Andreas Broeckmann on Sun, 18 Mar 2001 19:47:33 +0200


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Syndicate: DA2 update/ MOMENTUM FORUM, Bristol/UK


Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 14:57:18 +0000
To: friends@da2.org.uk
From: Peter Ride <peter@da2.org.uk>


DA2 presents Momentum
A three day forum on digital arts practice
19, 20, 21 April 2001
at Watershed Media Centre, Bristol, UK

momentum > mass & velocity, impetus & speed

SUMMARY:
The Momentum forum is a brainstorming event. It is three days of round
table discussions that ask how change effects new media practice. How do
the shifting roles of cultural producers and artists, the artistic and
technological demands of changing technologies and a culture of rapid and
impatient innovation impact on us? It's about the velocity of change in the
new media arts world.


DETAILS:
As practitioners, both artists and organisers, we may come from a wide
range of backgrounds and operate on different trajectories but often we are
dealing with the same issues about defining and understanding arts
practice. We find it increasingly important to work with, and reference,
each other, often across perceived boundaries. And as such we develop a
critical mass. Momentum aims to explore the collective knowledge that
emerges from this mass.

The Momentum forum is not a conference or seminar. It is intended as an
opportunity for a small group of peers to pool their expertise and
knowledge.  We want to speed the cross-fertilisation of ideas and
practices, and empower the networks that exist. Each day is structured
around a key question and a set of premises: challenging or amending them
will be a fundamental element of the group's activity. We will not be
delivering formal papers but looking at case studies so that the maximum
number of attendees can put their experience on the line.

A tangible outcome of Momentum will be a publication in Summer 2001 which
will draw on key issues of the forum. Based on this it will look at the
context in which work generated by digital media organisations, like DA2,
has operated over the past few years.


DAY ONE > MASS & VELOCITY
The question: are there distinctly new forms of arts management that are
being necessitated and demonstrated by new media practice?

The premise:     >> Organisations and artists are developing ways of
working which seek to be more appropriate to the contexts and opportunities
of new technology.    >>   Sometimes this means moving away from
conventional models of exhibition/performance and presentation towards a
process based, or even research-structured activity.    >>   The behaviour
of organisations and the reference points applied to management roles are
changing, e.g. organisations are increasingly operating as agencies and
brokering collaborations; the traditional role of the curator is declining
in relevance and a role as 'creative producer' or 'facilitator' is
increasing.    >> New strategies may be devised to bring work to audiences,
and to enable them to access to the process of development and
experimentation, but there is not always adequate appraisal or evaluation
to monitor their effectiveness.    >>   Artists may operate as technical
facilitators as well as creative content providers, but they may also
require specialist teams to work with them. Recognising, negotiating and
providing for their needs presents a new set of  challenges to organisers.

Case studies will include: ~   Metapod  ~    'Swansong for TV' (Nina Pope
and Karen Guthrie) ~    TEST  ~  DA2  ~ Digital Media Resource Network  ~
'Tide' (Luke Jerram)


DAY TWO > IMPETUS
The question: What conditions are created by high-end innovation?

The premise:    >>   New issues arise with projects where the use of the
technology is experimental, particularly - but not exclusively - with
high-end technologies. It can also apply to interface design, software
creation and programming.    >>   In experimental work the nature of the
cultural innovation might not be measured in terms of artistic content but
in terms of the development of 'form' or by revealing the possibility of
the technology.   >>   A key artist's role may be as catalyst in this
process, not as content provider.  >>    Collaborative projects may have
complex multiple objectives, and the innovations intended by artists and
technologists may be compatible but not necessarily mutual, and may involve
different risks, challenges and definitions of completion.    >>   The
management of the tension between artistic and technological imperatives
can be a unique challenge of the sector.

Case studies will include:  ~  FLIRT mobile telephony projects (RCA) ~
'Desert Rain' (Blast Theory and Univ of Nottingham)  ~    'Code Zebra'
(Sara Diamond with The Institute for New Media Performance Research)  ~
WAP and text messaging projects (TEST and Laura Watts)   ~    Interactive
TV & VRML project (Plymouth Univ and DA2) ~  online film (Tom Flemming) ~
'Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty' (Susan Collins)


DAY THREE > SPEED
The question: How do we recognise and value emergence?

The premise:     >>    The rapid rate of technological advancement has
special appeal for artists and new media practice is often contextualised
by looking forward to future technological possibilities e.g. the contexts
of 'emergence' and 'innovation'.    >>   This leads to cultural and
philosophical expectations about speed and change in new media practice and
artists work often helps to articulate this.    >>   However, a collective
acknowledgement of what is new and emergent may seem to come more about
from gut instinct and trend than by a definable form of analysis.    >>
This may itself be a necessary process but there may also be conditions or
values we are applying to 'emergence' that need to be recognised.

Case studies will include:   ~   b.tv   ~   'Afterworld' (Simon Poulter
with Watershed and DA2)   ~   Sci-art projects including 'The Search for
Terrestrial Intelligence' (CAiiA/ STAR)   ~  TeleSpatial research (Chris Speed)



[Case studies are not fixed but will be confirmed after proposals from
participants]


Participants fee: ?40 per day - but subsidy for low income
organisations/individuals can be arranged

Contact: If you are interested in participating or for more information
email Peter Ride, Director of DA2 peter@da2.org.uk or Daniel Brine, event
co-ordinator <danielbrine@appleonline.net>


-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

Peter Ride, Artistic Director  <peter@da2.org.uk>

Rachel Drummond-Hay, Project Manager <rachel@da2.org.uk>

DA2 Digital Arts Development Agency  http://www.da2.org.uk

DA2 is supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council
of England      ISP sponsorship provided by City Netgates


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