Syndicate: news, greetings and some plans

[Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck@v2.nl>]

dear syndicalists,

the time of the monthly newsletters which i used to write is long gone, and
i wonder what this means ... since arthur has been updating the website
http://www.v2.nl/syndicate on a regular basis, so that upcoming events and
calls for participation can be traced more easily, there seems to have been
less of a need for monthly summaries.

well, anyway, i wish everybody a happy new year, or at least a happier one.
neither the 20th century, nor the 90s, nor 1999, are likely to be missed by
many people. if anything, we seem to begin to realise that the future might
not be made of rosy utopias, and that we need survival strategies rather
than clever ways of handling too much wealth and pleasure.

the syndicate has weathered the year, and even though as an
internet-dependent community of people we are coming of age, there seems to
be no reason for obituaries. the syndicate meeting in budapest in the
spring has had an important impact for people beyond the group of 35, and
similarly projects like the helsinki Balkania workshop and the Net.Shop in
karlsruhe prove that there is still a lot of energy that wants to be
channeled through the syndicate and its list. not to mention the sibling
activities like Virtual Revolutions or Polar Circuit which have
successfully spun off. some of the functions that the Syndicate never
really assumed - like a form of political representation for media arts and
media culture in europe - might in the future be taken up by the European
Cultural Backbone, a structure that is still in the making.

it is good to see that many people here realise that this is not just an
interesting list, but an international assembly of people who work together
in different combinations and who take responsibility for their own work,
and for the continuation of the cooperation. this commitment is essential,
and those who offer it to the syndicate should know that they deserve big
thanks from the lurkers. and for those who feel that have been lurking too
much and who feel a need to contribute: send that report about the festival
you went to; post that essay which you feel might be of interest; announce
that event which you are working on; and come to that next Syndicate
meeting!

so much for the stock-taking. there are a few house-hold announcements to
be made of things that i have heard are in the pipelines; if you know of
others, please, post them.

*Pyramedia 2
Edi Muka is planning the second Pyramedia meeting in Tirana/Albania,
probably for the beginning of June 2000. The set-up will basically be the
same as in April 1998: a group of Syndicalists go to Tirana for some days,
do presentations and lectures for the artist and student communities, there
might be a related exhibition in the Pyramid Culture Centre, some of us may
stay on to do workshops or to be among the explorer-tourists who rediscover
the great beauty of that country. News about this will follow.

*Polar Circuit
Plans are also being made for the next edition of Polar Circuit, a big
free-style media arts workshop held from June 15- July 30th in Rovaniemi
and Tornio, way up in the north of Finland - where the sun does not set ...
Even though that is not a Syndicate activity, PC00 is likely to attract
many syndicalists, and whoever goes should certainly stick their heads
together. News will doubtlessly follow.

*Riga 2000
At some point the people from E-Lab in Riga were talking about a summer
activity which might even include a holiday camp on the Baltic Sea. This
might be connected to the Borderline project, also planned for Latvia this
coming summer.


For the following two, it is necessary that several people engage in making
them possible. they are great opportunities but will need quite some
attention to realise. Also, in order to get them started on time, we should
come up with initial ideas in the coming few weeks. Without your input,
they might simply not happen.

*ISEA 2000
Paris will be hosting the Inter-Society for Electronic Arts' bi-annual
conference in December 2000, a big meeting for the international media arts
community. During the last conference 1998 in Britain it was possible to
organise some Syndicate-related activities in the ISEA periphery, most
notably the Virtual Reolutions and Revolting projects.After some lobbying
it seems possible that in Paris we could organise a Syndicate event that
would be part of the ISEA programme proper. This could either be a
specially organised event (like a panel or series of presentations of media
art from central and eastern and south-eastern europe), or a presentation
of projects that have been developed recently in the Syndicate context and
that deserve attention (like the Balkania and Balkan Arts Network
projects). We could also think of a special online project, performances,
or a meeting of curators, or critics, specialising in media arts. Beside
the presentations themselves, the point would obviously be to get as many
Syndicate-members as possible to participate actively in the ISEA
conference and related events, to be in Paris with hundreds of others from
the international community, and to have plenty of opportunity to see new
work and meet new people. There is an expressed interest on the part of the
organisers to host a Syndicate meeting, though it will be necessary for us
to raise some of the funds and do a lot of the organising work in order to
make it possible. If you have ideas, or just want to lend a hand, please,
get in touch. It would obviously make life much easier if there was
somebody in France, or even Paris itself ... If you want to coordinate the
Syndicate's participation in the ISEA 2000, shout!

*Rotterdam 2001
Rotterdam will be the cultural capital of Europe in 2001, together with
Porto/Portugal. V2_ is developing its own programme for this, and in the
different parts of that programme individual Syndicate members are likely
to be involved, but it would be interesting to see whether there is an
interest to organise something more concretely Syndicate-related during
that year. In January 1996 V2_ hosted the founding meeting of the
Syndicate, and during the DEAF96 festival in September that year we
organised the first public meeting. Are five years a long enough time to
celebrate? If yes, what would be an appropriate way of doing this? or -
something completely different?


as always, i'll be happy to take as little responsibility as possible, but
will also gladly help to kick-start things.

be well, and see you soon,

-a

_______________________________
Andreas Broeckmann - V2_Organisation
<abroeck@v2.nl> - www.v2.nl - www.v2.nl/syndicate
Eendrachtsstr. 10 - NL-3012 XL Rotterdam
tel. 0031-10-2067272; fax -2067271
also ---------------------www.mikro.org---
Pfluegerstr.27, D-12045 Berlin, +49-30-6233293


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