IDMAA Media Art Exhibition 2022: WEIRD Media

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Call to Artists for Entry

What is Weird Media, and in which ways can media be “weirded”? When looking at the definition of the word, one source is that of the Old German wyrd, which translates to “fate” and referred to the three mythological sisters of Fate. However, the Fates were considered eerie, uncanny, or unearthly, and this meaning is embedded in today’s definition.  Furthermore, when one “weirds” art, the participant may experience an odd, unusual, and sometimes uneasy sensation. How can art “weird” the digital?

For this year’s iDMAa exhibition, the theme is that of “weird” media – does your work possess a strange, uncanny, or unearthly quality? Does your art “weird” people out? Does your work go so far that you feel it challenges the fates themselves, or to the point of the sublime?

If so, we want you to be part of this year’s exhibition.

We welcome proposals for artwork that use digital processes to experiment in hybrid forms of intermedia art including but not limited to digital visual art, digital photography, digital video, digital design, digital sound, Internet (net) art, 3-D printing and/or fabrication, electronic literature, transmedia narrative, interactive / multimedia installation, mobile computing, VR/AR, and works influenced by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The Weird Media exhibition coincides with the annual International Digital Media and Arts Association (iDMAa) conference, to be held on the campus of Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota, from June 24-26, 2022.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED: .

Entry Fee: None

All Participants in the Weird Media Exhibition will receive:

  • Work featured in the exhibition catalog, which will be available for purchase online
  • Consideration for participation in artist talks and artist roundtables at the conference
  • Inclusion in the online gallery on the iDMAa website (uploaded after conference)

The exhibit opening will take place on and will be open to all conference attendees and contributors. The exhibition will be on display for the duration of the conference and featured in the online gallery after the conference.

EXHIBITION TEAM:

Curator: Patrick Lichty

Patrick Lichty is a media artist/designer/animator, theorist, and curator of thirty years who works in areas of mediation, virtuality, experimental media, media archaeology, and activism. He has an MFA in Computer Art from Bowling Green State University, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Mass Communication at Winona State University. He is known for his work solo and with collectives such as RTMark, The Yes Men, Pocha Nostra, Second Front, Manifest.AR, Shared Universe, NPTeam, and editor of the journal, Intelligent Agent, produced by Christiane Paul. He is an Alpert/Calarts Fellow, Honorable Mention for Ars Electronica’s Golden Nica, and has had work included in bienniales including the Whitney and Venice.

JURY:

Roger Boulay:

Roger Boulay is an artist, curator, and educator based in Winona, Minnesota. He has exhibited his work nationally, including solo exhibitions at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN, the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY and at Gallery 19 in Chicago, IL. He is the recipient of a 2018 Southeastern Minnesota Artist Council grant and the 2018-19 recipient of the Professional Excellence award at Winona State University.

Negin Ehtesabian:

Negin Ehtesabian (Neginete) is an Interdisciplinary artist, illustrator, and designer. Born and raised in Tehran, Neginhas lived in Iran, Great Britain, and the United Arab Emirates. She studied at University of Tehran and at the Animation program at the University of the West of England (UWE). She has been a member of the Techspressionism community (US) since 2020 and a member of the Iranian Illustrators society since 2005.

She has been a member of AOI (UK Association of illustrators) and IGDS (Iranian Graphic Designers Society). Her art practice involves collaborative new media, illustration, design, and intercultural art and research projects. Recently, she is more focused on interdisciplinary and collaborative art projects and book art.

She is also a widely published writer, having her short stories and poems online, in print, and in a book collection of emerging Iranian writers in 2009, along with several articles about illustration and culture published in Iranian art magazines. She has Illustrated more than 35 picture books for children and adults, published in Iran, Italy, Germany, India, China, Taiwan, Canada, and Turkey; and has been an independent sticker‐based street artist since 2015, and also several of her mural and urban designs still can be found in Tehran.

Brandon S. Gellis:

Brandon S. Gellis is Associate Professor, Visual Communication Design and Co-Director: Center for Design Thinking at the University of Wyoming. Originally from Los Angeles, Brandon S. Gellis earned his BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and MFA from the University of Denver and has been active with IDMAA since early in his career. He is a New Media (Digital) Artist, Educator, and Maker. Since he joined the faculty in 2015, he has had solo and group exhibitions and presented written and creative research internationally. He has won multiple Juror’s Choice Awards for his inventive, multi-modal artwork. His work explores identity, community, and complex systems. He is concerned with how people construct individual and community identities, develop networks rich with cultural memory, and exploit biological networks and communities.

