FIBER and Looiersgracht 60 present exhibition Prima Materia on man’s position between technology and nature

12 to 21 May 2017 at Looiersgracht 60 in Amsterdam - Opening Thursday 11 May

Amsterdam

Summary

The FIBER exhibition Prima Materia, a collaboration with art space Looiersgracht 60, gathers the work of artists and designers who probe and reflect on the present-day relationship between man, technology and matter. Prima Materia is part of FIBER Festival 2017, an international meeting place for artists, designers, researchers, writers, musicians and philosophers that explores the impact of digital technology on art and society.

FIBER and Looiersgracht 60 present exhibition Prima Materia on man’s position between technology and nature

12 to 21 May 2017 at Looiersgracht 60 in Amsterdam - Opening Thursday 11 May

The FIBER exhibition Prima Materia, a collaboration with art space Looiersgracht 60, gathers the work of artists and designers who probe and reflect on the present-day relationship between man, technology and matter. Prima Materia is part of FIBER Festival 2017, an international meeting place for artists, designers, researchers, writers, musicians and philosophers that explores the impact of digital technology on art and society.

Modern day technologies have a profound, disruptive effect on nature. We’re suddenly waking up to the idea that the ‘digital’ is not an ephemeral world of its own, but an inherent part of nature. We built it ourselves from natural resources: matter. That exact same matter is what the alchemists - pre-17th-century artists/scientists - used to experiment with to understand the mystery of the universe. Much in the same way, the contemporary artists, designers, coders and engineers in Prima Materia strive to understand the essence of the technologies surrounding them and to ascertain their impact. Engaging with multiple scientific and artistic methodologies and disciplines, they experiment with new ways of learning about hybrid materials and question the building blocks of the digital revolution.

Themes

Prima Materia guides you through three interrelated themes: States of Matter, Artificial Perception and New Ecologies. In States of Matter, you can discover new aesthetics at the tipping points of matter. Artificial Perception uses artificial intelligence and programmed instruments to help to bring our world into new focus. New Ecologies speculates about a future in which we experience the connections between technology, geology and the universe in a new way.

Works

The artworks in the exhibition all have a different approach to these themes. Semiconductor’s Where Shapes Come From is a moving image work which considers how science translates nature, on an atomic scale. JODI & MPF continue the artistic practices of the readymade by remixing found digital 3D printed objects, in a multitude of assemblages. The PRESAGE™ Range by David Benqué unlocks your data from the desktop or lab to bring you unprecedented insights into the uncertain future. Michiel Pijpe’s The Modeling shows a highly alchemical image processing procedure that combines optics, light and liquid-chemical processes to produce detailed and strange visual configurations.

Participating artists

Amy Whittle (NL) | Sebastian Wolf (DE) & Michael Kugler (US/DE) | David Benqué (UK) | Nicky

Assmann & Joris Strijbos (NL) | JODI (NL/BE) & MPF (UK) | Ralf Baecker (DE) | Quadrature (DE)

| Students Digital Media at the University of the Arts Bremen (DE) | Monique Grimond (US/NL)

| Terra0 – Paul Seidler, Paul Kolling, Max Hampshire (DE) | Luiz Zanotello (DE) | Michiel Pijpe

(NL) | Semiconductor (UK) | Waltz Binaire (DE) | Mischa Daams (NL)

Opening

The opening takes place on Thursday May 11, 5 PM - 8 PM at Looiersgracht 60 in Amsterdam. This event is also the opening event of the FIBER Festival 2017. The door opens at 5 PM, a word of welcome will be held at 6 PM. Right after the opening you are invited to regroup at café Struik for the exhibition afterparty. Here we will find cold drinks and soothing sounds by FIBER collaborator DJ Piro.

Public Programme

An artist talk will be held in conjunction with the exhibition on May 17 from 18.00-20.00. More details will follow soon on www.looiersgracht60.org. Interested visitors are also warmly invited to attend the FIBER conference (May 12 and May 13) and to visit the exhibition Of Magic & Alchemy at Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond.

Temporary Bookshop

During the exhibition Prima Materia, Looiersgracht 60 will present its third temporary bookshop in collaboration with FIBER. Responding to the themes of the exhibition, the bookshop features a careful selection of books on alchemy, art and science and new technologies. By contextualizing the exhibition within the extensive scope of these different but related research areas, Looiersgracht 60 seeks to encourage visitors to further explore, research and contemplate the works on display.

