On July 11 2012, TPR presented the second installment in the summer Art & Technology series as part of the Solutions topic. Titled “Dinner & A Movie,” the event asked two groups of artists and technologists to think, discuss, and debate their point of views around the topic “Debris & Value.” Tsunami debris, hoarding, unused ideas, classism, and all kinds of subjects were brought forth in front of an audience. The conversation was lively and much was revealed about how these creative makers approach issues.
Below are one some notes from the evening–a stream-of-consciousness “capture” of the conversation that unfolded:
Debris from French, 1708, related to bricolage and sabotage, sabo from sandal or footwear embroiled in protest, rubbish, to break—”are we defining debris or doing debris?” a filmmaker asks
hanging out on the periphery, fate not yet determined, remainders from catastrophe, toxic, man-made world, plastics, “love to eat awful,” group two’s facilitator begins
psychological debris
moving every year
are you minimalist or hoarder?
right angle or curved wall?
materiality of cyberspace
hardware built surrounding this space
wire forest with sunflowers and vines as people
“it’s okay to be a vine, must we always privilege sunflowers?” the screen retorts
merging inverses:
- class/food
- debris/value
- fetish/art
- artifact/virtual
- entropic/purposeful
- path of destruction/traces of creation
equations:
- what ended a life > what made up a life = forensics
- sculpture + time = debris
- space/debris = value
- “I saw you” ~ “I found this” = meaning
- performance junk < clean lines/pedestal + duster = residue
three closing thoughts:
– debris as hateful phrases left in the mind…
– Haida ceremony of destroying copper masks…
– plastic bags with dog shit found in the archaeological dig…
The Art & Technology Participants are:
Pete Bjordahl: Founder and CEO, Parallel Public Works
Ezra Cooper: Software Engineer, Google
Hsu-Ken Ooi: Founder, Decide.com
Charlie Matlack: CEO & Co-Founder at PotaVida; PhD Candidate at UW
Elisabeth Robson: Computer Scientist
Ethan Schoonover: Technology consultant, web designer
Korby Sears: Senior Producer, Discovery Bay Games; Principal Composer, Tejas Tunes
Sooyoung Shin: Software Engineer
Redwood Stephens: Mechanical Engineering Department Head, Synapse
Dave Zucker: Mechanical engineer, entrepreneur, designer, tinkerer
Byron Au Yong: Composer
SJ Chiro: Filmmaker
Lesley Hazleton: Writer
Jean Hicks: Milliner, visual artist
Bill Horist: Improvisational musician, Composer
Jeffry Mitchell: Ceramicist/Visual artist
Amy O’Neal: Dancer, Choreographer
John Osebold: Composer, performer
Stokley Towles: Performer
Claude Zervas: Sculptor/Visual artist
Matthew Baldwin: Writer
Brangien Davis: Arts & Culture Editor, Seattle Magazine
Jen Graves: Art Critic, The Stranger
Nancy Guppy: Producer and Host, Seattle Channel
Harmony Hasbrook: Designer and Writer, Parallel Public Works
C. Davida Ingram: Writer, artist, cultural worker
Charles Mudede: Social critic and filmmaker
Sasha Pasulka: Vice President of Product & Marketing, Salad Labs
Joey Veltkamp: Artist and Art Writer
Jenifer Ward: Associate Provost, Cornish College of the Arts; Editor, TPR’s Off Paper