conferences – Page 2 – DARTS Research Group

Liquid film montage. A critical study of interactive documentary tools

2018-11-272019-02-26

Quelic Berga participates at the Interface Polítics II congres with the paper: “Liquid film montage. A critical study of interactive documentary tools”. The congres will take place on November 28, 29 and 30, 2018 at the BAU (Barcelona).

In this paper we present a comparative study among the main interactive documentary tools and we reflect upon their adoption by industry, academia and society. The core aim is to show, analyze and compare the creative implications of different metaphors that articulate each of these audiovisual tools. And at the same time, to explore how these different approaches to audiovisual montage result in the preconfiguration and enhancement of different narrative grammars and regimes of truth.

Through this comparative study of tools we focus on this emerging format [Guifreu], also called i-doc or webdoc, to understand and reflect on its impact in the definition and transformation of contemporary audiovisuals.

To approach the subject we first set up a framework that takes in consideration different perspectives of the media related studies; We begin by pointing briefly to some of the most significant theoretical and conceptual contributions that have marked our study, especially from materialist media studies [Fuller], software studies [Manovich] and humanities computing [Murray].

We distinguish and focus specifically on interactive documentaries softwares among other audiovisual tools and artefacts found in the computing environment. Within this type ofsoftwares, we focus on contemporary programs for authorship of interactive documentaries: Korsakow [1] developed in Germany by Florian Thalhofer and Matt Soar, the French tool Klynt [2] by the Honkytonk Films team, Eko [3], developed after Interlude [4], by the Israeli-American team of Yoni Bloch and finally the PlayFilm[5] platform developed in Valencia. The objects of study of this article are the multimedia tools of authorship and their interfaces. It is beyond this study to observe in detail their resulting objects; interactive documentaries.

Apart from analyzing the graphical user interface, we compile other types of data surrounding the artefacts, considering not only the tool itself, but the cultural ecosystem in where it unfolds [Bertelsen & Soren]. The result of the analyzes of those four softwares allows us to develop a comparative table considering several characteristics: we analyze the constructs, models and methods provided, the use of the vocabulary of each program, the distribution and design of the interfaces, the functionalities and features, the technologies used and finally, the most frequent and specific uses of each tool.

We close the article reflecting on the impact that contemporary audiovisual montages that are liquid or mutable, and that might adapt and modify themselves in relation to data and/or the final user might have important consequences on the construction of the notion of reality. We end up opening questions and observations about the authorship, the audiovisual market, the forms of consumption and the forms of preservation of these resulting audiovisual devices if possible.

Keywords: Webdocs, Interactive Documentary, i-doc, constructs, metaphors, UX, interface criticism.

Round Table on Arts and Artificial Intelligence. GUNi International Conference at Cosmocaixa Museum

2018-11-222021-02-18

This GUNi International Conference aims to be an international meeting to debate on the role of the humanities, and the interrelation between humanities, science and technology in the 21st Century with a special focus on Higher Education. The main objective of the Conference is to open a worldwide debate on the current role of humanities in the social, academic and scientific areas and on their importance to boost a more equitable, more responsible and more democratic society. The event has gathered 160 attendees from 22 countries and from diverse areas of knowledge and fields (education, research, public institutions, organizations) in order to debate on the role of the humanities in the world. The Conference was held on the 19th to 20th November 2018 at the CosmoCaixa Museum in Barcelona.

Pau Alsina at the Round Table. More photos here.

Desafíos de la virtualización de la enseñanza de las Artes: el Grado en Artes de la UOC

2018-11-192021-02-18

Laia Blasco-Soplon and Aida Sánchez de Serdio make this presentation in the framework of the international seminar “Arte, educación y virtualidad” at the Museo Nacional de Colombia, Universidad Santo Tomás (Bogotá)

In this presentation we propose a reflection on the teachings of arts at a higher level and, more specifically, on what its virtualization supposes, taken as a case the Arts Degree of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). In the first place, the challenges and possibilities of the virtualization of artistic education in general are pointed out, such as the difficulty of virtually conveying the material and copresential nature of teaching in arts, the need to maintain a relationship that is both individualized and relational. in an environment that tends towards massification, and the opportunity that this environment offers to develop a contemporary and reflective approach to media and artistic languages. Secondly, we focus on some aspects and characteristics of both the UOC and the Degree in Arts, showing its curricular mesh and some of its virtual classrooms, and highlighting some of the challenges that its implementation has involved, such as the need for a greater visual dimension of the teaching environments, of overcoming the analog-digital dichotomy, or of generating multidirectional communications, among others. Finally, we share some reflections and questions about which we want to continue working in the future.