Syndicate: Syndicate contribution for nettime book "neighbourhood" section...

[Pauline van Mourik Broekman <pauline@metamute.com>]

Dear Syndicate,

I have been asked to edit a section on "neighbourhoods" for the nettime
book which is currently being put together. This section intends to provide
a picture of sorts of the various lists that nettime intersects and
overlaps with and whose existence is important  to the life of nettime
itself. Others included are: XChange, Faces, Rhizome, 7-11, Amex, Rewired,
::recode:: and maybe RRE (Red Rock Eater News Service). Eric Kluitenberg
offered to make a compilation of sorts for which he didn't have a huge
amount of space so has had to be selective. I haven't changed his
compilation hugely, but have made *minor* corrections to some mails, just
spelling and stuff, that I wanted all the contributors involved to be able
to have a look at and possibly mail me back about if they had any problems.
Could you please read this and email me back at the address above if you
have any questions/corrections? The title is just a working one until the
editors decide on what they want to call the book (which'll probably happen
over the next few days). If, for space reasons, I have to cut into the text
any more, I will let whoever's mail that is know personally if that's ok.

Thanks in advance and VERY best!

Pauline.




++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SYNDICATE CONTRIBUTION FOR ZKP5 ON 12.10.1998
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


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SYNDICATE:  THE BIBLE MIX

    ( for nettime zkp5)

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Date: Fri, 1 Mar 1996
From: abroeck@v2.nl (Andreas Broeckmann)
Subject: V2_East / Syndicate Newsletter 96/02

 * Introduction *

This is the second Syndicate Newsletter. (..) In the first sections there
is some information about how the list/network is taking shape. Some people
have submitted information for distribution through this channel, and we
want to invite everybody to do the same - either by posting stuff directly
to <syndicate@aec.at>, or for inclusion in the next newsletter (no later
than end March 96, but earlier if a lot of material comes in) to
<abroeck@v2.nl>. Any information that is of interest to the media art
community in East and West Europe, from the dates of your forthcoming
events to strategies for winning sponsors and grants, is welcome. Also, the
submission of your own FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) would be useful.
(cf below) The V2_EAST WEBSITE where all this and more information will be
collected for reference is under construction. Please, invite other people
who might be interested in the Syndicate to subscribe to the list.
(subscription info below) Best wishes, and see you soon, Andreas Broeckmann
(V2_East)

 * the Syndicate list *

<syndicate@AEC.at> is the address of a mailing list which is dedicated to
an exchange of information and ideas relating to the situation and future
development of electronic and media art in Eastern Europe. The list members
include artists, curators, networkers, writers, festival organisers, etc.,
from East as well as West European countries and beyond, who, through the
'Syndicate', are trying to improve the communication and cooperation
between artists and organisations in East and West, and between East and
East. The list was first installed following the initial meeting of the
V2_East initiative at V2_Organisation in Rotterdam on January 21, 1996, at
the end of the second Next 5 Minutes conference.

 * Syndicate / V2_East *

Just for terminological clarification: the Syndicate is the group
subscribed to this list, and people who are part of our growing network for
East/West European electronic and media art. The Syndicate is a tool
through which each of us can find information about and cooperation
partners for future and past projects. At present, we don't want to turn
the Syndicate into a legal body which could, for instance, attract and
distribute funds - there is no administrative structure to do this, and it
is really something that should be up to the individual projects that use
the Syndicate as a spring-board. V2_East is the initiative of
V2_Organisation Rotterdam which has initiated the formation of the
Syndicate network, and which in the future will use the network, like other
syndicalists, for developing projects with East European partners.

 * Syndicate meetings *

The following three events have been earmarked for meetings of the
Syndicate: - Ars Electronica, Linz/A, 2 - 7 September 1996 (general
meeting) - DEAF/ISEA96, Rotterdam/NL, 16 - 20 September 1996 (special
meeting about archives and documentation of electronic and media art in
East Europe) - Medienbiennale Leipzig/D, June 1997. It is currently being
discussed how these meetings should be prepared, and how we can attract
some money for travel costs, etc.. Further suggestions are welcome.

