Data Relations Summer School Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, RMIT Thursday 16 – Monday 20 February 2023
Data Relations Summer School (DRSS) took place in Naarm/Melbourne across four days and nights comprising workshops, talks, performances and other activities. The agenda of the school was simply to hold collective space, however temporarily or provisionally, to think critically, speculatively, and collaboratively about what it means to live in a data-driven world, with all the negative and positive valences this entails.
During the daytime sessions, held primarily at RMIT University, the cohort of over 90 contributors and participants assembled in a ‘classroom’ formation, as artists, researchers, and practitioners from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, for a series of experiments and exercises grounded in pedagogy and artistic exploration. In the evenings, at Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, were performances, lectures, and conversations by Australian and visiting international artists, framed by proximity to the works in the Data Relations exhibition.
As part of DRSS, Machine Listening ran a workshop entitled ‘Data Audits, or Why Listen to Datasets?’.
A creative response and map of the DRSS by Ana Tiquia can be found in the Data Relations Publication
full schedule
MELBOURNE, THURSDAY 16 to MONDAY 20 FEBRUARY, 2023
Hello, and welcome to the Data Relations Summer School. Thanks to everyone who is reading this. That likely makes you one of the enthusiastic cohort who has enrolled via the expression of interest, or a generous facilitator/performer who will be leading a session, or one of the many supporters, institutional and otherwise, of this program.
The Data Relations Summer School takes place between 16-20 February 2023, across four days and nights of workshops, talks, performances and other activities, in Naarm/Melbourne. The agenda of the school is simply to hold collective space, however temporarily or provisionally, to think critically, speculatively, and collaboratively about what it means to live in a data-driven world, with all the negative and positive valences this entails.
During the daytime sessions, held primarily at RMIT University, we will assemble in ‘classroom’ formation, as artists, researchers, and practitioners from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, for a series of experiments and exercises grounded in pedagogy and artistic exploration. Snacks, power, WiFi, tables and chairs will be provided. In the evenings, at Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, we will witness performances, lectures and conversations by Australian and visiting international artists, framed by proximity to the works in the Data Relations exhibition. There will be a bar and plenty of time to chat.
Beyond the institutional platforms of the University and gallery, we will hold a third, online, space, in the form of a Discord server for parallel conversations, communications and exchange. You’ll receive an invitation to your email address or can access the server here. In these different contexts, the aim is to produce a cohort or learning community, grounded in shared sociality, to generate and circulate knowledge, ideas, tactics and techniques.
In the document that follows you will find a schedule of events and program descriptions, information on the contributors, access and venues. In some instances, we will ask that you prepare for sessions by reading, listening or watching pre-prepared materials. In other cases, you can simply arrive ready for action.
See you at the Summer School.