DASH Archives - May 2012

IMAGERY IN THE 21st CENTURY
by Oliver Grau, Editor; with Thomas Veigl
The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2011
424 pp. illus. 132 b/w. Trade, $40
ISBN-10: 0262015722.

With contributions by 
Sean CUBITT, Martin SCHULZ, Eduardo KAC, Thomas VEIGL, Stefan
HEIDENREICH, Olaf BREIDBACH, 
Dolores & David STEINMAN, James ELKINS, Wendy CHUNG, Christa SOMMERER &
Laurent MIGNONNEAU, 
Marie Luise ANGERER, Peter WEIBEL, Adrian CHEOK, Tim Otto ROTH, Harald
KRÄMER, Lev MANOVICH, 
Martin WARNKE, Oliver GRAU and Martin KEMP


Reviewed by Amy Ione
Director, The Diatrope Institute
Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
ione@diatrope.com 


As I began this review I began to think that the refrain “we are
surrounded by images today” has lost its impact (despite my being
among the guilty users of it). On the one hand, it seems that many of us
notice the imagery. Yet, on the other hand, as we increasingly engage
with our visual culture certain norms for our critical investigations
are also developing.  I’m not sure where this leaves us.  To be sure,
the nature and complexity of our image-abundant culture is
extraordinary.  Images are no longer sparse and highly treasured.
Rather, we have visual social media, scientific imaging tools, and even
static objects like paintings populate the ever-changing screens of our
mobile and desktop devices. Even those among us who have resisted some
of the broad spectrum of electronic options (think Flickr, Facebook,
YouTube, thousands of television channels, digital games, and virtual
worlds) cannot escape this new world. Posters and window displays offer
smartcodes that invite us to connect with the Internet and learn more
about whatever the sign is promoting.  Always on, complete with sound,
are television screens in airports, restaurants and the array of imaging
devices that bring us news, sports, entertainment, whatever.  Given the
state of the “image” today, critical examination of channels of
media and communication are needed. Imagery in the 21st Century, edited
by Oliver Grau with Thomas Veigl, presents a number of perspectives on
this theme, highlighting the inroads of media into art and science.  It
is a valuable contribution to the topic.

Overall, the book offers systematic and interdisciplinary reflections
on expanding and novel forms of images and visualization.  Drawing on a
number of experts, the twenty chapters highlight new efforts to
visualize complex ideas, structures, and systems. In today’s
information explosion the question of where what digital images
represent and where they fit in the scheme of things becomes quite
prismatic.  As a whole, the chapters are quite strong; they do not
suffer from the unevenness so common in collections of conference
papers, which this book is.  Of particular value is the breadth of the
essays.  Researchers from the natural sciences and the humanities
explore the wealth of diverse functionality that images have evolved to
offer to our lives, that includes lab applications, social commentary,
humanistic questions, and experimental art projects.  The spectrum of
topics include: database economy (Sean Cubitt), telepresent images
(Martin Schulz), ethical boundaries (Eduardo Kac), the emergence of a
future web-based video aesthetic (Thomas Veigl), brain research (Olaf
Breidbach), medical illustration (Dolores and David Steinman),
interdisciplinary practices (James Elkins), the role of source code
(Wendy Hui Kyong Chun), the interface (Christa Sommerer and Laurent
Mignonneau), the museum (Peter Weibel), cellular automata (Tim Otto Roth
and Andreas Deutsch ), cultural analytics (Lev Manovich and Jeremy
Douglass) and a digital version of the Warburg Image Atlas (Martin
Warnke).  Even this abbreviated list offers a glimpse into the diversity
of efforts to expand visual competence through providing
cross-disciplinary exchanges among the arts, humanities, and natural
sciences. While this range makes the volume a valuable tool for
examining this subject across disciplines, the title, Imagery in the
21st Century, is likely to seem a rash overstatement in a few decades,
given that the century has hardly begun.

Chapters focusing on applications and innovations offer the most of
substantive value, in my view. “Toward New Conventions for Visualizing
blood Flow in the Era of Fascination with Visibility and Imagery” by
Dolores Steinman and David Steinman falls into this category. Well
written and comprehensive, these authors set the stage by pointing out
that medical images (drawings, woodcuts, engravings) have always played
a key role in educating practitioners and knowledge development. They
then follow with case studies that illustrate their efforts to represent
blood flow in the context of the living body and conclude with some
commentary on medical imagery as art and in popular culture.

