Converse with each other:
Read the conversation:
Documentation Center of Cambodia
From Enrico Aditjondro
Date: 24 June 2010
Wow, after reading Kok Thay's interview in today's 10-15-minute presentation was surely not enough to cover the vast scope of DC-Cam's work - love the name buy the way. I was involved in the Timor Leste's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CAVR) a bit several years back and found the work very difficult and challenging due to various factors (politics, sensitivity, memory/accuracy, etc). I have nothing but praises and high hope for DC-Cam. All the best, Kok Thay!From Nikki Draper
Date: 22 June 2010
I'm in awe of this site. The design is deceptively simple, which lead me to (erroneously) think I could quickly read it all. Two hours later I was still reading. The volume of work that the organization is doing is staggering. Is there anything you want to do, but haven't been able to tackle? What prevents you from doing this wish list item? Is it something practical (time, money and staff) or something more complicated to work with (politics, culture or attitudes)?
From Patricia Zimmermann
Date: 22 June 2010
The Documentation Center of Cambodia is a different kind of new media project: it's geared towards memory and justice in the face of the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge and war crimes. More here.
About the Singapore Internet Research Centre
From Yvonne Lim
Date: 23 June 2010
The Singapore Internet Research Centre (SiRC) conducts various research relating to new media, and not limiting to internet only. The Centre conducts seminar, workshops and conferences to disseminate research findings. Scholars who are interested with any of our past and previous topics of the Centre's research are welcome to email us for details.
About the artist Shannon Castleman
From Nurbaya Rameh
Date: 22 June 2010
@Sharon: Perhaps people these days are more concerned with themselves. I admit that I'm only interested in my neighbours when I hear a loud noise. Do you think this is the effect of the fast paced society and that we don't live in kampungs(villages) and hence are unable to experience communal/community living?
From Sharon Lin Tay
Date: 21 June 2010
Have just read the interview with Shannon Castleman. Has HDB living put paid to voyeurism? Are you really that jaded and uninterested in your neighbours?
From Patricia Zimmermann
Date: 18 June 2010
Wondering what defines Open Space? Installation artist Shannon Castleman has worked out an collaborative answer in this interview.
About the Common Room
From Gustaff H. Iskandar
Date: 22 June 2010
We can say that recent development in science and technology has been strongly influence the way we produce and distribute knowledge. It also creates many version of truth and reality. Our engagement with the public is always started with shared interest and everyday experience. For us art is only a tools to generate new knowledge and sensory perception.
In the past recent years, we have been able to present our work to international audience. But in daily basis, we always have strong engagement with our locality and daily surrounding.
About the artist Michael Tan
From Sharon Lin Tay
Date: 21 June 2010
Everytime you dispose of a pair of shoes or an article of clothing, do you think about the journey it embarks on?
From Patricia Zimmermann
Date: 17 June 2010
Open Space means...installations at ICA in Suntec...where artists like Michael Tan work to craft openings and spaces for us to wander in and through...more conversation with Michael here.
About CUTE Mixed Reality Lab
From Sharon Lin Tay
Date: 21 June 2010
Yes, Jeffrey, it'll be interesting to see the return of embodiment. I just wasn't quite bargaining for a remote version of the body!
From Jeffrey Koh
Date: 18 June 2010
I think the dichotomy in perception between sterile technology and human-centered, emotional communication is quickly waining. As communication mediums such as the internet become more and more integral with our daily lives, so does our acceptance of new forms of interaction. Engaging other senses over the network may seem novel and wacky now, but very soon, even within the context of the next generation, people will use and have access to multiple modalities for communication. Sound and vision will make way for other communication mediums such as touch, and even smell and taste. This backlash of increasingly digitizing our lives will return to us a need for the physical and visceral once again.
From Sharon Lin Tay
Date: 16 June 2010
Has the future arrived in the guise of the CUTE lab? If we think technology is sterile, cold, mechanical, inhuman, we might be surprised by the Mixed Reality Lab's projects. These projects seem to use technology to bridge distances, to facilitate emotional exchange, encourage empathy and biological necessities. Check out the Huggy Pajama, Kiss Me kit, Baggage Cabbage, amongst others. We may become cyborg - and technology can become human perhaps!
