9th March & 10th March 2022, 9 AM – 12 PM
Room 255
Upon Registration Only

In his 1999 book The Sun, the Genome and the Internet, British polymath Freeman Dyson proposed a genetically altered forest to speed up rapid carbon capture. While some found it disturbing, many others considered Dyson’s proposal as an attractive solution for excessive CO2 emissions. Pinar Yoldas will conduct a workshop on Dark Botany, a speculative multimedia installation with elements of bio-art that imagines Dyson’s altered forest is possible with a compound called dark chlorophyll. The workshop is essentially a Speculative Ecology workshop decorated with examples from the history of art and science. Participants will be able to learn how to conduct artistic research, organize ideas, use imagination and execute proposals using design tools.

Participants are required to bring their own laptops and drawing tools.

This event is an in-person event for the VCUarts Qatar community only. Please use the registration button to register.

9th March & 10th March 2022, 9 AM – 12 PM
Room 281
Upon Registration Only

This workshop explores various technological practices through the lens of mythical/irrational structures as a tool to disrupt the western imaginary and logic. Through discussions and experimentations, we will trace speculative narratives of technology and machinery back to premodern cosmologies.

In Islamic traditions, occult practices depend heavily on a numerology known as “Al-Jafr,” the science of numbers claimed to be taught by Imam-Ali. The simple idea is that numbers are stored in the time/space fabric of the universe and can be called on to represent different elements. For example, the planet’s moves and positions that can be calculated based on its rotation reveal astrological information. It is believed that by using rational mathematics, you can calculate such physical elements, as well as calculate and manipulate other spiritual or mystical elements that are in control of or connected to the physical world.

Al-Awfaq, also known as “magic squares” are algorithmic structures used to carry out such calculations. They are believed to process and channel mystic powers in order to manifest them in a physical form. These algorithmic squares are the base of any talisman’s drawing on material varying from paper to animal skin and plant leaves. The talisman is the code that embodies the non-physical calculation of mystic power/energy/information.

Computer machines are built of a combination of circuit boards made out of silicon, ceramics, copper, gold, and other materials. These circuits run by regulating electrical signals using mathematical algorithms that define certain rational processes in order to calculate specific operations, and deliver logical results. To define and write such algorithms you have to code and embody them inside the material part (the circuit).

Participants should have basic knowledge of creative coding and prototyping tools such as Touchdesigner, processing, openFrameworks, etc., and are required to bring their laptops or tablets with 2D or 3D visualization software installed.

This event is an in-person event for the VCUarts Qatar community only. Please use the registration button to register.

The aim of this project is to allow individuals to utilize their tactile senses to bridge the gap between them and their surroundings through creating accessible points within supermarkets. Tactile icons were created to represent information which would otherwise have to be seen visually. By presenting alternative representations for visual information, enable aids individuals in having a more individualistic and independent experience within an inclusive supermarket environment.

Thus, this project falls under The State of Change to present a new method of inclusion as well as a unified language which can be identified by a larger majority of individuals, regardless of their differences. It allows people to stop and think from others’ perspectives and realize that seemingly mundane daily practices are a privilege to some.

• 10th March 2022, 5:30 PM
• Atrium
• Upon Registration Only (Limited seats available)

How do we historicise or begin to reflect on a present that is so free-wheeling that it is rife with constant speculation and anxiety? One minute we are in fear of Artificial Intelligence, but in an instant, we are interminably interlinked with them, without realising. Human lives are now fashioned and intertwined into a form of living media. Enter the metaverse—a schematic field laid out decades ago—a paradigm of and for augmenting reality that is accelerating once again. An NFT you say. You want one; the best one; gotta catch ‘em all. A currency that is not your own. A banking system built without plastic or paper; silver or gold. Is it real or is this a game of monopoly? In this closing keynote, Dr. Omar Kholeif, one of the leading experts on digital visual culture, presents a reflective survey of our present, exploring the illusory forms and aesthetics that define it.

Omar Kholeif will be giving this keynote virtually to a live audience. Seats are limited and are only open to VCUarts Qatar or Education city students, faculty, or alumni. In-person attendees must follow VCUarts Qatar guidelines related to COVID-19.

This event will be streamed live. Members of the public are welcome to ask questions in a moderated chat, at the end of each session. Please use the registration button to register and receive a link to your chosen event.

• 9th March & 10th March 2022, 9 AM – 12 PM
• Room 268
• Upon Registration Only
  

Participants will engage in two collaborative, handmade 16mm films. The process of creation and destruction are both featured in similar but disparate processes that we will explore. These processes build on the hybridization of new and old technologies while engaging with the reuse of preexisting materials.

