TransFormations III: Fiction Science FREE March 3, 2007

We live in a science fictional world. Every day another futuristic projection made in the past turns into the reality of the present. Science fiction and science fact have become all but indistinguishable. "Special effects" are no longer particularly special, and fictional worlds, hoaxes and alternate histories are sometimes more real than reality itself. Science fiction turns its readers into early adopters; it helps prepare us for the future however it unfolds. Science uses this imaginative resource to think beyond its paradigm boundaries.

TransFormations 3: Fiction Science examines how science and science fiction mutually inform one another and shape not only our sense of the future but also our understanding of the present.

Organized by Steve Anderson, Anne Balsamo, Anne Friedberg, Alice Gambrell, Perry Hoberman, Michael Naimark, Veronica Paredes, Douglas Thomas, Richard Weinberg and Holly Willis.

Saturday March 3, 2007 – Sunday March 4, 2007

Saturday March 3, 2007
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Panel I: Science Fiction, Fiction Science
Larry Niven, science fiction author (Ringworld, The Draco Tavern)
Tim Pratt, fantasy and science fiction author (Little Gods)
Nathan Schurr, USC
moderator: Anne Balsamo, USC

One of the side effects of the ever-increasing rate of technological change is our entrance into a world in which any line drawn between science fiction and scientific fact is contingent, contested and arguable. Meanwhile, we can no longer expect our experts and pundits to tell us the truth, because they are primarily engaged in the business of "perception management". Instead, we might do better to listen to comedians, filmmakers, artists, hoaxers, fiction and science fiction writers. Paradoxically, those who make no claims at all to "truth" are often the only ones with nothing at stake in systematically distorting it. Just as science fiction created a realm in which conceptions of the future could be considered apart from the realities of the present, we need a realm distinct from our increasingly out-of-balance reality if we are to perceive even a faint glimmer of a better world. The future once described by science fiction (from Wells and Verne onward) became everyday life in the post-war era, and today has been largely surpassed by technologies that we now take for granted. We are living in what once was "the future" and the interplay between science fiction and fact is such that neither can remain distinct from the other.

1:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Live Video Chat with science fiction author & computer scientist RUDY RUCKER (Software, Wetware, Mathematicians in Love)

2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Panel II: Hollywood Science, Special FX
Scott Bukatman, Stanford University (Terminal Identity, Matters of Gravity)
Kevin Mack, visual effects supervisor (Fight Club, Ghost Rider)
Elizabeth Kessler, Stanford University
moderator: Anne Friedberg, USC

One arena in which the boundaries between the realistic and the fantastic is constantly being re-negotiated is the cinema. Built into the very syntax of film (through mise-en-scene, montage, flash-backs, etc.) are specific distortions of temporality, space, causality, and linearity that defy the 'laws' of physics. But now, with the development of techniques that seamlessly integrate computer-generated components with camera-captured imagery, the apparatus of the film industry has been completely transformed, replacing more traditional methods simply because of their cost-effectiveness. "Special effects" are no longer particularly special; they are the bread-and-butter of cinema production. At the same time, the mechanisms of cinema spectatorship have undergone a radical, if largely unnoticed, shift: the world on the screen, while coyly maintaining its claim of at least some correspondence to reality, has left the real world far behind. This panel addresses this collision of science fiction and science fact via the lens of special effects and the two-way relationship that has evolved between them.

4:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Screening
Arthur Elsenaar & Remko Scha, Morphology/FaceShift
and works by:
Torsten Zenas Burns, video artist, Kyungsung University, Pusan, South Korea
Anthony Discenza, video artist, California College of the Arts
Darrin Martin, video artist, University of California at Davis
HALFLIFERS

TransFormations is a year-long series of events formed around four specific topics, each at the crossroads of four larger umbrella themes: art, technology, cognition and perception. In Fiction Science, writers, artists, scientists, directors, special-effects artists and cognitive scientists will come together to map out the territories between fiction and science and reality and fantasy, asking whether fictional worlds, hoaxes, satire and alternate histories can sometimes seem to be more "true-to-life" than reality itself. One of the side effects of the ever-increasing rate of technological change is our entrance into a world in which any line drawn between science fiction and scientific fact is contingent, contested and arguable. Simultaneously, the unprecedented absurdity of late-capitalist marketing techniques, centralized ownership of media, corporate corruption and proto-fascist politics has led to a situation in which satire, hoaxes, fictional worlds and alternate histories are more "true-to-life" than reality itself. We can no longer expect our experts and pundits to tell us the truth, because they are primarily engaged in the business of "perception management." Instead, we might do better to listen to comedians, filmmakers, artists, hoaxers and fiction writers. Paradoxically, those who make no claims at all to "truth" are nearly always the only ones with nothing at stake in systematically distorting it. Just as science fiction created a realm in which conceptions of the future could be considered apart from the realities of the present, we need a realm distinct from our increasingly out-of-balance reality if we are to perceive even a faint glimmer of a better world: whether wiser, more equitable, more sustainable, more harmonious, more pleasurable or simply more fun. We are living in what was once "the future," and the interplay between science fiction and fact is such that neither can remain distinct from the other. One arena in which the boundaries between the realistic and fantastic are constantly being renegotiated is the cinema. Built into the very syntax of film are specific distortions of temporality, space, causality and linearity that defy the "laws" of physics. Now, with the development of techniques that seamlessly integrate computer-generated components and camera-captured imagery, the apparatus of the film industry has been completely transformed. "Special effects" are no longer particularly special. Simultaneously, the mechanisms of cinema spectatorship have undergone a radical, if largely unnoticed, shift: The world on screen, while coyly maintaining its claim of at least some correspondence to reality, has left the real world far behind. In some sense, every film is now science fiction--laws of physics, biology, psychology and logic are routinely violated, not just in terms of montage and narrative flow, but in the very mise-en-scene itself. It is possible to elucidate the physical logic of these worlds as a critical problem? The virtualization of science in cinema extends into the disciplines of physics, biology, epidemiology, artificial intelligence and simulation in ways that pose important questions. Organized by cinematic arts faculty members Perry Hoberman, Steve Anderson, Anne Balsamo, Anne Friedberg, Richard Weinberg and Michael Naimark; Alice Gambrell (English); Douglas Thomas (communication); and Holly Willis (fine arts).

For further information on this event:
visionsandvoices@usc.edu

Other events in the TransFormations Series:
January 19, 2007 – January 20, 2007 TransFormations II: The Perception of Perception
April 21, 2007 – April 22, 2007 TransFormations IV: Disturbed Realities

Official Website: http://iml.usc.edu/transformations3/