Beyond the Hybrid – Narratives, New Media Experiments and Speculations Touching Art and Science Knowledge Exchange (Acoustic Space, Volume 20 / Renewable Futures, Issue 5) book was presented at the Symbiotic Sense(s) conference organised by RIXC on 25 October 2024.

Editors: Lily Díaz-Kommonen, Juhani Tenhunen, Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits.

‘Beyond The Hybrid’ book addresses hybridity’s implications in modern contexts, from AI and digital interfaces to bio-artistic expressions. The hybrid’s role in political and social realms is also examined, exploring how hybrid media systems blend traditional and new media to reshape power dynamics and cultural narratives. The volume advocates for the hybrid as a conduit for novel epistemologies, blending diverse traditions and fostering innovative cultural expressions. It emphasizes the necessity of critical thinking and creative practices in addressing global challenges, proposing hybrid methodologies as pathways to new solutions.

This volume, featuring contributions from participants of the Hybrid Labs Symposium held at Aalto University in 2018 as part of the travelling Renewable Futures conference series, offers a comprehensive exploration of hybridity in transdisciplinary creative research practices. The articles challenge the perceived lack of historical self-awareness in new media, highlighting its transformative impact on contemporary culture and human experience.

The book consists of four sections. The first three—”Theorising the Hybrid,” “Dimensions of Hybridity,” and “Hybrid Media: Imagination and Practices”—include articles by participants of the Hybrid Labs Symposium (2018), who challenge the perceived lack of historical self-awareness in new media, emphasizing its transformative impact on contemporary culture and human experience. The fourth section, “Deep Hybrid – Latest Developments”, reviews recent follow-up events and research projects, including a visual section that highlights the RIXC Art Science Festival exhibitions: “Splintered Realities” (2022), “Crypto, Art and Climate” (2023), and “Symbiotic Sense(s)” (2024).

Contributors to this volume include Kristin Bergaust, Samir Bhowmik, Maija Demitere, Lily Díaz-Kommonen, Saara Hacklin, Nigel Helyer, Volker Helzle, Laura Hopes, AnneMarie Maes, Polixeni Mantzou, Kenichi Masaki, Maria Nikoli, Tina Ohnmacht, Jussi Parikka, Ellen Pearlman, Laura Plana Gracia, Inge Römgens, Akira Sano, Hisanobu Satoh, Irina Shapiro, Miranda Smitheram, Rasa Smite, Raitis Smits, Ulla Taipale, Juhani Tenhunen, Jonas Trottnow, Judith Van Der Elst, Yumi Watanabe, Lauren Wooley, and Tomoyasu Yoshitomi.

Publishers: RIXC Center for New Media Culture (Riga, Latvia) with Aalto University (Espoo, Finland).

Peer-reviewed journal & book series on digital art, art and science, and artistic research
http://acousticspacejournal.com

Hybrid Labs Symposium call for proposals closed

Updated Information: http://hybridlabs.static-staging.new.sites.aalto.fi/hls2018-symposium/

Registration: https://eage.aalto.fi/?f/en/HLS2018

The call for paper abstracts for our Hybrid Labs Symposium 2018 ended 5th of March. Altogether 74 submissions were received on time. After the evaluation 25 full papers, 10 posters as well a number of performances and exhibition objects will be accepted. There will be workshop sessions too and for that  a few of the submissions will be invited. So there will be many different opportunities to participate in the Symposium.

The paper call had some information that caused confusion. For example it was not possible to include the biography so that an anonymous review would have been possible. That’s why we asked some authors to delete such information from their abstract. We also deleted quite many uploaded PDF documents that would have revealed the author, and in some cases we asked authors to edit the submission.

We apologise for the confusion and for any stress we might have caused anyone. The platform we are using is great and has all the possible features, but it is also a challenging system.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent by March 23, 2018 at latest. The first draft of full papers and posters must be ready for by May 14 2018.

