FIBER presents BIG BIAS: An Evening About The Hidden Prejudices In Smart Technologies | May 17
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We are increasingly confronted by the dangers and faults of the tech-utopia promised by Silicon Valley. ‘'Smart' soap dispensers that can’t recognise the hands of people of colour. Accidents with self-driving cars. Cambridge Analytica’s illegal harvesting of over 50 million Facebook accounts. On Thursday evening May 17th, Amsterdam based FIBER, in collaboration with the Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, presents a new season of Coded Matter(s), which reimagines the narrative technique of Worldbuilding to explore how art and design can envision a better world.
Coded Matter(s): Big Bias is the first edition of the Worldbuilding trilogy and gives the public an insight into the role that makers (artists, designers, thinkers) and companies play in tackling ethical problems surrounding practices such as big data and artificial intelligence, and also explores the role played by digital art and culture in developing more inclusive technological worlds and applications.
In his lecture-performance, artist and queer theorist Zach Blas explains how big tech companies use magic and mysticism to conceptualise the application of data. The Flemish designer and researcher Femke Snelting is investigating how we can better understand the relationship between humans and digital infrastructures by considering how issues relating to race, gender, age and species are taken into account when collecting body data. The African-American artist, coder and writer Mimi Onuoha unveils the bias of authorities by showing which data they refuse to collect or choose to exclude.
Since 2013, Coded Matter(s) has been a platform for artists, designers, startups and cultural practitioners to explore cutting-edge artistic production and new ways of understanding digital technologies and and their impact on our world. In 2018, three events, Big Bias, Terrafiction and Engine Spaces, will explore the overarching theme of Worldbuilding though lectures and screenings. Worldbuilding is a narrative technique that originates from science fiction and transmedia storytelling and is used as an artistic method to reflect on complex problems such as climate change, circularity and human-machine relationships.
This event is made possible by the support of Creative Industries Fund NL, Het Nieuwe Instituut, MU Artspace and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.
Event info:
Date: 17th May
Time: 20:00-23:00 | Doors: 19:45
Location: Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond (Amsterdam)
Address: Nes 45, 1012 KD Amsterdam (NL)
Tickets: € 16 | Students: € 12 (no student card, no entry)
About Coded Matter(s)
Coded Matter(s) is FIBER’s ongoing events series that explores various forms of digital culture, artistic and critical application of code and digital technologies. It shares the work of interdisciplinary artists, designers, creative coders and thinkers and their making processes. Talks are combined with short films, project demonstrations and masterclasses to stimulate new ways of thinking. Previous editions have explored the rise of the blockchain, algorithmic culture, live coding in club contexts and how the shape and depiction landscapes changes with technological developments and computer vision.
About FIBER
FIBER is an Amsterdam based platform that supports and presents talented makers and thinkers who are operating at the intersection of audiovisual art, digital technology, music and societal issues. The platform functions as a platform for emerging young artists and connects them to urgent international developments, new public knowledge and work opportunities.
About Vlaamse Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond
Flemish Arts Centre de Brakke Grond offers the most significant contemporary art productions from Flanders, including visual art, literature, dance and theatre, music, performance, film, design, fashion, architecture and new media. The emphasis is on innovation, building bridges and artistic guts.
