TORONTO, October 23, 2001 - International artists and scholars will gather at York University's Centre for Fine Arts and other venues around Toronto this weekend, Oct. 26 - 28, to demonstrate and define a new state-of-the-art in the world of dance in collision with technology.
body/machine: a conference on body/technology interface, co-presented by the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University and Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film and Video, is an extravaganza of live performances, interactive installations, screenings, panel discussions, hands-on new-media workshops, and hip happenings in today's world of dance.
"Technology today is pushing the boundaries of how people create and experience art," says Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt, associate dean in the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University and a co-organizer of the conference. Noting the influence of communications technology in dance, cinema and most other art forms today, she says audiences might soon show a distinct preference for the 'virtual' body over the real. "Is the virtual body the ultimate ethereal form?" asks Fisher-Stitt. The conference will explore what this means for the performer in the 21st century, while titillating audiences with displays of the latest in art/technology convergence.
Events kick off Friday, Oct. 26, at 3 p.m. with U.S. dance and multimedia artist Yacov Sharir, and architect/designer Julio Bermudez, demonstrating their 'wearable computer', at the Ontario College of Art and Design, in The Shooting Studio. Later, a demonstration and discussion about Psymbiote, the Cyborg Body, and creative, cybernetic research that attempts to fully transform a human into a hybrid organism, will take place at The Rivoli on Queen St. West at 7 p.m.
On Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 27-28 , events at York include keynote speaker Terry Braun of the United Kingdom, a producer/director and multimedia designer whose latest project, Java Dance, animates centuries-old Javanese temple carvings using state-of-the-art digital technology. A performance highlight of the conference will be Body@Rest, an interactive performance installation created by York University alumnus Mark Jones, exploring themes of identity, surveillance and dreams. Fisher-Stitt, in her presentation, Flights of Fancy: Making a Case for Neo-Romanticism, will explore the idea that despite our reliance on high-speed digital technology and the Internet, we are living in an age of neo-Romanticism. For a complete schedule and registration information, click "body machine" on the Moving Pictures Festival website: www.movingpicturesfestival.com
York University's department of dance in the Faculty of Fine Arts, the first to offer a degree program in dance in Canada, is a pioneering centre for dance education, research and technology, and has been a seminal force in Canadian dance performance and scholarship over the past 30 years. York was also the first university in the world to offer a graduate program in dance, focusing on dance theory, criticism and history.
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For further information, please contact:
| Prof. Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt Dept. of Dance, Faculty of Fine Arts York University 416-736-5136 normasue@yorku.ca |
Brigitte Kleer Public Relations Faculty of Fine Arts 416-736-2100, ext. 77143 bkleer@yorku.ca |
Susan Bigelow Media Relations York University 416-736-2100, ext. 22091 sbigelow@yorku.ca |
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