Inter/sections
Inter/sections is an annual symposium that combines an exhibition, talks, workshops and performances into a week-long discussion of innovative and interdisciplinary research in arts and science. It is organised by the Media and Arts Technology doctoral programme at Queen Mary University of London.
Visit the 2016 symposium website2017 Abstract
Our social, political and community lives are increasingly lived through and mediated by technology. From political uprisings arranged on social media to advances into DIY gene editing, technology's influence is profoundly changing the political sphere, and raising important ethical questions.
Following the rise of unprecedented activism and political protests of the year, Inter/sections 2017 will explore how artists use different networks, databases, and systems in order to raise awareness towards ethical and political issues around technologies. Through a week long programme of interactive artwork, we will engage with topics ranging from the ethics of data privacy to the political effects of social media. Free workshops, performances and talks with artists and technology activists will question how current political systems impact evolving technologies and introduce ways that technology can subvert them.
Week Programme
Symposium
The symposium will be held on Friday 8 September, and will feature our keynotes speakers, panels, and workshops, around the theme of politics and ethics within media, arts and technology.
Exhibition
The Inter/sections exhibition, open to the public all week long, will showcase a range of installations and interactive artworks developed as part of the research by the programme’s postgraduate students, Digital Economy Network students, and commissioned artists working in the intersection of art and science.We are very excited to announce our commissioned artists who will be creating new media artworks for the Inter/sections exhibition:
Julian Oliver is a critical engineer and artist based in Berlin. His works and lectures involve topics ranging from software art to data forensics. He is an advocate of Free and Open Source Software.
Will Hurt is an artist based in Norwich. He uses computers to produce work that draws on formal elements of architecture and the language of diagrams with the aim of engaging people with the built environment, often through play.
MAT & DEN researcher-artists: students from the MAT and DEN programmes will exhibit their final and ongoing media artworks throughout the week.
Workshops
Throughout the week we will have workshops and performances spreading around the theme of politics and ethics of Media & Arts Technology. We have an exciting programme that will include family workshops on security and encryption; a workshop on ethical issues faced by artists and designers, artist talks from commissioned artists and Digital-Economy-Network artist/researchers. Additional sessions will include film screenings as a collaboration with Ethics & Drama department, and short documentary screenings from MAT students of all levels.
This programme is provisional and we will release more information about the week's schedule prior to the event.
Symposium Speakers
Kate Bevan
Freelance writer, editor and broadcaster. Kate specialises in technology and social media. In her articles she draws attention to social presence caused by social media, and the relationship between consumer and enterprise technology.
Dr Stephen Minger
Expert in stem cell technology. Stephen is actively involved with the UK Department of Health and with the Minister for Public Health in the consultation with both Houses of Parliament that led to the passage of the Human Embryo Bill of 2009 and the inclusion of new forms of animal-human embryos within primary legislation.
Dr Dan McQuillan
Lecturer in Creative & Social Computing at Goldsmiths College. Before becoming an academic, Dan was Director of E-communications for Amnesty International, Head of Digital for Make Your Mark, and Head of Digital for Media for Development. Dan is the co-founder of Social Innovation Camp and the science & technical lead for the citizen science project Science for Change Kosovo.
More to be announced!
Tickets
Tickets for the symposium are now available from Eventbrite. Our events are free, but space will be limited so booking is essential. Tickets for the workshops will be available soon; the exhibition and other events are not ticketed.
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