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| <nettime> announcer 056a |
. The Announcer ...................................................
. a weekly digest of calls . actions . websites . campaigns . etc .
. send all announcements and notes to [email protected] .
. please don't be late ! delivered every friday . into your inbox .
...................................................................
01 . Damon Holzborn . http://www.zucasa.com/
02 . Inke Arns . JUNCTION SKOPJE publication
03 . Kristrun Gunnarsdottir . http://this.is/cornucopia
04 . infozone . infozone #1 >update events
05 . Le Monde Diplomatique . October 1998
06 . Australian Network for
Art and Technology . ANAT launches 2 major web projects
07 . Secret Writer's Society . SOFTWARE SABOTAGE
08 . Trace . A New trAce Website and a New
trAce Community
09 . Peter Lunenfeld . mediawork 13 | Grids & Anti-Grids
| February 14
10 . Axel Bruns . Issue three of M/C now available
................................................................... 01
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 14:23:56 -0700
From: Damon Holzborn <[email protected]>
Subject: The Announcer
http://www.zucasa.com
Zu Casa has been RE-launched as a gallery and performance space for
experimental art and music.
Zu Casa is accepting submissions of music, video art and netart for
exhibition. Our intention is to build a community of musicmakers and
artists interested in presenting their work at Zu Casa. As audience
interest and artist contributions grow, we will provide a channel for
online sales.
Radio Free Zu Casa
new and improvised music, installations, live webcasts
Zu Casa Television
experimental video and film
Donkey Net
internet-based, interactive artwork
Hans Fjellestad > [email protected]
Damon Holzborn > [email protected]
to receive announcements of Zu Casa news and events send email to
[email protected]
=============================
-The Donkey
zu casa ministry of information
viva el burro
[email protected]
http://www.zucasa.com
=============================
................................................................... 02
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 13:55:43 +0200
From: Inke Arns <[email protected]>
Subject: JUNCTION SKOPJE publication
Dear friends,
I am sending this announcement to a list of people who I think might be
interested in the activities of the V2_East/Syndicate network.
The second Syndicate reader (Syndicate Publication Series 002, edited by
Inke Arns) was published on the occasion of the Junction/Syndicate Meeting,
Skopje/MK (2 - 4 October 1998), held during the Skopje Electronic Arts Fair
�98 - Communing (2 - 9 October 1998). SEAFair '98 was organized by the
Center for Computer Arts which acts within the framework of the Soros
Center for Contemporary Arts - Skopje, Macedonia.
The JUNCTION SKOPJE reader contains 200 pages (editorial and contents
below), and was printed in Skopje, Macedonia. To reserve a copy, just send
an e-mail to <[email protected]>.
Best wishes,
Inke Arns
--- --- --- --- --- ---
JUNCTION SKOPJE: The 1997 - 1998 Edition
Syndicate Publication Series 002
Editorial by Inke Arns
For almost two and half years now the Syndicate mailing list has been the
most important means of communication for the members of the
V2_East/Syndicate network. V2_East/Syndicate is a translocal network of
people and institutions who are involved in media culture and media art in
Europe and who want to create an infrastructure for projects and
cooperations. In the winter of 1995/96, the Rotterdam-based V2_Organisation
launched its 'V2_East' initiative, dedicated to enabling and enhancing
contacts and cooperations between people interested in media art and media
culture in Europe. The most important result of the V2_East initiative has
been the formation of the 'Syndicate' network. The name came from a comment
that Vladimir Muzhesky from Kiev made during the initial V2_East meeting at
the end of the Next 5 Minutes conference in Rotterdam in January 1996:
'Individually, we are rather weak when it comes to negotiating with funding
bodies and governments about support for new media and electronic art
projects. However, if we could join up and form something like a syndicate,
then we would be able to speak with one voice when it is strategically
necessary, and become more powerful than we are now.'
Since its first meeting with 30 participants from a dozen east- and west
european countries, the V2_East/Syndicate network has been growing
continuously. Today, in the autumn of 1998, there are more than 300
participants from 32 European and 7 non-European countries. The network
which originally started out as an 'East-West initiative' almost three
years ago, has since reached a stage where those symbolically laden terms
mean less and less. With its mailing list <[email protected]>, website
<http://www.v2.nl/east/> and regular meetings, the Syndicate is becoming an
important tool for fostering ties within the media art community and a
platform for discussing the changing role of media culture in the 'new
Europe'. Over the past two and half years, we met regularly in the context
of festivals and conferences, like at the DEAF festival in Rotterdam
(V2_East Meeting on Documentation and Archives of Media Art in Eastern,
Central and South-Eastern Europe, September 96), the Video Positive
festival in Liverpool (LEAF, April 97), the documenta X in Kassel (Deep_
Europe @ Hybrid WorkSpace, August 97), the ars electronica in Linz
(Net.Shop, Septem-ber 97), the ostranenie 97 festival at the Bauhaus in
Dessau (November 97), or the Pyramedia meeting in Tirana, Albania (May 98).
