Codetalkers Recounting Signals-of-Survival
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Perspectives on Colonialism and Art
Presentation Title:
- Codetalkers Recounting Signals-of-Survival
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
In most of the world Indigenous people are thought to be behind in using new technologies and either on the other side of the digital divide or in the chasm of the unknown that separates haves from have-nots. Yet to the contrary, Aboriginal artists have been, since time immemorial, ‘making things our own’ and, certainly since the 1960s, finding our own indigenous aesthetic in digital storytelling and in the unique contributions and ingenuity we’ve contributed to computing and technology.
This presentation will be the first of sizeable future involvement featuring the landmark creations and innovations of several Indigenous artists from around the world. It will illustrate and critically analyse their contributions that need to be included in the field of electronic arts internationally so that a more truly global picture of aesthetic and technological advancements can be viewed. Works critically contextualised (and illustrated using powerpoint) will range from interactive and participatory websites/net.?art productions, performative MIDI and haptic objects/screens, locative and i-phone/android applications, kinetic art, computer generated and sound installations.
The artists’ projects discussed have all been included in three exhibitions (Codetalkers of the Digital Divide, RE:counting coup, S-O-S) curated by award winning media artist, musician and curator Cheryl L’Hirondelle for imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival as part of their commitment to focus on presenting cutting-edge, groundbreaking new media exhibitions from an Indigenous perspective. What L’Hirondelle envisioned for imagineNATIVE and will present for the ISEA assembly is the findings from a three-year “triangulation” of exhibitions that artistically, culturally, and critically examined and located the intersections between new media practice and that of Indigenous history, cosmology, and artistic expression.
