nettime: The Empire

[mpandil@soros.org.mk]

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

Welcome Back to the Empire
Project by Melentie Pandilovski

We will try to construct an interactive parallel history.
The combining of the three below mentioned platforms will assist us in
that intention. 

Platform 1.
Alexander III of Macedonia had not died on June 13, 323 BC in Babylon
after his return from India but recovered from malaria and
consolidated his forces. The Empire did not fall apart. He lived on
another 20 years firmly ruling and expanding the empire. He undertook
a successful expedition in Arabia as planned and conducted a serious
reorganisation of the Empire. The monetary policy was based on a
uniform currency system. These will be our starting parallels. We
should concentrate on essential questions. For instance: How will the
existence of a strong universal state spreading over 3 continents with
the utmost diverse cultures affect the lives of the people ? How will
the cultures interact one with another? Will this politically and
otherwise strengthened cultural system known widely as Hellenism move
to a higher merging of cultures. What will this mean on the
economical, sociological, religious, educational and all other
platforms you can imagine?  How will the empire develop? What will the
educational system be like? How will Alexander's teacher Aristotle
influence the Empire? Will his teachings in Politics, Ethics,
Philosophy and Metaphysics influence so essentially the Empire that
combined with the Eastern teachings will be able to produce a new kind
of reality or will they become a stiffened doctrine of the society.  
How will the storing of books, objects or information in general
develop? What will it produce ? How will the populations mix? Will
this happen only by decrees? They were certainly encouraged by
Alexander who had married Roxane, a Persian princess, as well as by
large economic migrations. Will this lead to a super nation? What
qualifications determine this region ? What makes it essentially
different than Rome, China or Carthage ? How will Babylon develop,
being the capital of Europe&Asia&North Africa New discoveries ?
Perhaps the diversity will lead to new discoveries in Science. I do
not mean only Geography but Science in general. New Inventions? The
inventions must lead to a greater development or revolutionising. The
transport system. Which new roads will be promoted ? Which cities will
boom as a result of it ? Religion ? Alexander required his provinces
to worship him as a god ! He truly believed that he was the son of
God. Zeus - Amon ? Will the Greek religious system be proclaimed as a
central doctrine? How will the Asian religious diversity fit into it?
The latter prophets ? Did they appear ? Did they appear on time? Is
their appearance therefore connected to time and space or not?
Monotheism ? Christianity, Islam ? Will they be possible in the given
parameters ? If yes how will they affect the Empire ? If not, what
will? Is the empire flexible enough to adjust to new beliefs ? Will
Alexander IV inherit on the throne his father Alexander the Great in
303 BC, continuing the same policy ? Will he be given a sacred
object-sign by his father. Will their ancestors carry it through the
ages ? Finally, how far in time can we update this process ?


Platform 2.

The second part of the project will in essence be an archive and will
concentrate on collecting images, sounds, various audio and video data
from the region. It should represent a virtual Museum of the Empire.
People from the region or wider are invited to submit photographs,
audio or video materials, via Internet or otherwise. The sounds of
this permanent collection could be of ethno or another origin,
although they would have to correspond to the cultural boundaries of
the Empire. Should the conscience for the Empire expand we will expand
the geographical regions where the sounds and images are collected
from.   


Platform 3.

A.
Alternative Artists from Macedonia will visit the main knots in the
Empire, passing thus from Europe to Asia. The knots are signified by
the main battles fought by Alexander:

1. Issus
2. Tyre 
3. Gaza
4. Gaugamela - Arbela
5. Susa
6. Persepolis

- The artists will cover the topography with audio&video footage. 
 - The artists will also concentrate on investigating the historical
conscience of the local population by covering the stories of the
villagers regarding these battles.  

 - The artists will try to
investigate how the local communities perceives the past, and how much
of the past is still rooted and living in them.

 - The artists will meet with the domestic artists exchanging experiences. 


B.
The artists will in this later phase pursue Alexander's spirituality
by visiting and documenting the temple of Zeus - Amon in the Libyan
desert, the city of Alexandria as centre of culture and commerce, and
Babylon as a capital. 

C.
The artists will concentrate on documenting different materials from
Pakistan and India, trying to investigate traces of Alexander's
presence in the conscience of the local population. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------- 
Work on the
construction of  the "Site of the Empire" is to be performed during
1996 and the beginning of 1997. Among others professional scientists
including historians will be consulted. All of the 3 platforms of the
project will be placed on this Internet site. 

The ones interested in participating should in the meantime send
texts, audio and video materials to:

mpandil@soros.org.mk 

Tel/Fax: 389.91.361.855

SCCA - Skopje, Macedonia Ruzveltova 34, 91000 Skopje Macedonia

--
*  distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission
*  <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism,
*  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
*  more info: majordomo@is.in-berlin.de and "info nettime" in the msg body
*  URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/  contact: nettime-owner@is.in-berlin.de