Video Embed Code: https://youtu.be/dREIllyAaOI?start=2980
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  • , Sofian Audry, Sofian Audry is an artist, scholar, Professor of Interactive Media within the School of Media at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) and co-director of the Hexagram international network for research-creation in art, cultures and technologies. Their work is inspired from artificial intelligence, artificial life, biology and cognitive sciences. Their computational artistic practice branches through multiple media including robotics, interactive installations, immersive environments, physical computing interventions, internet art, and electronic literature. Audry is the author of the upcoming book Art in the Age of Machine Learning (MIT Press). Their work and research
  • , Ionat Zurr, Dr Ionat Zurr is an artist, curator, researcher and academic coordinator of SymbioticA. An award winning artist and researcher, Zurr formed, together with Oron Catts, the Tissue Culture and Art Project. She has been an artist in residence in the School of Anatomy and Human Biology since 1996 and was central to the establishment of SymbioticA in 2000. Zurr, who received her PhD titled ‘Growing Semi-Living Art’ from the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts, is a core researcher and academic co-ordinator at SymbioticA. She is considered a pioneer in the field of biological arts and her work has been exhibited internationally.
  • , Cynthia Noury, Cynthia Noury is pursuing a doctorate in research-creation communication (UQAM) dedicated to media street interviewing. She explores the issues related to this practice from both a theoretical and a creative perspective, notably through a series of experimental radio performances. She has collaborated on several international projects and research groups on research-creation and is also a lecturer at UQAM's École des médias.
  • , Marc-André Cossette, Marc-André Cossette is a Canadian trans-disciplinary artist working on the relation between technology and performing arts using sound, visual, and interaction design. Marc-André holds a BA in Interactive Media and a Master’s in Experimental Media (UQAM). He is now pursuing a PhD program at Concordia University in which he explores the use of Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life algorithms to create generative dance performances. In addition to his research-creation practice, Marc-André has collaborated with several artists as a sound, visual, interaction, and stage designer. He is also the co-creator and co-host of the REC podcast series on research-creation produced in collaboration with CHOQ.fm and the Hexagram Network.
  • , Paloma Leyton, Paloma Leyton is a Ph.D. student in research-creation (UQAM/UNIBO), whose project focuses on the roles that gravity management and identity construction play in the movement of the body in suspension. Her background blends art-based approaches to creation, research and education in both visual arts and aerial practices, in different contexts (international institutions, companies around the world, local education systems and associations). She works fluently in French, English, Spanish, and Italian.
  • , Gaelle Scali, Gaelle Scali is pursuing a Master’s degree in communication, research-creation, experimental media at Université du Québec à Montréal. Musician and visual artist by training, she explores the connections between matter, sound, writing, and space through her research and creation. Her work is at the crossroads between musical performance, painting, and installation. She is interested in musical technologies inspired by « live electronic music », like human-machine interfaces, digital instruments, improvisation, and visual arts.

REⓒ is a radio series featuring young Montreal researchers-creators whose creative practice is changing not only the way we perceive research, but — potentially — our entire worldview.

Through REⓒ, we invite our listeners to follow us in the vibrant world of research-creation. Each episode of the series addresses a current topic through a common question in order to illustrate how research practices that include the arts and creation are redefining our understanding of the production of knowledge in academia

REⓒ presents a special episode that will premiere during the Ars Electronica Festival 2021. This episodes will feature Sofian Audry from Université du Québec à Montréal and Ionat Zurr from University of Wes Australia. During the 1-hour discussion, the participants will discover each other's work with the public and exchange about Hexagram's yearly thematic: EMERGENCE/Y.

