Syndicate: MoneyNations-Press Release

[shedhalle <shedhalle@access.ch> (by way of Andreas Broeckmann)]

Press Release

MoneyNationa@access

23rd Oct. to 13th Dec. 1998
Exhibition, Webzine, Video and Newspaper Project, Workshop and
Conference

Iara Boubnova (Sofia), Geert Lovink (Amsterdam), Ayse �ncü (Istanbul),
Oleg Kireev/ Anatoly Osmolovsky/ RADEK (Moscow), Beat Leuthardt (Basel),
LokalTV (Cologne/Bonn), Alenka Pirman / Ljudmila (Ljubljana), Dr. Anna
Wessely / Marton Oblath (Budapest), Radio Boom 83 (Pozarevac), Media Aid
Ex-Yugoslavia (Zurich), Melita Gabric, Blaz Habajan (Ljubljana), Mina
Vuletic, B92 (Belgrade), K3000 (Zurich), Bettina Musiolek (Stuttgart),
Martine Anderfuhren (Geneva), Nedko Solakov (Sofia), Mehmet Akiol
(Zurich), Gülsün Karamustafa (Istanbul), Marion Baruch/Name Diffusion
(Paris/Milan), Lia & Dan Perjovschi (Bucharest), Luchezar Boyadjiev
(Sofia), Boris Michajlov (Kharkiv), Peter Riedlinger/Pascal Petignant
(Zurich/Vienna), Berta Jottar (New York), Aspekt (Bratislava), Tibor
Varnagy (Budapest), Kalin Serapionov (Sofia), Edit Andras (Budapest),
Zelimir Zilnik / Terra Film (Novi Sad), Jörg Arendt (Bonn), Oliver
Sertic, Attak (Zagreb), Dominic Hislop/Erhard Miklos (Glasgow/Budapest),
Jochen Becker (Berlin), Alain Kessi (Sofia/Zurich), Level Ltd. (Zurich),
Dogfilm, A-clip (Berlin), Natalie Seitz / Sascha Roesler (Zurich),
Markus Jans (Luzern), Paula di Bello/ Marco Biraghi (Milan), Eva Danzel
Fouares (Zurich), Radio Zid (Sarajevo), ABSOLUTNO (Novi Sad), V2_East
Syndicate/Deep Europe (international), Campaign 'Nobody is illegal' (Kein
Mensch ist illegal) (international).

The MoneyNations@access project ends our program for this year, which
investigated social and economic changes in the late nineties. Before
this background on the occasion of this project weâ??d like to take a
closer look at the complex and controversial process of the
develloppment identity. This discussion is focussed on the fact that
Western-European border policies are becoming stricter towards Central
and South-Eastern Europe, resulting in an increased discrimination
against people from non-EU member-states. When reporting about countries
of the former Eastern Block, the media continues to use stereotype
images. Categorisation and exoticism, as well as attributions are not
only being made by the media, but also by exhibitions on
Eastern-European art. They produce authenticity (Ludwig Collection), or
maintain a new internationalism (Manifesta), and ignore the border
constructions of the â??Fortress Europeâ?? or the role of Eastern Europe as
a global low-wage location. The MoneyNations@access project wants to
make these contradictions a central theme.

During the past year, we have established a â??net of correspondentsâ??, in
which theorists, (media) activists and artists from Middle, Central and
South-Eastern Europe, from various perspectives, have contradicted the
â??ethnisisingâ?? and racist attributions in the context of Eastern Europe.
One of the projectâ??s aims is the development of counter-representations
to the hegemonial, and euro-centric perspectives, as well as to exchange
and introduce textual, visual or subjective ways of reporting.

One important precondition for the mutual establishment of contacts, as
well as for the discussions which emerged, was the question of whether a
common basis for interpretation could be assumed from the post-communist
and â??Westernâ?? points of view. In this way hegemony, euro-centrism and
racism are not just investigated as a question of representation, but
this is taken further so that it also includes forms of
selfrepresentation and the question to what extent patronising (cultural
left-wing) behaviour towards post-communist cultural professionals
applies.

The exchange process brought about video productions, photographic work,
installations, theoretical texts and reports. The productions of artists
and video producers will be presented in the Shedhalle. All
contributions can be copied and easily sent out, so that they can be
shown in the cities of the participants too. Textual and visual
contributions, as well as reports form the â??correspondentsâ??, will be
published in the WebZine www.moneynations.ch. In the course of the
project, the magazine â??The Correspondentâ?? will be published with a
selection of contributions. During next year, the project will be
continued in some of the cities participating.

Contributors to the exhibition are: Marion Baruch, Jochen Becker,
Luchezar Boyadjiev, Group augenauf, Gülsün Karamustafa, Lia Perjovschi/
Pascal Petignant/Peter Riedlinger, Polnischer Sozialrat [Polish Social
Council] Berlin.
Contributors to the MoneyNationsTV video-exchange project are: A-Clip,
Ak-kraak, Paula di Bello/ Marco Biraghi, B92, Dogfilm, Melita
Gabric/Blaz Habajan/Martine Anderfuhren, Gülsün Karamustafa/ Ayse �ncü,
Lokal Tv Köln, Kalin Serpianov, Shedhalle Prod., Peter Spillmann,
Syndicate/Deep Europe, Terra Film Novi Sad.