After the success of the first Syndicate reader (DEEP_EUROPE: The 1996 -
1997 edition, October 1997, 140 pages, completely sold out), which covered
the activities of the Syndicate network from January 1996 - October 1997,
and which was published on the occasion of the ostranenie 97 festival at
the Bauhaus Dessau in November 1997, we are continuing to work on the
Syndicate Publication Series (SPS). The idea for producing a second
Syndicate reader came up in May 1998 during the Piramedia Syndicate meeting
which took place in Tirana, Albania. JUNCTION SKOPJE. The 1997 - 1998
Edition (Syndicate Publication Series 002) consists of a selection of
essays, reports and articles that were posted on the Syndicate mailing list
between October 1997 and August 1998, thus documenting Syndicate related
activities since the publication of the last reader.
In the JUNCTION SKOPJE reader, you will find four sections: SYNDICATE
ACTIVITIES, quite obviously, covers activities directly related to the
Syndicate network, including exciting documents on Syndicate performance
activities during the Shaking Hands & Making Conflicts conference in
Stockholm, Sweden (April 1998), reports on the Piramedia Meeting in Tirana,
Albania (May 1998), and reflections on related activities like the Crossing
Over +++ festival in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (July 1998) and the Virtual
Revolutions workshops, a series of 4 fluid residencies for media artists
and writers across Europe (Sofia/BG; Rotterdam/NL, Tornio/FI and
Salford/UK). The section MEDIA/ART CRITIQUE, TXT CONTRIBUTIONS includes
essays, discussion threads, conference contributions and polemics covering
a wide variety of themes such as the Amsterdam Agenda resulting from the
P2P conference in Amsterdam/Rotterdam, NL, media cultures in Bulgaria,
Poland, the UK, Russia, Croatia, and the Baltic Cyber-Corridor, and
in-depth reflections on mutant geographies between Brazil, France, and
Slovakia. TRAVEL & CONFERENCE REPORTS comprises personal reflections on
media workshops in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, and in Kiev, Ukraine, a conference
in Cluj, Romania, the WhoByFire #1 symposium in Duna�jv�ros, Hungary, a
report on major Tasmanian interests in Deep_Europe, on cosmonauts in
Ljubljana, Slovenia, and a personal travelogue through the East European
media art scene with stop-overs in 1989 (Lodz, PL), 1993 (Bucharest, RO),
and 1996 (Sofia, BG). And finally, the fourth section, entitled PEOPLE &
ACTIONS, sheds some bright light on people and projects, ranging from
Moscow�s notorious Radek crew to the Novi Sad-based Apsolutno association,
interviewed on various occasions. The variety of the topics included in
JUNCTION SKOPJE does not represent a coherent body, but rather its
opposite: the contributions critically reflect a complex and heterogenous
terrain, thus pointing to the diversity of the translocal formation called
the Syndicate network.
Since January 1996, Andreas Broeckmann is producing the V2_East/Syndicate
Newsletter on a monthly basis. The Newsletter, which is being distributed
via the Syndicate mailing list, contains informations about upcoming
events, projects and ideas that are interesting in relation to the
Syndicate network. Included here is a condensed version of Andreas�
introductions to the Newsletters from September 1997 - August 1998. Reading
the introductions again, I found that they reflect in the best possible way
the various activities of the Syndicate network and its various spin-off
structures, the development of long term Syndicate projects as well as
spontaneous reactions to part-time spamming on the mailing list...
What�s new? In this edition, you will also find Notes on Contributors,
providing short biographical information about the people who contributed
texts to JUNCTION SKOPJE. JUNCTION SKOPJE, as well as DEEP_EUROPE, will
shortly be made available online. Watch the V2_East/Syndicate website!
Some texts were initially crossposted from Rhizome <www.rhizome.com>,
others were originally posted on the Nettime mailing list
<www.desk.nl/~nettime>. According to our policy, we have done only minor
editing to the texts, correcting typographical mistakes and adding up-dated
e-mail and web addresses where we know them. Thanks to Adele Eisenstein,
Lisa Haskel and Stephen Kovats for supporting the proofreading.
The second Syndicate reader (Syndicate Publication Series 002) is published
on the occasion of the Junction/Syndicate Meeting, Skopje/MK (2 - 4 October
1998), held during the Skopje Electronic Arts Fair �98 - Communing (2 - 9
October 1998), organized by the Center for Computer Arts which acts within
the framework of the Soros Center for Contemporary Arts - Skopje, Macedonia.
JUNCTION SKOPJE is produced in Skopje, Macedonia, with kind support from
the Soros Center of Contemporary Art - Skopje. A big thanks to Nebojsa
Vilic and Melentie Pandilovski!