About the Tactical Technology Collective
From Low Koon Yen
Date: 20 June 2010
I think the toolkits that Tactical Tech have created could be dubbed the Swiss Army Knife of social media! I guess my question is how did the idea of providing such resources come about?
About the Singapore Internet Research Centre
From Low Koon Yen
Date: 19 June 2010
Welcome to the Information Age, we have always been told; and the Internet has been the vanguard of this proclamation. While SiRC has been conducting very interesting research in the field, I guess my question is how is the organisation communicating their results to the public?
About Engage Media and Witness
From Patricia Zimmermann
Date: 20 June 2010
Provocative discussions here about curation, aggregation, user access, blogs, open or closed...more comments from the inside out from Engage Media's Enrico Anditjondro in this interview.
From Enrico Aditjondro
Date: 19 June 2010
Thanks for the kind words. EngageMedia has done several collaborations with Witness, and we plan to continue to do so. I think it's time to start packaging videos into issues rather than having them separately. That's the big plan for EngageMedia. I'm currently in the video activist camp in remote East Java, called Camp Sambel, and here, people from all background - filmmakers, environment and social justice activists, are finding videos more and more relevant in their campaigns.
From Low Koon Yen
Date: 18 June 2010
is truly an amazing site with incredible scope (both geographical and conceptual). I love some of the experimental works that are showcased.
And I can't help but notice the similarity between the concept of EngageMedia and The Hub; any chance of collaboration?
From Patricia Zimmermann
Date: 15 June 2010
Just back from doing a talk on viral witnessing in Hong Kong at a conference on Cosmopolitics. Some attendees were disturbed that sites like Engage and Witness seem to be about interfaces rather than images, aggregation rather than curation of voices....my argument is that Engage and Witness provide new ways of convening ideas and people around issues of significance that would get lost in the endless effluvia of UGC. I'm wondering what others think about these sites based on aggregation for human rights issues?
About aggregation and curation of human rights media
From Nikki Draper
Date: 17 June 2010
Sam, I would love to hear more about one of those points on the human rights spectrum. Can you give some examples of an issue (and the websites) where an issue crystallized and took shape thanks to aggregation?
From Low Koon Yen
Date: 16 June 2010
I think Sam has managed to sum up the role of aggregation and curation most elegantly. And indeed, the role of The Hub as a conduit to act as a conduit for information of this nature is most inspiring.
What moved me most is that the content is ultimately generated by the public for the public. And I guess a question comes to mind here: is there any form of gatekeeping involved in maintaining The Hub?
From Sharon Lin Tay
Date: 16 June 2010
@Sam Gregory
Hello! You are spot on about aggregation and the curating of human rights media. I think the DC-Cam website is a great example of aggregation. It is impressively comprehensive and accessible. No blog, though!
From Sam Gregory, WITNESS
Date: 15 June 2010
I tend to think of aggregation and curation of human rights media as two points on a spectrum. Because so much of the value of the generativity in new media forms comes from the sheer profusion, an initial act of aggregation can help give shape and meaning to an issue; then there's a second stage of curation (often using a blog format, eg. at blog.witness.org or hub.witness.org/blog) that adds an additional layer of meaning to aggregated media.
About Generative New Media
From Patricia Zimmermann
Date: 15 June 2010
Ever wonder what generative new media actually is? Answers here, interview with Open Space installation artist Vladimir Todorovic.
About the AMIC Alternative Media Portal
From Low Koon Yen
Date: 14 June 2010
This is a prime example of opening up spaces, aggregating alternate voices within communities, which the mainstream media usually ignore.
I was wondering if it might be a more effective platform to share alternate media if visitors are able to upload their own resources?
About Online Artwork
From Jenna Ng
Date:
13 June 2010
As a Singaporean far from its shores (in northern Sweden, to be exact!), it's great to be able to access Singaporean artwork even from here. OPENINGS really demonstrates the reach, versatility and creativity of digital art. Great job!
