Techne: Forum on Art & Technology is a one-day conference organized with support from Learning Design & Technology, the Department of Music, and the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. The conference brings together artists of different backgrounds to showcase their work and discuss critical topics on how technology continues to (re)shape our relationship to art. Presentations and panels will discuss the intersection of various technologies in different artistic disciplines, encompassing music, dance, programming, AI, robotics, and virtual reality. In the evening, we will have a multimedia exhibition and performances to showcase the artists' work. Our guest speakers/performers for this event are:
Alex Christie, music and performance (UVA)
Semi Ryu, media artist and XR (VCU)
Kate Sicchio, choreographer and technologist (VCU)
Ross Wightman, sound and media artist (Yale)
The conference will take place on April 17th at the Jefferson Scholars Foundation (112 Clarke Ct, Charlottesville, VA) and is divided in two parts:
Talks and Panels - 9am to 4pm, includes morning coffee and lunch.
Multimedia Exhibition and Concert - 7pm to 10pm, includes a reception with snacks and beverages.
Guest Speakers:
Alex Christie
Alex Christie is a composer, intermedia artist, and educator whose work investigates the agency of nonhuman actors and the collision of creative media. Their pieces blur the distinctions between dynamic lighting systems, musical compositions, and new electronic music instruments.
Recently, Christie has been exploring the hidden artistic potentials of dated technological bodies—cassette players, CRT televisions, radios, magnetic tape, cheap or broken guitar pedals—and how these bodies can be interconnected to produce unanticipated sonic interaction. He hopes that working with creative technology in this manner can develop ways of understanding the world that embrace different modes of being and contemplate the mortality of all things.
Christie is based in Charlottesville, VA, where he is a member of the feline-inspired performance art noise duo Trash Cats, the free improv tech support band PC Load Letter, the experimental techno act Altra, and the six-piece chaos sound assemblage Ear Infection. They are the Technical Coordinator for the Composition and Computer Technologies program at the University of Virginia and the Chief Spiritual Officer for the, kind-of-but-not-really record label Moon Landing Media.
Christie holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (BM, Composition and Technology In Music And Related Arts), Mills College (MFA, Electronic Music and Recording Media), and the University of Virginia (MA and PhD, Composition and Computer Technologies).
Kate Sicchio
Dr. Kate Sicchio is a choreographer, media artist and performer whose work explores the interface between choreography and technology with wearable technology, live coding, and real time systems. Her work has been shown in the US, UK, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Netherlands and Qatar at venues such as PS122 (NYC), Banff New Media Institute (CAN), Arnolfini Arts (UK). She is a 2024-25 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellow in New and Emerging Media. She has given invited talks at EU Parliament, Eyeo, Resonate, Node Code, Expo ‘74 and countless universities and events across the globe and co-edited the book Intersecting Art and Technology in Practice: Techne/Technique/Technology (Routledge) with Dr. Camille Baker. Her work has been in New York Times, Dance Magazine, Daze Digital and El Diarios. She is currently Associate Professor of Dance and Media Technology at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Semi Ryu
Semi Ryu is a media artist specializing in avatar and XR projects inspired by Korean healing rituals. She is a professor at VCU Arts, an affiliate associate professor at VCU Medicine, and Director of EXE Lab: Embodied XR + Emotion AI. She holds a BFA from Korea National University of Arts, an MFA from Carnegie Mellon, and a Ph.D. from UOC, Barcelona, focusing on the intersections of art, health, and virtual reality.
Ryu’s work has been featured in 23 countries through international screenings, exhibitions, and performances. Her articles have been published in leading journals, including the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, Journal of Palliative Medicine, and Arts & Health. Her chapter, “End-of-Life Review: Embracing Art, Technology, and Culture,” was published in The Routledge Handbook of Arts and Health. A TEDx speaker and first-place recipient of the Hamilton International Arts in Health Award, she pioneers AI-integrated VR works, including SentimentVoice, which uses emotion AI to amplify underrepresented narratives.
Ryu has earned various grants, including VCU Presidential Research Quest Fund, VCU Breakthrough, Massey Cancer Center, NEH, NSF, Commonwealth Cyber Initiative and KOCCA ( Korea Creative Content Agency) at Korea Ministry of Culture. For additional information, please visit www.semiryu.net.
Ross Wightman
Ross Wightman is a New Haven based sound artist from New Jersey whose work incorporates microtonality, electro-acoustic multimedia composition and instrument building. He repurposes and deconstructs found instruments, augmenting them with 3D printing, robotics, and machine learning to compose works that investigate themes related to performance practice, virtuosity, timbre and resonance.
For this event, Ross will be performing Fiddle Henge, a robotically controlled array of four violins mounted on a 26” bass drum that is played by a motorized acrylic disk. Inspired by the mechanical musical instruments and automata from the turn of the 20th century that were forced into obsolescence by the invention of phonographs and recorded music, Fiddle Henge serves as a medium to conjure rhythmically dense mechanical textures and microtonal sonorities that flicker between harsh noise and spectrally lush drone. Learn more at rosswightman.net
Jefferson Scholars Foundation is located at 112 Clarke Court, Charlottesville, VA 22903 Phone: (434) 243-9029
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All events are subject to change.