James Elkins’ chapter, “Visual Practices across the University: A
Report,” also stood out. Elkins presents a brief summary of a book
called Visual Practices across the University that was published in
German in 2007 and is little known outside of the German-speaking world.
The essay summarizes an exhibition project that was initiated by sending
email to faculty in the sixty-odd departments at University College,
Cork asking for exhibition proposals from anyone who uses images in
their work.  What stood out in his commentary is how differently
scientists, humanists and artists think about images and imagery. In
this case, he found that while most visual work in the university is
done outside of the humanities, most of this work is invisible because
the routine image making and image interpretation is not considered as
important to the goals as what the images represent and the science that
they make possible.

Oliver Grau, the editor, is a Professor for Image Science and Dean of
the Department for Cultural Studies at Danube University, the author of
Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion (2003) [1] and the editor of
MediaArtHistories. His collaborator, Thomas Veigl, is on the scientific
staff of the Department for Image Science at the Danube--University
Krems.  Their opening chapter, Introduction: Imagery in the 21st
Century, sets the stage well and is available at
http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/0262015722chap1.pdf . Grau’s
concluding section on “Media Art’s Challenge in Our Societies”
offers an overview of image studies today.  Parts of the chapter are
useful but, because some sections in it are so focused on his
professional efforts to meet today’s challenges rather than the
challenges overall, the text read like an infomercial at times.

Throughout the book it is clear that there are the endless options for
image manipulation and that while new media presents us with both
interactive opportunities it also raises challenging questions (about
human autonomy, entertainment, interaction, etc.).  The editors note:

“Images increasingly define our world and our everyday life: in
advertising, entertainment, politics, and even in science, images are
pushing themselves in front of language. The mass media, in particular,
engulf our senses on a daily basis. It would appear that images have won
the contest with words: Will the image have the last word?” (p. 6)

Perhaps images will have the last word.  On March 12th of this year
(2012) the Encyclopaedia Britannica announced “it will cease
publication of the 32-volume printed edition of its flagship
encyclopedia, continuing with the digital versions that have become
popular with knowledge seekers in recent decades.”  The press release
also noted that “[The Encyclopedia Britannica] was originally
published in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1768 and has been in print
continuously ever since [2]. When I grew up, like many of my generation,
this book was like browsing the web.  I used to love to turn the pages,
looking at the images and reading the articles that related to images
that caught my fancy.

Of course, the Grau book itself raises another side of the question
about whether images will have the last word. At this point in time it
is not available electronically although sections of the text (without
the images!) are on Google Books; moreover Google Books does not offer
active links to all the many, many websites the Grau book references.
Amazon’s page for the book does not link to a Kindle version. 
Instead, Amazon has a link asking visitors to tell the publisher to
offer a Kindle version.

So, will images have the last word? Perhaps. Or perhaps we need to ask:
Is it a good thing for images to have the last word?  I did not think
that the depth of this kind of question was fully addressed in the book
since its focus was on the importance of understanding images as vital
and dynamic parts of our world today. Thus, my primary concern about
this volume, which I recommend overall, is that the reflections and
analytical approaches offered did not seem to balance the euphony and
cacophony of our experience today. While I’m not exactly sure how this
relates to whether images will have the last word, I do know that at
times all of the changing images surrounding me feel very cacophonic. 
As a participant in the movement is to reverse the dominance of textual
sources in our approaches to knowledge, as we celebrate our visual
abundance, visualization methods, the distribution of images, and how
imagery benefits our lives; it seems foreign to have evolved to the
point that I think so much about the visual noise.  Even in this book I
found that some of the projects seemed strikingly cacophonic, and
thought that the theoretical assumptions of the authors overall are more
biased toward euphonic reactions to our visual culture than the
harshness and discordant qualities that are congruent with our visual
culture?

Perhaps the next step is making sure we address that the cacophonic
side is actively included in our critical analyses or imagery.  Grau
does stress that using an historical lens is an aid in understanding our
imagery today. This perspective opens the door for a balanced analysis
of the visual and textual and I support him in this effort. Therefore,
while the book is only a slice of the imagery picture today, I think
readers will gain much from spending time with Imagery in the 21st
Century.

References:
[1] See my Leonardo Review at
http://leonardo.info/reviews/feb2003/GRAU_ione.html.
[2] “Encyclopaedia Britannica To End Print Edition, Go Completely
Digital,” http://www.corporate.eb.com/?p=508.
 