 * Frequently Asked Questions *

We have been getting requests for helping East European artists in setting
up media studios, installing internet servers, creating websites, finding
the right hardware, etc. We also all know the problem of finding the right
funds for the projects we want to do. That's why we want to draw up an
inventory of problems and questions that frequently arise, and pool these
questions, so that we can find the best answers by exchanging ideas and
experiences. Here are a few examples:
- What are the basic technical and financial requirements for setting up an
internet server?
- Are there efficient ways of channelling 2nd hand hardware from the West
into East Europe?
- Where can one find (and use) extensive archives of catalogues, journals,
books, reviews, etc., relating to media art?
- What are the best ways of staying up-to-date with what happens in media
art, both in terms of the artistic and the theoretical development?

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

Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997
From: kitblake <kitblake@v2.nl>
Subject: Syndicate: deep europe Visa Department

deep europe Visa Department

Intro: The Syndicate convened again at Documenta X in Kassel. Its members
form a distributed community, initiated two years ago as a network of
people who stay in touch through an Internet mailing list. They share a
common interest in media cultural developments in Eastern Europe, and the
loose goal of the Syndicate is to further cross-pollination and
synergy/support between East and West.

It's interesting when you meet somebody whose words you know but whose face
you've never seen. In 'normal' encounters, you see someone, sense their
personality, and perhaps probe their thinking. In a distributed community,
you already know their thoughts, so when finally face to face you explore
the person. It makes for a social scene.

(....)

Visa Department

On Saturday we produced an event, the deep europe Visa Department. The
name, deep europe, was invented for this workshop in the Hybrid WorkSpace
at dX, and must be taken with a grain of salt. But most of the participants
are from the East, and that is another Europe. It's across the BORDER, and
residents on the other side are not EU citizens. They must apply for a visa
to visit. For Germany, for instance, the application costs 50 DM, for
England DM 100. And you may not get it. You have to wait. You have to
answer questions. "Do you have any transmittable diseases?" "How much money
are you bringing?" "What is this organisation that's inviting you?"

It's a different world. When you're sitting at your dining table, and you
hear the bra-a-a-t of a Kalishnikov on the other side of the wall, well,
you 'sort of' get used to it. As Edi said, like you 'sort of' get used to a
roller coaster ride. Obviously, living in an environment like that means
your media addresses certain issues, and those projects are the focus of
the Syndicate.

Preparation for the deep europe Visa Department integrated with the other
activities. Flyers were made and spread around Documenta. They invited
everybody to a performance and party on Saturday night, and to come apply
for a visa to deep europe between 2 and 6. A deep europe logo was created,
taking a cue from the dX 'd', integrating it with an 'e', and adding an
accent, an eastern inverted caret character. This was used in documents,
stamps, signs and badges.

Forms were created. They were written in Albanian only, with no
translation, and asked the usual questions. Erasers and potatoes were
carved into stamps, and various colored ticket books were found. From the
dX participant name tags, badges for officials were made by overlaying a
laser print with a window cut out so the photo would show thru. Of course
the deep europe logo was on the badge, and in a techno-fascist typeface was
the word "Absardze". This is Latvian, and it's a new, thus obscure word,
which means guard, or control. Throughout the event, hardly anybody, even
from the deep europe group, knew what it meant. Which means it was perfect.