Guest
Sofian Audry (UQAM)
Ionat Zurr (UWA)

Host
Marc-André Cossette

REC Team
Cynthia Noury
Marc-André Cossette
Paloma Leyton
Gaelle Scali

External resources and links

Sofian Audry, Personal Website

SymbioticA Official Website

Video Embed Code: https://youtu.be/U02peIjpDIo
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  • , Leah Barclay, Australian sound artist, designer and researcher. Her work has been exhibited internationally by the Smithsonian Museum, UNESCO, and Al Gore’s Climate Reality. Leah’s installations have been presented across the world from Times Square to the Eiffel Tower. She is currently a lecturer in design at USC Sunshine Coast, Australia.
  • , Ricardo Dal Farra, Professor of music and media arts at Concordia University, Canada. He is founder of the symposia Balance-Unbalance (BunB) on art-science and environmental crisis. Ricardo has been director of Hexagram, Canada and researcher of UNESCO, France. He is a board member of ISEA International. Composer/artist working in transdisciplinary actions with science and emergent technologies.
  • , Rob La Frenais, Contemporary art curator for 30 years. He has recently curated exhibitions in the US, Scotland, France, Liverpool, UK, India, and Taiwan. Rob is is a board member of ISEA International. From 1997-2014, he was the curator of The Arts Catalyst. Rob initiated The Future of Transportation project in Bangalore.
  • , Felipe Londoño, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Design at Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, and director of the International Image Festival, held in Colombia since 1997. Former President of the University of Caldas (2014-2018). Electronic arts curator; researcher in the fields of design, and art and science, and creative industries.
  • , Roger Malina, Physicist, astronomer and Executive Editor of the Leonardo publications at MIT Press. Professor of Arts and Technology and Professor of Physics at UT Dallas. He is the former Director of the Observatoire Astronomique de Marseille Provence (OAMP). Malina was the principal investigator for the NASA Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer Satellite at the UC Berkeley.
  • , Pablo Suarez, He is associate director for research and innovation at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, visiting fellow at Boston University and artist in residence at the National University of Singapore. Pablo has consulted for the United Nations, the World Bank, and about 20 other humanitarian and development organizations, working in more than 60 countries.

The global climate is changing, and vulnerable communities around the world are suffering the consequences. Traditional disaster management approaches are not enough to deal with rising risks, and new forms of collaboration are needed to inspire people and organizations to link knowledge with action.

It has become clear that information is rarely sufficient to trigger behaviour change. To face the environmental emergency, we need transdisciplinary methods that involve the brainpower and the emotions of participants.

“Balance-Unbalance: The Future started Now” is the second encounter in a series of roundtables gathering scientists, artists, architects and curators to help us think about what we should do today to change course and to have a possible future, considering the serious risks we face given the growing environmental crisis. Words leading to specific and relevant ecological actions. In times of environmental emergency, planetary thinking proposing new models helping us to design strategies for supporting life in all its forms.

Speakers
Leah Barclay
Ricardo Dal Farra
Rob La Frenais
Felipe Londoño
Roger Malina
Pablo Suarez

Video Embed Code: https://youtu.be/haGA5CNy4rQ
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  • , Puneet Jain, Puneet is currently pursuing his PhD at Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture, and Technology at Concordia University, Canada. Puneet’s research investigates new forms of interfaces to initiate dialogues between the human and the non-human in a digital space - questioning how sensory perceptions are morphed, enhanced, and augmented in such an entangled digital space. Before pursuing his Doctorate, Puneet spent some time at Interaction Design Lab, IISc, India where he designed assistive technologies for people with speech and motor impairment. Puneet is also a Mechanical Engineer and has worked at SAP Labs, India as a data scientist from 2016-2018.

