The Gray Area Festival - Plural Prototypes

A conference, performances, workshops, and an exhibition surveying culture through the lens of art and technology.

Today we face technologies that benefit narrow bands of society, polarize culture, and prohibit the cooperation needed to engage complex global challenges. To comprehensively address issues such as climate change, the unknown consequences of "artificial intelligence," or extractive capitalism demands new social relations, and new tools. In response, our gambits are radical arts-driven digital interventions we're calling PLURAL PROTOTYPES -- reimagining infrastructure that facilitates deep and meaningful collaboration among diverse social groups.

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Schedule:

Thursday, October 19: Exhibition Opening Night, Performances, and Workshop

10am - 1pm
C/Change Workshop Series
COUNTER HYDRO-CARTOGRAPHIES

1pm - 7pm
Theater closes for sound-check

7pm - 10pm
Exhibition Opening Party and Performances
GET TICKETS - https://grayarea.org/event/plural-prototypes-exhibition-opening-party-gray-area-festival-2023/

CHIA AMISOLA
DEAFBEEF
INDIRA ALLEGRA
JONATHAN HARRIS
JULES CHIMES GÅRDER
MAI ISHIKAWA-SUTTON
MELISSA MALZKUHN
NAT DECKER
NGOC TRIEU
RHEA MYERS
SCOTT DRAVES
STEVE PIKELNY
SARAH FRIEND
SAMMIE VEELER
TAEYOON CHOI


Friday, October 20: Conference Day 1

9:30am - 12:20pm
Doors Open
Coffee and Pastries

10am - 11:30am
C/Change Workshop Series
DIGITAL RIGHTS MONOPOLY

12:20pm - 12:30pm
Opening Remarks
BARRY THREW

12:30pm - 1:30pm
CripTech Panel

CLAUDIA ALICK
ROXI SHOHADAEE
DON HANSON
LEIGH TANNER
LINDSEY FELT
VANESSA CHANG

1:40pm - 2:05pm
MELISSA MALZKUHN

2:05pm - 2:30pm
INDIRA ALLEGRA

2:30pm - 2:55pm
NAT DECKER

3:05pm - 3:50pm
Developers Panel

SERENA TREPPIEDI
ARDEN SCHAGER
KATE STEVENSON/DOTDOT
SAMMIE VEELER
BARRY THREW

4pm - 4:45pm
Crip Rave Panel

RENEE DUMARESQUE
OCTAVIA ROSE HINGLE
STEFANA FRATILA

4:55pm - 5:35pm
SAMMIE VEELER
DON HANSON

5:20pm - 5:45pm
TAEYOON CHOI

5:45pm - 6pm
Closing Remarks
BARRY THREW

6pm - 9pm
Theater closes for sound-check

9pm - 12midnight
Jimmy Edgar with Maija Knapp Live
GET TICKETS - https://grayarea.org/event/jimmy-edgar-maija-knapp-gray-area-festival-2023-performance-october-20/

JIMMY EDGAR
MAIJA KNAPP
POD BLOTZ
AMAZONDOTCOM
TOM MARSI


Saturday, October 21: Conference Day 2

12noon - 12:20pm
Doors Open
Coffee and Pastries

12:20pm - 12:30pm
Opening Remarks
BARRY THREW

12:30pm - 1:15pm
C/Change Panel
RAPHAEL ARAR

1:25pm - 1:50pm
CADE DEIHM

1:50pm - 2:15pm
KELANI NICHOLE

2:15pm - 2:40pm
ARI KALINOWSKI (DELTA_ARK)

2:40pm - 3:35pm
DWeb Panel

MAI ISHIKAWA-SUTTON
KELANI NICHOLE
ROXI SHOHADAEE
KAITLIN DONOVAN

3:45pm - 4:10pm
RAPHAEL ARAR

4:10pm - 4:35pm
MAI ISHIKAWA-SUTTON

4:35pm - 5pm
MATT PREWITT

5:10pm - 5:55pm
Ownership Panel

MATT PREWITT
BARRY THREW
FRED VON LOHMANN
KAT WALSH
ALLISON DUETTMANN
KURT OPSAHL

5:55pm - 6:10pm
Closing Remarks
BARRY THREW

6:10pm - 9pm
Theater closes for soundcheck

9pm - 1:30am
Crip Rave
GET TICKETS - https://grayarea.org/event/crip-rave-gray-area-festival-2023-october-21/

CIEL
VERY MUCH ROMANCE
DJ LADYBUG
DAX PIERSON
R-TYLER
ERRORBESQUE


Sunday, October 22: Workshops Day 3

10am - 1pm
C/Change Workshop Series
RE-FIGURING: A 3D MODELING WORKSHOP

1pm - 2pm
Break

2pm - 4pm
C/Change Workshop Series
TELL ME ABOUT IT: CRAFT YOUR LIFE STORY WITH AI TOOLS

4pm - 5pm
Break

5pm - 7pm
C/Change Workshop Series
OFFLINE.WIKI: POST-TRAUMA MESSAGES

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PLURAL PROTOTYPES apply artistic inquiry and antidisciplinary practice in pursuit of holistic approaches toward an equitable and inclusive society. We allow cultural producers the agency to align our technological future with pluralistic values -- open access and participation, interdependence, decentralization, mutual learning, shared responsibility, and care -- ensuring we build systems that enhance the common good.

Marking Gray Area's 15th anniversary, this Festival highlights in-progress cultural experiments from our Creative Research and Development Labs, Cultural Incubator, and Education programs in collaboration with community and industry partners. The projects pose urgent questions about organization and governance, digital democracy, data sovereignty, and the future of work. Using emerging technologies such as immersive environments, generative AI, simulation, and the decentralized web, these projects demonstrate how artistic engagement can surface critical perspectives, and open up vital new pathways for collective imagination.