About FIBER Festival

FIBER Festival attracts over 50 participating speakers and artists, 2,500 visitors and a wide selection of local companies and organizations, who will connect in the city of Amsterdam to create a dense program of audiovisual performances, live/DJ sets, installations, conference talks and labs. FIBER connects with both a local and international audience of young, professional creators and enthusiasts who are operating at the frontiers of digital technology, to create or consume immersive and mind-bending experiences.

About Looiersgracht 60

Looiersgracht 60 is a non-profit exhibition centre for art, design and architecture. Located in the heart of Amsterdam’s 19th-century industrial area, this former cardboard and bottling plant has evolved into a dynamic space with a thoroughly contemporary function. Embodying the productive spirit of the factory, Looiersgracht 60 seeks principally to connect ideas, approaches and methodologies from various disciplines into a select programme of relevant and thought-provoking exhibitions. With its distinct focus on the interface and cross-pollination between disciplines, the project space aims to work with research-based art projects that explore diverse issues and ideas from the humanities and the natural and social sciences.

Support

Prima Materia and FIBER Festival 2017 have been made possible with the support of:

Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, VSBfonds, Fonds21, Fonds Podiumkunsten, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Goethe Instituut Nederland, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Tsjechisch Centrum Rotterdam, Mondriaan Fonds, Stroom Den Haag.

Many thanks to Warsteiner for serving us cold drinks during the opening.

‘Prima Materia’ forms a part of the 2017 FIBER festival and runs from May 12 – May 21. The exhibition is open Wed-Sun, 12.00 – 20.00. Free admission. More information about the exhibition and opening hours: http://www.looiersgracht60.org

FESTIVAL LINEUP (Per category in alphabetical order)

Exhibition

Artificial Afterlife (2016), Amy Whittle (NL) | Brume (2016), Sebastian Wolf (DE) & Michael Kugler (US/DE) | The PRESAGE™ Range (2017), David Benqué (UK) | Liquid Solid (2016), Nicky Assmann & Joris Srijbos (NL) | MATERIAL WANT (2016), JODI (NL) & MPF (UK) | Random Access Memory (2016), Ralf Baecker (DE) | Satelitten (2015), Quadrature (DE) | States of Matter (2017), Studenten Digital Media at the University of the Arts Bremen (DE) | STONES (2016), Quadrature (DE) | TerraEconomics (2016 - 2017), Monique Grimond (US/NL) | Terra0 (2017), Paul Seidler, Paul Kolling, Max Hampshire (DE) | The Aerographer (2016), Luiz Zanotello | The Modelling (2017), Michiel Pijpe (NL) | Where Shapes Come From (2016), Semiconductor (UK) | 12 Bit Alchemy (2017), Waltz Binaire (DE) | Origin: Sustained (2017), Mischa Daams (NL)

Commissioned work

Waltz Binaire (DE)

Origin: Sustained (2017), Mischa Daams (NL)

The Modelling (2017), Michiel Pijpe (NL)

AV & Music Performances

Ali Wade (UK) - live | Arif (DE/NL) – DJ |CO2RO (NL) |ENA (JP) – DJ | Izabel (AUS) – DJ |Joris Strijbos & Daan Johan (Macular) (NL) - live AV | Mattikk (NL) – DJ | Merites (NL) – DJ |natural/electronic.system (IT) - live | Pan Daijing (CH) - live | Paul Prudence (UK) - live AV | Pierce Warnecke & Yair Elazar Glotman (DE) - live| Pita (AU) - live | Recent Arts (DE) - live AV | Sébastien Robert (FR) – DJ | Sendai (BE) - live | Sky H1 (BE) - live | TM404 (SE) - live |TVO (UK) - live

