... 0.0 [spectre] new mailing list: SPECTRE :info Andreas Broeckmann spectre@mikrolisten.de Fri, 7 Sep 2001 17:47:48 +0200 [folks: if you are interested in subscribing to this list, please, follow the instructions below; as we are expecting quite a lot of initial requests, please, give us some time to process everything; greetings, andreas & inke] SPECTRE is an open, unmoderated mailing list for media art and culture in Deep Europe. Initiated in August 2001, SPECTRE offers a channel for practical information exchange concerning events, projects and initiatives organized within the field of media culture, and hosts discussions and critical commentary about the development of art, culture and politics in and beyond Europe. Deep Europe is not a particular territory, but is based on an attitude and experience of layered identities and histories - ubiquitous in Europe, yet in no way restricted by its topographical borders. SPECTRE is a channel for people involved in old and new media in art and culture. Importantly, many people on this list know each other personally. SPECTRE aims to facilitate real-life meetings and favours real face-to-face (screen-to-screen) cooperation, test-bed experiences and environments to provoke querying of issues of cultural identity/identification and difference (translatable as well as untranslatable or irreducible). WHAT IS (A) SPECTRE? 1. "There's a spectre haunting Europe ..." (K. Marx/F. Engels) 2. S.P.E.C.T.R.E.: Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion (James Bond 007 movies) 3. spektr was a module of the MIR space station focussing on the research of micro gravity 4. Les Spectres de Marx (J. Derrida) 5. Craig Baldwin's latest movie: Spectres of the Spectrum (2000) 6. to be continued... NETIQUETTE ON SPECTRE: - no HTML, no attachments, messages < 40K - meaningful discussions require mutual respect - self-advertise with care! SUBSCRIPTION POLICY: SPECTRE is initially hosted by Inke Arns <inke@snafu.de> and Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck@transmediale.de>. Requests for subscription have to be approved by hosts. Subscriptions may be terminated or suspended in the case of persistent violation of netiquette. Should this happen, the list will be informed. The list archives are publicly available, so SPECTRE can also be consulted and followed by people who are not subscribed. *Subscribe http://post.openoffice.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/spectre or mail to: spectre-request@mikrolisten.de subject=subscribe *Unsubscribe mail to: spectre-request@mikrolisten.de subject=unsubscribe 1.0 [spectre] RE: new mailing list: SPECTRE :info Andreas Broeckmann spectre@mikrolisten.de Sun, 09 Sep 2001 19:43:53 +0200 (CEST) dear anna, thanks for your message. Zitiere anna balint <epistolaris@freemail.hu>: > dear Andreas and Inke, > > I was offline a for a couple of days I see now that your initiatives > are. I > regret tremendously that you decided not to collaborate anymore with > the > syndicate list, and you preferred to start a new list, but anyway I wish > you > many success. > Meanwhile I saw that you based your new mailing list on the notion of > deep > europe, a term which I invented in 1996. I insist that you mention in > your > announcing letter this fact: 'deep europe, a notion coined by anna > balint > 1996'. I will have to publish in all media forums my article from > 1996, > everywhere where you announced the new list - which given the > circumstances > will deepen the crisis and will even mor differentiate the opinions. But > I > can't agree that you appropriate my term and you base a discussion forum > on > it without giving a proper credit for it. Andreas, you heard the term > deep > europe from Geert Lovink, with whom I was discussing my idea in 1996, > please > clarify this. > greetings, > Anna > the term came up in discussion with geert in 1996/97 when we were preparing the syndicate workshop for documenta x in 1997; it is quite possible that geert brought it up, and i am happy to assume that the term came from anna originally. it is a bit odd that you never felt the need to point this out in the last 5 years when this term has been used also in other publications (like my text in the ostranenie 97 catalogue), but i see no reason why you should not be credited for 'inventing' it. it's a useful and strong metaphor! (is your own interpretation closer to the one that equates Deep Europe with eastern europe, or do you follow the interpretation formulated by luchezar, referring to the depth of layered identities which can be found any where in the continent, and beyond?) i look forward to reading your text from 1996. best regards, -a 2.0 [spectre] RE: new mailing list: SPECTRE :info Andreas Broeckmann spectre@mikrolisten.de Sun, 09 Sep 2001 21:52:53 +0200 (CEST) dear anna, Zitiere anna balint <epistolaris@freemail.hu>: > Dear Andreas, > I can admit that it was the mistake of Geert Lovink that he has omitted > to > mention where the term comes from. When you made a statement that the > words > deep europe was coined by Luchezar Boyadiev I immediatley notified > you, please chack your private mail. i don't archive my mail, so i will have to take your word for it. > The Hyprid Workspace workshop was prepared > not earlier than 1997, when the idea and possibility of the Hybrid > Workspace first appeared. geert and i first talked about the hws workshop that winter, i don't recall the exact dates. i have no reason to dispute that the term deep europe came from you. > I find terrible that after you left the syndicate list, you base a new > mailing list exactly on my concept. Why not find a concept of your own > for this purpose? why? it is a very appropriate concept which we are very happy to use? i find it very odd that you would claim an exclusive right to sth that has been in discussion left, right and center for 4 years now ... you should look at this appropriation with pride, if you have to. >You could read first my deep europe text on the syndicate > list, if you would be subscribed. maybe you can send it to me anyway? greetings, -a 3.0 [spectre] RE: new mailing list: SPECTRE :info Andreas Broeckmann spectre@mikrolisten.de Mon, 10 Sep 2001 10:27:05 +0200 dear anna, >how could I be proud of my work if you don't give a credit for it? you are being given credit for it now. you should be proud of it anyway - there are many things that many people do and never get credited for. it's called history. >And you say that Luchezar Boyadiev has coined the term deep europe? no, if you reread my mail you will see that i wrote that he offered an *interpretation*. i look forward to your own definition. >I am sorry if >Geert Lovink hided my text from you for five years, I would have never >guessed that he proceeds this way. i don't see why it should be geert's resposibility to post your text, and why you have not felt the necessity to do this yourself? >I have immediately notified your when you >first pointed publically for the term a wrong origin. I will publish the >text first on the syndicate list, where it should belong. You can use the >term of course, as a stated before, I just ask that you mention that I >coined it. the term deep europe was coined by anna balint. it was passed on by geert lovink. it was used by andreas broeckmann and inke arns. it was interpreted by luchezar boyadjiev. it was used more by sally jane norman, iliyana nedkova, nina czegledy, edi muka, and many others. it is a piece of language and cannot be controlled. it was coined by anna balint in 1996. regards, -a 3.1 [spectre] "Deep Europe" is really deep? Pasztor Erika Katalina spectre@mikrolisten.de Mon, 10 Sep 2001 11:48:20 +0200 Dear Anna, dear Andreas, and dear all, who are involved, I was lurking on the syndicate list for years, I never dared to send a letter. Well, I never had any special reason to do so. But now I have to write a comment on "Deep Europe" and its copyright problem of Anna. "Deep Europe" is only a flat slogen in my opinion . (Except Anna I guess not so many of you follow the developments of the political situation in Hungary, which is a kind of illuminating story of how modern political marketing-communication (and media!) can sell about 5 million Hungarians down the river.... with fine tuned slogans.) There is a lot at stake at the election 2002: if the Rights (the Guys) win, than Hungary will be conserved into a society what is an interesting mixture of network capitalism and new-feudalism spilled professional political Public Relation sauce on it. The national identity ("the national copyrigths") begins to awake again but now it is assited by the active service of marketing and management sciences. Philip Kotler's excellent and energetic students' rhetoric feeds losers of the society with slogans and kitschy shows: national identity becomes more important for the "folks" than the parliament controll of the butget what The Guys spend on it. "Hungary - what you hide in your heart", "Memory becomes Hope": politics are full of pink emotions nowadays around here. (The sweet-gloomy-funny thing is that all the slogens of the government are "invented" by the "Happy End PR Agency" :-) "Deep Europe" - is nothing more than a slogan, invented by Anna or Gert, who cares. Slogans kill meaning, slogans are the effective power of our media and Public Relation culture. Slogans has a function to be obscure to understand as many ways as many people gets it. "Deep Europe" means nothing without context - and the context is created by physical and intelectual activity of people in time: the context is a process in space and time. Although The Guys introduced successful PR slogans into politics, only the context shows the real meaning. "the past just has been started" in Hungary (I do not know who said it, sorry... probably I read it in the Narancs - a liberal weekly) - why should we start it Anna, too? I hope we can kill off slogans and their copyright-arguments in case of starting to think in - as distinct and exact terms as it possible. Anybody who cares, should see further and deeper than "who owns the copyrights of Deep Europe". Sorry for my poor English mistakes what may confuses the transmission of the core message-:) Yours truly, Erika Katalina Pasztor media artist&designer, DLA student of Intermedia Dep., MKE founder and editor of Hungarian ArchitectForum (Epiteszforum) Online 3.2 [spectre] RE: "Deep Europe" is really deep? anna balint spectre@mikrolisten.de Mon, 10 Sep 2001 12:59:43 +0200 Dear Erika, maybe not many people care about slogans, but I do: if once for a term is given a history, I feel better if that history is correct. In my view it must have been important, if once it gave inspiration for so many people. For me the most funny and ironic is that all this discussion is going on out of its syndicate contexts. I was always happy to give and I am glad if people use the term I invented, and naturally I don't copyright the term, I say that I coined it. If you are curious to my context and my interpretation, please subscribe to the syndicate list. Now there is a discussion about ascii art definitions, when I feel it will be appropriate I will publish my text. greetings, Anna Balint 3.3 [spectre] Deep Europe? Deep troubles! with the "authors" ana peraica spectre@mikrolisten.de Mon, 10 Sep 2001 13:31:00 +0200 Dear all, I had problems deleting boring Syndicate mailings last months and then illiterate (Syndicate) mailings / attachments. I have a pain in my finger that I use for the Delete type. Just few minutes ago I recieved an e-mail, one of the most beautiful e-mails from the old Syndicate list - asking is someone is still there. It looks like a child entering to the village abandoned. The list still exists, but emptied, evacuated. The person knows not that there was a war. As seems, right now, there is an abandoned territory, one refugee camp and one new self-proclaimed republic. I saw that scenario, and I know those arguings right now... of who was the first calling on the of independency in 1968, of who spoken, who wrote. Sides are chosen. And now we don't have a Red Cross that will locate people we need to. I still don't know who is where as there are only few names posting. How can I find people whose e-mails I like? The war happened. And now the discussion is on inheritage. We are dividing names, history, terms... About terms, I am not fascinated anyhow. It is like the Humpty Dumpty from the Alice in Wonderland who coincides terms, and with the exclamation of the White Knife 'I invented it'. So what???? (BRACKET NOTE - But it makes me to think, do I need to protect my terms as 'Soros realism' in arts? Where do I need to go for that? Ok, I tell you - I invented a term Soros-realism I find crucial in interpretation of the artworks of nineties and last few years of this century, and it referrs to the arts of politically founded melancholia and pittiness, that has a connection to the socrealism of engaged art. It provides a reading of one narrative continously and gives a differentia specifica to the art of activism on the West. I find it ingenious, I am so delighted that every day I wake up and thing - how clever I am when I manage to invent such a thing. I feel so good, I love myself more since I done it. And I find myself more beautiful, thinking - one day if this continues I will get the Miss Europe prize. I am so clever and so beautiful since then. I am a witch. I knew it is going to happen. I wrote a text Unsubscribe! and I should have done it then. Why I didn't follow my intuition? Doesn't matter, I am so clever and so beautiful. I am a princess of the cleverness and beauty and witchcraft. When I recieve too many stupid e-mails I just go to the bathroom to see something nice, and I exclamate 'Soros Realism!!! Yes, Yes!'