Joseph Scheer UNTREF Talk

Public presentation – Conferencia: Arte-Tecnología-Educación, Interacciones entre la experimentación tecnológica y las investigaciones artísticas, UNTREF, Sede Rectordo Centro, Juncal 1319-CABA

October 18, 2019

ART-TECHNOLOGY-EDUCATION: Interactions between technological experimentation and artistic research.

The combination of different languages ​​and technologies is what characterizes the programs of the School of Art and Design at Alfred University in New York. Professor and artist Joseph Scheer spoke about the richness of these interactions. The meeting was organized by the Master of Electronic Arts of the University of Tres de Febrero, who enthusiastically welcomed to extend the activity of Scheer, Fundación´ace guest artist, to a broader community within our environment. Scheer’s activities in Buenos Aires were also sponsored by the Embassy of the United States of America in Argentina.

At this conference, Joseph Scheer presented two of that institution’s distinctive programs: the IEA / Institute of Electronic Arts and the Master’s Program (MFA EIA) in Integrated Electronic Arts. They provide an interdisciplinary context in which to explore interrelationships between emerging forms of electronic and digital technologies, discussing the interactions between technological and artistic experimentation through projects done by master’s students and artists-in-residence at the IEA, including those from Ann Hamilton, Kiki Smith, Gary Hill, Luftwerk, and Eiko Otake.

Scheer described the IEA, an institute he directs, as a space in which professional artists, both from New York State and from different parts of the world, carry out creative residencies. “We provide them with the tools to expand their work,” said Scheer, noting that one of the first collaborators they had was the renowned multimedia artist Ann Hamilton. “she used video recording with a very low-resolution surveillance camera, the mouths of porcelain dolls she had found in Sweden, these images were processed and later printed on rather large paper and designed to be exhibited as an installation,” said Scheer, noting that these pieces were exhibited in important galleries/museums in China, Sweden, and France, among other countries.

Alicia Candiani, director of the ACE Foundation, recounted her experience as a resident at Alfred University and highlighted “the freedom that exists to move from one discipline to another.” Candiani said that the university is extraordinary not only for the equipment it has but for its faculty. “Community is built, it works in collaboration and it is a very favorable context to develop these intersections and expansions of artistic practice,” she summarized.

For her part, Mariela Yeregui, director of the Master in Technology and Aesthetics of the Electronic Arts, commented that these experiences are extremely valuable for students and teachers at UNTREF. “We are interested in promoting these dialogues and getting to know these programs, which are asking themselves questions very similar to those that we ask ourselves,” she concluded.