[spectre] post linz_meditations

[honor]

alo spectres, ghosts + deep european ghouls,

got back from linz this morning, and just thought i'd add a few words re.=20
this year's ars electronica + also the mini spectre luncheon yesterday.

i wasn't sure what to expect at ars this year, having been put off=20
attending last year by a theme i found problematic in the light of the=20
political situation in austria at the time.  my reason for coming this year=
=20
was to take part in 'connect_systems / takeover_systems'=20
<http://www.fro.at/connect_systems/>, a component of the takover campus,=20
organised by radio fro <http://www.fro.at> from linz.

our project - the takover cultural channel - was temporary net.tv station=20
put together using r a d i o qu a l i a's frequency clock system=20
<http://www.frequencyclock.net>.  a 24/7 programme was created using=20
internet video + live streams by our editorial team [ manu luksh=20
<http://www.ambienttv.net>; james stevens <http://www.consume.net>; nic=20
limper <http://www.klari.net> + r a d i o q u a l i a ] + our drop-in=20
contributors, walter, thomax, roberto, luka, lina, mike, andreas etc.
as well as being available online for the duration of ars, the takeover=20
cultural channel was also broadcast live on linz cable tv station, LT1, for=
=20
two hours each night - from 0000 - 0200.  this meant that festival goers=20
coming back to their hotels at night were confronted with weird pixelated=20
visions of online art video, interviews with media cultural practitioners,=
=20
reports from past conferences and, and recordings of experimental=
 performances.

what i found interesting from the perspective of being based at the=20
takeover campus in the kunstuni, was the sense of being sidelined.  the=20
takeover campus included some fascinating projects (eg. the 't-garden' by=20
<http://f0.am>, the 'female takeover installation', and radio fro's=20
symposium.  many of the politically challenging projects were based at the=
=20
campus.  however, siting these projects away from the main symposium +=20
electrolobby at the brucknerhaus created the feeling that these initiatives=
=20
were not considered to be central to the festival, by the organisers. i=20
found it curious that ars would wish to segregate the projects presented at=
=20
the campus from the projects presented at brucknerhaus.  it reminded me of=
=20
when openX first began, when it was based at the design centre, and thus=20
seemed 'disconnected' from the rest of the ars symposium.  given the=20
apolitical nature of this year's electrolobby (which was themed on gaming=20
culture), it may have helped balance the festival somewhat, to have had a=20
more visible connections between the campus + the brucknerhaus ...

as far as the festival itself went, i agree with andreas that weiser, f.x=20
randomiz + co's 'zgodlocator' + heide + nijs' 'spatial sounds' were=20
highlights of the cyberarts exhibition at the OK centre.  i found the ars=20
electronica exhibition at the AEC quite diappointing.  so many of the works=
=20
were created by large research facilities + university labs, that to me the=
=20
show seemed more like a display of 'product development', than an=20
exhibition of art + technology ....

for me though the real treasure at ars in 01 - as it often is in festivals=
=20
like this - was the chance to reconnect with friends i haven't had the good=
=20
fortune of seeing in ages + to plant seeds for future collaborations +=20
exchanges.


anyway,  enough rambling =85.


the rolling spectre gathering took place from about 1200 - 1500 on tuesday=
=20
4 september.  me, melentie + lorenzo mused on the current Macedonia=20
Question, while awaiting our fellow spectres to join us.  the unstable=20
situation in macedonia at present is cause for major concern, and is=20
something which was sadly under-discussed on the syndicate in the past=20
months.  though the current conflict in the region is of course completely=
=20
different in nature to the crisis in yugoslavia in 1999, when the group was=
=20
so willing to offer support, it is interesting to note the absense of a=20
response from the syndicate in this instance.  there's probably a complex=20
web of reasons why this present situation was met with a lack of reaction=20
on the syndicate, but its perhaps something we might want to be aware of in=
=20
the weeks and months to come on spectre.
melentie wittily suggested that perhaps one of spectre's future roles could=
=20
be to send 'cultural observers' to 'crisis situations', to witness=20
proceedings, in a similar manner to UN observers ;-)

over cheese sandwiches + coffee, annick, sally jane, lorenzo, walter,=20
melentie, mare tralla + me had a very productive discussion about=20
spectre.  sally jane has taken better notes that me, but from memory, the=20
key issues we chatted about were:

- the announcements question.
walter suggested that we consider contextualising announcements on spectre=
=20
with a short comment or summary.  we also agreed that rather than=20
considering these postings 'announcements', we should look at them as an=20
ongoing 'information exchange'.


- reports
we thought it would be good to encourage spectres to write short reports of=
=20
events + conferences they attend.  nina czegledy is always very good at=20
doing this, for instance.  the effect of reports like these might be to=20
create small windows in on the activity of a particular area + a particular=
=20
group of people.
there has been talk of diversifying the 'demographic' of spectre (more=20
involvement from 'the south', more involvement from 'younger people').=20
reports from events and festivals from divserse locations, could help us=20
share information about groups who are active in places that spectres are=20
interested in.


- post_syndicate analysis
janos, geert, eric + others have stressed the need for critical analysis of=
=20
the way in which the syndicate list evolved since 1999.  we felt that such=
=20
an analysis would be an important thing for spectre to do, in order to=20
better understand the role of the new list.  in particular, we discussed=20
the impact of the 'population explosion' which occurred on the syndicate=20
during the nato bombing of yugoslavia in 1999.  the rapid and dramatic rise=
=20
in the number of subscribers may have changed the character of the list=20
permanently, making it less obvious to members who was actually on the list=
=20
and why.


- translation / language
the problem of english being the dominant language of the list was raised,=
=20
and a discussion ensued about the importance of 'language diversity' and=20
trasnlations of texts and information into different languages.  walter=20
pointed out that one of the original functions of the syndicate when it=20
first began was to share texts written in different languages, so that=20
members could undertake informal translations.  small translation projects=
=20
for particular events or festivals (such as the work zeljko blace is doing=
=20
for asu2, translating media cultural texts in english into croatian, and=20
the translating work mare tralla's students in estonia are doing) might be=
=20
interesting case studies to look at.


i'm sure sally jane can probably report back much better than i, but this=20
is at least perhaps a little bit to go on until she has a chance to post.


greetings from an overcast london afternoon.

honor