Thanks for your patience!
The Local Organising Committee

See event updates: http://hybridlabs.static-staging.new.sites.aalto.fi/rf2018-symposium/

About Hybrid Labs

Hybrid Labs is the third edition of Renewable Futures conference that aims to challenge the future of knowledge creation through art and science. The HYBRID LABS will take place from May 30 to June 1, 2018 at Aalto University in Espoo, Finland, in the context of Aalto Festival. Celebrating 50 years of Leonardo journal and community, the HYBRID LABS conference will look back into the history of art and science collaboration, with an intent to reconsider and envision the future of hybrid laboratories – where scientific research and artistic practice meet and interact.

Our three-day media event medley includes:

May 30, 2018 – Exhibition Opening 

Opening Programme features Oslofjord Ecologies Extended exhibition opening. The exhibition is based on results of artistic research processes following common workshops, field trips and earlier exhibitions and performances linked to the Creative Europe project Renewable Futures and the Nordic collaboration Hybrid Labs. Curated by Kristin Bergaust on behalf of Art in Society research group at HiOA, this cross-disciplinary exhibition includes contributions from visual arts, art and science,  theatre, performance, design, visual culture, art didactics and urban research.

May 31, 2018 – Renewable Futures Conference

Renewable Futures conference will begin with keynotes addressing HYBRID LABS topic from different broader perspectives. Parallel tracks of presentations will discuss the future of HYBRID LABS, art and science collaboration, focusing on five main topics: hybrid practices (in art and science), hybrid storytelling, hybrid fabrication, hybrid reality, and hybrid economies.

June 1, 2018 – Collaboratory Day, Celebrating Leonardo’s 50th Anniversary  

Collaboratory day and Leonardo birthday celebration includes guided tours of several of the Otaniemi campus laboratories and a workshop on collaboratory methods during the morning followed by afternoon keynote, sauna, and dinner. The topic of the keynote will be about Arts and Science collaboration and planetary healing. Also throughout the Lab tours, we want to stress the heritage aspects of the spaces, the campus and innovative aspects of art and science collaboration.

Keynote Speakers:

• Roger MALINA / Executive Editor, Leonardo Publications at M.I.T Press / Professor, the University of Texas at Dallas.
• Nina CZEGLEDY / Artist, Curator and Educator on Art, Science and Technology / Leonardo Community, Toronto, Canada
• + others – to be confirmed

Registration

Early Bird fee until 15 April, 2018.

• Early Bird Full Price: 68 EUR (normal price 86 eur).
• Early Bird Student Price: 42 EUR (normal student price 56 eur).

Included: Coffee and Snacks, + Sauna with Dinner on the third day. (Lunch is not included.)

REGISTER AT: https://eage.aalto.fi/?f/en/HLS2018

Call for Proposals

We welcome submissions by academic researchers, designers, artists, scientists, students, social entrepreneurs, visionaries and other creative thinkers and practitioners to submit their proposals related to the topics (below).

List of Topics

• hybrid practices – combining art and science, technology and ecology, digital and biological in research and education
• hybrid storytelling – heritage and storytelling for linking virtual with the material domain of everyday life
• hybrid fabrication – innovative maker trends in art and design practices
• hybrid reality – interventions into the uncritical excitement about virtual reality, artificial intelligence and machine learning
• hybrid economies – artistic practices in-between sharing and selling, networking and fabricating

Submission Guidelines

The proposals could be submitted for the following forms of presentations:

1. academic papers (full / short)
2. artistic presentations (performative lectures / performances / participatory sessions)
3. poster sessions

The conference proposals should include:

• Title and abstract (250 words max – text fields ‘Title’ and ‘Abstract’), mandatory;
• five to six keywords (text field ‘Keywords’), mandatory;
• short biography: 100 words (text field ‘Comments’), mandatory;
• Art and Science: Please indicate if your final submission will be an artistic presentation or a scientific paper.
• you can also upload a file containing any additional relevant information, optional;
• please indicate in your abstract if you want to submit pictures or videos (max 100Mb) as part of your final submission.

Deadline for Conference Proposals (Abstracts) – March 5, 2018

APPLY NOW: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=hls2018

Conference Submissions – for Selected Abstracts:

After receiving the notifications, the selected participants will be asked to submit their Full/Short Papers (working version – for pre-review), Posters (layout) and Artistic Presentations (Slides) by May 14, 2018.

