FUTURE MANIFESTOS – Konferanse
DIGS, Krambugata 2 / 10. & 11. APRIL, 10:00 – 14:30
Gratis inngang.
Kurator: Zane Cerpina
Future Semiotics
Existing codes of communication, ideas, and semiotics will be subjected to strong forces of evolution and mutation over millennial timescales and beyond. Central to the project 2.8B420K is the challenge of consistency of ideas across inevitable future linguistic and cultural mutation. Ideas and language from our relatively recent past are already subject to misinterpretation or even complete loss. It is estimated that a language becomes extinct roughly every two weeks to three months, with 50% to 90% of current languages predicted to disappear by the end of the 21st century. The rate of language mutation—often referred to as linguistic evolution, language change, or lexical replacement—is not constant, but generally follows a pattern where languages become mutually unintelligible after approximately 1,000 years. Similarly, the purpose, full meaning, and intent of constructions such as the Pyramids and Stonehenge are not completely apparent and subject to contemporary interpretations. The obvious deduction is that such trends will continue into the future. The present is an island between oceans of mystery. While archeolinguists study the mutations in communication of the past, a more speculative study of semiotics and anthropology predicts how language and ideas could behave in the future. The field of chronolinguistics proposed by Peter Stockwell sets out principles for projecting current linguistic trends into future, speculative scenarios. Alongside academic and theoretical studies, science fiction allows for alternative treatments and visualisations of future communication strategies and their cultural and sociological significance and impact. Authors such as Iain M Banks, George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, and HG Wells have all incorporated these ideas into their work. Covering seemingly disparate ideas such as monument building, nuclear waste disposal, time capsules, science fiction, archeology, space exploration, and anthropology, this talk aims to develop an illustration of the complex semiotic panorama of the future.
Andy Gracie [UK/ES]
Andy Gracie’s work has featured an ongoing evolution of disciplines, including installation, robotics, sound, video, biological, and electronic media. He looks for points of separation between knowledge systems, including arts, sciences, and mythologies, in order to create situations of exchange where new understandings, knowledge systems, and imaginations can develop. His work commonly involves reactions to and engagements with space research, cosmology, and deep time from the perspectives of semiotics, simulation theory, and apocalyptic or post-human scenarios. Through a rigorous process of research and experiment, his work strives to uncover the deeper meta-narratives and poetics of our human condition. He has exhibited internationally in both solo and group shows, presented regularly at conferences and seminars across the globe, and has published numerous articles and papers. He has recently undertaken residencies at CERN, the Institute of Cosmic Sciences at the University of Barcelona, and the Institut de Física d’Altes Energies. His large-scale installation ‘Autoinducer_ph-1’ received honourable mentions from VIDA and Ars Electronica in 2007. The ongoing project ‘Drosophila titanus’ received an honorary mention from Ars Electronica in 2015. Alongside his artistic practice, he co-founded the open art/science initiative Hackteria, an international network of artists and practitioners with a strong educational presence. He has co-produced, hosted, and curated numerous exhibitions, workshop programs, and art/science crossover events internationally. He is currently involved in a long-term collaboration/residency with the Institute of Cosmic Sciences at the University of Barcelona, where he is an official collaborative member.
—
Image representing the talk: Concept: Mike Brill, Drawing: Safdar Abidi, Image courtesy of BOSTI.
