Introduction of speakers and their topics.
Hege Charlotte Faber
Net art. Some perspectives
What sort of art do we meet on the Internet, and what sort of strategies can we use to cope with
them? Hege Charlotte Faber´s lecture is based on her thesis, in which she provides a frame to
think net art through. She argues that the development in art and technology changes both our
concepts of art, and the roles of artists and viewers, so it is not certain that existing theory is
useful for contemporary art such as net art. Faber discusses different concepts of net art
(invisible, interactive an so on) and different understandings of it. She claims that the concept
of dialogue (Bakhtin) is fruitful for understanding and discussing of contemporary art such as
net art. She uses a "botanical" strategy to discuss net art from different "families"
(Wittgenstein).
Dr. art. Hege Charlotte Faber is associate professor at Trondheim Academy of Fine art,
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Her doctoral thesis “Kunstverket i
dataalderen. Perspektiver på interaktivitet og nettkunst” was published in 2003.
Niina Simanainen
Changing Conceptions of the "Artist"?
What does it mean to be an artist? Has it changed along the digital media? Niina Simanainen is
discussing the forming and shaping of artisthood in the era of digital media. She focuses upon
conceptions of artist and dissects them through empirical data she has gathered during her
research.
Niina Simanainen (Master of Social Sciences) is a doctoral student at the University of
Jyväskylä. She is working on her doctoral dissertation on artists and new technologies.
Susanna Paasonen
Net.art and art on the net: a decade of debates
The presentation looks at the changing definitions of net.art since the mid-1990s and the ways
in which online art practices have been defined against web design and commercial content
production on the one hand, and traditional art institutions on the other. Using examples from
Finnish net.art projects from the 1990s, the talk also discusses ways in which the development
of the web (from browsers to design and dot.coms) have influenced arts online.
Susanna Paasonen, PhD, teaches digital culture at University of Jyväskylä and media culture at
University of Tampere. She has collaborated on various net art projects since 1997 and has
published widely on Internet research, popular culture and feminist theory.
Lars Midbøe:
Electronic art - from garage to gallery
Midbøe presents the current status of digital art in the Malmö area, and how Electrohype
operates in promoting computer based art in Sweden and the other Nordic countries. He
focuses upon the question how Internet is used in the exhibitions and projects organized by
Electrohype and discusses what is the relationship between net art and digital art. The special
attention is also paid on the financial aspects on on digital / net art productions.
Lars Gustav Midbøe has a MA degree (photography) and has also studied Film&TV and new
media art. He has a background in teaching new media, technician in digital imaging,
videoediting and webdesign. He is now currently a curator and exhibition organizer. Midbøe is
one of the cofounders of the organization Electrohype which promotes and advocates computer
based art in Sweden and the other Nordic countries.
Oona Tikkaoja
Web as my Artistic Platform
Tikkaoja presents her career as an artist, her relationship with net art, and the process of
making her works. Especially Tikkaoja discusses how her net art intertwines with her
sculptures, and the differences and similarities of these two forms of art.
Oona Tikkaoja (MA) is sculptress and media artist interested mainly in the relationships
between humans and technology. The past few years her textile-sculptors, inspired by sci-fi,
have also been seen in her net artworks. Technology interests her also as a subject of research,
and her doctor´s thesis will discuss the image that sci-fi movies recreate of artificial “livings”.
Tikkaoja works also as a lecturer in Humanities Polytechnic in Turku.
The workshop
During the workshop organised at the exhibition venue, the audience is welcome to build an
artwork together with the artist Oona Tikkaoja. The work ”Käsipäivää” (”Handshake”) will
construct of photographed hands and texts written by the owners of those hands. These photos
and digitized texts constitute the work of art, in which all participants handshake virtually each
others and the user of the work. Workshop is so called "walk-in-workshop", eg. you can go and
participate in it whenever you have time (during the exhibition opening hours).