Syndicate: Border Economies Conference, Zurich

[shedhalle@access.ch (Marion von Osten) (by way of Andreas Broeckmann)]

Conference: "Border Economies"
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>from 23rd to 25th Oct '98
in the Shedhalle Zurich, Rote Fabrik, Seestrasse 395, 8038
Zurich, Tel. ++41 1 481 59 50, Fax ++41 1 481 59 51, email:
shedhalle@access.ch.
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The "Border Economies" conference is part of the project
MoneyNations@access which take place from the 23rd of October to the 13th
of December in the Shedhalle Zurich. The conference will focus on the
actual economical background of the related pair racism and sexism. In the
conference, the circumstances of power and inequality will be examined in
the framework of the massive expansion of the EU borders and their
implications in new forms of exploitation in Eastern Europe. The conference
"Border Economies" will take place over three days, beginning on Friday
23rd Oct. 98 and ending on Sunday 25th Oct. 98.

The following is a draft of the conference program:
(there won't be many changes though)

Friday, 23rd October 1998
5 p.m.
Start of the project
6 p.m.
Introduction to the project and conference
6.30 p.m.
Beat Leuthard, (author of "Festung Europa" [Fortress Europe]),will present
the confused relationship between private economy (Siemens),and the
extension of border security in so-called transit countries (Latvia,
Ukraine, Poland).
7.30 p.m.
The campaign "Nobody Is Illegal"[Kein Mensch ist illegal] will be
presented. This campaign started on the occasion of Documenta X (Kassel,
Germany) and is run by anti-racist groups together with culture workers,
who organised activities and demonstrations in Görlitz on the Polish
border, earlier this year.
8.30 p.m.
Lecture about the "Border Workshops" and activist artistic practice by the
American/Mexican artist Berta Jottar, who drew attention to racist and
sexist infringements by the United States.

Final discussion about border creation and resistance.

Saturday, 24th October 1998
Feminist perspectives will dominate this day. "Border Economies" will be
investigated with regard to the situation of migrants from Easten Europe
and their jobs as sex workers, cleaning or servant personnel, as well as
the subject of the expansion of the Eastern European countries as low-wage
nations, where mainly young women work as seamstresses for fashion
industry. Informal economies, such as the "Suitcase Economy", will be
discussed not only with regard to their patriarchal structures, but also to
their "border-crossing" and destructive effect on the hegemonic picture of
state and economy.

2 p.m.
A lecture is planned about sweat shops and the textile industry in
South-Eastern Europe (Albania, Bulgaria, Romania).
Followed by a discussion. (not confirmed).
3.30 p.m.
The Fraueninformationszentrum Zürich (Women's Information Centre)
will discuss the situation of migrants from South-Eastern Europe, including
the topic of how much Switzerland profits from this informal sector.
5 p.m.
Dr Anna Wessely from Budapest presents the research project
"Shopping Tourism", which had been started by various scientists from
Central Europe in order to create a new system to valuate border trades.

Final Discussion about suitcase economy.


8 p.m.
A short film will be shown by a Hungarian director about young
Hungarian women, who work in French households as servants.
followed on by a documentary film about Polish builders in Berlin
(Potsdamer Platz)


Sunday, 25th October 1998
"Globalisation from Below?"
This day is dedicated to the question as to what extent the picture of
capital expansion (of the so-called free market) complies with the social
belief in democracy by civil society, and to what extent these beliefs are
maintained by social movements, and to whether the power relationships in
this capital expansion are being questioned at all.

12 noon
Presentation by two groups working in the field of tension between
resistance, NGOs and theory production.
On the one hand we'll introduce ASPEKTE, a feminist magazine project from
Bratislava, its theoretical and political approach and its experiences. The
position of an independent institution in the framework of the current
economic/social situation in Eastern Europe will be discussed: Whose work
is being done? Functions of the work process, i.e. proof-reading, editing,
authors, graphic design, etc? Is ASPEKTE being produced by full-time or
voluntary workers? Who finances it and who profits from it?
On the other hand we'll present RADEK, a Russian (art) magazine project
>from Moscow that defines itself as an activist group, criticising
Neo-Liberalism. Which approach do they choose to criticise, and which
political concept determines this independent institution? What's the aim
of the paper?
2.30 p.m.
An expert on Switzerland as a financial centre will give an
introduction to the consequences of transnational wealth accumulation.
(Not confirmed).
3.30 p.m.
Geert Lovink, media activist and political scientist from
Amsterdam, will discuss NGOs and civil society, and the function of George
Soros in Central and South-Eastern Europe.
5 p.m.
Final discussion about the function of art in the global market, as image
producer, as warrant for mobility, as normalisation trap, particularly in
the case of the Eastern European art. The following people are expected for
this discussion: Luchezar Boyardiev (Sofia), Iara Bubnova (Sofia/Moscow),
Oleg Kireev (Moscow), K3000/Peter Spillmann, Tibor Varnagy (Budapest) and
Shedhalle/Marion von Osten (facilitation). (Not finally confirmed).

The language for the conference will be English


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Media Workshop from 26th to 31. Oct 1998 (not confirmed)

In the aftermath of the conference, a one-week radio, video and internet
workshop with media activists from former Yugoslavia is planned. The radio
stations LoRa and Klipp+Klang as well as the culture server k3000 and the
Medienhilfe are to be contributing to this event. Since the financing of
the event still isn't clear, we can only give information about our plans
at this stage.

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Until now the following people have acted as correspondents for
MoneyNations@access: Iara Bubnova (Sofia/Moscow), Geert Lovink (Amsterdam),
Luchezar Boyadiev (Sofia), Gülsün Karamustafa (Istanbul), Marion Baruch/
Name Diffusion (Paris/Milano,Rumania), Polnischer Sozialrat, Jochen Becker,
Dogfilm (Berlin), Dan&Lia Perjovschi (Bucharest), Peter Riedlinger, Natalie
Seitz, Sascha Rösler Marion von Osten (Zurich), ASPEKTE (Bratislava), Tibor
Varnagy, Susi Koltai, Edit Andras(Budapest),KTV 3000 (Zürich), ABSOLUTNO,
TERRA (Novi Sad), Alain Kessi (Sofia/Zurich), Oleg Kireev/RADEK (Moscow),
SYNDICATE, Andreas Broekmann (Rotterdam), Blaz Habajan, Alenka Pirman
(Ljubliana), campaign "Nobody Is Illegal " [Kein Mensch ist illegal]
(Germany), Dr. Anna Wessely (Budapest), Medienhilfe Ex-Jugoslawien
(Zürich), Mina Vuletic, B92 (Beograd), .

The correspondents will publish their contributions in the WebZine
www.moneynations.ch, or in the paper "the correspondent" that will result
>from it and produced during the show. Some of the correspondents will take
part with documentations and photoworks/installations in the exhibition or
contribute videos to MoneyNationsTV program. The net of correspondents is
constantly being extended.

Marion von Osten, Zurich August 1998