ONLINE, 28 – 29 May 2020
BODY (UN)MUTE: A two-day online festival that looks into the rituals of dancing and masking in times of social distancing.
As we slide into the new normal or la nueva normalidad it is inevitable that the AV world will experience a considerable amount of visibility during the pandemic as technology plays an important part in everything that we do. A surge of online events, meetings and live streams now fill up our diaries like they are going out of fashion and meeting up with your mates down the pub for a pint after work is so 2019.
Enter the evolution of user generated entertainment platforms like Twitch, which now boasts 17.5 million average daily visitors. Resident Advisor has invented its own virtual island Streamland where all virtual events that have been successfully submitted to RA exist. And MelodyVR brings the artist even closer to the fan through some very high spec virtual reality streaming experiences. Did somebody say Zoom quiz?
The drive for innovation and exploration in the world of audiovisual art and culture is again on the rise, opening up in new forms. Which leads me onto the question about interdisciplinary artists and institutions who challenge the status quo and dare to oppose the mainstream. Where are they and what is their artistic response to the pandemic?
I give you BODY (UN)MUTE. A two-day online festival curated by Bogomir Doringer hosted by ICK Dans Amsterdam that looks into the rituals of dancing and masking in times of social distancing. The audiovisual event will deliver a programme of workshops, talks and performances from all corners of new media, dance and conceptual art. But how can these rituals take place in an online space?
“Technology has been around forever, but most people are not familiar with the basics of streaming. Porn channels and video gaming platforms are way ahead of time and up until now artists haven’t really engaged with it, which makes it harder to get a certain quality that produces something more than just a Zoom call. I have been following the ritual of masking since 9/11 with my project Faceless – Re-inventing Privacy Through Subversive Media Strategies. What is the role of this in contemporary times? BODY (UN)MUTE is a physical representation of Faceless and my art exhibition Dance Of Urgency, which explores how dance and ritual rise in times of personal and collective crises, and how it can empower individuals and groups. In amongst a global pandemic both these ideas live together and that is why I want to explore this space with new media artists”
– Bogomir Doringer
Jeremy Bailey
Some highlights come in the form of Famous New Media Artist Jeremy Bailey who wants you to join his Augmented Reality Makeover Party where step-by-step you can learn how to perfect your own Augmented Reality (AR) digital mask and alter ego. Transgress and queer-up your identity, become a drag unicorn or whatever else you can imagine!
Rosa Menkman
Rosa Menkman, an art theorist and visual artist specialising in glitch art and resolution theory, will screen her work Pique Nique pour les Inconnues :: The CHORUS VERSION (2019-2020). The video looks at various unknown women whose images are linked to the history of image processing. While these women seem to be able to prolong their existence for as long as the (digital) realms will copy and reuse them, most of them have lost their name and identity.
Keren Rosenberg
Live performance comes in the form of Keren Rosenberg and Nicola Cavalazzi, who will present an audiovisual art installation which explores our social obsession in self-exposure through the use of modern technology. Together they will question what it means to perform in front of a camera – where does the body finish and the screen start?
Dr. Kelina Gotman
Dr. Kelina Gotman talks about how Choreomania, the manic crave for dance, is not just a bi-product of lockdown. Choreographer Emio Greco will elaborate on the Pizzica, a dance from his native ground in Puglia that was danced to heal yourself from the bite of a poisonous spider. And Shanghai Radio will close the two day event giving us an insight into how creativity, music and online streaming kept the Chinese creative community connected during the lockdown.
In a reaction to the pandemic tickets for the event are based on the principles of donation, which provides the public freedom to support the hard work and dedication from all the artists involved.
Let the body unmute.
BODY (UN)MUTE in collaboration with ICK Dans Amsterdam
Online Tickets available through the event website.
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