Amidst the global challenges of climate and ecological crises that threaten the very existence of humanity, the exhibition TransLife reflects on the whereabouts of humankind in relationship to nature through an unique perspective and philosophical speculation, calling for citizen participation in facing these imminent challenges with artistic imagination to advocate a new world view of nature and a retooled humanist proposition.

The exhibition is structured by three thematically related components that gradually progress from the discovery of new sensorial potentials that extend our cognitive capacities to the emergence of multiple life forms to biodiversity and an exploration of the symbiosis of cohabitation, revealing emerging concepts of life and provoking contemplation on the biosphere. In doing so, the exhibition also strives to reassess the historical roots and epistemological foundation of the current ecological and environmental predicament, interrogating the notion of subjectivity inherent in the project of modernity and the anthropocentrism derived from that tradition.

The 300 page plus exhibition catalogue consists of a collection of scholarly texts contributed by world-renowned authors (Bruno Latour, Arjen Mulder, Chris Salter, Peter Sloterdijk, Eugene Thacker, and a curatorial text by ZHANG Ga) to elaborate on the exhibition’s themes and their philosophical ramifications, along with color illustrations of works in the exhibition. The catalogue will be co-published by NAMOC, The Liverpool University Press and the Foundation for Art and Creative Technologies in UK and distributed globally.

A one night performance between a towering robot, 2 performance artists sited in the collection of Picasso & Francis Bacon.
Motive Colloquies: Ciriaco Castro, Miriam Dall’Igna, Ruairi Glynn, Jemima Yong, Enrique Ramos, Sigridur Reynisdottir & Nikki

23 juin 2011
19h30 – 21h00

Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou
Musée – Niveau 5

Emergence: Art and Artificial Life

January 8 – May 7, 2010
Opening Reception: January 7, 6:30 – 9:00 pm
Family Day: April 17, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Boxed: March 11, 6:30 – 9:00 pm

Website

The Exhibition features international artists exploring both the biological and computational manifestations of emergent behavior arising from dynamically changing, interactive sculptures. We as human beings are created and create through a process of emergence. Whether these emergent forms originate organically or are man-made, they can illustrate to us the rich variety of mutating systems with all their variety and ability to adapt to a changing world.

September 17 – November 7, 2009

Sentient City Hub Exhibition
The Urban Center
457 Madison Avenue
New York City

Website

Curatorial Statement by Curator Mark Shepard

“When it is raining in Oxford Street the architecture is no more important than the rain, in fact the weather has probably more to do with the pulsation of the Living City at that given moment.” – Peter Cook

One could argue that this provocation by Peter Cook, published in 1963 in the catalogue for the Living City exhibition at the Institute for Contemporary Art, London, remains remarkably relevant for anyone interested in the design and inhabitation of the contemporary city. In place of natural weather systems, however, today we find the dataclouds of 21st century urban space increasingly shaping our experience of this city and the choices we make there. To what degree are these informatic weather systems becoming as important, if not more so, than the formal organization of space and material?

Since the late 1980s, computer scientists and engineers have been researching ways of embedding computational ‘intelligence’ into the built environment. Looking beyond the paradigm of personal computing, which placed the computer in the foreground of our attention, research in ubiquitous computing projected a world where computers would disappear into the background, displaced to the periphery of our awareness. Enabled by tiny, inexpensive microprocessors and low-power wireless sensor networks, information processing was to become ambient. No longer solely “virtual,” human interaction with and through computers in this near-future world would be more socially integrated and spatially contingent as everyday objects and spaces became linked through networked computing… (more)

VIDA 11.0 Film

VIDA 11.0 Exhibition of Art and Artifical Life, Madrid from Ruairi Glynn on Vimeo.

With the kind help of my brother Ronan, we have made a small film of the exhibition which you can see above. Regine on wmmna has more detailed coverage of the exhibition.