Berlin, 12 September 1998
V2_East/Syndicate <http://www.v2.nl/east>
Syndicate Mail Archive <http://www.v2.nl/mail/v2east/>
-------------------------------
JUNCTION SKOPJE: The 1997 - 98 edition
Syndicate Publication Series 002
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Editorial by Inke Arns
V2_East/Syndicate Newsletter Compilation (97/09 - 98/07)
SYNDICATE ACTIVITIES
Andreas Broeckmann, A Translocal Formation: V2_East, the Syndicate, Deep
Europe (27 Dec 97)
Kathy Rae Huffman, OSTranenie 97, 5 - 9 Nov 1997 (2 Jan 98)
Tim Druckrey, Fragmentation and Solidarity: Deep Europe (22 Aug 98)
Jan �man, Shaking Hands & Making Conflicts, Stockholm, April 1998 (11 Mar 98)
Tapio M�kel�, report fragment 1 from Stockholm (27 Apr 98)
The Stockholm Syndicate, Stockholm fragment 2: The Partnership for Culture
Plan TM (26 Apr 98)
Oleg Kireev, english mailradek no.1: A few examples that art is more
significant than it pretends to be (13 Aug 98)
Edi Muka, From Albania (21 Jan 98)
Edi Muka, Situation in Albania (23 Jan 98)
Edi Muka, Piramedia - Tirana, 28 - 31 May 1998 (24 Feb 98)
Andreas Broeckmann, A short Piramedia report (2 Jun 98)
Geert Lovink, Culture after the Final Breakdown: A Report from Tirana,
Albania (11 Jun 98)
Sally Jane Norman, mullings and ruminations (12 Jun 98)
Saso Vrabic, CO+++, Crossing Over / part 3 (4 Sep 98)
Iliyana Nedkova, Post Virtual Revolutions 1.0 (May 98)
Andreas Broeckmann, V2_Lab: Virtual Revolutions 2 (22 Aug 98)
J Mickela Sonola, VR 3.0 in Tornio (11 Sep 98)
Larisa Blazic, vr statement by lb (cyberns experience) (26 Aug 98)
MEDIA / ART CRITIQUE, TXT CONTRIBUTIONS
Iliyana Nedkova, Geo/Info Territory: From the Point of View of a Nowhere
Woman in a Nowhere Land (23 Aug 98)
The Dutch Virtual Platform, The Amsterdam Agenda (10 Nov 97)
Andreas Broeckmann, Towards a European Media Culture - which Culture, which
Media, which Europe? (Jan 98)
J�nos Sug�r, BULLDOZER: introduction (3 Dec 97)
Geert Lovink, BULLDOZER: preface (3 Dec 97)
Akos Szilagyi, The 'Raw' and the 'Cooked': Russia's Mediatization (3 Dec 97)
Dan Arenzon, South and Culture Lag (22 Dec 97)
Iliyana Nedkova, Bulgarian Media Culture (Sept 97)
Lisa Haskel, Relative Freedoms: Some Retrospections on "Independent Media"
Production in the UK (27 Jan 98)
Olia Lialina, cheap.art (31 Jan 98)
Raivo Kelomees, Conformism in net.art: Interview with Nelli Rohtvee (13 Feb
98)
Tapio M�kel�, commentary on Conformism in net.art (16 Feb 98)
Geert Lovink, Navigating the Normalcy. Review of subREAL - 'Serving Art' -
exhibition @ Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart (Germany), 20.02 - 15.03 1998 (4
Mar 98)
Sally Jane Norman, Charleville encounters (30 Mar 98)
Ryszard W. Kluszczynski, Trans-media Art. On the Art of Ryszard Wasko (5
Apr 98)
Ryszard W. Kluszczynski, New Poland - New Video. Some reflections on the
Polish video art since 1989 (10 Apr 98)
Tania Moguilevskaya, Claude Ravant, Russian Net-art: towards a space of
privacy and self-expression (31 May 98)
Inke Arns, New Media Cultures in Eastern, Central, and South-Eastern
Europe. Editorial for Convergence (4 Jul 98)
Eric Kluitenberg, Connectivity, New Freedom, New Marginality: A report from
the Baltic cyber-corridor (23 Aug 98)
Igor Markovic, Why one evening with Critical Art Ensemble is better then
five-days "festival" in Zagreb (8 Sep 98)
TRAVEL & CONFERENCE REPORTS
Marko Peljhan, Deep Europe Meets Deep Oceania (1 Dec 97)
Inke Arns, Who by Fire #1 Symposium at the Institute of Contemporary Art -
Duna�jv�ros / Hungary, Dec 1997 (8 Jan 98)
Kathy Rae Huffman, Structures & Strategies in Developing Multimedia:
On-line and Off-line in Cluj, Romania, Dec 1997 (12 Jan 98)
Stephen Kovats, Addendum to Kathy R Huffmann's report on Cluj (12 Jan 98)
Drazen Pantic, Mongolia on line: from Genghis Khan to Bill Gates (3 Mar 98)
Calin Dan, Re: Mongolia transport (3 Mar 98)
Martha van der Haagen, Ukraine (9 Jul 98)
Nina Czegledy, Eyewitness: The Art of Different Media (Lodz / Poland,
1989); Ex Oriente Lux (Bucharest / Romania, 1993); Crossing Over CO+ (Sofia
/ Bulgaria, 1996) (2 Aug 98)
Vesna Manojlovic, Workshops, Conferences, Travels, Friendships (13 Aug 98)
Inke Arns, The Place where Symptoms become Real: Cosmonauts, Explosives,
and Hand-Made Sausages. Impressions from Ljubljana, Slovenia, 7-12 July
1998 (26 Aug 98)
PEOPLE & ACTIONS
Vuk Cosic, the cosic test (12 Nov 97)
Tapio M�kel�, Pavlov (13 Nov 97)
Micz Flor, cosic test - extended (19 Dec 97)
Jennifer de Felice, time to protest (14 Nov 97)
Geert Lovink, Intermedia: The Dirty Digital Bauhaus. An e-mail exchange
with J�nos Sug�r (Budapest) (3 Mar 98)
Michiel van der Haagen, Interview with Vuk Cosic (7 Mar 98)
Gordana Novakovic, �A Short History of Electronic Art, Part One", April
�98, Cinema Rex, Belgrade (14 / 30 April 98)
N-GCC/press-service, Moscow, barricade, 23 May (25 May 98)
Maria Vassileva, apsolutno (5 Jun 98)
John Nicholas Moulden, MS Stubnitz in Stockholm (17 Jun 98)
Josephine Bosma, Interview with Kathy Rae Huffman (7 Aug 98)
Igor Stromajer, Libreto: the story about net.art (13 Aug 98)
Anatoly Osmolovsky, Oleg Kireev, mailradek no.2: Policy of exclusion (21
Aug 98)
Larisa Blazic, a story from little l. (26 Aug 98)
Notes on Contributors
................................................................... 03
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 19:01:05 +0000
