Augmented Authenticity: A Speculative Design Work

Metamedia Association in collaboration with The Design of Visual Communications Department (Arts Academy in Split) is organizing speculative design workshop under the title ‘’Augmented Authenticity’’. The workshop will take place from 2-7 August 2021 in Community center Karlo Rojc in Pula, Croatia and will be led by Jasna Dimitrovska and pETER Purg. The workshop will produce tangible speculations on the phenomena of staged authenticity in the context of social media cultures. The workshop will be held during the 23rd edition of Media Mediterranea festival. // Workshop Context The pandemic reality is radically new. Or have we seen it all before? Staged authenticity seems to be turning into actual identity. The social media has become purely staged and deeply influential, from computer-generated Instagram influencers to corporately managed profiles of real people. But then, whose lives are their followers trying to live, or to stage? How does Instagram culture build upon (or against) traditional cultures of (self-)representation, and is there a way to hack it all for the better? Machines are learning instead of us, teaching us how to stay authentic. To see the future, one needs to deeply understand the past. And one’s own position between the two. But this position is never a solitary one… We are planning to live on and extract from another planet, while still stuck midway between authentic travel and staged tourism, often as propaganda with a strategic economic aim. The above challenges will be explored through a speculative approach which will combine a practical workshop process based on both digital and analogue media, with exercises and excesses in both design and art thinking. The participants will, in tandems or small groups, develop speculations ‒ joint creative works to be exhibited publicly at the last day of the programme in the gallery DAI-SAI (http://dai-sai.hr/web/?cat=9), within the Media Mediterranea festival programme. Along the intensive week the participants will be mentored by a tandem of complementary doers & thinkers: Jasna Dimitrovska (design prototyping, experimental interaction, creative technology, art and science) and pETER Purg (performance, participatory art, media ecology, art thinking, ArtSciTech, media hacking, speculative futurology). The workshop addresses a broad range of c(onc)reative profiles and open-minded people, from art to design students and practitioners, hands-on tinkering youth, all the way to social media aficionados & activists, wokes & veterans. The participants will learn how to cross-think (both art and design) as well as cross-tinker (both digital and analog). The workshop is primarily dedicated to experiencing different (combinations of) practices and thinking styles, staging it all in a radically speculative way. Still, the skill and knowledge sharing in a productive situation will be consistently based on speculative methodologies, from both art and design. The participants will combine technologies available onsite (basic and some expert digital and analogue creative media) as well as include participants’ own creative tools and stuff they bring along. // About Speculative Design Speculative design is usually focused on the ideas that are stemming from the area of sciences, while applied technologies are dealing with the projections of socio-technical trends, development of the future scenarios and the role of products in the context of new usage. // General Information The aim of the workshop is to gather young students, experts and artists from the field of design, new media, IT, sociology, biology, etc., ages 18-35. The workshop programme includes some lectures, but mostly collaborative and interactive tasks, visual presentations, and group work, focused on the process of practical co-creation. Working language of the workshop is English, fair fluency in spoken English is thus expected. On the final day of the workshop the participants will present their outcomes in public at the Media Mediterranea 23 festival. The participation on the workshop is free of charge. Accommodation expenses are fully covered by the organizers. Travel expenses are covered only up to the standard cost of our public transportation. Food expenses are not covered and are at the expense of the participants themselves. Refreshments will be provided during the workshop. // Mentors Jasna Dimitrovska is a Berlin based creative producer working on the intersection of design, art and technology. She has MA in Digital Media at the University of Arts Bremen and diploma in Comparative Literature at the Skopje state University. She has taught two courses of technology and design at the HFK Bremen, worked as interaction designer and creative producer in the field of creative technology and art and science. She has held talks and exhibited her projects in Belgium, Germany, Scotland, Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia and was a designer-in-residence at BUDALAB Kortrijk. www.jasnadimitrovska.net Peter Purg currently leads the New media module in the Digital/Media Arts and Practices graduate//postgraduate programme at the School of Arts, University of Nova Gorica, where he acts as Associate Professor, projects coordinator as well as expert across realms of digital culture and media. Having obtained a PhD in media art, communication science and literature from the university of Erfurt (Germany), his scientific inquiries now include media arts pedagogy, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation, media art and media ecology. www.pleter.net // Applications Participants will be chosen among the applicants, according to their motivation and profile/CV: 1. The motivation letter should contain half to one page of clearly legible and consistent text, in English and possibly in PDF, clearly stating why the participant is interested in the topic, possibly sharing some thoughts on the workshop pretext. 2. The CV/profile should be kept within one page (biographical note in prose format) and may contain further references to portfolios, personal websites, projects etc. as URL links, all within a PDF document. Having (or hating) an Instagram profile is not a condition. For participation in the workshop, please fill out the application form (https://forms.gle/RnsL6bcSr8nmoAZ46). For more information, contact us on Final date for application is July 11, 2021. The number of participants is limited. All applicants will receive notification of a selection decision by email on July 15, 2021. Once selected and notified, the participants will be expected to respond to all communications by the organizers duly. They shall also receive a task to accomplish before workshop start that will demand individual self-guided preparatory activity within 2 weeks before workshop start. All applicants will receive notification of a selection decision by email. *** Disclaimer: Workshop organizers will provide hand sanitizers, face masks and gloves, and will implement necessary safety measures. If the workshop cannot take part in-person due to COVID- 19 related measures, it will be held in a hybrid format.