. So, please, if someone hears anyone else telling it without my name in reference, please - slam him in the face for my own dignity. You are my friends anyhow... And I will protect words you told, and wrote, to me. Please just put them bold, so I know which one you want to keep for your own creme against time, for your own grave. On my it is going to be written: A. P. (1972 - ...) THE INVENTOR of the term Soros-realism. It would be ME, ME, ME. It is I; I, I, I who invented it. It belongs to me and I carry it to my grave! Everyone who invented a term should write right now! On the graveyard we'll have terms and ideas. Terms should keep us to tell we are immortal no matter we are under the face of the earth.) But, if you find this stupid (mast.., fu...) that I have a certain erotic effects to my own terms - please ignore, I was joking. Soros realism was invented by artists, and Soros, and Stalin, and Lenin. But that topic is erotic too (mmmm.... nice!), nothing is erotic as those names... 'Deep Europe' is invented by those who were digging, in a certain sense. Diging what? Diging who? Diging under who? Otherwise people call it East, living on the surface. But who invented East - West - South - North? How can one write providing references... Weather (ref. anonym. since Aristotle On metereology) in Croatia (inv. Zvonimir, ref. Pavelic, ref. Tudjman) is sublime (inv Aristotle, ref/bold. Kant, ref Bataille...) today (ref. fuck who invented today?), rain (ref God?, ref Aristotle ibid) falls (ref. Archimed, ref Newton...), writing (ref Arabians) to you (ref. Syndicat e) an e-mail (ref. ref. ref. ref.....). Deep Europe? Deep troubles! Andreas vs "Anna", Syndicate vs (Syndicate) vs ((((Syndicate, ref (((Syndicate), ref ((Syndicate) ref (Syndicate))). Who invented "Syndicate" (Marx?), who invented NN, Andreas, Anna? When do you need to start with the intellectual property? It is destroying text, it is destroying communication, it is self-referrent at the end. And in the reference I can only write terms as - copyright, brand. It is boring as NN was boring. Boooooring, the worst that can be. Who has a copyright, which brand is this piece of activism? Now what is the original Syndicate - copyright, brand????? Seems this is the original discussion, covered by the terms. Tell it loudly! There are three lists, one is empty, one is Intenger's, one is elite. One interpetation what is/was Syndicate is its original address, the second - name, the third - people. Or, this is a discussion on factory, brand and quality? best, Ana 3.4 [spectre] RE: Deep Europe? Deep troubles! with the "authors" anna balint spectre@mikrolisten.de Mon, 10 Sep 2001 15:13:00 +0200 Dear Ana, as a researcher the main and very important questions I am fascinated about are who, when, what did, organized, wrote, said, how idea circulates. I confess repentingly that I spend weeks thinking about who for example Dionysos Aeropagitos was, what and when did he write. Or for instance I spend months to compile a Robert Filliou bibliography and I am happy to find under any cicumstances a fragment of his. If once he influences the whole media art scene, I am curious to find any detail of his work, and I try to go back to the most authentic sources. This fascination made me also to subscribe to the Syndicate list. I find more than fascinating how the individual, the private interacts with public, how one individual influences the other, how authors can grab contemporary spirituality, how collaboration takes place. If many terms are invented, I wish to know who, and when invented them, myself I never use for example the word 'intermedia' without thinking to Dick Higgins. He has coined it, and with this word and his way of thinking still influences the whole art scene. I like to be aware of that, and I like to handle with care and in a responsible way terms. That's part of my ars poetica if you like. I am honoured if I can be in touch with authors and I can follow their works as they arrive unmoderated to a mailing list. I find interesting the way 60 people left the syndicate list, and feel more comfortable with less information to deal with on a new, restricted mailing list, though I see here many problems - that of the syndicate archive for example - which still waits to be discussed and solved. Syndicate list is not integer's list, it stays for those people interested in East-West media art contacts and in contemporary media art theory who don't find too difficult to not open, delete, archive, read or enjoy the mail coming from artists, organizers, curators from East and West Europe and who care about the public space of the list. There are subscribers, readers and contributors, Claudia Westerman and Jaka Zeleznicar build a web page for the list, and we are all considering ways for organizing the incoming mail through self moderation, bureau automatism, perhaps a digest for announcements and theoretical texts. greetings, Anna 3.5 [spectre] Syndicate (ref. Broeckman, Arns, Kluitenberg, Benson, Pandilevski...) ana peraica spectre@mikrolisten.de Mon, 10 Sep 2001 18:09:48 +0200 Dear "Anna", The problem of the circulation of ideas, and tracing of them is today quite hard. Circle is replaced by the more dimensional bowls, explosions, curves. Tracing (of authors, of e-mails, of people...) is also hard. Linearity is impossible. For that one should have at least continous space or time. Once I done an exhibition project completely based on gossiping, it was on the Oreste show in Venice, on Biennale (I hope you will not take this as a self-promotion I don't intend to do among people that know my work and ideas). It was the same obscure idea that lead me, that things are running out of the documentation, catalogues, newspaper's reports or critiques. That information is spoiling. Then, as the problem of redundancy happened to me (and somehow I expected and calculated on that phenomenon), as every name would invite in mind another one, at least those of love affairs related, and each topic and reference another one, and we know it from the hypertexts that it is - real, I decided not to border anymore. I am, myself, more considered with the streaming ideas than on linking them endlessly in any case even in .html (and that is why I never use footnotes, so what? - McLuhan never give his due respect to anyone before, hardly mentioning any other name, and that does not make him less fair writer). Only bad writers need to plug in the theory into someone elses, as the theory they plugged in will save them from the critique. Only desperate souls need to say - you didn't make a reference on me. Reading according to names reminds me on the old time investigations... 'I read complete Hegel' - do you think Hegel is the one that is interesting or the world of his ideas. I know, it is a matter of the original thinking and hypercitation, when the author becomes the 'author', and a person becomes a kind of - it, a book, and turning back to their original existence on this planet is also an interesting point, but reading Hegel so deeply one can only become Hegel. Moreover he is dead, so becoming a dead person is not some erotic idea... What do you get willing to pay attention to dead ideas (and what worse can be than a dead idea?), and making your own a cornerstone for the graveyard? That is nercophilic, and more - nomenophilia is the worst deadness of the dead. Nomen est amen! Name does exist separately from the named... That is a point of buirocracy. Even alive authors don't like to live only in the brackets (((((as they are claustrophobic)))))). Why do you go back and did you really find important branding of thoughts? Authenticity in the Internet age???? Don't you find yourself doing a kind of Sizif's job. Why didn't you post that text, why are you bordered with copyrights, authenticity, and invention of small notions such the one of deep europe is. Copy-left it, we done it on the Syndicate not egoistically, and now you protect your own rights? And you were, as you say, reading it? Why do you border with words, dots, commas... What do you want to say is important, not how you designed it. We all know who told what, we are not illiterate so much to think that things might be so original... I understand the term Deep Europe, but not like you. I don't like it, i feel referring to the d e e p s h i t and i wouldn't like to enter deeper in that part of the Europe, as I was already too deep. That means 'your' term is for me frightening, not challenging on thinking. It makes me to run away.... Unfortunately in your e-mail I saw more the problem of the originallity of the name Syndicate, not the problem of Deep Europe, as - sorry on a note - Syndicate meant more than one term, and it made many of terms to be coined. Actually why, when you feel so related to authenticity don't face the fact you lost the Syndicate of the Syndicate? You quoted the name with no content? If you were consistent, you would have to write Syndicate (ref.Broeckman, Arns, Kluitenberg, Lovink, Benson, Harger, Pandilevski, Zivanovic... and around hundreds of more?) in the head of every e-mail on that bracket list (the quote, the reference to the Syndicate). And pay attention to the order, use alphabetically, it is better, there was no hierarchy of me - myself and - I!. Who the fuck invented friends !!!???? (cough, ref. M. Benson) best, ana 3.6 [spectre] Syndicate (ref. Broeckman, Arns, Kluitenberg, Benson, Pandilevski...) w.p. spectre@mikrolisten.de Mon, 10 Sep 2001 19:55:46 +0200 > > > ______________________________________________ > SPECTRE list for media culture in All Europe 3.5-p.114-2 [spectre] Deep Europe Bruce Sterling spectre@mikrolisten.de Mon, 10 Sep 2001 11:01:43 -0500 > the term deep europe was coined by anna balint. it was passed on by geert > lovink. it was used by andreas broeckmann and inke arns. it was interpreted > by luchezar boyadjiev. it was used more by sally jane norman, iliyana > nedkova, nina czegledy, edi muka, and many others. it is a piece of > language and cannot be controlled. it was coined by anna balint in 1996. > *Hey, "Deep Europe" has even been in the WIRED magazine "Jargon File." Trust me, all hope of control is lost. bruces *If you enjoy seeing net.english under construction, check this out: http://www.logophilia.com/WordSpy/topwords.html 4.0 [spectre] Re:[spect] list info Janos Sugar spectre@mikrolisten.de Tue, 28 Aug 2001 18:36:46 +0200 what about this: SPECTRE concentrates on the artistic and political situations of Eastern= Europe to foster links of communication and collaboration among media art= communities throughout the continent. This network connects artists,= activists, theorists, and media producers from 28 European