Advancements in technology are often perceived as drivers for social progress. At the same time, technology frequently enables a minority to wield power over non-Western, non-white, and non-heteronormative masculine communities that have only limited access to advanced technologies. What Lyotard terms the phallocracy of high tech actually disenfranchises most of the world’s population while putting forth an ideology of superiority. Under the pretense of data neutrality, superior intelligence, and high-tech mastery, this ideology prevents ‘other’ voices from being heard.
The workshop suggests a user-centric approach towards prototyping as artistic practice. Without dismissing high-tech’s power, we will think about prototyping as a process towards final implementation. The narrative forms produced in a low-fi environment shall be perceived as temporal perfections. Low-fi is participatory, fast, and allows for unalienated creation. It is participatory by avoiding the intimidation of high tech and expert cultures, as well as the economic restriction of access to expensive technology. It is fast by allowing for rapid creative response to social contradictions of the moment. It is unalienated because it enables the creator(s) to understand and perform each step of the production process. Free from isolating divisions of labor and the fragmentation of the creative process in hierarchical production, low tech/low-fi cultures offer a practice of collaborative and participatory processes.
Sylke Rene Meyer is a writer, director, media artist, performer, educator, and co-founder of the interactive performance group Studio206, and The Family Room Collective in Los Angeles. Her practice is informed by and engages with film, media history, theory, and criticism, and encompasses feature and documentary filmmaking, as well as writing and collaborative experimentation across theater, new media, and digital platforms. Her work has garnered numerous awards such as an Emmy Award, and Best Film Awards at major festivals such as Seattle, Chicago, and Montreal. She is a professor of Creative Writing, and the director of the Institute for Interactive Arts, Research, and Technology at the California State University in Los Angeles.
Der Workshop ist Teil der Veranstaltungsreihe ›Studio, Art and Research‹ und findet via Zoom statt. Die Kurssprache ist Englisch und Deutsch.
Bitte melden Sie sich bei Interesse zur Teilnahme bei mareen.mueller@uni-koeln.de an. Die Teilnehmer*innenplätze sind begrenzt.
12.05.2021
18:00 – 19:30 Uhr
Studio Art and Research
