POLYLOGUES 2006 - series of interdisciplinary sessions

• Museums of the Future - POLYLOGUES I.
• Game Engines/Social Engines - POLYLOGUES II. (Článek na Lupě)
• Visualizations in Art and Science - POLYLOGUES III.

Turn of the 21st century brought new attempts for unity of art, humanities, technology and science that we are still exploring. New disciplines and institutions emerge, artistic and scientific practices come together to redefine innovation, creativity and vision, and new models of cooperation and experimental societies appear in the form of utopian software. Does this affirm the artistic creation as the model of all creativity? Does it introduce a more radical notion of creativity involved in scientific discovery, technological invention and social utopia? What is the hidden quality that crosses the borders between disciplines and connects the organic and the inorganic world, humans and machines?

In Renaissance man lost his dignified place in the cosmic scheme as the image of God. He was freed from the universal hierarchy and became a creative creature capable of all things. This wonderful chameleon, to use the words of Pico dela Mirandola, is undergoing a new and more radical metamorphosis today. It redefines not only his position in relation to other species but also the whole opposition between the organic and the inorganic world opening up a possibility of a more complex unity and symbiosis. How to address the different aspect of this posthumanist renaissance that challenges our notion of what is human, society, evolution or even life?

By using advanced teleconferencing technologies we want to explore new models of cooperation and open a platform for polylogues involving humans and machines. This polylogues series will help experts from different disciplines to come up with a new, more complex language to describe our present situation and the posthumanist future. Essential part of the polylogues will be specially developed software that will visualize, analyze and get involved in the human interactions and exchange of concepts.

Project by CIANT – International Centre for Art and New Technologies, Prague (http://www.ciant.cz) New Media Studies, Charles University, Prague (http://uisk.ff.cuni.cz/)

In association with MARCEL (http://www.mmmarcel.org) School of Literature, Communication, and Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta (http://www.lcc.gatech.edu)

Supported by CESNET (http://www.cesnet.cz) City of Prague (http://www.praha-mesto.cz)

Concept and coordination Denisa Kera, Charles University, kera AT ff.cuni.cz, +420 777817774 / Pavel Sedlak, CIANT, sedlak AT ciant.cz, +420 737731347 / John Holder, University of East London, holder AT uel.ac.uk, +440 20 8223 3425

Technical support Viliam Simko, CIANT, vlx AT ciant.cz, +420 602693969 / Jan Sebek, CIANT, sebek AT ciant.cz, + 420 777827589

• CIANT AccessGrid node at Global Node Listing
• The global node listing is an aggregate view of the individual listings maintained by members of the AG community. To find Ciant, search for Czech Republic section.

The introductory article about project Polylogues 2006 (in Czech language) can be found here: Polylogy 2006