http://fiume.cz/
New New! 2007 International Festival of Unusal Music amd Film
http://2007.newnew.cz/?id=12&lang=1
Watch This!
http://fiume.cz/nn07jingle.html
Monday, December 3, 2007
THEATRE .pl
JezusMaria! (PL)
Visual Artists/Performers
http://www.jezusmaria.pl/
Teatr Usta Usta (Mouth to Mouth Theatre)
2xu/Usta Usta
www.2xu.pl
Visual Artists/Performers
http://www.jezusmaria.pl/
Teatr Usta Usta (Mouth to Mouth Theatre)
2xu/Usta Usta
www.2xu.pl
TRANS + FUSION = Tr@nsfusion
The Project Tr@nsfusion 2007 will try to deal with the questions of the contemporary postmodernistic culture and artistic practices, which emerged on cognitive and geographical between the East and West Europe in the 80’s and 90’s and are still in a developing phase. By the contemporary & critical research methods in order to bring together the art & aesthetics, philosphy & art, politics & art with new media and critical social theories, we will try to consider rethink the following topic: State of the (Contemporary) East/West Art after Transition.
The purpose of Tr@nsfusion is to reconsider and reflect on the mentioned topic, mainly in view of the constitution of a contemporary trans-national subject’s identity within the context of globalisation, as well as considering the trans-national or trans-cultural practice and relations in the field of art & social/critical theory, resulting from the logics of capital, European integration, policies and technolgies applied in view of the new forms of time & space distribution. In this context Tr@nsfusion will try to answer the question of the role of West European conditions of subject constitution in the East European art, culture, theory and politics as well as in the subject practice itself. By Tr@nsfusion 2007, with participation of artists, media activists, theorists we want to create the art-aesthetical, multi-media, critical theoretical free research space, which would enable the discussion about national & trans-national media politics, technology and science which are themajor problems in the contemporary Europe.
The purpose of Tr@nsfusion is to reconsider and reflect on the mentioned topic, mainly in view of the constitution of a contemporary trans-national subject’s identity within the context of globalisation, as well as considering the trans-national or trans-cultural practice and relations in the field of art & social/critical theory, resulting from the logics of capital, European integration, policies and technolgies applied in view of the new forms of time & space distribution. In this context Tr@nsfusion will try to answer the question of the role of West European conditions of subject constitution in the East European art, culture, theory and politics as well as in the subject practice itself. By Tr@nsfusion 2007, with participation of artists, media activists, theorists we want to create the art-aesthetical, multi-media, critical theoretical free research space, which would enable the discussion about national & trans-national media politics, technology and science which are themajor problems in the contemporary Europe.
The basis of the project’s idea is contained in its title Tr@nsfusion 2007 - words TRANS and FUSION can be understood as two heterogenic determinants with a significant impact on semantic of (as well) both contemporary social, culture, art practices (as) and live circumstances. The prefix defines international and trans-national characteristics of the project focusing on the practical, theoretical and multimedia connections between the themes of the Western and Eastern Europe. The word FUSION describes heterogenic/diversity of art practices presented in the project and our tendency to express the complex problem of Contemporary East/West Art after Transition. The concept of Tr@nfusion 2007 is focused on art, media and social critical projects, which share the efforts in critical outlook on contemporary social relationships. The project wants to consider the European policy of trans-nationality in practice and to take part in the social and cultural fusion. In this way the project wants to establish an artistic discourse in order to reconsider the practice of social integration, constitution of national and trans-national identities within the urbane environment (nexus). In this way the founders of Tr@nsfusion 2007, all participants and the (general) public would like to contribute to the creation of a new history.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
.mk Vs .gr
Upgrade! Skopje
"Girls know best"exhibition + DJ lap/top/set
Saturday, 24.11.2008, 21:00 h
Cultural centre Tocka
This exhibition is an announcement for the project Consumer vs. User 2.0 that will be realized from January to June 2008. The exhibitionwill introduce several young female artists from Macedonia which willtake part in the project afterwards. Besides, there will be apresentation of female artists which a result of continuouscollaboration with Kyd Campbell from Canada.The participants of the exhibition are: Marija Sotirovska, KristinaHadzieva, Kristina Gacova, Jasna Dimitrovska, Ruki and Ivana Dragsic.Consumer vs. User 2.0 project is focused on the technologicaleducation of two different groups: female artists and youth between11-21 years old. This project is an extension of the 6 workshopsrealized in 2007 that helped educating more than 50 people. Next yearsprogram will be consisted of two workshops with a longer duration anddeveloped in collaboration with different partners that will beannounced additionally.Curators: Elena Veljanovska and Cveta Spasova : Line Initiative and Movement.
INSCAPE
The project focus is on the development of atool for interactive story telling for creative people, and candidatesare sought with the skills to develop and implement interactive storiesin one of the domains of Live Performance, Education, ScientificCommunication or Cultural Heritage for the purpose of validating anddemonstrating the tool.
INSCAPE aims at developing a unique integrated collaborative tool supporting a wide range of devices and media formats to enable digital content creators to plan, build, experience and publish interactive multimedia stories, whatever their form, be it theatre, movie, cartoon, puppet show, video-games, interactive manuals, training simulators, etc.
ERDEN KOSOVA
Erden Kosova is a critic and curator based in Istanbul. He contributes to two independent Istanbul-based magazines, Siyahi (post-anarchist politics) and art-ist (contemporary art). His ongoing PhD research at the Goldsmiths College London focuses on the critique of nationalist ideology by the contemporary art practice from the Balkans and the Near East.
Istanbul coverage blog:
Original interview:
NM: How do you see the current tensions within Turkish society, between nationalism and religion, affect the arts in terms of what is produced, how it is produced and how and where it is exhibited?
