The emergence of terms ”Neuroaesthetics”, Media Ecology, and Bioart generate questions regarding the potential convergence of discourses, tools, and practicies applied in Science, Technology, and Art.

Critical questions emerge regarding the impact of these new concepts, tools, and practices through various lenses that pertain to aesthetics and its relation to ethical, institutional, economical, and political ramifications. Does the application of tools and methods based on natural and social sciences bear relevance to contemporary art, art education and artist’s practise?

Fundamentally, are the terms and parameters of these concepts comparable to research from the perspective of scientific methodology and tools for critical anlysis? What is the role of science in terms of aesthetics and crucially our subjectivity?

How do we discriminate what information to extrapolate from the field of sciences to integrate into artistic praxis? Ultimately: can the fusion of art, engineering and humanities engender a platform for navigating, maneuvering, and constructing new possibilities for edutation both institutionally and non-institutionally?

Invited guests: Andrej Boleslavský (artist and programer) and Mária Jůdová (student of CAS), Magda Stanová (artist)www.magdastanova.sk, Givan Bela (artist and curator), Pavel Ctibor (scientist and poet) www.ipp.cas.cz/Staff/detail?id=ctiborp, Dustin Breiting (curator and art theorist), Jan Trejbal (artist and architect), Tomáš Žižka (performer and educator) www.umenimista.cz/pedagogove/jan-novak, Zdeněk Konopásek (sociologist and musician)

concept of the discussion: Dustin Breiting and Miloš Vojtěchovský
(IIM a Centrer of audiovisual studies FAMU).

“How does it become important to weigh the difference between the neural architecture of a pianist and painter? How does it become important to understand the involvement of chemical messengers sent from photoreceptors and the brains interpretation of different colors?

These are questions that attach various importance for certain communities of scientists and select artist who are working within a scientificity of aesthetics, a scientificity of perception and scientificity of the image.

Ultimately, the disparate disciplines that are featured today are tackling and approaching the questions of alternative practices and their possibility of not merely integrating but conjoining praxis with a performativity of thinking. How does bio-art and ecological media introduce us to different states, sensations, and production of concepts that link together in a constellation and array of new forces becomes a important question to consider.”      

Dustin Breiting

Andrej Boleslavský is an independent artist purposing technology in the fields of new media art, interactive design, physical computing and 3D printing. His primary inspiration comes from cross disciplinary interaction and the free exchange of ideas among collaborators. His work also maintains a strong fascination with the entanglement of nature and technology.
id144.org

Mária Jůdová is multidisciplinary artist currently doing a Master at FAMU Center for Audiovisual studies in Prague. Maria received a Bachelor’s of Digital Media at the Academy of Arts. She works primarily in the field of contemporary dance and new technologies.
mariajudova.net/

Zdenek Konopásek is sociologist interested in science and technology studies, based at the Center for Theoretical Study (Charles University in Prague/Academy of Sciences). His current research is focused mainly on complex relationships between democratic decision-making and expertise. He is also active musician.
zdenek.konopasek.net

Givan Bela born in Belgium, after studying literature and linguistics, a little philosophy and sculpting, he made a radical switch to computer music at the end of the 1980s. He has been involved in experimental media art in its many different forms since 1990. Currently works and lives in Czech Republic.
memoir.okno.be/?id=776

Tomáš Žižka is the assistant professor at Academy KALD-DAMU, intiator of Mamapapa projects with educated and experimented patterns/project Light Lab part of Prague Quadrienale 99, Six weeks on dialogue 2001, Slowdown 2002. Trustee on czech art school exposition on Prague Quadrienale (99). Art director in next project the Heart (2003). One of the initiators of the interdisciplinary project between art, science and technology: www.knowtilus.cz/

Jan Trejbal
www.neolokator.cz

Presentation of the FAMU research project Psychogram II. led by Jakub Hybler, Georgij Bagdasarov and Alexandra Morales.

Psychogram II is a softwar editing modul of nonlinear audiovisual work in real time. Software and hardware unite composes, restructuralizes fragments of audiovisual content according the physical and emotional condition of the viewer/editor.