Further Information:: 
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12675 
http://www.mediaarthistory.org/pub/Imagery21Century.html 

#ECLAP12 International Conference on INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR PERFORMING ARTS, MEDIA ACCESS AND ENTERTAINMENT

07-09 May 2012, FLORENCE, ITALY
Convitto della Calza

See the programme here... 
http://www.eclap.eu/drupal/?q=en-US%2Fnode%2F82519 

... and register now!
http://www.eclap.eu/eclap2012registration

Plenty of opportunities to network, exchange best practices and knowledge and meet colleagues from main institutions across Europe! 

ECLAPNight 
Towards a performing arts digital library
May 7, 2012, 21:30-23:00 at Convitto della Calza, Firenze. 
A conversation with Sandro Lombardi interviewed of Ferruccio Marotti with the collaboration of Raffaella Santucci, University of Roma, CTA.
www.eclap.eu/drupal/?q=en-US/node/82654 (Italian)
http://www.eclap.eu/drupal/?q=en-US%2Fnode%2F89492%2F (English)

SOCIAL EVENT 
Event of FABBRICA EUROPA
May 8, 2012 - Florence, Stazione Leopolda, Viale Fratelli Rosselli - Porta al Prato
Please make a reservation: 
http://www.eclap.eu/drupal/?q=node%2F71625 

DATE & VENUE 
7 - 9 May 2012 
Convitto della Calza - Piazza Della Calza, 6, 50125, Firenze - Italy 
Tel. +39 055.222287 - Fax +39 055.223912 - calza@calza.it - http://www.calza.it/

We're looking forward to meeting you there!

Célyne van Corven & the conference organizers

Hi all,

Register for Screening the Future 2012 � last day is May 20th. Find the latest program, see the finalized list of speakers and learn more about our master classes at http://2012.screeningthefuture.com.

We also have something special in store for you�exclusively for conference attendees PrestoCentre will unveil a new initiative by and for the audiovisual community.

All the best,
Mirella Hoogeveen

PrestoCentre Foundation

Dear colleague,

ECLAP - the e-library for performing arts - is a social network and best practice platform for digitized performing arts heritage and it is part of the Europeana family (www.europeana.eu). ECLAP is bringing together performing arts collections (videos, photographs, texts, essays, etc.) cultural institutions across Europe. Many of these have never been made accessible online until now. On behalf of the community of archives, libraries and museums with performing arts collections, we ask that you help us by participating in our survey that we are holding in order to determine best practices in the digital performing arts field. In recent years there has been a growing demand for reliable data about digitisation, access to digital heritage collections, and the preservation of digital heritage materials in the memory institutions of Europe. The performing arts are new to this field and it is precisely for this reason that your support is imperative. 

Aim of the survey:
We are gathering both quantitative and qualitative data for a Best Practices report in organisations with performing arts collections about the topics of the three ECLAP Working Groups:
* A: Performing Arts Education and Training Tools (29 questions)
* B: IPR and Business Models for Performing Arts Content (27 questions)
* C: Tools for Performing Arts Digital Libraries (23 questions)
Furthermore, there are 27 general questions. The outcomes of this Best Practice report will be shared with the performing arts community, in order to further aid and stimulate the adoption of these Best Practices. The outcomes of this survey are designed to inform policy-making for institutions with performing arts collections on the individual, national, European and global level and is distributed among hundreds of organisations with performing arts collections.

Please take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ECLAPBP2012

Who the survey is aimed at:
People working in organisations that have performing arts collections, and who are knowledgeable in one of the three topics above. You do not have to answer questions about all three, you can pick which one you are most suited to fill out.

Lenght of the survey and how to fill it out:
The survey will take about 30-60 minutes to fill out. Please take the time to answer the questions as detailed as possible. The survey contains some general questions about your organisation's budget, number of staff and other question you might have to consult with other staff members about. To this end, you can view and download a PDF version (http://bit.ly/ECLAPBP2012) of the survey for reference, which we highly recommend you read before proceeding.

Confidentiality:
ECLAP ensures the privacy of your responses. We do kindly ask that you provide information that allows identification of your organisation’s name and country in the survey in order to assure the quality of our findings and to be able to compare results. However, we will NOT identify any of this information in the final Best Practices report. 

We will randomly give away three Amazon €50 gift vouchers to those that complete the survey. Please complete the survey before 10 June 2012. Please do not hesitate to contact us through eclap2012survey@gmail.com if you have any queries concerning the questions being asked or any other matter relating to this survey. In anticipation of your kind attention and support, we extend you our sincere thanks. 

