Eyebeam Announces 2018 Programming, Annual Open Call for Residents, and New Partnership with REFRESH
With new Bushwick space, and an extensive slate of public programming, Eyebeam kicks off its 20th year.
Brooklyn, NY – March 6, 2018 — Eyebeam today announced a robust year of programs that aim to foster the creation of more diverse work in the field of art, science, and technology: An open call for residents on the theme of Access, and a series of new initiatives in partnership with REFRESH, a collective platform invested in supporting the work of women and women-identified artists, especially women of color, LGBTQ artists, and disabled artists from around the globe.
REFRESH uses inclusion as a starting point. Politically engaged at its core, REFRESH aims to generate a community and critical discourse. REFRESH was founded in 2016 by artists and Eyebeam alums Heather Dewey-Hagborg and Addie Wagenknecht, and will also work with a network of curatorial advisors including Dorothy Santos, Salome Asega, Kathy High and Lynn Hershman Leeson.
Eyebeam’s partnership with REFRESH brings an exciting initiative titled Refiguring the Future. This collaboration will include three main pillars of engagement: a two-year curatorial and engagement fellowship, an exhibition, and a 3-day symposium featuring a constellation of performances, workshops, and public talks. Eyebeam and REFRESH will also be creating an online platform for newly commissioned texts and a community portal to invite online conversation, as well as a tool kit for other organizations who would like to adapt Refiguring the Future programs for their local communities.
“Across the worlds of art, science, and technology, innovation and inclusion have not always gone hand in hand. This partnership with REFRESH is a welcome and much-needed extension of our work to a broader audience,” says Eyebeam Director of Programs Sally Szwed. “It is yet another tool to bring to life our core values of openness, invention, and justice.”
This project heralds a renewal of Eyebeam’s programs in its new Bushwick space. Beginning in April, and ongoing throughout 2018, the organization will be hosting free weekly and monthly public programs as well as recurrent online conversations that respond to pressing social and political issues that can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection.
Every Wednesday, the Eyebeam space will be open for Welcome Wednesday. This is a flexible, social time and space for current and former Eyebeam artists to share new ideas, works in progress, host conversations, and experiment with different formats. April editions of Welcome Wednesday will include: Conjuring Alexa’s Ghosts, hosted by Ingrid Burrington and Surya Mattu with Wesley Goatley, and a special edition of Algorave NYC hosted by Ramsey Nasser and LiveCode.nyc.
The monthly Eyebeam Assembly is a major public program featuring invited speakers, performers and leading thinkers both within and outside the Eyebeam community. Our very first Eyebeam Assembly on Tuesday, April 24 will include a conversation with resident Stephanie Dinkins, Bina48, Bruce Duncan, and others to be confirmed on the topic: Representation in the Age of Digital Consciousness.
Eyebeam Exchange is full or half-day hands on skill development and creative workshops geared towards learners of all ages. The workshops on April 21 will compliment the month’s focus on AI and will ask participants to explore the question: what choices are made when creating robots? Teachers Hannah Davis, Cristóbal Valenzuela & Yining Shi w/ Special Guest: Dan Shiffman
The Forecast, from Eyebeam: Digital Conversations on our Shared Future is a series of moderated live ‘on air’ discussions on pressing current issues in arts and technology, with opportunities for short viewer Q&A. Discussants will be experts on the chosen topics, from within Eyebeam’s over 480 residents and alums, and other thought leaders on topics presented. Check out the first in the series held on March 5 right here.
Check out the full list of events coming at Eyebeam and RSVP right here.
Eyebeam has also announced its first Residency Open Call in Bushwick, starting in November 2018. The Eyebeam Residency is a prestigious award for artists engaged with technology and technologists working in the arts. With the goal of invention and social impact, residents research and develop innovative projects for one year. Following on the past two years of Eyebeam Open Calls, focused first on Power, then on Trust, this year’s theme is Access. Eyebeam seeks applications that consider how art and technology can challenge dominant notions of access and how together we can shape a more equitable future. Applicants are invited to learn more right here.
About Eyebeam
Eyebeam is a nonprofit studio for collaborative experiments with technology toward a more imaginative and just world. By providing generous support to artists for research, production and education, Eyebeam makes ideas real. For further information contact Joanna Gould, Outreach and Development Manager, [email protected]
