Barcelona intends to take advantage of the vein that organizing the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) represents to consolidate its leadership in this field and capitalize on the connections that may arise during the days the meeting lasts. "It is a nomadic event and the reason it is so is for it to leave a mark. We want there to be a before and after. In Catalonia, there is a great quantity and quality of actors and we believe it is necessary to empower, promote, and facilitate interaction," says the director of ISEA 2022, Pau Alsina.
With an extensive program of talks and conferences and about fifty activities open to the public, ISEA has brought to Barcelona since last Friday the main professionals who explore the infinite possibilities that arise from the interactions between art, science, and technology. This translates into immersive or interactive installations; mappings; works made with artificial intelligence, which question themselves or adapt to their environment and the public that visits them; pieces of generative art, created from algorithms, or kinetic art, which move and play with light; but also contemplative or sound works. "They are not classic paintings," jokes the deputy director of ISEA 2022, Irma Vilà. Driven by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), the symposium, which had not been in Europe for ten years, will feature as highlights a mapping in the modernist complex of Sant Pau, an immersive installation at the CCCB by Maurice Benayoun and Refik Anadol ---famous in the city for having auctioned the mapping he did at Casa Batlló--- and a drone show on Somorrostro Beach.
The legacy that all these activities leave in the city when ISEA ends must serve to connect the different local agents working to promote electronic art. "A state network is being forged and there will be meetings during the symposium that will serve to work in this direction," explains Alsina. "The most relevant international, state, and local actors will come ---he continues---, such as art centers, residency projects, universities, or researchers. It will be a very transversal environment that will incorporate many professionals and events like this can serve to articulate the ecosystem."
And Barcelona can lead this network, not only for having been the venue for the symposium but also for its strength in the field of digital culture and for holding the cultural and scientific capital. "We are very powerful and among the leaders, we don't have to compare ourselves with other cities like London or New York," defends Vilà. "Internationally, we are gaining a lot of relevance. If we were able to unite, we would go further and better. There is no need to have a large center or museum dedicated to electronic art; we simply have to articulate ourselves and aggregate all the parts. It's the typical case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts," adds Alsina.
A first example of the unions that can remain as a legacy of ISEA has been involving in its organization the new hub of Art, Science, and Technology, which has woven an alliance with a dozen institutions to promote electronic art in the city, such as the UOC, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO), the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Tech Barcelona, Hangar, the New Art Foundation, or the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST). It also has the collaboration of Fira de Barcelona, which can serve to bring congresses related to this cultural field closer, such as Integrated Systems Europe (ISE). "We hope that the hub will be one of the spaces where this legacy of ISEA can be deposited," remarks Alsina.
Surpassing previous editions
More than 500 experts from fifty countries have traveled to Barcelona to attend ISEA 2022. A figure that could be higher without the disruptions currently affecting international mobility, such as the persistence of pandemic restrictions, especially among Chinese artists; rising prices; or the desire to reduce the environmental impact generated by air travel by some attendees. But the outbreak of the war in Ukraine has also had an impact, causing the organization to lose contact with Russian artists who had submitted projects.
More than 500 experts from fifty countries have traveled to BarcelonaWithout forgetting the uncertainty still generated by the multiple current crises, electronic artists have opted for the need to meet each other during the days of the symposium.ISEA Barcelona has received some 1,200 professional proposals to be part of the program, a higher figure than in previous editions."Despite everything, Barcelona has had a very good international reception," Alsina maintains. "Being a universityonline, we wanted ISEA to be in-person," Vilà continues. "We advocate for in-person events because they are moments of encounter that have an undeniable value," Alsina adds.
ISEA Barcelona was scheduled for last year, but the evolution of the pandemic forced its postponement. It all started with an email from the organization to Alsina and Vilà, UOC professors, asking if they were interested in being one of the future venues. "Barcelona had a strong chance of hosting this symposium because there is a very rich ecosystem," Alsina argues. To this was added a unanimous reception from the artistic and scientific community, and from the city's institutions, which has allowed for a plural and extensive call, awaiting new milestones to be added.