On the 8th June 2011, Haythem Zakaria, presented the notion of "Beauty is Data".
Zakaria skyped the Wits Digital Art department from Paris, technology that is being used to create an experience of shared learning and knowledge across oceans.
Zakaria is a 27-year-old Tunisian artist, predominately inspired by Sufi, Zakaria moved recently towards real time experiments with generative devices.
Operating the intermediality of his discipline, he offers unique visuals creations and interactive installations.
During the presentation Zakaria told of his process and journey as an artist. He started out editing films, from footage given to him in a film called Dream City (Al Farachou (le papillon )) (http://vimeo.com/983313 ).
He continued creating his own films, when he discovered a form of video art and writing an algorithm for a video to react to sound,as seen in Noise Box#1 (http://vimeo.com/1734377) a new step in his journey had begun.
He did an internship in France and started collaborating with other artists, such as Skander Besbes. Zakaria started becoming a lot more interested in experimenting and exploring sound, as seen in his project, Nun(http://vimeo.com/15335914). Based on the idea of breaking down barriers between the words and imagination, Zakaria and Skander Besbes Haytham became interested in the manifestation of the hidden meaning of words and letters "al Dhaher wal baden" in Sufi thought and more precisely the Latvian Nun. The Nun immersive installation allows an alliance esoteric-organic special: It aims to strengthen and share the secrets of the letter Nun. Immersed in the audio-visual device, the elongate member is immersed in an ocean of sound particularly where the play aside from the Nun. The sound is heard and understood by the body through sound spatialization. Il se voit dans la lettre. He sees himself in the letter. In this experiment, the Man is sought in all, body and spirit are no longer spectators but actors.
There were few artists doing what he was doing in Tunisa, so in order to work physically with artists of like-mindedness, as opposed to just online collaborations, he moved to France two years ago. Recently however, there is sparked interest and desire for his type of artwork in Tunisia, and Zakaria will be returning there to hold workshops to grow this kind of artwork.
Andrew Spitz, our French – English translator.
Andrew Smith and Constantina Caldis asked questions about Zakaria's work and influences
Tegan Bristow controlling the actual the skype call.
Jessica Foli, controlling the sound board, and Alexandra Jones operating the camera for the live streaming feed.
Tegan Bristow, who organized the event, expressed thanks and discussed further communication in the future.