A soundtrack was put together. Rasa (http://ozone.parks.lv/Xchange) pulled
a bunch of audio off the Net, including some military song from Edi Muka's
video-performance project, a sort of Donnau anthem, and this became the
basis for the mix. Analog noise was filtered in, to mimic a bad sound
system. This manic march was played - loud - during the proceedings. At
various intervals an announcement was woven in. This was usually in some
unintelligible East European language. A series of barked commands in
Albanian, or Serbian instructions that may or may not apply to you. Once in
a while some English, "Please be patient," and eventually a longer one,
"May we have your attention please. If your visa permits entrance for more
than one day, you may be required to take a blood test." This one bit of
understandable information then faded away, "Blood tests are conduc...."
The manic march paraded on. Throughout Saturday afternoon it looped
continuously (and will be available on the Net in a day or two - watch the
Space).

At the entrance to the event, Alexandar and Michiel set up a video
surveillance camera. One of those CU-SeeMe eyeballs, it stared down the
crowd. Also present was a microphone, to pick up the crowd's mutterings.
The signal was displayed on a monitor near the door, with a distracted
Absardze sitting there not watching it. Other material was shot with a
HandyCam, and this will be combined with, naturally, the manic march for a
soundtrack, into an event compilation. Again, watch the Space.

The walls surrounding the entrance made a kind of banked curve the visitors
had to follow, lined with tables, forms, and officials. One Absardze in
super shades managed the door, letting people in two by two. The process
applicants had to follow was typical mind-mushing bureaucracy. Little
translation was provided, and forms had to be filled out correctly.
Iliyana: "Oh, you have a yellow ticket? You have to go to that table over
there and get a green one." And fill out a form. Marjan: "Green ticket?
Here's the form." In a language few people can read. One Absardze was
sitting at his desk looking bored, reading a magazine, a Closed sign in
front of him. At another point Lisa brought in these giant Bratwursts, and
the Absardzes stood around munching, ignoring the crowd. Forms were stamped
and double stamped, sometimes with a coffee break in between. The march
looped on.

The amazing thing was the queue that formed. It started growing just before
the opening, and in a short time went all the way down the block. Some
people were in line for over half an hour. It started to rain, and they
stood there under umbrellas. All this to get a worthless piece of paper
with a potato stamp on it.

For the most part, the audience liked it. They got it. They followed the
procedures, and left with a visa to deep europe. Even distant foreigners,
like Japanese with little English and nothing else, took it seriously and
seriously enjoyed it. You may not know the language, but you recognize the
bureaucracy.

There were some negatives. One older German man, certainly around since the
war, listened to chain-smoking Branka's explanation, and when he realized
it was a visa application, threw it in her face.

At five before six Absardze Andreas went out and announced to the crowd
that the Visa Department would close in five minutes. At six the doors
slammed shut, and twenty minutes later there were still a dozen people in a
queue to nowhere.

Entering deep europe

That evening, Hybrid WorkSpace hosted a performance/party. Heading the bill
were the Instituut voor Betaalbare Waanzin (Institute for Affordable
Lunacy). Their performance merged into a visceral mastermix, blending
Latino dance tracks into Rotterdam GabberHouse. "This is the music our
children listen to!" Thump, thump, thump, thump....  Ongoing video
flickered on the walls, and the bar was fully stocked. It was a good party.

Visitors streamed in, clutching their visas. There were a few Absardze
badges floating around, but no guards, no border, no control. Welcome to
deep europe.

People folded their visas, and put them in a pocket.

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

Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997
From: Aleksandar & Branka Davic <spiridon@eunet.yu>
Subject: Syndicate: BELGRADE / HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR PRESIDENT

YESTERDAY, on august 20, belgrade students organized an action in order to
give a "stafeta"* to president slobodan milosevic on his 56th birthday. of
course, the action has been inspired by the same ritual from past decades,
when on may 25 the whole country celebrated TITO's birthday. there was also
one more "joke" - "stafeta" started at 15:05 (the official time of tito's
death)

POLICE forces stopped the students, violently as usual, and three students
were beaten.

"happy" birthday mr president!!!!!!

branka

*stafeta - usualy a small statue, like a stick, which has been carried
every year by youth through the whole country in order to be given to Tito,
like a symbol of love, on his birthday ceremony.

