Sound und digitale Bilder sind omnipräsent. Zurückzuführen ist das auf die ungebremste Werbung, auf den Siegeszug neuer Technologien, wie dem Ubiquitous und Pervasive Computing und somit der Allgegenwart des Rechners, aber auch auf Netzwerke, die nicht nur im künstlerischen Kontext, sondern in fast allen Bereichen de facto zum Arbeitsmittel geworden sind. Nie zuvor haben sich Kreativität und neue künstlerische Trends mit einer derartigen Rasanz quer über den Globus und von einer Community zur nächsten ausgebreitet. Nie zuvor sind Netzwerke so intensiv von KünstlerInnen wie auch breiten Bevölkerungsschichten genutzt worden, wobei die User gleichzeitig als ProduzentInnen und KonsumentInnen in Erscheinung treten. Die Verknüpfung von Networking und Kreativität via Computer und Internet verändert nicht nur die Art und Weise, wie KünstlerInnen, AkademikerInnen, Fachleute und die breite Öffentlichkeit arbeiten und spielen, sondern bringt auch die Grenzen zwischen diesen Gruppen allmählich zum Verschwinden.

Neun europäische Festivalveranstalter und Organisationen mit einem Fokus auf Musik, Kunst und neue Technologien (das ECAS-Projekt) und Gastvortragende werden sich auf dieser Konferenz mit der sich verändernden Beziehung von Kunst und Musik in Netzwerken auseinandersetzen und dabei auch untersuchen, in welchem Maße diese Netzwerke durch Kreativität geformt und weiterentwickelt werden. Die Konferenz möchte darüber hinaus den Dialog zwischen dem ECAS-Netzwerk und lokalen ukrainischen KünstlerInnen und Fachleuten fördern.

Präsentiert in Kooperation mit dem Nextsound festival: http://festival.nexsound.org/en
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/516913958371136/
http://www.facebook.com/events/419875481437100/

Programm

11h – 11h10 Oliver Baurhenn (CTM Festival, DE)
Greeting. Introduction to ECAS and Conference Theme

11h15 – 12h40 Monika Mokre (EIPCP/ Focus/ Austrian Academy of Sciences, AT)
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: EU Cultural Politics as Identity Politics and/or Economisation
From 2014 onwards, EU cultural and media policies shall be integrated into the common programme “Creative Europe”. This programme is meant to support “the cultural and creative sectors and to help promote their important contribution at EU level. It offers the best basis to focus attention on the challenges currently facing these sectors and to target EU support on those measures that provide EU added value by helping them optimise their potential for economic growth, job creation and social inclusion.”

The strong economic focus of the new programme stands in clear contrast to “Culture 2000” striving for support and participation of European citizens by placing “greater emphasis (…) on their common cultural values and roots as a key element of their identity and their membership of a society founded on freedom, democracy, tolerance and solidarity”[1], and also to the program of 2008 aiming “to achieve three main objectives: to promote cross-border mobility of those working in the cultural sector; to encourage the transnational circulation of cultural and artistic output; and to foster intercultural dialogue.”

A discussion of the development of EU cultural politics will not only allow us to analyze its context and rationalities but also to gain insights in the opportunities, challenges, and fault lines of cultural politics in their relationship to identity politics, external relations, and economic goals.

12h45 – 13h10 Sarah Lauzemis (Cimatics, BE)
Different perspectives within a network. ICAS case study.
Intercultural communication issues and the challenge of a common sustainable network development strategy
Counting 38 members over 5 continents, the ICAS – International Cities of Advanced Sound Network and Related Arts network regroups a large number of culturally diverse organizations. The heterogeneity of its members and their cultural backgrounds is undoubtedly an artistic strength as much as a cultural enrichment for all organizations, but also poses structural challenges for the network’s internal functioning.

The variety of cultural identities, expectations, and motivations raises the issue of how to bridge the network’s diverse viewpoints while fostering and maintaining the diversity of its cultural, intellectual, and artistic exchanges. This case study reflects on how to manage a sustainable network development strategy by focusing on intercultural communication issues.
13h15 – 14h15 Mat Schulz (Unsound, PL), Toms Aunins (artist, LV), Viestarts Gailitis (Skanu Mezs, LV) + TBC
Is Experimental and Underground Music a Western Monopoly?
“Experimental music” and “underground music” are terms that immediately conjure certain images and connotations. For many of today’s listeners, their character is often suffused with western aesthetics – not surprising given that currently these musics are predominantly gaining exposure in the west. What are the defining traits of “experimental/underground music” aesthetically, socially, politically, and in terms of marketing? How can eastern europe and the rest of the world contribute to it, or is it destined to remain a fundamentally western endeavor dictated by western aesthetics and politics?

14h15 – 15h15 LUNCH BREAK

15h15 Christian Hollingsaeter (Insomnia, NO), Tim Terpstra (TodaysArt, NL)
Announcement of the Winners of the ECAS Open Call for Residencies.

15h30 – 17h30
Speed-dating Session
Registration required: http://ecasnetwork.org/blog/archives/5211
Short, 10-minute sessions where pre-registered participants meet one-on-one with different ECAS members as well as a representative from The Wire magazine in order present their work and get acquainted with the network and its individual members.

17h45 Oliver Baurhenn (CTM Festival, DE)
Closing Remarks

ECAS NETWORK REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT

Cimatics v.z.w (Cimatics ı Brussels, Belgium) http://cimatics.com/ http://thedigitalnow.be
DISK – Initiative Bild & Ton e.V. (CTM Festival ı Berlin, Germany) http://diskberlin.de/ http://www.ctm-festival.de
Fundacja Tone Muzyka i nowe formy sztuki (Unsound ı Krakow, Poland) http://unsound.pl/en
FutureEverything CIC (FutureEverything ı Manchester, UK) http://futureeverything.org/
Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF musikprotokoll im steirischen herbst ı Graz, Austria) http://musikprotokoll.orf.at/
Skaņu Mežs Association (Skaņu Mežs ı Riga, Latvia) http://www.skanumezs.lv/home/
Stichting The Generator (TodaysArt ı Den Haag, Netherlands) www.todaysart.nl
Stiftelsen Insomnia Festival (Insomnia, Tromsø, Norway) http://www.insomniafestival.no/
Trans-Media-Akademie Hellerau e.V. (Cynetart ı Dresden, Germany) http://t-m-a.de/cynetart/f2012