The Media & Arts Speaker series at Duke Kunshan University is a bi-weekly event that invites leading practitioners in media and arts to speak about their work and practice and engage with our DKU community.
The third miniseries of talks looks at the concept of the lab, both as a philosophy and a methodology to see how these innovative approaches have impacted and transformed the production of culture, art and society.
The lecture scheduled on Friday November 13th, 2020 at 6pm China Central time features the artist and Head of Research at Chronus Art Center Lab Vytautas. This series is organized and hosted by Prof. Vivian Xu and Prof. Benjamin Bacon, and supported by Arts and Humanities and the Humanities Research Center at Duke Kunshan University. This event is open to the public.
6pm China time, Friday January 29th, 2021 / 5am EST
Location: Duke Kunshan Innovation Building 1046
Zoom: 262-835-7204
In “Haunted Media” Jeffrey Sconce opens his discourse with a XIX century American family man shooting his own TV set convinced it is possessed by spirits. Today’s technologies on the other hand, have been nearly universally disenchanted, replaced by Latourian black-boxing in which shady device behaviors aim towards surveillance and the maximizing of profits on targeted advertising, accommodating conspiracies rather than entities of the ether.
CAC Lab’s philosophy imbibes the signals it is exposed to; be it independently interrogating the above-outlined disillusioned visions towards the internet and present-day technology; inquiries and projects of our artist-in-residence; ties to academia and international cultural partners and their fields of interest; as well as a more general attitude of Chronus Art Center as China’s first not-for-profit for media art institute.
Vytautas will present CAC Lab’s approach of critically and poetically distilling today’s technologies. The lab’s philosophy is resonant in its topics of interest, activities, and outcomes, situated within a broader context of the evolution of Chronus Art Center and the legacy of people who shape it.
About the Artist:
Vytautas is a designer and researcher interested in how emerging technologies inhabit and shape our domestic mundane. His practice encompasses the Internet of Things, data ownership, digital citizenship, social media and their influence on our boring everyday lives.
Since May 2019 Vytautas is the Head of Research and Creation at the Chronus Art Center Lab. Vytautas is also Adjunct Faculty at NYU ITP for the spring semester 2021.
Vytautas’ work has been exhibited at the V&A, Tate Modern, CCCB, Chroniques Biennale, Chronus Art Center, Salone Internazionale del Mobile, ISEA, and Cité du Design St. Etienne, amongst others.
About CAC + Lab:
http://www.chronusartcenter.org/en/
http://lab.chronusartcenter.org/
CAC Lab, part of Chronus Art Center, Shanghai, is dedicated to the inquiry of present-day matters regarding art, design, science, technology and their impact on global contemporary culture and society.
Through artistic practice, technological tools and research methods, we enable creative processes that result in works of art of high production and academic value. The Lab is a space of flux which encourages artistic practice as a generator of new knowledge, a territory where art and science converge into a contemporary and experimental field of academic research; free from mainstream cultural thought, technological stress and economical diversions.
