ORGANIZED BY

PRO&CONTRA International Symposium
Moscow, October 8-11 2011; Krasnoyarsk, October 14-16 2011

The project is realized with Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation support
Under the patronage of Ministry of Culture of Russian Federation
Organized by "MediaArtLab" Centre for Art and Culture
Co-organized by Artplay on Yauza Design Centre
Partners: Royal Netherlands Embassy, Goethe Institut, Moskau, Austrian Cultural Forum

2011 Theme: Total Observer

“Today media constructs reality. Digital technologies change the society, politics and economics, but we are also changing with them. Technologies are extensions of our nervous system. We mutate gradually and become part of it. Under the pressure of the infinite number of cameras, stucked in the web, on one hand, we loose our freedom. But on the other - we expand our rights day by day via technological innovations. Art is not an outsider now, it's a trendsetter with new ideas and introduction into various fields is not directly connected to it. Only art with its intuition and power of imagination not limited by either discourse, or status, or norm becomes able to perceive the vague outlines of the future...”

Olga Shishko, PRO&CONTRA curator

Partners

General partner

Under the patronage of

Supported by

Open Society Institute

Красноярск

Площадка проведения

Expert Board

Dmitry Bulatov

An artist, art theorist. His research focuses on different aspects of interdisciplinary art media (sci-art, robotics, genetic engineering, etc.). Bulatov has taken part in numerous international contemporary art conferences and given lectures in Russia (including The State Hermitage Museum, The State Tretyakov Gallery, The National Centre for Contemporary Arts), USA, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Singapore and Hong Kong. In 2007 his artwork has been selected by Wired magazine as the world’s 10 top innovations. In 2009 he has been awarded the National Innovation Award for Contemporary Visual Arts. Organizer and curator of more than 20 international sci-art projects. Since 1998, Bulatov has been the curator at the Kaliningrad Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Art in Russia.
Photo: Asya Ablogina

Wolf Iro

Wolf Iro, born in Korbach (Germany) in 1970, studied Modern and Medieval Languages in Cambridge and later Slavonic Studies in Oxford. Wrote his PhD on ideology and sociology in Isaac Babel’s Konarmiya. Parallel to this he enrolled for theatre direction at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt. Subsequently worked as a management consultant for McKinsey and the World Bank. Joined the Goethe-Institut in 2005. Since 2009 program director at the Moscow branch.

Thymen Kouwenaar

Counsellor at Netherlands Embassy Russia

• Dpt. Head Eastern Europe and Central Asia Division в организации Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
• Head of Office в организации Netherlands Embassy office Tashkent
• deputy HoM в организации Permanent Representation of the Netherlands to the Conference on Disarmament, Geneva

Education:

• Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
• D. Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology of Russia
• Technische Universiteit Delft

Simon Mraz

Counsellor at Austrian Embassy Russia, director of Austrian Forum of Culture

Alina Saprykina

Studied at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Philosophy. Graduated as a lecturer in history and theory of culture and aesthetics. 
2000–2005 was working in media (Gazprom-Media).
2005–2008 – manager and producer of art projects “REALLY?” (exhibition, part of special projects of Moscow Third biennale); “Renault Art” (exhibition of works from the RENAULT contemporary art  collection); “Student Art Fair” (Moscow International trade fair); “PLUMS” (festival of audio-visual experiments).
2008–2010 – PR-director of “Garage” Center for Contemporary Culture (startup, organization and promotion of its first projects); curator of children’s open workshops.
2011 – Art-director of “Artplay” Design Center, director of cultural-exhibition programs.

OLGA SHISHKO

Art expert, curator. Her research activities focus on different aspects of contemporary media art (Art on the Net, Video, Cyberculture, etc.). Currently she is art-director of the "MediaForum" Multimedia Art Festival – one of the official programs of the Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF). Founder (since 2000) and Director (since 2006) of the Center of Culture and Art"MediaArtLab", an integrated research within contemporary art involving media technologies. She served on the jury of a number of international exhibitions. She is a member of several professional associations, namely, International Association of Art Critics (since 1997), Cinematographic Union of Russia (since 2000). Currently she is Professor of Media Culture at the Academy of communication.

Curator and editor of the  exhibitions, catalogues, anthologies and books on contemporary media art issues published in Russia, among them: "NewMediaLogia – NewMediaTopia" (Moscow, 1996), "Data Trash" (Moscow, 2000), "Pro&Contra" (Moscow, 2000), the "Anthology of The Russian Media Art" (1st part: “Video Art From Russia”, Moscow, 2001), "Transitland project in Moscow" (Moscow, 2009), "Expanded Cinema" (Moscow, 2011).

Alexey Shulgin

Alexey Shulgin was born in 1963 in Moscow. He is a pioneer of international new media art. Awardee of “Kandinsky Prize 2009” in “Media Art. Project of the year” category. Together with Aristarch Chernyshev has created (in 2005) art-group “Electroboutique”. The group produces critical art, vested in contemporary technological forms. In 2005 – 2009 it functioned as a gallery in cultural centre "ARTStrelka”. “Electroboutique” has had many exhibitions in Russia and abroad.

Irina Yurna

Education:

Institute of Art History, Moscow, Russia;
Eötvös Lorànd University, Budapest, Hungary;
Journalism Department, Moscow State University, Russia.

Employment:

Present: National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Deputy Director, Mikhail Prokhorov Fund, Member of the Expert Council;
1998–2009 The Ford Foundation, Moscow, Russia — Senior Program Officer, Media, Arts and Culture;
1997 The Ford Foundation, Moscow, Russia — Scholar-in-Residence;
1996 New York University, Visiting Professor, New York, USA;
1994–1996 — Open Society Institute, Moscow, Russia, Director of Journalism Program.