The history of computation is rich with narratives of hackers, tinkerers and enthusiasts. Myriad computational subcultures have emerged that both orbit and impinge upon larger computing, gaming, sonic and visual cultures. From micro-computing platforms to gaming hardware and beyond, practitioners within these niches re-frame and re-task off-the-shelf computational hardware and software, create new devices and interfaces, and challenge our assumptions of computational technologies. By directly engaging with the various elements of any given digital machine, these subcultures alter our relationships with technology, rendering acts of computational creativity, modification, and reverse engineering as modes of critical knowledge production.
As a way of engaging with the social, cultural and technological fabrics of these groups and their relations to adjacent DIY technology practices from both scholarly and practice-based modes of knowledge production, the two day I/O [Input/Output] Symposium will set it attention upon computational subcultures and their communal, political economic and material conditions. Drawing from both scholarly and creative modes of knowledge production, I/O will feature panel discussions, workshops, performances, an exhibition and a keynote lecture by Anders Carlsson aka Goto80, a scholar and practitioner from Sweden, with roots in the European chipmusic and demoscenes.
The mandate of the Symposium is to facilitate a critical and accessible dialogue between emerging scholars, practitioners and larger publics with a deep interest in the myriad iterations of computational subcultures.
The I/O Symposium is set to occur on November 24 and 25, 2016 at Concordia University, on the 11thFloor of the EV building, as is supported by the TAG Research Centre, the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology, the Hexagram Network for Research-Creation and the Mlab.
We are currently circulating our call for proposals (papers / panels / artworks), and invite graduate students, recent graduates, post-doctoral researchers, artists and practitioners to submit their work. The deadline is October 15th, with notifications being sent out very shortly afterwords. We look forward very much to two days of workshops, artworks and conversations.