November 9–13, 2022
The expanded symposium The Only Lasting Truth is Change explores the present and potential configurations of art, technology, nature, and power as well as what an artwork can do and what an artwork can be in the always shifting world. It will be held online and in Bergen, Norway, from November 9–13, 2022, and is presented by BEK—Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts.
With contributions from: Catherine Malabou, Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Susan Schuppli, Ingrid Burrington and Ann Chen, Rehana Zaman, Seán Elder, Nat Raha, Daniella Valz Gen, Hanan Benammar, Martin Zeilinger, Matti Aikio, Toril Johannessen, Rian Treanor, Eduardo Williams, Helle Siljeholm, Ng Tsz-Kwan, Ioana Vreme Moser, Andrea Spreafico and others.
The 2022 edition is organized around three intertwined thematic threads: Anarchy, Traces, and Mountains, and takes its name from the famous science-fiction author Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. The symposium, which examines new interpretations and expressions of anarchy, brings together artists, academics, and the general public to discuss and gain insight from modern manifestations of decentralization, autonomy, interdependence, and solidarity. The symposium examines how art can make visible and understandable the imprints of the significant developments of our time, including the technological infrastructure, the aftermath of war and ecological destruction, and the dissolution of large political systems. It does this by gathering and practicing investigative ways of reading the world around us. How do prejudices and power imbalances leave their mark on cutting-edge technology?Can art provide us with skills to regain our social and political agency and to deal with trauma by manipulating traces and shades? Can the anarchy and mutual aid that exists now provide new paths to social justice and long-lasting change?
Join the symposium program of talks, performances, screenings, and exhibitions to learn about everything from the melting glaciers of the Himalayas to data-chip manufacturing on Gourd Guardian Mountain in Taiwan, from sacralized street corners in Hong Kong to military zones in Northern Norway, from occupied territories in Western Sahara to social currencies of field farming in Scotland, and from procedural polyrhythmic pattern making in Kampala to somatic experiencing beneath the mountains of Bergen.
The Only Lasting Truth is Change is organised by BEK in cooperation with Northing, Hordaland kunstsenter, Ekko, Østre, Nuts And Bolts, and Entrée.
Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts (BEK)
Bergen
C. Sundts gate 55
5004 Bergen
Norway
[email protected]
bek.no
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