EK: The tension that has been recently troubling the country in the last couple of years seems to have polarised the society drastically, and it is true that the main protagonists of the emerged polarisation are the army as the defendant of a secularist nationalism and the governing party AKP, which has its roots from Islamic movement but transformed into a pragmatic, neo-liberal and conservative project claiming the whole of right wing of the centre. Yet, it is hard to infer a clean-cut binarism between nationalism and religion. The disparate versions of nationalism in Turkey always retained a certain interpretation of Islam and the Islamists always adhered to a nationalist differentiation from the rest of the Islamic world. What rather emerged from this tension are two opposing sets of political forces that brought old enemies into alliance. The first bloc can be named properly as �nationalist�: the militaristic machinery which claims to be the motor of implantation of (dogmatically) modernistic values; the central-left which recently abandoned all the links to social-democratic principles; the Kemalist intellectuals whose so-called leftist-nationalism slips very easily from anti-imperialism into projects of alter-imperialism; two segmented versions of ultra-nationalism (one of them more religious); ex-Maoists who became the non-religious preachers of Kemalism, some small communist parties, the EU-haters and so on� The opposing bloc can be defined as a willingness to have a more globalist/planetary perspective and a resistance to the opposing block�s call for an absolute identitarian closure in favour of national belonging: the AKP which is being supported by the so-far culturally marginalised segments of the conservative parts of the country and the rising Anatolian bourgeoisie and claims the legacy of the Ottoman ecumenism; the established pro-EU bourgeoisie, liberal, social-democrat and socialist intelligentsia who have been trying to challenge the authoritarian structure of the Republic, the non-separatist segments of the Kurdish society, non-Muslim communities and so on� The looming threat of a military coup d�etat, the increasing aggressive tone in the discursive campaign for nationalism, massive demonstrations held in the big cities, lynching attempts on some communist, Kurd or human rights activists, assassination of Hrant Dink, tension around Kurdish and Armenian issues, disappointments from the EU-integration process� The boiling of the pot came finally into halt by the massive landslide election victory of the governing party, which then seemed to deem the absolute defeat of the nationalist bloc. Yet, the original source of the tension, the Kurdish �problem� which triggered all the nationalist paranoia of being further dissected has remained intact in respect with the political atmosphere in the invaded Iraq. When the separatists Kurdish guerrilla of PKK, resumed armed struggle and inflicted several losses to the Turkish army the nationalist pathos returned with a hegemonic power after including the AKP into the nationalist rhetoric.The dominating tone within the contemporary art practice in Turkey has been decidedly anti-nationalist, anti-statist and anti-militarist. In the absence of an appropriate contact with the public (until recently there were hardly any art spaces to exhibit contemporary work), the bitter tone of this crusty criticism harmed no one. Yet, the opening of independent and mainstream institutions in Istanbul made contemporary art more visible and this attracted some confrontation. A non-profit and progressive art space got raided by the ultra-nationalists after exhibiting a documentary research on the 1955 pogrom against the non-Muslim communities. Halil Alt�ndere, the curator of the FreeKick exhibition was tried with the infamous accusation of offending the �Turkishness�. Some artists have been directly accused by the Kemalist figures within the art scene of being traitors. Hou Hanru, the curator of the 10th Istanbul Biennale, has recently been publicly condemned by the dean of a prominent fine art academy with the accusation of denigrating the Kemalist ideology in his catalogue text. And just a couple of days ago, a forthcoming exhibition entitled as �God Fear� to be held in an independent art space has been targeted by an ultra-religious daily newspaper. Hence, the politically transgressive art practice has now its opponents.But, more serious than this conflict, is the fact that the public image of the contemporary art scene has worsened considerably with the last couple of years. After the opening of several large-scale art institutions and the establishment of a certain culture attached to it (sterilisation, commercialisation, trivialisation of the art practice) , the contemporary art scene as such is being conceived as the uppermost example of cultural corruption and decadence. This remarkably fierce sense of resentment will cause more trouble for the contemporary art scene. I would say, the critical segment within the scene should prove its integrity by divorcing itself from the ongoing normalisation and recuperation.
NM: You have been working a lot round discourses of nationalism and national identity. How would you categorise an event such as a biennial, which at first glance seems a trans-national non-space for contemporary art (the unsolvable regionalism<>internationalism debate), while at the same time the geo-graphic spread of its artists has never been more important (cfr. the sheer abundance of ISO country code abbreviations in catalogues). What does nationalism/nationality/national identity mean within this set-up? Are biennials incomplete life-size atlases of the art world?
EK: I share the dizziness of witnessing the rising spectacle dimension in the large-scale exhibition. I came to the field of contemporary art from the field of radical politics and therefore I have this never-ending discomfort with the scale of these things and I cannot cease to adhere to the yearning for the production of a transversal interaction between critical projects and practices from the differing parts of the globe. I have a certain attachment to Istanbul and an interest in the wider region, which possesses similar experiences and cultural character to my own. So, I can say I don�t mind to remain in a parochial position which at the same time can relate to other geographies� sensibilities. The planetary framing and the national motivations invested in the biennial format is too big for me. I am not clever enough to conceive the content offered within this scale. Although I personally lack proper social skills, I cannot abandon the comfort of a modest and human-scale relation to cultural products and artists. I find it hard for any critical voice to deliver its political message through the biennial format. A number of people who cannot escape to commit to this format are aware of this problem and they are trying to decrease the number of attending artists gradually and to intensify their and the artists� engagement with the location of the biennials with residence programmes and sustained research schemes.NM: You have critiqued elsewhere the so-called �miracle of Istanbul�; that is, Istanbul's city branding, which heralds the beauty of the city and its bridging between East and West, but does not really deal with the city�s problems. How do you judge previous, but in particular this current biennial, within that respect?EK: This criticism was about the general ideology of the Biennial and not the local practice. The biennials between 1997 and 2003 have applied to a certain sense aestheticism and psychologism and made use of concepts like beauty, pathos, poesis and so on. Yet, the last two Biennials have been a return from the sentimentalisation politics of Istanbul. You can debate about the quality of these two exhibitions, you might compare them; but there is an obvious willingness to engage with the contemporary urban problematics of the city. It is also strange to observe that aestheticism and psychologism has recently been adopted by the local scene, mainly promoted by the emerging art institutions and commercial galleries ,whereas the Biennial pursued a turn towards politicisation. About the current biennial� Although it has been rightly criticised because of the curator�s problematic use of political terminology (optimism, global war, world factory and so on), I think it managed to address the heated local and actual agenda of the country. The IM� section unfortunately failed to benefit from the rich social surrounding � a more direct engagement with the building and the neighbourhood could have strengthened Hanru�s scenario.
