$$$: Free. Donations for artists accepted.

Time: 7-11PM, Sunday May 19th, 2013.

Location: The Lab, 16h and Capp, San Francisco, CA.

We’re very excited to announce Artup 2, our second in a series of monthly gatherings that foster an environment of sharing and debate in the Bay Area arts and technology communities.

This edition warrants your attention as it opens our dialog about the relationship between art and technology in the Bay Area with some insightful provocations. To kickstart the discussion we are delighted to welcome Ellen Cushing (East Bay Express) to present some thoughts on her powerful article The Bacon Wrapped Economy, which explores how tech and money has changed culture in the Bay area.

The Artup mission is focused on socially lubricating the culture and innovation sectors of our community, two groups which are massive stakeholders in every aspect of our lives here in San Francisco, but often don’t connect in real world situations. It turns out these groups have common needs that can be easily addressed through meeting and asking the right questions.

Bay Area artists are increasingly finding the economic climate difficult to survive in, forcing mass exodus to cities with either lower costs of living of more advanced art markets (NYC, LAX, MIA). This situation is perpetuated by at least two trends driven by the technology sector: a housing and studio rental market driven up by an influx of cash from silicon valley, and a tech sector apathy toward financing forward looking technology driven art by independent producers.

Tech workers are similarly (and perhaps unknowingly) wanting for outlets to participating as culture producers. Too many talents young creative people have found themselves in the cogs of mundane industry jobs without knowing how much the art community in the Bay needs their expertise to produce  relevant work.

Interface between these groups is vital in a city that should be the epicenter of advanced medium art works in the world.

Music for the evening will be provided by artist and academic Brian Rogers, who will be playing records from his bottomless collection throughout the evening.

Last, but certainly not least, we will be announcing the recipient of the first Artup Venture Fund grant, and inviting people to contribute new project ideas for the next.

I truly hope to see you there.

Holly Herndon: BARRY THREW is an artist, engineer, friend and collaborator who has done incredible things in the realm of instrument design and the development of immersive audio visual environments ( perhaps best characterized by his work as technical lead of RECOMBINANT MEDIA LABS ). This video is of a projection mapping project he developed with Obscura Digital to illuminate the entire Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in the UAE, which is an unbelievable technical and aesthetic achievement.

These projects are prime examples of the use of experiential technology for spatial cinema presentation. This kind of augmented and alternative reality will continue to make an appearance. It has a unique ability to deal with physical space and digital content in a way that is compelling in a culture where sense of place is increasingly ambiguous. The use of digital technologies to create new spaces for the body to experience work runs counter to its normal role of breaking down geographic barriers, and makes this kind of work relevant and timely.

Both of these projects were both massive collaborations with teams from around the world. Recombinant Media Labs would not be possible without a very large list of contributors over the years, but in its current incarnation Naut Humon and Vance Galloway keep the show alive. The Mosque was an even larger undertaking, with the entire Obscura team working non-stop to ensure its success, especially the unsinkable Mary Franck who lead show control and development on this installation.

When: Thursday, April 4, 2013 - 7:30pm - 10:00pm

$$$: Free and Open to the Public

Where: San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut Street, San Francisco, CA

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April 4th I will be moderating a panel for the SFAI 2013 Design and Technology Salon called Shared Feedback: Active/Passive Collaborative Installations and Performance. This evening includes new works and presentations by a number of outstanding Bay Area artists and SFAI students. The exhibition focuses on off-screen media engaging audience in social experiences outside of the cybersphere.

While screen-based social media is certainly the buzz of the moment, immersive media installations and performances challenge this idea of “social” by activating otherwise passive audiences and providing off-screen spaces that engage imaginative experiences among diverse participants. In exploring the collaborative possibilities that are framed by such spaces, the Spring 2013 Design and Technology Salon presents and contextualizes a series of projects at the intersection of performance, installation, and responsive systems. Unities within these systems are examined by the event audience together with the presenters in order to mark out strategies for influencing the creation of participatory media, and to explore the potential of these experiential systems for activating personal, social, and political change.

7:30–8:30: Presentation of project displays in café, adjacent McMillan conference room, and Zellerbach Quad
8:30–9:30: Panel Discussions with presenters, moderated by Barry Threw
9:30–10: Questions & Answers

Participating artists and projects:

•  Mary Franck: “Rouge: A Video Performance Platform”
•  JD Beltran and Nick Lally: “RGB Space”
•  The Big Conversation Space (Clémence de Montgolfier + Niki Korth) in collaboration with John Mowitt: “Live Readings from the Tarot of Technological Change (Conducted via Analog Skype)”
•  Spencer Holoway: “Disintegration, Time After Time”
•  James Howzell: “Go! Arthur Go!”
•  Christopher Palmer (CTP): “Mixmaster Motion Study 1″, 2012
•  Laetitia Sonami and Andrew Benson: “Magnetic Memories in the Age of the Oracle”
•  Ben Wood: “The Man who stopped Time, Eadweard Muybridge’s Magic Lantern Lecture at the San Francisco Art Association 1878″

Logistics

What: A kickoff event for a new Bay Area arts organization supporting nascent works and building community.

When: Tuesday, April 2nd, 7-11pm

Where: 522 Valencia, San Francisco, CA

$$$: Free

I am extremely pleased to announce a new arts incubation initiative I’m launching together with co-instigator Mat Dryhurst called Artup.

There has been a continual conversation among the artists living and working in San Francisco over the past five or so years. The general thread is a sense of frustration that a city ostensibly on the forefront of technology and culture offers little to no support for artists working at the intersection of technology and culture. At the end of this conversation is always despair, but it is clear that the immense artistic talent in the Bay Area can be highlighted in the international community. All that is needed is a framework.

Artup is a community-powered incubator for forward-looking work stationed at the intersection of contemporary art and digital technology. It is a platform to engage in venture culture, aiming to help create a vibrant ecosystem of artists, art appreciators, and benefactor organizations first in the Bay Area and then beyond.

Artup attempts to foster a vibrant arts community in the Bay beginning with three major programs.

1) First, the Artup Venture Fund bestows a monthly grant of $1,000 upon creative projects of exceptional promise. Projects are selected and awarded by the Artup Trustees – a group of community members each of whom contributes $100 dollars per month to support the grant. Projects eligible for the grant are proposals for works concentrating on art and technology. The grant comes with only two stipulations:

The creator presents the project idea (with preferably a demo or some sort of tangible work product) at an Artup.
The creator establishes a web presence with updates with progress reports for the work.

2) Secondly, the Artup is a monthly gathering that fosters an environment of sharing and debate in the Bay Area arts community. The Artup features presentations by grant recipients, as well as curated lectures, panels, performances and exhibitions by relevant players in the Bay Area and global arts and technology community.

3) And finally, the Artup Creative Pact is a voluntary commitment, open to anyone, requiring the production of one creative work a week to be shared on the Artup website. This pact is intended to encourage a culture of responsive and proactive commentary and creation, and a supportive platform for anyone to be able to participate in their media of choice.

It is our hope that these programs together, and more to come, will serve to begin elevating forward-looking and relevant art works to wider recognition and eventually provide a platform to support arts communities in San Franicsco and Beyond.