Best Regards, the ECLAP Team. 
More on ECLAP: http://www.eclap.eu
More on the Working Groups: http://bpnet.eclap.eu/drupal/?q=en-US/node/3502

LEONARDO SCHOLARSHIP FOR MEDIA ART HISTORIES  => First International Master of MediaArtHistories  
(low-residency, English language, international faculty)


In affiliation with a driving force leading the field, LEONARDO/ISAST, The Center for Image Science is pleased to announce their continued cooperation with a half-tuition scholarship for the Master of Arts (MA) course in MediaArtHistories, for the start in November 2012.

=> LEONARDO SCHOLARSHIP FOR MEDIA ART HISTORIES
The scholarship is planned to answer the critical challenges of the 21st century, which require mobilization and cross-fertilization among the domains of art, science and technology by supporting the studies of a new researcher or artist.  www.donau-uni.ac.at/mah-scholar

The postgraduate program MediaArtHistories conveys the most important developments of contemporary art through a network of renowned international theorists, artists and curators like: Erkki HUHTAMO, Lev MANOVICH Christiane PAUL, Roger MALINA Jens HAUSER, Jeffrey SHAW, Jussi PARIKKA Gerfried STOCKER, Christa SOMMERER & Laurent MIGNONNEAU, Sean CUBITT, Paul SERMON, Oliver GRAU, Edward SHANKEN, KNOWBOTIC RESEARCH,  Frieder NAKE, Machiko KUSAHARA, Nat MULLER, Gunalan NADARAJAN, Monika FLEISCHMANN, Margit ROSEN, Andreas LANGE, Christopher SALTER, Darko FRITZ, Irina ARISTARKHOVA, and others.

Historical derivations that go far back into art and media history are tied in intriguing ways to digital art. Key approaches and methods from Image Science, Media Archaeology and the History of Science & Technology will be discussed. Media Art History offers a basis for understanding evolutionary history of audiovisual media, from the Laterna Magica to the Panorama, Phantasmagoria, Film, and the Virtual Art of recent decades. Using online databases and other modern aids, knowledge of computer animation, net art, interactive, telematic and genetic art as well as the most recent reflections on nano art, CAVE installations, augmented reality and wearables are introduced. Artists and programmers give new insights into the latest software and interface developments.

=> DANUBE UNIVERSITY KREMS - located in the UNESCO world heritage Wachau, 70km from Vienna, is the only public university in Europe specializing in advanced continuing education by offering low-residency degree programs for working professionals and life long learners. The Center in Monastery Goettweig, where most MediaArtHistories courses take place, is housed in a 14th century building, remodeled to fit the needs of modern research in singular surroundings. 

=> STUDENTS - The course is held in English and is low-residency with rolling admissions. Acceptance into the program requires a previous degree at or above the Bachelors level, or the equivalent through relevant work experience. International students come from countries like Canada, Hong Kong, Ukraine, USA, Japan, Brazil, Iceland, Russia, Egypt, Germany, Austria & Korea and Mexico.
Testimonials: http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/de/studium/medienkunstgeschichte/10365/index.php 


=> LEONARDO/ISAST - Leonardo creates opportunities for the powerful exchange of ideas between practitioners in art, science and technology. Through publications, initiatives and public forums, Leonardo/ISAST facilitates cross-disciplinary research in these fields, seeking to catalyze fruitful solutions for the challenges of the 21st century. 

Application documents (digital): application form, a letter of motivation, copies of your previous degree(s), copy of your passport and a Europass CV 

Application Deadline: July 31, 2012

Further Information:
www.donau-uni.ac.at/mah-scholar 
www.donau-uni.ac.at/mah 
www.leonardo.info 
www.virtualart.at 
www.mediaarthistories.org 


Contact:  
Wendy Coones
Center for Image Science
Danube University Krems
Dr.-Karl-Dorrek-Str. 30, A-3500 Krems
Tel: +43(0)2732 893-2543 
Wendy.coones@donau-uni.ac.at  
www.donau-uni.ac.at/cis 

Dear Colleague,

ECLAP - the e-library for performing arts - is a social network and best practice platform for digitized performing arts heritage and it is part of the Europeana family (www.europeana.eu).
The project  is bringing together performing arts collections (videos, photographs, texts, essays, etc.) cultural institutions across

On behalf of the community of archives, libraries and museums with performing arts collections, we ask that you help us by participating in our survey that we are holding in order to determine best practices in the digital performing arts field. In recent years there has been a growing demand for reliable data about digitisation, access to digital heritage collections, and the preservation of digital heritage materials in the memory institutions of Europe.

