Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts

Survival Kit for the Age of Technology from BEK.no on Vimeo.

We wade around in terminology, technical gadgetry, new and old habits of communication, all of which have been spawned by technological developments. There have been so many new developments in such a short space of time, that we have not yet come to a conclusion about what the whole of it means in practice, theory or interaction between ourselves.

Technology in itself is nothing new: an axe and a pair of glasses have also played their role in humanity’s technological advancement. Yet now it could be experienced as ubiquitous it marks our existence as never before. We may all have felt – at work, in one’s private life, in all relations that we are a part of – that our understanding of technology is not enough. What it means to us and what is does to us is not easy to get an overview of, especially if we are up to our knees in it. What should we know, what should we do and what ought we to master? It feels as though we need a survival pack: now.

BEK has invited three speakers to give their opinion of what ought to be included in a survival pack that will prepare us for participation in the technological age. The purpose is comprehension – a place where we can meet at the intersection of knowledge, experience and a sense of belonging.

We have invited Knut Melvær to help us with Challenge No.1 – to operate/act in the Age of Technology – what ought we to master?

We have invited Kjetil Rommetveit to help us with Challenge No.2 – to understand/relate to the Age of Technology – what ought we to know?

We have invited Jill Walker Rettberg to help us with Challenge No.3 – to interact with the Age of Technology – what ought we to do?

There will also be a taster from BEK’s residency programme Studio Sessions by Eva Pfitzenmaier and Tom Verbruggen/toktek.

The event will take place at Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek, 1st June, 13.00-16.30 in the auditorium. The event will be held in English, and is free and open for all. If you can not be there in real life, you can join  us by live streaming here.

The project has been developed by Anne Marthe Dyvi/BEK and is being produced in collaboration with Bergen NÅ, Bergen offentlige bibliotek and Future DiverCities.

Jill Walker Rettberg is professor of digital culture at the University of Bergen in Norway. Her main research topic has been storytelling and self-representation in social media, building upon a foundation of digital art, electronic literature and digital humanities. She is an important voice and influencer on human relation to technology. Rettberg is currently focusing on visual technologies and machine vision and our relationship with them, in her project MACHINE VISION: Machine Vision in Everyday Life: Playful Interactions with Visual Technologies in Digital Art, Games, Narratives and Social Media.

Kjetil Rommetveit is Associate Professor at Centre for the Study of the Sciences and Humanities, University of Bergen, and has studied philosophy, law and Science and Technology Studies (STS). His main research interests include the public dimensions and governance of technoscience, in digital innovation fields such as robotics, smart energy, biometrics and the Internet of Things. He focuses on issues relating to privacy, autonomy, and democracy and roles of assessments and interdisciplinarity in governance.

Knut Melvær is currently doing technology consultancy and development for Netlife. He is a PhD Student in the Study of Religions, University of Bergen, working on a thesis on quantitative and digital research methodologies. He is a technology columnist at Sysla and at Bergens Tidende. He gives lectures and perform workshops, and has a broad practical and theoretical knowledge about technology.

Survival Kit for the Age of Technology is part of the program BEK developed for Future DiverCities (FDC), where we invite knowledge holders to share their expertise in new formats and for new audiences. In FDC we work to reach new audiences and develop ned structures to share important content on art and technology. Future DiverCities is supported by EU’s Creative Europe programme.