Test_Lab: What Crisis?!
In this edition of Test_Lab, V2_ will create its own special think tank for young artists to address issues of a world in crisis with artistic reflection and creative vision, laying out a young generation’s artistic view on our current conditions and ways of living.
Featuring: David Hahlbrock (DE) Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Cesar Harada (FR/JP), Dot Mancando (TH), Thomas Thwaites (UK) Royal College of Art, Sander Veenhof (NL) Gerrit Rietveld Academy.
Opening: Mieke Gerritzen
Respondent: Koert van Mensvoort
Performance: TokTek vs VJ MNK
Newspaper
headlines report that our world is in crisis, but while the front page
illustrates how bad the global situation is, a few pages down, positive
tongues claim that the current global crisis provides us with
unprecedented opportunities for creative technological innovation,
social transformation, revisions of financial systems, environmental
change, and entrepreneurship. But did we really need this crisis to
generate these opportunities?! We think not. Our world is continuously
in crisis, and therefore constantly requires critical reflection and
rethinking. However, as the world’s future is said to be in the hands
of the truly creative and critical thinkers, we are more than willing
to soothe away any worries about the crisis by revealing a whole new
generation of artists’ and designers’ views on the current state of
affairs.
While elsewhere the crisis is being tackled by young
scientists, policy makers, and entrepreneurs, through initiatives such
as think tanks and campaigns, in this edition of Test_Lab, V2_ will
create its own special think tank for young artists to address issues
of a world in crisis with artistic reflection and creative vision. In
order to do so, V2_ has made a selection of several outstanding
graduation projects from this past academic year, that were proposed
for the program by teachers and coordinators from various European art
and design academies. The demonstrated works will lay out a young
generation’s artistic view on our current conditions and ways of
living: Featuring a truly objective coin-flipper, a revolutionary
strategy for urban gardening, the first ever open source international
ocean station, toast from a toaster made from scratch, and an
interactively controlled greenhouse for growing graduation bouquets.
As
is custom to Test_Lab, the audience is invited to assess these young
artists’ reflections by testing the demonstrated artworks and designs
themselves. So prepare for an evening of trying thought provoking
electronic art and design that deals with urgent (and less urgent)
aspects of a world in crisis. If after this any worries about the
crises should remain, then TokTek vs. VJ MNK will soothe your cares away by performing live at Test_Lab: What Crisis?!
External Links:
Academies:
Academy of Media Arts, Cologne
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
Projects:
David Hahlbrock - TransitGarden2
Dot Mancando - Coinflipper/The Buttons
Sander Veenhof - Publicity Plant
Thomas Thwaites - The Toaster project
Event stream:
Also available at http://live.v2.nl/v2/2009/testlab/090709-what-crisis.mov
