Jason Hoelscher. Art as Information Ecology: Artworks, Artworlds, and Complex Systems Aesthetics. Duke University Press, 2021
Jason Hoelscher: Writing and Research
This site explores the overlaps between complex adaptive systems, tactical ambiguity, and aesthetic information theories, as constituting the interference patterns by (and as) which the artwork's work emerges.
My book Art as Information Ecology: Artworks, Artworlds, and Complex Systems Aesthetics is published by Duke University Press, September 2021
NOTE: I've been too busy this year to update this site. Please visit my academia.edu site instead, which is more thorough and more current at the moment.
This site explores the overlaps between complex adaptive systems, tactical ambiguity, and aesthetic information theories, as constituting the interference patterns by (and as) which the artwork's work emerges.
My book Art as Information Ecology: Artworks, Artworlds, and Complex Systems Aesthetics is published by Duke University Press, September 2021
NOTE: I've been too busy this year to update this site. Please visit my academia.edu site instead, which is more thorough and more current at the moment.
News: Upcoming and recent events
(note that many of the papers listed below are available for download as PDFs from my Academia site)
• Book: Art as Information Ecology: Artworks, Artworlds, and Complex Systems Aesthetics, Duke University Press, September, 2021.
• SECAC conference, panel organizer: Art and Information Literacy in the Age of Fake "Fake News." November 2021, Lexington KY
• SECAC conference, panel organizer: Art / Data / Information. October 2019, Chattanooga TN
• SECAC conference, paper presentation: Art, Information, and the Aesthetic Singularity. October 2019, Chattanooga TN
• Magazine article: “The Relational Aesthetics of Ambient Artificial Intelligence.” ArtPulse Magazine, vol. 10, no. 32, October 2019
• Dissertation abstract selected for inclusion in the peer-reviewed MIT Press/Leonardo Journal LABS (Leonardo Abstracts Service) research databank
• International Congress of Aesthetics conference, roundtable participant: Art in an Era of Ambient Technology: Information as Difference, Art as Differencing. July 2019, University of Belgrade, Belgrade Serbia
• International Congress of Aesthetics conference, paper presentation: Combinatorial Creativity and Constraint in Adjacent Possibility Space. July 2019, University of Belgrade, Belgrade Serbia
• SLSA EU conference, paper presentation: Information Efflorescence and the Post-Object Field. June 2019, University of Athens and the National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens Greece
• CAA conference, roundtable discussion organizer: Idea Exchange Roundtable: Technology and Art Studio Education. February 2019, New York NY
• Successful PhD/dissertation defense, October 2018. Dissertation: From Artworks to Artworlds: Information Efflorescence and Complex Systems Aesthetics. Dissertation director: Brian Massumi.
• SECAC conference, panel organizer: Art and Aesthetics in an Era of Artificial Intelligence (October 2018). Birmingham AL. Co-chaired with Scott Contreras-Koterbay.
• SLSAeu conference, paper presentation: Art as Information Ecology (June 2018). University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Visiting scholar/Writing Fellowship, IDSVA (May-June 2018). Spannocchia, Italy.
• Check out my Artist of the Day mention, as part of the POLLINATE event I've curated at this year's HUBweek art/science/tech festival in Boston
• A project I've curated: POLLINATE, a transdisciplinary and intermedial exhibition about coevolutionary aesthetics. Part of this year's HUBweek art/science/tech festival, a collaboration between Harvard University and MIT in Boston MA, October 2017
• Hoffman LaChance Contemporary, solo artwork exhibition, Monoplex (September 2019). St. Louis MO [forthcoming]
• Posthuman Aesthetics conference, The Maximum Potential Entropy of Posthuman Aesthetics: An Information Theoretic Interpretation of Grand Narratives (March 2017). Aarhus University, Aarhus Denmark.
• CAA conference, paper presentation: Reductive Art, Refractive Information and Emergent Simplicity (February 2017). Panel: "Sensory Implication and Somatic Engagement." New York NY
• Solo exhibition: Syllepticonic, at Alexander Brest Gallery, Jacksonville University, Jacksonville FL. February 9 - March 16, 2017.
• SLSA conference, paper presentation: Creativity and Incommensurability: Modes of Differential Instauration (November 2016). Panel: "Emergent Creativity in Systems of Art Co-Production." Atlanta GA (by invitation)
• SECAC conference, paper presentation: Sonic Instauration and the Contextural Subject (October 2016). Panel: "Sound Art and Subjectivity." Roanoke VA (by invitation)
• Project Gallery, group exhibition: Square Foot at Aqua Art Miami (November - December 2016). Miami FL
• Hoffman LaChance Contemporary, solo artwork exhibition: Iconographic Overdrive (September 2016). St. Louis MO (check out some write-ups here and here)
• ACLA conference, paper presentation: Immateriality and Standardization: Information and Difference in Modernist Aesthetics (March 2016). Panel: "Immaterial Studies." Harvard University
• CAA conference, paper presentation: Direct Experience, Once Removed: Unconcealing the Environmental Interface (February 2016). Panel: "Algorithmic Pollution: Artists Working with Data, Surveillance, and Landscape." Washington, D.C.
