A photo of Chloe Alexandra McKenzie at her laptop, while people sit around her listening.

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Online Event
Somerset House Studios

How Do We Create Art in a Time of Crisis?

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FREE
Fri 27 Nov
17.00 - 18.00 GMT
Online
Panel Discussion
Part of Amplify 2020

We bring you a panel discussion that delves in to the practices of  this year's Amplify artist cohort, exploring ideas of creativity in adversity.

Somerset House Studios continues its partnership with MUTEK and the British Council on Amplify Digital Arts Initiative, a residency that connects and empowers an active network of women-identifying artists and professionals working in the digital arts, sound and immersive storytelling sectors in Canada, Latin America and the UK.

In this panel discussion, we will be exploring what it means to be an artist in this new era of uncertainty and how we create art in a time of crisis, leaving space to question whether we ‘need’ to create art right now. We'll have artist presetnation from Chloe Alexandra Thompson, a Cree, Canadian, interdisciplinary artist and sound designer, Colombian electronic music producer, transmedia artist, trans-non binary activist and teacher Efe Ce Ele who is currently based in Buenos Aires and interdisciplinary media artist, Sonya Stefan from Canada plus GLOR1A, a UK-based multidisciplinary artist rooted in experimental R&B music and Afrofuturism

This conversation will be moderated by Patti Schmidt.

In partnership with British Council and MUTEK. Canadian Amplify artists are supported by the British Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.

 

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About the artists

Chloe Alexandra Thompson

Chloe Alexandra Thompson is a Cree, Canadian, interdisciplinary artist and sound designer composing works of sonic minimalism that envelope listeners into a state of equilibrium and fill rooms with discrete frequencies. Her work is composed through audio programming, live processed instruments and field recordings.  

 

Focused on live performance and spatial intervention, she engineers a multi-channel interplay of psychoacoustics to produce felt effects on the body. Fascinated by digital technology’s seemingly endless possibilities for experimentation, she routinely collaborates with other artists to explore new avenues for sonic environments and experiences. 

 

Thompson is presently based in Brooklyn, NY, USA. 

Efe Ce Ele

Efe Ce Ele aka Feli Cabrera López, born in Colombia currently based in Buenos Aires. Electronic Musician, transmedia artist, trans and non-binary activist, performer and teacher. Currently focused in emotional electronic music creation and transmedia artworks around themes and concepts such as: Embodiment, Cyborgs, Biopolitics and Abstraction. 

 

She has studies in Technology and Aesthetics of the Electronic Arts (MFA) and Image and Sound Design (BA). Founder of the experimental electronic music label Fragment A (Latinamerica) and the Festival/Platform Estéticas Expandidas (Colombia). Professor of Visual Music and Sound Art in the Master of Electronic Arts (UNTREF, Argentina). 

 

Her artworks and music have been exhibited, performed and released in different places and countries from Latinamerica, North America, Europe and Asia.

 

 

GLOR1A

GLOR1A sees herself as a malleable form: nostalgic in her approach, but futurist in her concepts. She strives to marry music, art and technology wherever possible, and actively imagines how African diaspora will be visualized in the future. Along with 3 established artists, she initiated Nine Nights, a music TV series presenting black music, visual art, film and performance worldwide whilst contributing to black-focused charities.

 

She has collaborated with key figures in the black experimental space including music artist GAIKA on a commissioned live soundtrack for Khalik Allah’s cult film Black Mother, and building an AI-powered vocal symphony for Somerset House. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she created technology-laced educational art from her bedroom, starting an online-only series called Dystopian Futures, a collaborative interview and performance show looking at activism, art and technologies effects on shaping the future.

Sonya Stefan

Sonya Stefan explores mediums such as analogue (16mm|High 8 |VHS), digital (Sony FS5|Live Streaming|GoPro) and Live Feedback projection.

Her career spans twenty-five years collaborating as a dance artist with companies such as Newton Moraes Dance Theatre, Montreal Danse and Animals of Distinction. Her media creations have been exhibited at Gallery DAÏMÔN QC, Mona Foma Festival in Tasmania Australia, Musee D’Art Contemporain de Montreal and MUTEK AMPLIFY Digital Arts Initiative UK.

 

She curates for KidsPOPMontreal and Lux Magna, a festival created by women and non-binary folks which hosts independent creators within various platforms and her works are distributed by Collectif Jeune Cinema, Paris and Groupe Intervention Video (GIV), Montreal. She has been an active contributor to the 2GatherApart video series that offers space through an Exquisite corpse form and web diffused.  It started out as a queer burst of friendship between friends and a desire to connect at a moment when we had no idea what lay ahead, or how long the effects, restrictions, and impact of Covid-19 would go on. 

A digital graphic of abstract green shapes and a blue white light in the middle of the frame.

Part of Amplify 2020

Connecting and empowering an active network of women-identifying artists and professionals working in digital art, sound and immersive storytelling

In partnership with British Council and MUTEK. Canadian Amplify artists are supported by the British Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.

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