NM: How would you describe artistic production outside Istanbul? Diyarbakir for example?EK:Istanbul will remain the big giant who sucks all the energy around it. This is the nature of the city, it has been the capital of three successive empires for more than a millennia. The republican modernism and �the project of Ankara� could not challenge this. With the full integration into neo-liberal economics Istanbul became even more thirsty for innovative energy. So whatever comes up in the country, it is called into the �Polis�. Izmir and Diyarbakir are two cities which managed to produce a discursive togetherness among the local artists. Izmir had a more aesthetic, conceptualist and epistemological approach ,whereas Diyarbakir was unsurprisingly more identitarian and humorous. K2, the independent art space in Izmir has performed until now quite remarkably � yet, they have a problem in producing their audience. This might decelerate the motivations of the young artist-organisers. Diyarbak�r was genuinely a miracle. Young people, who saw contemporary art as a vehicle of loudly expressing their traumas, isolation and criticism, created a scene from nothing, with the most minimal resources. Yet, I don�t know how they are going to transcend the initial phase of this discursive togetherness. The social problems of the repression remains unchanged and you cannot speak about the same thing with the same media forever. The scene needs a vitalisation and juvenescence. We will see whether the younger generation will have the same ambition about contemporary art as their predecessors. Everything is so bound to the general political atmosphere in the region.
NM: How do you look back at Leaps of Faith [1], 2,5 years after its realisation. Do you feel that somehow you were able to transcend discourses (and gazes) of territorial division and nationalism and offer a different lens. Would you tackle the project the same way today?
EK: If I could turn back and had a more control of things I would emphasize the modesty of the project from the start. At some point we stressed the fact that it was the first international contemporary art exhibition of its scale on the island, so that an unnecessarily high expectation was invested into the project by the local scenes, which at the end caused some tensions. But generally I am personally very satisfied by this adventurous experience. We had extremely limited resources: no support from any local official institution (which would actually collapse the psychological legitimacy of the project); no infrastructure other than an empty flat, two laptops and mobile phones. And in these conditions, I think the curatorial and production team gave its best. There was criticism from the start that actually could be addressed to any site-specific art project: that we should have afforded more to have a stronger contact with the local scenes and that our project was opportunistically exploiting the traumatic scenery in the divided city. We could have managed to get more contact with the Greek Cypriot side (which was a quite difficult thing, since they were suspicious about the nature of this artistic project initiated by a Turkish Cypriot, which was unusual) and to motivate the Turkish Cypriot students to be included in parallel events and panels if we had more time and energy. But in terms of art works I don�t think there was any hint of arrogance and patronisation of the external gaze. Of course some participations failed to deliver to offer an insightful interpretation. And local artists came up with more touching projects. I think it was a valuable experience in bringing people together in this frame. I think it made a small contribution to enhancing interaction between multiple sides and to establish a platform critical to the multiple versions of nationalism and ethnocracy. If the education programme of the Manifesta 6,was held without any obstacles this dialogue would have progressed further. I wish I could have the personal resources to continue to work with the artists I met.
NM: You have mentioned elsewhere that radical critique and guerrilla art have become absorbed by the large art institutions in Istanbul, hence depoliticising them. Yet at the same time you have also expressed that moments of crisis open up possibilities (as was the case for the momentum after Hrant Dink�s assassination and group 19 January). How do you position yourself as a curator, critic and activist within these dynamics�and what is to be done?
EK: The assassination of Dink was the deepest shock for the intelligentsia. People felt like the most precious and fragile among the community was brutally snatched off. The initial anger motivated small initiatives to emerge. Group 19 January, which consists from people from the art scene, was one of them. But we don�t talk about it publicly. The only thing I can say is that the initial sense of solidarity and ambition is unfortunately lost. We are going to see what we can do in the future with the current group. New energies have emerged and they need to cohere into each other, discursively and humanely. As I mentioned before, there is an urgent need to differ from the recently landed huge mainstream art machinery and strengthen the emerging independent platforms and affinity groups.I am not sure whether I can pass as a curator or an activist� But, what I have tried to do so far is to reinforce and facilitate the links between politically engaged art and radical politics. There are too many things to be done: texts to be read and written, interviews to be done, discussions to be held, connections to establish, exhibitions and events to organise, for all those who retain the creed in possible interaction between cultural practice, social change and personal differentiation. I personally have to leave the laziness, inertia and melancholic mood, get some formalities done, contribute to forthcoming collective projects and work, work, work�--
[1] Leaps of Faith, curated by Erden Kosova and Katherina Gregos, 13.05.05-29.05.05 (Nicosia) was an international exhibition and multi-disciplinary arts project marking the first time in 30 years that a part of the UN controlled Green Line (buffer zone) dividing the island is opened up for use in an international event. The project aimed to animate and activate public spaces, buildings and sites in the divided city of Nicosia and the war-ravaged Green Line, partitioning the capital of Cyprus, through an international public arts event.
"ItSpace"
November 15, 2007
Networked_Music_Review Commission: "ItSpace" by Peter Traub
Networked_Music_Review Commission: "ItSpace" by Peter Traub
http://turbulence.org/Works/itspace
"ItSpace" creates a network of pages within the social networking siteMySpace. Instead of people, the pages feature everyday household objectsfrom the artist's house. Each page has a photo of the object, a description,and most importantly, a 1-minute piece composed of samples of the objectbeing struck, resonated, and so forth. All the pages, or objects, are'friends' with each other, so that visitors who discover one object may jumpto the others to see their profiles and hear their sounds. Visitors to thesite are invited to create new "ItSpace" pages with pieces made from theirown household objects and link those in as 'friends' of the original set.
"ItSpace" creates a network of pages within the social networking siteMySpace. Instead of people, the pages feature everyday household objectsfrom the artist's house. Each page has a photo of the object, a description,and most importantly, a 1-minute piece composed of samples of the objectbeing struck, resonated, and so forth. All the pages, or objects, are'friends' with each other, so that visitors who discover one object may jumpto the others to see their profiles and hear their sounds. Visitors to thesite are invited to create new "ItSpace" pages with pieces made from theirown household objects and link those in as 'friends' of the original set.
