#13
Framer Framed – Digital Flux Symposium: Towards a common imagination

The post-pandemic reality is contradicting the traditional optimism attached to digital technologies — that they will unfold a better future in front of us with more democracy, more data etc. — Instead, we are faced with an unprecedented split and crisis upon our technological future.

Amidst growing tension and polarizing views across the globe, how can we make space for translocal alliance and collectively re-imagine an alternative future? Can art and digital technologies connect us through times of crisis and eventually, communicate ‘being in common’ beyond geographical borders? The symposium is a point of gathering for artists, academics, and diverse individuals from across disciplines to open dialogues around such questions.

The participants will share their research as well as artworks that present speculative visions through digital mediums. Together with the audience, they will engage in reciprocal exchanges through activities such as games, conversations and multi-media screenings.

Programs will feature artistic projects of local creatives. The program line-up includes Liquid Dependencies by Yin Aiwen,  Art for (and within) a Citizen Scene, Plan 14: Stove ⇌ Jet Engine by Qiaochu Guo and Chongjin Chen and more.

Programme

11:30 – 12:00 Door Open
12:00 – 12:10 Introduction
12:10 – 13:00 Jori Snels, Minhong Yu | The Power of Transparency
13:00 – 13:15 Break
13:15 – 13:45 Qiaochu Guo, Chongjin Chen | Stove ⇌ jet engine
13:45 – 14:00 Break
14:00 – 15:00 Yin Aiwen | Liquid Dependencies presentation
15:00 – 15:15 Break
15:15 – 15:45 Art For (and within) a Citizen Scene presentation
15:45- 17:00 Thai Food gathering & Liquid Dependencies pop-up booth

This event is part of DIT (Do it together) which is an opportunity to focus on projects, ideas, and reflections without an exhibition as the context.

Jori Snels, Minhong Yu | Conversation: Virtual connectedness in times of crisis

Ph.D. researcher Jori Snels and curator Minhong Yu will discuss how to communicate ‘being-in-common’ in the online realm. Based on the examples of Chinese online art exhibitions that took place during the pandemic, the conversation will look closely into the ways of mobilizing digital technology to create alternative forms of cosmopolitanism that do not rely on physical mobility. The conversation will include the presentation of The Power of Transparency (The One Minutes Foundation) curated by Minhong Yu.

Yin Aiwen | Liquid Dependencies

Yin Aiwen is a practising designer, artist, theorist, strategist and project developer, who use writing, system design and time-based art to examine the social impact of planetary communication technologies. Her multi-year ongoing project ReUnion Network (2017- present) has been done through a network of cross-disciplinary, multi-cultural collaborators. The Live-Action Role Playing game version of the project ‘Liquid Dependencies’ is created by Mengyang Zhao, Yiren Zhao and herself.
Players draw initial characters that define the age, occupation and life status of the players’ alternative roles in the near future of a ReUnion society. Players will fill in the details of the characters with their own identities and experiences, forming mutual-aid relationships with other characters as a series of personal and social events is taking place.


Qiaochu Guo, Chongjin Chen | Stove ⇌ jet engine

Eindhoven-based artists Qiaochu Guo and Chongjin Chen will present their multi-media research project Stove ⇌ jet engine. Previously exhibited as part of GEO-DESIGN: Budget Airlines, at the Van Abbe Museum, Stove ⇌ jet engine presents a real story of budget airlines and carbon offsets market through a fictional evolution process of a portable stove into a modern aircraft engine.

Linking jet engines with open-source portable cookstoves in developing countries are at least 13 carbon-offset projects invested in by 8 budget airlines around the world. A speculative morphosis between jet engine and cooking stove is presented through film, illustration and animation to explore the contradictions, power dynamics and mythologies of the carbon offset supply chain. (Text contributed by Nadine Botha)

Art for (and within) a Citizen Scene | Book presentation

Art for (and within) a Citizen Scene: A Look at Art Primarily Active in the Context of Daily Practices is a collaboration of Framer Framed and the Willem de Kooning Academy. Set to release in Spring 2022, the project shed light on practices in specific communities where collaboration is common in daily life; where art is seen not only as a self-contained profession but also as ways of living and being. In line with this collaborative concept, the participants conducted a series of online workshops/events in which they invited people to collectively explore different ways of designing the publication and become one of the contributors to this book.

TYPE
Symposium

YEAR
2022

PLACE
Framer Framed. Amsterdam