| Do you know the way to San Jose? Well if you’re in the market for some art on the edge it may be in your best interest to get out a map. From the 7th to the 13th of August, San Jose will be jammed packed with avant-garde artists of every genre as the ZeroOne Festival and ISEA Symposium run side by side. The two events will explore the themes of transvergence, an interactive city, community domain, edgy products and the Pacific Rim. |  |
ZeroOne San Jose and the ISEA Syposium – Kate Hickey
Do you know the way to San Jose? Well if you’re in the market for some art on the edge it may be in your best interest to get out a map. From the 7th to the 13th of August, San Jose will be jammed packed with avant-garde artists of every genre as the ZeroOne Festival and ISEA Symposium run side by side. The two events will explore the themes of transvergence, an interactive city, community domain, edgy products and the Pacific Rim.
Inter-Society for Electronic Arts (ISEA) is an international non-profit organization that promotes “interdisciplinary academic discourse and exchange among culturally diverse organizations and individuals working with art, science and emerging technologies.” Its 12th symposium took place in 2004, in Stockholm, Tallinn and Helsinki. This was the first time the event was spread over three countries but it has also been hosted by Utrecht, Groningen, Sydney, Minneapolis, Paris and others. This year this renowned symposium will grace San Jose with its presence where in a critical, theoretical and pragmatic manor the five themes of the event will be explored.
To have the ISEA come to town means that you are rolling with the big dogs of culture and electronics, which San Jose openly boasts of. This festival will not only celebrate this prowess but also their communities diversity at large and with a population of over seven million, the 10th biggest city in the United States has much to celebrate.
This year marks the inauguration of the ZeroOne festival, “a global festival of art on the edge,” which will be held biennially. ZeroOne’s mission is to turn San Jose into an epicenter “for the intersection of art and digital culture.” Its directors are emphatic that this is not an exhibition of technology for technology’s sake but a grand display of the most innovative contemporary artists utilizing this technology, as a tool, to create their art.
The festival seems focused on interactivity. It invites its visitors to “look, feel and touch” as the they explore the exhibitions which they remind the voyeurs “are here for you.” Through the use of interactive technology, innovative design and creative use of space, it is promised that you will find yourself in another world.
San Jose will become these artists’ canvas as every facility will be turned into art. From interactive shop front installations to virtual sculptures to low-tech performances and digital spectaculars, the entire city will become alive with art. During the last two years artists have been commissioned to create interactive public pieces of work to tell their own personal stories. These will not only be temporary exhibitions of art but a celebration of San Jose’s community members.
One piece which sparks the imagination is 99 Red Balloons by Jenny Marketou and Katie Salen. This is a game that “uses collective surveillance to explore public anthropology and hidden geographies.” The players will be the public who will utilize these 99 red helium balloons containing wireless digital cameras to monitor their progress through the game.
Another piece catapulting the public from voyeur to participants is Call, by Germaine Koh. This work comprises of blank phones placed around the city. These phones, like those used for free customer-service centre calls, will randomly connect you with other participating members of the community. The phone calls will not be monitored and no instructions will be given. Germaine sees the project as “an open-ended experiment in human behavior.”
Under the theme of edgy products, Acclair: a Neurocapital Service, by Luther Thie, illustrates the invasive and authoritative way in which security clearance might develop. This installation acts as a futuristic look to a time when security clearance might be provided via brain-testing service where an individual’s bio-data declares whether they may be part of the all cleared elite.
The interaction at this event does not end with discussion and installations but also takes place through education. During the festival community media programs, internships, public programs and workshops will take place around the city. Also included in the festival will be music events and interactive theatre.
John Fischer of Mercury News recently pointed out that, this should be a good fit of art with Silicon Valley’s natural nerdy inclinations.” With grand schemes and the technology to carry them through ZeroOne should become a permanent feature in the art world’s calendar.
