Digital Innovation, Arts and Tech: Hrag Vartanian and Kamal Sinclair in Conversation
2022 Conference Blog
Tram Nguyen
It was so intriguing to be introduced to the ideas of Hrag Vartanian and Kamal Sinclair, two very eclectic folks who work and think across the worlds of contemporary arts, performing arts, emerging technology and digital innovation.
Hrag is the editor and co-creator of Hyperallergic, an art critic, curator, artist and lecturer. Kamal is the senior director of Digital Innovation at The Music Center in Los Angeles, with a background that spans dance, film, production and technology.
Their careers are an inspiring, and dazzling, example of multi-hyphenate creative pathways. Kamal began her career as a cast member of STOMP and has reflected on the surprising synergy between dancers and technology innovation—stemming perhaps from their kinetic awareness and immersiveness of their art. Hrag co-created Hyperallergic from a personal blog, growing it into a “blogazine” that has innovated with changes in the art world, the publishing industry and the internet in order to become an online source of arts criticism, commentary, reporting and dialogue reaching over a million readers.
In an essay entitled “Imagining the Future Before Us,” Hrag comments on this artistic ability to see outside the box: “Artists excel at generating new models, and their resilience and popularity often come because they respond to the idea of culture as a lived, constantly evolving, and malleable thing that springs from the fount of everyday life.”
In a wide-ranging conversation organized roughly around a series of prompts, Kamal and Hrag touched on issues as varied as interrogating the nonprofit model, information literacy in the digital age, accessibility and elitism in arts and tech, and the internet’s impact on mental health and trauma.
This included things I’ve never heard of before (like NFTs and blockchains), and concepts I’m only vaguely aware of like Web 3 and the metaverse.
It’s interesting to listen in on a conversation like this, between deeply knowledgeable and cutting-edge thinkers about technology and society, from my vantage point in the (by comparison) lumbering and mostly analog local government sector. The tech issues we currently confront are about how the clients we most need to reach in our county—for vaccination and COVID prevention—don’t have email addresses, no computers, and limited internet access, along with the challenges of information literacy. In fact, the modality we’re hoping to invest more in is doorknocking and neighborhood outreach, promotores going door to door to share health information that is understandable, culturally relevant, and trustworthy for communities.
While this may seem light years away from what Hrag and Kamal were discussing, I think they would appreciate the questions posed by this divide.
And I appreciated their critical lens and thoughtful engagement on the tech development that is reshaping reality for all of us, bringing back the most “ivory towered work” to ask how does this serve and widen access?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tram Nguyen joins us from Oakland, CA for the virtual track of the 2022 GIA Conference.
She currently works in the Health Equity, Policy, & Planning team in the Office of the Director, Alameda County Public Health Department.
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The 2022 GIA Annual Conference begins on Thursday, October 6 and runs through Wednesday, October 12. In the meantime, get familiar with our virtual portal and check out the in-person sessions!
You can follow the convening and join the conversation using the hashtags #ConvergeTransform and #GIArts2022 on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. And, don’t forget to visit the Conference Blog for stories and reporting from the in-person and virtual conference tracks throughout the week.
