Masters & Servers
The Link Art Center is part of Masters & Servers. Networked Culture in the Post-digital Age, a European adventure focused on a new generation of digital interventionism.
In the aftermath of the digital revolution, an uncertain condition has emerged. New means of communication, creation and dissemination are being created without any accompanying “how to”. As a result “instead of optimizing our machines for humanity, we are optimizing humans for machinery” (Douglas Rushkoff). Can art be a key force in reversing this process? Masters & Servers is a 24-month project investigating networked culture in the post-digital age, both its current effect on society and possibilities for the future, by exploring these 3 strands:
1. Imagination: Technologies are shaping new forms of representation, storytelling and social dialogue. How do we make sense of our connectedness, both public and anonymous, individual and collective, political and personal?
2. Reproduction: New forms of creation and distribution are shifting lines between amateur and professional. How do they affect cultural (re)production?
3. Action: Activist artists and businesses are both creating viral and collaborative distribution tools, resulting in the disruption of the known and expected. What forms of engagement and adventure do they reveal?
Five key organisations in the European contemporary and media arts – Aksioma (SI), Drugo more (HR), Abandon Normal Devices (UK), Link Art Center (IT) and d-i-n-a / The Influencers (ES) – will join forces in an exploration of a multifaceted scene where media-savvy artists, hacktivists and creators traverse the frontiers of contemporary art, social intervention and amateur invention.
Together they will co-produce exhibitions and new artworks, launch open calls and online platforms, and send artists and artworks on the road. Discourses arising as a result will be documented in publications and shared in seminars and public events. As a whole, the project aims to strengthen the partners’ operational know-how and engage new and existing audiences in a dynamic conversation that paves the way for unexpected connections on the entire spectrum of contemporary creativity.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
