The emergence of a new medium always gives rise to new possibilities for art, and each epoch seems to have key artists whose works signal novel encounters between technology and artistic creativity. What are the philosophical implications of this turn towards the virtual? Join Acute Art's Daniel Birnbaum, Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen, as well as guest speaker Mi You in this panel discussion about the philosophical implications of the virtual turn.
Speakers:
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Ho Tzu Nyen is an acclaimed Singapore-based artist-curator-theatre director. Ho's practice spans films, installations and theatrical performances that often begin as engagements with historical and philosophical texts and artifacts. He represented Singapore at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011 with his video installation the cloud of unknowing. In recent years, Ho has embarked on moving image installations incorporating VR based on his research on Kyoto School philosophers—starting with Hotel Aporia (2019) for the Aichi Triennale and more recently, Voice of Void (2021) at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media (YCAM).
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Mi You is a professor of Art and Economies at the University of Kassel / documenta Institute. Prior to joining the University of Kassel, she was a research associate in the Art and Media Studies department at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (2014-2021). She has also held lecturer positions in the Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art program of the School of Art, Design and Architecture, Aalto University (2019-2020), in the Roaming Academy program of the Dutch Art Institute (2018-2019) and in the Media Art program of the University of the Arts Bremen (2016-2017). Dr. You is trained in media theory and science and technology studies. Her academic interests are in new and historical materialism, performance philosophy, as well as the history, political theory and philosophy of Eurasia. She completed her PhD studies with Prof. Dr. Pexte Bexte and Prof. Dr. Marie-Luise Angerer at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne in 2019.
Dr. You has worked internationally as a curator. She works with the Silk Road as a figuration for old and new networks and technologies. Under this rubric, she has curated shows and programs at Asian Culture Center in Gwangju, South Korea, Ulaanbaatar International Media Art Festival, Mongolia (2016), Zarya CCA, Vladivostok (2018) and with Binna Choi, she is co-steering a research/curatorial project “Unmapping Eurasia” (2018-). At the same time, her interests in politics around technology and futures led her to work on “actionable speculations”, articulated in the exhibition, workshops and sci-fi-a-thon “Sci-(no)-Fi” at the Academy of the Arts of the World, Cologne (2019), as well as in her function as chair of committee on Media Arts and Technology for the transnational NGO Common Action Forum. She is one of the curators of the 13thShanghai Biennale (2020-2021).
She co-initiated (in 2011) and is committee member of EU-funded project “Transnational Dialogues”, an exchange platform between China, Europe and Brazil. She is a fellow of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Bonn), Zentrum Paul Klee (Bern) and Independent Curators International (New York). She is a member of the Academy of Arts of the World, and serves as director of Arthub and advisor to Institute for Provocation.
Moderator:
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Daniel Birnbaum is a Swedish art critic, theoretician, curator, and the former Director of the Museum of Modern Art (Moderna Museet) in Stockholm. He is now the Artistic Director of Acute Art in London. He was a co-curator of the international section at the Venice Biennale (2003) and the artistic director of the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009). Birnbaum was also co-curator of the first and second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art (2005 and 2007) and a member of the jury for the Turner Prize (2008). He co-founded the Zero Foundation in Düsseldorf in 2008. In 2010, Daniel Birnbaum became the Director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, revitalising the experimental legacy of the museum. Birnbaum has established a reputation for showing key artists very early in their careers, including internationally recognised artists such as Olafur Eliasson.
This panel is co-presented by National Gallery Singapore.