[Nettime-nl] eSphere Living in the Cloud - STRP Conference November 26th, Eindhoven (NL)

["Ties van de Werff_STRP" <ties@strp.nl>]

What if everything is connected to everything? 
What if trees, lighting and shop windows become social media? 
What does art look like in a 'cloud culture'? 


STRP Conference, November 26th, 2010
E-SPHERE: LIVING IN THE CLOUD


KEYNOTES: 
Aaron Koblin (US)
Kevin Warwick (UK)
Semir Zeki (UK)

SPEAKERS: 
Warren Neidich (UK), Matthew Fuller (UK), Paolo Cirio (IT), Marlena
Novak &
Jay Alan Yim (US), Lorna Goulden (NL), Christian van 't Hof (NL), Gordan
Savicic (AT) and Geert Lovink (NL).


As we are well underway in the 21th century, our culture is evolving
into a
new direction. Since the 1990s, the internet changed our lives
fundamentally
and fueled globalization processes in ways we couldn't imagine. Mobile
digital technologies allow us to connect anytime and anywhere to 'the
cloud'
that the internet has become. Recent developments in converging
technologies
such as RFID and near-field communication (NFC) promise to extend this
web
even more by adding a seamless yet pervasive augmented layer into our
daily
lives. The world has become the web. 
In a parallel development, scientists are unraveling the workings of the
machine we call human. Through groundbreaking research, such as the
Genome
Project and the Blue Brain Project, the inner bits of our bodies are
made
visible with technologies such as fRMI and EEG. Cognitive enhancements,
nanobots and body-machine integrations are no longer futurists' dreams.
Bits
and atoms connect, boundaries between humans and machines and online and
offline become blurred. 

A transformation of our culture is likely to be brought about by the
evolving nature of the world we live in and a growing understanding of
what
it means to be human in this networked reality. The developments that
spark
this transformation - notably, information technologies such as RFID and
NFC, biotechnologies and cognitive- and neuroscience -inspire many
artists,
scientists, philosophers and creative thinkers. 'Cloud culture', 'web
4.0' ,
'synaptic reality', and 'the internet of things' are only just a few of
the
labels that are used to come to grips with an altering sense of reality.

STRP Conference 'eSphere: Living in the Cloud' reflects on this cultural
transformation and explores the meaning of the new technological
culture.
What if all our operations can be instantly performed somewhere in the
web?
What are the cultural implications of this technological restructuring
of
our society? Have we perhaps already been caught in the net, having
contributed ourselves to creating a sophisticated control and
surveillance-society? Or is this the new beginning of a kind of freedom,
the
one envisioned by companies like Philips in its vision of 'Ambient
Intelligence'? How do artists envision these technological developments
and
how do these technologies change our experience of art? 

With inspirational keynotes and two sidetracks with in-depth
discussions,
STRP Conference 'eSphere: Living in the Cloud' maps the promises and
pitfalls of our world as the web. It takes place in parallel with the
STRP
field trial of the eSphere, an exploration of a realm in which virtual
and
physical reality seamlessly blend. Attend the Conference, share your
thinking and experience with the eSphere at STRP Festival! 


SIDETRACK I	THE ARTFUL BRAIN: ARTISTS AS NEUROSCIENTISTS

Since the heated debate in the nineties among neuroscientists and
'traditional' art theorists on the meaning of the neurological causes
for
our experience of art, the so called 'cognitive turn' has definitely
reached
the arts.  But what exactly can neuroscience tell us about art? And
what, in
turn, do artists tell us about our brain? Are 'all artists
neuroscientists',
as prof. Zeki states? Or are these newly scientific insights rather
sources
of inspiration for the artist's mind? In this sidetrack, the artistic
interpretations of the 'cognitive turn' will be discussed in three
exciting
presentations, featuring Warren Neidich (UK), Matthew Fuller (UK), Paolo
Cirio (IT) and Marlena Novak & Jay Alan Yim (US). 

SIDETRACK II	THE WORLD IS THE WEB: RFID AND BLURRING REALITIES

The rapid spread of RFID and NFC-technologies will have profound
consequences for our direct environment, our sense of place , and the
construction of identities and communities. The tiny chips will change
every
object into an information carrier, thereby blurring the boundaries
between
the physical and the virtual, between online and offline. What if the
world
really would be clickable? What if lighting, trees and shop windows
become
social media?  Are we heading towards a new control and surveillance
society, without any critical resistance? Or do these technologies
actually
give us with new exciting experiences, and the freedom to choose
different
identities for different contexts? In this sidetrack, the possibilities
and
pitfalls of RFID and 'the internet of things' are put to the fore by
acclaimed speakers such as Lorna Goulden (NL), Christian van 't Hof
(NL),
Gordan Savicic (AT) and Geert Lovink (NL). 


Moderators: Koert van Mensvoort & Slava Kozlov


Where: 	STRP Festival, Klokgebouw in Eindhoven 
When:	November 26th
Tickets:	45 euro / 25 students (incl. lunch & drinks)

http://www.strp.nl/strp/content/switchDay/26/11#content



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