Tag Archives: ArtTechFood

-empyre- soft_skinned_space #ArtTechFood discussion

Screen Shot 2016-03-02 at 4.06.38 PM-empyre- is a global community of new media artists, curators, theorists, producers, and others who participate in monthly thematic discussions via an e-mail listserv.

-empyre- facilitates online discussion encouraging critical perspectives on contemporary cross-disciplinary issues, practices and events in networked media. The list is currently co-managed by Renate Ferro (USA) and Tim Murray (USA) with the moderating team of Simon Biggs (UK), and Patrick Lichty (USA). Melinda Rackham (AU) initiated -empyre- as part of her doctoral research in 2002.

For the month of March 2016, Renate Ferro, has asked me to moderate a conversation on all things #ArtTechFood.

We were joined by a number of luminary artists and curators, as discussants. They are: Nicole Caruth, Shu Lea Cheang, Leila NadirJodi Newcombe, Marina Zurkow, Stefani Bardin, Shilpa Rangnekar, Hernani Dias, Amy LiptonNatalie Jeremijenko, and Mary Mattingly.

The discussion is here on the March 2016, -empyre archive, and for the final part of the discussion check the first few posts in the April 2016 -empyre archive.

ART/TECH/FOOD Moderated by Amanda McDonald Crowley and Renate Ferro with invited discussants:

March 3 – Week 1: Stefani Bardin, Marina Zurkow, Hernani Dias

March 11 – Week 2: Shu Lea Cheang, Amy Lipton, Mary Mattingly

March 17 – Week 3: Nicole Caruth, Leila Nadir, Jodi Newcombe

March 24 – Week 4: Natalie Jeremijenko, Shilpa Rangnekar

Welcome to the March discussion, ART/TECH/FOOD

For our discussion on Art/Tech/Food, our hope is to identify and discuss projects and research that to bring biologists, environmentalists, food activists, and molecular gastronomists, together with artists to deliver urban agricultural strategies, bio-generative art, and potentially even open source software and hardware solutions that address our food systems.

We are especially interested in a discussion of projects and programs that undertake a critique of the commercialization of food production, where contemporary consumption is more likely to be watching people prepare food on television than spending time in the kitchen. Our observation is that where discussion does happen it is often either inside the food justice movement, with little cultural context; or in an art context, where discussion of policy, food justice, or broader cultural context of food production is almost entirely absent. Food is either designer-sexy, or a social justice issue, but rarely both. And there has been little exploration of the historical and contemporary trade routes of food and how they affect our cultural landscape.

This month of March, 2016 we invite the –empyre subscriber list to discuss these issues in our soft-skinned space with our distinguished group of weekly guests. Looking forward to it.

TO MAKE A POST TO THE SUBSCRIPTION LIST USE:

<empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au>

TO ACCESS ARCHIVES USE THIS URL:

http://lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/

TO ACCESS THE WEBSITE FROM THE CORNELL SERVER TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT EMPYREGO TO:

http://empyre.library.cornell.edu

Moderator Biography:

Amanda McDonald Crowley https://publicartaction.net

Amanda McDonald Crowley is a curator and cultural worker who specializes in creating contemporary art and new media events and programs that encourage cross-disciplinary practice, collaboration and exchange. This kind of programming might best be described in terms of practice-based, creative research leading to a range of outcomes understood in terms of both traditional and non-traditional curatorial outputs – exhibitions, residencies, public programs, festivals, and participatory programs. Amanda’s work has largely been at the intersection of art + technology, and her experience and interests often revolve around working with artists and groups who have a research based practice. In her curatorial work, she is interested in developing platforms to generate dialogue, bringing together professionals and amateurs from varied disciplines, and creating space for social change and audience engagement.

Most recently, a key curatorial research focus has been around the topic of food + art, as evidenced by recent curatorial projects, including the exhibition food nostalgia, currently on view at Radiator Gallery in Long Island City, NYC; Circuit of the Senses, a celebratory meal and participatory event conceived by artist Emilie Baltz at the Bemis Center in Omaha, Nebraska in 2014; GastroLabs, a program series developed with New Media Scotland for the Edinburgh Science Festival 2014; and the exhibition CONSUME at Gallery gallery@calIT2 at the University of California, San Diego in 2012.

