CPH:LAB INTER:ACTIVE SYMPOSIUM

In a conference-style programme we will examine with them the creative landscape into which their new works are emerging with  a series of lightning talks from a number of festival guests.

We are delighted to welcome Astria Suparak to open the Symposium as the keynote speaker. She is an artist and curator. She will present Asian futures, without Asians her multimedia presentation, which asks: “What does it mean when so many white filmmakers envision futures inflected by Asian culture, but devoid of actual Asian people?” Astria will introduce the Asian Futures series, contextualising the work by showing how her art practice draws on geography, fandom, sports, punk feminism, and working with activist artist groups. Astria Suparak’s work, Finite Horizon, is presented at the Interactive Exhibition of the festival.

Astria Suparak will be followed by artist and writer Alistair Gentry, who will talk about making work, especially with disabled people, outside the conventional spaces of galleries, theatres, and mainstream documentary. Unbuilt Environments, played at CPH:DOX, is a video installation about imagined utopias and dystopias of disabled people, based on consultation with disabled people in London. It uses architectural fly-throughs and property developer concept images to satirise the ways that society, and the built environment, disables and excludes.

Poulomi Basu, transmedia artist, photographer and activist will discuss how, as a post-colonial artist, her personal/political approach to her diverse cross-disciplinary artistic and activistic practice moves beyond materiality and object-based expression. She will draw from her previous works and Blood Speaks, exhibited at CPH:DOX, to talk about what it means to be making art in an emergency with dialogical, decolonial, speculative and futuristic aesthetics that can disrupt spaces and create meaningful impact.

We will end with Avinash Kumar, who will present an expansive and provocative view for the future of video games, metaverse and entertainment cultures in a post-AI world. Speaking from the year 2079 as one of the protagonists in his performance Elsewhere in India, presented at CPH:DOX, he will share his work in crafting speculative historical and futuristic worlds that present important lessons for decolonising mainstream global entertainment through rapid advancements in generative AI art techniques and technologies

The Symposium is followed by a CPH:LAB Prototype Pop-Up exhibition event from 19:00-22:00 taking place at the Odd Fellow Palace. Both events are open to all accredited guests and ticket holders.