouti, Sam&Sam
  • Ian Clothier, Intercreate/Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki
  • Allison Collins, Western Front
  • Christophe Collard, Free University of Brussels
  • Simon Colton, Queen Mary University of London and Monash University
  • Sarah Cook, University of Glasgow
  • Ancangelo Constantini, Artist
  • Deborah Cornell, Boston University
  • Nina Czegledy, University of Toronto, OCAD University
  • Ricardo Dal Farra, Concordia University
  • Melissa A. Dela Merced
  • Annet Dekker, University of Amsterdam
  • Elizabeth Demaray, Rutgers University
  • Alexandra Dementieva, Artist
  • Kristine Diekman, California State University, San Marcos
  • Penesta Dika, University of Art in Linz
  • Natalie Doonan, Université de Montréal
  • Judith Doyle, OCAD University
  • Jesse Drew, University of California, Davis
  • Jean Dubois, UQAM
  • Robin Dupuis, Perte de Signal
  • Iván Edeza, Independent artist
  • Angela Ferraiolo, Sarah Lawrence College
  • Michele Fiedler, Independent curator
  • Peter Flemming, Artist
  • Adrien Flisak, Société des arts technologiques
  • Tyler Fox, University of Washington
  • Marie Fraser, UQAM
  • Eugenia Fratzeskou, Publication Integrity & Ethics (P.I.E.)
  • Rob La Frenais
  • Klaus Fruchtnis, Paris College of Art
  • Natalia Fuchs, ARTYPICAL
  • Monika Gagnon, Concordia University
  • Philip Galanter, Texas A&M University
  • Esteban Garcia Bravo, Purdue University
  • Sue Gollifer, ISEA International
  • Lynne Heller, Ryerson University
  • Jeremy Hight, Washington State University
  • Mark Hosale
  • Claudine Hubert, MUTEK
  • Cedric Huchet, Stereolux / Scopitone festival
  • Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo, Texas A&M University
  • Fernando Iazzetta
  • Alice Jarry, Concordia University
  • David Johnson, Fraunhofer IDMT
  • Susan Kordalewski, InterAccess
  • Jorge La Ferla, Universidad de Buenos Aires/Universidad del Cine
  • Paul Landon, UQAM
  • Tomas Laurenzo, School of Creative Media CityU of Hong-Kong
  • Vanissa Law, City Univerisy of Hong Kong
  • Hana Lee
  • Michel Lefebvre, Agence TOPO
  • Alain Lioret, Université Paris 8
  • Alison Loader, Concordia University
  • Steven Loft, Canada Coouncil for the Arts
  • Felipe Londoño
  • José-Carlos Mariategui, Alta Tecnología Andina
  • Kathleen McDermott, NYU
  • A. Bill Miller, University of Wisconsin Whitewater
  • Bonnie Mitchell, Bowling Green State University
  • Jake Moore, University of Saskatchewan
  • Gunalan Nadarajan, Stamps School of Art and Design, University of Michigan
  • Navid Navab, Topological Media Lab
  • Manuela Naveau, The University of Art and Design Linz / Ars Electronica Linz
  • Anne Nigten, The Patching Zone
  • Anton Nijholt, University of Twente
  • Doug Nort
  • Michael Palumbo, York University
  • Jennifer Parker, University of California Santa Cruz
  • Ariane Plante, Independent curator
  • Claudia Pederson
  • Mike Phillips, i-DAT, University of Plymouth
  • Marco Pinter, Interactive Media Artist
  • Andrea Polli, University of New Mexico
  • Gilbertto Prado, Universidade de São Paulo/Universidade Anhembi Morumbi
  • Michael Prokopow, OCAD University
  • Jane Prophet, University of Michigan
  • Mariana Perez Bobadilla, City Univerisy of Hong Kong
  • Κaterina Raheb
  • Nicolas Reeves, UQAM
  • Scott Rettberg, University of Bergen
  • Everardo Reyes, Université Paris 8
  • Anna Ridler, Creative Computing Institute, UAL
  • Tina Sauerläender, Independent curator
  • Nicolas Sauret, Université de Montréal
  • Kim Sawchuk, Concordia University
  • Theresa Schubert, Artist
  • Yifat Shaik, York University
  • Mélodie Simard
  • Cornelia Sollfrank, Artist
  • Andrea Sosa, National University of La Plata / National University of the Arts
  • Nikos Stavropoulos, Leeds Beckett University
  • Ryan Stec, University of Ottawa / Artengine
  • Daniel Temkin
  • Miwako Tezuka, Reversible Destiny Foundation
  • Alanna Thain, McGill University
  • Alain Thibault, ELEKTRA
  • Paul Thomas, University of New South Wales
  • Tanya Toft Ag, City University of Hong-Kong
  • Paz Tornero, University of Granada, Spain
  • Gabriel Tremblay
  • Meredith Tromble, San Francisco Art Institute
  • Henri Tsang, Emily Carr University of Art & Design
  • Robert Twomey, Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination, UC San Diego
  • Michel van Dartel, V2_ Lab for the unstable Media / Avans Centre of Applied
  • Research for Art, Design and Technology (CARADT)
  • Alejandro Valencia-Tobon, Universidad EAFIT
  • Bill Vorn, Concordia University
  • Martin Warnke, Leuphana University Lüneburg
  • Annette Weintraub, The City College of New York, CUNY
  • Diane Willow, University of Minnesota
  • Ga Zhang, China Central Academy of Fine Arts