DISPLACEMENT SERIES
http://jeanmakisig.blogspot.com/
DISPLACEMENT SERIES
An art exhibition by jong pairez
Phase two [November 10]
Phase three [December 1]
Art Talk [December 15]
Irregular Rhythm AsylumShinjuku, Shinjuku-kuTokyo, Japan[site]
About the Exhibition
This first solo exhibition uses combination of various media and medium not just for presentation but also to conduct studies and observation of Displacement and Geography. Hence, this exhibition is rather a project of sorts than a mere aesthetic presentation of objects that we commonly see in art galleries.To enable studies and observation of Displacement and Geography, the exhibition is divided into three parts, resembling the process of migration, namely, Phase One: Pre-departure, Phase Two: Departure, Phase Three: Arrival. Although each of these individual phases is independent from one another and will be exhibited separately, all of them will converge in the last phase- but not to conclude the whole exhibition but to simply observe how these three phases has its own singular narrative.
PHASE ONE
The first phase is a creative prank. The idea is to create a mythical character out of Jong Pairez mysterious disappearance, in a form of a prank, to his network of friends online. From here, a created mythical character will replace the real Jong. The mythical character will be named as Jean Makisig- a native androgynous personality that is somewhat reminiscent to Marcel Duchamp’s alter ego Rrose Selavy. H/She will act as a chronicler informing us latest sightings of the disappeared character- Jong Pairez.The prank is an Art Performance that will only occur in the Internet. As the chronicles progress, Jean Makisig will later on develop into a multi-username where anyone is freely encouraged to use. Therefore, anyone who participates in searching of Jong Pairez from his mysterious disappearance will become Jean Makisig.Why make myths? The advent of storytelling is the proliferation of mythologies that started since the early stages of man. Mythologies are actual examples of displacing factual situations to fictitious realities. Thus, the said online art performance will show us the process of how displacement of facts to fiction works. In the case of Philippine folklores, for example, the pre-colonial mythologies and oral stories of local inhabitants changed radically since after the colonialists arrived. The alteration or rather de-territorialization of pre-colonial folklores to fakelores, which in the end became favorable to the colonialists, had served successfully in displacing the mindset of every local inhabitant. Hence, it also served the victory of colonial rule in the islands. Furthermore, a unique postcolonial hybrid identity emerged out of this.The “mysterious disappearance” of the real character Jong Pairez and at the same time giving birth to a mythical person Jean Makisig is homage to this unfortunate yet amazing reconstruction of a Filipino hybrid identity that was then forcibly displaced by waves upon waves of colonization. In addition, this homage to the unfortunate displacement and wonderful morphology of native inhabitants from their pre-colonial origins, hopes to confuse any established mindset and predetermined situations in the present setting.
PHASE TWO
Displacement requires dislocation of objects and space, which transforms the physicality of its geographical landscape. Only by having conscious awareness of its previous arrangement (of space and objects) that displacement is observed.The second phase of this exhibition is a documentation of all possible objects that occupies the exhibit venue. By categorizing the space into five parts and catalog indexing the objects, we will now be aware of how the previous placement of things might possibly change overtime (note: the exhibit venue will be renovated before December). This process of observation gives us also the opportunity to perceive these objects as Art in itself. However, the exhibition does not give emphasis to the artistic aura of these objects but the complete awareness of geographical transformation through displacement of these objects.Migration is synonymous to Displacement, which is why from here the New World Order has to use the tool of census and statistics in observing the growth and movement of its population. Census and statistics also provides data in legitimizing the necessity of controlling geographical borders from threats of incoming migrants. No wonder we have immigration control, passports, visas and whatnot racial profiling as well. These are means of control that fortifies patriarchal domestication and prohibits the natural inter-cultural exchange of human beings that is crucial to the evolution of cultural and physical geography.
PHASE THREE
Besides passports and visas we have surveillance cameras, border police and anti-migrant policies that sustain geography in constant sterilization. In other words, New World Order is a surveillance society who is in permanent panic against the existence of the Other. This kind of panic has developed its own physical landscapes that enable systems of control to prevail in daily life.The third phase of this exhibition is to play with these systems of control that take-hostage the present physical landscape. Definitely, pedestrian lanes, phone boxes, surveillance cameras, etc. shall be the target of this playful recreation. From here we symbolically displace the systems of control away from its original function and finally continue the quest of transforming geography according to our own will. The domination of corporate industries in the monopoly of truth shall be replaced with urban legends and myths engraved on each and every landscape that has been liberated.
By Jean Makisig
LOVELY MUSIC
http://www.lovely.com/
Postclassic Radio Kyle Gann, host
Counterstream Radio run by the American Music Center
Nonpop Music a music podcast and blog, Scott Unrein, host
Martian Gardens WMUA, University of MassachusettsMax Shea, hostSundays 21:00-24:00 EDT
Art of the States
Ubuweb
Last.fm
Postclassic Radio Kyle Gann, host
Counterstream Radio run by the American Music Center
Nonpop Music a music podcast and blog, Scott Unrein, host
Martian Gardens WMUA, University of MassachusettsMax Shea, hostSundays 21:00-24:00 EDT
Art of the States
Ubuweb
Last.fm
LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS - IGOR STRAVINSKY
Le Sacre du Printemps . Igor Stravinsky . an interactive stereoscopic dance and music performance
Klaus Obermaier . Julia Mach . Ars Electronica Futurelab
SHARE PRIZE 2008
http://www.toshare.it/
The artists are: Emanuel Andel, Knife.Hand.Chop.Bot, Austria www.5voltcore.com/knifehandchopbot
D3D, Virtual Identity Process, Italia
http://www.master-naba-d3d.net/vip
Yamada Kentaro, Tampopo, Giappone
www.kentaroyamada.com/toshare
OWL PROJECT, Sound Lathe workshop, Gran Bretagna http://variableg.org.uk/owlweb/soundlatheworkshop.htm
Scenocosme, SphθrAlιas, Francia
http://www.spheraleas.com/
Christine Sugrue, Delicate Boundaries, U.S.A.
http://csugrue.com/db_Share
The artists are: Emanuel Andel, Knife.Hand.Chop.Bot, Austria www.5voltcore.com/knifehandchopbot
D3D, Virtual Identity Process, Italia
http://www.master-naba-d3d.net/vip
Yamada Kentaro, Tampopo, Giappone
www.kentaroyamada.com/toshare
OWL PROJECT, Sound Lathe workshop, Gran Bretagna http://variableg.org.uk/owlweb/soundlatheworkshop.htm
Scenocosme, SphθrAlιas, Francia
http://www.spheraleas.com/
Christine Sugrue, Delicate Boundaries, U.S.A.
http://csugrue.com/db_Share
EARTHRISE AND EARTHSET IN HDTV
JAXA released HDTV movies that captures Earthrise and Earthset by HDTV Kaguya onboard. This is the world's first movies of Earthrise and Earthset.
