[spectre] World-Information.Org Amsterdam: Exploring the Network Society of Control

Eric Kluitenberg epk@xs4all.nl
Sat, 2 Nov 2002 15:51:41 +0100


Dear Spectrites,

Here is some general info about the upcoming Amsterdam edition of 
World-Information.Org, which includes an extensive exhibition, artist 
projects, WIO-Works a temporary work and presentation space and an 
international conference on information politics.

The program of the conference (December 6th and 7th 2002) will be 
announced here shortly and via the web page:
http://www.balie.nl/wio

best wishes,
Eric

------------------

World-Information.Org Amsterdam:
Exploring the Network Society of Control

******************************************
World-Information.Org Amsterdam
November 15 - December 15, 2002
De Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
http://www.world-information.org
******************************************

After World-Information.Org's successful presentations in Brussels, 
Vienna (2000), Munich, Helsinki (2001) and Berlin (2002) it is now 
preparing for a major event in Amsterdam. From November 15 through 
December 15, 2002, World-Information.Org will once again stage its 
extensive exhibition and conference program in the Oude Kerk, the 
earliest parish church in Amsterdam. Here the World-Information 
Exhibition will present digital culture projects by renowned and 
pioneering artists, historic and state-of-the-art control and 
surveillance technology and the results of World-Information.Org's 
research program. Visitors will be offered an art mediation program 
that will enable them to gain inside views of the comprehensive 
content of World-Information.Org.

The exhibition consists of "World-Infostructure", "World-C4U" and the 
"Future Heritage Expo" a series of art projects. During the 
exhibition a temporary media lab will be installed in the Oude Kerk 
called "WIO-Works".

World-Infostructure provides insights in the evolution of 
communication technologies and their consequences for society. It 
presents the progression of historic communication codes to 
state-of-the-art applications, and provides an overview of the 
relation between technology, private investments and common welfare.

In World-C4U, the public experiences how organisations, companies and 
governments use state-of-the-art technologies for control and 
security through hands-on practical biometric applications and live 
demonstrations of surveillance systems. The exhibition also contains 
historical objects such as the code machine 'Enigma'.

WIO-Works is a temporary media lab in which several groups work on 
different themes, each during five to six days. In the Oude Kerk, 
permanent screening facilities and information terminals will be 
equipped and discussions, presentations and workshops will be 
organised so that the public will gain hands-on experiences.

Future Heritage Expo includes projects by (a.o.) the following artists:

Critical Art Ensemble
http://www.critical-art.net/

A collective of five artists of various specialisations dedicated to 
exploring the intersections between art, technology, radical politics 
and critical theory

Critical Art Ensemble has in recent project focussed on the 
implications Biotechnology, a.o. in the project "GenTerra - 
Transgenic Solutions for a Greener World"
http://www.critical-art.net/genterra/index.html


Arthur Elsenaar & Taco Stolk
BuBL Space
Do you need a break from the daily mobile soap? Surround yourself 
with soothing space. Simply press your pocket-size BuBL device. 
Release a bubble of silence. You'll feel pleasantly isolated inside, 
even in a crowded place. Evaporate all phone signals up to three 
meters around. Enjoy the silence. Create your Personal BuBL Space.
http://www.bubl-space.com


The Yesmen
The Yesmen have staged a series of stunning performances appearing in 
cognito as official spokesmen for the WTO at international trade 
conferences and seminars. Mistakenly identified and invited via their 
spoof website http://www,gatt.org they have recently announced a 
schedule for disbanding the WTO that lead to worried reactions 
world-wide including a parliamentary intervention in Canada.
http://www.theyesmen.org

Institute for Applied Autonomy
The Institute for Applied Autonomy (IAA) was founded in 1998 as a 
technological research and development organisation concerned with 
individual and collective self-determination. Their mission is to 
study the forces and structures which effect self-determination; to 
create cultural artefacts which address these forces; and to develop 
technologies which serve social and human needs.
In Amsterdam a recent "spot-the-cam-in-Amsterdam" action was held to 
map observation camera's in the inner city. IAA has developed a 
system that produces "maps of least surveillance" charting a route 
with as little as possible camera's through any given city, which 
will now be applied to Amsterdam.
http://www.appliedautonomy.com/

Jill Magid - System Azure
Jill Magid is currently artist in residence at the Royal Academy of 
Arts in Amsterdam. She explores the aesthetics of surveillance, and 
proposes an alternative treatment of surveillance apparatuses. She 
has recently completed the first phase of a restyling of surveillance 
camera's of the Amsterdam police department by rhinestoning and 
restyling observation camera's at the main Amsterdam police station.
Magid wishes to bring these observation and control systems in the 
public consciousness by developing an explicit aesthetics of 
observation machines that makes them more visible to the public eye.

RIXC-Riga & Marko Peljhan
The RIXC group from Riga and Marko Peljhan will set up an 
installation that maintains a live link with the Irbene 32m dish 
antenna, as part of the on-going electronic media monitoring project.
>>From August 4-12, 2001, twenty five media artists and activists 
>>from three  different continents gathered together in the forests 
>>of western Latvia at  the site of a Soviet-era 32meter dish 
>>antenna. Formerly used to spy on satellite transmissions between 
>>Europe and North America by the KGB, the antenna was abandoned and 
>>nearly destroyed when the Russians departed in 1994. The dish is 
>>currently under repair for civilan use as one of the top 5 most 
>>precise radiotelescopes in the world.<<
http://acoustic.space.re-lab.net/lab

0100101110101101.ORG - VOPOS_GPS
>>quote:
# Anything has been said about this renegade cyber-entity,
# accused of being "simple thief", dubbed as "media dandy"
# and "cultural terrorists" or, simply, "shit".
# 0100101110101101.ORG is the author of some of the most
# perfect media exploits of the last years, such as the
# creation and diffusion, at the opening of the 49th
# Venice Biennial, of the computer virus "biennale.py" or
# the memorable theft of the art gallery Hell.com.
end quote<<

As part of their project series Glasnost 01.ORG will present their 
project VOPOS_GPS, an interface that allows the audience a 24 hour 
tracking of all movements of 01.ORG via a GPS system.
HTTP://WWW.0100101110101101.ORG

____________


World-Info Conference 2002: The Network Society of Control
De Balie, December 6 & 7, 2002

De Balie, Centre for Culture and Politics in Amsterdam, will host the 
World-InfoCon conference 'The Network Society of Control', an 
international and interdisciplinary forum for the critical discussion 
of information politics in the network society. A wide variety of 
speakers and participants including researchers, politicians, 
representatives of social interest groups, activists and cultural 
workers will examine recent developments in information security, 
public opinion management, new legislation for intellectual property 
rights management in the digital domain, and the desire for a digital 
commons.

The final program of the conference will be announced shortly and 
will also be made available at the website of De Balie: 
http://ww.balie.nl/wio

____________


World-Information.Org is an initiative of Public Netbase/t0 and is 
organised in co-operation with Waag Society / for old and new media, 
De Balie, Centre for Culture and Politics and Netherlands Media Art 
Institute, Montevideo/TBA. The project was previously presented in 
Brussels and Vienna.

World-Information.Org is realised with the financial support of The 
Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology; 
Netherlands Culture Fund, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Dutch 
Ministry for Education, Culture and Sciences; Mondriaan Foundation; 
Culture2000; VSB Fund and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.

http://www.world-information.org