Art & Technology Studies (ATS) Chicago Garden

Curated by Mariana Mejía and organized by the Art & Technology Studies department.

The Art & Technology Studies Department (ATS) at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is proud to present the Chicago Garden for this year’s edition of Ars Electronica Festival for Art, Technology & Society. The festival will be home delivered, and exhibitions and events will take place both online and in person in each participant city.

This year’s theme, “The New Digital Deal,” is an invitation to reflect on the close relationship we have developed with the digital world and how we deal with it, while questioning its benefits and shortfalls. It is an invitation to think about our faculty to take action and claim our right to participate in shaping the world we want for our future.

In this edition, the ATS Chicago Garden seeks to engage in a multidisciplinary dialogue and become a physical and virtual space where the SAIC and Chicago communities can reflect on our roles and our shared experiences emerging in this new digital world.

In-person programming

Pop-up exhibition: Where we emerge
Pop-up exhibition in which students in the Art & Technology Studies department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago reflect on how the digital world has shaped our society. Through installations, media work and 3D sculptures, the exhibition responds to the close relationship that has emerged with the digital world and how we deal with it, while questioning its benefits and shortfalls.

Available on September 8, 2021.

Online programming on-demand 

experiments in free drumming I 
By Sal Moreno
Performance of improvisational drumming motivated by digital sounds and visuals which are generated in real-time via a motion-capture suit. The performance engages the body as a sonic mediator between the physical and virtual spaces. 

Project presentation: Start a reaction
By artists and curators Robert Pierce, Elise Butterfield, Taylor Shuck and Maysam Al-Ani.
This presentation will feature documentation of the performance and AR works made as part of the Start a Reaction project, an anti-nukes art and technology campaign. Additionally, an overview of the project’s intentions, significance, and history of the threat of nuclear weapons.

My Shoes, Your Walk: A Soundwalk Near Montrose Beach, Chicago, I 
By Jonas Sun 
This video depicts a revisit of a soundwalk that provided the artists countless inspiration and solace during the past year. Recorded with contact microphones chiseled and wired in soles of his shoes.

Where we emerge online exhibition 
A virtual experience of the Pop-up exhibition where students in the Art & Technology Studies department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago reflect on how the digital world has shaped our society.

About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
For more than 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers, and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program consistently ranking among the top programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries, and state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through notable alumni and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, Jeff Koons, and LeRoy Neiman. For more information, please visit saic.edu.