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

From: Vuk Cosic <vuk@kud-fp.si>
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997
Subject: Syndicate: the cosic test

 ** Introduction **

In Dessau there was a Syndicate meeting, the tenth or so since N5M, and
there was talk of practical things...

Actually, there were two meetings, and near the end of the first Tapio
mentioned a classical ambition - how about a Syndicate web.site (that would
give useful info and pointers to further sources regarding euro funding,
various art and media houses/meetings/conferences, plus a possible text
zone to satisfy the need for theory and debate..., I presume)?

Well, in homage to the immortal Turing test aimed at recognizing a specific
kind of intelligence, I have decided to engage in a similar 'Cosic test' of
activism. Here follows a short description  of the test:

 **Cosic Test**
The Cosic Test is aimed at deeper understanding of group motivation, and is
structured in such a way as to enable a singular researcher to perform it
alone, although assistance can ensure more accurate and fast measuring.
This methodologically complex epistemological strategy consists of two main
parts: a) I talk, and b) I wait.

a) In the 'I talk' part, the task of the researcher is to offer a profiled
collaborative project to a group of declared activists, with the invitation
to meet outside of the conference hall after the given meeting and talk of
direct action. It is important that the project offered contains maximum of
usefulness to the goals declared at the meeting.

b) In the 'I wait' part, the researcher has to go out after the meeting and
stand there for about fifteen minutes until every meeting-participant has
left not only the conference hall, but also the lobby.

 **Dessau Results**
One person approached me in the hall and about seventy passed me by. After
analysing the profile of the enlisted collaborator, it became clear that
this person is the K.I.E.Z. technician and is not subscribed to the list.
Therefore he was not acknowledged to be relevant to the analysis.

 **Bingo** v

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

Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1998
From: Tapio Makela <tapio@projekt.net>
Subject: Syndicate: report fragment 1 from Stockholm

Dear Syndicated,

I am writing this brief and partial report from Stockholm, "The Shaking
Hands & Making Conflicts" event; Andreas and others will continue. The
event itself was very problematic, but I think it will prove to be very
useful for thinking about the future of Syndicate... and how to react to
neo-nationalist appropriations of specific cultural initiatives. (wow, that
language sounds like a strategy of war almost).

Most of the event felt like a national performance of Sweden's role in the
post Cold War Baltic-Belarus-Ukraine as the generous uncle Dala. (Replace
Uncle Sam with Uncle Dala, Dala as Dala horse, the national symbol for
Swedish traditional culture). Instead of having had interesting thoughts in
the main program, it was about shaking rhetorics.

To put it simply: looking at the surface, the event was a stage for old
fashioned politics and politicians to present rhetorics of change without
any concrete notions of what they mean by "power needs culture", or
"democracy", "diversity" etc. Whenever they were caught on their
transparent and clumsy reasoning, they would say, like the Swedish Minister
of Culture, Marita Ulvskog, that they said so to provoke, to make conflict.
She used a quote from Machiavelli to reason cultural diversity...
which was promptly criticized by Igor Markoviz.

A recipe: use democracy to claim there exists a homogenous we, and
encourage conflict to create a ready place for dissent, a place which is
not discussed, but to which the dissent is dumped, sealed and packaged as a
medal that the politicians can wear as signs of "tolerance".

Backdrop of the event is perhaps not so much cultural as it is economical,
and political. Sweden wants to launch Partnership in Culture in the Baltic
region, Belarus and Ukraine. The event was to promote "freedom of
expression, cultural diversity, democracy and common security in the Baltic
region..." Why this combination of countries, this combination of goals?
Does this event have anything to do with the fact that these countries are
former Soviet areas that used to be "within the missile range"? Or with the
fact that Swedish companies, especially telecom companies, are trying to
gain big shares of markets in these countries? Isn't it a proven fact that
social and cultural work paves way for favorable decisions in other fields?