She has previously held positions as Executive Director of Eyebeam art + technology center in New York City – recognized internationally as a model for collaboration and innovation in art + technology; executive producer for ISEA2004 (International Symposium for Electronic Arts 2004) held in Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland, and on a cruiser ferry in the Baltic sea; Associate Director of the Adelaide Festival 2002 in Australia, and in this position she was also co-chair of the working group that organized the exhibition and symposium ‘conVerge: where art and science meet’; and Director of the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) where she made significant links with science and industry by developing a range of residencies and masterclasses for artists in settings such as science organizations, contemporary art spaces and virtual residencies online.

Amanda has also been subscribed to the empyre list since it was founded by Melinda Rackam in 2002, though she mostly lurks.

Posted in News | Also tagged , |

Nutritional Facts

BALTZ_HEADSHOT_SUCK_THUMBjpgloresSpecial event at Radiator Gallery

Friday March 4, 2016. 5:00 – 8:00pm

Radiator Gallery, Long Island City, New York
10-61 Jackson Ave, LIC, NY 11106

Drop by to see food nostalgia during the Armory Arts Week Events, and join exhibiting artist Emilie Baltz for Nutritional Facts, a wearable edibles performative experience. Emilie will have foodstuffs available for you to realize a bit of your own edible body adornment (Lick Me!!).

 

food nostalgia, is an exhibition of paintings, photographs, video, sculpture and installation works by artists Cey Adams (New York), Emilie Baltz (New York), Disorientalism (Katherine Behar and Marianne M. Kim, New York/ Arizona), Gonzalo Fuenmajor (Miami, FL), Kira Nam Greene (New York) and Jonathan Stein (Coral Springs, FL).

food nostalgia looks at food in contemporary America through a lens of fast food iconography and industrial food production” says curator, Amanda McDonald Crowley. “Participating artists variously draw on popular cultural references, brand recognition, bodies, memory, nostalgia, and playfulness. They ask us to think about our relationship to our colonial pasts, feminist thinking, cultural diversity, and marketing culture. The corporatisation of our food systems is deeply entrenched in our psyche; historical and contemporary trade routes of our food affect our cultural landscape.”

As a framework to explore how we cook, eat, and consume, food nostalgia is a platform to share ideas, and food.

Emilie Baltz is an experimental artist, director and educator with a focus on food and sensory storytelling. She creates playful and unconventional work that moves people to discover new worlds one lick, suck, bite, sniff, and gulp at a time.

Posted in News | Also tagged , |

Junk Food Brunch

Installation view, food nostalgia. Graphic: Cey Adams; photo: Jeanette May

Installation view, food nostalgia. Graphic: Cey Adams; photo: Jeanette May

Installation view. Cey Adams, CREAM; Disorientalism, Two Sides to Every Coin. Photo: Jeanette May

Installation view. Cey Adams, CREAM; Disorientalism, Two Sides to Every Coin. Photo: Jeanette May

Installation view, Disorientalism, Two Sides to Every Coin. Photo: Jeanette May

Installation view, Disorientalism, Two Sides to Every Coin. Photo: Jeanette May

Sunday February 28, 2015. 12:00 – 2:00

Radiator Gallery, Long Island City, New York
10-61 Jackson Ave, LIC, NY 11106

Radiator Gallery hosts a Junk Food Brunch, where curator Amanda McDonald Crowley will give a walk through of our current exhibition food nostalgia, and talk about the underlying themes of the exhibition. Exhibiting artists Cey Adams, and Katherine Behar will also talk about influences and inspirations in their work in the exhibition.

In addition to serving up delectable and surprising nostalgic packaged foods Amanda, and artist Stefani Bardin, will be serving deliciously reverse engineered versions of Gatorade and Gummy Bears.

Come expecting to have your taste buds tickled by a range of nostalgic taste sensations, and stay for the conversation. And please feel free to bring along your favorite versions of Junk Food, from around the world.

food nostalgia is an exhibition of works exploring food in contemporary America through a lens of fast food iconography and industrial food production. The exhibition runs at Radiator Gallery through March 13.

Cey Adams dismantles contemporary cultural imagery to build multiple layers of color, texture, shadow, and light. From his roots in the NYC graffiti movement and hip hop culture, his artwork draws inspiration from 60’s pop art, sign painting, comic books, and popular culture; he focuses on themes including race and gender relations, pop culture, and community issues.

Katherine Behar‘s videos, performances, and interactive installations explore issues in contemporary digital culture. Disorientalism (whose work is included in the exhibition), is an artistic collaboration between Katherine and Marianne M. Kim, in which the duo study the disorienting effects of technologized labor, junk culture, and consumerism. Disorientalism explores how these forces mediate race, gender, and bodies. In character, the Disorientals expose our hapless submersion in junk culture, and our failed attempts to rationalize it by mistakenly resorting to industriousness and work.

