CAFKA.05
X INDUSTRIA
One hundred years ago, in October 1905, the first "Made in Berlin" trade fair was launched. The City of Kitchener, formerly Berlin, was known for its visionary entrepreneurs and its skilled labour, humming with activity in the trades and crafts and following the promise of industrial wealth. "Ex industria prosperitas" is the motto of the City of Kitchener: from industry comes prosperity. The region of Waterloo, designated by Statistics Canada as Kitchener and Area, is being promoted as Canada's Technology Triangle, and as a global player in many high-tech research and development sectors: communications, automation, semiconductors, nano-technology and quantum computing, to name a few.
For X industria, visual and media artists were invited to consider the industrial past, obsolete and new technologies and the relationship of labour to prosperity, or the lack thereof, in local and global contexts. International and national artists may wish to propose projects addressing economic issues, the shifting roles of governments and corporations; the increasing gap between the first and third world; moral issues of ownership of natural resources (in the traditional sense or the more modern sense, such as human DNA); bio-technology and commerce; cultural identity vs. mass production; and research areas such as nanotechnology or quantum computing.
Adonis Flores Betancourt - Machines
Machines is a performative intervention where the artist invites visitors to make sounds that mimic machines such as blenders, vacuum cleaners, drills etc. The nature of audience participation is a free structured competition for the best imitation of a machine. Competitions will be held daily, and may include prizes awarded to the public such as small toys or other mechanical objects that are loud and noisy in nature.
Adonis Flores Betancourt holds a degree of Architecture of the Universidad Central de Las Villas, Cuba. Public art projects include Spirit (at everyone's service), at the 8th Havana Biennial. Recent group exhibitions include CAFKA.04-peace of mind, Kitchener, Canada; New Routes of Cuban Arts at the National Gallery, Malaysia; Action experience: 30 days, with the Department of Public Interventions, and Closed Circuit at the 8th Havana Biennial; prize winner at several National Salons, Cuba; Exposicion útil, Havana City and Contemporary Art Fair, Hamburg, Germany.
http://www.galerihabana.com/artista.asp?artista=Adonis&apellido1=Flores&id=&art=
Anti-Cool - Allurements of Mass Media
Allurements of Mass Media is an installation/performance piece in which a TV set continuously plays a series of commercials for cosmetics, drinks, food, etc. The artist, wearing a business suit and high-heeled shoes balances on a balance beam installed in front of the TV. While walking from end to end, she consumes the products that are advertised in the commercials.
Performance artist anti-cool was born in Kanagawa, Japan and graduated in digital art at Eizo Techno Academy in Tokyo. Her performances include NIPAF 2000 performance art festival (Tokyo), Asiatopia at the International Performance Art Festival (Bangkok, Thailand), EXIT: International Festival for Unusual Live Performance (Helsinki, Finland), Echigostumari Art Triennial 2003 (Nigata, Japan), The 4th International Performance Festival Odense (Denmark), You Are Here Festival (Nottingham, UK), Exhibition Cultural Studies Wien at Museum Quarter21 and Platform Kunst for the program of EU-Japan Year (both in Vienna, Austria), and artist-in-residence programs at the Austrian Federal Chancellery and the Bolwick Arts Residency in Norfolk, UK.
Dane Watkins - Officious
Officious is a series of animations created and displayed on hand held computers, or Personal Digital Assistants (PDA). Watkins animations suggest a rather different relationship with technology, one that is altogether more confusing and alienating. Inspired by the iconographic imagery in personal organizers, the austere, pristine line drawings present analogies for the dumb repetitive activities of the office. In each animation machinery performs a different monotonous task. The elements are familiar and recognisable but we can't understand why these activities are happening.
The works of Dane Watkins are developed from a research-based studio practice that examines how conventional drawing and animation practices can be developed and shown in digital environments such as the web or a computer driven installation. He trained in animation at the Liverpool Polytechnic and has since garnered numerous awards including a European Media Artist Residency (EMARE) at Wekleitz Gesellschaft (Tornitz, Germany), and exStream Residency (Hull, UK), and being shortlisted in New York's Electronic Literature Awards. He has exhibited at LabCulture Symposium (Bridport, UK), The Watershed Media Centre (Bristol, UK), the Stills Gallery (Edinburgh), and Prater Theatre (Berlin).