""Umwelten"" as a research creation project invites a human, a Mimosa Pudica (or touch-me-not) plant, and an ML (machine learning) algorithm to interface with one another in the same physical space (but with different umwelts). As the human types on the screen, the typography (color, font size, and spacing between the letters) dynamically evolves based on the typing speed of the human. Meanwhile, a camera pointing to the plant captures images of the plant frame by frame, sending it to an ML model trained on the image data set of the plant - classifying the plant into two categories (closed or open) with respective probabilities. While the leaves of the plant are susceptible to close or open depending on an external stimuli (sunlight or human touch), the probabilities of the classification algorithm again influence the typography on the screen thus generating a confusing typography acting as an interplay between human and more than human sentience - an interplay seen as an exchange of signs between a human, an ML algorithm, and a plant while they re-question the decided futures by negotiating and reformulating their relationships by pulling themselves back to the ontological question of being V. becoming.

This video uses the following sounds:
"drone 2" by filipiwo (https://freesound.org/people/filipiwo/sounds/463845/) licensed under CCBYNC 3.0 from freesound
and "the forest" by Sultana Zana

Conceptualization:
Puneet Jain and Sultana Zana

Story:
Puneet Jain and Sultana Zana

Editing:
Sultana Zana

Camera:
Puneet Jain

Illustrations:
Sultana Zana

Video Embed Code: https://youtu.be/meo2Lt07eCA
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  • , Alexandre Saunier, Alexandre Saunier is a inter-disciplinary artist who works at the intersection between light, video, autonomous systems, and sensory perception. He holds a master in sound design from the ENS Louis Lumière (Paris), and participated in research in robotic design and interactive lighting at the ENS Arts Décoratifs (Paris). He is now pursuing a research-creation PhD program at Concordia University in which he develops the concept of “performative lighting” at the intersection between lighting design, media arts, and Complex System theory. His artistic work and academic research has been presented and published in various international venues such as Mutek, Ars Electronica, Impakt Festival, MuffatHalle, Bcn_llum, Toronto’s Nuit Blanche, or Media Art History.
  • , Marc-André Cossette, Marc-André Cossette is a Canadian trans-disciplinary artist working on the relation between technology and performing arts using sound, visual, and interaction design. Marc-André holds a BA in Interactive Media and a Master’s in Experimental Media (UQAM). He is now pursuing a PhD program at Concordia University in which he explores the use of Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life algorithms to create generative dance performances. In addition to his research-creation practice, Marc-André has collaborated with several artists as a sound, visual, interaction, and stage designer. He is also the co-creator and co-host of the REC podcast series on research-creation produced in collaboration with CHOQ.fm and the Hexagram Network.

Fragments: Poetics of Otherness is an audiovisual performance for human performers and autonomous computer processes. The work reflects on how data processing Artificial Intelligence systems anonymize and aestheticize human conflicts. In a short video presentation, the artists discuss the aesthetic, technical, and reflexive aspects of the work. They present their creation process, the role of technologies in their creative decisions, and the modes of cooperation they develop with autonomous computational processes.

Artists
ALMA (Alexandre Saunier & Marc-André Cossette)