1. Full/Short Paper Submission:

If your abstract for full/short paper is selected, you will be asked to submit full/short paper for pre-review before the conference (working version). All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference:

• Full papers are up to 6000 words long including references and the presenter must prepare 20+10 minutes presentation.
• Short papers are between 2000 and 3000 words. The presenter must prepare 15+5 minutes presentation.

2. Artistic Presentations:

Presentations should be prepared as powerpoint or keynote slides.

3. Posters:

Posters should be made in A1 format, and submitted as PDF.

CLICK HERE TO: SEE SUBMISSIONS INFO

Publication

Shortly after the conference, the selected participants will be asked to submit their final version of the paper for peer-review. The submitted papers will undergo the double-blind peer-review process to be published in Acoustic Space journal series (Vol. 18, 2019).

When submitting your final papers, you should keep in mind the following:

• Your name. Delete your name from the first page or where ever it is mentioned in the paper.
• Acknowledgements. Please delete or mark “Acknowledgements removed”, if you have acknowledgements or thanks to those who helped you with the paper.
• Document properties. Please don’t send word or similar documents, because it might include personal information in the document (for example in Word, go to file à properties). Send your paper in pdf-format.
• Self-citation. Please anonymize your references or citations to your previous works.
• Images and Videos. Please hide all such information that can reveal you in videos or images you are sending along with your paper.

More info about the Acoustic Space, peer-reviewed journal series:
http://acousticspacejournal.com

Conference website http://hybridlabs.static-staging.new.sites.aalto.fi

Proposal submission deadline March 5, 2018
Notifications of acceptance  March 23, 2018
Deadline for selected abstracts May 14, 2018 – Submission guidelines click here.

REGISTRATION HERE: https://eage.aalto.fi/?f/en/HLS2018
Early Bird price until 15 April.

Committee

Conference Chair

• Prof. Lily Díaz

The Local Conference Organisational Board

• Prof. Lily DIAZ-KOMMONEN / Head of Research Department of Media, Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Espoo, Finland
• Prof. Rasa SMITE / Liepaja University / RIXC / Riga, Latvia
• Prof. Kristin BERGAUST / Oslo and Akershus University, Norway
• Nina CZEGLEDY, Leonardo Community, Toronto, Canada
• Juhani TENHUNEN / Aalto Studios, Espoo, Finland
• Saara MÄNTYLÄ / Department of Media, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland.

The International Scientific Board of Renewable Futures Conference

• Prof. Lev MANOVICH / Cultural Analytics Lab / The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA
• Ph.D. Jussi PARIKKA / Winchester School of Art / University of Southampton / UK
• Ph.D. Geoff COX / School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Denmark
• Assoc. Prof. Laura BELOFF / IT University, Copenhagen / Finnish Bioart Society, Helsinki, Finland
• Prof. Ursula DAMM / Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany
• Dr. Vytautas MICHELKEVICIUS / Nida Art Colony, Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania
• Ph.D. Margrét Elísabet ÓLAFSDÓTTIR / Art Education at the University of Akureyri, Iceland
• Assoc. Prof. Ilva SKULTE / Riga Stradins University, Latvia
• Dr. art. Piibe PIIRMA / Tallinn University / Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, Estonia
• Ph. D. Raivo KELOMEES / Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, Estonia
• Prof. Miško ŠUVAKOVIĆ / Faculty for Media and Communication, University Singidunum, Belgrade, Serbia
• Dr. Ellen PEARLMAN / Parsons / New School University, New York, USA
• Ph.D. Chris HALES / Assist. Prof. and Study Director of New Media Art Doctoral Programe, Liepaja University, Liepaja, Latvia
• Raphael KIM / PhD Student, Media and Arts Technology, Queen Mary University London, UK

Venue

Aalto University, Otakaari 1 x, Espoo Finland

Contact

lily.diaz@aalto.fi | saara.mantyla@aalto.fi

Sponsors

NORDPLUS
Aalto University

Workshop report by: Mamdooh Afdile, Doctoral Student at the Media Lab, Aalto University, Helsinki
Title of workshop: Oslo Fjord Ecologies (View page)
Dates and place of workshop: 21st to 27th of November 2016, ANX exhibition and seminar space, Grünerløkka, Oslo.
Organized by: Professor Kristin Bergaust, Art in Society research group at HiOA, Oslo.