• SLSA conference, paper presentation: Preening for the Algorithmic Gaze: Bioinformatic Media and Performativity (November 2015). Panel: "Panopticism and Performativity." Rice University
• SECAC conference, panel organizer and paper presentation: Panel: "Art and Indeterminacy: Tactical Ambiguity in the Era of Standardized Testing." Paper: Art, Ambiguity, and Generative Difference: On the Work of Art as Complexity Engine (October 2015). Pittsburgh PA
• Arts Writers Grant Program Workshop recipient for 2015. Thanks to the Andy Warhol Foundation, Creative Capital, and International Art Critics Association.
• MSA conference, panel organizer and paper presentation: Panel: "Complexity Aesthetics: The Arts and Humanities as Complex Adaptive Systems." Paper: Drop Out Nodes in a Tuned-In Network: Drop City, Art Communes, and Complex Systems (November 2014). Pittsburgh PA
• SECAC conference, paper presentation: Reciprocal Autonomy and Contemporary Abstract Painting (October 2014). Sarasota FL
• Juror, Cross-Disciplinary Design Competition: LABnormal, Embodied Evolution: Postdigital Body Armor. May 2014, Savannah GA
• CAA conference, paper presentation: Painting in the Distributed Field (February 2014). Chicago IL.
(note that many of the papers listed below are available for download as PDFs from my Academia site)
• Book: Art as Information Ecology: Artworks, Artworlds, and Complex Systems Aesthetics, Duke University Press, September, 2021.
• SECAC conference, panel organizer: Art and Information Literacy in the Age of Fake "Fake News." November 2021, Lexington KY
• SECAC conference, panel organizer: Art / Data / Information. October 2019, Chattanooga TN
• SECAC conference, paper presentation: Art, Information, and the Aesthetic Singularity. October 2019, Chattanooga TN
• Magazine article: “The Relational Aesthetics of Ambient Artificial Intelligence.” ArtPulse Magazine, vol. 10, no. 32, October 2019
• Dissertation abstract selected for inclusion in the peer-reviewed MIT Press/Leonardo Journal LABS (Leonardo Abstracts Service) research databank
• International Congress of Aesthetics conference, roundtable participant: Art in an Era of Ambient Technology: Information as Difference, Art as Differencing. July 2019, University of Belgrade, Belgrade Serbia
• International Congress of Aesthetics conference, paper presentation: Combinatorial Creativity and Constraint in Adjacent Possibility Space. July 2019, University of Belgrade, Belgrade Serbia
• SLSA EU conference, paper presentation: Information Efflorescence and the Post-Object Field. June 2019, University of Athens and the National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens Greece
• CAA conference, roundtable discussion organizer: Idea Exchange Roundtable: Technology and Art Studio Education. February 2019, New York NY
• Successful PhD/dissertation defense, October 2018. Dissertation: From Artworks to Artworlds: Information Efflorescence and Complex Systems Aesthetics. Dissertation director: Brian Massumi.
• SECAC conference, panel organizer: Art and Aesthetics in an Era of Artificial Intelligence (October 2018). Birmingham AL. Co-chaired with Scott Contreras-Koterbay.
• SLSAeu conference, paper presentation: Art as Information Ecology (June 2018). University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Visiting scholar/Writing Fellowship, IDSVA (May-June 2018). Spannocchia, Italy.
• Check out my Artist of the Day mention, as part of the POLLINATE event I've curated at this year's HUBweek art/science/tech festival in Boston
• A project I've curated: POLLINATE, a transdisciplinary and intermedial exhibition about coevolutionary aesthetics. Part of this year's HUBweek art/science/tech festival, a collaboration between Harvard University and MIT in Boston MA, October 2017
• Hoffman LaChance Contemporary, solo artwork exhibition, Monoplex (September 2019). St. Louis MO [forthcoming]
• Posthuman Aesthetics conference, The Maximum Potential Entropy of Posthuman Aesthetics: An Information Theoretic Interpretation of Grand Narratives (March 2017). Aarhus University, Aarhus Denmark.
• CAA conference, paper presentation: Reductive Art, Refractive Information and Emergent Simplicity (February 2017). Panel: "Sensory Implication and Somatic Engagement." New York NY
• Solo exhibition: Syllepticonic, at Alexander Brest Gallery, Jacksonville University, Jacksonville FL. February 9 - March 16, 2017.