Machiko Kusahara:

Machiko Kusahara (JP) is a scholar specializing in media art and media archaeology. She began curating in the fields of computer graphics and media art in early 1980s. Kusahara has participated in launching venues like the Metropolitan Museum of Photography (now TOP Museum, Tokyo) and NTT/ICC (Tokyo). She has worked in juries for many international competitions including Ars Electronica, ISEA, Hiroshima International Animation Festival and Japan Media Arts Festival. Kusahara’s research focuses on the interrelations between media technology, art, culture and society, both in contemporary and in early visual media. She lectures worldwide, and has published widely on media art, Device Art, magic lantern history, panoramas, etc. Kusahara is professor emerita of Waseda University, Tokyo. She holds a Ph.D in engineering from the University of Tokyo, and is based in Tokyo.

Cynthia Beth Rubin:

Cynthia Beth Rubin is a new media artist whose works frequently evoke cultural memories and the imagined past by intertwining photographic elements in complex layers of representation and abstraction. Recently, Rubin’s work has shifted from explorations of the vestiges human history into conversation with Nature. She is interested in how Nature affects our built environment, and how both the microscopic plankton and the macroscopic landscape are part of our world. Rubin began experimenting with digital media in the early 1980’s. The transition from painting to the electronic arts prompted new experimentation in both subject and formats of presentation of her imagery. Working in still images, moving images, and with inter-activity, Rubin now works independently and in collaboration.

Rubin’s work has been exhibited and screened in such diverse venues as the Jewish Museum in Prague, and opening night of the both the San Francisco and the Boston Jewish Film Festivals, the Pandemonium Festival at the ICA in London, the Lavall Gallery in Novosibirsk, the DeLeon White Gallery in Toronto, and numerous editions of ISEA, ArCade and SIGGRAPH. Winner of the first award in New Media from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, she has been awarded this grant three times. Other awards and residencies include the New England Foundation for the Arts, Videochroniques in Marseilles, CYPRES in Aix-en-Provence, and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. As believer in artist-organized-art, Rubin also organized the Cultural Heritage Artists Project for the Orchard Street Shul in New Haven, Connecticut. Rubin is a native of Rochester, NY and holds degrees from Antioch College and the Maryland Institute, College of Art (BA and MFA). She has been on the faculty of Frostburg State College, Connecticut College, and the University of Vermont, and currently is affiliated with the Rhode Island School of Design.

Wade Wallerstein:

Wade Wallerstein is a digital anthropologist, strategist and curator from the San Francisco Bay Area. Wade is the founder of Silicon Valet, co-director of TRANSFER Gallery, and Technology & Events Curator at the Consulate of Canada in San Francisco. Wade is an expert in digital/internet art, virtual phenomenology, online environments, tech policy, human-centered tech, & digital ethnographic methods. Wade specializes in digital content curation and strategy, analyzing ways in which the internet can be used as an exhibition platform — for both creative and marketing purposes. Wade is also a member of both UCL MAL and Clusterduck research networks.

SUBMISSION OF WORK:

Please note: submitted work must have been created within the past three years and utilize digital media in some stage of the creation process.

SUGGESTED MEDIA (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO):

  • Print & Painting
  • Augmented Reality
  • Virtual RealityDevice Art
  • Interactive / Digital Installation
  • 3D Printing & Fabrication
  • Sculpture, Assemblages & Kinetics works
  • Internet Art & Rich User Experiences
  • Generative Art & Data Visualizations (including artificial intelligence and machine learning based works)
  • Digital Photography
  • Short time-based: films, videos, and animations (under 5 minutes)
  • Electronic Literature, Netprov, & Twine
  • Media Archaeology
  • Projection Mapping
  • Sound Art & Sonification
  • Video Games & Transmedia
  • Mobile Computing (art applications, augmented / mixed reality)
  • Performance (under 15 minutes)

EXHIBITION FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT PROVIDED BY THE CONFERENCE:

  • Walls/Structures for hanging work
  • Pedestals for 3D and computer/tablet-based work
  • Screening area that will project a compilation of time-based work
  • Dedicated space for installation

Winona State University has a selection of the following:

  • Digital Projectors
  • DVD/Blu-Ray Players
  • Flat panel Monitors
  • Speakers and/or Headphones
  • Electricity
  • Wi-Fi
  • Macs/PCs

Please do plan to provide your own if possible.

SHIPPING, EQUIPMENT & INSTALLATION:

While complex projects are encouraged, participants are responsible for:

  • all packaging/shipping and pre-paid return-shipping label
  • any equipment not listed above
  • any installation labor if work is not hang/pedestal/display ready

iDMAa is not responsible for any damage to work during shipping or installation. Accepted work must be ready for installation in a gallery setting.

SUBMISSION PROCESS:

Artists may submit up to five images and URLs for time-based/interactive work. Time-based work should not exceed ten minutes.

The images/URLs can represent up to two works. The submission should also include a description of the artwork and technical specifications. This description should be under 500 words.

If submitting time-based/interactive work, please send both up to five screenshots/stills images of your work as well as the URL to view the video.

Send any questions to: ideas@idmaa.org

For a prospectus and details about the conference and organization can be found on the iDMAa website.

Please submit proposals using this form: https://forms.gle/1ZEUF7LwNd4dmpT66