Media Architecture Institute

International artists and designers, architects, scholars, and representatives from the cultural sector and industry will meet in advance of Nuit Blanche in Toronto this week to discuss how public art and creative use of digital media can re-animate urban space.

The Media Architecture Summit 2016, organized by Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts & Technologies in York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design and the Media Architecture Institute, will be held in downtown Toronto from Thursday to Saturday, the first time the summit has been held in North America.

“Media Architecture is where architecture, urbanism and digital media come together to shape our collective identity,” says Michael Longford, co-chair of Media Architecture Summit 2016 and Director of Sensorium, a digital media research centre at York University. “This type of public art includes everything from animating building facades through the use of digital technology to interactive installations that invite members of the public to perform, and it has the power to energize citizens and transform spaces.”

Featured talks include a Thursday evening panel on Nuit Blanche 2016 projects followed by a keynote address by internationally-acclaimed media artist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, winner of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2015). The Summit also features presentations by Philip Beesley (Experimental Sculptor/Architect, Canada), Amahl Hazelton (Moment Factory, Canada), Scott McQuire (Media Scholar, Australia), and Dietrich Neumann (Urban Studies Scholar, USA).

An international group of artists, designers, architects, academics, urban planners, and industry representatives will make presentations and take part in panels and workshops. There will also be presentations by artists presenting large-scale public installations at the Nuit Blanche Toronto 2016 event.

What: Media Architecture Summit organized by York U’s Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts & Technologies

When: Thursday, Sept. 29 to Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016

Where: Primary venue, TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King Street West, Toronto.

Program: www.mas2016.net