[artinfo] Drugs, Terror, Piracy.

[The Oil of the 21st Century]

Drugs, Terror, Piracy. An Introduction to the Oil 21 Conference
with Jamie King, Sebastian Lütgert and Alan Toner
Thursday, October 18, 2007, 8 pm - 10 pm
Oil 21 c/o Bootlab, Tucholskystr. 6, 2nd fl., 10117 Berlin-Mitte
S Oranienburger Str., U Oranienburger Tor

Dear all,

from October 26 to October 28, the "Oil of the 21st Century"
conference (www.oil21.org/?events) will take place in Berlin.
Today, we would like to invite you to an introductory session
on Thursday, October 18.

This event is intended to serve two main purposes. On the one
hand, we can give you a brief outline of the conference - its
program, topics, formats etc. But on the other hand, we would
like to take the occasion to take a step back, to one of the
actual entry points to the "Oil of the 21st Century" project,
and reassess the role that "Intellectual Property" - not only
as a technical or legal issue, but as a concept - occupies in
today's political perception and self-perception.

As a title, "Drugs, Terror, Piracy" is an obvious choice. It
marks a series of new, strange, contradictory - and not just
ideological or metaphorical - wars that introduce a profound
change of politics, a gradual conversion from one society to
another. The new paradigm of control emerges on all fronts:
as a network of continuous surveillance, a system of granular
access regulations, or a set of technologies for automatized
"Rights Management". And if there is a "Crisis of Copyright"
today, it can only be understood in this context: as a shift
in the social order, both an erosion and a reinforcement of
property relations, an ongoing battle that not only aims at
the "Oil of the 21st Century", but as well at our hearts and
minds - and for which some of us may already have developed
some promising analytical and practical instruments.

Finally, the introductory event is also an occasion to buy a
conference ticket. There is only a limited amount of these -
due to limited space - and even though we're not expecting to
sell out instantly, it may be wise to make a reservation. In
case you cannot be with us on Thursday, you can as well mail
to reservations at oil21.org.

Looking forward to seeing you,

Jan Gerber and Sebastian Luetgert



The Oil of the 21st Century
www.oil21.org oil21 at oil21.org

The Oil of the 21st Century is a project by Bootlab,
based on a concept by Partner gegen Berlin, produced
in cooperation with Sarai, The Thing and Waag Society,
and funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.