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SAMIR BHOWMIK

LIGHT IS HISTORY (2012)

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SAMIR BHOWMIK (FINLAND)

Samir Bhowmik, b. 1975, India (FINLAND) is a multi-disciplinary Finnish artist and architect. His current work examines the architectural, infrastructural and energetic entanglements of cultural memory and the environment. Using multi-sensorial methods to investigate infrastructure, he attempts to generate poetic vignettes between the clashing of multiple materialities, networks and bodies. Through performance installations, Samir often creates participatory narratives, and immersive performances that act as probes within which the imaginaries of hidden, contested and lost topographies unfold.

 

Samir graduated as a Doctor of Arts from the Aalto University, Finland, and holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Maryland, United States. Licensed in the Sate of Maryland, he is also an Architect member of the American Institute of Architects.

 

Samir’s current artistic research project “IMAGINARY NATURES: Extractive Media & the Cultural Memory of Environmental Change” is funded by the Kone Foundation (2019-22). Samir currently teaches at the Department of Media, Aalto School of Arts, Design & Architecture as well as advises and guides Masters Thesis students. Drawing from his research, writing and teaching, his latest infrastructural performance art project ‘Memory Machines’ opened at the Helsinki Central Library in January 2019, as part of the Library’s Other Intelligences project organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute of New York.

 

Imaginary Natures on Kone Boldness Blog: https://koneensaatio.fi/en/imaginary-natures/

MEMORY MACHINES [2019]

Memory Machines explores the infrastructure of the Helsinki Central Library. The experimental work combines dance, theatre and circus with a guided tour that moves through the concealed infrastructural sites and operations of the building. Image Credits: Hannu Karjalainen 2019

PRESS: “Kun kirjasto lukee meitä”, MUSTEKALA, February 28, 2019 – CRITICAL REVIEW

Read Eero Yli-Vakkuri's critical take on the 'Memory Machines' project at the Helsinki Central Library (article in FINNISH)

BIO (Finnish)

Samir Bhowmikin praktiikka koostuu monialaisesta taiteellisesta työskentelystä sekä tutkimuksesta. Hän käsittelee työssään nyky-yhteiskunnan median, muistin ja ympäristön ongelmakohtia. Taiteessaan Bhowmik tutkii arkkitehtuurisia, infrastuktuurisia ja energisiä kiemuroita kulttuurisessa muistissa. Hänen viimeisin infrastruktuurinen performanssitaiteen projektinsa ‘Memory Machines’ (Muistikoneet) aukesi Helsingin keskuskirjasto Oodissa tammikuussa 2019 osana Suomen New Yorkin kulttuuri-instituutin organisoimaa projektia Library’s Other Intelligencies (Kirjaston tekoälyt).

PRESS: YLE Svenska – Interview on Digital Memory [2016]

Link to radio interview

POLARITY [2019] – Franziskaner Klosterruine Berlin

CURRENT AND UPCOMING [2019]

-Panic Breeder AI art installation at Aalto AI Exhibition, December 2019-Jan 2020, Dipoli.
– Performance Installation ‘Circuit Breaker’ at MAA-Tila Gallery, Helsinki, May 20, 2019
– Keynote Talk at ICOM 2019- University of Jyväskylä, April 25, 2019
– New Publication: ‘Thermocultures of Memory,’ Culture Machine, 2019
– New Publication: ‘The Battery is the Message,’ Communication +1, 2019
– Co-Editor, Hybrid Labs Book, Aalto Books, 2019
– Teaching: Archaeology of Media Infrastructures, Department of Media, Aalto University, Spring 2019
– Teaching: Media and the Environment, Department of Media, Aalto University, Autumn 2019
– Performance Installation ‘Polarity’ at Klosterruine, Berlin.

INFRAGRAPHY Journal

VOLUME 2 Fall 2019 – Download PDF: http://blogs.aalto.fi/mediainfrastructures/files/2020/01/Infragraphy_Fall2019_WEB.pdf

VOLUME 1 Spring 2019 – Download PDF: https://blogs.aalto.fi/mediainfrastructures/files/2019/05/Infragraphy_Vol1_Spring2019.pdf

INFRAGRAPHY Journal Vol. 1. 2019

P-WALL [2011] — ATENEUM ART MUSEUM

LIGHT IS HISTORY [2012] — HELSINKI

COMMUNITY POWER BANK [2016-2017]

Photo: Justin Tyler Tate

MEMI [2014] COOPER HEWITT SMITHSONIAN DESIGN MUSEUM NEW YORK

Art Installation to visualize the Collections of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum New York in context of its energy use, user-community and color search

FERMENT LAB [2015-17] HELSINKI

A Participatory Space for Energy, Food and Social Fermentation.

http://www.pixelache.ac/projects/ferment-lab

FREEDOM [2017] – ANNANTALO HELSINKI

Participatory art Workshop with Freshly arrived asylum seekers in Finland.