• SLSA conference, paper presentation: Creativity and Incommensurability: Modes of Differential Instauration (November 2016). Panel: "Emergent Creativity in Systems of Art Co-Production." Atlanta GA (by invitation)
• SECAC conference, paper presentation: Sonic Instauration and the Contextural Subject (October 2016). Panel: "Sound Art and Subjectivity." Roanoke VA (by invitation)
• Project Gallery, group exhibition: Square Foot at Aqua Art Miami (November - December 2016). Miami FL
• Hoffman LaChance Contemporary, solo artwork exhibition: Iconographic Overdrive (September 2016). St. Louis MO (check out some write-ups here and here)
• ACLA conference, paper presentation: Immateriality and Standardization: Information and Difference in Modernist Aesthetics (March 2016). Panel: "Immaterial Studies." Harvard University
• CAA conference, paper presentation: Direct Experience, Once Removed: Unconcealing the Environmental Interface (February 2016). Panel: "Algorithmic Pollution: Artists Working with Data, Surveillance, and Landscape." Washington, D.C.
• SLSA conference, paper presentation: Preening for the Algorithmic Gaze: Bioinformatic Media and Performativity (November 2015). Panel: "Panopticism and Performativity." Rice University
• SECAC conference, panel organizer and paper presentation: Panel: "Art and Indeterminacy: Tactical Ambiguity in the Era of Standardized Testing." Paper: Art, Ambiguity, and Generative Difference: On the Work of Art as Complexity Engine (October 2015). Pittsburgh PA
• Arts Writers Grant Program Workshop recipient for 2015. Thanks to the Andy Warhol Foundation, Creative Capital, and International Art Critics Association.
• MSA conference, panel organizer and paper presentation: Panel: "Complexity Aesthetics: The Arts and Humanities as Complex Adaptive Systems." Paper: Drop Out Nodes in a Tuned-In Network: Drop City, Art Communes, and Complex Systems (November 2014). Pittsburgh PA
• SECAC conference, paper presentation: Reciprocal Autonomy and Contemporary Abstract Painting (October 2014). Sarasota FL
• Juror, Cross-Disciplinary Design Competition: LABnormal, Embodied Evolution: Postdigital Body Armor. May 2014, Savannah GA
• CAA conference, paper presentation: Painting in the Distributed Field (February 2014). Chicago IL.
Word cloud of the paper "Complexity Aesthetics: Recursive Information, the Adjacent Possible and Artistic Emergence." Image: Jason Hoelscher.
About
I am an educator, artist, writer and researcher based in southeast Georgia, where I am an Associate Professor and Gallery Director in the Georgia Southern University interdisciplinary art department. I have exhibited my artwork in galleries and museums in NYC, St. Louis, Denver, Miami, LA, Hong Kong, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and elsewhere, with curatorial projects in NYC, Boston, and Shanghai, China. My writings and research have been presented at multiple conferences, including CAA 2014, 2016 and 2017; SECAC 2014, 2015 and 2016; MSA 2014; and SLSA 2015 and 2016, and in publications such as ARTnews Magazine, Artcore Journal, ArtPulse, Burnaway, Evental Aesthetics, and the anthologies The Art of the Real: Visual Studies and New Materialisms, and The Art of Critique: Reimagining Art Criticism and the Art School Critique. My book Art as Information Ecology is published by Duke University Press.
I received a BFA in painting and drawing from the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (RMCAD); an MFA in painting from the Pratt Institute; and have studied complex social, technological and biological systems at the New England Complex Systems Institute and the Santa Fe Institute. I received a PhD in Art Theory and Aesthetics from the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA). Dissertation title: From Artworks to Artworlds: Information Efflorescence and Complex Systems Aesthetics, dissertation director: Brian Massumi.
My visual art can be found here.
I am an educator, artist, writer and researcher based in southeast Georgia, where I am an Associate Professor and Gallery Director in the Georgia Southern University interdisciplinary art department. I have exhibited my artwork in galleries and museums in NYC, St. Louis, Denver, Miami, LA, Hong Kong, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and elsewhere, with curatorial projects in NYC, Boston, and Shanghai, China. My writings and research have been presented at multiple conferences, including CAA 2014, 2016 and 2017; SECAC 2014, 2015 and 2016; MSA 2014; and SLSA 2015 and 2016, and in publications such as ARTnews Magazine, Artcore Journal, ArtPulse, Burnaway, Evental Aesthetics, and the anthologies The Art of the Real: Visual Studies and New Materialisms, and The Art of Critique: Reimagining Art Criticism and the Art School Critique. My book Art as Information Ecology is published by Duke University Press.
I received a BFA in painting and drawing from the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (RMCAD); an MFA in painting from the Pratt Institute; and have studied complex social, technological and biological systems at the New England Complex Systems Institute and the Santa Fe Institute. I received a PhD in Art Theory and Aesthetics from the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts (IDSVA). Dissertation title: From Artworks to Artworlds: Information Efflorescence and Complex Systems Aesthetics, dissertation director: Brian Massumi.
My visual art can be found here.
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