A list of recommendations, reflecting the dynamic culture we are part of, straddling the fields of art, technology and social change.

Events, Exhibitions, Festivals and Conferences

Through Other Eyes | Events hosted at NeMe Gallery (Cyprus) | Curated by James Bridle | 6 Sep – 2 Oct | Throughout the Twentieth Century, the ability to see the world became ever more separate from human vision; in the Twenty-First, the ability to think and understand the world will follow. While they began by seeing the world, cameras are now starting to process and analyse what they see; to make decisions about the world they share with us – http://www.neme.org/blog/through-other-eyes-press

The Most Powerful Woman in the Universe | At Gallery 46 | 6 to 28 September 2019, Tuesday to Saturday, 1-6pm | British artist, painter and feminist Kelly-Anne Davitt has teamed up with Whitechapel’s Gallery 46 to curate an empowering, punk, pop show to celebrate contemporary female artists. The exhibition will feature work from the likes of Nina Mae Fowler, Sara Pope, Salena Godden, Bex Massey, Clancy Gebler Davies, Hanne J Kemfor, Kelly-Anne Davitt and Nancy Fouts, who sadly passed away before the exhibition came together | Whitechapel, London – http://tiny.cc/4c1ybz

Garden of Earthly Delights | On until 1 Dec 2019 | In this large-scale group exhibition, the artists interpret the motif of the garden as a metaphor for the state of the world and as a poetic expression to explore the complexities of our increasingly precarious world. Their artworks open up a wider discourse on social, political and ecological phenomena, such as migration, gentrification and gender politics. In addition to common understanding of the garden as a place of yearning full of meditative, spiritual and philosophical possibilities, the exhibition will tread the line between reality and fantasy, harmony and chaos, beauty and exile. At Gropius Bau, Berlin – http://tiny.cc/og1ybz

D’EST | A Multi-Curatorial Online Platform for Video Art from the Former ‘East’ and ‘West’ – Berlin | Until 31 Dec 2020 | Initiated by cultural studies scholar Ulrike Gerhardt, the curatorial research summit will kicked off in April (2018) through an open-access framework. Between June and November 2018, the online platform will publish a total of six screening chapters reflecting post-socialist transformation. Their thematic focal points delineate post-socialism along post-geographic, horizontal, and gender-critical perspectives. In collaboration with fifteen curators, fifty artists, and other cultural experts, D’EST maps out artistic forms of historiography, especially from the perspective of female and collective production. www.district-berlin.com

Being Human exhibition, Wellcome Collection | Opens 5 September 2019, London | The gallery aims to explore four areas of, what it means to be alive in these uncertain times. The new space will be divided into themes examining genetics, minds and bodies, infection and climate breakdown with around 50 artworks from a diverse selection of artists. The section on genetics will include a project by artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg in which she extracted DNA from cigarette butts, hair and chewing gum found on the streets of New York. The genetic information was then analysed and used to build speculative, but extremely convincing, portraits with a 3D printer – http://tiny.cc/2j1ybz

Currents New Media Festival 2020 – Open Call For Artists | With 10 years of new media production, display, and support in its wheelhouse, CURRENTS New Media has become known as one of the leading emerging media arts festival in the States. Bringing together the work of established and emerging new media artists from the USA and around the world, the CURRENTS team is excited to announce that we are now accepting submissions for our next festival: #CURRENTS2020. We invite artists across all mediums of electronic art and new media to apply | Submission Deadline: November 5, 2019 – https://currentsnewmedia.org/

Books, Call for Papers & Publications

Marx at the Arcade: Consoles, Controllers, and Class Struggle | By Jamie Woodcock | In Marx at the Arcade, acclaimed researcher Jamie Woodcock delves into the hidden abode of the gaming industry. In an account that will appeal to hardcore gamers, digital skeptics, and the joystick-curious, Woodcock unravels the vast networks of artists, software developers, and factory and logistics workers whose seen and unseen labor flows into the products we consume on a gargantuan scale. Along the way, he analyzes the increasingly important role the gaming industry plays in contemporary capitalism and the broader transformations of work and the economy that it embodies | Haymarket Books – http://tiny.cc/8n1ybz

