CRITICAL READING GROUP

Critical Reading Group
Interface Matters with Reva Stone
Saturdays, Oct. 9, Oct. 23 and Nov. 13, 2-4 pm at MAWA

We are living in a time when convergent networks are becoming the dominant organizational paradigm. Networked relations between people, between machines, and between machines and people are a global phenomenon. These networks are altering culture, technology, ideas about what is public and what is private; ideas about space, body, consciousness and identity. In this reading group we will explore some of the ideologies that are encompassed in our emerging network culture. To reflect on these issues, we will examine a variety of articles and relevant art works.

Reva Stone’s work is informed by a broad theoretical context that includes the post human and the cyborg, theories of embodiment and its relationship to human consciousness, artificial intelligence, evolutionary biology, artificial life and most recently network theory. Her focus has expanded from an analysis of the nature and limits of being human to involve an inquiry into the potential and limits of intelligent machines and an investigation into the underlying social, technological and cultural narratives that are being played out around these issues. Reva’s installations have been exhibited extensively across Canada and internationally. In 2002, her robotic work, Carnevale 3.0 received honourable mention from Life 5.0, Art & Artificial Life International Competition, Fundación Telefónica, Madrid, Spain. In November 2009, she presented a paper that addressed her work in the context of collaborations in art and science at Super Human: Revolution of the Species Symposium in Melbourne, Australia.

Caption: Reva Stone, Carnevale 3.0, 200-2002. Photo by Ernest Mayer