DISCUSSION ON PUBLIC ART
"OPENING UP SPACES FOR ARTS & THE PUBLIC THROUGH THE INTERNET"
curated by Lorenz "eSeL" Seidler

Thursday, 15th of  March 2012, 7 p.m.
at Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Herrengasse 13, 1010 Vienna

The discussion evening "Die Öffnung neuer Räume im Internet / Opening up Spaces for Arts and the Public through the Internet" presents opportunities and specifics of new public spaces that are being created through the rapid spread of the internet.

In their work presentation, the "digital actionists" UBERMORGEN.COM reveal their methods and strategies of using the internet as a medium for contemporary art and simultaneously critically scrutinising the conditions and problem areas of our technologised present-day world.
The London museum consultant Gail Durbin reports on her long experience as director of the "digital museum" of London’s Victoria & Albert Museum  and presents projects that, through the active involvement of the public, enhance the effect of the institution’s content and research  into communities beyond the museum space.

In the breaks between the lectures, "Hands on Stations" invites people to see – and test out! – reference projects and also the effect of the open exchange of knowledge in the internet in "real space": the Vienna "hackerspace" METALAB presents "3-printers", which use simple technology to produce any kind of object, and can even reproduce themselves. Using simple "Arduino" micro-controllers, the workshop collective Miss Baltazar’s Laboratory shows how computers can also be built and programmed by non-experts.

Alongside the specific effects of the technological and communicative possibilities of the internet on art production and cultural work, the closing discussion focuses on the politico-democratic consequences of the "digital revolution". Thanks to active involvement, participation and "empowerment" of the audience, new opportunities for the joint shaping of public spaces – also beyond the internet – are becoming clear.

Documentation: Artistic Bokeh Research. Talk and presentations are held in english.
Curator and moderator: Lorenz "eSeL" Seidler
Discussion and presentations in English