Event Two

An exhibition by the Computer Arts Society and FLUX Events in collaboration with the Royal College of Art, the Electronic Visualisation and the Arts conference (EVA), Interact Digital Arts and Lumen Art Projects. Featuring talks by Lumen Art Projects and FLUX Events.

12th - 17th July 2019

Royal College of Art, Kensington Campus, London

Event Two at the Royal College of Art is an exhibition of historical and contemporary digital art and a programme of events marking the 50th anniversary of the landmark Computer Arts Society Event One exhibition at the college in 1969.

The exhibition includes work from The CAS50 Collection of computer art dating from the 1960s to the present day, together with contemporary media art curated by artist platform FLUX Events, London's preeminent forum for media artists. There will also be a video programme, a selection of sound artworks and the launch of a new collection of video interviews with digital artists. Event Two will be complemented by a series of talks, including a special event from the internationally renowned Lumen Prize for Art and Technology, Artists in the Machine, (Lumen Art Projects) and an artist talk entitled Invasive Media, hosted by FLUX Events. There will be a discussion evening hosted by the Computer Arts Society, featuring artists in the exhibition and computer art historians. These events will bring together a diverse range of practitioners to explore the dynamic relation of technology and creative practice with computers across the later 20th and early 21st centuries.

Event Two has been organised through a newly emergent network connecting the RCA, CAS, Lumen Art Projects and FLUX Events, research collaborations with the Electronic Visualisation and the Arts conference (EVA) in London and Leicester-based arts organisation Interact Digital Arts. The exhibition and related events reflect upon the 50 years since Event One surveying the impact and legacies of early computer art, and engaging critical questions on the historical evolution of technology and creative practices with computation.

The CAS50 Collection was established in 2018 to help celebrate 50 years since the founding of the Computer Arts Society and now features more than 40 works by 25 artists. It is currently focussed on 2D work and includes algorithmic images, computer drawings, computer printouts and digital prints spanning over 50 years, with the earliest work in the collection being produced in the 1960s. The collection will also present new multimedia acquisitions - including historic and contemporary sound art and a collection of video interviews with key artists.

The FLUX Events' selection, ART IN FLUX, features an array of creative practices including computation, digital media and new technologies such as VR, AI, EEG technologies, real-time data visualisation and live body-mapping. FLUX Events will feature some of the most revolutionary new media artists working today, with the themes covered including data and privacy, well-being, ecology, misogyny, complex systems and biology. This discourse brings into focus historical questions on the development of technology and computer art and contextualises some of the themes in The CAS50 Collection and Event One through the prism of contemporary practices.

Event Two will be an unmissable opportunity to see historic and contemporary digital and computer art and to consider the evolution of the medium in the 50 years that have passed since Event One.

Videos and VR Photographs

Photographs - Event Two

Photographs - CAS Evening

Photographs - Preview Night

Photographs - Setup

Programme of Events

Friday 12th July 2019
6pm - 9pm Preview Night.
Organised by the EVA Conference.
Invitation-only for conference attendees.

Saturday 13th July 2019
10am - 5pm Open to the Public.

Monday 15th July 2019
10am - 5pm Open to the Public.
10am – 1pm Guided Tour and Workshop: The V&A's collections relating to the Computer Arts Society and the History of Digital Art. Booking open to RCA staff and students only.
6:30pm - 9pm FLUX Events Evening. Invasive Media Talk. Book on Eventbrite.
https://www.facebook.com/events/335022253843024/

Tuesday 16th July 2019
10am - 5pm Open to the Public.
6:30pm - 9pm CAS Evening (Official Launch).
Sponsored by Interact Digital Arts. Book on Eventbrite.
https://www.facebook.com/events/412558849354552/

Wednesday 17th July 2019
10am - 5pm Open to the Public.
10am - 1pm Generative Painting Workshop with Stuart F Batchelor. Book on Eventbrite.
6pm - 9pm Lumen Art Projects Evening. Artists in the Machine with Alex Mordvintsev. Plus, the announcement of the 2019 Lumen Prize Longlist. Book on Eventbrite.
https://www.facebook.com/events/3053469244678078/

All evening events take place at the Royal College of Art and require pre-booking via Eventbrite.

Following Event Two, the new additions to The CAS50 Collection (Phase 2), together with the SoundPod and Video Interviews are being taken to Leicester for an exhibition at the LCB Depot.

Monday 22nd July 2019
The CAS50 Collection 2019 Exhibition Opening. Book on Eventbrite.
LCB Depot, Leicester

https://www.facebook.com/events/374847573124039/

Friday 26th July 2019
Interact Live @ Last Friday. Book on Eventbrite.
LCB Depot, Leicester
https://www.facebook.com/events/421543018664168/

Work on Display

Participating Artists

The exhibition of the CAS50 Collection has been made possible with support from Arts Council England and BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Funding support has also been gratefully received by the RCA.

Curators

Maria Almena, Sean Clark, Oliver Gingrich, Nick Lambert, Gareth Polmeer, Aphra Shemza and Jon Weinel.

Organisers

Jack Addis, Maria Almena, Sean Clark, Graham Diprose, Oliver Gingrich, Nick Lambert, Gareth Polmeer, Carla Rapoport, Aphra Shemza and Jon Weinel.

Partners

Computer Arts Society Archive

Hosted by cuttlefish.org