© 2012 | amberTXT / BIS ISBN 978-605-88807-7-1

many international artists. Lately he is
working on Network Mapping, which
he developed as an artistic tool to analyze
social relations among the actors in
many different fields but especially in
the art scene. Among his other works I
would like to mention is Mypocket.
Ali Miharbi is another media artist who
completed all his higher education
in the United States. Miharbi is using
face tracking software and developed
most of his late works on related concepts.
Delegation and Faces on Mars are
among his works. RTÜK is another work
which is a plug-in written for Firefox to
let the ordinary users to ban the part
of the web sites that they believe is not
suitable; this is a critical work against to
the state’s internet policy.
Onur Sönmez is another young artist
who completed his graduate study at
Linz after his undergraduate studies
at Bilgi University. Sönmez started his
career as a designer after his graduate
study he worked at Future Lab as
a research artist. He lives abroad and
works as an artist and researcher internationally.
I would like to mention The
Mexican Standoff, Jason Shoe, and White
Shadow among his works, which cover a
wide range.
Not all of these artists are coming from
the digital background but also not from
conventional art education or practices.
Of course there are many established
artists in Turkey who use new technologies
among other techniques and media.
I did not mention them here as New Media
Artists. Mainly because new media
or technologies themselves are not the
main medium of their work; also even
if they create such works, these do not
form their artistic repertoire. although I
believe that such artworks deserve the
same merit as others, it is a totally different
artistic approach as well as a different
methodology that distinguishes
new media artist from the conventional.
[amberPlatform]
After this brief history of new media in
Turkey I will continue with our own experience,
BIS and amberPlatform.
BIS (Beden-İşlemsel Sanatlar Derneği
/ Body-Process Arts Association) is an
Istanbul based initiative that aims to
explore artistic forms of expression at
the conjunction of the body and the
technological processes. It was founded
in 2007 as an association by a team of
researchers and artists from disciplines
such as dance, performance, design, social
sciences and engineering.
BIS fosters to create an international discussion
and production platform in its
locale, on art and technology in a world
itself transformed by new technologies.
It defines its area of interest through
the wording of its subtitle. The concept
of body-process arts envisages artistic
forms that explore, think, embody and
question the complex and multifaceted
relationship and the fluid boundaries
between body and technology and the
consequences of their interaction.
BIS started amber Art and Technology
Festival in November 2007 which consisted
of a new media art exhibition,
performances, workshops, seminars
and artist presentations. It continues
annually since then.
[amberFestival’s objectives]:
▸ To promote research and production
in the new forms of artistic expressions
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