Entangle: Physics and the Artistic Imagination | Black holes, dark matter, gravity, time, motion—these phenomena fascinate physicists and artists alike. Both strive to discover how they shape our world. The connection between art and science is gaining increasing significance in contemporary art. This ground-breaking publication also contains interviews with the artists and physicists who share their different ways of seeing. Featuring interviews with and works of art by Julius von Bismarck, Julian Charrière, Sou Fujumoto, Iris van Herpen, Ryoji Ikeda, William Kentridge, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Goshka Macuga, Davide Quayola, Solveig Settemsdal, Sarah Sze, Keith Tyson, Jorinde Voigt, and Carey Young | Published by Hatje Cantz – http://tiny.cc/wq1ybz

Making and Being: Embodiment, Collaboration, & Circulation in the Visual Arts | Making and Being draws upon the lived experience of Susan Jahoda and Caroline Woolard, visual arts educators who have developed a framework for teaching art with the collective BFAMFAPhD that emphasizes contemplation, collaboration, and political economy. The authors share ideas and pedagogical strategies that they have adapted to spaces of learning which range widely, from self-organized workshops for professional artists to Foundations BFA and MFA thesis classes. This hands-on guide includes activities, worksheets, and assignments and is a critical resource for artists and art educators today. Making and Being is a book, a series of videos, a deck of cards, and an interactive website with freely downloadable content | PIONEER WORKS PRESS – http://tiny.cc/2s1ybz

Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialisation | By Grace Blakeley | A must-read polemic about why the ‘recovery’ from the 2007-08 crash mostly benefited the 1%, and how democratic socialism can save us from a new crash and climate catastrophe. For decades, it has been easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. Stolen is a history of finance-led growth and a guide as to how we might escape it. We’ve sat back as financial capitalism has stolen our economies, our environment and even the future itself. Now, we have an opportunity to change course. What happens next is up to us | Publisher: Repeater books – http://tiny.cc/lv1ybz

Articles, Interviews & Presentations

Notting Hill 2019: ‘Carnival should be taken as seriously as Glastonbury’ | By Aamna Mohdin | Guardian | London’s first carnival was held in 1959 in response to a series of racist attacks and rioting that spread from Nottingham to west London, where white youths went out targeting black people. The carnival was put together to celebrate the culture of the local community because, according to a brochure handed out during the time: “A people’s art is the genesis of their freedom.” – http://tiny.cc/z01ybz

Deal or no deal: Scottish arts survey looks at impact of Brexit | By Chris Sharratt | The Scottish Contemporary Art Network and Federation of Scottish Theatre is asking those working in the arts in Scotland to share their views on impact in a newly issued survey. More than half (57%) said that Brexit has already had a negative impact on their work. Nine out of 10 said they expected Brexit to have a negative impact on the arts sector in Scotland in the future. It also found that 26% of the respondents were considering or planning to leave Scotland and the UK after Brexit | AN Newsletter – http://tiny.cc/b41ybz

Tackling Gentrification and Other Injustices Through Landscape Painting | By  Julia Friedman | Eddie Arroyo decidedly updates the genre of American landscape painting, recording real-estate developments and gentrification and capturing the flux of contemporary urban landscapes. Picturesque charm and political energy characterize Eddie Arroyo’s paintings. Arroyo often portrays political action, including protests at the Whitney Museum and The New Museum, and in Miami’s Little Haiti, as well as activist ephemera, including posters and buttons. One of the eight artists to request (on July 20) their work be withdrawn from the Whitney Biennial in protest of Warren B. Kanders’s seat on the museum’s Board of Trustees, he thoughtfully intertwines his activism with his art | Hypperallergic – http://tiny.cc/061ybz

The Power of Face Filters as Augmented Reality Art for the Masses | By Jessica Herrington | Augmented reality (AR) is here. Rapid developments in smartphone technology mean AR is now available to many. AR ‘face filters’ — a mask-like augmented reality that adds virtual objects to an individual’s face, are becoming hugely popular. However, little attention has been given to face filters as AR art. Often seen as non-serious play, AR face filters can instead provide an engaging and personal art experience | Medium – http://tiny.cc/u81ybz

Image credit: video still from Brent Watanabe, San Andreas Deer Cam, 2016, with the artist’s permission.