About Open Space Artist Jesvin Yeo
From Jesvin
Date: 9 June 2010
Thanks Grace. Will keep that in mind for my next 'Singaporeness' design project
From Grace
Date: 8 June 2010
I've seen her calling card figure, and i think it's really cute. Must admit that i dont immediately think of the different cultures of singapore from the doll! :X
From Patricia Zimmermann, NTU
Date: 5 June 2010
Jesvin Yeo will be showing her work, Singapore Pangram, as part of the Open Space Installations at Suntec during ICA. She's also presenting on the panel The Permeable Spaces of New Media Installation on Thursday. For more on Jesvin, check out this interview.
About the Common Room
From Low Koon Yen, NTU
Date: 8 June 2010
The recent (i.e. the last few decades) progress in science (quantum physics, for one) and technology has toppled a lot of the assumptions we have of our knowledge and of reality. In what ways have the Common Room engage the public in such dialogue with art? And are there plans to extend your work to the international public?
About the Singapore Arts Festival
From Patricia R. Zimmermann, NTU
Date: 3 June 2010
Seeing and thinking about all this digital art and social media got me thinking about how analog forms now seem to engage the realm of reimagining spectacle. I saw a great example of installation as spectacle during the opening weekend of the Singapore Arts festival, here's my blog about the experience.
About the Indonesian Visual Arts Archive
From Patricia R. Zimmermann, NTU
Date: 31 May 2010
I was recently down in Yogjakarta, and met with Pitra Hutomo and Farah Wardani from the Indonesian Visual Arts Archive (included in the Spaces section of this exhibition). Just wanted to share my blog about IVAA in the hopes of getting some conversation going on this site.
OPENINGS
International artist's projects opening space.
Vaibhav Bhawsar (India)
Project: Terraline
A new take on being directionally challenged: the TerraLine instrument usurps the function of the magnetic compass to show not cardinal points but “indicators of economic states”.
Vaibav Bhawsar re-thinks everyday objects and the ways in which they help us understand our world by altering and breaking their intended purposes. Bhawsar studied design at the Srishti School of Art & Design in Bangalore, India, and at the Interactive Telecommunications Programme, New York.
@Grace thats a good question and a hard one! i spent considerable time thinking about it. My goal was to use a common quantity/metric that most of us could understand and relate to. Comparing different economies can get very complicated and abstract. So I used what's called the big-mac index- which provides a method for calculating the purchasing power of a person. It's also called burgernomics :) I would have preferred to use something more contextual if I had the data.
Andreas Zingerle (Austria)
Project: Der Überflieger
Homing pigeons are equipped with modern gadgets such as GPS devices and digital recording instruments. The project demonstrates that the apparently forgotten medium of the homing pigeon can be combined with standard technology. Monitoring the surrounding area, it exposes private or public activities, as well possibilities and dangers to society.
Andreas Zingerle was born in 1980 in Innsbruck, Austria and currently lives in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He holds a masters degree from the University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz/Austria. Since 2004, his work has been shown in Europe, America, Asia and Australia.
I am supposing that homing pigeons have an aerial view of the world and mark locations from point to point, much like, for example, a google map? It makes me think of this project's relationship to Babak F's J-Walk that's also featured here. Hmm...
@Prof Sharon what do ou mean about GPS replicating their perspective?
Myriam Thyes (Germany)
Project: Flag Metamorphoses
Animated by numerous artists around the world, the flags of various nations morph and transform through Flash animation to weave powerful narratives ranging from the melancholic to the quirky to the comedic.
Myriam Thyes is originally from Switzerland but now lives in Germany. Her work spans new media, video art, animation, photography and digital imagery. She has been Artist in Residence at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris and Glasgow, UK. Her awards include the Depict! Award 2005, Encounters Festival, UK and MultiMediaPrize 2006, Avanca Festival, Portugal.
Thanks for your comments! Flags were originally created for war purposes only - to distinguish friend and foe on the battle field. One more reason to work with these symbols in a different way!
By the way: Most Flash animations of this series have got sound.
"With photographs and magnetic tape, we capture." - Laura Veirs, Rapture.
If desire ends once you attain the object of it, what would a photograph of that object contribute to the process of desiring? Kristen Alvanson calls the dESIRE project "anti-disciplinary", which makes up for the extreme difficulty of physicalising an intangible concept.
