Saint Interface Day 2024

6. Dezember 2024, ab 17.15 Uhr KAPU, Kapuzinerstraße 36, 4020 Linz

Academic conferences, artistic performances, exhibitions, concerts and a “Computer Mouse Award”

‘Sankt Interface’ is an artistic project organized by Interface Cultures which serves also as the annual celebration of our department. 
It is not a coincidence that it is celebrated around every ninth of December, the same day of 1968 when Douglas Engelbart did his ultra-famous conference, known today as “The Mother of All Demos”. At Sankt Interface, academic conferences, artistic performances, exhibitions, concerts and a “Computer Mouse Award” conform a celebration transforming into a happening in which students, professors, and friends of Interface Cultures participate at the same level.

But Sankt Interface 2024 also includes art performances, the tenth edition of the infamous ‘Computer Mouse Award‘ and a series of live music performances with electronic instruments, as well as some hot DJ sessions, which will close the night. It’s all a must see!

ProgramM

17.15 bis 17.25 Uhr. Welcome address by Prof. Dr. Christa Sommerer. (KAPU stage)

17.25 bis 17.35 Uhr. Introduction to Sankt Interface 2024! by Ph.D. Candidate César Escudero Andaluz.

17.35 bis 18.20 Uhr. Keynote Exploring Guilt, Failure and Doom by Thomas Thwaites. (KAPUstage)

18.20 bis 19.05 Uhr. Keynote On bros, tradwives and their contrarians by Regine Debatty. (KAPUstage)

19.05 bis 19.30 Uhr. Q&A session.

19.30 bis 20.30 Uhr. Computer Mouse Contest Award presented by Enrique Tomás, Kristina Tica and Kevin Blackistone. (KAPU bar)

20.30 bis 21.00 Uhr. Dinner and jury decision break. (KAPU bar)

21.00 bis 21.30 Uhr. Awards ceremony. (KAPU stage)

21.30 bis  22.00 Uhr. “Interface-parade”(KAPU surrounding)

22.00 Uhr - Open end. Concerts and DJ sessions from Interface Cultures Students, Teachers & Friends (KAPU)

guestlectures

This year’s event includes the keynote "On bros, tradwives and their contrarians" by Regine Debatty a curator, specialised in art and technology editor of the blog "We make Money Not Art”. And the keynote Cars, Goats and Toasters: Exploring Guilt, Failure and Doom by the artist Thomas Thwaites, known for “The toaster Project” 

Keynotes & BIOS

Régine Debatty Keynote: On bros, tradwives and their contrarians: As elections in the U.S. and in some European countries have shown, supporters of nationalist and ultra-conservative ideologies have mastered the art of twisting information on social media and turning every event into an opportunity for online propaganda, staged indignation and hostile controversies.  Should we despair? Should we accept that the far-right own technological tools and, with them, all the narratives about the future of society? Should we ape their strategies? This talk will look at how artists, designers, activists and ordinary citizens strive to transform the technological imaginary and reinvent the dynamics of (online and offline) platforms to encourage mutual aid, agency and other human values.

Régine Debatty is a Belgian curator and art critic who lives in Turin, Italy. In 2004, she created we-make-money-not-art.com, a blog which has received numerous distinctions over the years, including two Webby awards and an honorary mention at the STARTS Prize, a competition launched by the European Commission to acknowledge "innovative projects at the interface of science, technology and art”. 

Thomas Thwaites Keynote: Cars, Goats and Toasters: Exploring Guilt, Failure and Doom
Designer/artist Thomas Thwaites will talk about his process of enquiry and critique around issues in sustainable design through his attempts at impossible projects: making an electric toaster from scratch, taking a holiday from being a human by becoming a goat and weaving a harmless car from willow.

Thomas Thwaites is a critical designer / researcher interested in the social impacts of science and technology. His sometimes eccentric projects explore the social impacts of technology as we struggle to find a sustainable future. He holds an MA in Design Interactions from the Royal College of Art, and a BSc. in Human Sciences from University College, London. He is the author of two books; The Toaster Project, and GoatMan both published by Princeton Architectural Press.His work is exhibited at museums and galleries worldwide, and is in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, The Boijmans Museum Rotterdam, the Banque De France. www.thomasthwaites.com