040404 Colloquia UC Berkeley Art, Technology & Culture Department of Art Practices April 4, 2004

On Sunday 04/04/04, the Department of Art Practice at UC Berkeley will host a one-day conference, sponsored by UCDARNET and others, entitled "Plasmatica: The Unfolding of New Structures in Old Spaces".

The goal of this conference is to uncover the ways in which principles of order and structure have both shaped and in turn been transformed by new media, both theoretically and in practical application. For example, how do traditional structures such as the mail system or museums change when new structures such as email or websites unfold? Do these structures change the people living within them, and if so, how? In order to envision the topic from all angles, the conference will include presentations by both artists and interdisciplinary theoreticians.

Why new structures and old spaces rather than the other way round? Presentations may address precisely the ways in which all structures must be inflected by historical worldviews, and the ways in which new media offer the possibility of new spatial imaginations and configurations. The conference will examine the unfolding of the relationship between spaces and structures, where unfolding implies both a de-construction, an unraveling, and an opening, a coming to light.

The conference will take place on the UC Berkeley campus on Sunday, April 4th, from 10 am to 6:30 pm. A champagne reception will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. The day will be divided into 6 chapters, as follows.

Session Overview

Chapter 1: The Nature of Structure
This session will address historical perspectives on the issue of structure. How do we understand the concept of structure? Is there anything that can be called "unstructured?" What is the interplay between the notion of structure and the figure of the grid? How has the grid characterized our experience of thinking, acting and perceiving in the world?

Chapter 2: An Unstructured Lunch

Chapter 3: Rattling the Cage
This session will include projects and papers that simultaneously engage and call into question structure and/or the grid. Should the grid be reconfigured? How does a rattled cage look and feel? Is it indeed possible to invoke structure in order to destabilize it?

Chapter 4: Coffee, Chaos and Cohesion

Chapter 5: Figures of Becoming
Our final panel calls for presentations that formulate new ways of being, thinking, perceiving, and acting. What comes after the grid? Are new forms of knowledge and sensation possible and/or desirable? How do we experience a "new" space?

Chapter 6: A Champagne Reception at an Undisclosed Location

Note: On Monday, April 5th, at 7:30 PM, Christopher Alexander (Author, A Pattern Language) will hold an exceptional lecture on ?The Nature of Order? at the ATC Lecture series, which is organized by Ken Goldberg. The lecture is in the same location as the conference, Kroeber Hall 160.

Conference Organizers

Carol Hobson, UC San Diego,
Meredith Hoy, Michelle Lopez, Zabet Patterson, Greg Niemeyer
UC Berkeley Departments of Film Studies and Art Practice,
The Center for New Media at UC Berkeley

Conference Location

040404 will be held in room 160 of Kroeber Hall, at UC Berkeley, at the intersection of College Ave and Bancroft Ave, Berkeley, CA. The room is ADA accessible and climatized. The unstructured lunch will be held outdoors, and the champagne reception will be held at an undisclosed, confidential location in Kroeber Hall.

For More Information

http://art.berkeley.edu/040404

Links to previous colloquia

• 030303: Collective Play, http://www.collectivedetective.org/overview_collectiveplay.php
• 020202: A Social Technologies Dialogue, http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/labnotes/0202/ar.nhtml