Syndicate: DEAF98 - Call

[V2_Organisatie - Marc Thelosen <math@v2.nl> (by way of abroeck@v2.nl (Andreas Broeckmann))]

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.............. DEAF98 - The Unreliability of Accidents ...................
.................. Rotterdam, 17 - 29 November 1998 ......................
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DEAF, the Dutch Electronic Art Festival, is a bi-annual event that deals
with the inter-relations between art, technology and society. Through its
presentation of independent and interdisciplinary artistic and scientific
projects, DEAF seeks to stimulate a critical discussion about social,
political and aesthetic developments in new media.

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................. Theme: The Unreliability of Accidents ..................
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DEAF98 deals with concepts of time and space, and with their significance
for the organisation of virtual environments. The festival investigates
the material, the design and the artistic realisation of the linkage
between digital spaces and network environments on the one hand, and our
actual living environments on the other. DEAF98 approaches this topic not
from the perspective of smooth, supple merging of material and virtual
worlds, but from the perspective of the accident, of friction and rupture
which are necessary elements of any technical reality. Thus, the festival
also inquires how complex social relations, individual actions and new
forms of identity, take shape at the intersection between the technical
and social reality.
DEAF98 stimulates a critical consciousness of the transformation and the
makeability of the spatio-temporal framework within which we are
constructing our social and cultural identities. Notions of time and space
are related to ideological models which inform the architectural creation
of social and cultural spaces, whether material or virtual. Earlier ideas
of the linear rationality of time and space have, in the 20th century,
been superceded by a critical world picture in which uncontrollability,
non-linearity and unpredictability have come to play an increasing role.
There is a clear sense of the 'time-space discontinuum' which is becoming
visible and which can be shaped in virtual spaces and electronic network
environments.
The modernist aesthetics of the smoothness, order and regulation and
seriality is countered by a re-evaluation of an 'aesthetics of
heterogeneity'. In relation to the conceptualisation of time and space,
this means: non-euclidian spaces, vertigo, unexpected events, and the
acceptance of all sorts of accidents.

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.... Co-operations between architecture and art: TransArchitectures-03 ...
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DEAF98 will explore the specific qualities of network environments and
real and virtual worlds through interdisciplinary projects of artists,
architects and scientists. Under the title TransArchitectures, a series of
topics from current debates in architecture will become part of the
festival.
The notion of 'TransArchitectures' (Markos Novak) derives from a
theoretical discussion among architects and designers who, influenced by
the practical design work with computer technologies, are developing new
concepts of time, space, form, structure, construction, etc. In two
earlier TransArchitectures conferences, these concepts were extensively
discussed, and presented in an exhibition. TransArchitectures is not a
demonstration of the populist distinction between 'bits & bricks', between
material and immaterial, or real and virtual. TransArchitectures is based
on the assumption that they are inseparabe and that they have to be
actively fused. It is not only about the use of the computer in
architecture, but about a reconceptualisation of design, and about the
shift from 'form and space' to 'process, field and agency'.

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.............................. Programme .................................
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The projects presented during DEAF98 deal with questions that touch upon
this discussion from the perspective of art and media technology.
TransArchitectures can imply cross-fertilisation and merger, as well as
friction between art and architecture, aspects which will be explored in
different parts of the festival.
DEAF98 inquires the possibilities of interfacing real urban spaces with
the translocal networks. It asks what this new intersection means for the
development of the public sphere and what the possibilities of individual
agency are in the 'interfacial zone'. And it proposes artistic,
architectural and trans-architectural models for approaching this
question.
These include exhibitions and installations, Internet projects, projects
at specific locations in Rotterdam, a symposium, workshops, presentations,
concerts, and performances. In a book publication, the cross-over between
art, architecture, science, technology and society initiated by the
festival will find yet another manifestation.

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............................... Invitation ...............................
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We invite considered suggestions for art projects and other contributions
in different formats (installation, Internet projects, CD-ROM,
performance, presentation, etc.) that are related to the theme of DEAF98.
Please, send brief outlines of your suggestions to <DEAF@v2.nl> or to the
address below, and we will get in touch with you should we require further
information.
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***--------------------> Deadline: 15 April 1998 <---------------------***
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.............................. Contact ...................................
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DEAF98
V2_Organisation
Eendrachtsstraat 10
NL - 3012 XL Rotterdam
tel: +31.10.404.6427
fax: +31.10.4128562
e-mail: DEAF@v2.nl
URL: http://www.v2.nl/DEAF/
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