Still images and movies can be seen at:
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/20071113_kaguya_e.html
Still images and movies can be seen at:
http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2007/11/20071113_kaguya_e.html
PROFESSORS
Ernest Edmonds,
Professor of Computation Creative Media in the faculty of Information Technology at the University of Technology, Sydney
http://www.creativityandcognition.com/content/view/24/120?&display=individual&person=ernest
Sean Cubitt
Professor of Media and Communications, Director in Media
and Communications
http://www.culture-communication.unimelb.edu.au/people/sean-cubitt.html
The Book Scales by Aristide Antonas
http://neme.org/main/731/book-scales
Professor of Computation Creative Media in the faculty of Information Technology at the University of Technology, Sydney
http://www.creativityandcognition.com/content/view/24/120?&display=individual&person=ernest
Sean Cubitt
Professor of Media and Communications, Director in Media
and Communications
http://www.culture-communication.unimelb.edu.au/people/sean-cubitt.html
The Book Scales by Aristide Antonas
http://neme.org/main/731/book-scales
Saturday, December 1, 2007
LOCA - Where Paintings Are So Last Century
'LOCA: SET TO DISCOVERABLE'
Text by Drew Hemment, John Evans, Mika Raento, Theo Humphries
http://www.loca-lab.org/
"In the inverted logic of the post-Orwellian city, Loca agents, software and human, decrypt the hertzian passages of its own inhabitants. For better or for worse?"
Steve Dietz, Artistic Director, ZeroOne
Loca: Set To Discoverable is an arts-based group project on grass-roots, pervasive surveillance which seeks to expose the disconnect between people and the trails of digital identities they leave behind. The premier full presentation at ISEA2006 and ZeroOne in August 2006 combined art installation, software engineering, activism, pervasive design, hardware hacking, SMS poetry, sticker art and ambient performance.
Loca is an exercise in everyday surveillance, tracking digital bodies in physical space. It examines what happens when it is easy for everyone to track everyone, when surveillance can be affected by consumer level technology within peer-to-peer networks without being routed through a central point. The Loca project walks the knife edge of locative media, itself involving surveillance. But it does not create a new surveillance potential, it only reveals what was already
there.
Pervasive surveillance is potentially both sinister and positive at the same time. New ways of organising media and of communicating with each other become possible when the context of the media and the user is known. But also as a consequence ever more can be surveilled and ultimately controlled. Loca seeks to lay bare the truth of mobile social software, to highlight how it can function as surveillance, without collapsing this ambiguity. It is an experiment that does not either blindly celebrate the technology, or claim that the technology is inherently bad. It aims to raise awareness of the networks we inhabit, to provoke people into questioning them, and help people equip themselves to deal with the ambiguity of pervasive media
environments.
THE LOCA NODE NETWORK
One element of Loca is a node network, through which Loca observes people’s movements by tracking the position of the Bluetooth enabled devices that they carry. One principle of the project is that people should be able to participate through their own mobile phone withouttheir device needing to be modified in any way, either through installing Loca software or by altering settings.
Loca deploys a cluster of interconnected, self-sufficient Bluetooth nodes within inner city urban environments. In San Jose the nodes were encased in concrete and fixed to street lights in the park, at pedestrian crossings on road intersections, and buried in the earth by a popular bar terrace. Others were deployed in hotels, cafes, and popular destinations such as cinemas. They were hidden in flower pots, underneath a chaise longue, and in the foot of the podium used by the cinema ticket collector. The Loca team was constantly visible about the city centre in bright orange workman overalls, climbing ladders, in and out of hotels, deploying and maintaining the network. A production line was created to recharge spare car batteries, and constant maintenance was needed to replace batteries and reset the software.
The Loca art group were then able to track and communicate with the residents of San Jose via their cellphone without their permission or knowledge, so long as they have a Bluetooth device set to discoverable. Over 7 days more than two thousand five hundred people were detected more than half a million (500,000) times, enabling the team to build up a detailed picture of their movements.
The Loca node network enables people to explore pervasive surveillance environments in a performative way. A person walking through the city centre hears a beep on their phone and glances at the screen. Instead of an SMS alert they see a message reading:
"We are currently experiencing difficulties monitoring your position: please wave your network device in the air."
Loca engages people by responding to urban semantics, the social meanings of particular places:
"You walked past a flower shop and spent 30 minutes in the park, are you in love?"
People were sent messages from a stranger with intimate knowledge of their movements, written in such a way as to leave them unsure if they had not unwittingly joined a social network called Loca. Over the course of the week the tone of the messages changed, the all-knowing friend turning out to be one friend too many, "coffee later?" changing to "r u ignoring me?".
The purpose of the messages is to make the presence of the Loca network known, and to illustrate the types of data that can be gathered and the inferences that can be drawn from it. These messages could highlight people’s daily routines e.g. “You have been here for an hour”, reveal the ‘others’ within the network e.g. “You can be seen by 4 other devices”, or even be used to control people’s behaviour e.g. “Please wave your phone in the air”. The messages also made the Loca project accountable for what it had done, and provided channels for feedback and further enquiry.
Loca aims to lightly touch large numbers of people. The aim is not complex interaction, but subtle affect, and only a minority of people will receive it, let alone give it any more than passing thought. Loca is like a picture glanced at sideways, a message caught in the corner of the eye, or a mosquito swatted on the arm.