Stefani Bardin explores the influences of corporate culture and industrial food production on our food system and the environment. She works with neuroscientists, biologists and gastroenterologists to ground her research in the scientific world.

Posted in News | Also tagged , |

Food For Thought – Review of food nostalgia at Radiator Gallery

Qboro_articleThoughtful article – Food for Thought – posted by Kelly Marie Mancuso in the Queens Chronicle on Thursday, February 4, 2016 about the food nostalgia exhibition I have organized at Radiator Gallery. Read the full article here.

 

Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , |

food nostalgia

food nostalgia

 

Kira Nam Greene "Ring Ding vs. Ding Dong", 2015

Kira Nam Greene “Ring Ding vs. Ding Dong”, 2015

Radiator Gallery, Long Island City, New York
February 5 – March 11, 2016

Opening Reception: Friday February 5, 2016 at 6 – 9pm
Radiator Gallery, Long Island City, New York
10-61 Jackson Ave, LIC, NY 11106
tel: 347.677.3418 email: info@radiatorarts.com

exhibition dates: February 5 – March 13, 2016
gallery hours: Friday and Sunday 1-6pm or by appointment

Artists:
Cey Adams
Emilie Baltz
Disorientalism (Katherine Behar and Marianne M. Kim)
Gonzalo Fuenmajor
Kira Nam Greene
Jonathan Stein

Food nostalgia looks at food in contemporary America through a lens of fast food iconography and industrial food production. Participating artists variously draw on popular cultural references, brand recognition, bodies, memory, nostalgia, and playfulness. They ask us to think about our relationship to our colonial pasts, feminist thinking, cultural diversity, and marketing culture. The corporatisation of our food systems is deeply entrenched in our psyche; historical and contemporary trade routes of our food affect our cultural landscape. As a framework to explore how we cook, eat, and consume, food nostalgia will be a platform to share ideas, and food.

curator: Amanda McDonald Crowley

Press releasePRESS-Food-Nostalgia

Artists Bios: foodnostalgia_artistsbios

List of works:

Press:

NY Observer: food nostagia included in 10 Things to Do in New York’s Art World, by Paul Laster, Feb. 4, 2016

Food for Thought – review of food nostalgia at Radiator Gallery by Kelly Marie Mancuso in the Queens Chronicle on Thursday, February 4, 2016

Food Nostalgia included in Armory Arts Week Events.

Public Programs:

Opening Reception: Friday February 5, 2016

Hungry Hungarians Book Launch: Friday February 19, 2016

Junk Food Brunch: Sunday February 28, 2016

Nutritional Facts: Friday March 4, 2016

Installation shots:
Photographs by Jeanette May

Posted in exhibitions, Projects | Also tagged , , , |

Sag Harbor Express interview

IMG_2537In anticipation of my ArtFoodTech talk at the Parrish Museum on November 6, 2015, Mara Certic interviewed me in The Sag Harbor Express (full interview at the link).

Posted in News | Also tagged , , , |

ArtFoodTech talk at Parrish Art Museum

Parrish Art Museum, Mildred C. Brinn Terrace, © Hufton + Crow

Parrish Art Museum, Mildred C. Brinn Terrace,
© Hufton + Crow

ArtFoodTech

I will be presenting at the Parrish Art Museum, in Watermill, Long Island on Friday, November 6, 2015- 6:00pm, as part of their Friday Nights Talks series.

Technology is changing the way we think, approach, and eat food at an unprecedented rate. These changes are already popping up along the food chain–from smart tractors and irrigation-monitoring drones, from grocery delivery to connected kitchens, from wearable nutrition monitors and robot bartenders. I will be leading a discussion on how artists are interrogating the future of our food systems.

A press release, issued by Parrish Art Museum is available here: Parrish Art Museum, ArtFoodTech Press Release.

 

Posted in News | Also tagged |

FERMENT YOURSELF, with Ferment Lab

fermentlab1_R-e1438157131683

As part of STWST48, I will be co-hosting a Sunday Brunch with artist Agnieszka Pokrywka of Ferment Lab, local farmers and food activists aboard the Eleonore in Linz Harbour.

During the Ferment lab’s august residency at Station Messschiff Eleonore, artist Agnieszka Pokrywka seeks local farm produces for fermentation and holds workshop with Linz locals to observe the process of fermentation.  She notes the information hidden in micro life of bacterias and further reapplies the fermentative process to consider the macro culture of our societies.

