monochroms >Arse Elektronika 2008<

Wo: Raum D / quartier21
Erstellt von: Team Teichenberg für QDK
Beschreibung: Arse Elektronika 2008 - Do Androids sleep with electric Sheep

Critical Perspectives on Sexuality and Pornography i n Science and Social Fiction
SAN FRANCISCO / USA
with a live video-link t o vienna
Taking up where the successful conference i n autumn 2007 left off, this
year's Arse Elektronika stands under the motto "future" - - and the ways i n
which the present sees itself reflected i n i t . Maintaining a broadened
perspective on technical development and technology while also putting
special emphasis on its social implementation, this year's conference
focuses on Science and Social Fiction.
The genre o f the "fantastic" is especially well suited t o the
investigation o f the touchy area o f sexuality and pornography: actual and
assumed developments are frequently depicted positively and approvingly,
but just as often with dystopian admonishment. Here the classic, and
continuingly valid, themes o f modernism represent a clear link between the
two aspects: questions o f science, research and technologization are o f
interest, as is the complex surrounding urbanism, artificiality and
control (or the loss o f control). Depictions o f the future, irregardless
o f the form they take, always address the present as well. Imaginations o f
the fantastic and the nightmarish give rise t o a thematic overlapping o f
the exotic, the alienating and, o f course, the pornographic/sexual as
well.
In order t o intelligently contextualize the abundance o f queries that are
involved here, this year's conference will be structured around three
day-long discussion panels, each devoted t o a specific theme. The
impossibility o f fitting many o f these issues and relationships into such
neat categorizations is not only accepted, but also encouraged.