ART AND HISTORY OF THE

DIGITAL DIVIDE
October 4, PIGOTT HALL
5:45-7:30 PM (BLDG. 260), RM. 216

The Planetary Bet

Orit Halpern, Concordia University
Volatility—extremes of high and low, temporal scales between the geological and digi-
tal, varying thresholds of toxicity, safety, poverty—these are the differentials that in
contemporary societies are the very mediums for financial speculation and ubiquitous
computing. This talk will examine how concepts of resilience from ecology, ideas of sys-
tems management from cybernetics and design, and algorithmic investment strategies
from finance merged to produce both a contemporary mode of disaster speculation that
I label "the planetary bet” and an affective sentiment of "resilient hopefulness."

“The Fountain of Prosperity” and

Fotoformas :Art, Technology and Early Computation in Latin America
Andrés Burbano, U. de los Andes
Two fields of study converge in this talk. On the one hand, there is the research about
the history of media technologies that were proposed or developed in Latin America
and their impact in the art world. On the other, the history of early computing —the
formative years. My presentation makes the case for intersecting these domains in pro-
mising new ways.

Co-sponsored by
“Architecture, Form, and Experience.”