New Technological Art Award of the Liedts-Meesen Foundation (Ghent, Belgium)

Exhibition: November 8th to 23rd, 2014 Zebrastraat: knowledge centre During the last few years, Zebrastraat Ghent has developed into a stimulating knowledge centre with a strong interest in art. Every two years, Update/ the New Technological Art Award (NTAA) tries to fill a gap in the mainstream art world by paying attention to the technological developments which impel our global culture. NTAA selects and presents creations in which culture-forming technology plays a central role. Whether low or high tech, or intuitive or experimental, these creations always make us attentive to the innovative trends of our times. The exhibition of achievements of the selected winners is a compass that orients you to the relevant and innovative use of technology in the artistic sector. A new section consists of the selection, by specialists from various sectors, of key works from the art world, from scientific discoveries or from innovative breakthroughs that have significantly changed our living and thinking habits. These objects or concepts form the basis for a separate presentation and perception, while interacting with the works of the winners of the NTAA. Colloquium ‘Immortal’ Following the exhibition Update_4 in Zebrastraat in Ghent, the art school La Cambre and iMAL in Brussels, a colloquium was organized around the theme ‘immortal’ in art. Museum directors, restaurateurs, philosophers, artists and scientists reflected on the physical and symbolic survival of artworks and more specifically computer-related or technological art. It is clear that the traditional paradigms concerning preservation and conservation are under pressure. This raises new questions about what can and should be preserved. Through the realization of ‘scores’, which act as a guide, it becomes possible to reproduce an artwork, and consequently the concept of authen­ticity gets a new interpretation. the results of this three day colloquium are published online with text and moving images. http://www.ntaa.be/en/index.html