From: Kristr�n Gunnarsd�ttir
<[email protected]>
http://this.is/cornucopia
The Corner of my Eye
at
http://this.is/cornucopia
................................................................... 04
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 08:47:14 +0100
From: infozone <[email protected]>
Subject: infozone #1 >update events
___
__ /'___\
/\_\ ___ /\ \__/ ___ ____ ___ ___ __
\/\ \ /' _ `\ \ ,__\/ __`\/\_ ,`\ / __`\ /' _ `\ /'__`\
\ \ \/\ \/\ \ \ \_/\ \L\ \/_/ /_/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ __/
\ \_\ \_\ \_\ \_\\ \____/ /\____\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\
\/_/\/_/\/_/\/_/ \/___/ \/____/\/___/ \/_/\/_/\/____/
infozone a temporary workspace in Paris
The poject infozone shows up in a space in the center of Paris, as an
open mixed-media-studio has creating, collecting, selecting, linking,
resuming and distributing of information and contents as a goal.
Article are predominantly social, political and cultural questions. In
infozone should be the possibility for the comment, interview,
discussion and for the presentation of the different users.
infozone is ambient space and file, pin wall and global newspaper,
represented locally by the workspace and world-wide by Internet. From
this diversity the project can be started, planned however nevertheless
improvised as laboratory, is connecting old and new media, which
presents itself in a dynamic system openly and closed, privately and
publicly.
infozone mixes old and new media, a crossover of different disciplines,
which in its structure, spontaneous re-organizations are to develop.
This is to be operated by discourses, presentations, seminars, events,
and many guests in this infozone.
It is a place of critical thinking and productive conflict, a social
space, in the consent is manufactured and disagreement in course set. A
place at the distribution, accommodation and production compress
themselves and extend. In the social context the relationship between
senders and recipients, let the things develop.
Meanwhile will the traditional mass media such as radio, television and
magazines to technical metaphors around information " on the network ".
infozone however energize a direct public and a co-operation with
producers, groups and other forums and makes available the space for a
easy and direct way to produce alive contents.
The distribution outside of the workspace infozone is achieved over
Internet and printed media. A publication planned afterwards will
document the flow of information and contents during the three months to
made it further accessible.
for futher information:
http://campus.ensba.fr/infozone
e-mail: [email protected]
best
jens gebhart
................................................................... 05
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 15:02:27 -0400
From: Le Monde diplomatique <[email protected]>
Subject: October 1998
LE MONDE DIPLOMATIQUE
_________________________________________________________________
Le Monde diplomatique
english edition
October 1998
edited by Wendy Kristianasen
LEADER
Japan in danger *
by Ignacio Ramonet
There is little sign in the streets of Japan's major cities of the
seriousness of the country's economic crisis. Japan is, after all,
the world's second largest economic power. But its people have now
lost confidence both in the economy and in the politicians who are
having little success in getting the country out of its rut.
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1998/10/01leader.html
Translated by Ed Emery
FROM MARKET MADNESS TO RECESSION
Liberal dogma shipwrecked *
by Serge Halimi
Asian capitalism is paying the price of over-regulation. That was
the reaction last year when the Asian-Pacific region plunged into
recession. But the collapse of the Russian economy and the Latin
American crisis are provoking a painful reappraisal. US Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has now admitted the obvious. In an
era of financial and commercial globalisation, no region of the
world can remain an "oasis of prosperity". The extent of the danger
is seriously discrediting the economic dogmas zealously applied
throughout the world for the last twenty years. Deregulation of
capital flows and monetary fanaticism were the first to be
challenged, but privatisation and free trade itself may well be
next in line.
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1998/10/02halimi.html
Translated by Barry Smerin
The custodians of monetary order
by Fr�d�ric Lebaron
With the stock markets reeling under new shock waves every week, or
almost every week, since the summer of 1997, everyone is again
looking to the heads of the central banks who are perceived,
rightly or wrongly, as the ultimate custodians of monetary order,
even of global prosperity. But will they display enough wisdom and
experience to stop the global economy straying from the narrow path
of balanced growth they are supposed to keep it to?
Translated by Barbara Wilson
HAZY OUTLINES OF AN ISLAMIST INTERNATIONAL
Fundamentalists without a common cause
by Olivier Roy
The Western-sponsored efforts to end the Soviet occupation of
Afghanistan in the 1980s left an enduring legacy in the training
camps now used by a variety of Islamists from different countries.
