Interface: Art + Stability

Dive into this discussion with DEL participant, artist and the National Director of the Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMMA), Emmanuel Madan, where we touch on the Arts ecosystem and how it would benefit from the DEL project and union simulation Artwork_Local404. Through his time at the DEL, Madan connects his unwavering commitment to economic stability for artists to his continuous investigation into the transmission of knowledge. Pay close attention to how his initial conversation with artist and fellow DEL participant Christine Swintak addresses the simultaneous presence of need and surplus as they explore potential models of exchange through mapping the infrastructure of shipping containers. Furthermore, follow along as this discussion moves from the distribution of resources to discovering the fundamental diversity of artists’ needs. It is here you will discover the underpinnings for the transmission of knowledge through Artwork_Local404, as the team confronts the critical question of designing hardware that can meet the imaginative needs of an artists’ union. Created in collaboration with DMG founder and DEL participant Izzie Colpitts-Campbell, Madan introduces the conceptual design of a phone interface that could prompt participants with cultural and economic questions of constraint, while collecting their numerical responses as a form of data collection intended to inform the creation of the union. It is by working through the limitations of a phone interface that the team is reminded that contemplation takes time; in order for this project to be meaningful, it will take extensive consideration and careful deliberation to be fruitful to the lives of artists.