countries= through both online and offline venues, embodying the tensions and= conjunctions arising from the cultural, geographic, and economic remapping= of Europe. =20 (slightly modified version of Jordan Crandall's column _ European net= communities_ published in Artforum, March 1998, p. 20) 4.1 [spectre] Re:[spect] list info Inke Arns spectre@mikrolisten.de Tue, 28 Aug 2001 22:44:16 +0200 At 18:36 28.08.01 +0200, Janos Sugar wrote: >what about this: > >SPECTRE concentrates on the artistic and political situations of Eastern Europe to nope. ;). why should spectre concentrate on situations in eastern europe? i have to admit that I am as much interested in western "situations" as i am in northern, eastern or southern ones. Madrid, Warsaw, Stockholm, Budapest, Lisbon, Moscow, Berlin, Tirana, Marseille, Ljubljana, Genua, Bratislava, Sheffield, Lodz, Linz, Tblissi ... >foster links of communication and collaboration among media art communities >throughout the continent. i like "throughout the continent" though. perhaps we should really leave of the notion of "deep europe" and rather simply call it "europe", or "the continent", although "continent" might sound as if you were speaking from a GB perspective (I was once invited to a panel discussion in GB where i was supposed to give a "continental view" on the media art education situation in GB... i told the audience that i was "amused" ;) the advantage of "deep europe" would be that it does not really designate a geographic territory, but rather a state of mind, a kind of openness, or a special way of joining different/separate entities together ... >This network connects artists, activists, theorists, and media producers from 28 >European countries through both online and offline venues, embodying the tensions >and conjunctions arising from the cultural, geographic, and economic remapping of >Europe. too much focus on "tension", and, more importantly: like this it all sounds like a "finished" project. I think it should be kept more open. >(slightly modified version of Jordan Crandall's column _ European net communities_ published in Artforum, March 1998, p. 20) ? greetings, inke - mostly offline 2-21 Sep 2001 - http://www.v2.nl/~arns/ 4.2 [spectre] Re:[spect] list info geert lovink spectre@mikrolisten.de Wed, 29 Aug 2001 09:28:20 +1000 Hi all, concerning announcements. I am not so much against them and I think that are not exactly creating a environment in which an interesting discussion/exchange will occur. I am not saying that Spectre should have less announcements. I personally find them secondary and not all that interesting. Necessary and but not vital for a list. I understand that Annick and Eric as media professionals need this info but that can't all be it. I like the idea of a quiet list but I would rather say a quality list, with surprises and necessary differences. The silence related to the crisis in Macedonia really worried me. I do think that Spectre should not just be Syndicate 2.0 or even worse, 1.1. Something went wrong and that something needs to analyzed. Just to continue doesn't make sense to me and has the danger of repetition in it. Why not change a few basic parameter or has everyone turned conservative in terms of list culture and the everyday? I still like the ideas of a web-based conferencing system a la slashdot which Amy Alexander proposed. I think that's gonna be really necessary at some point and I don't see why we can't develop such a thing. It's really not all that difficult anymore. Look what www.autonomedia.org has done with their portal. Best, Geert 4.3 [spectre] list info + ars meeting honor spectre@mikrolisten.de Wed, 29 Aug 2001 11:34:51 +0100 hi, janos wrote: > >SPECTRE concentrates on the artistic and political situations of Eastern > Europe to foster links of >communication and collaboration among media > art communities throughout the continent. This >network connects > artists, activists, theorists, and media producers from 28 European > countries >through both online and offline venues, embodying the tensions > and conjunctions arising from the >cultural, geographic, and economic > remapping of Europe. well, this is just a personal point of view, but i found this definition quite prescriptive and a bit restrictive. i'm not sure its accurate to say that we only concentrate on 'eastern european' situations, and given the progress the syndicate made in trying to break down territorial distinctions of identity, i feel that using terminology such as the above might be regressive. also, if members of [ spectre ] are from one of '28 european countries', that counts me out already. is it necessary to be _from_ one of 28 european countrries, in order to contribute to the list in some way? anyway .... regarding a meeting in linz - do we still want to do this? who is available around lunchtime on tuesday 4 september (sometime between 1200 - 1400)? shall we stick with the brucknerhaus bistro? i think that's the easiest location myself. they always have lots of tables set up in the brucknerhaus, just near the bistro so this seems to be a sensible option. so let's have a textual show of hands - who can come at this time? if this isn't a good time, feel free to suggest another time. best honor 5.0 [spectre] Re:[spect] list info David Whittle spectre@mikrolisten.de Wed, 29 Aug 2001 10:37:04 +0100 Inke wrote: >>SPECTRE concentrates on the artistic and political situations of Eastern >Europe to > >nope. ;). why should spectre concentrate on situations in eastern europe? i >have to admit that I am as much interested in western "situations" as i am >in northern, eastern or southern ones. Madrid, Warsaw, Stockholm, Budapest, >Lisbon, Moscow, Berlin, Tirana, Marseille, Ljubljana, Genua, Bratislava, >Sheffield, Lodz, Linz, Tblissi ... I second that absolutely! > >>foster links of communication and collaboration among media art >communities >throughout the continent. > >i like "throughout the continent" though >perhaps we should really leave of the notion of "deep europe" and rather >simply call it "europe", or "the continent", although "continent" might >sound as if you were speaking from a GB perspective (I was once invited to >a panel discussion in GB where i was supposed to give a "continental view" >on the media art education situation in GB... i told the audience that i >was "amused" ;) you don't say! I vote (again) for 'deep europe' for the reasons Honor outlined, and for the resonances you mention below. > >the advantage of "deep europe" would be that it does not really designate a >geographic territory, but rather a state of mind, a kind of openness, or a >special way of joining different/separate entities together ... >>This network connects artists, activists, theorists, and media producers >from 28 >European countries through both online and offline venues, >embodying the tensions >and conjunctions arising from the cultural, >geographic, and economic remapping of >Europe. > >too much focus on "tension", and, more importantly: like this it all sounds >like a "finished" project. I think it should be kept more open. Yes. Also, for me the problem with this and the previous formulation is that 'trajectory' or 'remapping' implies a relationship with the 'transition studies' industry, as well as, perhaps at a further remove, a particular narrative of 'development'. We should be open to every possible perspective on current situations, including going backwards and standing still... pretty much sitting still, D. 6.0 [spectre] DEEP EUROPE AND DISPLACED IDENTITIES tamar s spectre@mikrolisten.de Tue, 20 Nov 2001 16:30:57 +0200 DEEP EUROPE AND DISPLACED IDENTITIES A silent voice comes to life triggered by the deep Europe concepts to comment about its identity. I speak from an immigrant country, my ancestors came from Poland, I have friends whose origins are from all over the globe. I leave in a mixed village by the sea where Moslems, Christians and Jews leave together. 15 minutes from Tel-Aviv, Israel. The Muasine 6 Muslim narrator, prays 5 times a day, this sound is overwhelming and punctuates the days. I cook Arab food with recipes I get from a woman I know at the local market, mixed with Eastern European recipes I have from home. The language of my trade is English, my syntax is weird, but my sense of poetry comes from the bible, which is written in my mother tongue. Life hazards, due to local terrorism attacks, is being reported dail y on tv, Our sense of a safe geographic map had shrunken during the last year, but my real window is window's nt. The internet had always served as a strong displacement tool, through which my displaced identity found fellow voices that shared and enhanced my new media enthusiasm. Internet communities like real life communities are always trying to define an `other`, a bad guy, in order to map their boundaries. I find the lost of boundaries thrilling. My web sites design, net.art projects and interactive installations I dream up, trying hard to realize in a place where the infrastructure for such a venture is scarce, are all strengthened by info bubbles the travel through my mailbox, for I'm an artist who found the virtual reflections a hell of a place to be. Tamar Schori 6.1 [spectre] DEEP EUROPE AND DISPLACED IDENTITIES KINGA ARAYA spectre@mikrolisten.de Tue, 20 Nov 2001 12:23:17 -0500 (EST) Tamar, Great inspiring message. I hope to see some of your artwroks somewhere (in Canada?). Take care, Kinga (the 'other' displaced 0/1...) 7.0 <nettime> Report from Albania Geert Lovink nettime-l@desk.nl Thu, 11 Jun 1998 23:15:45 +0200 (MET DST) Culture after the Final Breakdown A Report from Tirana, Albania By Geert Lovink As expected, Tirana offers much more reality than one can cope with. My first encounter was overwhelming and confronting. As Europe's poorest country, deeply Balkan and the most isolated communist regime for decades, the rythms must have been slow here in this former outpost of the Ottoman empire. Ismail Kadare, Albania's current national writer in exile, is trying to find excuses for this historical inertia. But for Kadare slowness does not equal backwardness. As he writes in Printemps Albanais, his report of the 1990 events, "slowness can reveal, as under an unpenetrable armor, ripeness and the inner light." This must be for connoisseurs. Tirana in late spring of 1998 gives a rather different impression--a steamy, grimy intensely balkan 'summer in the city' feeling combined with the sense that the entire country is struggling to get back to or? move on to normal. The country is visibly recovering from the total breakdown of March 1997, which can be seen its Pointe Omega, the new year zero. In that sense Kadare is right: Albania's "1989" is just over one year old and the world should take this cultural delay into account. Did Jean Baudrillard ever witness the violent aspects of a concrete, massive, sudden, social implosion? I wonder. Baudrillard, who played so with the model of the implosion, must have sensed something in this direction, but his style is too linear, one-dimensional to describe the multi-layered realities of the balkans. French language games are fading out now because actual history-in-the-making can easily do without such concepts (and intellectuals all together). It is not even about media. In Albania, the slow decay from within (even more disastrous than elsewhere), combined with a collective frustration over missing the historical wave of 1989, finally turned into an explosion of violent disinterest and despair. It is tempting to speak of "post apocalyptic zones." But this is merely postmodern rethoric. Which contemporary philosopher is studying the case of Albania? The country is hardly ever mentioned by journalists. Robert Kaplan's widely acknowledged 'Balkan Ghosts' (1993) and "The End of the Earth" (1996) travelogues through the world's abandoned places, rust belts and war zones. These books are a usefull starting point but they do not go beyond mere description. Kaplan lacks a theoretical framework that could match the conservative agenda of culturalists like Samuel P. Huntington. In what terms should the situation outside the Fortresses be described ? Do we only speak in terms of "exclusion"? Or would you prefer an "exotic" view