Most of the attacks on Western interests can be traced to a network
of radical Sunni movements based in the Pakistan-Afghanistan
borderlands. What is striking about these new movements, of which
the Taliban are the prototype, is the contrast between their
political radicalism and their ideological conservatism. Their sole
point of reference is the sharia, and their outlook is
uncompromisingly conservative and profoundly Sunni in character.
Translated by Barry Smerin
SAUDI ARABIA PUTS ITS NATIONALS FIRST
Where foreigners know their place
by Nicolas Bombacci
Saudi Arabia has already suffered the effects of falling oil
prices. Now the kingdom is entering a period of uncertainty
surrounding the succession to King Fahd who has been seriously ill
for several years. The country's prosperity during the 1970s and
1980s was based on immigrant labour that makes up over 80% of its
workforce, though it has long been subjected to petty controls and
social segregation. These migrant workers can now be sure to bear
the brunt of the coming economic downturn.
Translated by Ed Emery
WESTERN DEVELOPMENT HAS FAILED
Looking to a new Africa
by Jean-Marc Ela
Economically, Africa is considered a poor and marginalised
continent. And since the end of the cold war it has no longer been
of any strategic or diplomatic importance to the great powers.
Except when there are emergencies requiring humanitarian aid,
no-one is really interested in the fate of the continent's 700
million men and women. Is it the failure of development? Or
backwardness? Or is it rather a sign of strength that African
societies are refusing to fall into the neo-liberal trap, instead
creating alternatives to the Western model of development?
Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
MILLIONS LEFT SCARRED BY FEMALE MUTILATION
Putting a stop to excision in Burkina Faso *
by Joelle Stolz
Two years ago the government of Burkina Faso made a firm commitment
to stop the practice of excision. After many years of campaigning,
this has ceased to be a taboo subject and attitudes are starting to
change - if slowly. Sixty-six per cent of women are still
circumcised, compared with 70 per cent 20 years ago. But nowadays
families have their daughters operated on in secret and at an
earlier age - and accidents are put down to "witchcraft". But it
will take time to eradicate a custom that links the community to
its ancestors and is closely bound up with sexual identity.
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1998/10/07burkina.html
Translated by Lorna Dale
BRAZIL'S NEW EXPERIMENT
Participative democracy in Porto Alegre
by Bernard Cassen
Anatomy of an experiment in people's power
On 4 October Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso won Brazil's
presidential elections. One of the key issues in the campaign of
his opponent, Labour Party leader Lula da Silva, was Porto Alegre's
ten-year experiment with participative democracy. The town has set
up a parallel organisation operating alongside the municipal
council, enabling local inhabitants to take real decisions for
their city. And it works. Especially for the least well-off for
whom it offers a way to stake a claim on public funds normally
spent on the more prosperous areas of the city.
Translated by Barbara Wilson
AT THE HEART OF ANY POLITICAL BATTLE
On male domination
by Pierre Bourdieu
Male domination is so rooted in our collective unconscious that we
no longer even see it. It is so in tune with our expectations that
it becomes hard to challenge it. Now, more than ever, it is crucial
that we work to dissolve the apparently obvious and explore the
symbolic structures of the androcentric unconscious that still
exists in men and women alike. What are the mechanisms and
institutions which make possible the continued reproduction of this
age-old domination by men? And is it possible to neutralise them in
order to liberate the forces for change which they are instrumental
in blocking?
Translated by Ed Emery
TEARING UP THE EUROPEAN RULEBOOK
The unemployed loosen the noose
by Catherine L�vy and Christophe Aguiton
Since the 1970s, unemployment has been part of the social
landscape. Yet the unemployed themselves remained in some way
invisible, their voices never directly heard. However, a few months
ago they erupted on to the social and political scene in France,
Germany, Italy and other European countries. The movement which
they have started has been greeted with sympathy by the public at
large. And it has inspired other new organisations determined to
agitate for different economic and social priorities.
Translated by Donald Hounam
IN THE ARCHIPELAGO OF CHANCE
Japan's craze for pachinko
by Thierry Ribault
A secular miracle
The recession in Japan has made people blame the party in power.
Witness the resignation of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on 13
July following the Liberal-Democratic Party defeat in the upper
house elections. It has also made them turn to easy pastimes such
as "pachinko". There is nothing new about seeking one's lucky star
but here the search has been accentuated by the crisis in public
confidence in the economy and the country's political leadership.
Translated by Barbara Wilson
HOLOCAUST BOOK SPARKS FRESH CONTROVERSY
From "Mein Kampf" to Auschwitz *
by Dominique Vidal
Fifty years on, there can be no let-up in the struggle against
those who deny the holocaust. At the same time, the debate among
historians is becomingly increasingly heated. Daniel Jonah
Goldhagen's attempts to silence the most virulent critics of his
best-seller, Hitler's Willing Executioners, have sparked bitter
controversy. Ultimately at stake is the interpretation of the
Jewish genocide, with its historical and universal implications.
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/1998/10/14vidal.html
Translated by Barry Smerin
THE THREAT TO BIODIVERSITY
Emptying the gene pool
by Alain Zecchini
With the growing exploitation of nature, is there any future for
the earth's plant resources? Fragmentation and genetic erosion are
gradually turning the world into small islands of impoverished
land, surrounded by a sea of humanity. Most countries refuse to
recognise the urgency of the problem, preferring to pursue
short-term policies and focus on other priorities. But if they do
not protect the inheritance of future generations, who will?
