Episode 10: Art if…your body is obsolete! With digital performance and media artivist, Sahar Sajadieh

Summary: Technology is on display in this week’s gallery as Haddy and Yassi talk about the aesthetic and performance considerations in car design and Bill Viola’s long career in video art. Then, they invite digital performance artivist (artist/activist) Sahar Sajadieh to talk about how technology has transformed her art and how it acts on the world around us. Finally, she issues a provocation that asks us to pay close attention to the qualities of our daily movements.

Sahar Sajadieh is an Iranian-Canadian digital performance & media artivist (artist/activist) and scholar. Her background is in Experimental Theater, Computer Science, and Performance Studies. Sahar has recently completed her PhD degree in Media Arts and Technology at UCSB. Sahar’s research lies at the intersection of interactive performance/media arts, human computer interaction (HCI), and performance/media theories. She designs and develops technologies that support emergent human rituals and interactions, and simultaneously study the human experience while interacting with various kinds of new media.  Her works have been presented in many international digital arts symposia and human-computer interaction conferences, and theater and performance Studies and interdisciplinary studies conferences. In addition to her digital artwork and research, Sahar has also acted, directed, and worked as a dramaturg in several theatrical productions in New York City, Vancouver, and Santa Barbara.

http://www.saharsajadieh.com/

http://www.instagram.com/sahar.sajadieh/

Provocation (#artifpodcast):

Soundscape of Our Daily Rituals:

1.  Think about 3 activities/rituals that you do every day or in a regular basis during the week (e.g. Brushing your teeth, walking, …).

2.  Pay attention to the following 5 Viewpoints* in each (daily/weekly/frequent) ritual:

-tempo -duration -repetition -spatial relationship -topography

*For more info about Viewpoints technique, see this webpage: https://dramatics.org/understanding-viewpoints/

3.  Experiment with each of the 5 viewpoints**—one by one—and push the limits of each:

-tempo (e.g. very fast, extreme slow-motion, alternative pace, …)

EXTRA CHALLENGE #1:

4.  Record the sound of your ritual when doing this exercise. 

EXTRA CHALLENGE #2:

5.  Use Audacity or GarageBand (or any other sound editing software application) on your computer and compose a musical piece/audio artwork, using any of the soundtracks of your and/or others’ rituals. Your final composition can be of any length and structure that sounds good to you.

Petersen Automotive Museum

Abstract (TV show)

Fiat

Clay Car Modeling

Bill Viola

Dogs drinking water

STELARC

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