on the pitoresque Balkan, like in Tintin's album "King Ottokar's Sceptre"? What puzzled me most about Albania is its delayed, but primal drive to (self)destruction. The roads are in the worst possible condition, sometimes not even existing. Many places lack electricity and running water, not to mention destroyed schools, dilapidated buildings. What is this hatred towards anything public? And there is still no comprehensive analysis of the 'events' of March 1997. The dry overview of Miranda Vickers and James Pettifer ('Albania', New York University Press, 1997), stops in late 1996 and carries a now ironical, perhaps then too optimistic undertitle: "From Anarchy to a Balkan Identity." We should now read it backwards. That's dialectics these days. The old one step forwards, two steps back--no synthesis in sight. What we can see is tragic, ultra-modern history in the making, monitored by brand new Euro-cops of the West European Union, half-hearted Italian neo-colonialism to prevent mass escape from the ruined country and plenty of wild electronic media, pirated software, even a tiny bit of Internet, provided by the UN and Soros, via satellites and radio links. Seen from the dusty, crowded streets of Tirana, filled with its notorious stolen Mercedes cars, Kosova seems a very distant place, despite all the refugees that are now flooding in to the Northern Albania. The Nole government is certainly concerned with the worsening situation, so are all Albanians. But they lack any military option: their army is a joke compared to the well-armed and experienced Yugoslav army with its para-military units. Albania can only call for more foreign involvement, not only in Kosova, but for itself. There is a big need for a capital, infrastructure and human resources from NATO, EU, Soros and other NGOs. Or from Rome, Athens, Istanbul, Saudi Arabia. It actually does not matter where it comes from. At least, that's the impression. It is the time of reconstruction and 'development'. That's the big picture--on a more personal level, daily life goes on..cafe society--thousands of Albanians on the streets and terraces of hastily and illegally erected cafes whiling away the time. So here we are--the first ever new media arts event in Albania, "Pyramedia", organized by the "Syndicate" network, a mailinglist of small institutions and individuals from both ex Western and Eastern Europe (for a report, see Andreas Broeckmann in the Syndicate web archive). A small group of 10-20 dedicated Albanian artists, teachers and students have shown up to attend the three days of screenings and presentations. Edi Muka, who is teaching contemporary arts (video, installations, etc.) at the Tirana Arts Academy is the driving force behind many of these events. I interviewed him twice, at the V2-DEAF festival, September 1996 in Rotterdam and after the fall of Berisha, in July 97 during "Deep Europe" (Hybrid Workspace, Documenta X). This time, I spoke with him on the terrace of Donika Bardha's Gallery XXI, Tirana's first commercial modern art gallery, opened last March, a green (and clean) oasis close to the central Skanderbeg square and surrounded by a decent cafe and restaurant. This quasi-privatised corner of the pavement has palm trees and a fountain. Edi Muka is cool--his dress, sunglasses, the way he's got things in control (except when the lamp of the videobeam breaks, a major catastrophe which happened twice...). Edi Muka is well informed, not only about arts and culture, but about politics and media as well. After he returned from Italy, where he fled in the early nineties, he worked with foreign journalists and in the field of "independant media" and their Western support organizations. According to Muka, Tirana will sooner or later feel the impact of the influx of refugees in the North. But for the time being it is still recovering from the "anarchy" of March 97, the few days when the state lost its monopoly on violence. Shortly after the incident, a commission of all the political parties represented in Parliament was formed to reconstruct and study the events. But within a few months, controversy between the members broke out and the final report is still pending. So the cause of all the destruction remains vague. Can it be reduced to a plot or conspiracy? According to Muka, Berisha at a certain point decided to let everything go when he found out that he could not use the army to attack the city of Vlora. "He defends himself now by saying that he had to arm the members of his party in order to defend them. Maybe I am wrong. No one knows how reliable the data of this commission is. But a fact is that most of the townhalls were set on fire. There was a lot of corruption under the Berisha government, illegal deals regarding privatization and real estate. A lot of them were done in favour of Berisha's Democratic Party members. So this was a good chance to wipe out the evidence. In Vlora people initially burned the police office and the secret police headquarters. But the burning of townhalls came later." Culture lost too. Museums were looted, even worse than in 1992. Churches too. Most of all it blocked a process, several years of gradual progress. For example, after March 1997 students did not come to school anymore. It was impossible to get them back to the classroom. "If you see such a destruction happening around you, after seven years of supposed 'democracy', the already strong desire of Albanians to leave the country grew ten times." Since December 1997, things have apparently changed for the better. Edi's students returned to their classes and a number of cultural events took place. In October 1997, eleven artists participated in 'Reorientation', an exhibit in a ruined factory, outside of town, curated by Muka. The show was mainly installations, referring to the state of ruin and was considered a turning point. Gezim Qendro, now the director of the National Gallery, participated, along with Edi Hila, one of Albania's modern post-1990 painters, and some young artists. Edi Muka: "Despite the fact that it took place in a part which is full of guns, a lot of people showed up. They were eager to see something different." Another landmark was Albania's participation in Ostranenie, the ex-East media arts festival which took place for the third time in Dessau in november 1997. Albanian video artworks were screened there for the first time. Also, an annual visual arts competition took place. Muka: "In the past, everybody just hung some artworks on the wall of the National Gallery, no curatorial work, no critics, just a big chaos. This time there was some selection. But there was still a lack of the ability to experience things. There were only few who reflected on what had happened in 1997. I don't think this is normal. There is the tendency to escape, the young generation leaves the country and the old ones do it in their way. I concentrated my work on a group of young artists, students who do reflect on the situation. In February,1998, a first show with them followed in the renovated gallery of the Academy of Art. It was really good and a large audience showed up. I gave some lectures about ready-mades and abstraction, which is still not very known here. Students have difficulties understanding what happened historically and epistimologically." And Galeria XXI opened, which is trying to promote the art market in Albania because there is no such thing. The early revival is evident in other fields as well. The 'Days of New Music' program a few months ago tried to open up the traditional Albanian folk music and elaborate it in a 'modern' way. A proposal to build and staff a new National Theater was approved. But there is still no decision on the future of the "International Cultural Center" the enormous white pyramid once the Enver Hoxha Memorial Museum. In its most recent reincarnation, it is used for the Italian "Levante" trade fair, displaying trash consumer goods. All this is now in Edi Rama's hands, the brand new Minister of Culture. Rama, 34, is an experimental artist who played an important role in the student movement of 1990 and worked and exhibited abroad. His story is telling--In 1996, he was beaten up by Berisha supporters and he then moved to Paris where he lived in exile. This spring, when he returned to Tirana for his father's funeral, he was invited to replace Arta Dade, then Minister of Culture, who lacked any vision on revitaliziing culture-in-ruins with little or no budget. Rama immediately agreed. His first action was a radical reorganization of the ministry, the first one ever in fifty years. Edi Muka has known Rama for years. "He is a charismatic person with a lot of ideas, even though he might not have much experience with administration. He has already left some marks." I managed to get an appointment with Rama on the fourth floor of the former Central Committee building. Edi Rama: "I inherited an institution still based in the old structures. It is also important to change the physical aspect of the building. It was not functional and there was a lot of dust that needed to be cleaned." Rama would not say how much money he can freely spend. Rama: "The budget is low, but even that is misused. So the first step is to create projects that will make a decent use of the budget possible. Only after that, we can increase pressure on the Ministery of Finance and start to approach NGOs." Where are your priorities, in film, visual arts, media? Rama: "Until now, the ministery worked as a sponsor of cultural ghettoization. It supported our self-complimentory attitude towards history and the related institutions that we inherited from the past. The Writers Union, in fact all cultural institutions--these old structures are not anymore a threat towards democracy, but they are a obstacle." Do you see a growing divide between the low-brow media culture and the elite high culture? Rama: "If I can make a comparison. During the Communist period we were living in a Jurrasic Park. Now the dinosaurs have disappeared but we are still in a park where anything can happen. You never know from where the danger is coming from. In that respec, things are very disordered. The new media situation is like a jungle. But I am convinced that the only support we can give to these newcomers is freedom. With the possibility to express yourself in a free space will also come a need to learn and how to deal with this space. Nowadays, here, people are convinced that freedom is much more difficult than isolation. To administrate freedom means to administrate yourself. During the time that you had to pass on the shelf of totalitarism, you were administrated by someone else. You were not an individual. There was no responsability and no anxiety. In freedom, all these elements become part of you." When asked about all those leaving the country, Edi Rama is sending out a permanent invitation to all Albanians to do something for this country. "But it is pretty hard to make invitations because you cannot offer any guarantees. The problem with this community has been that it always worked against its own future. The most paralyzed were the young generations. They were marginalized by the gods of politics and culture. The big challenge now is to listen more carefull to their needs in order to make them feel at home in their own country. To a certain age every Albanian is a refugee in his own country. It is felt as a transit station." You are not member of a political party. Is it more or less difficult than you expected? Edi Rama: "I do not need to operate in a political field because my power is not of a political power but a cultural power." Until now, local Soros Foundation officials have not felt the urgency to open a "Soros Center for Contemporary Art." This might change soon. Like in other countries, the leading 'civil society' intellectuals, mainly writers, were not so sensitive to contemporary art forms let alone 'electronic art'. But there is another, underlying reason for the low priority status of new culture. Understandibly, human right violations, food aid and the basic restoration of law and order take highest priority with Western governments and NGOs. But with this comes a very specific, subconcious, definition