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[Anti]disciplinary Topographies

Culturing transnational dialogue for creative hybridity

Leonardo/ISAST and the Global Network of LASER Hosts in partnership with the Interface Culture Department, Institute for Media, University of Art and Design Linz

“A new digital deal,” 8-12 September

   © LASER Talks, Leonardo/ISAST

Program: Landing Page 

Ars Electronica Garden LEONARDO LASER, 8-12 Sept. - “Α new digital deal”  
Click here to enter [Anti]disciplinary Topographies on Ars Electronica or https://leonardo.info/ars-garden-leonardo-laser on Leonardo.info

[LINZ, AUSTRIA] From 8 to 12 September, Leonardo will be a critical node in the Ars Electronica Gardens, a virtual map that stretches across the planet. Expanding the launch of LASER Linz, Leonardo LASER Garden can also be experienced via the Internet as an asynchronous multi platform consisting of talks, performances and online exhibitions. 

Our garden, [Anti]disciplinary Topographies, will host a transnational program gathering our network of artists, scientists, humanists and technologists from 5 continents and over 47 cities worldwide in a series of hybrid formats. In Leonardo LASER Garden, we take up Ars Electronica’s call to foster a “new digital deal.” 

By transcending disciplinary boundaries [Anti]disciplinary Topographies uses concepts and imagery of landscape, architecture and infrastructure to remap terrain for transnational collaboration. [Anti]disciplinary Topographies cultivates the international spirit of  Leonardo and the LASER program. In five conceptual strands, our program fosters transnational dialogue and celebrates the creativity of a region's cultural environment, marshalling these crucial energies to address issues critical to the long-term viability of our communities and planet.

With presenters ranging from São Paulo to Vienna, the program Performing New Infrastructures traverses landscapes from the microscope to the rainforest.  Through play and experimentation, these sonic, visual and embodied performances transform sites of crisis into imaginariums of human and non-human coexistence.

Including presenters from Helsinki to Mexico City, the program Interbeing Between Complex Systems provokes reflection on the complex web of species, agents, and other beings that comprise our living world. How are humans and nonhumans connected? These speculative dialogues, exhibitions, and explorations seek to reimagine the field of interspecies communication at a time of great environmental urgency.

Encompassing Auckland, St. Petersburg, New York City and other locales, the program Architecting Global Communities is a series of conversations and stories rooted in interdisciplinary collaboration, transnational communication and planetary citizenship. In a spirit of hemispheric transcendence, they aim to develop and fortify planetary communities grounded in social justice. 

Building on the antidisciplinary terrain mapped by our vibrant community, the program Futurecasting shifts its focus to a new creativity agenda. At a moment of profound need, we issue a call to action to speculatively design for change, envision global futures and humanize digital culture. In “Extraordinary Times Call for Extraordinary Vision: Humanizing Digital Culture with the New Creativity Agenda & the UNSDGs,” Leonardo/ISAST CEO Diana Ayton-Shenker presents our vision for shaping our global future. This will be followed by a Leonardo Community Lounge open to the general public, with the goal of encouraging contributions to the cultural environments of different regions through transnational exchange and community building.

NOTES TO EDITORS 

Leonardo/ISAST, a fearless pioneer since 1968, serves as the community forging a transdisciplinary network to convene, research, collaborate and disseminate best practices at the nexus of arts, science and technology worldwide. Leonardo serves a network of transdisciplinary scholars, artists, scientists, technologists and thinkers who experiment with new, cutting-edge approaches, practices, systems and solutions to tackle the most complex challenges facing humanity today.  

As a not-for-profit, enterprising think tank, Leonardo offers a global platform for creative exploration and collaboration, reaching tens of thousands of people across 135 countries. Our flagship publication, Leonardo, the world’s leading scholarly journal on transdisciplinary art, anchors a robust publishing partnership with MIT Press; our partnership with Arizona State University infuses educational innovation with digital art and media for lifelong learning. Our creative programs span thought-provoking events, exhibits, residencies and fellowships, scholarship and social enterprise ventures.  

Leonardo/ISAST LASER Talks are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of LASER is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building.

PROJECT CREDITS

Leonardo/ISAST & the Global Network of LASER Hosts in partnership with the Interface Culture Department, Institute for Media, University of Art and Design Linz

Lead Organizers

Christiana Kazakou, Leonardo LASER Program Lead  (UK/GR); Vanessa Chang, Leonardo Senior Program Manager (US/SG/AU)

LASER Committee

Tami Spector - Leonardo LASER Committee Co-Chair (US); Alan Boldon - Leonardo LASER Committee Co-Chair (UK); Nina Czegledy - Leonardo LASER Committee (CA); Piero Scaruffi - Leonardo LASER Committee (US); JD Talasek - Leonardo LASER Committee (US)

LASER Host Institutions & Partners

ArtSci Salon (CA), The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (CA), Medical University of Vienna (AT), University of Applied Arts Vienna (AT), CrossLab, University of Fortaleza (BR), Atelier Tania Fraga (BR), University of Cambridge (UK), Hexagram (CA), University of Bergen (NO), Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (MX), Aalto University (FI), Dartington Hall Trust (UK), Life Science Zurich (CH), Wageningen University Research (NL), VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (FI), University of Zurich (CH), ETH Zurich (CH), Artists in Labs Program at the University of the Arts, ZHdK (CH), World Wildlife Fund Volunteers (CH), Art and Science Node (DE), CYLAND Media Art Lab (RU), Fulcrum Arts (US), ArtCenter College of Design/Williamson Gallery (US), Ubiquitous Lab (DE), AUT University (NZ), LevyArts (US), Washington University in St. Louis (US), Arizona State University (US), Biodesign Institute (US), Arizona Cancer Evolution Center (US), National Cancer Institute (US), University of Alberta (CA), Interface Culture Department, Institute for Media, University of Art and Design  Linz (AT), SciArt Santa Fe (MX), Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (BR), Helsinki Design Week (FI), Vienna Biennale for Change (AT), Evolutionary Ecology, Biological Intelligence Lab - Southern Cross University (AU), Biologiezentrum O.Ö Landeskultur G.m.b.H. (AT), Leisenhof Gärtnerei (AT)

For a full list of our international LASER Hosts Network please see leonardo.info/laser-hosts

PRESENTER CREDITS

Alexis Johnson (US), Alfonso Santarpia (CA), Amanda Kelleher (US), Andrée Martin (CA), Armando Menicacci (CA), Bruno Pucella (CA), Chris Chafe (CZ), Chrysi Nanou (US), Clarissa Ribeiro (BR), Gisèle Trudel (CA), Nina Czegledy (CA), Tania Fraga (BR), Colum Pawson (UK), Edmar Soria (MX), Frank Ekeberg (NO), Laura Beloff (FI), Luz Maria Sanchez Cardona (MX), Manuel Rocha Iturbide (MX), Manuel Rocha Iturbide (MX), Pia Fricker (FI/AT), Tracey Warr (UK), Nooroa Tapuni (NZ), Lana Lopesi (NZ), Janine Randerson (NZ), Robert Crouch (US), Stephen Nowlin (US), Phil Niblock (US), Katherine Liberovskaya (CA), Carol Parkinson (US), Sergey Teterin (LT), Natalia Kolodzei (US), Diana Ayton-Shenker (US), boredomresearch (UK), Michael Metzger (US), Pamela Winfrey (US), Marilene Oliver (CA), Christoph Thun-Hohenstein (AT), Monica Gagliano (AS), Martin Pfosser (AT), Gabriele Winkler (AT), Christa Sommerer (AT), Fabricio Lamoncha (ES), Christiana Kazakou (GR/UK)