Conference : Interdisciplinary Art : Hi-Tech, Lo-Tech, No-Tech ?
http://raiq.ca/en

Performance: Le devenir machine
Sophie Castonguay’s proposed work will allow
the audience to discover the various opinions of those attending the
conference. Sometimes wise, at times controversial, the “thoughts” that will
be put forward will address the question of technology’s place in art.

It is with great pleasure that the Regroupement des arts interdisciplinaires du
Québec, in association with the MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) and ECLECTIK 2010, announces the first
edition of its annual conference, this year’s theme being: Arts interdisciplinaires: Hi-Tech, Lo-Tech, No-Tech?

The two-day conference will showcase the intersection of technologies being researched and practiced in the interdisciplinary arts, while exploring the ways in which artists embrace, appropriate, question, even dismiss “technology” – towards artistic ends. Artist talks, performances, round-table discussions, workshops, and installation will take place at the MAI, 3680 Jeanne-Mance in Montreal, on May 28th and 29th, 2010, starting at 9:30am on Friday morning. The installation will be on view as of May 26th at articule, 262 Fairmount West, Montreal.

Opening the program on Friday May 28th will be two talks: Natacha Clitandre (Montreal) discusses creative
transmission through mobile devices while Nate Larson & Marni Shindelman (Baltimore and Rochester, USA)
address the links between GPS technology and artistic creation. At 1:00pm the three artists offer practical
workshops and demonstrations related to their morning presentations. Later in the afternoon, a performative lecture by the Office for Archival Review (Montreal) on the subject of archival practices – based on the archives of conference participants – will be followed by Devora Neumark (Montreal), who uses the “The Jewish  Home Beautiful” community play as starting point into a critical case study of interdisciplinarity. Following that, a presentation from Kelly Jaclynn Andres on non-verbal communication includes a practical demo in the form of a city bike-ride. At 5:30pm, program director Claude Schryer, and program officer Sue-Ellen Gerritsen, will be on hand to answer questions concerning recent changes to the Inter-Arts section at the Canada Council for the Arts.

Saturday May 29th will commence with a lecture by Doyon-Demers (Quebec), on the notion of the “un-
artist” and of an “undisciplinary” art. Following will be a performance by Sophie Castonguay (Montreal), who
creatively deconstructs our relationship to technology, then a round-table entitled Wetwares: When biology and art meet – moderated by Tagny Duff and bringing together Alison Lauder, Kelly Jaclynn Andres, Vanessa Rigaux, Claire Kenway and Antonia Hernandez (Montreal). In the afternoon a second panel discussion, The Territories of Technology: up to what point…and why? – gives the floor over to Anna Biró (Montreal), Lynne Heller (Toronto), Radwan Moumneh (Montreal) and karen elaine spencer (Montreal). The day will wrap up with a presentation by kondition pluriel (Montreal), reflecting on their ten years of interdisciplinary creations, and an excerpt of the performance AVATAR, by Freya Olafson (Winnipeg).

Sophie Castonguay will be collaborating with matralab research associate Matheiu Marcoux on a reseach project at the matrabox this summer.