People who accepted the Bluetooth connection received a longer message which explained the background to the project, and gave directions to the Loca stand at the exhibition venue where people could scan their device and receive a personalised printout of their movements. At ZeroOne some individual logs were over 100 meters long.
As the first project of its kind, the system was fragile, and some higher levels of interactivity could not be achieved. None the less the system was operational for the full length of the exhibition, during which more than half a million data points were recorded.
Loca does not ask people in advance; it does not want their permission. Not to obtain people's permission was a difficult decision, but it was felt necessary for the validity of the project - which sets out to make visible the limits of what is technically, legally and ethically possible, and to put people's responses to pervasive surveillance environments at the centre of the debate.
STICKERS: AD HOC STICKY NETWORKS
A second element of Loca involves stickers. The experience of the node network is intangible, it is to do with what is not seen. The stickers make visible the traces of digital identities that people leave behind. The stickers are visible to all, not just to those with a Bluetooth device, making the pervasive surveillance transparent. At ISEA2006 trails of stickers appeared across down town San Jose.
The Loca stickers enable people to become Loca “agents”, playing on the double meaning of secret agent and software agent. They are able to act out one of the functions of the Loca network - to become a small piece of surveillance code - introducing an element of participatory, urban play.
People scan for Bluetooth devices using their own mobile phone or laptop, by using Bluetooth in the usual way. On the Loca stickers they record the name of any uniquely named device they detect, and the time and date of detection. The stickers can then be stuck at the point of detection to leave tangible evidence of the presence of the digital identity, the time at which it was detected and the detection event itself. The process is simple, and can be undertaken by anyone with a Bluetooth device.
An important question about 'responsibility' arises when individuals use their own name for the name of their device. The Loca node network does not publish any personal information. But a person's name written on the sticker is personal data. Is the 'publisher' of that information the user of the device, the person writing on the sticker, or the Loca team who produced the stickers for them to write on?
SJPD: "BOOKED IN EVIDENCE"
On the final day of ZeroOne a node left in the downtown Sainte Claire Hotel was taken away by San Jose Police Department as a suspicious object and "booked in evidence". This took place on the same weekend in August 2006 that 3 Palestinian-Americans were arrested for possession of 1000 cellphones, which the authorities suspected were to be used for surveillance or as bomb detonators. Technology is often imprinted with our hopes and fears, and it says a lot about contemporary America that the SJPD chanced upon Loca’s genuine DIY surveillance, but it was the people with Arabic names who were detained. The police revised the status of the node from "Evidence" to "Found Property" and the artists were able to retrieve it, complete with a log of data on people's movements at the police station, whether they be officers, criminals or simply people passing by.
THE LOCA PACK: SURVEILLANCE CODE
All Loca code and tools are made publicly available in the form of the Loca Surveillance Pack. The Loca Pack provides for both surveillance and counter-surveillance. It makes Loca transparent, providing blueprints and code. It also informs people about the scale of the threat. Fear is used by politicians to create docile subjects. We want to show people that they can take back control.
Dont do harm to anyone. We will find you.
RESPONSES TO LOCA
Loca was interested in people's responses. These varied across the different project presentations, which included San Jose plus earlier proof-of-concept presentations in Helsinki and London. Some learned for the first time through the project how Bluetooth functioned, and were compelled to switch their Bluetooth device to undiscoverable. Responses ranged from being intrigued, to shocked, to dismissive.
Previous projects on surveillance, such as ZKM's CTRL:SPACE exhibition, have highlighted how we today live between two polarities of scopophobia and scopophilia - fear of being observed mixed with a seemingly endless desire to reveal ourselves, as epitomised by both reality TV and social software. Loca found that these responses are often intertwined, and that locative media can inspire each in equal measure.
A discussion on Loca in Seoul, South Korea highlighted how debates on "privacy" can seem alien outside of Europe, and yet the issues of "disclosure" that Loca explores were found to be relevant to the participants in Asia, just framed in a different way. Most critical of Loca was Shami Chakrabati, Director of Liberty and one of the UK's leading civil liberties advocates, who discussing the project on BBC World Service's Digital Planet, was concerned about the distress it
could have caused.
BACKGROUND
Loca is an anticipated accident. The project was initiated in 2003, out of an interest in how surveillance and social control emerge as a residue or unforeseen effect of otherwise virtuous information systems and network technologies. Then it sat in waiting for the accident to happen.
The accident was when the "Aware": http://aware.uiah.fi/
"ContextPhone": http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/group/context/ collaboration started generating surveillance data that was unforeseen by its designers. When users published media to Aware directly from their phone, using software called 'ContextPhone', it automatically annotated this media with contextual information derived from the phones actual surroundings, e.g. time, GSM cell-ID (an approximate geographical Locator), and the bluetooth environment,
i.e. a list of the Bluetooth devices around at the time. The premise of Aware and ContextPhone (themselves developed by Loca participants) is that the social context of the media can be used both to situate the media and to help organise it. The Bluetooth information would allow queries like 'show me all the pictures captured when I was in the vicinity of that person', which would be useful in a wide variety of contexts - if, for example, someone wished to gain an overview on an event at which they were present. This contextual information leads to unforeseen consequences, such as the 'accidental' tracking of people present during the media arts festival ISEA2004 in Helsinki. If someone wanted to reproduce what Aware/ContextPhone had been found to do, but for commercial gain or unethical ends, how hard would it be to implement technically and legally?
Loca examines the surveillance potential of different consumer platforms. In San Jose it focused on Bluetooth for a number of reasons: because Bluetooth has been designed in a way that is problematic for privacy management; working with Bluetooth rather than GSM makes possible some independence from the mobile phone companies; and because Bluetooth is the first 'everyday' network technology that enables people to be tracked, and to track each other, within the physical environment. The privacy trade off found in many contemporary forms ofsurveillance (you need to incrementally give up ever more privacy in order to access new services) is common to all network technologies, but here it is not just data but also bodies in space that are being tracked. (WLAN is similar, but is not always on and is less mobile; GSM tracking remains largely the preserve of the mobile phone companies; RFID (at this time) is still
not established in the consumer domain.)
