The Center for the Arts in Society plans and sponsors a number of events each semester that include member meetings, faculty and visitor presentations, lectures, workshops, seminars, panel discussions, and performances. These events reflect the Center goals, connect students to issues of art in society, and invite Pittsburgh residents to participate in the work of the Center.

Hijacking Controversy
Tales from the Front Lines of Tactical Media

Tuesday, October 27; 4:30 PM
Margaret Morrison 103 (Breed Hall)


Richard Pell, Institute of Applied Autonomy Assistant Professor, School of Art, Carnegie Mellon

Paolo Pedercini, Molleindustria
Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Art, Carnegie Mellon

Kathy Newman, Media Studies Scholar
Associate Professor, Department of English, Carnegie Mellon

Can artists influence the way in which the media presents their work, especially when such work comes in response to controversial  events? In 1999, Rich Pell and a group of artists working together under the name “The Institute for Applied Autonomy” created the Robotic Graffiti Writer, which used highly sophisticated technology for graffiti painting as a commentary on the use of robots for military purposes. When the media presented the project by solely emphasizing the technological aspect and leaving out its political message, the artists decided to re-gain control over representations of their art. In 2001, the group created I see, a project that provided paths through the city of New York that avoided as many surveillance cameras as possible. In doing this, they forced the media to present their work in a way that could no longer avoid the political dimension. Similarly, when  Paolo Pedercini’s  “Faith Fighter”
video game, which used god-figures from major religions in a computer-mediated fighting game, was targeted by the media as politically offensive to Muslims, the artist dispelled the media-created controversy with ”Faith Fighter II”, a game which satirically used technology to promote an ecumenical stance on religion.

In this provocative panel, artists Rich Pell and Paolo Pedercini join with media studies scholar Kathy Newman to discuss the relations between controversy, media representations of art, and the ways in which artists can trigger or control such representations.

Hijacking Controversy is sponsored by the Controversy Initiative, a project of the Public Art initiative in the Center for the Arts in Society.

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