This critique does not mean that setting up programs that support cultural
initiatives that rise from local needs and ideas, or collaboration across
borders would not be a high priority. THAT was what I thought this event
would promote. The "audience" or the "guests"... me included, were
witnesses of this play, our names in the list of participants signs of our
assumed agreement with the given agenda. This event will be one point in
the curriculum vitae of the Swedish Nation.

After WW II, the United States launched a program called the Marshall plan,
which was to establish economical, educational and cultural activity into
those areas that were "insecure" or under Communist influence. USIS (United
States Information Service) centers in Sofia, Helsinki are examples, as
well as the Fullbright programs (which btw have been decreased in areas
that are these days concerned stable). My question would be, whether this
kind of thinking is the basis for the Swedish Partnership of Culture? The
other Nordic Countries (Finland, Denmark, Norway, [Iceland less]) have
similar economical and political interests in the Baltic region. On the
other hand... this is most likely recognized in the Baltic region, and
perhaps it is a good moment to utilize the willingness of the Nordic
countries to invest into the cultural sector as well.

Partnership for Culture is like a Dala plan for culture, and at the same
time a Trojan horse, a Dala horse, where a cultural carrier is not innocent
but bears in its belly the geopolitical and economical interests of Sweden.
The internet, the "IT", also acts as such a Trojan horse. The organisers of
the conference are making the assumption that the Baltic region needs "A
mailing list for intellectuals". Either they imagine that there are only a
few people that qualify, or they do not know anything of mailing lists, how
they are formed, and how they can become useless... But, I don't want to
say that their initiative should not also be reacted to in a positive way.
Ando and Sirje from Tallinn are crafting a conference as a follow up - and
I think you can set different terms for the interaction.

Igor was the best vocal critic and commentator during the event, and I look
forward to reading his views of it. We witnessed terribly badly formulated
speeches by the Swedish politicians, institutional self-praise by David
Elliott from the Moderna Museet Stockholm, badly prepared sentences from
the  *former* *curator* of Documenta Catherine David, ... (Igor, others,
please continue from here...) and - in my mind dictatorial - moderation by
Swedish Journalist Mika Larsson. (btw, if she works on the future events in
this series, I won't even want to get further e-mails about them!).

It was not only Larsson's way of suppressing voices and differences of
opinion, but the way the event was staged that got to me. I felt that it
lacked respect for the visitors from Belarus and Ukraine and the Baltic
countries: if they were the subject of discussion, why then weren't they
placed centre-stage? In this, Fargfabriken bears responsibility for the
curatorial discourse, and perhaps for the over-produced tv talk show style
of the event. In order to establish a dialogic space, the first condition
is to respect the partners in this dialogue as equals, as subjects with
their own voice, and to provide the space for them to express it. I felt
this was deeply lacking and as such, the event cannot be a starting point
for forming a network based on trust or criss-crossing shared interests.

My fingers & wrists are in poor shape for writing... and I need to take
care of Polar Circuit applications (which have been really nice - thanks
everyone who has sent one!), so I end my reporting here... The main entry
point to understand Syndicate's role in the Stockholm event can be read
from the manifesto that Andreas drafted based on the proposals of the whole
family present in Stockholm. Melentie performed this text-in-action with
brilliant style (he should be awarded with a viking helmet for fulfilling
the role so well). It offers several proposals for any country that wants
to reach cultural supremacy in the region of the Baltic-Belarus-Ukraine.
The text is in the next mail, and I hope that other Stockholm visitors will
take up from here and I will rest my case, or simply, fingers.

(...)

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

Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1998
From: Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck@v2.nl>
Subject: Syndicate: irrelevant statistics

jan 96 - jun 98 30 months 300 subscribers from 39 countries of which 32
european countries 7 non-european countries

as though it mattered...

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

[arbitrary selection and unwarranted editing by Eric Kluitenberg
<epk@xs4all.nl>]

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


*Pauline van Mourik Broekman*
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