Goldsmiths MFA Fine Art

Zach Blas is presenting a lecture Conditions are Now in Transition: the Local, The Border at London’s Goldsmiths on November 23.

As an artist engaging with technology, queerness, and politics, Blas’ talk will focus on his recent work and writing around the limitations of digital calculation and visualisation of biometric recognition.

Eduoard Gilssant’s writing on opacity and his critique of transparency will present as a major reference point in the artist’s work towards a theory of ‘informatic opacity’, along with his own dystopian installations ‘Face Cages’ and his ‘Facial Weaponisation Suite’ project in thinking of art in technology.

See the FB event page for details.**

zach blas

The students of Goldsmiths MFA Fine Art programme have organized a two-day seminar titled Material Cryptographies and set to take place at London’s Tenderpixel on March 18 and 19.

The seminar focuses on the implications of encryption practices for contemporary art, examining how to ability to write and solve codes and expose hidden materials, and use them in fascinating ways. They ask: “how do artists use encryption as a methodology for approaching materials and how does this relationship trouble preconceptions of artistic authorship?”

The two-day event brings a handful of screenings on Thursday, including ‘Mediation as Such (Promo Mix)’ by Sæmundur Þór Helgason and Patrick Hough‘s ‘Object Interviews (Part I)’, as well as a lecture by Susan Schuppli titled ‘Informed Matter: The Structural Violence of Code’ on Wednesday, and one by Lars ‘TCF’ Holdhus on Thursday. The event caps of with an audio performance by TCF.

See the ‘Material Cryptographies’ exhibition page for details. **

Zach Blas @ Goldsmiths, Nov 23

Material Cryptographies @ Tenderpixel, Mar 18 – 19