The performing arts are new to this field and it is precisely for this reason that your support is imperative. We would also be grateful if you could forward this survey to all the people who might be interested.

Please take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ECLAPBP2012

Attached to this email you will find a standard invitation letter  that we’d love for you to share with your network and community.

Aim of the survey:
We are gathering both quantitative and qualitative data for a Best Practices report in organisations with performing arts collections about the topics of the three ECLAP Working Groups:

* A: Performing Arts Education and Training Tools (29 questions)
* B: IPR and Business Models for Performing Arts Content (27 questions)
* C: Tools for Performing Arts Digital Libraries (23 questions)

Furthermore, there are 27 general questions.

The outcomes of this Best Practice report will be shared with the performing arts community, in order to further aid and stimulate the adoption of these Best Practices. The outcomes of this survey are designed to inform policy-making for institutions with performing arts collections on the individual, national, European and global level and is distributed among hundreds of organisations with performing arts collections.


Who the survey is aimed at:
People working in organisations that have performing arts collections, and who are knowledgable in one of the three topics above. You do not have to answer questions about all three, you can pick which one you are most suited to fill out.

Lenght of the survey and how to fill it out:
The survey will take about 30 minutes to fill out. Please take the time to answer the questions as detailed as possible. The survey contains some general questions about your organisation's budget, number of staff and other question you might have to consult with other staff members about. To this end, you can view and download a PDF version (http://bit.ly/ECLAPBP2012) of the survey for reference, which we highly recommend you read before proceeding.

Confidentiality:
ECLAP ensures the privacy of your responses. We do kindly ask that you provide information that allows identification of your organisation’s name and country in the survey in order to assure the quality of our findings and to be able to compare results. However, we will NOT identify any of this information in the final Best Practices report. 

We will randomly give away three Amazon €50 gift vouchers to those that complete the survey. Please complete the survey before 10 June 2012. Please do not hesitate to contact us through eclap2012survey@gmail.com if you have any queries concerning the questions being asked or any other matter relating to this survey.

In anticipation of your kind attention and support, we extend you our sincere thanks.

Best Regards,


Célyne
On behalf of the ECLAP Team
More on ECLAP: http://www.eclap.eu

V-MusT UK Summer School

VIRTUAL RESTORATION AND RECONSTRUCTION in a LONDON CHARTER FRAMEWORK 
http://www.v-must.net/schools/united-kingdom-virtual-heritage-school

Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London, 10-20 September 2012

The UK Virtual Heritage School explores the theory and best practice in heritage visualisation. The school is offered by the Department of Digital Humanities at King's College London, UK and is led by King's Visualisation Lab (KVL), which specialises in the creation of digital visualisations for historical research, archaeology and cultural heritage. KVL is well known for its leadership in establishing and promoting international standards for such work, most notably through the London Charter for the Computer-based Visualisation of Cultural Heritage. The School syllabus is guided by the principles of this charter.

The School programme reflects the tutors' expertise in 3D documentation and visual representation for archaeology, historic buildings, museums and historical research. Through a combination of demonstrations, workshops, lectures and field trips, the School provides a sound overview of the range of digital visualisation technologies and methods used in the area of cultural heritage and virtual museums. Postgraduate students, early-career researchers and cultural heritage professionals are particularly encouraged to attend. International participants are welcome if proficient in English.

The School runs for ten days and offers two paths: a theoretical strand, which can be taken alone (half-day), and a practical strand, which can be taken alongside the theoretical strand (full-day). The theoretical strand introduces participants to key topics in virtual cultural heritage and virtual museums, while the practical strand teaches participants how to use Open-Source digital image editing and 3D modelling software to virtually restore or reconstruct artefacts and monuments according to internationally-accepted principles of best practice. The School visualisation project will be concerned with the Roman(?) bath in Strand Lane, London. The School is run in co-operation with cultural institutions in central London and includes visits to the British Museum and University College London Museums and Collections. 

The fees for the entire school are �150 (theory) or �350 (theory & practice).
Application deadlines: 31 July 2012 and 31 August 2012

The School is an activity of the Virtual Museums Transnational Network of Excellence (www.v-must.net). The Network is supported by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 2007/2013) under the Grant Agreement 270404.

Please feel free to contact me for more information.

Anna Bentkowska-Kafel

Department of Digital Humanities
King's College London
26-29 Drury Lane
London WC2B 5RL

Tel: +44(0)20 7848 1421

anna.bentkowska@kcl.ac.uk
http://bentkowska.wordpress.com/