MEDIA OF ENERGY & EMOTIONS [2012]

MDNM (Media of Energy and Emotions Project) Exhibition of Light is History, Aralis Gallery, Aalto ARTS, Hämeentie 135 Helsinki.
Image Credits: Karthikeya Acharya

TRASH LAB [2012 – ONGOING]

Trashlab explores experimental art-design-technology practice between hacker and maker cultures, in the context of re/up-cycling and the increased availability of new fabrication tools.

PRESS: “Laittaisitko valosi jakoon?”, Lukema, December 2012 – REVIEW of Light is History (2012)

TEACHING [2014-16]

2014 - 2016: Digital Strategies for Museums & Cultural Heritage DOM
E-5064 Aalto University: The course presents a theoretical and practical overview of digital strategies for museums and cultural heritage. Participants develop museum digital projects supported by how-to lectures in a 'make' environment. http://digitalmuseum.mlog.taik.fi
2014: Must-Ache Project
2015: EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art
2016: Design Museum Finland

DOM E5006: Media and the Environment [2019]

Department of Media, Aalto University
OVERVIEW: This course will investigate Media and Communications infrastructures as intertwined with the surrounding environment. It will look both back into history (media-archaeological past) as well as forwards in dystopian futures (science-fictions) to explore how media infrastructures co-exist and affect the environment.
ENROLL

DEEP TIME OF THE MUSEUM [2016]

The Deep Time of the Museum / The Materiality of Media Infrastructures: The dissertation aims to develop a design framework for building ecological media infrastructures that support museums and cultural heritage. By examining the museum system, the study traces the domains of media infrastructures related to embodied energy and energy use. Then by design interventions it attempts to model alternatives. The resulting design framework provides key methodologies for museums and their user communities towards shaping an ecological institution.

http://Full PDF Download: https://shop.aalto.fi/p/910-deep-time-of-the-museum/

LINES AND COILS [2018]

Pen and pastel on tracing paper. 30 x 20 cm.

HALOO AKSELI [2013-14] – GALLEN-KALLELA MUSEUM

Robotic Digitization and Archiving at Gallen-Kallela Museum

INVITED TALKS [2011-2019]

-Aalto ARTS Building Design Studio, 12 February 2019: Invited Lecture: From Architecture to Infrastructure: The Design of the New Museum.
-Aalto HELDIG (Helsinki Centre for Digital Humanities) Seminar, 6 February 2019: Invited Talk: Grooves to Bits: The Energetic Materialities of Sound Archives.
-University of the Arts Helsinki, 25 April, 2018: Invited Talk: 'The Battery is the Message.'
-Swedish Historical Society (Mickwitz Seminar), Finland, 9 February, 2017: Invited Talk - ‘The Materiality of Digital Heritage.’
-Turku Museum Center (Turunmuseokeskus) Finland, 24 November 2015: Invited Talk about Media Strategies for Cultural Heritage.
-National Board of Antiquities (Museovirasto) Finland, Teemapäivät 2014, 11 -12 September 2014 : Invited talk and Presentation of ‘Haloo Akseli’ project at Gallen-Kallela Museum.
-MuseumNext Conference 2014 Newcastle-Gateshead, UK 18 -20 June, 2014: Invited talk and presentation about 'Light is History' Project in Helsinki.
-NODEM (Nordic Digital Excellence in Museums) Conference 1 - 3 Dec, 2013 Stockholm Sweden. Invited Talk & Presentation: 'Building Sustainable Practices for Museums'
-Digital Heritage International Congress 2013, 28 Oct - 1 Nov. 2013 Marseille, France. Presented ‘The Parametric Museum: : Integrating a Museum’s Building Information Model with its Digital Collections.’
-Inclusive Museum Conference 2013, 22 - 24 April. 2013 Copenhagen, Denmark: Paper presentation: 'Light is History: A Community Participated Museum Installation in Helsinki Finland'
-Modern Identities Conference: Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland 2012 12 October. Presented: 'The Post-Oil Museum: Building a Sustainable Framework for Heritage Institutions and their User Communities'
-Ecomuseums Conference 2012 19 – 21 September, Seixal, Portugal: Presented 'Museums by Communities: Exploration of a New Digital and Spatial Framework for Intangible Cultural Heritage'
-Trans-disciplinary Arts, Ethnography and Cultural Heritage Workshop 24 - 26 May 2012, Aizpute, Latvia: Organized a 2 hour community participated museum (Museum_2) for a local weavers association.
-Talking Trash(lab) Workshop + Lecture Series(Supported by Aalto Media Factory): Organizer in collaboration with Pixelache / Pixelversity Helsinki and Karthikeya Acharya ( Department of Design). Topics related to recycling and reusing digital and technological trash and transforming them into art.
-ESF-LiU Conference: Re-Visiting The Contact Zone: Museums, Theory, Practice, 17 - 21 July 2011. Linköping, Sweden: Presented 'Post-Oil Museum: Imagining Museums Beyond Oil'

