Workshop

Artist and activist Burak Arikan offers a one-day workshop titled Mapping the Art World, during which participants sketch and discuss diagrams to create a mapping of network based on their observations and the networks extracted from their areas of interest within the art world. The emphasis lies on relational thinking, game theory, centrality, clustering analysis, and information design. With introduction by our Director Defne Ayas and artists Bik Van der Pol. Presented as part of Everyone for Themselves.

The workshop will allow the participants to map, observe and extract networks from their areas of interest in the art world. Trough sketching and discussing diagrams the participants will learn how to use their network to their advantage. Within this process there will be an emphasis on relational thinking, game theory, centrality, clustering analysis and information design.

The workshop is addressed to students who are part of a Bachelor or Master program or recent holders of a Bachelor or Master degree in related fields of study. This includes Cultural Sciences, Philosophy, Cultural Entrepreneurship, Art History, Artistic Research and Art Academy (to name a few).

This workshop is part of Everyone for Themselves, a program which furthermore consists of a School of Homework at Witte de With (May 9-13) and a day-long symposium at De Unie and Witte de With (May 12). This public program will examine: How the art market is becoming increasingly powerful and influential; How freedom and free choice is a carefully shaped illusion of the capitalistic ideology; How choices for or against cooperation are programmed.

Workshop Program
PART I(12 – 3 PM) : How to map networks?
Graph theory, relationship types in the art world, network topologies, information modeling.
Break (3 – 4 PM)

PART II (4 – 7 PM): How to analyze networks?
Centralization, clustering, structural holes, shortest paths, indirect relationships.
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About Burak Arikan
Burak Arikan is an artist based in New York and Istanbul. His work confronts issues ranging from politics and economics to cultural sustainability in networked environments. His systems have been featured in online and onsite exhibitions in the form of prints, animation, software, and installations.
Arikan has presented his work internationally at institutions including Museum of Modern Art (New York), Neuberger Museum of Art (New York), Venice Biennale (Venice), and Ars Electronica (Linz), Sonar (Barcelona). He has lectured and did workshops at institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rhode Island School of Design, New York University Interactive Telecommunications Program, Istanbul Technical University, Bogazici Universtiy, Sabanci University, and Istanbul Bilgi University.
Arikan completed his master’s degree at the MIT Media Laboratory in the Physical Language Workshop (PLW) led by John Maeda. While at MIT, he pursued research exploring networked systems that address the transition from connectivity to collectivity in the context of creative expression. Prior to MIT, he received an MA degree in Visual Communication Design from Istanbul Bilgi University in 2004, and a BS degree in Civil Engineering from Yildiz Technical University in 2001.

To learn more:
http://teaching.burak-arikan.com/creative-networking/
http://graphcommons.com/
http://burak-arikan.com/network-map-of-artists-and-political-inclinations-7th-berlin-biennale