V2_EAST 96/01

[abroeck@v2.nl (Andreas Broeckmann)]

V2_EAST 96/01

Contents of this newsletter:
- V2_East Meeting, Rotterdam 21 January 1996
- Access and connectivity
- Existing networks and data bases
- 1. Exchange of information
- 2. Organising the V2_East network
- 3. Initiating projects
- Money
- Conclusion
- Participants
- STOP PRESS


V2_East Meeting, Rotterdam 21 January 1996

At the end of the Next 5 Minutes: Tactical Media conference, 30 media
artists, curators and networkers from thirteen different European countries
met at V2_Organisation in Rotterdam to launch a new initiative, V2_East.

*V2_East*
After a few welcoming words and an introduction by Alex Adriaansens on the
history and current work of V2, Andreas Broeckmann briefly outlined the
V2_East initiative. It is meant to become a research tool and a networking
facility in the field of art and media technology in Eastern Europe, both
with Western partners and within Eastern Europe. For V2 - as for all the
other partners - V2_East should be a way of developing new contacts and
projects. The aim of V2_East is therefore not restricted to triggering
projects for V2, put to provide a platform from which cooperations between
all institutions involved in media art can develop.
There are important cultural, political and historical reasons for the
focus that the initiatie takes on East and West European relations - the
East European countries share a structurally similar set of problems which
should be tackled on an international scale. At the same time, there is a
great demand for developing the ties within the European media art
community across the defunct, yet still partially existing Cold War divide.
Initially, V2 is offering space on its Internet server to build up a site
where information about European media art projects and institutions can be
collected and made available. For its future programmes and ongoing
projects (like the Dutch Electronic Art Festival, DEAF) V2 will make extra
efforts to include East European artists.

The participants of the meeting (cf list below) introduced themselves and
gave a brief personal assessment of the situation of media art. After a
discussion of different practical and theoretical problems, and about the
rationale of the V2_ a "shopping list" of the crucial points that have to
be tackled at present. (They will here be summarised and reorganised.)

*Access and connectivity*
There is a set of general problems related esp. to Internet access and
connectivity which exist everywhere and which often have to be solved
locally, although support from the translocal network is generally very
helpful. It will be important to create an inventory of independent local
and regional networks in the different countries that might be available to
artists. A question that was raised in the discussion was the role that the
internet should have, both as an artistic medium and as a communication and
information carrier for the V2_East initiative. There appears to be no real
alternative to the efficiency that the Net offers at the moment, although
the medium clearly has its limitations.

*Existing networks and data bases*
V2_East is just one in a series of attempts to reconnect artist communities
in East and West Europe after '1989'. Existing networks and data bases
(e.g. Gulliver Clearing House/Amsterdam, Third Eye/Glasgow, HILUS/Wien,
Soros Centres) should be used and linked, and possibly used as models.
Gerfried Stocker suggested that the Ars Electronica database might actually
be useful for our purposes. Like the V2_East project, it is specifically
concerned with media art, a field that is not covered by other projects in
sufficient depth. Furthermore, our aim is to enhance our abilities for
cooperating by establishing our own networked structure in Eastern Europe.

The initiative has three main vectors: exchange of information, organising
the network, initiating projects. Especially the first two points depend on
our commitment to provide information and make our own knowledge and
research available. Collectively we already know an incredible amount of
stuff, we should now find ways of making it generally available.

*1. Exchange of information*
(This will initially happen on the website <http://www.v2.nl/east>,
although we must also think about other channels and carriers, incl. books
and e-mailings. Please, add suggestions to this list, as it will form the
basis of the formal structure of the website.)
- addresses (institutions, artists, writers, journals, performance and
exhibition places)
- events (festivals, exhibitions - past and present, documentation)
- deadlines and a calendar of forthcoming events
- publishing media art projects and works
- hardware (studios, workshops, hardware pools)
- educational programmes
- resources and funds (private sources, grants, government programmes)
- data bases, publications, libraries, archives
- links to other sources

*2. Organising the V2_East network*
The exchange of information will form the basis for us to forge new links
with people working in media art in order to make it easier to show each
others work in East and West, to exchange events, and to find like-minded
people for collaborative projects. In order to strengthen the network it
will also be important to open up one or more discussion groups where
practical, theoretical and political issues can be dealt with. We should
aim to meet regularly in real life, but it is doubtlessly necessary to
carry on the discussion between those meetings.

*3. Initiating projects*
The collaborative projects that can emerge from such a network will be as
diverse as anything we are dealing with now. During the meeting, we hardly
talked about the aesthetic potentials of our initiative - that is clearly
something that depends on individual, heuristic decisions.
Yet, especially in this initial phase, such projects should be developed
with the great need for education, hardware and knowhow in mind. Artists,
curators and other people must be educated as regards the potential of
electronic networks and media in general for the arts. As for instance the
Interstanding example shows (Tallinn, Nov.95), such projects can have an
important function as catalysts and should be planned as such. What is
needed is the development of a networking culture in which people learn to
think translocally, the creation of a culture of being internationally
connected. Calin Dan suggested that we should focus esp. on the younger
generation. Hardware and knowhow (technical, theoretical, political) should
be made available in workshops (incl. telephone lines, networks, software).
Diana McCarty proposed to think about, for instance, mobile units, buses or
trucks, which allow for the setting up of mini events and for training
people locally, preferably leaving hardware behind. The Media Research
Foundation in Budapest is working on a programme for collecting old
hardware in the West, upgrading it and redistributing it in Eastern Europe,
the main bottle-neck at the moment being the problem of transport.
What is crucial in all such initiatives is that we exchange and use the
experiences of previous projects and both from earlier failures and
successes, without forgetting about the specificity of each situation. We
should openly display the full diversity of the media, projects and art
forms we are dealing with: spread the word, connect, multiply!