Video Embed Code: https://youtu.be/XVkDO_ZVrlY
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  • , Maya Lamothe-Katrapani, Maya Lamothe-Katrapani is an undergraduate student in the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Concordia University, Montreal. She is currently a research assistant examining speculative smart city projects at a planetary scale under the supervision of Dr. Orit Halpern. She is also collaboratively working on the website for the Reclaiming the Planet project. Her past academic works have merged her interests in gentrification, the role of material traces, memory and heritage with sound recording and photography. She is interested in exploring how creative mediums translate the embodied experience of social science research. She will complete her BA in the Fall 2021 semester at the University of Copenhagen as part of a student exchange program. This experience will allow her to familiarize herself with the Danish Welfare model and with Danish Architecture and Urban Design through a sociological perspective.
  • , Alessia Zarzani, Alessia Zarzani is currently a Guest professor at the Université de Montréal, Faculty of Architecture. Her current research focuses on the urban landscape and the influence of technology and artificial intelligence. She graduated in architecture in 2012 (Sapienza University of Rome) after having worked in Italy and Brazil on multiple projects combining architecture and urban planning; furthermore she holds a joint PhD in Planning from Université de Montréal and in Landscape and Environmental from Sapienza University of Rome (2018). Author of several articles related to the evolution of urban landscape, Zarzani co-edited together with A. Ponte the publication Architecture and information 2.0 (2017). In 2018 she joined the research staff of the cooperation MILA-IVADO-UdeM on issues dealing with the ethics of urban digital landscape and the integration of artificial intelligence. In 2019 she became co-author of the Montreal Declaration for responsible artificial intelligence. Since then, she joined the Division of Plan and Policy of the City of Montreal. Her portfolio includes the integration and the impact evaluation of new mobility services and technologies in the urban landscape, including autonomous vehicles and micro-mobility.
  • , Orit Halpern, Orit Halpern is an Associate Professor in Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University. Her work bridges the histories of science, computing, and cybernetics with design. She is currently working on two projects. The first is a history of the relationship between “intelligence”, liberalism, and democracy; the second project examines extreme infrastructures and the idea of experimentation at planetary scales in design, science, and engineering. She is also the director of the Speculative Life Research Cluster and D4 : The Disrupting Design Research Group, both are laboratories bridging the arts, environmental sciences, media, and the social sciences.
  • , Jean-Denis Milette, Jean-Denis Milette is an Architect and Ph. D. student at Montreal University. His work focuses on the impacts of science, computing, and regulation on architecture. He completed his studies at both Montreal University and EPFL. He is currently working on his Ph. D. research about 4.0 industry’s impact on architecture.
  • , Gabriel Payant, Captivated by the effects of the digital transformation in design, Gabriel Payant works as an Architect and automation specialist for DMA Architects, as well as a Guest Professor at the School of Architecture of the University of Montreal. Since he first grasped the disruptive nature of computational design in his master’s thesis on the parametric planning of the redevelopment of ailing malls at the regional scale, he has furthered his research by tutoring architecture master students for their thesis project in workshops on territory and technology.
  • , Marius Senneville, A recipient of SSHRC scholarships at both the master and PhD levels, Marius Senneville is now pursuing a thesis in Social and Cultural Analysis at Concordia University under the supervision of Orit Halpern. Borrowing from science and technology studies, political economy and organization studies, his research focuses on the cultural and organizational/financial factors influencing how ethical and socially responsible research in AI is conceptualized and operationalized in entrepreneurial spaces of knowledge production. His work has been published in Big Data & Society (co-authored) as well as presented at the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S).
  • , Alessandra Ponte, Alessandra Ponte is Full professor at the École d’ architecture, Université de Montréal. She has also taught at the schools of architecture of Princeton University, Cornell University, Pratt Institute New York, the ETH Zurich, and at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia. Since 2008 she has been responsible for the conception and organization of the Phyllis Lambert International Seminar, annual colloquia held at the Université de Montréal, addressing current topics in landscape and architecture. She curated the exhibition Total Environment: Montreal 1965-1975 (Canadian Center for Architecture, Montreal, 2009) and collaborated to the exhibition and catalogue God & Co: François Dallegret Beyond the Bubble (with Laurent Stalder and Thomas Weaver, London: Architectural Association Publications, 2011).
