Dissidents Descend
The Austrian Web Resistance Awards 2000 were created when the culture-jamming Institute for Applied Autonomy gave away its Arts Electronica prize money in protest against Austria's
Jorg Haider and his Freedom Party's views about the electronic arts festival (not to mention contemporary art). During a live TV ceremony, the Institute transferred
the award to the progressive Public Netbase Group, in support of the Austrian resistance movement. The resulting awards have garnered plenty of attention — our favorite from
Freedom Party parliamentarian Karl Schweitzer: "They [Netbase] are not only biting the hand that feeds them, but they are actually at the throat of the Austrian government." From Government-Austria.At.
This year's Web Resistance winners:
• For a World Without Racism
• Elektrofruestueck and
• Performing Resistance.
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Global Arts Federation
National arts councils and arts-funding agencies from 50 countries have agreed to form an international federation to benefit artists, arts organizations and communities throughout the world. The decision to create the federation was made by delegates attending last month's World Summit on the Arts and Culture, hosted by the Canada Council for the Arts. Australia, Venezuela, Singapore, South Africa, Ireland, the United States and Canada are some of the countries involved in the interim board of the international federation; more countries will be added in the near future.
From Arts Wire Current
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Hot & Cold
Jordan Crandall's "Heatseeking" is a series of seven short, abstract film-collages about the aggressive, high-tech policing systems employed in the San Diego/Tijuana border region. Commissioned by InSITE2000, a binational project of 27 cultural institutions in the United States and Mexico, the series is shot in a variety of formats: video from surveillance cameras, miniature "stealth" cameras and infrared thermal imaging systems, as well as 16mm film. Like Steven Soderbergh's provocative new film "Traffic," "Heatseeking" is not a simpleminded assault on power. Instead it evokes the erotic tension of watching and being watched in an increasingly militarized culture.
In San Diego through February 25 at InSITE2000 Center, First Ave and Broadway.
In New York City through February 17
at Sandra Gering Gallery, 476 Broome Street, 2nd floor.
From Insite 2000.
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The Arts As Human Rights
U.S. National Endowment for the Arts Chair Bill Ivey, in an address to the National Press Club on December 18, 2000, outlined an American Cultural Bill of Rights. His ambitious manifesto asserts the people's rights to explore their cultural heritage; to lead a creative life; to engage a community of artists; to choose among a broad range of experiences and services provided by a well-supported community of cultural organizations; to have an external representation of the nation's expressive life; and to engage in art and art making "of the highest aesthetic quality, especially art that embodies universal truths or art of quality that auditions the unique character of diverse nations and communities." Ivey's remarks do not, however suggest how these lofty goals might be realized.From National Endowment for the Arts.
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Millenium Redux
Yes, the new millennium actually began this month, and we didn't even have to suffer through a media blitz of Y2K 1. Nonetheless, Artbyte, the "magazine of digital culture," has commemorated the occasion with a nifty issue devoted to "obsolete tomorrows." There's the tomorrow of artist Eduardo Kac, who wants to create "transgenic art" (i.e., a glow-in-the-dark dog), and there's the tomorrow of late-modernist dreaming à la Biosphere 2 and the Arcosanti outpost in the Arizona desert — emblems of modernity that harken back to the grandiose vision of the pyramids.
From ARTBYTE: The Magazine of Digital Culture
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Move Over Cannes
Media art festivals are a huge industry throughout Europe. Some address mass media, and others tackle "new" media, from film to digital-art formats. Transmediale, Berlin's international festival of media art (February 4-11), may be the best at coupling these twin emphases. As part of the festival, the conference "DIY: Do It Yourself!" on February 8-9 will focus on two vital, albeit dry-sounding, themes that will help determine the shape of independent Web access and distribution in the near future: "Social Software" and "New Forms of Distribution." There will be simultaneous English-German translation and live streaming online. The festival will also offer the first prize anywhere for software created by hybrid artist-programmers. This Transmediale looks to be transformative.From transmediale.
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Unearthly
Interactivity was the online-media buzzword of the late '90s, though it generally signified little more than e-shopping and the opportunity for
teeny-boppers to respond to questions about "pressing" issues (Ricky Martin, pro or con?). Sound artist Stephen Vitiello gives it real meaning in his new Web-based work "Tetrasomia." The title refers to Empedocles's 2500 year-old belief that all matter is comprised of earth,
air, fire and water. Viewers can participate in the composition by mixing and sampling sounds taken from nature found on sites around the Web. They can also hear Vitiello's four new compositions based on the four elements. This is one of the best opportunities to sound off online yet.
From Dia Art Center
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AS THE MEDIA WATCH THE WORLD, WE WATCH THE
MEDIA.
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News & Reviews
ARCHIVE:
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MINIS:
Back on record: The New York Times canned online digital-arts columnist Matthew Mirapaul when it tried to spin off its cyber edition last year. Now the savvy writer is back, biweekly in the print edition, with Arts Online.
Schmooze Fest: "Digital Independence 2001: Independent Mediamakers Confront the Digital Transformation," San Francisco, January 28-30, 2001. Will indies
gain real independence through digital technologies?
Mouthful/Brain Full: "Due to the unusually long 2000 electoral season, Reliable Resources for Broadcast Political Coverage is extending its deadline for entries for the newly established USC Annenberg Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Broadcast Television Political Coverage." You have until January 31.
Coming To A Theater Near You: American media artist Shu-lea Cheang, who is making a sci-fi porn film, held auditions — complete with fake urinals and bondage paraphernalia — at the opening of the Taiwan Biennial.
The Art Newspaper.Com
Satellite: Holland's Rijksmuseum will create the world's first mini-museum in an airport departure lounge at Schiphol, Europe's fourth largest airport.
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Latino artists online at the netart_latino database.
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Wigged.net is a bi-monthly webzine bringing innovative short videos, animations and interactive works over the Internet. |
White House Conference on Culture and Diplomacy
What advice did the Aga Khan, Wole Soyinka, Rita Dove, and Yo-Yo Ma offer Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright? |
Art in Other Places
The new edition of William Cleveland's book chronicles arts-based community development and social change in media-age America.
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