[spectre] Next 5 Minutes: Tactical Media Lab Schedual

[Derek Holzer]

Next 5 Minutes 4: 

A Temporary Media Laboratory for Tactical Media 
@ Imagine IC in Amsterdam Southeast 
September 12 - 22, 2002 


Opening Program: Thursday September 12 18.00 hrs 

Imagine IC - Bijlmerplein 1006 - 1008 Amsterdam 


Full Program and Workshop descriptions can be found on the Next 5 Minutes 
website: 
http://www.n5m.org 

Website Imagine IC 
http://www.imagineic.nl 


Imagine IC, the new centre for the visual representation of migration and 
cultures, is the location for a temporary public media laboratory from 
September 12th till 22nd. Open at all times to the wider audience, artists, 
campaigners, local and international media makers and activists will develop 
and discuss their work for 10 days, hold workshops with local media groups, 
present examples, realise live media programs on-line and via radio and tv, and 
execute various projects. This Tactical Media Laboratory (short: TML) will be 
the first of an international series of TMLs, organised in various cities, and 
on different continents. 


The Amsterdam TML will focus on the relationship between media and migrant 
cultures. At the heart of our concern is the question who is given a voice in 
the contemporary media landscape, and which voices are left out. How can the 
individual, as well as the most diverse as possible representation of cultural 
and political groups, make their own voice be heard by media? 

Workshops and presentations will run continuously around themes such as: 
Virtual Shelter, net.radio and Home-Land Connections, GenderChangers: Women and 
Technology, Migration and Illegality, Wireless Media, and the Power of Personal 
Testimony. The TML is the joint effort of a large number of artists and media 
groups, amongst others: ambient tv, ASCII, De Balie, Harwood, dyne.org, Waag 
Society, RAZO, NYU Center for Media, Culture and History, Gender Changers 
Academy, expertbase.net, ghetto.ru, Paradox, Salto, and many more. 

All of the following workshops and presentations are open to the public, and 
are free of charge: 

Virtual Shelter 
First Public Meeting Thursday Sept 12 14.00-18.00 
Midpoint Public Review Thursday Sept 19 18.00-21.00 
Final Public Meeting Saturday Sept 21 12.00-16.00 

Virtual Shelter is an initiative in which a group of refugees will be working 
on a long term project with Imagine IC, Paradox, and the Amsterdam Tactical 
Media Lab to develop an online environment for refugees. This will be a space 
where refugees can network together privately, access vital information and, on 
a more symbolic level, become a space for personal testimony. 

Migration and Illegality 
How the Schengen Information System Works Friday Sept 20 18.00-21.00 
Debate and Discussion Saturday Sept 21 18.00-21.00 

How can illegal people tell their own stories while still remaining "invisible" 
to the authorities? What can be done against the systems used to catagories and 
register people, such as Schengen Information System, a huge database in 
Strasbourg containing files on illegal immigrants? One presentation will cover 
this Schengen system, while a debate will ask these and other important 
questions. 

Wireless Networks 
Outdoor Wireless Action: (Amsterdamse Poort) Thursday Sept 12 18.00-21.00 
Outdoor Wireless Action: (Amsterdamse Poort) Saturday Sept 14 14.00-17.00 
Outdoor Wireless Action: (Amsterdamse Poort) Thursday Sept 19 18.00-21.00 
Outdoor Wireless Action: (Amsterdamse Poort) Saturday Sept 21 14.00-17.00 

Wireless Tech Workshop Sunday Sept 15: Antenna Building 12.00-15.00 
Wireless Panel Discussion Sunday Sept 15 15.00-18.00 

Several tactical implementations of wireless technology will be experimented 
with during this media lab, including mobile public access-points placed in the 
streets during the shopping evenings. There will be hands-on workshops (how to 
build your own antenna) and discussions about the risks (legal and otherwise) 
of open access-points. 

GenderChangers: Women and Technology 
Hardware workshops Every Day 15.00 - 18.00 
Basic Audio workshop Tuesday Sept 17 19.00-21.00 
Digital Photography workshop Friday Sept 20 19.00-21.00 

The GenderChangers Academy will present a series of workshops during the TML 
aimed at providing hands-on training for women interested in media technology. 
These workshops will include sessions on recording and streaming audio and 
video, on DJing and VJing, and on computer hardware and building your own PC 
from parts. 

Open Media Studio/Internet Radio and Homeland Connections 
Every Evening 20.00-22.00 

The Open Media Studio provides a free space for personal expression and 
communication, using the internet as the connecting medium. Technical support 
from the ASCII group, RAZO (Radio Zuidoost) and various international guests 
will be on hand to make net.radio broadcasts every evening. These broadcasts 
operate in connection with the Internet Radio workshop being held at the RAZO 
studios, which aim to connect local radio makers with their home countries. 

Expertbase 
Everyone is an Expert workshop Pt 1 Tuesday Sept 17 12.00-17.00 
Everyone is an Expert workshop Pt 2 Wednesday Sept 18 12.00-17.00 

Expertbase is a site for people, who are not found in any commercial or 
official databases. A site for people, who are being ignored by vulgar head- 
hunters and usually excluded from the labour market -- either because of their 
residence permit status or because of their origins, but in the last instance 
because of their unique abilities and singular qualifications. 

http://www.expertbase.net/ 

NINE: walk-in studio Saturday Sept 21 12.00-14.00 
NINE: walk-in studio Thursday Sept 19 19.00-21.00 
NINE: walk-in studio Monday Sept 16 12.00-16.00 

In the last year Graham Harwood worked as artist in residence of Waag Society 
at NINE, a storytelling tool. This is a very user-friendly version of 
professional multimediaprogrammes: a basic grid of nine images offers room to 
personal stories build from pictures, texts, sounds and videoimages.