sticky cohesions, strange skins, intimate portals
Symposium
Friday 26 and Saturday 27 January, 2024
FJK3 - Contemporary Art Space
Franz-Josefs-Kai 3
1010 Vienna
The radical⇌matter symposium explores the frontiers of materiality in art, science, and philosophy. This two-day event assembles eminent artists and scholars to critically examine and redefine conventional understandings of matter. It aims to explore new perspectives and insights into the nature of matter, along with its philosophical, political, and scientific implications.
Selina de Beauclair. On the Couch, 2024
Friday, January 26th
09.00 - 10.00 Reception
Coffee, Tea and Biscuits
10.00 - 10.30 Ján Mančuška – Incomplete
Movement
Introduction to FJK3 and the
current exhibition by Fiona Liewehr
10.30 - 11.50 Welcome and Opening
Alexander Damianisch and
Martin Reinhart
Snakes and Ladders
(and a few octopuses,
crustaceans…)
Keynote by Johnny Golding
12.00- 12.45 Becoming Octopus
Meditation
Maggie Roberts
12.45 -13.45 Lunchbreak
13.45 -15.30 Intimate Portals
(Non)human
communication(s)
Afternoon Session
Planetary Skins. On the
sensual entanglements
between digital and corporeal
presences
Impulse Lecture by Gerald Nestler
A panel discussion with
Sylvia Eckermann, Noor Stenfert Kroese,
Gerald Nestler, Dunia Sahir,
Shira Wachsmann and John Wild
chaired by Julia Wolf
15.30 -15.45 Coffee break
15.45 - 16.30 The Lounging Symposium
Harold Offeh
A short performance lecture whilst
in reclining or lounging pose. The
lecture explores the history, cultural
context, power dynamics and
politics of this pose.
16.30 - 18.15 Latitude Longitude: The Sensuous
Beauty of Climate Care
Evening Session
Climate beauty: the art of
reimagining the future
Impulse Lecture by
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein
Orbital Bloom
Impulse Lecture by
Shira Wachsmann
Followed by a panel discussion with
Jonathan Boyd, Johnny Golding,
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein,
Naoki Matsuyama, Shira Wachsmann
and Marlies Wirth chaired by Eric Prem.
Saturday, January 27th
10.00 - 10.30 Reception
Coffee, Tea and Biscuits
10.30 - 12.00 Strange Skins: when materialism
is no longer enough
Morning Session with an
introduction by Tanja Traxler
The Matter of Matter – a physical
point of view
Impulse Lecture by
Philipp Haslinger
The Book of Clouds: notes on
weather, mood, vibe
Impulse Lecture by Sonia Bernac
12.00 -12.15 Coffee break
12.15 - 13.30 Strange Skins
Introduction and moderation
by Johnny Golding
The Gravity of Ghosts
Impulse Lecture by Tanja Traxler
An Algerian Technoritual
Impulse Lecture
by Yasmine Boudiaf
Residual Materialism: Mapping
Silicon Valley’s Toxic Legacy
Impulse Lecture by Manu Luksch
13.30 - 14.30 Lunchbreak
14.30 - 15.15 Grasping the Liquid
Performance by Jannis Neumann
Comparative examinations reveal
analogies between the gelation
process, the study of human
genetics, and the impact of
essentialist biases on scientific
research.
15.15 - 15.30 Coffee break
15.30 - 17.00 Sticky Cohesions
A little Afternoon Magic with all
Artists and Speakers
17.10 - 18.00 Breaking Babble
A Sonic Lecture by Tonica Hunter
a failing of consonance.
a quest for an unknown.
a nonsense as resistance.
after 18.00 Drink Dance Watch Play
And everything else that matters…
About the panellists and performing artists
Sonia Bernac
Artist-philosopher with a certain penchant for bestiaries, clouds, weathers, mood. Co-Founder of the Idle Institute (Royal College of Art, London).
Yasmine Boudiaf
Artist and consciousness vibrating towards the cosmic mind. Creative Technologist and Researcher at the Ada Lovelace Institute, London
Jonathan Boyd
Reader <> Artist <> Writer <> Jeweller and Head of Applied Art (Jewellery & Metal/Ceramics & Glass) Royal College of Art, London. Co-Lead Material Engagements Research Cluster (RCA).