*Money*
Beside the obvious - three comments:
- find financial support for artists who are working in projects that do
not provide salaries
- enable culturally energetic people to travel and experience; invite people
- approach sponsors, both for hardware and connectivity, some people have
had very good experiences with this

*Conclusion*
The effectiveness of the V2_East initiative will strongly depend on the
degree to which it will be used by the people involved, and on our overall
commitment to make this a useful tool. On the one hand, it should be a
means through which we can help each other out, work together and support
local problem-solving. On the other hand we should team up to be able to
speak with greater authority as a collective: we should begin to think of
our group, as was suggested, as a form of 'syndicate' that can lobby and
exert political pressure.
For this aim, an e-mailing list will be installed at the ars electronica
centre, Linz/Austria: <syndicate@aec.at>. E-mail sent here will go to all
V2_East partners. (Please, pass the messages on by fax or mail to others
who are not on-line. Please send addresses of people you would also like to
see included in the list to <v2east@v2.nl>)


The V2_East website will develop at: <http://www.v2.nl/east>
Please, send all information you want to put there, incl. homepages, calls,
documentations, links, texts, and other info, to: <v2east@v2.nl> (failing
this, send them to <abroeck@v2.nl>).


*Participants*
Alex Adriaansens (V2_Organisation, Rotterdam) <alex@v2.nl>
Inke Arns (Medienbiennale 1997, Berlin/Leipzig) <inke@is.in-berlin.de>
Zvonimir Bakotin (desk.nl, netband, Amsterdam) <zone@desk.nl>
Andreas Broeckmann (V2_Organisation, Rotterdam/Berlin) <abroeck@v2.nl>
Nina Czegledy (Toronto/Budapest) <czegledy@sickkids.on.ca>
Calin Dan (Berlin/Amsterdam/Romania)
Marta Dubrzynska (Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw) <martad@pap.waw.pl>
Andor Fabian (Radio TTT, Arkzin, Zagreb) <radiottt_zg@zamir-zg.ztn.apc.org>
Henryk Gajewski (C-I-S, Amsterdam/Poland) <henryk@xs4all.nl>
Michiel van der Haagen (Warsaw) <mvdh@icm.edu.pl>
Adrienne van Heteren (B91, Belgrado) <adrienne@opennet.org>
Kathy Rae Huffman (HILUS, Vienna) <kathy@thing.or.at>
Ando Keskkula (Tallinn Art University, E-Media Center, Tallinn) <ando@artun.ee>
Eric Kluitenberg (SCAN, Groningen) <eric@scan.media-gn.nl>
Marjan Kokot (Sudents' Publishing House, Ljubljana) <marjan@kud-fp.si>
Geert Lovink (Amsterdam/Budapest) <geert@xs4all.nl>
Diana McCarty (Media Research Foundation, Budapest) <dia@szocio.tgi.bme.hu>
Igor Markovic (Zamir Translocal Network, Zagreb)
<igor.markovic@zamir-zg.ztn.apc.org>
Sasa Mirkovic (Radio B92, Belgrado) <sasam@b.92.opennet.org>
Alla Mitrofanova (Gallery 21, St. Petersburg) <abc@cyberun.spb.su>
Vladimir Muzhesky (Space of Cultural Revolution, Kiev/Amsterdam)
Drazen Pantic (Radio B92, Belgrado) <drazen@opennet.org>
Dimitry Pilikin (Gallery 21, St. Petersburg) <abc@cyberun.spb.su>
Darka Radosavkevic (Radio B92, Belgrado) <darka@opennet.org>
Tatiana Savadova (Space of Cultural Revolution, Kiev)
George Senchenko (Space of Cultural Revolution, Kiev)
Alexei Shulgin (WWW Art Center, Moscow) <easylife@glas.apc.org>
Gerfried Stocker (Ars Electronica, Linz) <info@aec.at>
Nebojsa Vilik (SCCA, Skopje) <nvilic@soros.org.mk>


*STOP PRESS*

SCAN/Groningen will be organising a Summer School in Tallinn/Estonia in
August 1996 in the context of a new international training programme, "The
Communication and Development Programme", funded by the Dutch Foreign
Ministry.
(Erik Kluitenberg)

Cybercafes are being established in Zagreb, Novosibirsk (temporarily), and
Albania. (Igor Markovic)

The ars electronica/Linz (September 1996) specially invites proposals for
media art projects from Eastern Europe. It is imaginable that projects can
be realised in collaboration with V2's DEAF96 festival (later in Sept.'96).
For the ae96 in September we could also plan the next meeting of the
V2_East syndicate. (Gerfried Stocker)

Metaforum 3 will take place in Budapest in October 1996. The festival will,
in the future, focus on media art from Eastern Europe. (Diana McCarty)


______________________________________________
Comments, corrections and further suggestions are very welcome.


............................................................................
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V2_Organisatie * Andreas Broeckmann * abroeck@v2.nl
Eendrachtsstr.10 * NL-3012XL Rotterdam * t.+31.10.4046427 * fx.4128562
URL: http://www.v2.nl

online in Berlin from February - April 1996.
Wildenbruchstr.4, D-12045 Berlin, t/f.+49-30-6884834/-6884558