Edward Shanken
“From the Space Race to the Telematic Embrace and Beyond: A Research Trajectory”
Tuesday, February 15 at 4 PM
Miller Learning Center Room 171
ICE is pleased to host Edward Shanken, a leading scholar of interdisciplinary new media art, for a public lecture supported by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts.
Shanken is the author of Art and Electronic Media, a groundbreaking and critically-praised survey published by Phaidon Press (2009). He is known as a dynamic speaker with the ability to weave together the histories of art, science, and technology, inspiring audiences to think beyond the traditional boundaries of the arts.
Shanken obtained an M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from Duke University after receiving an M.B.A. from Yale University. He is a researcher at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam and a member of the Media Art History faculty at the Donau University in Krems, Austria. He was formerly Executive Director of the Information Science + Information Studies program at Duke University, an interdisciplinary program that studies new information technologies and their impact on art, culture, science, commerce, society, and the environment.
In 2003 he edited a collection of writings by artist Roy Ascott entitled Telematic Embrace: Visionary Theories of Art, Technology and Consciousness, where his introductory essay, “Art in the Information Age: Technology and Conceptual Art,” received honorable mention in the Leonardo Award for Excellence. He created the indispensable online “Interdisciplinary Collaboration Bibliography”, a resource that documents writings relevant to the historical origins of interdisciplinary collaborations, and the “Art and Electronic Media Online Companion”, a repository of images, videos, texts, and links about work by individuals, groups, and institutions that have made valuable contributions to the discourses of electronic art. His work has been published extensively in book chapters, journals, and exhibition catalogs, and he presents lectures at conferences and institutions around the world.
In Dr. Shanken’s own words, “I’m especially interested in the way artists envision the future and create models of it in the present. Throughout the history of art, artists have often employed emerging technologies and scientific ideas in this pursuit. I believe that art, at its best, offers deep insight – a type of knowledge that Gregory Bateson likened to wisdom – that can help build a more compassionate and peaceful future.”
The lecture is free and open to the public. For additional information about Edward Shanken visit: http://artexetra.wordpress.com