One of the key aspects of MIRA’s programme is to generate debate and open a reflection on topics that surround the digital arts. We will so on Thursday 8 November, the first day of the festival, through conferences that include the participation of artists, collectives, experts and professionals who will tell us about their projects, their visions and their ways of transmitting knowledge and exploring new paths, and with whom we will discuss and invite the audience to ask questions and contribute their opinion.
At MIRA 2018, under the title THE SEARCH FOR (modern) PLEASURE, we will reflect on hedonism, the human condition in the pursuit of pleasure and expansion and the relations that exist in the digital, technological and artistic fields. Pleasure can be a positive, pleasant or euphoric feeling and the digital era has granted us a new range of simulated pleasures along with the possibility of enjoying these through different platforms in a more immediate way.
In what way has digitality become our immediate connection with hedonism and how do contemporary artistic practices manage to simulate and generate discourses that evoke this natural search for the sensation of pleasure? How much do we currently depend on digitality to evoke pleasurable sensations, and how are artistic practice and methodology moulded under these same guidelines?
Through 3 conferences moderated by Zaiba Jabbar (founder of Hervisions) we will attempt to answer these and many more questions while we explore different projects and visions that revolve around the notions of pleasure within the digital era and art as a catalyst for hedonistic experiences.
The first, Claire Tolan explains The State of ShÜSh, will be a talk by Claire Tolan during which she will tell us about her career in the sonic exploration of ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) and about her project The State of ShÜSh: an offshoot of ASMR and the central figure of an ASMR role-playing game that she is developing. In the conference she will talk about the origins and theory of the game, with particular emphasis on its foundations in ASMR.
The second is titled Universal pleasures: A conversation with Filip Custic and will take the form of an exhibition and conversation with the artist revolving around methodology and vision of art, technological hedonism, the analysis of universal pleasure and his relations with learning and digital platforms.
And the third, Keiken + Nati Cerutti present Digital Pleasures, will be a performative and immersive conference that seeks to unfold the implications of contemporary society in the digital era. The Keiken collective will develop an immersive atmosphere by means of sound, performative actions and projections of digital works and 3D video. The conference is based on a series of chapters that unfold several contemporary themes, to offer the audience a tangible and performative experience.
