Thundergulch, the new media initiative of the
Lower Manhattan
Cultural Council in association
with:
Vera List Center for
Art and Politics
World Policy Institute
Computer Instruction
Center
at The New School
Presents
The Future of War:
Aesthetics, Politics, Technologies
http://www.lmcc.net/futureofwar/main.html
May 2-3, 2003
The New School
Swayduck Auditorium
65 Fifth Avenue,
Ground Floor (at 13th Street) NYC
What do the Department
of Defense and the computer
gaming industry have
in common? What kinds of strategic
alliances is the
Pentagon making with Hollywood? How is
the American Institute
of Architects connecting with the
military's designs for
a "new security environment?" Are
artists collaborating
with, exposing, or resisting the
military by deploying
technologies of simulation, data
surveillance,
tracking, and computer vision in their work?
A group of
internationally renowned panelists explore
these and other
questions in The Future of War: Aesthetics,
Politics,
Technologies, a two-day conference that examines
the increasingly
complex exchanges between the military,
the entertainment
industry, the computer industry, the
media and artists.
What impact do these exchanges have on
war, technology and
related visual cultures in the American
public sphere?
The conference looks
at war not simply as a utilitarian
means to an end but as
a cultural process involving part-
icular ways of seeing,
narrating, and imagining. The
conference will focus
on the architectural spaces of war,
the cinematic language
of Hollywood combat films, online
gaming and military
simulations, and the computer and
installation work of
artists.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:
Friday May 2, 2003
2:30-9:30 pm
Presentation of New
Media Works 2:30-5:30 pm
Reception 5:30-7:00 pm
The Aesthetics +
Politics of Technologized Warfare 7:00-9:30 pm
Saturday May 3, 2003
10:00 am-7:00 pm
Architecture,
Violence, and Social (In)security 10:00 am-12:00 pm
War and the Cinematic
Imaginary 1:00-3:00 pm
The Virtual
Battlefield: Computer Gaming, Modeling, Simulations
3:30-5:30 pm
Roundtable Discussion
6:00-7:00 pm
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Friday May 2, 2003
2:30-5:30 pm
Presentation of New
Media Works
Audience members join
conference participants and local
artists for a preview
of works with informal discussion.
Participants include:
Matt Adams, artist
Alex Galloway, artist/scholar
Joy Garnett, artist/curator
Natalie Jeremijenko, techno artist/engineer
John Klima, artist
Carl Skelton, digital artist/teacher
Eddo Stern, artist/game developer
Lebbeus Woods, architect
7:00-9:30 pm
The Aesthetics and
Politics of Technologized Warfare
Radar, 3-D computer
graphics, tracking devices, covert
data-gathering,nrobots,
and computer vision have become
ubiquitous
technologies of warfare and play an integral
role in maintaining
"homeland security." These technologies
have long been a rich
source of interest to artists engaged
in the subjects of
surveillance, control, and military
imaging. Curators,
artists, and human rights activists
examine ways in which
art exposes the depersonalization of
violence, and resists
the erosion of privacy and civil
rights.
Panelists:
Joy Garnett, artist/curator;
Natalie Jeremijenko, techno artist/engineer, Yale University
+ NYU;
Tom Keenan, director, Human Rights Project, Bard
College;
Thomas Y. Levin, curator/media theorist, Princeton
University
Moderator:
Helen Nissenbaum, professor, Department of Culture + Communication,
New York University
Saturday May 3, 2003
10:00 am-12:00 pm
Architecture,
Violence, and Social (In)security
New media artists and
architects discuss the impact of
violence, political terrorism
and social (in)security on
architecture and
public space. Reflecting on physical and
virtual spaces of war,
panelists question assumptions about
architecture's
physical and psychological permanence. They
will consider ways in
which digital technologies limit and
enable public
perception of the built environment and
spatial innovation.
Panelists:
Benjamin Bratton, cultural theorist/media architect,
Southern California Institute of Architecture;
Keller Easterling, associate professor, Yale School of
Architecture;
Eyal Weizman, architect, Rafi Segal/Eyal Weizman
Architects, Tel-Aviv, Israel
Moderator:
Kadambari Baxi, architect/media designer, Martin/ Baxi
Architects
1:00-3:00 pm
War and the Cinematic
Imaginary
Collaborations between
Hollywood, network televsion and the
Pentagon have become
commonplace. The shaping of popular
culture through film
and television intertwines with political
strategies for
legitimizing new modes of surveillance and
criminalization. Panelists
examine the causal relationships
between the business
of war and show biz.
Panelists:
Matt Adams, artist, Blast Theory performance
collective, Great Britain;
Allen Feldman, recurring visiting professor,
Anthropology of Everyday Life Program, Center for Humanities Studies,
Ljubljana;
Michael Shapiro, political scientist, University of
Hawaii
Moderator:
McKenzie Wark, author/media theorist
3:30-5:30 pm
The Virtual
Battlefield: Computer Gaming, Modeling, Simulations
What role does the
military-industrial complex play in the
increased
virtualization and digitalization of war and weaponry?
Does this new emphasis
on the virtual nature of war decrease its
connection to reality,
territory and the body? An interdisciplinary
panel explores the new
technologies of imitation and simulation,
and the coordinated
efforts of computer programmers, artists, and
the gaming industry to
advance the state of immersive military
training and online
recruitment.
Panelists:
James Der Derian, professor, International Relations,
Watson Institute;
Peter J. Dombrowski, associate professor, Strategic
Department of the U.S. Naval War College;
Eddo Stern, artist/game developer, University of
Southern California Graduate School of Cinema and Television.
Moderator:
J.C. Herz, principal, Joystick Nation
6:00-7:00 pm
Roundtable Discussion
Join conference
participants in an informal discussion about
the questions, issues,
and themes raised during panel sessions.
Moderator:
Allen Feldman, recurring visiting professor,
Anthropology of Everyday Life Program, Center for Humanities Studies, Ljubljana
*Conference
participants are subject to change*
------------------------------------------------
Subway Directions
F to 14th Street &
6th Avenue
1/2/3/9 to 14th Street
& 7th Avenue
4/5/6/L/N/Q/R/W to
14th Street-Union Square
A/C/E to 14th Street
& 8th Avenue
Journal Square and
Hoboken PATH trains to 14th Street & 6th Ave
Registration
Admission is free.
Registration is encouraged.
Seating is first come,
first served.
Register online at http://www.lmcc.net/futureofwar/main.html
For more information
or to register by phone call 212-219-9401 x400.
Conference Advisory
Committee:
Wayne Ashley, curator, Thundergulch, the new media
initiative of LMCC
James Der Derian, Watson Institute research professor of
international
relations and
professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Sondra Farganis, director, Vera List Center for Art and Politics,
The New School
Allen Feldman, recurring visiting professor,
Anthropology of Everyday Life Program, Center for Humanities Studies, Ljubljana
Joy Garnett, artist/curator
Moukhtar Kocache, director, Visual and Media Arts, LMCC
Thomas Y. Levin, culture and media theorist, professor at
Princeton University
Michael Randazzo, director, Computer Instruction Center,
The New School
Stephen Schlesinger, director, World Policy Institute, The New
School
Funders
This conference is
made possible with funding from American Express
Company, May and
Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, and in part, with
public funds from the
New York State Council on the Arts and the New
York City Department
of Cultural Affairs.
-------------------------------------------------------
Wayne Ashley
Curator of New Media
Thundergulch
The New Media
Initiative of the Lower
Manhattan Cultural
Council
One Wall Street Court
New York, NY 10005
Tel. 212-219-9401 ext.
106