Institutional Presentation Statement 

CCCB Auditorium, June 13th Session: Medialabs, research and practices

Keywords: Medialab, interdisciplinary, producing, experiment, the Netherlands

V2_, Lab for the Unstable Media is an interdisciplinary center for art and media technology in Rotterdam (the Netherlands). Founded in 1981, V2_ offers a platform for artists, designers, scientists, researchers, theorists, and developers of software and hardware from various disciplines to discuss their work and share their findings. In V2_’s view, art and design play an essential role in the social embedding of technological developments. V2_ creates a context in which issues regarding the social impact of technology are explored through critical dialogue, artistic reflection and practice-oriented research.

In this institutional presentation by V2_, Lab for the Unstable Media we will present our Lab’s interdisciplinary practice with a focus on art and media technology. It will cover our three core activities – the production, presentation and publication of research at the interface of art, technology and society, as well as highlight five pillars to our success: 1.) an emphasis on experiment as opposed to end result; 2.) the support of practices instead of mere single projects; 3.) the integration of theory with practice; 4.) our care for archiving activities; 5.) and our vast international network.

Furthermore, the presentation will highlight our thematic approach based on the recent example To Mind is to Care, a long term research project into the notion of “Caring for”. This interdisciplinary study of care covered care of people, other life forms, and technology and resulted in the book To Mind Is To Care, which included contributions by Ann-Sophie Lehmann, Sjoerd van Tuinen, Michael Marder, Arjo Klamer, Driessens & Verstappen, Frank Pasquale, Ellen Dissanayake, Maria Puig de la Bellacasa, Pieter Lemmens, Jeannette Pols, Bernard Stiegler, and Frederiek Bennema, a group exhibition carrying the same title featuring four new productions by artists Ana María Gómez López, Driessens & Verstappen, Nathalie Gebert and WE MAKE CARPETS and the curatorial research Art and Care: Reflections on the To Mind Is To Care Exhibition. https://v2.nl

• Florian Weigl is curator at V2_, Lab for the Unstable Media. As curator and researcher he is interested in art and contemporary technology reflecting on society, in collaboration with artists in the development of critical dialogue, artistic reflection and practice-oriented research. Curatorial projects at V2_ he did include the live experiment series 3×3 he initiated, and amongst others the group exhibitions Latent Spectators (2019, UNArt Center, Shanghai, co-curated with Iris Long), To Mind Is To Care (2020) and Reasonable Doubt (2021, co-curated with Vincent van Velsen); solo projects and exhibitions Jonas Lund’s Operation Earnest Voice (2018), Philip Vermeulen’s The Physical Rythm Machine (2017 at Ars Electronica, 2018 at V2_) and Johannes Langkamp’s solo exhibition Sun Tracing (2019). He is also author of the publications 3×3 Live experimenteren(2020, V2_Publishing with Jochem Kootstra) and Art and Care (2021, V2_ written with Dora Vrhoci).
• Arie Altena (NL) is archive editor at V2_ and the author of Wat is community art? (2016) and 40 Years of V2_ (2022).