As art increasingly shifts online, it is able to take on new forms. But what’s the impact of digitalisation on contemporary art? And what actually is digital art? And how does it look today?
In our “Art online” discussion series, we’ll meet with Nordic guests to highlight and discuss different perspectives and issues on the digitalisation of art.
This evening’s discussion looks at art and social media. Can social media serve as an important forum for artists who, due to political, geographical, or socio-economic reasons, for example, would otherwise never draw an audience? Is digitalisation the holy grail of tools for democratisation, or is it ultimately just about marketing and sales?
Led by Karin Sunvisson (Sweden), the renowned illustrators and satirists Siri Dokken (Norway) and Kianoush Ramezani (Iran/Finland) will discuss their respective relationships with social media and its importance for their artistic practices.
Siri Dokken (b. 1966) is an award-winning Norwegian editorial cartoonist and illustrator. Since 1995, she has been working as editorial cartoonist for the Oslo-based newspaper Dagsavisen, and since 2010, also for the magazine Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift. She holds a part time position as an associate professor within the Design department at Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO), teaching character design and editorial illustration.
Mainly focused on satire and editorial illustration, she also explores other fields, and has recently completed lead character design for the full length animation picture “Titina” (directed by Mikrofilm’s Kajsa Næss), expected to launch in 2022. In 2019, she joined the international network “Cartoonists for Peace”.
Kianoush Ramezani (b. 1973) is an Iranian political cartoonist and visual activist, who has been living and working in Europe since 2009 and is now based in Helsinki. His editorial cartoons has appeared in “Courrier International”, “Guardian”, “Libération”, “Arte”, “Le1” and “WeDemain” amongst others and he has also received many international awards for his work.
Ramezani has been lecturing in schools and universities in Europe since 2010, in order to raise awareness about the importance of “freedom of expression” among the young generation. He has also been curating and organizing international cartoon exhibitions in e g France, Germany and Sweden. Ramezani is the Co-founder and president of the “United Sketches” – an international organization located in France promoting freedom of expression and cartoonists in exile. .
Kianoush has since 2019 been publishing his weekly column ” Vu par Kianoush Ramezani” in “La Croix” newspaper.
He initiated the first international cartoon award dedicated to women cartoonists in 2020 (The exhibition took place at the Museum of Work, Sweden, and the House of Humor and Satire in Bulgaria)”.
Karin Z Sunvisson (b. 1981) is a Stockholm-born graphic satirist with an M.A. from the French national school of applied arts (ÉNSAD) in Paris, today sharing her time between Sweden and Serbia. She publishes her images in traditional paper media mostly, and her work has been exhibited in over fifty countries. She also lectures and writes about satire and satire history. Karin Z Sunvisson was the 2019 year’s EWK Prize winner.
Sunvisson is the project leader of Network for women graphic artists – graphic political satire and creative processes in collaboration with the Museum of Work and the Swedish Institute. The ambition is that the project ”will grow and develop internationally to become a strong global network where institutional and collegial support will act against exposedness and isolation, and push editors and other media actors to include, collaborate with and publish women graphic satirists”. (Source: Arbetets Museum/Museum of Work)
Webpage: www.k-a-r-i-n.biz
