[spectre] (fwd) Soeborg: VIDEO ART\e-monitor No. 26

Mon Sep 27 13:27:16 CEST 2004

From: Torben Søborg <soeborg at inet.uni2.dk>
Subject: VS: VIDEO ART\e-monitor No. 26

  VIDEO ART\e-monitor 26 - THE DANISH VIDEO ART DATA BANK
  September 28, 2004

Content:
1. Newsletters
2. Reducing activities
3. Argos Media Library
4. New Book about Closed Circuit Video Installations
5. New eusroscreen21project: Point of View

1. Newsletters

The newsletters you receive through email are more and more elaborated and
sophisticated in design. As a "publisher" of VIDEO ART\e-monitor you 
get envious and
would like to be able to do the same. I would in this connection like 
to draw your attention
to three newsletters in case you not already know these: the ARGOS 
Newsletter, the
Kitchen Hotplate and WMM Women Makes Movies E-News Bulletin.

The very well designed argos NEWSLETTER from argos in Brussels have information
about events, publications, preservation, media library and 
distribution. You can subscribe
by going to <http://www.argosarts.org>www.argosarts.org    and click 
on "Mailing List".

The Kitchen Hotplate Newsletter from the Kitchen in New York gives 
you information about
what is going on at the Kitchen. You can subscribe by going to 
<http://www.thekitchen.org>www.thekitchen.org    and
click on "Join our mailing list".

The WMM ENEWS is published regularly to announce the latest news a WMM
films/videos, filmmakers, programs, events and broadcasts. You can 
view it online at
<http://www.wmm.com/news/news.htm>www.wmm.com/news/news.htm    or 
subscribe by sending an email to
<mailto:wmmrelease at wmm.com>wmmrelease at wmm.com    with "subscribe" in 
the subject heading.

2. Reducing activities

Envious - well, so why not do the same with VIDEO ART\e-monitor? Instead THE
DANISH VIDEO ART DATA BANK has decided to cut down and reducing its 
activities. A
difficult decision which primarily has something to do with age (I 
just turned 74 this
August), but also with the fact, that we have not been able to 
receive any public funding or
support to help with the work.

In the first hand we stop the distribution of independent Danish 
video art works which we
started in 1983 after publishing the very first "Katalog over dansk 
videokunst / Catalogue of
Danish video Art" (at that time with support from the Danish ministry 
of culture).

The DATA BANK has from1983 and until this fall promoted and 
distributed Danish video
art outside Denmark the DATA BANK has offered festivals, galleries, 
screening venues
and other activities to screen video art works by independent Danish 
video artists through
compilations composed by the DATA BANK of videos by different Danish 
independent
video artists. The DATA BANK also supplied texts & video stills for
programme/catalogue/press us.

THE DANISH VIDEO ART DATA BANK will still do this to some extend if 
we get a direct
request from a festival/venue, but primarily you have to contact the 
artists directly. On the
website for our video archive - 
<http://www.videoart-archives.dk>www.videoart-archives.dk   - you 
will find information about
videos/artists and in most cases also 1 minute video clips of the 
video art works.
We will still try to maintain and update this Archives of Independent 
Danish Video Art and
we will also try to maintain and update the Global Calendar 
<http://www.videoart.suite.dk/festivals>www.videoart.suite.dk/festivals
which now contains information about 2.500 video and media art 
festivals, exhibitions,
screenings and activities all over the world.

What is going to happen with the website 
<http://www.mediaart-preservation.dk>www.mediaart-preservation.dk 
we are still
considering.  We will keep you informed.

Sometime in the not so far future we also have to decide what to do 
with the "physical"
archive: The collection of tapes with the artist's video art work 
(also because some of the
tapes need to be preserved).

3. Argos Media Library

Archives of Independent Danish Video Art is small compared with argos 
Media Library.
argos maintains the largest collection of audio-visual work made by 
artists in Belgium,
containing over 3,000 titles created by Belgian and international 
artists of different
generations.