Translated by Lorna Dale
(*) Star-marked articles are available to every reader. Other
articles are available to paid subscribers only.
Yearly subscription fee: 24 US $ (Institutions 48 US $).
ERRATUM
We would like to draw your attention to a small error that crept into
Serge Halimi's article, Myopic and Cheapskate Journalism,
In the paragraph starting "CNN prides itself on the fact that"... it
should read as "In October 1997 the TV news broadcasts of the three
major networks, over four consecutive evenings, devoted a total of only
7 minutes 20 seconds to Bill Clinton's first visit to South America".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - Le Monde diplomatique
______________________________________________________________
For more information on our English edition, please visit
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/en/
To subscribe to our free "dispatch" mailing-list, send an
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To unsubscribe from this list, send an (empty) e-mail to:
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................................................................... 06
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 11:19:07 +0930
From: Australian Network for Art and Technology <[email protected]>
Subject: ANAT launches 2 major web projects
The Australian Network for Art and Technology
announces the launch of:
*** deep immersion: creative collaborations ***
and stage 2 of
*** www.screenarts.net.au ***
Friday 23 October, 5pm (Central Australian Standard Time)
Mercury Cinema, MRC, Lion Arts Centre, Adelaide
and online
http://www.screenarts.net.au
The second stage of Australia's first and only national online directory
for digital screen art will be launched in Adelaide. screenarts, which has
been developed by the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) in
association with the Media Resource Centre and dLux media arts, will be
exclusively previewed at the Mercury Cinema.
screenarts provides a central point of access to the outstanding digital
art which Australians are producing online. The first stage of screenarts
launched in December 1997 takes the web tourist to a host of important
exhibition sites. This second stage of screenarts will also include links
to conferences and fora in Australia, dealing with online screen based art,
thus critically and culturally contextualising this fast expanding area of
art practice in Australia. screenarts utilises an exciting new online
database the Virtual Community Engine or VCE, developed by Adelaide based
internet designers, Virtual Artists. This innovative new software enables
users to seek out their favourite artist or exhibition, organisations or
practitioners. The addition of conferences into the database will also
ensure that this work is able to be contextualised by some of Australia's
most critically astute writers and thinkers. Resolutely contemporary,
screenarts is constantly being updated as new art and writing becomes
available on the web.
Providing an insight into the innovative applications of the web for
Australian digital screen artists, screenarts is both easy to use and
flexible in the hands of even the most inexperienced user. As screenarts
continues to evolve, the site will archive exhibitions and conferences no
longer online, allowing the directory to become a more complete and
functional resource of historical as well as current Australian digital
screen art on the Web.
http://www.anat.org.au/projects/dicc
Prior to the launch of screenarts , ANAT will be profiling the unique new
'virtual residency' project, deep immersion: creative collaborations. With
support from the New Media Arts Fund of the Australia Council, ANAT has
developed a series of online residencies, which have forged links between a
number of Australian artists and a diverse range of net smart cultural
sites. The intention was to provide artists with opportunities to come
together remotely, to germinate and hothouse ideas, test hypotheses,
develop new processes and create new works.
One of the four artists in residence, Adelaide based new media artist,
elendil will be speaking at this special presentation. elendil will be
demonstrating his work, Glyph, an iconographic vocabulary collaboratively
constructed in an online workspace. Glyph, developed with support from
Sydney based art server, SystemX http:sysx.apana.org.au, and Vienna beased
farmersmanual http://www.farmersmanual.co.at, experiments with meaning and
its portrayal, attempting to break down rational language structures.
Also to be featured at the launch will be, please press play, a project by
Brisbane based low key operations + nude productions (aka Michael Hogg and
Claire McGrogan), developed whilst the artists were in residence with US
based writing server, AltX http://www.altx.com. please press play
addresses the interaction between text and sound, experimenting with the
electronic and the organic aspects of audio and text.
Earlier collaborations in this series of residencies will also be available
for viewing, including TeriAnn White's residency with UK writing server,
trAce http://trace.ntu.ac.uk, and Keith Netto's sonicform site developed
whilst in residence with Australian electronic media server, <EMG>
http://www.dirtymouse.net.
Come and browse these unique web projects on Friday 23 October at the
Mercury Cinema at 5pm.
Light snacks and beverages provided.
screenartshas been supported by the Australian Film Commission
http://www.afc.gov.au
For further information or interviews, please contact:
Amanda McDonald Crowley or Honor Harger
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FROM THE DESK OF THE AUSTRALIAN NETWORK FOR ART AND TECHNOLOGY
[email protected]
postal address: PO Box 8029 Hindley Street, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
web address: http://www.anat.org.au/
telephone: +61 (0)8-8231-9037
fax: +61 (0)8-8211-7323
Director: Amanda McDonald Crowley (tel: 0419 829 313)
Administration and Information Officer: Honor Harger
Web and Technical Officer: Martin Thompson
Memberships: $A12 (unwaged), $A25 (waged), $A50 (institutions)
ANAT receives support from The Australia Council, http://www.ozco.gov.au
the Federal Government's arts funding and advisory body
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................................................................... 07
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 23:58:14 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Secret Writer's Society" <[email protected]>
Subject: SOFTWARE SABOTAGE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: mailto:[email protected]
See also http://www.wired.com/news/news/culture/story/15533.html
To order a VNR or introductory video, see note at end.
