The ISEA2018 (International Symposium on Electronic Art) academic symposium kicked off with excitement on Monday, 25 June 2018 at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) City Campus.
The opening day featured captivating peer-reviewed papers, panels and keynote speakers, all talking to the theme of ‘Intersections’.
DUT Deputy Vice-Chancellor, People and Operations, Dr Isaac Machi welcomed all local and international delegates to ISEA2018 urging them to use this platform to form linkages and share best-practices.
“It is not by accident that you’ve chosen DUT to host this international symposium because this is one of the leading universities in South Africa in the areas of arts and design. I would like to call upon all local scholars to interact with the best brains in the world to share ideas, and also to create networks because it is only through such networks that you will be able to benchmark yourselves with the rest of the world,” said Dr Machi.
“Most importantly I would like to call upon our Masters and Doctorate students to use this opportunity creatively because it is one of the rare opportunities to exchange information with international scholars,” added Dr Machi.
Speaking on behalf of ISEA International, Chairman of the Board, Ernest Edmonds said, “I want to thank the whole team for hosting ISEA in Durban, South Africa this year, it is very exciting for us to be here, last year we were in South America for the first time and this year we are in Africa for the first time. It is very important for us to reach out across the world. Thank you for hosting us and staging an exciting event here in Durban.”
ISEA2018 Artistic Director, Marcus Neustetter said this was a culmination of a vision they had two years ago. “This is not just about welcoming you here to the City and Continent, but it is about what you can take from here and what we can take from you in a good way. We are hoping that ideas are going to be shared, and the collaborations are going to happen and that the exchanges are going to be fruitful,” he said.
Keynote speaker, Prof Mugendi M’Rithaa from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology stressed the importance of understanding how big and diverse the African continent is.
“Coming from the World Design Organisation I think it is important to look at the world as one, I prefer to look at it as a unity. When I look at Africa these two fascinate me the most, when we look at how internet and mobile telecomm is growing, it is growing faster than anywhere in the world. So already I see some of these intersections that we are discussing today through arts and electronics,” said Prof M’Rithaa.
ISEA2018 is the first ISEA to be held in the African continent. Hosted in venues across Durban, this event will incorporate the fifth iteration of the Durban University of Technology Digital Festival (DigiFest) and Innovate Durban’s 2018 Innovation
Festival (IF Durban) in a strategy to build a local partnership and legacy.
Pictured: Some of the speakers engaging with delegates on Day 1 of ISEA2018 academic symposium held at DUT City Campus yesterday, 25 June 2018.
Nduduzo Ndlovu
