Blended Reality Lecture Series: The Institute For Comedic Inquiry
Published
The Blended Reality Lecture Series invites new media practitioners from around the world to share their work and research in Bergen. The artists that are being featured will not be travelling to Bergen, but will use video conferencing and other online tools — in sometimes unexpected ways — to experiment with the possibilities of remote lectures and interactivity. The Blended Reality Lecture Series is a collaboration between BEK and the Office of Life + Art (OLA).
For our second lecture in the Blended Reality Series, we have invited Laura Allcorn, the leader of The Institute For Comedic Inquiry (IFCI). They are an artistic research group that study humor—the role it plays in our interactions and how we grapple with the complexities we encounter. IFCI is known for creating participatory, satirical responses to potential future realities. They routinely take things too far, inviting audiences to question, debate, and subvert the situations we may find ourselves in. Recently, their work has focused on illustrating the unintended consequences of emerging technologies. To simulate these effects and make it fun to participate, they upend familiar formats like workouts, synthesizers, and dating apps.
In this lecture, Allcorn will take you on a virtual tour of the Institute For Comedic Inquiry’s research and public experiments. She’ll share her interdisciplinary approach to using humor, design, art, performance, and science to create interactive objects and activities. You will also get to take a sense of humor assessment, part of IFCI’s latest research. They’re exploring humor’s role in social interactions like making a new friend or finding a romantic partner.
Institute For Comedic Inquiry/Laura Allcorn: Experimenting with humour
Lecture at BEK Wednesday 23rd September 18.00 – 21.00
Capacity is limited due to restrictions related to the coronavirus. To attend, please pre-register by sending an e-mail to office@lifeandart.io
The Institute For Comedic Inquiry‘s work has been shown at The Victoria & Albert Museum (London), Science Gallery Dublin, CCCB (Barcelona), ArtScience Museum (Singapore), Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Roma) and Creative Time Summit X: Speaking Truth to Power (NYC).
The Office of Life + Art (OLA) is a creative studio working at the intersection of technology, nature and culture.
