SLSA Arts Lounge Session
Society for Literature, Science and the Arts Conference
Presented by Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design
September 30 — October 3 (online)
Megan Young is chairing a special Arts Lounge session, “Living Code & Sharing Abundance” on in conjunction with SloMoCo. Panelists include: Christy Bolingbroke, Greg Corness, Jie Qi, Katya Rozanova, Kate Sicchio, and Roopa Vasudevan.
ABSTRACT:
This Arts Lounge session is cross-listed as part of SloMoCo—the 2021 MOCO unconference —asking our movement + computing communities to co-design the annual convening by approaching telematic engagement as a feature (and not a bug). The conversation on LIVING CODE & SHARING ABUNDANCE launched this summer through a seminar directed by Thomas F. DeFrantz, presentations by SloMoCo microresidents, and performances of practice works. For SLSA, we assemble to discuss how advances in human-computer interaction are being supported by multidisciplinary collaboratives within and beyond institutional spaces. Panelists share research, experience, and resources
“Our robots are too specialized, too impoverished in their sensing, too uncooperative and too unsafe to be productive at scale.” This excerpt from a 2020 grant proposal by Nadia Bianchi-Berthouze and co-researchers provides a humorous and insightful glimpse into the capacity challenges for the movement and computing field. Even high profile projects must compete for research dollars, but what expectations are tied to those investments? Further, how is that sense of scarcity influencing outcomes? Beyond simply getting a project off the ground, artists and developers must consider issues of privacy, safety, security, and equity.
We approach these topics from an abundance mindset by championing what is working and what is possible. Panelists detail how research centers and funders are thoughtfully supporting creatives. Those embracing distributed power structures offer guidance for institutions looking to adopt similar models. We gather in the spirit of mutual aid, fostering emergent strategies.