Artifact Institute: Closing reception and round table discussion

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION on residual media and CLOSING RECEPTION for 



Investigation 1: Electronic equipment discarded between 2004 and 2009 by arts and cultural organizations in the Halifax Regional Municipality




Presented by the Artifact Institute

Wednesday August 20, 2014
6052 Almon Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Closing reception: 6 - 10 pm 
Roundtable discussion: 7 - 9 pm
Free and open to the public

Participants in the roundtable discussion:

Bruce Barber, Media Arts, NSCAD University
Becka Barker, Media artist
Creighton Barrett, Dalhousie University Archives
Robert Bean, Media Arts, NSCAD University
Erica Butler, Habitat Radio, CKDU-FM
Bob Chiasson, Plan B

About the roundtable discussion

In conjunction with its ongoing project Investigation 1: Electronic equipment discarded between 2004 and 2009 by arts and cultural organizations in the Halifax Regional Municipality, the Artifact Institute is hosting an informal roundtable with an interdisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners to discuss various ways of engaging with residual media. 

The roundtable will address different ways of thinking about and dealing with the ever-increasing accumulation of electronics, touching on questions of technological practice, ecological and social activism, media arts, archival work, archaeology, material cultural studies, and waste management. 

The event will be of interest to anyone curious about how their relationship to technology is affected by the notion of obsolescence. 

The roundtable will be bookended by a closing reception for Investigation 1.

About Investigation 1

Initiated in 2009, Investigation 1 is a long-term, process-based project involving the systematic study of over one thousand pieces of electronic equipment discarded by various organizations in the Halifax area. The study includes documenting, examining and determining what to do with each artifact. Over the five year course of the project, artifacts have been repaired, disassembled, recycled, and distributed to the public.

The closing reception provides a further opportunity for members of the public to receive electronics free of charge.

About the Artifact Institute

The Artifact Institute was founded in 2007 by Tim Dallett and Adam Kelly to study and intervene in the processes by which artifacts undergo changes in use, value, and meaning. The Artifact Institute uses artistic, institutional, and activist methods and practices to address the relationship of human-made objects and organizational structures to their aesthetic, technical, and social contexts. The Artifact Institute conducts research, collects artifacts, provides services, gives workshops, presents exhibitions, and produces publications. These activities are positioned in a hybrid space between contemporary art, technological practice, and critical inquiry to create multiple points of access and engagement.

The Artifact Institute acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Dalhousie University Art Gallery.