OBSCENITY HACKER COMES OUT
"Computers are revolutionizing education, sometimes in surprising ways. Now
there's software that can teach kids how to cuss like a drunken stevedore,"
writes Robert Cwiklik of the Wall Street Journal. (See
http://rtmark.com/faq.html for full press reports.)
The software, a Panasonic Interactive Media (http://www.panakids.com/)
product called "Secret Writer's Society," is meant to help seven to
nine-year-olds learn to write by reciting their compositions back to them
in a computer-generated voice.
Instead, the program spews obscenities at very predictable times, according
to Andrew Maisel, the editor in chief of SuperKids
(http://www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/reviews/writing/1/sws/merge.shtml), a
website that evaluates educational software. He says that all that is
required to trigger the foul-mouth feature is for a typed passage to be at
least several sentences long and followed by a double-click, rather than a
single-click.
Panasonic Interactive claimed that a "bug" in a "filter" caused the
problem. But now a rogue contract programmer has stepped forward to claim
responsibility for the hack.
"Choosing to have a child constitutes a commitment to give that child the
very best that you can," said the programmer, who spoke on condition of
anonymity. "Letting a third-rate piece of software take over for you is
wrong because it violates that contract, which is more important than any
legal one."
Educators, security specialists and others condemned the hack. "He
definitely could have done something better", said educational software
specialist David Goldberg, who agreed, however, with some of the sentiments
expressed by the programmer. According to Goldberg, the programmer's anger
is not entirely misplaced. "The company has an idea, and they get that idea
out there. And that idea is to teach kids how to write better--knowing full
well that at the level of technology we have now, they can't do it."
Rhizome, a group of Internet analysts and educators who manage RTMARK's Net
Fund, which included this project, concurred. "Educational technologies
like these are meant to replace contact with adults.... It's only natural
that those on the inside should fight back."
The programmer has been awarded the $1000 collected by RTMARK from an
anonymous donor for the project. (Any project, regardless of quality, is
eligible for RTMARK funding so long as it is an attack against corporate
power and does not cause bodily injury.) Ray Thomas, an RTMARK
spokesperson, summed up RTMARK's position: "In essence, these allegedly
educational programs are already barraging children with obscenities; this
just puts it on the table."
"What I did isn't a crime," the programmer said. "The crime is letting
profits get in the way of education. It's time to stop turning children
into products of products, and to start getting them in touch with values
that really count."
Television and radio broadcasters can order a broadcast-quality Video News
Release (http://rtmark.com/rtmarkSWS.ram) about this action, along with an
introductory video about RTMARK (http://rtmark.com/rtmark1a.ram), by
writing mailto:[email protected] and including their station identifier,
address, and courier number. (The introductory video is also available for
other forms of distribution.)
RTMARK was established in 1991 to further anti-corporate activism by
channelling funds from donors to workers for sabotage of corporate
products. Recent and upcoming acts of RTMARK-aided subversion are
documented on RTMARK's web site, http://rtmark.com/.
................................................................... 08
From: Trace <[email protected]>
Subject: A New trAce Website and a New trAce Community
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 15:25:05 +0100
The trAce site has been enlarged and redesigned, and our online
community is now open. Take a look at http://trace.ntu.ac.uk or check
out the following special pages:
The new trAce Community is now open.
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/portal2.htm
Just a few days before the first anniversary of the opening of the
trAce Mailbase list we are pleased to announce our new Online
Community. Now, instead of a single conversation, we offer a variety
of online conferences plus your own homepage and a host of other
features. There are four conferences with more to be added as time
goes on. We invite you to join and participate in the new expanded
community where there is room for every point of view.
Map added to Noon Quilt http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/quilt/map/index.html
There is now a Noon Quilt Map showing the locations of all
contributions. After two weeks online and contributions from 18
countries the Quilt is almost full. Interest has been intense and
submissions are still coming in steadily from everywhere. It closes on
23rd October so there is still time to contribute, but will we be
forced to stitch another to fit everyone in? Decisions must be made!
Calling Small Presses
trAce is putting together a list of small presses from around the
world. If you would like to be featured as part of this resource
list, contact Carolyn Bamborough ([email protected]). We
will link to your url, or create a basic page of information for you
to display online.
Writers & the Internet Conference 16 October 1998
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/eastm/conf.htm
Just a few days left until the first trAce Day Conference featuring an
international line-up of guests including Dale Spender and Mark
Amerika. The conference takes place on Friday 16 October 1998 at the
Broadway Media Centre, Nottingham, England.
__________________________________________________
>trAce international online writing community
>http://trace.ntu.ac.uk [email protected]
>Faculty of Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane,
>Nottingham NG11 8NS UK
>phone: ++ 44 (0)115 948 6360 fax: ++ 44 (0)115 948 6364
................................................................... 09
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 09:45:54 -0800
From: Peter Lunenfeld <[email protected]>
Subject: mediawork 13 | Grids & Anti-Grids | February 14
mediawork 13 | Grids & Anti-Grids
Saturday | February 14 | 1-6 PM | LAT Media Center
mediawork: The Southern California New Media Working Group invites you to
mediawork 13: Grids & Anti-Grids.
mediawork 13 is loosely structured around an investigation of the grid and
its antinomies. Featured will be media theorist/activist Phil Agre,
photographer and digital artist Robbert Flick, interactive media designer
Laura Robin, and painter Adam Ross. Please join us from 1-6 at the LAT
Media center at Art Center College of Design, 1700 Lida Street, Pasadena.
