[artinfo] Ars Electronica 2002 - 2nd Announcement (fwd)

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 12:45:48 +0200
From: Ars Electronica Center <announce@aec.at>
Reply-To: announcement@aec.at
Subject: Ars Electronica 2002 - 2nd Announcement

Ars Electronica 2002
UNPLUGGED
Art as the Scene of Global Conflicts
September 7 - 12
Linz, Austria
www.aec.at/unplugged/
-----------------------------

Ars Electronica 2002 - 2nd Announcement

CONTENTS
=2E............................
1. General Theme Ars Electronica 2002
UNPLUGGED - Art as the Scene of Global Conflicts
=2E............................
=2E............................
2. Prix Ars Electronica 2002 - Jury Meeting
=2E............................
=2E............................
3. Ars Electronica 2002 - Organization & Contact
=2E............................


You are reading the second issue of the Ars Electronica 2002 newsletter, fo=
cusing on a first statement by Gerfried Stocker on this year's Ars Electron=
ica festival theme UNPLUGGED - Art as the Scene of Global Conflicts; and Pr=
ix Ars Electronica's jury meeting.

=2E.............................
1. General Theme Ars Electronica 2002
UNPLUGGED - Art as the Scene of Global Conflicts
=2E.............................

UNPLUGGED ... means the severed thread, fractured lines of development that=
 had been thought to move only higher and higher, the abyss alongside the r=
outes traveled by the caravans of progress ...

UNPLUGGED proceeds from the factuality of a globally networked world from w=
hich nobody can withdraw, no matter how distant they are from the dominant =
US-Europe-Japan capital triad and regardless of how far away the next elect=
rical outlet might be. UNPLUGGED focuses on the blind spots of globalizatio=
n, those barriers of a mental and geographic nature that make getting conne=
cted to and taking part in this process of global networking (the Net) and =
the cultural and social models it conveys impossible, illicit or even unwel=
come.
UNPLUGGED thus also confronts our own inability to enter into a networked a=
rrangement with 'the others' that goes beyond the exploitation and preserva=
tion of our own spheres of influence.
What began-in the simultaneity of glasnost and the WWW, the Soviet Union's =
collapse and the buildup of worldwide communication structures-as the utopi=
a of the global village has been transformed into a bleak reality of unleas=
hed capital in which cultural pluralism, if it has any role at all to play,=
 then merely as a sort of ethno-business.
Globalization, now installed via the digital acceleration of financial tran=
sactions as the dominating principle of the world's sociopolitical fabric, =
is-in stark contrast to the myriad potentialities of the technologies it ut=
ilizes-not a practice based on openness and integration but rather on exclu=
siveness and exclusion.
The choice of topic for Ars Electronica 2002 is indicative of how the issue=
 of the political element in art has returned with a vengeance to the agend=
a of intellectual discourse and artistic practice-a development that did no=
t just begin to manifest itself as a reflex to 9/11 but was already emergin=
g in conjunction with the protest movement in Seattle, Genoa and Porto Aleg=
re, and is moving forward essentially on energy and input supplied by the c=
omputerkids generation.
The issue of art as the scene of global conflicts is a question of the vira=
l power of art and its capability of coming up with alternative conceptual =
models, strategies and approaches. The concept of art as antithesis, as cor=
rective and counterpoint to society, is also inseparably linked to the conc=
ept of radicalism and resistance, a concept that contemporary art has accom=
panied in many ways and endowed with identity, and, since the attack on the=
 WTC, one that is being aggressively called into question and subjected to =
re-evaluation.
In 2002, the Ars Electronica Festival turns its attention to the conception=
 of self of a young generation of media artists and their consciousness of =
the problems confronting them, and analyzes their positions on the sociopol=
itical, cultural and sociological implications of the technologies they wor=
k with.
A variety of formats-symposia, performances and exhibitions-will provide co=
ntexts to explore how the current global potential for social conflict is r=
esonating in works of media culture and media art, and to consider aestheti=
c answers and exemplary projects of artistic practice that, in many instanc=
es, employ the same technologies as the economic power aggregates of global=
ization.
Perspectives obtained by looking out beyond one's own horizon are meant to =
intersect and interact with points of view held by "the others," and thereb=
y make this festival for art, technology and society itself a setting for t=
he complex dynamics of a global reorientation.
Gerfried Stocker


=2E............................
2. Prix Ars Electronica 2002 - Jury Meeting
=2E............................

International juries of experts meet from April 19 - 21, 2002 at ORF Linz.
With over 2,300 entries altogether, the Prix Ars Electronica will be decide=
d this coming weekend. Over 3 days, 5 juries of experts will select the bes=
t works in a total of 6 categories (Digital Musics, Computer Animation / Vi=
sual Effects, Interactive Art, u19 freestyle computing and, as a double cat=
egory, Net Vision / Net Excellence) at the ORF Upper Austrian Studio.

In each category, all entries are judged by an international jury. Chairman=
 of the jury as a whole (without a vote): Dr. Hannes Leopoldseder, whose or=
iginal idea led to the initiation of the Prix Ars Electronica in 1987.

The jury members:
Computeranimation / Visual Effects //
Stuart Maschwitz, USA; Bill Buxton, CDN; Barbara Robertson, USA; Rick Sayre=
, USA; Rita Street, USA

Digital Musics //
bLectum from bLechdom, USA; Naut Humon, USA; Florian Hecker, D; Chris Watso=
n, GB; Tony Herrington, GB

Interactive Art //
Hiroshi Ishii, J; Peter Higgins, GB; Masuyama, USA/Japan; Alex Adriaansen, =
NL; Christa Sommerer, A/J

Net Vision / Net Excellence //
Tina Cassani & Bruno Beusch, F; Pete Barr-Watson, GB; Tanja Diezmann, D; Jo=
ichi Ito, Japan; Joshua Davis, USA

Cybergeneration - u19 freestyle computing //
Sirikit M. Amann, A; Horst H=F6rtner, A; Barbara Lippe, A, Miss Monorom, CH=
; Hans Wu, A

http://prixars.aec.at

=2E............................
The next announcement update will appear at the end of May. The focus will =
be the results of Prix Ars Electronica's jury meeting 2002.

=2E............................
Ars Electronica 2002
Organization: Ars Electronica Center Linz and ORF - Austrian Broadcasting C=
orporation, Upper Austrian Regional Studio
Co-organizers: Brucknerhaus Linz, O.K - Center for Contemporary Art

Concept & Artistic Direction:=09Gerfried Stocker, Christine Sch=F6pf Curato=
rial Team: Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber, Stefano Filipponi, Andreas Hirsch, Dav=
is O. Nejo, Jay Rutledge
The Theme of Ars Electronica 2002 is based on an idea of Oliviero Toscani.


Contact:
Ars Electronica Center
Hauptstrasse 2
A-4040 Linz
Austria
info@aec.at
www.aec.at/unplugged


Sponsors of Ars Electronica 2002:
Compaq Oesterreich GesmbH, Gericom, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Oesterreich=
ische Brauunion, Oracle, Quelle, SGI, Siemens AG, Telekom Austria AG

Sponsors of Prix Ars Electronica 2002:
The Prix Ars Electronica 2002 is sponsored by Telekom Austria AG.
Supported by Datakom, voestalpine, P.S.K. (Austrian Postal Banking), the Ci=
ty of Linz, the Province of Upper Austria, Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa, Ca=
sinos Austria, City-Hotel Linz, Courtyard by Marriott, Poestlingberg Schloe=
ssl, Sony DADC, Oesterreichischer Kulturservice



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