L.A.S.E.R. Hexagram-Montréal

Depuis les années 1970, les premiers synthétiseurs massifs et onéreux de même que les systèmes hautement spécialisés ont connu diverses transformations. En quatre décennies, les méthodes et usages se sont progressivement démocratisés pour devenir plus hybrides, et en intégrant des processus tactiles et collaboratifs. Les développements sociaux et technologiques entre humains et machines génèrent un large éventail d'approches en création musicale. Les présentateurs discuteront de leurs motivations à travailler avec des synthétiseurs dans des situations socialement chargées.

From synthesizers' beginnings as massive, expensive and highly specialized systems in the 1970s, various transformations have occurred over four decades. Methods and access have gradually become democratic and hybrid, while integrating tactile and collaborative processes. Social and technological developments between humans and machines have contributed to a greater variety of approaches. The presenters will discuss their motivations to create with synthesizers in an array of socially charged situations.

Musical performance "Miyagi Haikus”, a composition by Sandeep Bhagwati, professor of both music

and theatre at Concordia University, performed by Felix del Tredici, Joseph A. Browne, Tamar Tabori,

Amber Downie-Back on bass trombone and electronics.

Participants in this afternoon-long program include Dr. Roger Malina, head of the University of Texas at Dallas’ ArtSciLab which supports collaborations between scientists and artists, and executive editor of Leonardo Publications at MIT Press; Dr. Louise Poissant, Scientific Director of the Fonds de recherche du Quebec Société et Culture and former professor of media arts at UQAM; Dr. Sofian Audry, a new media artist and assistant professor of new media at the University of Maine at Orono;

Artists and designers in the area of interactive art have been conducting research in human-machine

interaction for a number of years now. Interaction and interface design have not only had their roots in

human computer engineering but have also seen parallel developments in media art. With products of

interactive technologies increasingly spreading into our lives, it is interesting to see where early notions of

interactivity and user participation came from and how artists over the past 40 or more years have already

looked at the merits and problems of audience involvement. In this lecture artistic, social and political

notions of interactivity will be addressed and specific examples of the artistic works by Sommerer and

Mignonneau as well as the Interface Cultures Department at the University of Art in Linz will be presented.

L.A.S.E.R. 3 - MOVED BY TOUCH
Until recently, the senses were considered entirely autonomous ‘perceptual modules’. Now it is known that perceptual experiences are formed by complex interactions between sensory modalities. Humans perceive with all the senses; yet factual interpretations by cognitive scientists constitute only a partial explanation of human capacities as sensory beings.

La danse est un art du temps. La danse comporte ainsi des problématiques quant à sa conservation, transmission et recréation. Il est donc pertinent de s’intéresser à la notion de reconstitution en danse et ses modes d’effectuation. Il sera question d’élucider quelles sont les traces documentaires d’une performance pouvant être utiles à sa reconstitution, tout en interrogeant leur statut. La discussion prendra appui sur la performance phare Danse dans la neige de Françoise Sullivan filmée par Riopelle en 1948, dont il ne reste que les photographies de Maurice Perron, de même que Les Saisons Sullivan (2007), réalisée par Mario Côté et Françoise Sullivan cinquante-neuf années plus tard.

S’appuyant sur les méthodologies et processus spécifiques de l’artiste-chercheur et du chercheur scientifique travaillant avec de nouveaux matériaux, cette table-ronde rassemblera des experts en ingénierie, en sciences informatiques, en textiles interactifs et en art et technologie médiatique autour d’une discussion stimulante sur l’impact de la technologie sur les pratiques de recherche.