Please RSVP by email or call 626.568.4710.
Presentations:
Phil Agre is a scholar of the transformation wrought by digital
communications technology and author of Computation and Human Experience
(Cambridge University Press, 1997). He recently moved north from UCSD to
UCLA.
Robbert Flick's investigations of the urban landscape have made him one of
the most significant photographers in Southern California. He recently
participated in a much lauded two person show at the Getty Study Center, an
outgrowth of his residency there.
Laura Robin is a Technical Specialist with the Advanced Communcations group
at DESIGNWORKS/USA. An MIT Media Lab graduate, she works on experimental
interface designs and information systems. She is an advisor for Art
Center's Communications & New Media Design graduate program.
Adam Ross's recent solo show at Shoshana Wayne Gallery of otherworldly
landscapes surmounted by ghostly interfaces demonstrated that his paintings
are as much about the notion of technological imaginary as they are about
the painterly.
Directions:
>From Downtown LA -- North on the 110 Freeway to Pasadena, approximately
three miles past Dodger Stadium to Orange Grove Boulevard exit [L], go two
miles to Holly Street Signal [L], to Linda Vista [R] (you will be entering
a residential area); continue for two miles to Lida Street signal [L].
Continue on Lida Street to the top of the hill; you will see the see the
Art Center sign on your left. Follow the drive and enter the Student
Parking Lot and walk down the outside steps, enter the building, go down
the stairs and you'll find yourself right at the entrance to the LA Times
Media Center.
>From Hollywood -- Take the 101 East to the 134 East to Pasadena. Get off at
the Linda Vista exit, take a right at the top of the ramp, and then a quick
left, go under the Colorado Bridge and past the first stoplight, which is
Holly. Continue on Linda Vista (you will be in a residential area);
continue for two miles to Lida Street signal [L]. Continue on Lida Street
to the top of the hill; you will see the see the Art Center sign on your
left. Follow the drive and enter the Student Parking Lot and walk down the
outside steps, enter the building, go down the stairs and you'll find
yourself right at the entrance to the LA Times Media Center.
n.b. -- Art Center's main switchboard is 626.396.2200 if all else fails.
................................................................... 10
Date: 15 Oct 98 10:32:14 +1000
From: "Axel Bruns" <[email protected]>
Subject: Issue three of M/C now available
The Media and Cultural Studies Centre at the University of Queensland
is proud to present issue three of the award-winning
M/C - A Journal of Media and Culture
http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/
M/C is an award-winning journal that crosses over between the popular and
the academic. It is attempting to engage with the 'popular', and integrate
the work of 'scholarship' in media and cultural studies into our critical
work. We take seriously the need to move ideas outward, so that our
cultural debates may have some resonance with wider political and cultural
interests.
Issue three of M/C is concerned with the idea of identity -- a concept that
is increasingly being reconsidered in our age of globalisation, as the
links of identity with space and time are gradually loosening. It includes
the following articles:
"Tackling Identity with Constructionist Concepts"
M/C guest writer Jonathan Lillie uses constructionist thought to describe
the role of the individual in the interpretation of experiences and the
integration of cultural encounters into identities, behaviors and belief
systems.
"Did You See the Way I Just Kicked You in the Head?:
Identity and Ethereal Violence in Computer Fighting Games"
Adam Dodd explores the relationship between players and characters of
computer fighting games and how language fuses the two, intiating a less
sombre understanding of computer game violence.
"Videor Ergo Sum: The Online Search for Disembodied Identity"
Axel Bruns describes how the technological nature of computer-mediated
communication forces users to seek feedback from their peers to realise
their electronic identity, leaving behind the Cartesian premise of 'I
think, therefore I am'.
"Confession and Identity"
P. David Marshall analyses the value and place of confession in the
formation of identity and points to the shifting line between the public
and private self in contemporary culture, moving through Clinton's
increasingly graphic admissions to the contemporary talkshow, and finishing
with a flourish on a particularly close relationship to Patrick Rafter.
"'The Full Monty': Academics, Identity and the 'Personal Mode'"
Heather Wolffram explores the use of personal identity in academic
discourse, uncovering the motivations behind potentially controversial
confessions.
"Computer Emulation: A Digital Masquerade"
Nick Caldwell observes that with the advent of sufficient processor power,
many computer users are now using their machines to take on the look and
feel of older home computers, suggesting that this shows a desire for
computers with an identity beyond the slick and soulless design of Windows.
"Being (R)evolutionary: The Adolescent Nature of Zines"
Kirsty Leishman reviews the adolescent nature of zines, finding that they
are both revolutionary in their questioning of institutional publishing
industry wisdom, and evolutionary in their aim to develop the zine medium
as well as the individual identities of their creators -- qualities which
are also at the very heart of the adolescent quest for personal identity.
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Issue three of M/C is now on the Web, at <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/>.
Previous M/C issues on 'new' and 'memory' are also still available online.
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