Alexander Damianisch
Director of Zentrum Fokus Forschung and head of the department Support Art and Research at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Angewandte)
Sylvia Eckermann and Gerald Nestler
Independent Artists, Vienna. Gerald is an artist and researcher whose postdisciplinary practice combines theory and conversation with video, installation, graphics, performance, lyrics and speech. He is a member of the Technopolitics working group, Vienna, and holds a PhD from the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths, University of London. In Sylvia's work, a discursive engagement with form and media culminates in critical artistic reflections about our entanglement as individuals in current socio-economic situations. Sylvia and Gerald are members of the Technopolitics working group, Vienna and both are Artist Associates at radical⇌matter PEEK project.
Johnny Golding
Professor of Philosophy and Fine Art at the RCA and PI of the radical⇌matter PEEK project
Philipp Haslinger
Quantum physicist and Professor at the Technische Universität Wien (TU) and the Austrian Atom Institute, Vienna
Tonica Hunter
Artist, DJ, researcher, curator and cultural producer based in Vienna, Austria.
Fiona Liewehr
Art historian, curator, author and artistic director of FJK3 - Contemporary Art Space.
Manu Luksch
Artist and filmmaker. Senior Research Associate at AiDesign Lab, Real World Artificial Intelligence Narratives, RCA. Artist Associate at radical⇌matter PEEK project.
Naoki Matsuyama
Editor, translator, and writer focusing on art/design and contemporary theory. Currently he researches on the material and conceptual arrangements that enable large language models and machine learning systems.
Jannis Neumann
Independent Artist that holds degrees in visual art, biology, and education. In his art, he focuses on performance, objects and drawing.
Harold Offeh
London based artist working in a range of media including performance, video, photography, learning and social arts practice.
Erich Prem
Computer scientist, AI expert, author, lecturer and founding member of the Digital Humanism Initiative (DIGHUM), Vienna
Martin Reinhart
Artist, senior lecturer at Angewandte’s Art & Science department and PI of the radical⇌matter PEEK project
Maggie Roberts
Artist, co-founder of 0rphan Drift, exploring Ai in relation to octopus distributed intelligence. Lecturer at Central St Martins School of Art and Design and Senior Researcher with the RCA AiDesign Lab in Artificial and Distributed Intelligence.
Dunia Sahir
Biochemist specialised in structural biology, artist and researcher, MA student at Angewandte’s Art & Science Department.
Noor Stenfert Kroese
Artist with a focus on bio-art and robotics, tutor at Angewandte’s Art & Science Department
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein
Director General for International Cultural Relations, Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs
Tanja Traxler
Science journalist, author and lecturer at Angewandte’s Art & Science Department
Shira Wachsmann
Artist-philosopher working on circulations of war trauma, sensuous forms of time, and the wild intelligence of mycelium. Co-founder of Orbital Bloom with Ameera Kawah.
John Wild
Artist and Post Postdoctoral Researcher in Artificial intelligence and Real World Narratives at the Royal College of Art, London.
Marlies Wirth
Art historian and curator at the MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Arts . As Curator for Digital Culture, she is involved in the conception of the Vienna Biennale and heads the MAK Design Collection.
Julia Wolf
Artist-philosopher whose choreographic work involves the strange intimacies of human-machinic-interspecies encounters (RCA).
The radical⇌matter exhibition and symposium owe their realisation to the generous support of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Hosted by Angewandte’s Art & Science department, these events are a collaborative effort with the Royal College of Art, London, and the AiDesign Lab in Artificial and Distributed Intelligence, Hong Kong. We would like to thank the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), AIL - Angewandte Innovation Lab, Angewandte Collection & Archive, Ange- wandte University Gallery, Zentrum Fokus Forschung, FJK3 - Contemporary Art Space, Fiona Liewehr, Cosima Rainer, Robert Müller, all the participating artists and all the other wonderful people who made this project possible.
With thanks to our incredible artist-philosophers-scientists: Ivonne Gracia, Maximillian Gallo, Julia Wolf, Tanja Traxler.