Day-long symposium explores the
merging of arts, science and technology
Does technology serve humanity, or
has it been co-opted to serve the ends of corporations and the governments of
the large industrialized nations? Come and listen as Natalie Jeremijenko, design
engineer and technoartist, tackles these questions and more as part of High
Voltage Fields on Saturday March 5 at College Park Hall, 450 Nott St., Schenectady, and the Schenectady Museum & Planetarium, 15 Nott Terrace Heights.
High Voltage Fields is a day-long symposium which will explore
the increasingly porous boundaries between the arts, science and technology,
while examining ways in which they inform each other, in turn enabling each to inform
the public. Participants will also address the creative quotient and the need
for interdisciplinary communication among an increasingly factious culture for
a healthy society.
Jeremijenko's keynote presentation is entitled,
“Who knows? How and Why to Get Public Involvement in Technological Futures?”
Jeremijenko is a 1999 Rockefeller Fellow. Her work includes digital,
electromechanical and interactive systems as well as biotechnology, and has been
exhibited throughout the world, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, Museum Moderne Kunst in Germany and LUX in London. She is known for her
creation of the “upside-down trees” sculpture at MASSMoCA.
Two panel discussions are also set. Panel I is
entitled, “Why & How? Artist, Scientists & Technologists Borrow From
Each Other to Carry Their Message?” It will be at College Park Hall at 11:15
a.m. Moderator is Natalie Jeremijenko. Participants will include Joel Chadabe of
the Electronic Music Foundation, Mike Fortun of the Department of Science
& Technological Studies at RPI, Kathy High of the Department of Interactive
Electronic Arts at RPI and Tad Hirsch of the MIT Media Lab.
Panel II will be at the Schenectady Museum &
Planetarium at 2 p.m. It is entitled, “What Does the Creative Class Mean to the
Capital Region?” Moderator is Stephanie Przybylek, director of exhibitions, Schenectady Museum. Panelists will include J. Douglass Klein, director of Converging Technologies
and professor of economics at Union College, and
Lyn Taylor, president, Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of
Commerce.
A reception at the Schenectady Museum & Planetarium
at 4 p.m. will include a performance by Bob Gluck, director of the Department of
Electronic Music at the University at Albany.
Walkup Registration begins at 9 a.m. at College
Park Hall. Admission is $30 for the full day, $20 for members, $15 for students,
$10 for half-day and $5 for the performance only. For more information,
contact: 518-382-7890 or visit www.schenectadymuseum.org