06 Feb 2017

Workshop Call: The Cultures of Machine Participation

Technological products are rapidly becoming labelled with buzzwords like 'smart', 'intelligent' and 'networked'. Largely, these devices utilize black-boxed technological infrastructures to create solutions largely focused on presumed problems of efficiency in different contexts. Moreover, these devices tend to take 'futuristic' and 'mystical' forms with most of the interface being offloaded to apps and voice based interfaces.

The research group for the design of information systems (DESIGN) at the University of Oslo (UiO) invites up to 10 European artists and designers for a 2-day workshop on the 3rd and 4th of April 2017 on 'The Cultures of Machine Participation'. Rather than taking a solution centric approach to the use of these 'mystical' technologies, we invite the use of alternative and exploratory strategies that help re-imagine the role and position of intelligent and connected technologies in our daily lives. These strategies should build on the artist/designer's experience and approach and can range from artistic exploration to design fiction and speculative design. In the workshop, we would share past experiences and approaches of working with emerging technologies and the role of design and art in such scenarios. Besides being a platform to facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas between artists and designers, we also hope to be able to collaborate and develop low-fidelity concept proposals situated in narratives in re-imagined realities.

About the DESIGN group
The DESIGN group at UiO does research on how technology is constructed and used, focusing on the interaction between the technology, society and culture. We are interested in research through design and how speculative design can create alternative possibilities in research and design inquiry.

The workshop would take place at the GeminiUX lab at the Department of Informatics and the workshop outcome would be shared on both Norwegian and European public platforms along with our project's social media channels.

Interested artists/designers/researchers are asked to send the following materials to: almira@ifi.uio.no
Biography (up to 500 words)
Artist's statement (up to 500 words)
Portfolio – images, video and/or audio and short descriptions of previous works (up to 5 pieces) (online/PDF)

Deadline for submitting applications: February 25th 2017.
All the proposals will be assessed by the selection committee comprised of members of the DESIGN group.
The selected participants will be provided with accommodation, travel costs and per diem for the duration of the workshop. We will also provide an artist grant of 4150 NOK.

For more information, please contact Alma and Sumit:
Alma Leora Culén and Sumit Pandey
University of Oslo
Subject: The Cultures of Machine Participation - PS2
Email: almira@ifi.uio.no
Email: sumitp@ifi.uio.no

This program is a part of the Norwegian sub-project, 'Young Urban Expressions', of the Creative Europe project, The people's smart sculpture.
www.facebook.com/ThePeoplesSmartSculpture/
youngexpressions.no
smartsculpture.eu