1. March 20 - 31.

'Art, Technology and Altered States of Consciousness'
This is a 12-day seminar partially overlapping Eastern holidays. There will be a combination of theoretical lectures by Roy Ascott and Luis Eduardo Luna, as well as Free Trance Dance and percussion workshops, with Rodolfo Schlachet, There will be also four evening rituals.

Three lectures by Professor Roy Ascott
• From Cezanne to Cybernetics. Tracing the changing roles of artist and viewer in the creation of artistic meaning and experience, with outcomes in telematic art, the culture of cyberspace, and social networking.

• The Three VRs: virtual reality, validated reality and vegetal reality. How our extended consciousness emerges from the interplay between reactive, mechanical technology, interactive digital technology and psychoactive plant technology.

• Art and the Syncretic Paradigm. Tracing technoetic pathways towards the spiritual in art. The religious syncretism of Umbanda and the emergent ontology that replaces post- modernism with the strategies of syncretism.

Rodolfo Schlachet, will lead two free trance dance sessions, in the beginning and the end of the seminar. he will also lead four percussion sessions.

Three Lectures by Luis Eduardo Luna
• Visionary Art in pre-Columbian America. A journey through the art of the Olmecs, Maya, Teotihuacan, Toltecs and Aztecs of Mesoamerica, as well as the Chavin, Moche, Nazca, Paracas, Tiahuanaku, Chimu, Wari and Incas of South America. There will be a discussion of the hypothetical, in some cases confirmed, relationship of the art of these cultures with shamanism and the use of psychointegrator plants.

• Art and Ayahuasca. This lectures presents examples of the art in the material culture and body painting from the Desana, Barasana, and Siona of Colombia, the Canelo of Ecuador, the Shipibo of Peru and the Kashinawa of Peru and Brazil. It will also shows examples of ayahuasca inspired art by several contemporary artists, such as Pablo Amaringo, Alex Grey, Rick Harlow, Robert Venosa, and others.

• Our Ever Changing Cosmology - Towards the Big Picture. A discussion on the expansion view of reality brought about by such disciplines as physics, astronomy, geology, biology and consciousness studies.

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Roy Ascott is founding president of the Planetary Collegium, and Professor of Technoetic Art, University of Plymouth, England, and Visiting Professor in Design|Media Arts at UCLA.

He was formerly Vice-President and Dean of San Francisco Art Institute, California; Professor of Communications Theory, University of Applied Arts, Vienna; Professor of Fine Art, Minneapolis College of Art; and President of Ontario College of Art, Toronto.

He served on the Art and Media Panel of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2001-2004). Pioneer of telematic art , Ascott has shown at the Venice Biennale, Electra Paris, Ars Electronica Linz, V2 Holland, Milan Triennale, Biennale do Mercosul, Brazil, European Media Festival, and has initiated many online projects, including the seminal work of "distributed authorship", La Plissure du Texte: a planetary fairytale (1983).

Founding editor of Technoetic Arts, he’s also on editorial boards of Leonardo, LEA, and Digital Creativity. He has advised new media centres and festivals in Europe, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Korea and the USA, as well as the CEC and UNESCO.

He convenes the annual international Consciousness Reframed conferences. See: Ascott, R. 2003. Telematic Embrace: visionary theories of art, technology and consciousness. Edited with an introduction by Edward A. Shanken. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Rodolfo Schlachet was born in Paris, where he was initiated to African dancing and druming. He is a direct disciple of the famous master Guem, who wants to give to the drums a true place in the musical world. After several trips to Africa, Rodolfo improved his technique and enlarged his repertoire. He loves to make and fix percussion instruments, and to give a melodic dimension to the rhythms. After being formed in holistic therapy, he investigated Terpsicore Trance Therapy, Umbanda and Candomblé trance rituals.

With his drums, Rodolfo wants to help the awakening of consciousness and the improvement of one’s Being in general. He wants to teach how play in order to encourage free expression and improve creativity. He is a member Associacio per l´Expressió i Comunicació, a teacher at the Carme Aymerich Municipal School of Expression and Psycho-Motricity (Barcelona), and a collaborator of Tambores que Ríen. Rodolfo is a professional drummer. He plays with several artists, such as T. Clements and A. Patrimonio, and plays in concerts and trance sessions with Guem. He facilitates Transpersonal Free Dance sessions and he teaches percussion with happiness in Paris, Geneva, Stockholm, Girona, Figueres, and Barcelona.

Dr. Luis Eduardo Luna
(See bio for more information)