Durban | June 2018
23-24 June 2018
In the framework of ISEA2018 in Durban, this two-day program is open to artists, activists, students, curators, designers, architects, creative city makers and others with interest in urban media art and creativity and what it can do for Durban.
CITY OF INTERSECTING RITUALS
Since ancient times and through many different cultural and spiritual traditions, rituals have been part of everyday life as gestures of tradition, repetition and performance – from eating, celebrating and praying, to forms of human interaction. In public space, rituals of different times, cultures and realities intersect. Rituals are codes of co-existence but also mechanisms of governance, fixity and maintenance of diversion.
In Durban, public space is a complex reality of social, economic, political, cultural, religious, and geographical interpretations and origins. In this program we will discuss the intersecting rituals of Durban, their origins and meaning for Durban’s urban development, and explore how urban art and creativity can interrupt, adjust or affect urban situations in which rituals intersect.
LAB + LECTURES PROGRAM
The 2-days program consisting of LAB+LECTURES and a FIELD TRIP facilitates discussion with room for different perceptions on what urban media art and creativity can do for Durban. We will dive into questions relating to urgent needs relating to urban conditions of fixity and transformation of Durban, especially how local creativity can address those needs and empower citizens through bottom-up art and innovation initiatives.
The program is based on the methodology presented in the publication What Urban Media Art Can Do – Why When Where & How?, which emphasises the various conditions of art and its experience, combining (Why) intent and critical inquiry, (When) reflection on timing and cultural relevance, (Where) site (physical and conceptual), local environment, exhibition infrastructure and urban context, and (How) knowledge on how to produce, install and maintain an artwork during its exhibition.
REGISTER
The call for participation is open for artists, designers, architects, curators and others seeking to advance their knowledge, skills and network in the domain of urban media art.
FREE registration upon submission of the following information via this registration form:
- 100-word bio including full name and title
- Link to website if relevant, contact email
- 100-word short statement: What do you think urban media, art and creativity can do for Durban today?
- Image (square, b&w, 300dpi)
Registration is open until June 19, 2017. The intensive program is open to all but we can only offer a place for the full duration of the program to the first 20 participants who pre-register.
For questions, please contact info@urbanmediaart.academy
SCHEDULE
23 May / 9.00-18.00
+ evening, get together
24 May / 11.00-17.00
+ evening, Digital Calligraffiti performance at CIty Hall
Venues:
Denis Hurley Center
City Hall
Streets of Durban
DETAILED SCHEDULE
ABOUT
The UMAA Durban | JUNE 2018 program is co-organised with Marcus Neustetter, artistic director of ISEA and realised in collaboration with Goethe-Institut Johannesburg.
UMAA DURBAN ADVISOR
Marcus Neustetter