Events:

Friday, 23rd October 1998
5 p.m. Opening of the exhibition
6.15 p.m. Introduction to the project and conference
6.30 p.m. â??Border Economiesâ??
 Conference from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th Oct. 98 (see program)

Tuesday, 27th to Saturday, 31st October 1998
One-week workshop with radio and video producers from former Yugoslavia
? including  B92 (Belgrade), Attak (Zagreb), Radio Zid (Sarajevo),
Ljudmila (Ljubljana), Radio Boom 93 (Pozarevac), Media Project
(Pristina), Terra Film (Novi  Sad), k3000 (Zurich) and Level Ltd.
(Zurich),
at 8 p.m. each day, presentations by the groups with bar afterwards.
The workshop will take place in the new premises of k3000/media
laboratory in Schöneggstrasse 5, 8004 Zurich, Bus No 32
Militär-/Langstrasse. This is an event organised by klipp&klang radio
courses, Medienhilfe Ex-Yugoslavia and k3000 Zurich. From 15th October
the program will be available from the Shedhalle.

Wednesday, 18th November 1998
6 p.m. Narration, authenticity, memories: Discussion about historic
â??commodificationâ?? with Nedko Solakov  (BUL) and Boris Michajlov (UKR) in
the framework of an exhibition in the Ars Futura gallery by Nedko
Solakov and guest Boris Michajlov. The event will take place in the Ars
Futura gallery, Bleicherweg 45, 8002 Zurich.

Thursday, 9th to Sunday, 13th December 1998
at 6 p.m. each day, MoneyNationsTV video screenings, â??unlimited viewing
across the Schengen Curtainâ??

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Conference â??Border Economiesâ??
from Friday, 23rd to Sunday, 25th October 1998
in the Shedhalle Zurich


MoneyNations Project  Team:
Concept: Maron v. Osten
Organisation, Proofreading, Editing:
Agnes Bieber, Marion v. Osten, Natalie Seitz, Sascha Roesler
Translations & English Proofreading: Gabriela Meier
Webdesign & Newspaper Layout: Natalie Seitz

Conference Program:

Friday, 23rd Oct. 1998
6.30 p.m. Beat Leuthard, (author of â??Festung Europaâ?? [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 â??Nobody Is Illegalâ?? [Kein Mensch ist illegal]
will be presented. This campaign started on the occasion of Documenta X
(Kassel, Germany) and is run by an anti-racist group together with
culture workers.
8.30 p.m. Lecture about the â??Border Workshopsâ?? and activist artistic
practice against U.S. border policy by American/Mexican artist Berta
Jottar.

Final discussion about border creation and resistance.


Saturday, 24th Oct. 1998
2 p.m. The Calida Story: Mehmet Akiol, GBI [Swiss Union for Building and
Industry] will talk about the battles of workers in the Swiss textile
industry. Bettina Musiolek (not confirmed) will talk about companies
out-sourced to South-Eastern Europe.
3 p.m. Eva Danzel Fouares of the Fraueninformationszentrum Zürich
(Womenâ??s Information Centre) will discuss trade in women in the context
of asylum-seekersâ?? legislation and economy. The following discussion
will have the aim of investigating what we should be demanding as a
result of this situation.
5 p.m. Suitcase Trade: Dr Anna Wessely and Marton Oblath, sociologists
from Budapest, will present the research project â??Shopping Tourismâ??,
which had been investigated by various scientists from Central Europe in
order to create a new system to evaluate border trades
8 p.m. Die Polen vom Potsdamer Platz [The Polish from Potsdam Square]: A
film about the life of Polish commuting workers in Berlin.

Sunday, 25th Oct. 1998

1.30 p.m. Talking absolute Business: Peter Spillmann (k3000 Zurich) will
present his research into the Eastern-European Fund and its effects on
transnational wealth accumulation.
2 p.m. Globalisation from Below?: Geert Lovink, media activist and
political scientist from Amsterdam, will discuss the function of
stock-market speculator George Soros in conjunction with NGOs and civil
society in Central and South-Eastern Europe.
3.30 p.m. ASPEKTE: A feminist magazine project from Bratislava,
Slovakia, will present itself. The focus will be on the position of an
independent institution in the framework of the current economic/social
situation in Eastern Europe
4 p.m.  RADEK: An artmagazine from Moscow will be presented by Oleg
Kireev. RADEKâ??s editing co-operative sees itself as an activist group.
Which approaches to practice, politics and art are adopted by this
independent institution?
5 p.m. Final discussion about inclusion and exclusion of
Eastern-European positions  in the international art market with
Luchezar Boyardiev (artist, Sofia), Iara Bubnova (curator,
Sofia/Moscow), Edit Andras (art historian, Budapest), Oleg Kireev (art
critic, Moscow), and including the audience. Facilitation: Marion v.
Osten (Shedhalle).

The language for the conference will be English
Subject to alterations.

Project Information: Shedhalle, Rote Fabrik, P.O.Box, Seestrasse 395,
8038 Zürich, Tel. ++41 1 481 59 50, Fax ++41 1 481 59 51, email:
shedhalle@access.ch.