of 'democratic culture', a formalistic, instrumental and legalistic approach which defines democracy according to its institutional structures, not to its actual lively elements. We can see a similar problem in the field of 'independant media'. What counts is the primacy of frameworks, not initiatives or individual modes of mediated expression. Edi Muka: "We can see a standardized way of thinking within these NGOs. They are working according to pre-established models, without paying too much attention to the local requests. It is definetely important what they are doing, to promote NGOs that develop democracy. But what is desperately needed in Albania is a "cultural revolution." A large program to reach all generations, not only the young. Let's take one example. The main support for translations comes of course from the Soros foundation. They are now mainly doing philosophical books from the fifties and sixties (Nietzsche, Sartre, Camus...) and literature." Contemporary books on visual arts, media and cultural politics are a first requirement in order to spread a comprehensive understanding of the new (media) techonologies, their internal logic, history and potential. And this counts for many fields in culture. Otherwise, the existing devide between Western commercial media trash and post-communistic and nationalistic state-sponsored, folklorism will establish itself, leaving little or no room for contemporary forms of expression. According to Edi Muka, staying in cafes all day long is nonsense--artists spaces should be created, giving people the possibility to prove themselves. Step by step this will bring the attention to Albania and will take away the desire to leave the country. International exchange also plays an important role in this. Soon, Soros won't be the only source of money. Pro Helvetia (Swiss) is coming, a French Institute will be established and perhaps also a German Goethe Institute. Regional exchange should also increase to avoid ethnic tensions like those experienced with neighboring Macedonia. Muka: "The tendency should be to find common points, as citizens of the world, not as ethnic Albanians." What is striking is the absence of discourse. There is no Albanian art magazine. Before 1990, art critics were politicized and condemned in the early nineties. Within the discipline of art history, political aims had taken precedence over professional standards. The National Gallery has taken the initiative to start an art magazine and the first issue is due to come out soon. Then there is the magazine Perpjekja (Endeavour), a quarterly cultural journal, edited by Fatos Lubonja. An english anthology appeared in 1997, edited by Fatos Lubonja and John Hodgson. It takes a critical approach to developments in Albania and runs translations that deal with issues common to other former Eastern European countries. A structure needs to be created to train art historians, critics and curators. Muka: "What I am doing now is teaching students to write down their ideas, to arrange a space. But that is not enough. Now it is time to build the educational programs." A year after the total implosion, everything beyond boredom and escape seems possible, first of all a second Piramedia. Syndicate: Andreas Broeckmann, A short Piramedia report http://www.v2.nl/mail/v2east/0741.html A copy of the Perpjekja/Endavour anthology may be obtained from: John Hodgson, 30, Green End, Granborough, Buckingham, MK18 3TN, England. Edi Muka: kiko41 {AT} hotmail.com, tel/fax +355 5222752. 8.0 <nettime> The Politics of Cultural Memory Eric Kluitenberg nettime-l@bbs.thing.net Wed, 21 Jul 1999 18:43:28 +0100 Dear nettimers, This rather long text is the extension of a lecture I presented in Tirana (Piramedia), Tallinn (ACTION - REFLECTION) and Prague (Translocation). Because of the enormous scope of the topic I opted for a rather personal approach. The text will be published in the forthcoming book MEDIA ˇ REVOLUTION, edited by Stephen Kovats, Edition Bauhaus #6, published by the Campus Verlag (Frankfurt a/M & New York), and is due for release as a biligual german/english edition on October 11, 1999. It will be accompanied by the ostranenie 99 CD ROM. hope it is of interest to a few of you eric ___________________ The Politics of Cultural Memory Upon her spoon this motto wonderfully designed: "Violence completes the partial mind." [0] Identity, Belonging and Necessity A visit I made to Tirana (Albania) in April 1998 marked the start of a personal investigation. An investigation into a complicated field, somewhere between cultural memory and politics. What I wanted to do is to sketch out and map a territory of identity, memory, politics, and media. The need for this was primarily of a personal nature. There was no expectation that I would be able to get any kind of complete understanding of what the relationship of politics and cultural memory entails. Certainly not beyond the excellent writings that have been produced already in this area, most of whom I am quite ignorant of. Yet, feeling the need to do this, if only for myself, seemed enough of an incentive. Since everyone's experience is always different and specific, my findings might even be useful for others grappling with the same questions I wanted to map out. My need for this investigation originated from an unresolved dilemma. Writing this in July 1999, the dilemma, obviously, remains unresolved, though it still strikes me as something dramatic. One of those crucial experiences you would have gladly dispensed with. This particular story starts in Tallinn in 1995. I was invited to help put together a conference on the social and cultural impact of digital media and networking technologies on the Baltic states, called "Interstanding - Understanding Interactivity". The aim of the event was to go beyond the economic and technological perspectives, and develop something of a critical cultural and social point of view. We were at the end of the second day of the three-day conference. The topic was "Community and Identity in the Global Infosphere", and a host of speakers was dealing with ways of reconstructing identity and the social sphere in the realm of digital media. At some point the sys-op of the ZAMIR peace network from the former Yugoslavia (who happened to be present in the audience) grabbed the microphone and made a short, clear, and rather devastating comment: "We've been talking all day about identity issues now, and their value. Our recent experiences, however, have taught us that nothing sets people more apart than identity!" I had, as I still have, no answer to this objection. It couldn't have pinpointed the dilemma more clearly. The idea we had started from was to question what two simultaneous extraordinary transformations meant for a country like Estonia. On the one hand Estonia was contained in a process of re-inventing its national identity, a few years after breaking free from the former Soviet Empire and Russian rule. At the same time Estonia had entered the information era overnight, depending for its economic survival on a networked international economy that undermined the very notions of national sovereignty it had just retained. The notion of a national Estonian identity is deeply problematic, if only because of the large Russian minority within its borders, which comprises one third of the overall population of the country. The reconstitution of national identity is a fundamental dilemma that pops up again and again in the aftermath of the revolutionary changes that have taken places in the former 'East'. Identity is belonging, and a basic sense of belonging to me seems indispensable for any kind of social structure to be able to function, for any kind of social cohesion to emerge. The refusal of the identity question in name of a universal ideology (modernism) or materialist system (neo-liberalism), inevitably leads to a reactionary response. Identity forges connection, but it is simultaneously also a principle of separation. This principle of separation is at the heart of the dilemma we suddenly saw ourselves faced with that afternoon in Tallinn. Deep Europe Europe is a container of identities. A sedimental layering of cultures past and present, in permanent flux between moments of crisis and tragic sublimity. In this shifting landscape the dilemmas of identity can turn into drama, especially in those regions where Europe is at its 'deepest', i.e. where most identities overlap (and collide). This sedimentary image of the cultural map of Europe derives from the concept of Deep Europe, as put forward by the Bulgarian artist Luchezar Boyadijev. Boyadijev provides a highly original reading of post-wall Europe. In Boyadijev's explanation of 'Deep Europe', "the notion is a metaphor which could be problematic. In the logic of this metaphor, deepness or depth is where there are a lot of overlapping identities of various people. Overlapping in terms of claims over certain historical past, or certain events or certain historical figures or even territories in some cases. It could also be claims over language or alphabet, it could be anything. Europe is deepest, where there are a lot of overlapping identities." The formation of identity is a fundamentally dynamic process. It is also subject to manipulation. The construction of identity refers to a reading of the past that can be subjective, incomplete. Sometimes it is linked to clear interests of a group. It is often difficult to fully substantiate the claims made in this formation process. Identity, therefore, is not just belonging, it is clearly also politics. Identity and memory are connected. Identity at the very least means to remember one's origins. If memory belongs to a group, a time, a region, a nation or any other larger structure, it immediately becomes deeply political. Cultural memory is crucial in the formation of an identity that transcends the merely personal. Cultural memory is not just museums, books and monuments. Cultural Memory rather is politics pur sang! Cultural Memory and Collective Identity The Estonian philosopher Hasso Krull once remarked in one of his lectures that "history is a machine going nowhere". Though he might be right, the idea does not seem very useful to the formation of any particular kind of social order (such as a nation state). Krull's contention will therefore not be likely to gain much approval amongst politicians, whatever their sign may be. It is more interesting for any kind of politics to create a meaningful context, both for the present as well as the past. This meaningful context can best be understood as a narrative, a way in which material objects, events, documents and descriptions are linked together into a coherent narration of past and present. This narration conveys to its audience how the present derives from the past, and how the signs that structure and signify the world around them, bear witness to this inextricable connection between past and present. What the objects of the past tell their audience is the necessary state of things in the present. A society doesn't just exist, it is an emergent property of a multitude of events that have shaped its current state. Its members are never alone or alienated, rather, they are interwoven in the very historical fabric of that society, which shapes their perceptions and values as much as their immediate physical and social environment. The objects belonging to the cultural heritage of a given society are never isolated bodies in a decontextualised hyperspace, nor are they self-contained objects in a post-historical era. Their symbolic significance is not contained so much in their artistic or aesthetic qualities as such, but rather in the degree to which they are part of a convincing narrative that binds the object and the viewer together in a shared system of beliefs. What the object and the audience tell each other is that their inalienable connection testifies to a continuity, which transcends the limitations of the merely individual, in time (history) as well as in space (a people). That is, if you believe in it. There are various ways to describe this function. The Egyptologist Jan Assmann speaks of cultural memory as a connective structure founding group identity