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Bundeszentrale f�r Politische Bildung and
Volksb�hne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin
PRESENTS
5TH International Browserday
Volksb�hne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin
December 4, 2001
www.browserday.com
MOBILE MINDED / call for entries
MOBILE MINDED
The 5th International Browserday in Berlin will ask students and young designers to come up with their ideas about wireless communication from a creative perspective. At this competition for media designers, artists and other creative and young professionals, earlier held in Amsterdam and New York, designers will show their wild and creative proposals for mobile navigation.
The Browser war between Microsoft and Netscape, in early 1998, formed the starting point for our quest for alternative, imaginative-utopian navigation tools. Then, for a minute, we thought the end of the browser was near. Microsoft's Internet Explorer gained it's feared near-monopoly position whereas the once so innovative Netscape had been crumbled after it got incorporated in the media giant AOL-TimeWarner. Despite endless critiques on the boring desktop outlook, the world wide web browser applications did not change. Quite the opposite, a phase of consolidation set in. Bit by bit, the PC-focussed market moved on to mobile phones, settop boxes and handheld computer which all have build-in browsers. The Economist remarked that a new browser war is under way, as software firms compete to provide the browsers for such "information appliances".
" Talk back to your mobile "
One of the inspirations of the Berlin Browserday, taking place in the Volksb�hne, has been Bertolt Brecht's Radio Theory (1932), an early example of an interactive utopia in which Brecht investigated the possibility of two-way communication. Brecht's proposal was to break down the hierarchy between sender and receiver. This demand is gaining importance within the turbulent world of wireless applications. Wireless services, running on closed, proprietary standards, are treating its customers as passive, downloading consumers.
User interfaces and content of wireless services are highly edited environments, limited to news, delivered by dominant news agencies such as DPA and Reuters, the weather, a restaurant guide and the latest from the stockmarkets. The New York Times noticed: "Mobile Web Remains a Promise." Correct. As long as the wireless information environment is controlled by telecom giants the comparison with the World Wide Web will remain a farce. We have heard enough of failed investments and sinking stock prices. What's on the agenda is nothing but the democratization of mobile space. The opening of the wireless space is both a political demand and a techno-aesthetic challenge, shaping these, still, closed spaces. Let's not wait any longer for more speculations of the strategic money-driven companies. Design your own mobile browser, web/mobile TV player, geo locators, search engine for sound files. Don't limit yourself to the tiny screen, text-only SMS interfaces and current slow transmission rate. The primitive nature of the current displays is something we can complain about. We may as well see this limitation as a challenge. During the 5th International Browserday held in Berlin on stage of the Volksb�hne, designers will take over and show the power of creativity. Designing the communication possibilities of the literally billions of moving people worldwide is what this new media design competition is all about. Think mobile.
THE COMPETITION:
On December 4, 2001, students from all over the world will be invited to present their bold views, daring designs and innovative ideas for the ultimate interface (Internet and beyond) onstage at the Volksbuehne in Berlin. Ideas will be presented in the "Three4 All" format: finalists will have exactly three minutes (180 seconds, that's all) to creatively show and tell their design, using any media (from design to drama, high- to low-tech).
International Browserday is a chance to redraw the future of communications and knowledge. The jury is looking for breakthrough concepts, new ways of seeing, and using the Internet and wireless communication in the undefined context of 21st century design and communications. Our jury is seeking young designers and students of the creative arts (designers, programmers, architects, composers, actors, filmmakers) to challenge existing standards and assumptions.
ENTRY PROCEDURES:
To apply, please submit a 200-word proposal describing your vision of a mobile future of communications. Include how you would present your vision (using digital media, graphics, sound, video, performance, etc.) in THREE minutes before a live audience at Volksbuehne in Berlin of more than 1000 people. You will have at your disposal a high-end computer, Internet connection, video playback, sound system and a large stage. It�s all yours. Entries may be accompanied by a URL, art, a digital file of no more than one Megabyte, or a one-minute audio or video tape. No entry material will be returned. International Browserday is not responsible for any lost or damaged materials. All entrants grant International Browserday the right to reproduce work selected on the Web site and in future promotions. Entrants, however, retain full ownership and copyright of information submitted.
DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: Monday october 15
At november 5, the 40 finalists will be chosen to present at Volksbuehne at december 4.
SEND TO:
NL.DESIGN
ROZENSTRAAT 147
1016 NR AMSTERDAM
NIEDERLANDE
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The Fifth International Browserday is an event of The
Bundeszentrale fur Politische Bildung and the Volksbuehne in Berlin. Concept and organization will be done by NL.Design Amsterdam in cooperation with Joachim Sauter (HDK, Berlin), Transmediale and DeBug Berlin.
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Browserday was conceived by a group of Dutch designers who were dissatisfied with the gray buttons of existing browsers. Mieke Gerritzen, founder of NL. Design and Geert Lovink, a media-theorist, were leading a student workshop at the Amsterdam Art Academy on the background and meaning of browsers and browser design. One intent Gerritzen and Lovink had for the workshop was to spark a discussion between software developers and designers on the topic of how to make technology work for its users. As a result, young design students were challenged to come up with alternatives for the existing browsers. This challenge, organized by NL. Design, Rietveld Academy and the Society for Old and New Media in Amsterdam, in 1998, became the First International Browserday. The first three browserdays were held in Amsterdam organized by NL.Design in cooperation with The Society for Old and New Media, Paradiso and the Balie. The fourth International Browserday took place in New York at Cooper Union on march 29, 2001. This was organized by NL.Design and the United Digital Artists in New York.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
www.browserday.com
and for questions:
[email protected]
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