It seems strange that we try to simplify our countries into this one overarching banner. To me, this project pushes these symbolic boundaries, perhaps also exploring the overlaps between countries flags in the process. Ultimately, our flags all seem to recycle the same positive values in their emblems. But I love the history they represent, the process of deciding what about your country you'd most like to fly from a post.
The crescent moon in the Singapore flag represents "A young nation on the rise". I've always wondered whether we'll change the flag after we've been around a hundred years or so and are no longer "young". Then again, I suppose our youth will always be relative to the countries around us.
Babak Fakhamzadeh (The Netherlands)
Project: J-Walk
Take a walk on the digital side: this website features online mobile tours of Chiang Mai using 2D bar codes distributed throughout the city with a software-based barcode scanner found in mobile phones.
With an M.Sc in Mathematics, Babak Fakhamzadeh once worked for a major blue chip company. He is now a traveling web guru, doing good through visual and experimental art. With Ismail Farouk, he won the prestigious Highway Africa new media award in 2007 for sowetouprisings.com.
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Justin Zhuang, Sam Kang Li, Wong Shu Yun, Serene Cheong (Singapore) Justin Zhuang, Sam Kang Li, Wong Shu Yun and Serene Cheong were tired of hearing fellow countrymen say Singapore is too small. They hope this project will make others realise Singapore is as big as you make it out to be -- just step out and reclaim it! |
To show the possibilities, we made sure that each reclamation was for a different kind of use. Of course, you'll also notice that in some ways these people are marginalised in our society: elderly, youth, religion and foreign workers -- the city is after all a concrete manifestation of its society!
@Koon Yen You're brought up an aspect of the project that we never explored because we felt we weren't ready to tackle it yet. But my latest blog posts does discuss the issue of reclaiming virtual space. Historical space is also in this line of thought and the recent launches of alternative history accounts does suggest an opening up of space here. At the end of the day, our project is about asking Singaporeans: what happens if you take ownership of the things around you?
Oh I love this project so much! When I first came here in primary 3, I was horrified by the HDB landscapes. I couldn't imagine living in them: they seemed so oppressively uniform and unfriendly looking. Now, exploring the neighbourhoods and rare green pockets is one of my favourite things to do, and its fantastic to see an initiative that is chronicling these in-between wonders.
Kristen Alvanson (Iran)
Project: dESIRE
“When I desire something, I document the dESIRE by capturing its photograph (currently using a compact camera that I carry wherever I go).”
Kristen Alvanson is an American artist based in Malaysia and Iran. She has participated in group/solo shows in New York, Tehran, London, Istanbul, Berlin, Belgium and Vilnius, including a solo exhibition of her work at Azad Gallery (Tehran) and at the International Roaming Biennial of Tehran.
I'm under the impression that Kristen's desires are priced at "market value." They're in line with inflation and demand (which is actually quite funny an idea as it is cynical)!
Nguyen Bich Thuy (Vietnam)
Project: Gender, mobility and space in a fast-changing modern world
Beautiful and thought-provoking, the art of Nguyen Bich Thuy invoke South-east Asian and northern European influences, resulting in challengingly cross-cultural work which nevertheless retains her unique charm and identity as an artist, as South-East Asian and as a woman.
Nguyen Bich Thuy was born in 1970 in Hanoi, Vietnam, and is an artist, art historian and art researcher. She is currently a PhD candidate in Art History at the Department of Culture and Media Studies in Umeå University, Sweden. She works primarily with videos, installations and site-specific improvisations.
@ Lim Chee Harn:
Actually, the fishes are not fishes at all. They are human . The installation is about the migrations. how many people try to cross the ocean everyday?It is about desire of survival or seeking for a better life, however what is waiting for beyond the ocean?
If you have a look again the photos, some fishes are in a pair, many of them goes alone... tragic things could happen...
@ Nurbaya: Hi, It may be because of my introduction! I might show some trailers, perhaps.
@ Nurbaya. It is hard to get the concept of love if you only read the introduction. It is complex conversation between informants in the film from different perspective.