through ritual and a textual coherence [1]. He explains that the past is never remembered for its own sake. Its main functions are to create a sense of continuity and to act as a motor for development. The present is situated at the end of a collective path as meaningful, necessary and unalterable. Assman defines such cultural narratives as 'mytho-motorics'. They motivate development and change by presenting the present as a deficient reflection of a heroic mythological past. A past which should be restored for the future. What this view implies is that cultural memory acts beyond the founding of group identity and continuity of present and past, into the future. It presents a particular view of the future as necessary, and provides direction for collective action in the present to move towards it. The goal is to recapture and restore the ideals which have been lost in the deficient imperfections of present day-life. Ideals that can be retained through collective action, whether this be in the form of ritual or rather through revolutionary change. Cultural memory in a living culture is never fixed. It involves a constant reinterpretation of the present in terms of the past to decide on possible actions for the future. Meaning can shift and rituals can take on different forms. Rather than being fixed in an anthropological text book, the cultural memory of living cultures is suspect to manipulation. Since the definition of cultural memory depends on a continuous exchange between the memory objects of a given culture and their interpretation by its members, it is however difficult to reveal the outcome as fraud. Cultural memory simply is the outcome of this interplay. It is the process that counts, and not its arbitrary fixation. The definition of identity that results from this memory construction, therefore is deeply imaginary. Benedict Anderson has convincingly argued that "all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact are imagined." Imagined because they deal with how people imagine themselves and one another. Today almost all communities people belong to, are too large to allow for direct face to face contact between all its members. Therefore the modes of imagination employed to imagine one's community must somehow be organised via an inbetween mechanism or apparatus (i.e. media in the broadest sense of the word). The set of values and ideas that binds people together in a community necessarily have to become mediated values and ideas. There is nothing new in this, nor is it something pertaining specifically to the formation of the nation state. Someone argued with me after a lecture about this topic that if you would have asked a random inhabitant of Western Europe in the late medieval times to define her or his identity, the most likely response would have been; "Christian", clearly illustrating a grand transnational identity-structure. Even more so, the measure of control over the media that dominated identity discourse then and now is probably quite comparable. The era of electronic media does, however, introduce a new dimension of speed to this process; a fatal acceleration towards the immediate. Location of Memory: Where is the memory of a culture, of a society located? Principally in the memory objects that hold the traces of the past. As noted before, in a living culture this location is fluid and dynamic. Memory is stored both in material and immaterial forms. A seemingly stable container of cultural memory is the built environment. The streets of cities and villages, the architecture of the buildings, the artefacts that inhabit the living space, they all testify to the persistence of a culture's and a societies' memory. It was hardly a surprise, in retrospect, that an ahistorical, or maybe better anti-historical, cultural movement such as the Italian Futurists hailed the virtues of war to destroy the stifling remains of moulded, bankrupt and corrupted cultural history. The explosive beauty of the modern war machine, ecstatically embraced as a relentlessly powerful tool to break the chains of a suffocating cultural past. The monument as a physical embodiment of community memory, has, of course, always been a focal point for the struggles over cultural memory. Cultural memory is also contained in immaterial form. First of all in language, both in spoken language as well as in its written forms. Orality and speech seem to be imbued with a much more subtle connection to history. Speech, through accent and choice of words is usually connected to a regional origin. Accent and dialect are the regional containers of cultural memory par excellence, they are as much part of the narration of past and present, as the stories they convey. It would be interesting to question if the concept of a nation state is conceivable at all without a writing system? Like the monument, language is an embodiment of community memory, albeit an immaterial one. Language has often become the battle ground for cultural and political conflicts. In part these conflicts revolve around the suppression of a local language or dialect to facilitate the superimposition of a new dominant cultural system. There are also other more hidden forms of assimilation and resistance that can become the object of such clashes. In Estonia, for instance, the suppression of the Estonian language was quite overt during the Soviet occupation of the country. The Estonian language was stripped of its official use-value and relegated to the personal realm. Russian as the new state language (i.e. the language of bureaucracy) took its place. But exactly through this shift from public life to the personal sphere, the threatened national identity and the personal identification of the Estonians became deeply associated with the use of the Estonian language. For them it was particularly shocking that Estonian officials of the Soviet system started to 'Russify' the Estonian language by importing alien language structures from the Russian language into Estonian. One such example was the introductory phrase most Russians would use, saying "I am X, son of Y", which was then also used by these officials when they introduced themselves in Estonian. By most Estonians these subtle modifications of their native language, were felt as a particularly direct assault on the sovereignty of this last personal sphere. Music is another strong container of culturally specific memory structures, like rhyme, its formal characteristics ensure a pertinence from one generation to the next beyond and outside of a writing system. In a larger sense, aesthetic and formal design principles are the immaterial principles that structure the awareness of the viewer about the cultural significance of individual objects, even if no explicit story is connected to them. Obviously there are countless art objects and use objects that physically embody these principles, but it seems that their "narration" determines their meaning in a living culture. Cultural memory in these instances is located principally in our heads, rather than in the memory objects themselves. Today, this memory function is increasingly organised via the media system, of print, electric, electronic and digital media. This media system has become increasingly integrated, both through technological developments (such as digitalisation), and because of economic integration (mergers and concentration in the media-industries). This integrated media system internalises the main functions of cultural memory, it becomes its principal 'location'. It acts as a documentation system, of current as well as past events. The latter by making use of continuous references to that past with historical media documents. The integrated media-space also acts as a system of symbolic representation; of individuals that represent power (political leadership) or spiritual values (religious leaders), or simply by setting an artistic or interpretative agenda. What the media system is particularly good at is the creation of collective narratives. TV so far champions this function as Marshall McLuhan already rightfully observed in the mid-sixties, reflecting on the TV coverage of the Kennedy funeral. McLuhan writes: "Kennedy was an excellent TV image. With TV, Kennedy found it natural to involve the nation in the office of the Presidency, both as an operation and as an image. TV reaches out for the corporate attributes of office. Potentially, it can transform the Presidency into a monarchistic dynasty. A merely elective Presidency scarcely affords the depth of dedication and commitment demanded by the TV form." [2] (...)"Perhaps it was the Kennedy funeral that most strongly impressed the audience with the power of TV to invest an occasion with the character of corporate participation. No national event except in sports has ever had such coverage or such an audience. It revealed the unrivalled power of TV to achieve involvement in a complex process. The funeral as a corporate process caused even the image of sport to pale and dwindle into punny proportions. The Kennedy funeral, in short, manifested the power of TV to involve an entire population in a ritual process." [3] Quite recently this enormous power of TV to integrate a public of billions into a collective act of cognitive processing in depth was again strikingly illustrated. First by the televised wedding of Princess Diana, but most of all by the almost global live coverage of her funeral, following her tragic death. In the process of the televisual rendition of a royal fairy tale-turned-nightmare, Princess Di became a purely symbolical embodiment of community values and aspirations, making her no more real than Delacroix's liberty, leading the people. Commodification of cultural memory in the information age The European Union has identified Europe's cultural heritage as its greatest 'info-asset' for the information economy of the future. It has engaged in a scheme for offering multimedia access to Europe's cultural heritage as a business opportunity. Given that the core of the future information economy is information goods, and given that there is a particular interest in rich "content" for the information and communication structures of the "emerging information society", the EU has declared the commercial exploitation of multi-media access to the cultural heritage of Europe the highest aim of its funding programs in this field. Through a "Memorandum of Understanding" and the establishment of "co-operation frameworks" such as MEDICI (Multi Media Access to Europe's Cultural Heritage), this new market sector (cultural content industries) is actively encouraged. The notion of culture as public domain does not seem to have been a consideration when these policies were developed. Even less so does this policy-framework open up any spaces for critical debate. This failed opportunity may in part be understood as a reluctance on the part of the European Union to give itself a cultural definition, given the great diversity of cultural identities within its (expanding) territory. It is, however, problematic that in a period of European integration, the EU is not willing or able to create a space for critical debate about the urgent questions of the new cultural formations in Europe. Together with the lack of democratic substance the European Union has become an abstract and alienated technocratic and bureaucratic structure, that affords little opportunity for identification to its 'citizens'. Uncritical Regionalism Boris Groys has pointed out a more subtle form of commodification of cultural memory. It starts with a strong anti-modern resentment, which is particularly notable in the countries of the "former East" of Europe. Groys notes that modern art does indeed negate the old cultural identities and their perceived historical unicity, originality and authenticity. The defenders of national identity do not appreciate that, but also the "international visitor of the virtual museum of identities", who has no wish to be confused by ambiguous signs, has no appreciation for it. This postmodern cultural tourist, lost in the decontextualised societies of spectacles and ubiquitous consumerism, is looking for a lost cultural authenticity which she/he