"Techno Ecologies" Participants

ABSTRACT
FROM VIRTUAL TO ROCK SOLID ART The paper investigates the problem of current forms of media art becoming outdated due to its reliance on unsustainable production forms, materials and energy consumption. Awareness of life threatening issues in the human globosphere such as global warming and rapid depletion of natural resources such as rare minerals has fundamentally impacted cultural values and focus. To Renew we need radical solutions to radical problems. Further the paper propose that affective and cultural awareness of the need for sustainable and ‘techno-ecological’ art practices, propagate a return to classic forms of artistic expressions such as found in stone art. As absurd as this might sound, that stone art will replace electronic media art, as prospective is the cultural shift towards creative expressions that are made to last while made with as little carbon foot print as possible. The paper will investigate and compare the ecological sustainable issues such as the carbon footprint of contemporary, electronic media art with emerging art forms based on carving and shaping of stone. Although stone-art can be considered slow, difficult to distribute and energy intensive, examples from historical stone-industries and manual practices (Norway, Egypt, Italy etc) document the opposite. Networks and global communities have changed the face of communication, but not the need for grounded perceptions in communal stability. Examples of works from emerging artists will further illustrate how they seek alternative expressions in the enduring media of stone to outlast both current and next media art fads.

BIO
is a visual artist, curator and media researcher specializing in experimental media art
and interaction design. His artistic focus is on art and artistic expressions that
challenge ordinary ways of perceiving the world. He has a PhD on Touch and
Technologies from The School of Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway. Currently he
is teaching and researching as a professor in Art and Technology at Aalborg
University, Denmark.

He has been exhibiting and lecturing at major international events (ISEA, DEAF, Ars
Electronica, SIGGRAPH). He represented Norway at the 5th biennial in Istanbul, Turkey,
co-organized 6cyberconf and won the Grand Prize of the Norwegian Council for
Cultural Affairs. He has moderated various symposiums like Ars Electronica (Next Sex),
ArcArt and Oslo Lux (2013).