[artinfo] East Art Map Newsletter

by way of Janos Sugar ikon at ikon.hu
Mon Nov 29 19:30:32 CET 2004


East Art Map Newsletter No. 2 (November 2004)

EAST ART MAPonline
www.eastartmap.org

HISTORY IS NOT GIVEN.
PLEASE HELP TO CONSTRUCT IT.

Welcome to the second East Art Map Newsletter!

The East Art Map Newsletter edited by Inke Arns is published on a monthly
basis starting from October 2004. Its aim is to inform about the current
status of the East Art Map, about newly added artists, features, topics,
etc., and to collect and distribute information on current and upcoming
activities (exhibitions, artists' projects, festivals, publications, etc.)
and opportunities (deadlines of festivals, grants programmes, etc.)
focussing on Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe.


Contents:

1) What is the "East Art Map"?
2) What happened until now?
3) What's next?
4) How to participate in the construction of history?
5) Submitting proposals/content to the East Art Map
6) Subscribe to the East Art Map Newsletter
7) Call for papers, ongoing exhibitions & grant programmes

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


1) What is the "East Art Map"?

The project "East Art Map - A (Re)Construction of the History of
Contemporary Art in Eastern Europe" has been initiated in 2001 by the
Slovenian artists' group Irwin. The "East Art Map" (EAM) aims at
critically (re)constructing the history of art in Eastern Europe between
1945 and the present beyond ex-Socialist 'official' chronicles, national
legend formation and fragmented information present in the West. The
concept reads: "Every single move by an artist in Western European
civilization is documented. Did you know there is no such thing in Eastern
Europe? [�] This was so for decades, but it doesn't have to be like this
anymore. We are planning to transform the legends and stories of the
underground into a legal art history. [�] History is not 
given. It has to
be constructed."


2) What happened until now?

Initially, Irwin, in collaboration with New Moment (Ljubljana), invited a
group of 24 eminent art critics, curators and artists from the different
ex-socialist Central, Eastern and South-Eastern countries to select and
present up to ten crucial art projects from their respective countries and
contexts over the past 50 years. In this way, a basic data pool of
approximately 200 artists and projects was gathered. It became part of a
data base that was first published on CD-ROM (2002) , and as an issue of
the New Moment Magazine (No. 20, 2002).


3) What's next?

The next step, technically as well as conceptually, is to transfer the EAM
onto the Internet and open it up for contributions by its users. Rather
than simply adding data to a quantitatively growing database which at some
point would become useless, the users who propose new entries will have to
decide which artist/event/project should be replaced by their proposal.
All the proposals will be displayed on the website and kept for public
discussion (in the feedback area) until the final decision of the
international committee. The EAM, which was conceived as a group project,
will thus be turned into a truly participatory project. The general public
and specialists are invited to provide additional data, which may, to be
sure, change the topography of the map. In this way 1) the collection of
data will be accelerated and its organisation democratised; 2) it will be
possible for anyone to collaborate in the creation of a history that will
be unfolding before our eyes; and 3) a space will be established and
conditions will be created that will facilitate communication among
theoreticians, critics and others from all over Eastern Europe.


4) How to participate in the construction of history?

We invite anyone who wishes to, and who thinks they have a better idea
than the original selectors, to propose a replacement for any project or
artwork included in EAM. Of course, the guidelines for such proposals will
be the same as those presented to the selectors: people will have to write
a page of text presenting their suggested replacement and the reasons why
it should be included. In addition, we will require them to provide
written references confirming the reliability of the date of the work they
are proposing for inclusion. Every two to three months an international
committee of six experts will decide whether or not to include any of the
proposals submitted. This web site should gradually become a useful
informative tool on the questions of Eastern European visual arts.


5) Submitting proposals/content to the East Art Map

Send your proposal - complete with a) a written page of text presenting
your suggested replacement and the reasons why it should be included, and
b) written references confirming the reliability of the date of the work
you are proposing for inclusion to proposals at eastartmap.org or upload it
directly on the website www.eastartmap.org.

All the proposals - provided they contain the requested materials - will
be displayed on the website and kept for public discussion until the final
decision of the international committee. A feedback area will be installed.

Any questions should be directed to the editor Inke Arns at
editor at eastartmap.org.


6) Subscribe to the East Art Map Newsletter

The East Art Map Newsletter edited by Inke Arns will be published on a
monthly basis starting from late October 2004. Its aim is to inform about
the current status of the East Art Map, about newly added artists,
features, topics, etc., and to collect and distribute information on
current and upcoming activities (exhibitions, artists' projects,
festivals, publications, etc.) and opportunities (deadlines of festivals,
grants programmes, etc.) focussing on Central, Eastern and South Eastern
Europe.

Subscribe at www.eastartmap.org



HISTORY IS NOT GIVEN.
PLEASE HELP TO CONSTRUCT IT.

EAST ART MAPonline
www.eastartmap.org




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