hopes to find in the revival of pre-modern identity and sentiment, particularly in 'the former East'. "The global, postmodern, flâneur, lacking a clear definition of identity, is certainly sceptical about any claim to a universal truth. But it is exactly this fundamental scepticism that allows the acceptance of any other point of view, as long as it understands itself as regional and does not claim universal validity", Groys writes. This attitude results in an unpleasant complicity of a reactionary regionalism and the international cultural tourist industry, where even certain cultural fundamentalisms are uncritically accepted, as long as they manifest their claims to an absolute truth on a regional plane. [4] Although Groys acknowledges the museum as a typically modern institution, isolating objects from the specific historical and socio-political context in which they operate, the "museified gaze" of the repressive politics of identity and the international cultural tourist are for him bound together with the museum into a single system. Certain specified memory-objects are charged with meaning by these actors, much in the same way as the museum carefully enacts their display into a coherent narration, to create the deeply desired illusion of a stable identity. The regional fundamentalist' dictator is thus seen as a somewhat hyper active, but nonetheless sympathetic kind of curator. [5] A last defence outpost of difference in an ocean of negated signs. Perversion of memory "Nobody, either now or in the future, has the right to beat you!" In the Balkans, where Europe is at its deepest, the battles over identity and memory are the most severe. The clashes over history, territory, belonging, language and religious identity have a traditionally violent character and are linked with some of most tragic chapters of European history. In the wake of European integration and the emergence of globalisation the regional fundamentalist wars seem to have reached an unprecedented level of intensity and destructiveness. In March 1989, the Slovenian art collective NSK (Neue Slovenische Kunst) / Laibach staged a chilling performance in Belgrade, called "Lecture", which was to pre-figure the terrible events to follow. The performance also revealed the dangerous character of one of the most sad perversions of cultural memory of recent history. In the NSK 'lecture' parts of appropriated speeches by the nationalist Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbles, and the architect of British pre-worldwar II appeasement politics Richard Chamberlain, provided the elements of an explosive mixture. Three months later, Slobodan Milosevic would speak in almost the exact same words on Kosovo Polje, the Field of Black Birds, commemorating the 600th anniversary of the Serbs' defeat at the hands of the Ottoman Turk Empire in 1389 on that very "field of black birds". [6] At this occasion Milosevic used his famous words 'nobody has the right to beat you', referring to the growing animosities between the Serb and Albanian population of Kosovo. Both ethnic groups disputed their contesting historical claims over the territory of Kosovo. The Serbs stressed their long lived cultural roots in the Kosovar soil, exemplified by the many cultural heritage sites consisting of medieval churches, monasteries and Serbian dominated cities and villages. The Albanians on their part stressed their decendance of the ancient Illyrians, a people who are believed to have occupied the Balkans some time before the ancient Greeks - and 1,000 years before the Slavs. In the nationalist rhetoric of the Milosevic regime the cultural heritage sites of Kosovo, such as the famous monastries of Zica, Decani, and Vansjka, were functionalised to serve a sinister political program. Kosovo was declared the cradle of Serbian culture and the Serbian nation, a theory that had been very popular since the days of the Serbian nationalist of the late 19th century. It had been this nationalist movement that managed to shake of Ottoman rule finally in 1878, after 500 years of occupation. By portraying the cradle of the proud Serbian nation under threat, the right and the need for its territorial defence and ethnic purification was created by the Milosevic regime. In the ten years this regime has ruled the remains of the former Yugoslavia, it never failed to recognise the importance of the media and the TV in particular. Perhaps Milosevic had read McLuhan with more than an absent minded interest. He and his advisors knew very well how the TV could be employed to create the collective narratives needed to justify his nationalist and ethnically hyper-violent politics, and how to motivate the Serbian people to engage in action. TV according to McLuhan is a cold medium, it involves in deep cognitive processing, but does not excite the viewer. If this is true, then the motivation of the viewer towards action of required more than the simple exposure to a blatant political message. Goebbles already noted that propaganda requires the creation of an 'optimum anxiety level'; a feeling of threat and unrest that should, however, not transgress the boundaries of panic. In Serbia the feeling of constant threat was created by the Milosevic regime in various ways. On state-television a relentless campaign, using the horrific images of forced baptism of orthodox Serbs in Croatian worldwar II death camps hammered home the message of the luring dangers next door. The reports of international criticism reinforced the feelings of being under siege of practically the rest of the world, while mythic stories of the partisan achievements helped to boost moral. In this gruesome media-mix the evening news became the focal point of a national mania, a nation wide brainwash that slowly but surely prepared the grounds for war. When considering the various contesting claims about history, territory, language and religion, within the terrain of the former Yugoslavia, the current two dimensional maps of the international 'peace' brokering agencies seem hopelessly beside the point. When these claims, Croatian, Serbian, Muslim, (or possibly even Austro Hungarian), are projected individually onto this terrain, virtually identical maps emerge. Each of these maps would more or less cover the entire terrain of the former Yugoslavia. This layering of contesting claims and identities over the disputed territory is what constitutes the depth of the Balkans and marks its tragedy. Only a three-dimensional map of the terrain of the former Yugoslavia can therefore properly explain the complexity of its cultural history. It is also clear, therefore, that within the current two-dimensional logic of the international peace-brokering agencies, the conflicts on the Balkans cannot be resolved. Access to cultural memory and participatory identity construction In his book "The Rise of the Network Society", Manuel Castells, analyses the rise of two diverging spatial logics. One of these spatial logics is close to what we customarily think of when considering the concept of physical space. Castells calls it the 'space of place'. In this spatial logic, experience is located in an embodied existence, here and now. But this experience is heightened, and to some extent estranged, by the emergence of a second spatial logic, which, although connected to the first, seems to evolve outside of the control of the vast majority of the earth's inhabitants; the 'space of flows'. The space of flows consists of the countless disembodied informational and economic interactions within the world's information and communication networks, and is quickly becoming the prime locus of economic power and material wealth. Given the profound impact the new configurations of the space of flows increasingly will have on most peoples lives, Castells is deeply concerned about the divergence of these two spatial logics. During the preparatory discussions for the program of the third Next 5 Minutes conference on Tactical Media in Amsterdam (march 1999), David Garcia, one of the co-editors on our team felt the need to respond to Castells' call for action. Garcia: (...) I believe we must create a more consciously dialectical relationship between these two realms, (which Manuel Castells describes as the Space of Flows and the Space of Place) because (with Castells) if they are allowed to diverge to widely, if cultural and physical bridges are not built between these two spatial logic's we may be heading (we may already be there) towards life in two parallel universes "whose times cannot meet because they are warped into different dimensions of hyper space". (...) I believe that one such bridge or entry point may lie in notions of reclaiming memory through re-imagining the public monument. I still believe that any broad discussion about the public domain can not be separated from the physical embodiments of community memory in the form of public monuments. "The model here is that of the city (the polis) in classical antiquity, and the stress is the memorable action of the citizen, as it publicly endures in narrative". Public narrative is an activating principle. Memory is never constructed solely for its own sake: It structures the relationship between past and present to formulate a plan for future action. Disputes about public narratives, in the Space of Place are traditionally negotiated non-violently through democratic participation, both in the act of creating memory and the formulation of plans for future action, as well as their continuous revision. The new networked space of flows requires a similar democratic participation, or public access. More importantly, the new space of networked communications still holds a promise and a more profound potential for public participation than the accustomed modes of participatory decision making. It transcends the limitations of the regional focus of the embodied space of place, but it also decenters the media control over the completely centralised structures of broadcast media (radio and TV). Paradoxically the new Space of Flows simultaneously holds the potential of absolute transparency, making every single operation within the informational environment perfectly traceable. At which point it threatens to become a space of absolute control and observation - the ultimate instrument of authoritarianism. The decentralised media and communications model that the Internet introduced in the beginning of the nineties, is dissipating quickly under the pressures of commercialisation, and (even worse) government control over 'harmful content'. Still the best chance for avoiding the dangerous manipulation of memory by an increasingly sophisticated medialised propaganda machine, is the radical opening of the media-landscape for a multiplicity of uses. This consciously opened mediascape will constitute an integrated electronic space of flows, where countless people will engage in the participatory construction of memories and identities, simply by creating their own heterogeneous messages... Momentarily, three competing models for the future media landscape circulate; a model of complete centralised control, countered by the model of complete privatisation and market regulation, and thirdly the model of the networked public sphere. None of these models are self-evident or inevitable outcomes of the current phase of transformation the networked communication system is going through. Their instigation is a matter of choice, of clear real-world interests, and of policy. These choices are part of a fundamental political struggle, whose outcome will determine whether the new space of flows will be as experientally empty as the technocratic structures of the EU, or whether it can offer the spaces of identification and multiplicity that Europe as a whole at least, so blatantly lacks at the moment. Epilogue: Liberate the wires - Free the ether - Give us Bandwidth! Bandwidth is a technical term. It refers to the information transfer rate of an electronic communications system. In social and political terms it embodies the question of access to the international communications networks, in particular to digital networks such as the Internet. The Bandwidth Campaign, which was held as part of the Hybrid Workspace temporary media laboratory at documenta X in Kassel, centred on the demand for a more equal distribution of bandwidth across the earth and within society. It made a radical demand for the creation of structures for public bandwidth to accommodate a host of participatory functions. In the best traditions of the modern art of political propaganda a set of unambiguous slogans was created. A selection of these slogans completes my journey for now... Bandwidth is the power to speak Bandwidth is the ability to assert yourself Bandwidth is the Power of Access Access to information and communication should be a fundamental democratic right, for all citizens of the world We want bandwidth now! ---- Notes: ---- 0 - distilled from the song "War" by Henry Cow (Anthony Moore / Peter Belgvad), 1974. 1 - I paraphrase Volker Grassmuck here from his text "The Living Museum", which has been an invaluable source of references. The text can be found at: http://www.race.u-tokyo.ac.jp/RACE/TGM/Texts/Museum/museum.html Grassmuck refers in his text to: Jan Assmann, "Das kulturelle Gedächtnis. Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen", Beck, München, 1997. 2 - Marshall McLuhan, "Understanding Media - The Extensions of Man", 1964, cited from Routledge, London, 1994, p. 336 3 - ibid, p. 337 4 - Boris Groys, "Logik der Sammlung", Carl Hanser Verlag, München, 1997, pp. 52-53. 5 - ibid, p. 54 6 - "Kosovo" in Serbian means "black bird" Eric Kluitenberg, Amsterdam, July 1999. 9.0 nettime: report from belgrad Geert Lovink nettime-l@desk.nl Tue, 26 Nov 1996 09:16:53 +0100 (MET) >From drazen {AT} opennet.org Mon Nov 25 23:36:58 1996 Time for justice! The second round of municipal elections in Serbia turned out in something nobody could expect. After triumphal victory on the federal level for ruling party and its satellites, local municipal elections in their second (and it should be) final round showed totally different picture. In 15 of 18 major sites in Serbia ruling party of Slobodan Milosevich suffered great losses, and opposition coalition "Together" took vast majority of votes. In some cities, like Belgrade, opposition took more then 90% of votes and it turned out to be disastrous debacle for Slobodan Milosevich. The results of elections imply that the opposition should take total control of all major industrial cities in Serbia. So, after urban population showed its will, the ruling party and its infrastructure of corrupt judges and courts has denied the results of elections, due to "irregularities". So they cancelled results of elections in almost all places where they were in minority and called for a third round that should take place on Wednesday. (For example in Belgrade opposition took 70 mandates of 120, but after "legal intervention" the number was lowered to 27!) All that caused revolt of people all around Serbia, so huge protests on the streets of cities started. Today is the sixth day of protests, and only in Belgrade more then 200 000 people protested for more then six hours in a very cold winter day. Every day at 15:00 protests start, and people peacefully express their claims so that their will should be respected. Today students from Belgrade University entered into the protest and claimed that they will not go back to classrooms until the government does not obey the results of elections. The radio B92 is the only electronic independent medium in Belgrade and is the only source of reliable information. During regular protest routine, demonstrants go every day in front of regime's TV station and newspapers and express their revolt and at the end of march they come in front of B92 and show their gratitude for the incredible effort and enthusiasm of B92 journalists. On several occasions we expected that police will step in and close the radio (as well as its Internet department) but happily we are operational so far. Nobody could predict how and when this will end. Both sides are firmly on their standpoints. People want justice for their free political will and Milosevich does not want to lose even tiny bit of its ruling power. Until now everything went without incidents, and everybody expects it will stay that way. But, the tension is rising every day, as well as the number of demonstants on the streets. Hopping that justice will win in the end Drazen Pantic 9.1 Re: nettime: report from belgrad Armin Medosch nettime-l@desk.nl Tue, 26 Nov 1996 15:13:27 +0100 Hello nettimers, I am really glad about this report from Belgrade, especially since the big german newspapers donŤt write about it. Today in "Sueddeutsche Zeitung", which is the biggest "quality" newspaper in Germany there was only a ten line article. Titled "Biggest demonstrations against Milosevic since 1991" it writes in a very vague way about the whole thing, letting it look like some students demonstrations. Also the manipulation of election results by the government are not reported as fact but as "said to be". On the same page there is a rather big article about former Turkish President Ylmaz being beaten on his nose in Hungary. For me this shows that "Western Democratic Media" are not really that democratic or that free, but rather selective. Disinformation can also be created by focusing on some topics and on others not. I donŤt understand, why big Western media like Sueddeutsche Zeitung donŤt report in big style about the struggle of Serbian people against anit-democrat powers, but probably they have some reason. Also the media in Germany didnŤt complain much about Tudjman ignoring/suppressing the results of the Zagreb elections. So maybe the reason is that the Germans want the Serbians always look like the bad guys. A self-conscious peopleŤs revolt doesnŤt fit into that picture maybe. Or there are any strange deals with Milosevic behind the scene. The same journal Sueddeutsche Zeitung also didnŤt report any background information about the riots in Indonesia that summer. All you got to know was, that there is an opposition and ther was some fighting, how many people were injured or killed and taken to prison and that most of them (?!?) were released from jail a few days later. But it was never told that the father of the opposition leader was a democratically elected President who was overthrown by a military coup by the now still governing dictator and that this action was supported by the CIA and could happen while the world was fixated on the war in Palaestina in 67 (source: Noam Chomsky, Power and Economy). Without this background nobody could know how bad it was for the opposition that the daughter of the former president can now not be a candidate for the elections next year in Indonesia because she was removed from the head of the only opposition party through this government intervention. At the same time Indonesia is considered a "very interesting market" and German companies like Telekom and Siemens are doing very good business there. The German state itself sold between 20 and 30 military landing boats (from former East German Navy) to Indonesia. These boats are ideally fitting for invasions of Islands like East-Timor (but this is not the only suppressed region in Indonesia) because they can call at sandy beaches and spit out light tanks and armed troops trhough a front hatch. Also these boats are extremely fast, making 60 knots. When the German Government was attacked by (not too many) journalists about the sale of these boats they defended themselves by saying that all weapons were dismantled from the boats. Anyway its easy to install new weapons and better ones then the outdated east german/russian rocket throwers. So what Chomsky says in "Power and Economy", that bringing democracy to the world is not really the goal of the West, can be found true in the case of Indonesia. It seems to be more interesting for the West to have a strange kind of "stability" even if this means to support totalitarian regimes, because this stability - which is often a stability of graveyards - protects Western investments. The role of media - and not just the real cheap mass media but also the so called quality newspapers - seems to be to find excuses for the acting of governments and multinationals and to spread disinformation by leading the attention of people in the own country to other topics at a given moment. These are examples for information controll, not totalitarian controll but self controll of capitalist newspapers (or is there a state influence that we cant see). It is something that makes me very angry for a long time also because it is so hard to proof how these things are done purposely. Without well recherched backgrounds it often stays very nebulous what is really going on. So I have no clue why German mass media are not reporting about what happens in Serbia right now. Maybe somebody can help me. Armin Medosch 10.0 [spectre] where is deep europe? Andreas Broeckmann spectre@mikrolisten.de Thu, 15 Nov 2001 13:57:29 +0200 here is an excerpt from a text that i wrote in 1997 for the third ostranenie catalogue; i think it clarifies at least my understanding of the notion 'deep europe': For the Syndicate workshop at the Hybrid WorkSpace during the documenta X in Kassel we chose the title "Deep Europe". We were looking for a term that was neither East- nor West-specific, that carried some of the historical baggage of the notion of Europe, and that was at the same time strange enough to be easily understood as ironic. It was an experimental title that turned out to be an interesting focus for thinking about the context of our work. In the end, Luchezar Boyadijev's (Sofia) reading of 'Deep Europe' was accepted by most participants: 'The notion is a metaphor which could be problematic. In the logic of this metaphor, deepness or depth is where there are a lot of overlapping identities of various people. Overlapping in terms of claims over certain historical past, or certain events or certain historical figures or even territories in some cases. It could also be claims over language or alphabet, it could be anything. Europe is deepest, where there are a lot of overlapping identities.' This mapping of culture and of the depth of identities onto the mental and physical geography stands not in contradiction to, but is a condition of the work that is being done in electronically networked translocal environments equipped with all sorts of telematic gear. After the workshop, Branka Milicic Davic wrote: 'what is deep europe? is it real? is it safe? my answer is - yes. deep europe is real. it exists. i do not need visa to be there, i do not need an invitation letter to be there, i can simply sit and think and i am there - in the land without borders, policemen, elections, president, government.... where no radio or TV station will be banned... whose citizens are speaking different languages without shame... and lot more. deep europe is my homeland, my private mental space, which i share with others. deep europe recognizes words like exchanging, sharing, growing. and that's why i believe deep europe exists. because i went there, and i can go there whenever i wish. to exchange, share, grow and understand.' On the surface, the Syndicate is an informal network and an 'intercom' system for people in the media art community in Europe and beyond. At the same time, this inter-communication effects a re-mapping of cultural and mental territories that transcends the political, religious and territorial separations which we regard as a temporary nuisance, rather than as the last word on this imagined continent/container. Lisa Haskel (London) concludes her Deep European 'letter from home': 'So perhaps, this is what Deep Europe is all about. Not a political position, a utopia or a manifesto, but rather a digging, excavating, tunnelling process toward greater understanding and connection, but which fully recognises different starting points and possible directions: a collaborative process with a shared desire for making connection. There may be hold-ups and some frustrations, quite a bit of hard work is required, but we can perhaps be aided by some machinery. The result is a channel for exchange for use by both ourselves and others with common aims and interests.' http://www.v2.nl/east/archive/deep_europe/