BBC Two unearths the hidden treasures of Britain’s history
Ask Nestle to give Rainforests a break!
Brian Lockett
Shattered Visions. by David Lane
Dreams Of Christmas Past by David Lane
Striped Beauty by Rona Black
Pick of the Day – Christine Fontenot
Hey, hey, we’re the… ZingZillas!
Zero – the confluence of art, technology, science, and philosophy
Announcing the publications of Limited Edition Hard Copy and Infinite Edition Online Copy of:
zero – an art work in book form by ajaykumar and alok b. nandi
A Goldsmiths, University of London Research Project.
zero the special limited edition book is available to order, £8.00 from: zero@fluxtopia.net
zero the infinite edition virtual book is available to download at: www.zero.fluxtopia.net
The conception of zero is of vital importance for the existence of our current global society. The Information Age, the Digital Age begins essentially at the point of generation of zero in ancient South Asia.
Through these new book publications, as well as through films, performances, installations, workshops and other interventions, artists-researchers ajaykumar and alok b. nandi interrogate zero: from its historical and philosophical origins to it critical importance in our contemporary being.
In the Ancient South Asian language of Sanskrit zero is written as shunya. Shunya also means ‘emptiness’. Shunyata from shunya is a Buddhist concept which signifies ‘void’ or ‘nothingness’ or ‘emptiness’: an emptiness that has presence. Shunya is important also in the religion of Brahmanism.
In ancient South Asia researchers were integrating mathematical, scientific ideas with philosophic ones and with artistic exploration. For example it is said that in certain Indian temples you would find at their centre, their inner sanctum, not ornate religious statues or paintings, but an empty space with a book only: and the book was a book of mathematics. The mathematical attempt to understand the universe, the philosophic attempt to grasp it, and the artistic conception of it, went hand in hand.
Through various exposition exhibition processes ajaykumar and alok b. nandi investigate ways to un-think and re-think technology: re-visiting the way we think about art and technology and ‘technological practice’ today and in future. For more information about the various zero projects and to take part in their next workshop visit: www.zero.fluxtopia.net
‘Technological practice’ is approached in a particular sense: referring to an integrated research that embraces art, philosophy, craft/technique, and science, as well as health and ecology in a profound sense. While there are parallels with German philosopher Martin Heidegger’s discussion of the way the Ancient Greeks approached techne (root of our current term ‘technology’), these researchers’ enquiry has its roots in Buddhism and Tantric philosophy, as well as in the re-conceiving of South Asian and Japanese philosophic and aesthetic concepts through trans-national and trans-local processes. ajaykumar discusses this in a number of published articles, including recently in Leonardo: Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology and South African Journal of Art History. nandi explores this also through a number of articles and papers.
Goldsmiths, University of London
|
||||||
