ACRI Chennai
Presentation
24 November, 2021 | 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm IST | Presentation
ACRI Chennai’s Tech in Arts was a three-part presentation by #womenintechinarts featuring Shaleen Wadhwana, Osheen Siva, Ambika Joshi and Nanditi Khilnani. The event was an intersection of tech enthusiasts, artists, arts administrators and teaching professionals coming together to share thoughts on technology as an enabler for the Arts.
Emphasizing on how technology plays a pivotal role in their respective fields, each speaker presented a 15 minute talk followed by a quick round of Q&A. Shaleen Wadhwana, an independent arts educator and cultural heritage professional shared her experience of co- designing India’s first virtual artist residency – Fissure with the Pollinator Interdisciplinary Lab, 3D mapping of curated shows, designing and teaching a tech and humanities curriculum all throughout the pandemic. Followed by Osheen Siva, an illustrator and artists based out of Goa introducing her work of murals through the lens of surrealism, speculative fiction, science fiction rooted in mythologies and her Dalit and Tamilian heritage. The presentation further addressed the possibilities of combining Augmented Reality and murals/illustrations and answering questions on how technology has increased the scope for artists in both professional and personal ways.
The third and final segment by Ajaibgarh was a detailed map on technology in art as a format, process and a medium. Beginning with projects that highlight technology for art – co-founders Ambika Joshi and Nanditi Khilnani introduced the process of converting the ‘Bombay plague’ by Ranjit Kandalgaonkar to an interactive map to make art itself a social activity that drives connections amongst people. Further themes of Art for Tech, Tech and Art, Art with Tech and Tech-Art supported with case studies of IVR based interactive fiction artwork, The last poet project – a live performance, world building, metaverse, interactive theatre experiment, generative music, live coding and visuals, generative poetry based on body movements using machine learnings and finally visual poetry and game like interaction. The segment concluded with the Tech Art Idea generator built by Ajaibghar that brings together traditional art forms, new technology and subjects that drives conversations on themes that need to be addressed with urgency.
In conclusion the event was addressing tech that is rapidly changing the way traditional art systems function and driving conversations on equitable access, reliable and affordable sources and how we can fill gaps created as tech enters the world of Arts.
