From 1-7 October, I'll be working on the #ANDfest programme in Manchester, chairing a series of Salons, the #media2012. Take a peek at the AND festival programme here
Here's where you can definitely find me during the festival....
Oct 2 -The Science of Ambiguity Sat 02 Oct 12:00 – 14:00 (International Anthony Burgess Foundation) In recent years, trust in science has come under scrutiny through controversies surrounding climate change, stem cell research and environmental disasters. Is the loss of public trust in science symptomatic of a broader collapse in belief across society? As the long term implications of new technology become harder to fathom, trust becomes increasingly necessary. This Salon focuses on systems of ambiguous truths and strategies of resistance, where scepticism and cynicism become normal expectations and 24-hour news and political spin shape public opinion.
Oct 4 - #media2012 Cornerhouse, Mon 04 Oct 10:00 – 17:00 and screening This is first public presentation of the Media Blueprint for London 2012, an independent proposal, written by Professor Andy Miah, to create a UK wide Underground Media Zone during the London 2012 Games. Drawing citizen journalists and official Olympic media from the Olympic Games of Beijing, Vancouver, London, Sochi and Rio. Together with expertise in new and social media from around the UK, discussions will focus on opportunities, strategy and vision, to create a new media legacy for the Games and engage UK networks to discuss prospects within the context of an increasingly Digital Britain. This network will not focus on sport, instead, it will tell the cultural legacy of citizens engaged by London 2012, from the regions and the nations. Speakers will include London 2012 Creative Programmers, Debbi Lander and Richard Crowe, social media experts Kris Krug, Alexander Zolotarev, and Josi Paz, and London 2012 Cultural Olympiad Director Ruth Mackenzie. The event will focus attention on strategy and collaboration, building a mainline media network from North to South in the UK. This full day will include an unconference style presentation format for interested parties to present. To register, email hello@andfestival.org.uk
Oct 5 - Identity Shopping Tue 05 Oct 12:00 – 14:00 (International Anthony Burgess Foundation) Identity transplants and biometric chips are extending our identities beyond traditional forms of data surveillance. As they are gradually being woven into our biology how does this affect our behaviour in the real world? Has our obsession with human identity become more important, as we define our uniqueness via biological modifications and digital avatars? World leading bioethicist Professor John Harris debates how identity is mutating on an evolutionary scale and artist Heath Bunting introduces his ambitious project to create a new identity, lawfully creating ‘off-the-shelf’ persons for sale, building a bridge between the biological and the digital.
Oct 6 - It's Sapiens to Be Homo International Anthony Burgess Foundation, 3 Cambridge Street, Manchester, M1 5 B12:00 - 14:00 How are gender and sexuality inscribed by social and cultural norms? How has taboo changed for the booming net-porn generation and what role does digital fantasy now have in subcultures of role reversal and experimentation? From heady bloggers to drag queens, the fetishisation of code - be that digital or fashion - has entered the mainstream, or has it? Join us for a debate about how gender queerness has become a commercial device and how this may lead to its standardization and banalization. In this salon we will be joined by Trixxie Carr, San Francisco's finest female faux-queen and outspoken voice for free speech, avant-art, drag theatre and human rights.
Oct 6 - Tactical Biodesign: Design for Debate Design For Debate CUBE, Wed 06 Oct 14:30 – 17:00 / FREE The devices and propositions in Designed Disorder aspire to create debate around scientific developments in nano and biotechnology. This debate will highlight speculative design processes whilst also challenging its role in an information society. Do art and design perform different functions in an economy of new ideas and does this line blur in the context of biological artifacts? With Professor Anthony Dunne, Head of Design Interactions Department at the RCA and designers James Gilpin, Nelly Ben Hayoun.
Oct 7 - Ideology Redux Thu 07 Oct 12:00 – 14:00 (International Anthony Burgess Foundation) From Slavoj Zizek to Michael Hardt, contemporary philosophers are calling for a renewed interest in the relevance of communism. We ask what it means to revisit socialism for a new generation who live in environmentally and economically unpredictable times. Have strong convictions been cast out of modern, democratic and political life? What are the new systems of thought for the digital generation? And how do we re-imagine art and politics against the fashionable communism of capital?