Concept: The name e-ansã comes from the name of an Orisha: Iansan. Iansan is a spirit entity of the Afro-Brazilian religious faith Candomblé. This entity is connected with the winds, hurricanes and tempests and has the power to control those natural forces. The dress is composed by an aluminium structure where the fans are placed. Covering this structure there are hundresds or ribbons in red, orange and yellow in reference of the colors of Iansan. Those ribbons are called “fitinhas do Senhor do Bonfim” and are used in a religious context in Brazil, mostly in the state of Bahia. They appeared in 1809 as a sort of souvenir from the church. It was worn around the neck like a necklace, at the same place where saints and medallions were hung. The ribbons worked as a type of currency: upon making good on a promise, the faithful use to give to the church a photo or a small sculpture of beeswax representing the part of the body which was cured with the help of the saint. As a souvenir of the favor, these ribbons would be acquired, symbolizing the church itself. Nowadays it is common that people worn around the wrist with 3 knots that correspond to 3 wishes. These wrist ribbons come in all colors – each for a different saint – and bear the words “Lembrança do Senhor do Bonfim da Bahia” meaning “In remembrance of the Savior of Bahia.” (Senhor do Bonfim refers to Jesus, “Our Lord of a Good End”). Measuring 47 cm/ 18.5 in, which is the length of the right arm on a Christ statue in Bahia’s Senhor do Bonfim church, the ribbon is tied around the left wrist in three knots, each one signifying a wish. Once the string falls off naturally, your wishes will be granted. No one knows when the transition occurred from the old style ribbon to the new one (worn around the wrist), although the new ribbon was popularized by the street vendors of Salvador around the 1960′s, when it was also adopted by the Bahian hippies as part of their style of dressing. Religion, invisible forces, tradition and technology are mixed together in this dress that intends to aware people of electronic pollution especially with the increasing use of cell phones. Maybe the modern Iansan could also control the electronic fields.

Technology: The dress is composed of 110 computer fans, 4 antennas, batteries and a microcontroller. The detection system constantly checks and verifies whether there are any waves in the atmosphere that are put out by mobile phones. This live information is sent to a microcomputer. The microcomputer activates the fans that creates wind and blows this through the dress.

What kind of world we will live in within the coming decades? Where is the boundary between the natural and the artificial? How will technology transform our bodies and lifestyle? Similar questions bring us installations by thirty artists who were not afraid to look into the world of modern biology and technology and find not only inspiration, but also questions to ponder.

Program
Artists
Installations

The aim of the CATCH FORUM is to bring attention to the important field of handicap from the perspective of creative use of emerging media technologies. It has been designed as a catalyst of creative and critical response to handicap, with a main focus on the potential of new technologies in supporting artistic, cultural and social inclusion of the disabled.

CATCH FORUM will bring together artists, designers, innovators, creative technologists, educators, and scholars in the interactive and public engaging formats of discussions, roundtables and hands-on demonstration sessions. The goal is to map out and critically introduce the best practice in the field as well as to propose next essential steps, including
cultural co-productions, educational synergies and policy recommendations.

More information at: http://festival-enter.cz/2013/catch-forum-2013/.

Organised by CIANT | International Centre for Art and New Technologies

This would be a valuable experience especially for those passionate about art, new technologies or events management. We are able to provide an official confirmation letter of your activities.

Jobs can range from installation of artworks (from 29th March till 4th April) and help with PR and marketing management (from 25th March till the opening on 4th April) to guest service and custodianship (4th to 12th April).

Are you interested? Please complete the online application form:

Call for participation – Enter 6: Biopolis, Prague – Deadline 7th March 2013

6th art | sci | tech biennale held in Prague, Czech Republic, organized by CIANT.
April 4-7, 2013

Exhibitions | Performances | Lectures | Debates | Workshops | Screenings

Enter 6: Biopolis calls for theory and practice based proposals addressing uncertainty of the division between natural and artificial, novel approaches in interaction between body and data.

Let us ask questions about future of life, ethics of scientific intrusion into exclusivity of the nature. Least but not last we will examine entanglement of our bodies and technology.

Keywords: Artificial vs. Natural, Bacteria, BCI, Bio-signals, Bioart, Bioethics, Biotechnology, Body, DNA, EEG, Genetics, Implants, Mutation, Nature, Neolifism, Next nature, Perception, Prosthetics, Science, Synthetic life, Transgenic, Wetware

Among the artists and researchers pre-negotiated to participate there are: Darina Alster (CZ), Tomáš Černý (CZ), Veselina Dashinova (BG/UK), Jalila Essaïdi (NL), Jakub Jansa (CZ), Pavel Karafiát (CZ), Jakub Ludma (SK), Martina Michalíková (SK), Jan Nálepa (CZ), , Marie Polákova (CZ/AT), Michal Pustějovský (CZ), Tomáš Suchan (CZ), Petr Šourek (CZ), , Tomáš Vavříček (CZ), Frederik de Wilde (BE) and others…

We invite your participation too!

Extended submission deadline for artworks, papers, posters:7th of March 2013

Submit your artwork here!

Organized by CIANT in partnership with NTK | National Technical Library.