And to quote from the above mentioned newsletter: "The media library 
also offers a library,
containing about 2,000 important cultural-historical and art-critical 
essay compilations on
audio-visual art and visual culture, as well as monographs/catalogues 
on prominent artists.
Also festival catalogues, magazines and comprehensive files on 
Belgian artists are made
available. All these titles are on appointment accessible for 
consultation by researchers
and the general public."

argos has been lucky to get support for this media library: "The 
cultural foundation Cera
recently committed itself to support the public disclosure and 
further development of the
argos media library financially for a three-year period. Thanks to 
the support of Cera the
media collection will be replenished and opened to the public from 
2005 to 2007 with a
highly functional database system, interchangeable with external 
institutions and linked to
the development of online applications. The intention is to develop a 
knowledge centre, to
be called on by audiovisual art and visual culture specialists as 
well as a broad culturally
interested audience."

. and if you are interested: argos is looking for a full-time 
collaborator for the co-
ordination and development of this database and disclosure system 
from January 2005:
Knowledge of and experience with metadata models, online public 
catalogues, thesauri
and ontology, focused on the domain of the audiovisual arts is 
required. A basic
knowledge of Open Source applications, streaming, copyright and 
visual search engines is
desirable. Candidates can send their applications to Frie Depraetere, 
argos, Werfstraat 13,
B-1000 Brussels, <mailto:frie at argosarts.org>frie at argosarts.org   ".

4. New Book about Closed Circuit Video Installations

After a profound research Slavko Kacunko now publish his book Closed Circuit
Videoinstallationen at Logos Verlag Berlin.

The 1.200 pages book is accompanied by a DVD and may be ordered
1)  in the bookstores: ISBN 3-8325-0600-4
2) directly from the publisher: 
<http://www.logos-verlag.de/cgi-bin/buch?isbn=0600>http://www.logos-verlag.de/cgi-bin/buch?isbn=0600

Short description

The book focuses on the important aspects of the history of the media 
art - "live"-Video
installations. Unlike the few attempts to date to present a survey of 
the diversity and
notably the quantity of international media art, the book is the 
first to consider the global
context in which the sphere of (interactive) media art is developing.

From the historical perspective, links between Europe and the USA, 
Australia and Asia,
Eastern Europe, and South America are highlighted, with focus on 
regional, national and
individual achievements.

The book looks in detail at the individual artistic approaches in the 
context of space and
time, and it includes a description and record of 1100 works and 650 
artists. This and the
notes on further reading and viewing will enable deeper explorations 
of the material.
In recent years, theoretical debate has diagnosed with some precision where the
electronic video image stands between analogue and digital codes, or 
again, between
media "representation" and "presentation". This position is subjected 
to examination
against the pertinent examples.

Video technique makes it possible to simultaneously record and 
reproduce images, sound
and sequences of motion; that potential can be seen as a specific 
characteristic of the
medium. The closed-circuit video installations based on it represent 
the attest field of
experiment for the assumptions on art and the theory and history of 
the medium that it
might lead one make.

Table of content

To give you an idea of the book we reproduce the content:

Introduction
1. The history of media art: state and competence of research
2. Positioning of current project: visual criticism and cultural criticism
3. Structure and contents
I. Media Art: Category Definitions:
1. "Installation"
2. "Performance"
3. "Input"/"Output"
4. "Feedback"
5. "Immediacy"
6. "Interface"
7. "Interaction"
8. General terminological pairings
a) "Art" and "Medium"
    Excursus: "Simulation" and "Metaphor"
b) "Representation" and "Presentation"
c) "Analogue" and "Digital"

II. Closed Circuit Video Installation: A Theoretical Review
Prologue: on research specialisms in art and media theory
1. "Subject" - "Object" relationship
2. Constructions of reality
3. System models and behavioural blueprints
4. Game concepts and learning processes
5. Data collation and checking
6. Telecommunication

