Thematic conversations to feature at: Cinnamon Colombo scope 2016
The fourth edition of Cinnamon Colomboscope, presented by EUNIC Sri
Lanka together with Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, will host a series of
thematic conversations between artists and experts in the art and
technology fields.
The festival this year is titled Testing Grounds: Art and Digital
Cultures in South Asia and Europe and will be held from 25 August to 1
September at the General Post Office (GPO) in Fort, Colombo.
Sub-themes
Cinnamon Colomboscope changes shape with a new curator each year, and
is a contemporary multidisciplinary arts festival that takes place in
Sri Lanka's capital Colombo.
Testing Grounds was conceived by German curator, Susanne Jaschko, an
expert in the field of media arts. This year, the festival will provide
'testing grounds' for a new liaison between contemporary arts and
digital technology in Sri Lanka. Testing Grounds has been curated under
three sub-themes that offer different perspectives of how society and
contemporary art is responding to the shift towards digital technology
in Sri Lanka and the region.
The sub-theme 'Kaleidoscopia', highlights how digital communication
technologies are shaping our identity and worldview by democratising the
public sphere through the bringing together of multiple voices making
knowledge on society and environment more accessible as well as the
global archive of the Internet;
'Under the Cloud' is the second sub-theme that will address the de-territorialisation
and re-territorialisation of communications technology and the resulting
emergence of new geographies while bringing to attention the current
debate over the control of our data - its ownership, manipulation and
surveillance; 'Deep Sensing', will explore how the developments in the
informational environment and new digital technologies offer new ways of
sensing, feeling and perceiving the world.
This sub-theme will discuss and produce new relationships between
material, information and our own physicality.
The festival will see the participation of over 50 Sri Lankan and
international artists, of whom several, in addition to presenting their
works at the exhibition, will engage in a series of thematic
conversations.
Urs?Stäheli, Professor of Sociology at the University of Hamburg,
Germany will present Disconnecting: New Forms of Privacy in the Network
Society and investigate how privacy can be rethought through the
experimentation of new techniques and practices of disconnecting, as
connectivity has become imperative through the digitalisation of all
areas of culture and society today.
This conversation takes place on Saturday, 27 August from 12 noon to
1.00 pm at the GPO.
Networked Life: Don't Worry, Everything Is Under Control will explore
our relationships with the Network, and how we can maintain a level of
privacy and protection over our lives and our information.
This conversation is curated and moderated by Sam de Silva, an expert
in culture, media and technology who will speak on this topic with Fieke
Jansen, Project Lead of Politics of Data at Tactical Technology
Collective (Germany); Bobby Soriano, Programme Advisor for Tactical
Technology Collective; and Sujit Christy, an information security
adoption evangelist and a security and compliance professional. It will
take place on Saturday, 27 August from 2.00 to 3.30 pm at the GPO.
Violence
Also curated and moderated by Sam de Silva is Fuzzy Power: Navigating
the Dark Side of Tech, which looks at how access to powerful
communications tools, mobile devices and software platforms has resulted
in new ways of harassment in amplifying hate and violence.
Hans Billimoria of the Grassrooted Trust and award-winning
journalists, Dilrukshi Handunetti and Nalaka Gunawardena will explore
how we can engage and negotiate with a new power that uses digital
technologies to target individuals and groups, and disrupt society.
This conversation will take place on Saturday, 27 August from 4.00 to
5.00 pm at the GPO.
The program also includes conversations by Jocelyn Robert, Josephine
Bosma, Subha Wijesiriwardena, Tobias Revell, Sanjana Hattotuwa, Munira
Mutaher, Yudhanjaya Wijeyaratne, Shihar Aneez and Dr. Susanne Jaschko.
In addition, the festival will feature an exhibition, a film program,
audio-visual performances, workshops and an online exhibition.
Visit the official festival website (www.cinnamoncolomboscope.com)
for the schedule and full list of artists and speakers. |
