Launching of "around which dissonant satellites cluster"

“In 20 years, technological development has escalated quickly while our relationship to technology has changed substantially. When BEK – Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts – was founded in 2000, the need for digital communication on the internet and artistic experiments in new technology merged to form a new entity. The book examines BEK´s development as a locally anchored resource centre for art and new technology in touch with the international art scene. The history outlined is anything but one-track; curiosity, generosity and ambitions are among the elements connecting the many big and small cross-disciplinary events of BEK´s history.

Editor Vilde Salhus Røed and Dušan Barok, who wrote the centrepiece essay of the book, will meet in conversation at the launch. Critic Grethe Melby moderates the talk.

The book consists of an essay and a presentation of four commissioned works. The essay was written by researcher and artist Dušan Barok. In addition to diving into a multitude of publications, articles and websites, Barok has interviewed many of the people who have been central to BEK. Their anecdotes, thoughts and reflections provide a diverse and polyphonic account of BEK´s history as an institution. The four commissioned works are made by the artists Hanan Benammar and Maren Dagny Juell, and the authors Marit Eikemo and Thure Erik Lund. The works touch on questions concerning art and technology in contemporary society, with the last 20 years as a backdrop: the influence of social media on our lives, digital units as extensions of the body, the dream of artificial intelligence and surveillance, technological sovereignty and migration. Book design by Vera Gomes, editor: Vilde Salhus Røed.”

- from bek.no