@ Sharon. You are right, It could be better to replace 'love' with ' identity politics' or ' 'power relation' than 'love'. However, I wanted to make to conversation less sensitive when I started with ' concept of love'.
I don't agree with Nurbaya Rameh, it is not an investigation of an Asian women in non-Asian country at all!
Alessandro Perini (Italy)
Project: Laptop band
Surf the sound waves of the net! A collaborative database of uploaded sound samples as licensed by Creative Commons, this work uses the soundscape of the Internet in challenging and innovative ways.
Alessandro Perini was born in 1983 in Italy, and is a musician and media artist. His works deal primarily with sound, video and interaction. He has exhibited in Italy, Switzerland and USA, and his videos have been screened in festivals all around the world. He is currently studying Composition in Malmö, Sweden.
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15 Malaysia (Malaysia) 15 short films made by 15 Malaysian filmmakers – funky, clever, provocative. This site features 15 socio-political short films made by young filmmakers in Malaysia, including Yasmin Ahmad, Ho Yuhang, Kamal Sabran, Desmond Ng, Nam Ron and Khairil Bahar. Initiated and produced by musician/actor Pete Teo, the site attracted more than 15 million visitors within 60 days of its launch. |
Gebhard Sengmüller (Austria)
Project: Farm Animal Drawing Generator / Nutztier Grafik Generator
Animal Farm by GPS: this project mobilises auto-generative properties of Global Positioning System (GPS) drawings to map a farm in Salzburg from the perspective of six cows and two goats, with animal movements screened as animations or large-format printouts.
Gebhard Sengmüller develops projects and installations which focus on the history of electronic media. He also creates alternative ordering systems for media content, and constructs autogenerative networks.
I can't help but draw the association between this project and Der Uberflieger (and for obvious reasons).
My imagination runs wild and wonders what sort of private and public activities might potentially be exposed by the animals used in Gebhard's generator when released in urban spaces.
SPACES
Organisations that create space, and then open it.
The Hub (New York and International)
Witness’ The Hub is the world's first participatory media site for human rights, where individuals, organisations, networks and groups around the world bring their stories and campaigns to global attention and mobilise action to protect and promote human rights.
EngageMedia (Australia and Indonesia)
A video sharing site about social justice and environmental issues in the Asia Pacific, EngageMedia harnesses the power of video, the internet and free software technologies to create social and environmental change.
Common Room (Indonesia)
A project of the Bandung Center for New Media Arts in Indonesia, Common Room spurs dialogue and cooperation in the cross-section of science, technology and art to shape new ideas and create collaborative communities.
Tactical Technology Collective (Philippines, India…)
Tactical Technology Collective is an international NGO helping human rights advocates in developing and transition countries to use information, communications and digital technologies to maximize the impact of their advocacy work.
House of Natural Fiber (Indonesia)
The House of Natural Fiber is based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and is a new media art laboratory mobilizing critique, innovation, cultural development, projects and workshops that promote interactivity with people and environments.
Singapore Internet Research Centre
(Singapore)
The Centre is hosted at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Initiating and conducting research related to the Internet across Asia, the Center’s associates not only engage in their own research but also various collaborative efforts with other researchers around the world.
Documentation Center of Cambodia
(Cambodia)
A non-profit, independent Cambodian research institute, Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) has been at the forefront of documenting the myriad crimes and atrocities of the Khmer Rouge era.
Indonesian Visual Art Archive (Indonesia)
A non-profit institute based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the IVAA works primarily in documentation, research, library and organising visual art education and exploration programmes, as well as facilitates discussion to support the development of visual art and contemporary culture in both practice and discourse.
Asian Media Information and Communication Center Alternative Media Portal (Singapore)
Featuring news, views and interviews from alternative media sources and organisations in Asia and the Pacific region, the site provides alternative perspectives not only on the media but also on numerous critical issues in the region.
CUTE Center
(Singapore/Japan)
Located in the Interactive and Digital Media (IDM) Institute at National University of Singapore (NUS), researchers from Keio University in Japan and NUS creatively collaborate through the Centre on various research themes, such as communication systems, internet engines and global computing capabilities.
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