  • , Kim Laneuville, Kim Laneuville completed a pre-university degree in natural sciences (2014) at the Cégep de Sherbrooke. She also owns a Bachelor’s degree in psychology (2017) as well as a Master’s degree in architecture (2020 at the Université of Montréal. Since 2013, she has been a medical assistant in the Canadian Armed Forces requiring resourcefulness, priority management, creativity and leadership. She started her intership in architecture in June 2021 with Groupe Leclerc Architecture + Design.
  • , Adriana Menghi , Adriana Menghi aims for a career in ecological architecture which would contribute to the valorization of the built heritage, of crafts arts and vernacular building techniques. She believes in an egalitarian and collaborative design process as well as in the importance of low-tech and high-tech approaches. She completed an Honours Bachelor of Arts with distinction from the University of Toronto, with a double major in design and in history and theory of art and architecture. She founded her faculty’s student union and a student research lab in eco-architecture, the future-Living Lab. With this design-build group she designed and built several prototypes and a Passiv Haus in Northern Ontario. After her graduation she worked with architect Stefano Pujatti in Italy, then as a researcher in the fields of holography and virtual and augmented reality visualization at OCAD University, in Toronto.
  • , Delphine Ducharme, After having completed her undergraduate studies in architecture at Université de Montréal and having spent a year abroad at LOCI Bruxelles university, Delphine came back to Montreal to pursue a master in architecture. Her research interests currently focus on the role of architecture within territorial issues. She simultaneously works in a research group in collaboration with ARIAction and Architecture Without Borders Quebec where she works on improving the resiliency of the built environment in cities of Quebec to increasingly frequent flooding events.
  • , Meryem Sekhri, After graduating from the University of Montreal with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2020, Meryem Sekhri is pursuing her Master of Architecture degree at the same institution. In 2019, she participated in the Visiting Barragan workshop in Mexico City, under the tutelage of Go Hasegawa. Since winter 2020, she has been involved with Docomomo Quebec, a modern heritage preservation organization. She is currently participating in the Architecture Territory Information 4.0 workshop directed by Alessandra Ponte. Her research theme addresses the issues of pollination and the beekeeping industry in Quebec.
  • , Alexandre Asselin, Originally from a small village in Montérégie, Alexandre started his academic path in the city of Saint-Hyacinthe. After having completed his high school studies in an international program at Saint-Joseph de Saint-Hyacinthe, before obtaining his college diploma at the cegep of the same city in Pure and applied sciences. In 2017, he enrolled in architecture at McGill University, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in 2020. He is currently completing his Master’s degree in architecture at the Université de Montréal. Since the summer of 2018, Alexandre also works at Architecture CBA, a small firm located in Mont-Saint-Hilaire.
  • , Anna Paola Bossi, Originally from Verona, Anna Paola Bossi first completed her studies in foreign languages, to then study architecture at Polytechnic of Milan, in Mantou. After many travels, she finally settled in Montreal in 2015 where she undertook a minor in art history and started her professional career at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Afterward, she started her studies in architecture at the Université of Montréal through which she is awarded three scholarships from the CIBPA Foundation as well as from the Fonds Wilrose Desrosiers et Pauline Dunn. Officially graduated in 2020, she is currently pursuing a master at the Faculty of Planning and works full-time as an intern at Ian Nataf architect.
  • , Baptiste Kauffmann, After having obtained a general scientific baccalaureate at the Saint-Just high school in Lyon, Baptiste Kauffmann went to study for a BTS in construction (Brevet de Technicien Supérieur). He completed an internship in the construction company Grisoni-Zaugg in Geneva, Switzerland. Following this training, he entered the Université de Montréal to complete a Bachelor’s degree in architecture. He worked for Architecture Barillot in Bourg-en-Bresse, France, on various projects such as the conversion of a dwelling into a wine tasting school in Mâcon and the creation of a butterfly refuge for the Parc des oiseaux in Villars-les-Dombes. He is now completing a Master’s degree in architecture at Université de Montréal.