During her two weeks’ residency, 14 raw vegetables are jarred and matured over time.  The Sunday brunch serving the fermented vegetables brings together the artist with cultural worker/curator Amanda McDonald Crowley, local farmers, food activists and pubic members to engage in dialogues about food, tech, bacteria and cultures. In the program are also: fortunetelling based on study of personal bacterias, changing the taste of bread by the thoughts thought during kneading the dough, and possibly other oddities. All of these in the surrounding of balloons pumped up by yeast feed on sugar.

BIO: 
Agnieszka Pokrywka (PL/FI) is a multimedia explorer interested in participatory, collaborative and open source practices while digging into topics of fiction, unconventional storytelling and interactive, networked narratives. Her current activities are conducted mostly in connection with Pixelache, a transdisciplinary platform for experimental art, design, research and activism in Helsinki where she embodies different roles too.

STWST48 Curation: Shu Lea Cheang and Franz Xaver

Posted in News | Also tagged , , , |

SFAI residency

In March 2015, I am participating in Santa Fe Art Institute‘s food justice residency cycle. This is SFAI’s inaugural theme for residencies and programing.  From July 2014 through June 2015, SFAI is encouraging “creative minds to come together and examine the territory of food justice. Together, we will ask how can we use diverse creative practices to confront inherent social, cultural and economic problems in our food system?  Further, how can we bring together insights from creative fields, environmental sciences, sustainable agriculture, critical theory, and food studies to have local, national, and international impact?”

I will be further developing my ArtTechFood research which I had also worked on during curatorial residencies with HIAP,  New Media Scotland, and as a Bogliasco Fellow.

Posted in News | Also tagged , |

Emilie Baltz | Circuit of the Senses

Emilie Baltz: Circuit of the Senses

 

Emilie Baltz: Circuit of the Senses
Participatory Immersive Dining Experience
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
Omaha, Nebraska
November 2014

In 2014, I invited artist Emilie Baltz to undertake a residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska, to develop a work that would engage Bemis patrons and community members to re:imagine the role that art plays in daily life by transforming a fundraising gala dinner, and a community party, into an artwork that was simultaneously a creative playground filled with edible delights. Inspired by Kafka’s definition of theater as “melting the ice within, of awakening dormant cells, of making us more fully alive, more fully human, at once more individual and more connected to each other,” Circuit of the Senses was a 5-course interactive dinner conceived by Emilie during her residency, in collaboration with chef Paul Kulik – chef and restaurateur at Boiler Room and le Bouillon, mixologist Luke Edson and local artists, Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, Dereck Higgins, Mark Powers, Tbd Dance CollectiveJason Webb and Bemis resident Claudia Bitran.

This 120 person dinner party was held in the main galleries of the Bemis Center engaged gallery, completely transformed by Emilie and her collaborators into a magical playground. Guests were assigned individual paths through the galleries and encounter interactive courses inspired by the five human senses: roasting marshmallows and hot dogs on singing grills, eating from bowls spinning on transparent ice tables, feeding from a live table and dining on clouds of rosemary vapor. Participants were encouraged to touch, taste, smell, see and listen together as a community.

The Circuit embodied Emilie’s vision of creating experiences that stimulate playful, multi-sensory interaction that re-train adults in childlike discoveries of the world and reawaken curiosity in the everyday.

Produced by Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts.

Curated by Amanda McDonald Crowley.

FOOD THEATER

Exhibition
December 16, 2014–May 23, 2015
Gallery 1

In December, following the “Circuit of the Senses” dinner Baltz choreographed “Circus of the Senses,” a cocktail party hosted in the Okada sculpture facility across the road from the Bemis Center.

The resulting exhibition FOOD THEATER was realized to showcase both projects.

Baltz’s vision was the transformation of the everyday into the exceptional by bringing together local creators, ingredients, and community members to participate in immersive, multi-sensory spectacles that reimagine the role that food plays in our lives.

The exhibition showcased the props, sets, costumes and imagery of these projects as well as creating a stage for future activation with the central table serving as a space for community engagement, education and celebration.

The following videos, created by Make Believe New Media, and commissioned by the Bemis Center documented the ‘Sound’ and ‘Smell’ elements of both the Circuit of the Senses and the Circus of the Senses, and were included in the FOOD THEATER exhibition.

Food Theater by Emilie Baltz: The Sound Room from Make Believe New Media on Vimeo.

Food Theater by Emilie Baltz: The Smell Room from Make Believe New Media on Vimeo.

Emilie Baltz talks about Circuit of the Senses at Bemis Center.
Posted in Projects, public art / commissions | Also tagged , |