PUBLICATIONS [2013-2019]

2019 Samir Bhowmik and J. Parikka, “Memory Machines: Infrastructural Performance as an Art Method,” Leonardo, MIT Press (Forthcoming).
2019 Samir Bhowmik and J. Parikka, “Infrascapes for Media Archaeographers,” in Archaeographies:Aspects of Radical Media Archaeology, eds. Moritz Hiller & Stefan Höltgen, Schwabe Verlag, Berlin.
2019 Samir Bhowmik, “Thermocultures of Memory,” Culture Machine, Vol. 17, 2019.
2019 Samir Bhowmik, “The Battery is the Message,” Communication + 1 Journal, Vol. 7 (2), 2019. 2016 Samir Bhowmik, Deep Time of the Museum / The Materiality of Media Infrastructures,
Doctoral Thesis, Aalto University Books.
2016 Samir Bhowmik and L. Diaz, “Hot Stones and Cool Digitals,” International Journal of
Intangible Cultural Heritage, vol.11. 2016: 162-171.
2013 Samir Bhowmik, K.Acharya, & L. Diaz, “Light is History: A Community Participated Museum
Installation in Helsinki.” The International Journal of the Inclusive Museum 6-1:145-157.

LIGHT IS HISTORY [2012] HELSINKI

A Community Participated Museum Installation in Helsinki.

RECENTLY

  • FORTHCOMING: Helsinki Biennial 2020 – “Lost Islands” March 24, 2020
  • FORTHCOMING: Memory Machines in LEONARDO (MIT Press), 2021 – Samir Bhowmik & Jussi Parikka February 23, 2020
  • PANIC BREEDER [2019] – Aalto AI Exhibition (Aalto DigiPlatform + Finnish Centre for Artificial Intelligence December 9, 2019
  • UNKNOWN FLOWS [2019] – Imagining Godzilla / Bio-Arts Society Finland August 27, 2019
  • CIRCUIT BREAKER [2019] April 7, 2019
  • PUBLISHED: Infrascapes for Media Archaeographers [2019] – Samir Bhowmik & Jussi Parikka April 6, 2019
  • PRESS: Mustekala [February 28, 2019] – Memory Machines at Helsinki Central Library March 1, 2019
  • MEMORY MACHINES [2019] at Helsinki Central Library / Finnish Cultural Institute of New York January 26, 2019
  • Awarded 108 200€ by Kone Foundation for IMAGINARY NATURES: On Extractive Media and the Cultural Memory of Environmental Change December 10, 2018
  • Polarity [2019] – Performance Installation, Klosterruine, Berlin November 30, 2018
  • Selected Artist in Finnish Cultural Institute in New York + Helsinki Central Library Oodi Project 2019 October 8, 2018
  • PUBLISHED: The Battery is the Message [2019] Communications + 1 Journal (Open Humanities Press) September 23, 2018
  • The Materiality of Happiness [2018] – Artist Workshops – Annantalo, Vuotalo & Caisatalo Helsinki September 22, 2018
  • Talk – Alternative AI’s – PUBLICS Helsinki – 31 May 2018 May 29, 2018
  • Pixelache’s BioSignals [2018] April 26, 2018
  • Lithium Workshop [2018] with IC-98 / University of the Arts Helsinki April 5, 2018
  • Awarded Finnish Cultural Foundation Grant 2017 – 19 March 2, 2017
  • Deep Time of the Museum [2016] October 31, 2016
  • Community Power Bank [2016] June 22, 2016
  • Biological Wisdom and Social Transformation meets Ferment Lab [2015] – Pixelache Festival 2015 April 4, 2016
  • Awarded Kone Foundation Grant 2015 -2016 December 10, 2014
  • Powering the Cooper Hewitt – New York / Research Project [May 2014 – June 2015] November 3, 2014
  • MEMI [2014] – Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum June 15, 2014
  • Haloo Akseli [2013-14] – Gallen Kallela Museum June 4, 2014
  • Light is History [2012] January 30, 2013
  • Talking Trashlab [2012] January 19, 2012
  • SPORA BOREALIS [2012] Art Installation Helsinki November 27, 2011
  • P-WALL [2011] Installation – Ateneum Art Museum Helsinki May 7, 2011

THEMATICS

Anthropocene Architecture Art Community Digital Media DIY electricity electronics Energy Environment Exhibition Installation Media Museum Museums New Media Sustainability Transportation

(RE)THINKING CENTRAL PARK [2003]

Master of Architecture Thesis 2003 / University of Maryland College Park USA

LETTERS FROM SIBBESBORG [2011]

A Plan for a Sustainable Community in Sipoo, Finland

SPORA BOREALIS [2011] Art Installation

VALLEY OF LIFE [2013]

Manifesto for a sustainable community in the Dolomites, Italy

POST-OIL MUSEUM [2010]

© 2020 - (C) SAMIR BHOWMIK 2019 - 20