  • , Millie-Ann Grenon, Passionate about architecture, she completed her professional training at the Université de Montréal while accumulating various professional experiences within emerging architectural firms. Sensitized to the challenges of current practice and the opportunities that the field of planning might offer, she undertook the Architecture/Territory/Information 4.0 Master’s project. It is people and their environment that inspire her and motivate her passion for planning and inhabited spaces.
  • , Rachel Ducharme, Rachel Ducharme is currently completing her Master in architecture at Université de Montréal. After graduating from high school in 2015, she completed a DEC in Visual Arts at Édouard-Montpetit CEGEP and obtained, in 2016, the scholarship for the best R score in the program. From 2017 to 2020, she completed her Bachelor’s degree in architecture at Université de Montréal and started the Master’s program in 2020. Since May 2021 she has been interning at Nativ Architecture.
  • , Charles Antoine Poulin, After his undergraduate studies in architecture at Université Laval, Charles Antoine proceeded to complete a master in building engineering, structural profile at Concordia University. He is currently pursuing a master in architecture at Université de Montréal. Helped with his previous experience in patrimonial architecture in Chaudière-Appalaches, Charles-Antoine is now focusing on digital integration with regard to the conception of forestry projects in the region of Abitibi-Témiscamingue. His research conducted during winter 2021 has allowed him to explore various ways to use wood structures as well as data collection with regard to the monitoring of the general state and behaviors of buildings. This research framework is to be further advanced within the thesis project during the fall 2021 semester.
  • , Fannie Hébert, Following her undergraduate studies in communication-marketing at Université de Sherbrooke as well as her independent studies in art history at Université du Québec à Montréal, Fannie Hébert ultimately chose the architecture program at Université de Montréal in 2016. In 2018, equipped with a basis of German, she leaves Montreal to complete her last undergraduate year of study at the Technische Universität of Munich. This experience allowed her to discover and explore an entirely new perspective on her domain of practice. Once back in Montreal, she joined the team of Manoeuvre Architecture, where she has been working for now more than a year and a half, in parallel to her master in architecture she currently conducts at Université de Montréal.
  • , Ikram Haffaf, Initially pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Université du Québec à Montréal, Ikram reoriented toward architecture to satisfy both her curiosity and creativity. She graduated from Université de Montréal in 2019 and then dedicated a full year to internships and entering the professional milieu at Rouge Architecture. In 2020, she started her master in architecture and is concurrently working at Ruccolo+Faubert Architectes.
  • , Liliane Hamelin, After having completed her Bachelor’s degree in architecture at Université de Montréal in 2019, Liliane undertook her Master of architecture at the same faculty. In 2009 she was recipient of the Ivanhoe-Cambridge Observatory Scholarship for a project carried out in collaboration with two of her colleagues, and in 2021 she received the GLT Scholarship for her proposal with regard to her Master’s project. Liliane is now working as an intern at the Montreal firm Provencher_Roy for almost two years.
  • , Marie-Ève Fortier, Originally from Cantons-de-l’Est, Marie-Ève graduated in 2016 from the Technology of architecture program at Université de Sherbrooke (award of excellence) and continued her Bachelor’s degree at the Université de Montréal. In 2018, she undertook a semester abroad as part of the Hors les murs program where she conducted research and design work in Brazil. She dedicated the following year to a professional trip to Paris where she notably worked at the Ramdam architecture studio as well as to the Conseil d’Architecture, d’Urbanisme et de l’environnement (CAUE) of the city of Paris. In parallel to her university training, she participated in various competitions within the DAME collective founded in 2020 with David Blanc.

Reclaiming the Planet will be a publication, series of video taped discussions, and installation of data visualizations and architectural models. In this piece we showcase the results of our current architecture research studio investigating how industry 4.0 is transforming territory, environment, and political-economy. The project involves data visualizing the changing Quebec extraction industry ecologies, and imagining speculative designs for inhabiting post-extractionary territories in the future.

STUDENTS:
Alexandre Asselin
Arnaud Coulombe
Delphine Ducharme
Rachel Ducharme
Marie-Ève Fortier
Millie-Ann Grenon
Ikram Haffaf
Liliane Hamelin
Fannie Hébert
Baptiste Kauffman
Kim Laneuville
Adriana Menghi
Anna Paola Bossi
Charles-Antoine Poulin
Meryem Sekhri

DIRECTORS/STAFF
Alessandra Ponte
Orit Halpern
Alessia Zarzani
Gabriel Payant
Jean-Denis Milette
Marius Senneville
Maya Lamothe-Katrapani

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