III. Closed Circuit video Installation: A Geo-historical Overview
Towards a Definition: an overview
Suggestion for a Definition
On Structure and Groupings
1.      The first decade (1966 - 1976)
2.      The second decade (1977 - 1989
3.      The third Decade (1990 - 2002

Each of these periods is "illustrated" with hundreds of examples of 
artists and their work
from many different countries (In 2. The second decade is from 
Denmark mentioned
"Golden Boys", Carsten Schmidt-Olsen, Torben Soeborg)

Concluding Remarks
1. The "materiality" of media
2. The "immateriality" of art: the "performative"
3. The "supremacy of appearances": the false mirror
a) "Guardians of the Image"
b) Feedback as pseudo-argument
c) Ecstasy, rationality and reversibility: Apollo and Hermes
d) "Video Spheres" and Irreversibility
4. Closed-circuit as an "open system": target concept - interaction
5. The history of media art: strategies and perspectives

Literature and Correspondence - URLs - Index

The book is accompanied by a DVD-ROM with a catalogue with artists 
and their works
(images, descriptions & URLs)

5. New Euroscreen21project: Point of View

Euroscreen 21projects is mainly organized by video/media artists and 
denotes a flexible
European platform performed by the artists and culture institutions 
since 2003. The
concentration on Europe takes up the current necessity in development 
policy: the
promotion of dialogue and understanding among various cultures.

The announcement for the new 2005-project states that: "Especially in 
times of an
increasingly medialised world threatened by rising violence as well 
as the negative
consequences of globalisation, the position of the individual or here 
as a focus, the artist's
point of view, seem to be of growing concern"
. and describe the project in this way:

"In 2005 the new Euroscreen21projects-DVD "Point of View" with 
digital short videos will
be shown in museums, galleries and the world wide web.

Participating artists and culture institutions that like to present 
this DVD in their countries
are invited to extend the screening by own programs. The suggestion 
to present at other
places is not compulsorily for the entry of a video."

Application and more information: 
<http://www.euroscreen21projects.de>http://www.euroscreen21projects.de 
.
Deadline: November 30, 2004
Category: Short digital art video. All genres
Theme: Point of View
Form: Download PDF. There will be only one form. It alouds to present 
your video in
culture institutions during the project time.
Project Website: Artists, Urls, links and comments will be published 
on the project website.
Locations of presentations will be actualised currently.
DVD: It is planned that each participating artist will get a DVD with 
all videos.
Cost factor for you: There is no entry fee. One tape: DV mini or 
Digital 8 (Tapes can be
only send back, if a sufficient envelope (Euro) is added. No 
insurance for lost material.)
Organisation: Ba-No, Hubert Baumann and Judith Nothnagel, Germany in 
cooperation
with culture institutes and private sponsors. <mailto:jn at ba-no.de>jn at ba-no.de

THE DANISH VIDEO ART DATA BANK is a non-profit agency for promoting 
Danish video art outside Denmark

  The VIDEO ART\e-monitor is an e-mail newsletter published with 
irrugular intervals. Editor: Torben Soeborg 
(<mailto:soeborg at inet-uni2.dk>soeborg at inet-uni2.dk  )

  You can find the earlier editions of VIDEO ART\e-monitor on 
www.videoart.dk/e-monitor  . If you want to  receive VIDEO 
ART\e-monitor (free) send an e-mail to 
<mailto:soeborg at inet.uni2>soeborg at inet.uni2  

THE DANISH VIDEO ART DATA BANK
Themstrupvej 36DK-4690 Haslev
Denmark
tel: +45-56.31.21.21
soeborg at inet.uni2.dk
<http://www.videoart.suite.dk>http://www.videoart.suite.dk
<http://www.videoart-archives.dk>http://www.videoart-archives.dk
<http://www.mediaart-preservation.dk>http://www.mediaart-preservation.dk