Loca works independently from the mobile phone companies and other service providers so that it is clear to participants that Loca is not swayed by commercial interests in technology and also to show that the project can be done in a low-cost way. Each node is built using readily available, cheap parts, and is encased in concrete in order to be deployed in the urban environment. Loca does not need any special privileges nor to break the law - nothing stops one from
Bluetooth scanning; in fact it is part of the protocol, whereas GSM is prohibited. All you need to participate - to watch or be watched - is a Bluetooth device.
An aim for Loca is to make people aware that they have agency, that they can avoid being tracked by turning off their device or switching their Bluetooth device to 'invisible'. But Loca also sets out to reveal the limit of this agency. With all technologies that are susceptible to pervasive surveillance techniques, the only way to opt- out of the surveillance is to switch off altogether, which is often impractical, and means losing the benefits of that technology. This was not inevitable, and we need to ask why these technologies are not privacy preserving: why, for example, do all network technologies use permanent unique IDs; who made those decisions, on what agenda, who has it benefited? Equally, computers that are invisible are bad for privacy: do you want the things that are tracking you to be hidden? Loca advocates the development of countermeasures and of better privacy management provisions in policies and protocols. An issue with Bluetooth is that Bluetooth scanning is anonymous. Should not the person or device doing the scanning have to provide their identity before they obtain the identity of the devices that they are scanning? Many such measures will involve a cost, so unless an argument is made and demand exists, then it will not happen. Loca highlights the asymmetry involved, the lack of reciprocity between the person scanning and the person scanned, and enables people to experience the unsettling distance between disclosure and connection.
Loca explores peer-to-peer surveillance, and yet, like many such projects, it is peer-to-peer only to a point. Surveillance data is generated independently on each node, but then that data is relayed between the nodes and a server via the GSM network. This does not compromise the principle, however. The surveillance is independent, a server is only used for convenience within this project as it simplifies implementation, and the data could be relayed between nodes in alternative ways, but with less mobility, or higher cost. This would lead to a new set of parameters, alternative questions, and a change in the nature of the project.
Locative Media is principally concerned with the context of location. Projects which can be labelled as 'Locative' use or create technologies that enable users to log and/or publish this contextual media. Users of such systems reveal personal information that is pertinent to the project, but importantly this information can be repurposed by third parties. In failing to address this issue many locative projects leave themselves open to criticism over the potential re-use of such personal information. The critical point is that such projects ask and/or require users to give up this information for a perceived benefit, but do not address the (often unforeseen) consequences of these actions - and the principle unforeseen consequence of Locative Media's demand for logging location and time is that it creates systems susceptible to various forms of surveillance.
Locative Media has yet to fully address its own critical context. Loca seeks to make a contribution to these debates, while at the same time critically assessing its own methodology and the risks of its approach. How can creative work with surveillance technologies add to or distract from traditional campaigning strategies? Does it risk getting the public used to a new control technology prior to its deployment in a coercive way? How may both positive and troubling sides of a new technology be simultaneously explored?
Loca asks: how do people respond to being tracked and observed? How ready are people to observe others? Who is the user, and how? What does it mean to participate in this project? Do we get fear of surveillance, disinterest, scopophobia or scopophilia? What kinds of behaviour is this technique suited to mapping, and what behaviours is it not suited to? What kinds of behaviour can evade this form of surveillance? How does the contextual information we can detect (such as Location, time spent in one place, etc) relate to people's everyday experiences of the environment? What happens in-between physical, embodied space and the digital space of abstract data? What is the relationship between the embodiment of the mobile user and the abstraction of the data we capture?
Pervasive surveillance has the potential to be both sinister and positive, at the same time. The intent of Loca is to equip people to deal with the ambiguity and to make informed decisions about the networks that they populate.
THE NEW YORK TIMES ON LOCA
"LOCA ... is a surveillance project that talks back. A crew plans to plant some 30 Bluetooth scanners encased in concrete blocks at bus stations, in shops and at other busy spots in San Jose. Carrying a Bluetooth-discoverable phone within 25 feet of the scanners can trigger the receipt of a surprisingly intimate message like: 'You walked past the flower shop and spent 30 minutes in the park. Are you in love?' Such notes are not sent via text messaging but through a subversive technique called Bluejacking, in which a Bluetooth device's name is replaced with a short message meant to be picked up by neighboring devices. Part of the point is to catch people by surprise, jolting them out of their daily rituals with a Dada-worthy prank. Another goal, said Mr. Hemment ... is to show people how much data they may be revealing every time they turn on their phones. 'In an office you can shut the door for privacy,' Mr. Hemment said. ''In conversation you can hide a facial expression. But with the new digital technologies, you may have no idea how much you're giving away.'' If this sounds more like an educational project than a work of art, Mr. Hemment does not seem to mind. He said he doesn't make hard and fast distinctions between the two: he considers LOCA a policy-minded research effort with the art serving as its public face." Jori Finkel, 'An Exhibition Where Paintings Are So Last Century', New York Times, August 6, 2006
SCOPOPHILIA
SCOPOPHILIA: Literally, the love of looking. The term refers to the predominantly male gaze of Holloywood cinema, which enjoys objectfying women into mere objects to be looked at (rather than subjects with their own voice and subjectivity). The term, as used in feminist film criticism, is heavily influenced by both Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis.
http://www.cla.purdue.edu/English/theory/narratology/terms/scopophilia.html
http://www.cla.purdue.edu/English/theory/narratology/terms/scopophilia.html
Scopophilia, voyeurism, the gaze
objectification, fetishism
Hitchcock & psychoanalysis
Scopophilia literally means "love of watching." In Freudian analysis, scopophilia is associated with the anal stage of development. Voyeurism is a synonym for scopophilia.
Voyeurism: deriving sexual gratification from observing others in secret. Often the object of voyeurism is undressed or engaged in some kind of sexual activity. The key factor in voyeurism is that the voyeur does not interact personally with the person being observed. Voyeurs are called Peeping Toms after the legendary man who illicitly looked at Lady Godiva during her ride.