The first film is an exercise in making something out of nothing. Using clear and black 16mm film leader as a base, participants will create handmade films using demonstrated techniques. We will question how you create a narrative, tension, and rhythm while only using color and abstract forms. The second film which features the act of destruction is about remixing and appropriating clips that already exist with the end goal of changing the context of the original film.

This event is an in-person event for the VCUarts Qatar community only.
Please use the registration button to register.

• Zach Lieberman (MIT Media Lab, Future Sketches Group)
• Murilo Polese (Brazilian Creative Technologist)
• Edgardo Avilés-López (Mexican engineer, researcher, and artist)
• Hind Al Saad (Qatari designer, maker, and creative coder)

8th March & 9th March 2022, 4:15 PM – 7:15 PM
Room 214
Upon Registration Only

In this workshop we will study computational art, by sharing the work of 3-4 artists from the past decades, to co-create our own computational art histories through recreating the works of artists who inspire us. We will use contemporary techniques to gain aesthetic, analytical, and technical knowledge, and study the contexts from which these artists’ works emerged. Thus, we will be able to better understand the politics, communities of practice, and social and artistic movements they engaged in. By recreating historic works, we learn what modern tools and approaches have to offer, through our focus on the building blocks of media art, generative design practice, and computational techniques. This will be through a toolkit featuring a series of exercises and questions to unpack and expand on the themes, techniques, and communities of practice engaged by artists.

Participants are required to bring their laptop with Zoom and Discord already installed.

This event is an in-person event for the VCUarts Qatar community only. Please use the registration button to register.

• 7th March 2022, 9 AM – 11 AM
• Room 281
• Upon Registration Only

Forensic Architecture (FA) is a research agency, based at Goldsmiths, University of London, investigating human rights violations including violence committed by states, police forces, militaries, and corporations. FA works in partnership with institutions across civil society, from grassroots activists to legal teams, to international NGOs and media organizations, to carry out investigations with and on behalf of communities and individuals affected by conflict, police brutality, border regimes, and environmental violence. Our investigations employ cutting-edge techniques in spatial and architectural analysis, open-source investigation, digital modeling, and immersive technologies, as well as documentary research, situated interviews, and academic collaboration. Findings from our investigations have been presented in national and international courtrooms, parliamentary inquiries, and exhibitions at some of the world’s leading cultural institutions and in international media, as well as in citizen’s tribunals and community assemblies.

This event is an in-person event for the VCUarts Qatar community only. Please use the registration button to register.

• 7th March & 8th March 2022, 9 AM – 12 PM
• Room 282
• Upon Registration Only 

Podcasting is one of the fastest-growing mediums for content creation. Anyone can start a podcast regardless of race, gender, or identity. The best part is no major network or middleman is getting in the way. I want this workshop to empower people to find and share their voices. There’s an audience and community out there for everyone, for almost every topic. As a radio broadcaster & podcaster here in Qatar, I get approached by people asking for advice on how to start a podcast, but they always lack the technical know-how. I want to simplify things and give them the confidence to go ahead. The goal is to make it inclusive, friendly, and accessible. Having the skills to produce a podcast right from identifying the concept up to launching and promoting the podcast on all major platforms.

Participants are required to bring a notebook and pen and if they have their laptop with Adobe Audition already installed.

This event is an in-person event for the VCUarts Qatar community only. Please use the registration button to register.

7th March 2022, 11 AM – 12 PM
Atrium
Upon Registration Only

We are in the midst of a substantial transition in creative practices. The emergence of AI-powered tools is introducing novel ways of creation and the development of this new technology is challenging the notion of creativity in artistic domains. Human abilities are increasingly being augmented and the space between imagination and actualization is becoming thinner as a result. However, the benefit of this technological evolution is not spontaneous for all domains, especially those that are not mainstream to where the technology is being developed, such as the Arabic script which is seriously underrepresented in the current state of research in creative AI. The research is rapidly advancing, but while the technology is in its development phase, we still have the opportunity to rethink the complex relationship between the Arabic script and modern technology, to relearn the subtle requirements of such a rich visual domain encountering emerging creative tools, and to reimagine the future of the script in light of the forthcoming radical changes.

This event is an in-person event for the VCUarts Qatar community only that will be streamed live. Members of the public are welcome to ask questions in a moderated chat, at the end of each session. Please use the registration button to register and receive a link to your chosen event/events.