Conference

Cecilia Jonsson (SW/NR) | Cedric Kiefer [onformative] (DE) | Cis van Heertum [Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica] (NL) | Daniël Erasmus (ZA/NL) | Darius Kazemi (US) | David Benqué (FR/UK) | Denisa Kera (CZ) | Dr. Janneke Wesseling (Leiden University) [Critical Making], Florian Cramer, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer (Het Nieuwe Instituut), Lucas Evers (Waag Society) en Marie-José Sondereijker (West Den Haag) (NL) | Elisa Giaccardi [TUDelft] (IT/NL) | Els Viaene (BE)| Femke Herregraven (NL) | Füsun Türetken (TR/NL) | Hackers & Designers (NL) | Hannah Davis (US) | Jussi Parikka (FI/UK) | Maaike Bleeker [UU] (NL) | Martin Howse (UK/DE) | Memo Akten (TR/UK) | Michelle Kasprzak (CA/NL) | Nick Ervinck (BE) | Nick Verstand (NL) | Nicolas Nova (FR/CH) | Paul Prudence (UK) | Quadrature (DE) | Ralf Baecker (DE) | Refik Anadol (TR/US) | Gaby Wijers [LIMA] (NL) | Raphaël de Courville (FR/DE) | Ruairi Glynn [Bartlett School of Architecture - Design for Performance & Interaction] (UK) | ScanLAB Projects (UK) | Scott de Lahunta [Motionbank] (DE) | Semiconductor (UK) | Stefanie Wüschitz (AT) | Tamar Shafrir (IL/NL) | Thijs Hagendijk [UU] (NL) | Though Collider (NL/UK) | Thingclash [Changeist] (US/NL) | Tobias Revell (UK) | UTOPIA blu* (UK/NL) | Valery Vermeulen (BE) | Waltz Binaire (DE) | Yoni van den Eede [Culture, Emancipation, Media & Society Vrije Universiteit Brussel] (BE)

LABS

De Brakke Grond & FIBER invites: Choreographic Coding Lab [Motion Bank], Refik Anadol [UCLA] (TR/US) , Darius Kazemi (US) |Denisa Kera [SFIS, Arizona State University] (CZ/US) & Yair Reshef {TAMI & Shenkar college of art & design] (IL)

FIBER FESTIVAL

FIBER Festival attracts over 50 participating speakers and artists, 2500 visitors and a wide selection of local companies and organizations, who will connect in the city of Amsterdam to create a dense program of audiovisual performances, live/DJ sets, installations, conference talks and labs. FIBER connects with both a local and international audience of young, professional creators and enthusiasts who are operating at the frontiers of digital technology, to create or consume immersive and mind-bending experiences.

Through the lens of cutting-edge artistic works, FIBER explores the impact of technology on culture, society and nature. The festival gathers artists, thinkers and an adventurous crowd to experience new narratives that give insight to complex topics like artificial intelligence, bots, digital production techniques, hybrid materials and questions how technology can influence the future.

Theme FIBER Festival 2017 Prima Materia

The FIBER team retrieved its inspiration by fascinating over connections between todays experimental art and a renewed interest in the ancient field of alchemy. Through an extensive program of conference talks, a public exhibition, AV performances, and live electronic music, the festival explores the theme Prima Materia; alchemical thinking and making in art, design and music.

Prima Materia shows the work of artists and designers who question and reimagine the relationship between man, technology and matter. Technology has a profound effect on nature and can help us find a sustainable and emotional relation with the earth. At the same time it is getting harder and harder to predict our future as a human race in the context of fast technological developments of things like artificial intelligence, big data and decentralised networks - developments that feel almost like organic, all-encompassing forces of nature. The human scale and the tools that we use to interpret the world with are being radically transformed. We seem to be caught in the middle of invisible forces.

Back in the day alchemists speculatively worked with matter to understand the design of the universe. Their main focus was reaching the mythical Prima Materia, the metaphysical matter that would connect everything in the cosmos. For a long time alchemy was considered a mystical pseudoscience, but it now becomes unmistakably clear that it is a precursor for contemporary science and the development of our knowledge about matter. FIBER points out extraordinary similarities between the work of alchemists and the modern interdisciplinary artists, designers, programmers and engineers.

Tickets

Regular tickets can only be purchased online through this link: https://fiberfestival.eventbrite.nl

Note for the editorial team (not for publication):

De FIBER pressroom can be reached through this link. There you will find all previous press releases. Relevant images can be downloaded here

The FIBER logo can be downloaded here

Please apply here for a press accreditation

For more information please contact:

Sandra van Beers, Marketing & Communications / sandra@fiber-space.nl / +31(0)646220363

Jarl Schulp, Director / jarl@fiber-space.nl / +31(0)641235624

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Over FIBER

FIBER is an Amsterdam based interdisciplinary organisation, that presents new developments in audiovisual art, digital culture and the experimental and deeper corners of electronic music. The team works year round with a vibrant network of artists, designers, researchers and developers, who aspire to introduce mind bending experiences to a broad audience. Special attention goes out to the support of up and coming talents across numerous creative disciplines.

Next to small-scale events and exhibitions, the team organises the recurring FIBER Festival in Amsterdam, which brings together a diverse crowd of new talent, established artists and curious visitors. FIBER aims to explore hybrid forms of art, the power of media- and network technology, and encourages an exchange of views between the makers and their audience.

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