Theme: Why Sentience?

ISEA2020 turns towards the theme of “Why Sentience? Sentience describes the ability to feel or perceive. ISEA2020 will be fully dedicated to examining the resurgence of sentience — feeling-sensing-making sense — in recent art and design, media studies, science and technology studies, philosophy, anthropology, history of science and the natural scientific realm — notably biology, neuroscience and computing. We ask: why sentience? Why and how does sentience matter? Why have artists and scholars become interested in sensing and feeling beyond, with and around our strictly human bodies and selves? Why has this notion been brought to the fore in an array of disciplines in the 21st century?

Sub-themes

  • Animality

Animality treats of the non-human and beyond human senses, of expanded notions of aliveness, panpsychism and hylozoism in species other than the humans of ISEA2020. A few non-humans are accepted at ISEA2020, just not as presenters.

  • The Ecosophic World

The theme Ecosophic World proposes explorations of sentience understood within the entanglements of scientific, environmental, and multispecies ecologies, and their current crises. Case-studies of symbiotic and expanded ecosystems, both natural and human-made will be explored in 10 different sessions at ISEA2020.

  • Machinic Sense and Sensibility

Machinic Sense and Sensibility saw a great deal of proposals about the autonomy and agency, and even intentionality of robotic and digital creations. Presentations in this theme take on both the sentience of machines and sentience through machines.

  • Sentient Difference

Sentient Difference shines a light on ways of navigating the social, natural and materials worlds that go beyond or against normativity in regards to race, gender, queer and trans, and (dis)ability.

  • Matter’s Mattering

Matter’s Mattering brings forward the tangible, materials things of sentience: the bodies, circuits, infrastructures, matter, how they come to be and the place they take in modalities of engagement and sentience.

  • The Politics of Sentience

The Politics of Sentience was tackled by some of the most critical scholars who will present their takes on the post-truth, post-sense, sensorization, surveillance, racism, weaponization, control, inequality, re-bordering, capitalism, neo-liberalism, other isms and the institutions of knowledge creation and management of today.

  • The Planetary

The Planetary: few but worthwhile proposals rethink the global to reaffirm, through creation, the aesthetics of sharing in the global currents and streams of the natural elements, shared resources, beneath and above this planet’s surface


Partners, Sponsors & Funders

Organising Partners

Partners

Public Partners

Programming Partners

Creativity Pavilion presented by:

Media Partners

In Collaboration with:

  • Office Franco-Quebecois pour la Jeunesse  ofqj.org/#

Links

  1. Proceedings (PDF)
  2. Catalogue_Final Programme (PDF)
  3. Workshop Programme (PDF)
  4. Photos
  5. Artefacts