Workshop description:

“Oslo Fjord Ecologies” workshop is part of “RENEWABLE FUTURES – Building New European Creative Alliance and Think Tank”. Renewable Futures is a network and Creative Europe project. The Renewable Futures (RF) project aims to invent new avenues for developments of tomorrow – in culture and creative sector on the European level. Project partners in RF are: Baltan Laboratories (The Netherlands), Ars Longa (France), HOGSKOLEN I OSLO OG AKERSHUS (Norway), Media Lab / Aalto University (Finland), Hangar (Spain), Liepaja University (Latvia).

“Oslo Fjord Ecologies” workshop is built around participating presenters from the art and education field. Participants working together on shared themes where organized in to clusters. The workshop program included, Art education, Artistic research and the everyday action and agency of art. In addition, exhibitions, artist talk and practical workshops took place (see program).

Participation in the workshop:

During the one week workshop, I attended all the presentations, and was an active part of the artistic discussions in regards to the role and effectiveness of future art and art education to the ecological wellbeing of society. The role of art in society was a focus topic in the workshop that was discussed from different perspectives; with the artist role as an observer, educator and an active agent.

Contribution to the workshop:

During the workshop, I gave two presentations as part of the Art-education cluster.

My first presentation was “Teaching art to understand the brain and studying the brain to empower art” (20 min). Here I discussed the potential of using art as a means to contribute to understanding science, as well as the experience of integrating scientific knowledge in my artistic work.

My second presentation was “How do you like me know? – Using movies to unmask the biased brain” (20 min).  Here I presented the results of the first paper of my Doctoral studies, the research question as well as the future direction of using scientific methodology in art research.

Contribution of the workshop to my studies:

The workshop was a great opportunity for me to network and take part of the current debate on the role of art in society. It was an enriching experience where I had the chance to be exposed to different artistic perspectives and approaches related to my topic of interest. I believe such international workshops are an essential initiative to bring together a variety of artists and educators to engage in a multi-disciplinary discourse.

“Listening to the fjord”. Hydrophonic listening with Siri Austeen and others:

Here are the final presentation materials from the participants at the Hybrid Lab 2: 3D Open-source Digital Heritage and Sustainable Technologies Workshop (Helsinki).

Cindy Kohtala:

Juan Duarte:

Justin Tyler Tate:

Maija Demitere:

The Water Garden

Installation, 2015

 

The exhibition work “The Water Garden” is an end result of my masters study in Liepaja University New Media Art  programme. My research questions were – is it possible to make a self-sustaining growing system, that could be used (and adapted) in anyones living space? How to present process-based “slow” media art work in a gallery space?

“The Water Garden” is based on any aquaphonic-type growing system, only instead of using synthetic chamicals to feed plants, I used fish. The fish waste, together with flowing watter (and oxigen in it) can provide all the necessary food for the plants growin in tubes. I can grow tomatoes, salad, kale, spices (anything that doesn’t mind growing indoors and with limited light). The plants produce average amount of fruit.

The failing

As a short-term growing system it needs a lot of power for the growlights and constant attention (feeding the fish and cheching if the tubing doesn’t get blocked). As a long-term system it needs exactly the same level of attention; and in addition – the water (around 300 l) needs to be changed at least once in 2 weeks, because the plants cant filter enough of the biological material.

The roots of plants growing next to each other will eventually get tangled together in a way that makes it impossible to clean the tubes and will start collect a lot of slime and fish waste (and will start to smell of an old and shallow pond).

