As part of my research residency to conceive a “digital curatorial framework” for Next Wave, I brought together over 35 artists engaging with ‘digital’ to form intersecting working groups where we shared experiences, exchanged knowledge, mapped futures, and inspired each other.
My heartfelt thanks to the inspiring force that gathered for this effort. I was giddy with insight and humbled by the scope and rigour and generosity of the following;
My enduring council; Angela Goh, Ana Tiquia, Bong Ramilo and Paschal Berry.
Artists with experience; River Lin, Su YuHsin and Angela Goh. Natasha Tontey, Tiyan Baker and Serwah Attafuah. Rosealee Pearson, Emele Ugavule and Lauren Eiko. Nasim Patel, Sam McGilp and Harrison Hall. Michael Candy, Daito Manabe and Emma Fishwick. Kris Keogh, Gail Priest and Robin Fox. And Riana Head-Toussaint. (Interactively mapped below)
And further conversations; Megan Alice Clune, Jason Lam, Stuart Buchanan, Satu Herala, Wu Dar-Kuen, Wendy Yu, Seb Chan, Marco Cher-Gibard, Harriet Gillies, Adam Synnott, Matt Spitz, Antony Hamilton, Alice Weber, Nancy Mauro-Flude
Diverse in aesthetic, age, gender, geographic location, language, nationality, and form, these artists’ practices span robotics, choreography, expanded cinema, video, 3D modelling, biohacking, remote and community participation, archiving, sound, gaming, light sculpture and more. They are people who continue to brute-force digital to their artistic vision—working in this “space” long before the scrambled “pivot” to the online that we have witnessed. I’d like to thank these artists, for their time and wisdom, and for affirming that when we bring artists together, and listen to them, lightbulbs illuminate, pennies drop, jigsaws fall into place, and we make the future, collectively.
Originally I began thinking my role was as a provocateur, until it became clear that artists do not need provoking, they are already rigorously engaged in questioning and imagining the world. I realised it was my role to be an “evocateur”, to listen. To stimulate through imagination rather than agitation—to trust artists.
The sheer breadth and diversity of people, form, and practice across the digital makes it lively and dynamic. This is not a homogenous field. It is made up of many voices, concerns, perspectives that overlap with affinities and diverge into difference. There is critique of the digital just as there is wonder and embrace. If you were wandering through the exploding conversations (and the research I undertook as evocateur), these are some snapshots of wisdom that you would overhear:
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\/ the next page is a downloadable PDF and the anchor of questioning…