Inspire your media art practice with non-Western history, art, science, and philosophy with Dr. Siying Duan.
Sign up: https://crosscultural-siying.eventbrite.ca
6 hours total, over 3 sessions, online // $66, or $39 for members
** Pay-what-you-can option available.
Session 1: Mon Aug 23, 7pm - 9pm
Session 2: Wed Aug 25, 7pm - 9pm
Session 3: Fri Aug 27, 7pm - 9pm
Listed times are Pacific Time
Prerequisites:
How do your questions, process, and aesthetics change if you re-imagine technology itself as having roots in, for example, Islamic culture? Chinese culture? Indigenous culture?
This discussion-based workshop is intended to enrich your creative process and approach to media art by drawing inspiration from the particular histories, arts, sciences, philosophies, and everyday practices of so-called non-western cultures, using a method Laura Marks of the Substantial Motion Network developed for identifying Islamic roots of media art.
Bring your project ideas to the group, and discuss ways to explore your work-in-progress through specific cultural lenses. You'll study examples, and revise your own project ideas based on the feedback you receive from the instructors and other participants. The instructor Siying Duan will present examples from Chinese cultures. Between each session, you'll continue researching, editing, and refining your project for further feedback with the group.
VIVO is located in the homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples in a warehouse space at 2625 Kaslo Street south of East Broadway at the end of E 10th. Transit line 9 stops at Kaslo Street on Broadway. From the bus stop, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight decline. The closest skytrain station is Renfrew Station, which is three blocks south-east of VIVO and has an elevator. From there, the path is paved, curbless, and on a slight incline. There is parking available at VIVO, including wheelchair access parking. There is a bike rack at the entrance. The front entrance leads indoors to a set of 7 stairs to the lobby.
A wheelchair ramp is located at the west side of the main entrance. The ramp has two runs: the first run is 20 feet long, and the second run is 26 feet. The ramp is 60 inches wide. The slope is 1:12. The ramp itself is concrete and has handrails on both sides. There is an outward swinging door (34 inch width) at the top of the ramp leading to a vestibule. A second outward swinging door (33 inch width) opens into the exhibition space. Buzzers and intercoms are located at both doors to notify staff during regular office hours or events to unlock the doors. Once unlocked, visitors can use automatic operators to open the doors.
There are two all-gender washrooms. One has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The other is a single room with a urinal and is wheelchair accessible: the door is 33 inches wide and inward swinging, without automation. The toilet has 11 inch clearance on the left side and a handrail.
To reach the bathrooms from the studio, exit through the double doors and proceed straight through the lobby and down the hall . Turn left, and the two bathrooms will be on your right side. The closest one has a stall and is not wheelchair accessible. The far bathroom is accessible.
Siying Duan teaches art and literature theory at the School for Liberal Arts, Shanghai University. Her research interest focuses mainly on the study of media arts from a perspective of Chinese Aesthetics. She has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University and earned her Ph.D. in Art Theory at Shanghai Film Academy, Shanghai University. She is also the producer of the podcast channel “Elephant says” at the platform Creative Disturbance and the editor of the bilingual journal Critical Theory. Her publications include several articles on Chinese Media Art research, comparative aesthetics, and art psychology.