Rasma:

Black Box failure

Last semester in university we had to learn programming and as usual at the end of our study year we have to make exhibition about the subject that we have been learning. So we had to make something that includes programing in concept with black box (idea of our teacher). I had almost no background in programming and we only had 4 months to learn basic programming thigs, so my project was already destined to fail.
In my mind ocean has always been mystical unknown place so I decided to go with concept of deep deep waters.  Even at the beginning when making physical box i ran into some difficulties, but it was noting comparing to the actual programming. I had to connect light sensors with arduino and then send the data to computer. My idea was when you point your light source into the sensor holes, the sounds(recorded at the deepest place in ocean) would start to play, in that way representing exploration of the ocean.
But because of the lack of time and knowledge i didn’t turn my idea to life and couldn’t participate in exhibition. So you can say my black box project was one big failure. But after all I gained more knowledge than in case when everything would have worked out in the first place.

Synne Blomli Johnsen:

What I did not do or spoke of
I failed when I did not even try

to make it

and create it

I failed when I did not trust

my idea and product

I failed when I did not ask for

advice and feedback

I failed when I did not separate good ideas from bad

and made decisions

to follow the “read thread”

ahead

My failure can be recognized as avoiding failure

I have learned that I can share my

ideas and work

Without compromising my frame of design

I recognize that my missing link, my forth leg of the stool

is communication with

my customers and the community

I could use a sparring mate sometimes

I have learned that sharing ideas and experiences within

a community or network

of shared interest

i can learn new things

and maybe even create new things

in a collaboration

 

Will van Twuijver:

1) accumulating data related to cultural heritage
2) the creation of artefacts related to cultural heritage.

Workshop Design ( Facilitation )

** 2.12. workshop session **

We sit in a roundcircle and say briefly your name, associative context and about which leg you think you stand on, and why. If both or contested you can say why. We will try to mix up people of both legs & complicated others into groups of 4-5.

You will in your smaller ‘safer’ group of 4 tell about your project to each other which didn’t work out as planned (failed). There are 3 legs this time, although maybe more.

Technical/data sustainability; Social/human sustainability; Material/ecological sustainability.

One person in the group will tell, one person in the group will listen, one person in the group will act as scribe, and one person in the group will make a mind/relationship map accordingly.

Each person will have about 30 mins each to tell, and there can be a little pause in between each for a breath of fresh air. As the teller changes other persons can change roles also.

Conversation with details, reflecting on making things better for the future in each case. Robert & Raul will be able to go round the groups and listen in, give consultation if desired.

** 3.12. workshop session **

Individually concentrate on each own narrative, that is shared as a short presentation in the post-lunch period.

Your presentation at the last session will be short – 5–8mins – which aims to tell concisely a narrative about your project which is not only a PR-tale, funding pitch or necessarily good-reportage. Essentially it would be an honest, down-to-earth and open description a reflected nuance of its strengths and failure(s), which despite this offers some hope for you/us in the future.

Documentation:

1) 5-8 min telling of your narrative related to a failed process/project on topic. This will be recorded as a video-clip but not published without your permission.

Requesting the following:

2) We ask for 3 independent images about what you share with us. PNG format preferably (jpg is ok, but we prefer png). At least 1000x horizontally. Archive them together into a ZIP or RAR folder and send via email, or share a download link.

3) 200 word abstract which summarizes what you shared with us. It is up to you if you wish to detail names or projects.

See Documentation here.

Oslo Fjord Ecologies Workshop 21st to 27th of November 2016
Art in Society, HiOA, Oslo, Norway

Art and research project on cultural and biological sustainability of the sea.

The Oslo Fjord encompasses ecological connections and challenges that are specific and tangible, as well as cultural practices and interactions with the environment and its populations.

The Oslo Fjord is nature, economy, infrastructure, biology, materiality, culture and history as well as future plans and challenges.

How can new concepts of knowledge, artistic methods and interdisciplinary engagement contribute to formulate sustainable relationships to the environment?

The workshop was organized in three main clusters or spinners of themes, interests and questions:

• (art)education
• artistic research
• the everyday: agency and action

• Ecologies: diverse perspectives on ecology
• Ecology in educational contexts
• Ecology in practical contexts

Hybrid Lab 1 Programme:

The program Friday 25th, Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th is co-funded by Hybrid Labs, a Nordplus horizontal project. Oslo Fjord Ecologies is developed and organized by Kristin Bergaust on supported by Art in Society Research Group, HiOA, in Oslo, Norway.

