2013 call for artwork at the International Symposium on Electronic Arts (ISEA) in Australia

The theme for the Sydney, Australia 2013 (19th) edition of the International Symposium for Electronic Arts (ISEA) is Resistance is Futile. There is an open call for artwork, from the proposal page for the 2013 ISEA,

ISEA2013 will be held in Sydney from 7th to 16th June 2013 and will consist of exhibitions, performances, symposium and public events.  It will also support residencies and associated events throughout regional NSW and across Australia leading into and out of the core event.

This is our open call for artwork [application forms] from individual and International artists or organisations wishing to present work in association with ISEA2013.  The call for papers, panels and workshops will be announced shortly.

The deadline for this call is Friday, 6th August 2012.

ISEA2013 has limited funds to invest but we are able to work with selected artists and organisations to secure resources, venues and partners for specific projects. We are also able to provide support letters and logistical support to selected projects.

They offer an explanation of the theme,

The bleeding edge of digital art has moved from the margins to become part of the fabric of everyday life.  At once ubiquitous and unnoticed, resistance to electronic art has proven futile — it now lies embedded in the heart of our contemporary cultures. ISEA2013 will bleed through Sydney, from the margin to the core. More than a series of exhibitions (although that will be part of it), the symposium events will infuse the city’s social, digital and physical infrastructure. ISEA2013 aims to create a fluid body of thought, culture, community, industry, science and technology.

Artists play an important role in this “bleeding edge.” By creatively investigating the possibilities and pushing the limits of new technologies, artists help us imaginatively experience and critically reflect on their implications for life in the 21st century. Digital electronic art is our source of innovation, the new norm in everything from publishing to TV, to radio, games, film, fashion, music, architecture, design, applications and gadgets. Ubiquitous and pervasive, digital media permeates almost all creative endeavors in everyday life and the city. The urban spaces of Sydney will provide the scene for thinking through the consequences of digital life, creative industries, and contemporary electronic art practice.

There are six sub-themes or threads,

1.       Resistance is Fertile

Resistance is Futile … Resistance is Fertile… Resistance is Necessary. ISEA2013 explores the ways art and new technologies are used in the service of power, politics, protest and resistance.

2.       Converging and diverging realities

The virtual bleeds into the real and increasingly our environments are mediated, augmented and transformed through technology. Mixed and augmented realities, obligatory social media, and locative technologies increasingly insert different realities into the physical world while communication simultaneously seduces us away from our immediate surroundings. As the “internet of things” becomes a reality, do we need to resist the ubiquitous society of participation, search, and the culture of always-on surveillance/sousveillance?

3.       Life …  but not as we know it

Technologies are being used to extend human capabilities and to create new life forms. ISEA2013 explores the how life is increasingly created, extended, and curated by the influence of artists working with technology. A chance to explore and critique the world of cyborgs, robots, alien life forms and the emergence of unnatural biologies.

4.       Histories and Futures of Electronic Art

Where once electronic media technologies were on the margins they now permeate almost all of art, commerce and creativity. Digital cultures, media art histories, and media archeologies permeate contemporary art and design, and inform ways of seeing and understanding the world. ISEA2013 offers a platform to explore where electronic art has come from, where it is going and what it might become.

5.       Ecologies and Technologies

The interrelationship of nature, culture and technology lies at the centre-stage of contemporary life. ISEA2013 explores technology as both the problem and solution, celebrating the role of the artist as innovator and provocateur. ISEA2013 engages questions of urban ecologies, consumption, food, climate, and sustainability.

6.       Creation, Collaboration and Consumption

Digital technologies and social media are transforming social and cultural interaction on both global and local scales. Everyone is connected, everyone is a creator. But not everybody likes what they see or wants to participate in the prescribed forms of contemporary social media. ISEA2013 encourages debate, provocations and engagement in the global nets of participation.

Please check the proposal page for more information and the application page for forms.

Meanwhile, the 2012 edition of ISEA (Machine Wilderness) will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico (as per my March 30, 2012 posting) from Sept. 19-24, 2012.

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