Pornography appeals to voyeuristic desires, as does much advertising. Recently, the proliferation of internet webcams has created a new cultural arena of scopophilia.
http://faculty.cua.edu/johnsong/hitchcock/pages/scopophilia/scopophilia.html
Looking
Voyeurism, scopophilia and other visual pleasures
http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/60_PT/PT_Essay/Sect_II.html
scopophilia
Synonym: voyeurism.
Origin: G. Skopeo, to view, + philos, fond
The term scoptophilia, subsequently replaced by scopophilia, took its place in Anglophone psychoanalytic literature as a translation of the Freudian notion of Schaulust, "pleasure in looking," in the sense of both seeing and being seen, as well as "curiosity." Freud distinguished between two frequently encountered forms of this partial drive: one active, "voyeurism," and the other passive, "exhibitionism," neither of which he would necessarily rank among perversions (1910a [1909]).
Psychology of staring
The act of staring implies a visual focus, where the subject of the gaze is objectified. This has been the subject of psychoanalytical studies on the nature of scopophilia, with a subsequent development in some aspects of feminist thought (see Gaze, film, photography and voyeurism). Paradoxically, the notion of staring also implicates the looker in constructing themselves as a subject. Sartre was interested in the individual experiencing shame only when they perceive that their shameful act is being witnessed by another. (see The look)
Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology (sometimes subtitled A Phenomenological Essay on Ontology) is a 1943 philosophical treatise by Jean-Paul Sartre
Part 3 Chapter 1: The look
The mere appearance of another person causes one to look at him/herself as an object, and see his/her world as it appears to the other. This is not done from a specific location outside oneself, it is non-positional. This is a recognition of the subjectivity in others. Sartre describes being alone in a park, at this time, all relations in the park (e.g. the bench is between two trees) are available, accessible and occurring-for him. When another person arrives in the park, there is now a relation between that person and the bench, and this is not entirely available to him. The relation is presented as an object (e.g. man glances at watch), but is really not an object, it cannot be known. It flees from him. The other person is a "drainhole" in the world, they disintegrate the relations of which Sartre was earlier the absolute centre.
This transformation is most clear when one sees a mannequin that they confuse for a real person for a moment.
While they are believing it is a person, their world is transformed, and everything exists as an object that partially escapes them. During this time the world comes on to you differently, and you can no longer have a total subjectivity. The world is now his world, a foreign world that no longer comes from you, but from him. The other person is a "threat to the order and arrangement of your whole world…Your world is suddenly haunted by the Other's values, over which you have no control."[2]
When they realise it is a mannequin, and is not subjective, the world seems to transfer back, and they are again in the center.
This is back to the pre-reflective mode of being, it is "the eye of the camera that is always present but is never seen".[2] The person is occupied, and too busy for self-reflection.[3]
This process is continual and unavoidable. Subjectivity is competitive. This explains why it can be difficult to look someone in the eye.[2] Sartre does mention another man in the park who is reading a newspaper. This man is different because he is so engaged in a project, that he allows himself to be completely the object- "a man reading".
SCOPOPHOBIA
scopophobia /sco·po·pho·bia/ (-fo´be-ah) irrational fear of being seen.
sco·po·pho·bi·a
n.
An abnormal fear of being looked at or seen.
What is Scopophobia?
Defined as "a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of being seen or stared at", each year this surprisingly common phobia causes countless people needless distress.
To add insult to an already distressing condition, most scopophobia therapies take months or years and sometimes even require the patient to be exposed repeatedly to their fear. We believe that not only is this totally unnecessary, it will often make the condition worse. And it is particularly cruel as scopophobia can be eliminated with the right methods and just 24 hours of commitment by the phobic individual.
Known by a number of names - Scopophobia, Fear of Being Seen, and Fear of Being Stared At being the most common - the problem often significantly impacts the quality of life. It can cause panic attacks and keep people apart from loved ones and business associates. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, and overall feelings of dread, although everyone experiences scopophobia in their own way and may have different symptoms.
Symptoms of Scopophobia - Fear of being seen or stared at:
breathlessness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly, a fear of becoming mad or losing control, a sensation of detachment from reality or a full blown anxiety attack.
Scopophobia is an intense fear of something that poses no actual danger. While adults with Scopophobia realize that these fears are irrational, they often find that facing, or even thinking about facing, the feared situation brings on a panic attack or severe anxiety.
Phobias A-Z: Ophthalmophobia, Scopophobia or Scoptophobia
« H E » email
posted Wednesday, 30 August 2006
Ophthalmophobia, Scopophobia or Scoptophobia - An abnormal, persistent fear of being watched or stared at
tags: ophthalmophobia scopophobia scoptophobia phobias
sco·po·pho·bi·a
n.
An abnormal fear of being looked at or seen.
What is Scopophobia?
Defined as "a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of being seen or stared at", each year this surprisingly common phobia causes countless people needless distress.
To add insult to an already distressing condition, most scopophobia therapies take months or years and sometimes even require the patient to be exposed repeatedly to their fear. We believe that not only is this totally unnecessary, it will often make the condition worse. And it is particularly cruel as scopophobia can be eliminated with the right methods and just 24 hours of commitment by the phobic individual.
Known by a number of names - Scopophobia, Fear of Being Seen, and Fear of Being Stared At being the most common - the problem often significantly impacts the quality of life. It can cause panic attacks and keep people apart from loved ones and business associates. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, and overall feelings of dread, although everyone experiences scopophobia in their own way and may have different symptoms.
Symptoms of Scopophobia - Fear of being seen or stared at:
breathlessness, excessive sweating, nausea, dry mouth, feeling sick, shaking, heart palpitations, inability to speak or think clearly, a fear of becoming mad or losing control, a sensation of detachment from reality or a full blown anxiety attack.
Scopophobia is an intense fear of something that poses no actual danger. While adults with Scopophobia realize that these fears are irrational, they often find that facing, or even thinking about facing, the feared situation brings on a panic attack or severe anxiety.
Phobias A-Z: Ophthalmophobia, Scopophobia or Scoptophobia
« H E » email
posted Wednesday, 30 August 2006
Ophthalmophobia, Scopophobia or Scoptophobia - An abnormal, persistent fear of being watched or stared at
tags: ophthalmophobia scopophobia scoptophobia phobias
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