Friday 25th November 2016:
The everyday – Action and agency from 10-18 

10-11.30 Voice workshop with Tony Valberg
11.30-12.30 Stabekk husmorskole by Martin and Henning, independent activists
13-14 Flatbread Society presented by Mads Pålsrud, designer at GrowLab
14 Gentle actions and resilience by curator and artist Eva Bakkeslet
Langøyene – Free Camping by curator and artist Cathrine Constanse Gjelsnes
Filmscreenings
Mingling/Drinks

Saturday 26th November 2016
City-walk to the fjord

14 Kafé Barbara, artists Gunnhild Bakke Annabeth Kolstø
Walking tour performance
From ANX to Losætra
Flatbread Society Bakehouse

Sunday 27th November 2016, from 13-18

15 Bio-art performance Hege Tapio (IOlab)
Exhibitions/documentations

See the full Programme of Oslo Fjord Ecologies Workshop.

See the report on “Hybrid Lab 1: Oslo Fjord Ecologies”.

See the Creative Apprenticeship report from Oslo Fjord Ecologies by Mamdooh Afadila.

Photographs from Oslo Fjord Ecologies:

Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture’s Media Lab hosted a workshop and training with public presentations and discussions on open source methodologies, practices and ideologies. The event took place on 1–3 December, 2016 at the Aalto Media Factory (AMF) in Arabia. The objective of the workshop was to discuss key issues and hopefully come up with some guidelines that can help to make open source initiatives more feasible, successful, and sustainable.

Wether in the arts or the sciences, ultimate success in creative projects is often the result of indefatigable effort. Therefore, during the workshop we discussed and showcased examples of both failed as well as successful open source projects. In particular the focus was on the use of open source tools as part of activities involving exhibition and storytelling design. Participants were encouraged to come to the workshop prepared to share, discuss and work on their own projects. Two themes, each featuring an actual project, were offered as signposts, in order to guide the discussion.

These themes were:

• Data acquisition automation – portable 3D scanning device for heritage communities case study.
• From virtual to material – realizing high quality 3D tangible interaction objects for museum exhibition using FabLab.

Working schedule:

1 December, 2016

9:00 – 9:30 Opening of the workshop (Lily Díaz, Andrew Paterson)
9:30 – 10:30 Decision Theory, Hive Mind, & Control Theory, Their Embodiments in Tools and some consequences for Artists, Archivist, and Designers Keynote presentation by Robert Chave

10:15 – 10:30 Discussion & coffee
10:15 – 10:30 Presentation of DigGLAM project (Lily Díaz)
11:00 – 12:00 Group and work organisation into teams
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
13:00 – 14:00 Keynote presentation by Raúl Nieves Pardo

14:00 – 14:15 Discussion & coffee
14:15 – 14:30 Presentation of Veselius VR Facsimile (Angela Hernández)
14:30 – 18:00 Workshop
19:00 Dinner snacks

2 December, 2016

9:00 – 11:30 Workshop meets at AMF FabLab.
11:00 – 11:30 Light lunch
12:00 – 14:00 Public examination of dissertation, M. Arch. Samir Bhowmik,
Deep Time of the Museum – The Materiality of Media Infrastructures. See photo gallery.
14:00 – 15:00 Discussion & coffee
15:00 – 18:00 Workshop
19:00 Dinner

3 December, 2016

10:00 – 12:00 Workshop
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
13:00 – 15:00 Presentations and documentation of work done
15:00 – 15:30 Discussion and concluding remarks
15:30 – 16:00 Closing of workshop

17:00 – 20:00 Trashlab and pikkujoulu (little Christmas) party at Temporary.fi (BYOB).

See how the Workshop Design took place.

See Final Documentation.

Browse the Feedback from Hybrid Lab 2.

Photographs from 3D Open-source Digital Heritage and Sustainable Technologies Workshop: