In the world today nothing is far or near anymore. Being abroad no longer means being away from ‘home’. The ideas of identity and belonging have shifted as we move into fast growing globalization and technological advancements. My work reflects upon these questions and brings the idea of ‘home’ to Nomadism that denies the dream of a homeland with the result that home, being portable, is available, everywhere. John Berger said: “Home is represented not by a house, but by a practice or set of practices. Everyone has his own.”¹ And I have developed my own.

In 2001 I covered an entire room in my Montreal apartment with multiple layers of rubber latex. Once set, I peeled the surface off and ended up with a transportable ‘skin’ containing original mouldings, cracks but also other remains like dirt and hair. Later on, an external support structure with multiple in-between pieces holding two layers together was added so the room could be inflated. Presented in the larger gallery space the sculpture created a two-folded viewing situation allowing the visitor to look at the exterior structure of ‘a room within a room’, as well as to enter into it to experience the whimsical and unsettling space inside. Inside Out gives the illusion of ‘stability’ and ‘comfort’ but in the air-inflated room there is nothing to catch onto when losing one’s balance and part of people’s experience entering the room was falling over. If you weren’t careful you would hit the floor. Three years later, in 2004, I took my inflatable room on a cross Canada trip (Montreal/Vancouver/Montreal). For a period of one month (September/October) I travelled in a van carrying the inflatable room and set it up at different urban (local parks, underground abandoned basements, private and public backyards, unoccupied buildings, street corners) and rural (parks, campsites, abandoned villages, no man’s land) locations across the country in an attempt to live out of it. In the Travelling with my inflatable room video, produced based on the documentation of this process, I combined my personal experiences of displacement with the history of North America, and through the enduring relation with the most unpractical ‘tent’ that involved getting up every two hours to re-inflate so it wouldn’t collapse and suffocate me, reflected on the elements of human and technological failure and vulnerabilities.

photos: Ana Rewakowicz, Travelling with my inflatable room, 2005, video stills.
© Ana Rewakowicz

According to the seventh generation philosophy of the Native American Iroquois Confederacy, chiefs have to always consider the effects of their actions on their descendants through the seventh generation in the future. In the “Nomadology: The War Machine”, Gilles Deleuze said that nomads are nomads because they refuse to leave; they bring something from elsewhere and take something with them but they do not leave.² “The end of job for life, of the welfare state, the erosion of national boundaries and international competition all lead to a life of uncertainty and risks. The modern person has to re-learn to be active in a moving world.”³

Imagine yourself stripped to the bare minimum, where all you need is a room you can carry in your pocket and inflate wherever you go. “Living with less” and “the possibility of having it all without having a thing”⁴ are the notions that stand behind Martin Ruiz de Azua’s (Barcelona-based artist and designer) Basic House project produced in 1998.⁵ Or imagine travelling through unknown lands, through cities and natural reserves, without relying on overbooked hotel-rooms, intricate tent-structures, or camping sites, where you can trek around the globe fully ‘off-the-grid’ and independently.

photos: Martin Ruiz de Azua, Basic House, 1998.
© Martin Ruiz de Azua

Expanding on Archigram’s concept of ‘clothing for living in’, the SleepingBagDress prototype consists of a multipurpose kimono-dress that when inflated changes into a cylindrical container inhabitable by one or two people and is part of the larger research and development Dressware project that evolves around the idea of clothing as portable architecture in ‘you never know WEAR ?’ situations of local and global emergencies. Considering how our lives have become multi-dimensional and multi-demanding, this work attempts to comment on global uncertainties and the relation between technology and everyday life. The SleepingBagDress prototype looks at the portability and self-sustainability of a wearable cell, comfortable as both, a dress and a temporary shelter and operates on a small computer fan powered by NiMH batteries that are then in return charged by a solar panel incorporated into the dress itself. The SleepingBagDress prototype has been used in walking performances and public interventions in Mexico City, Toulouse, Brussels and, as part of the International Symposium of Electronic Art (ISEA 2004), in Tallinn (Estonia). In Mexico City I took individual appointments with different people to go to their favourite places in the city in order to occupy them in my dress. Inside, I conducted short interviews, collecting personal stories about these places and people’s idea of belonging in a language of their choice. The idea of a portable home brought forward a variety of questions about social relations and different ways in which we relate to each other ; be it to our ‘self’, a neighbour, a family, a community or a foreigner. Inside a gallery space, the video documentation from these interventions was projected into a large-scale replica of the sleeping bag dress cylinder and viewers were able to enter the inflatable structure, comfortably lie down and remotely select different parts of the 24-minute footage.

Above left : Ana Rewakowicz, SleepingBagDress prototype (Brussels), 2003-2004.
Above right and below : Ana Rewakowicz, SleepingBagDress prototype (Tallinn), 2003-2004.
photos : Maja Kuzmanovic

Basic House and SleepingBagDress are not about practical solutions as it wouldn’t be so comfortable to sleep on nothing more than a thin piece of foil that could easily rip or there is the likelihood of running out of oxygen inside the SleepingBagDress prototype. Their intent is to re-think attitudes towards the concept of living and comfort and bring attention to the issues of what kind of effect modern day mobility has on culture and society, and on our understanding of place and experience of public space. Perhaps if it wouldn’t be so ‘comfortable’ or ‘easy’ we wouldn’t be so interested in mobility today?

In Uniblow Outfits, made from double layers of rubber latex, people have to walk in order to inflate themselves using foot-pump shoes. But with each step, walking becomes harder as the inner layer of rubber latex squeezes the body and restricts its movement. The more inflated you become, the less flexibility you have. In the Protected video piece people struggle walking up the hill in a park. There are cars passing by and birds flying away but nothing else happens, only the monotonous sound of foot-pumps and an isolated image of two people supporting each other in their awkward gestures remains.

Ana Rewakowicz, Protected, 2002, video still.

Stability is what created the greatness of all ancient civilizations we admire. It is their remains of buildings, monuments and objects that we study and not the cultures of nomadic tribes we call ‘barbarians’.⁶ Entering the 21st century are we still concerned with what is going to stay behind, or are we ready to evaluate our attitudes and needs for mobility in a society of airspace travels and global warming?

In the winter of 2005, in collaboration with Steve Topping, a parabolic in shape inflatable structure was constructed and used as a form for the build-up of ice. A spray of mist, from the low-pressure nozzles inserted into the inflatable and supported from the inside by an infrastructure of flexible tubing, allowed for a natural formation of ice on the surface. Water pumped directly from the canal was used for the ice-build-up. When the ice layer was shaped (overnight 8-10 hours) the form was deflated, taken out and moved to a new location in order to start the process again, leaving a transparent ice-shell behind that would eventually disappear.

Ana Rewakowicz, Ice Domes, 2005.
photo : Ana Rewakowicz

But who ‘moves’ and travels? And why? Is it a businessman or a trendy teen equipped with electronic devices, or an artist looking for a new (different) cultural inspiration, or an immigrant who looks for means to provide a better living, or a refugee escaping a political regime, or a hobo? What is the cost of a mobile lifestyle today? How can we bridge the comfortable and pleasing expectations of the privileged with the necessity of underprivileged? How can we link the opposing sides?

The Green Line project that took place in Helsinki (Finland) last December (2006), involved experimentation with an inflatable line stretching over water from the Lauttasaari island toward the Cable Factory on the mainland that visually represented a link (a second bridge) from one side to another. The Green Line project was a proposition of landscape drawings with inflatable lines made from the biodegradable material Bioska developed and produced by the Finnish company Plastiroll Oy, and was inspired by my daily bike trips between Espoo and Helsinki over the Lauttasaari bridge that stood for the mid point of my journey and gave me a particular sense of being ‘there’, either in Helsinki or Tapiola depending on the direction of travel. Similarly, the half-kilometer line I attempted to create was a mid point of distance measured in kilometers. Interestingly the line didn’t inflate in a straight line; it twisted and turned just as human relations do.

Ana Rewakowicz, Green Line, 2006.
photos : Kalle Hamm

We look towards technology with the expectation of providing solutions and changing the environment for us. But perhaps before producing more technologically advanced and pleasing gadgets that we then have to figure out how to depose of, we should think about changing our cultural and social attitudes toward living. I find it interesting that in the light of globalization and mobility, when we are concerned with the environment, global warming and population growth, we still desire so much solidity and material preservation!⁷

The 20th century utopias received a bad rap by the post-modern skepticism that set in as of the 1970’s but interestingly enough, utopia from the Greek words ‘ou’ – “no” and ‘topos’ – place or land means ‘no-place’ or ‘no-land’. And I believe that we still need a little bit of utopia and vision to progress and we as artists and designers have an important role to make: we can harmonize aesthetic aspects with technical, economic and social issues and play an important role in the social and cultural future. Because if we leave engineers, IT experts or marketing strategists to handle technologies on their own, all what we might end up with is a pragmatic realization of what is technically feasible and economically desirable.

Footnotes:

[1] John Berger, And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos (London: Writers and Readers, 1984), p. 64

[2] “Nomads naturally resist any authority that undermines their freedom of movement. The sedentary naturally represses his nomadic tendencies because they bring instability. Nomadism undermines the structural stability of sedentary society.” – www.nomadology.com/conflicts.html

[3] www.nomadology.com/present.html

[4] Courtenay Smith and Sean Topham, Xtreme Houses (Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 2002), p.152.

[5] Basic House was made from a reversible metalized polyester film developed but never commercially produced by the Paï Thio Company.

[6] Courtenay Smith and Sean Topham, Xtreme Houses (Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 2002), p.9.

[7] Abundance of cheap goods only produces more garbage.

Bibliography :

John Berger, And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos (London: Writers and Readers, 1984).

Courtenay Smith and Sean Topham, Xtreme Houses (Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 2002).

Sean Topham, Blowup (Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 2002).

Gilles Deleuze, Nomadology: The War Machine (A K Pr Distribution; New Ed edition, July 1994).

www.nomadology.com

Bio :
Ana Rewakowicz (www.rewana.com) is a Polish-born, Ukrainian artist and researcher living in Montréal, Canada. She works with inflatables and explores relations between temporal, portable architecture, the body and the environment. Her inflatable clothes, site-specific installations and public interventions have been exhibited and experienced nationally and internationally in Mexico, France, Belgium, Estonia, Scotland, Bulgaria, Germany, Netherlands and Finland. Recent solo exhibitions include Dressware and other inflatables at the Foreman Art Gallery at Bishop’s University, Canada (2006), A modern-day nomad who moves as she pleases at Plein Sud, Canada (2005) and Ice Dome Project on the Lachine Canal in Montréal (2005). Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Germany (2006), Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2005) and ISEA 2004 (Tallinn, Estonia). Presently she is researching and developing the SR-Hab (Socially responsive habitat) project.

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I originally wrote this text in 1999 and it was published by the Herland Film and Video Festival in Calgary for their festival program. Since 1996 I have been researching how digital technologies are altering our movement in the world. I have been concentrating on issues of embodiment and presence because of the virtual, simulationist and / or ‘deluding’ quality of digital technocracy – what does it mean to be bodily present ? In many cases, it just means being awake and alive to what is happening right here and now. And being alive and awake means experiencing fully all phenomena of feeling, joy / suffering, in what we bear witness to, are active, organize, and take responsibility for.

In 2007, we remain with many of the questions I had in 1999 and in this light, we can ask what is progress and how are we mobile / immobilized in relation specific conditions of progress. My belief is we cannot have progress — radical revolution where each of us are liberated and empowered equally — without first crucially correcting the structural and epistemological bad habits / bad behaviour we have inherited from Colonialism, empire building, racism, Orientalism, industrialization, feudalism, Patriarchy and their desires for wholesale possession (possession of other lands, other people, wives, objects, wealth, immortality, etc.)

The theme of this issue of dpi8 : mobility can be considered in this text as referring to numerous things. When I talk about digital perception altering our movement in the world, I mean movement in all senses – not only in how we walk, talk, sleep, kiss, fuck ; but also in what informs that movement ? By informs, I do not mean this literally that we log onto the internet to learn how to kiss, but I mean it semiotically in context and relation to how Roland Barthes would read a Lover’s Discourse. It is a skill of reading language, structure, phenomenology and epistemology to interpret what is happening in every moment, at the speed and fleeting mobility of the virtual, so as to respond with presence and embodied being.

This text touches only a few issues I find of importance and curiosity. It is an earlier text in my research and thus it deals with fundamental contextual issues written from a view of one who uses technology while can also happily abandon it. For this version, I have mainly updated my sources and references, saddened to see the acceleration that has occurred, but relieved to know that political, social and environmental activism of specific issues is now less invisible, undermined and/or marginalized.

http://news.bbc.co.uk

What is information?
“Even though information provides the basis for much of contemporary society, it is never present in itself.“
N. Katherine Hayles [1]

I am reminded regularly that we live in an Age of Information. This news always makes me feel nervous as I try ‘to put my finger on it’, to pin information down, to figure out how it provides the basis for what I do and know…

This inability to pin it down triggers unpleasant memories for me. Memories of bureaucratic evasions and/or withheld information in the colony [2] where I grew up. Memories of control the white apartheid government had over other races for whom there were intricate laws keeping everyone in place. Memories of the propaganda and disinformation that was regularly churned out so as to locate and arrest those active against the regime and to discourage many from joining the liberation movement. This too was an information society.

Culturally, I am told, we are in a “critical transition”³ — a movement of values inherited from an industrialized, tactile culture shifted to an information, digital, culture. I can see how a tool such as my pencil becomes obsolete when I transfer my activity of writing to the language-based system of the digital computer. I can also see how sitting here at this ubiquitously homogenous keyboard, monitor and mouse where I can do virtually anything — write, make movies, send communications, shop, bank, have relationships, make music, draw, paint, etc. — that I’ll still be sitting here without having had any variation of tools to use or of geographic experiences or of direct human interactions. My body remains sedentary and stationary, patient and waiting, while my brain, hands and eyes are active. It is an epistemological shift that changes how our lives are led, how we express ourselves and how we produce cultural meaning. It changes what we know of movement itself – we assume we have become a more cosmopolitan and mobile culture with our cell phones and blueberries. Yet it is also an homogenization of experience and dependency where without fail you can look to any person on the street and see whenever they have a moment they are checking their cell phone or any other digital prosthetic. When I see this, I see how much time it wastes, how much wonder it wastes, how desperate the activity has become, how essentially lonely it is.

In this, I’ve wondered not only to what extent the tool shapes us, but also how the tool shapes the task [4] predetermining what is expressed.

© BASEL ACTION NETWORK

In relation to our economic and political environment, we can read this shift as a change of value systems at the end of late-capitalism. The transition becomes one from production through mechanized industry to production through language-based information. What this means is that many ‘objects’ become translatable into language-based codes. This is what the ‘digital’ does. Before, we could hold a photographic image on paper in our hands. It corresponded with the image we saw when we took the photo. Now we have a disk which holds a digital image built of a coded language. We cannot hold this image in our hands and we cannot see this image unless we have the appropriate media technology. The image does not physically exist. We can only see it when the digital code informs the proper sequence of pixelated lights on our monitor. We all know the feeling when we are unable to open a file on a disk or when a file is corrupted so we cannot access an image. What does this mediation— this dependence on technological prosthetics [5] — do to our sense of self, to perception, creativity and expression? What happens to self-empowerment ?

This is the epistemological shift. It is one where we can have no direct experience of an object when mediated through a digital technology and there is no direct correlation with what we do and the result. For example, hammering on the computer keyboard when writing a letter in anger and the resulting homogenous pre-designed type on the monitor displaying no physical evidence of anger. The visceral and velocity are erased.

© BASEL ACTION NETWORK

From analogue to digital, from tactile to language-based codes, from physical to cerebral, from difference to homogeneity — there is something happening to our perception, to the way we do things, to our value-systems, to consciousness.

For a number of years I have been perplexed by the meaning of our cultural shift. It may have started years ago with acquiring a habit of questioning what is being assumed within a society rooted in instituted racism or sexism. Growing up under apartheid such assumptions were hazardous. Being a Chinese girl in Southern Africa who also happened to be a tomboy, a queer, limits were placed on me by the patriarchal system and the law, yet, I learnt being an outsider enabled me to observe, question and learn creatively within my limitations.

What lies lurking behind information?

In 1989, I realized the impact of information technologies on the lives of Asian and Third World women in the writing of cultural critic Joyce Nelson.⁶ I had never believed that a post-colonialism nor a post-industrialism exists and although most of my work uses computer technology I’ve never fully embraced nor trusted how such technology shapes my perception and consciousness nor how it affects my communities.

From Nelson I learnt of the factory environment of micro-electronic parts workers. Many are women in Asia and they daily endure the extreme cold air conditioning necessary to protect semi-conductor parts. The work of bonding microchips means peering through a microscope for ten hours or more a day to solder gold filaments to circuit boards. This includes working with tin and lead solders that emit highly toxic fumes. The combination of severe eye-strain and daily exposure to toxic solders means that within three years a woman bonding microchips is no longer capable of doing the detailed work. Having earned from one to three US dollars a day — without work security, health/pension benefits nor career alternatives — many women are laid off by the age of thirty as they cannot continue due to failing health from unsafe and toxic working conditions. It is estimated that within fifteen years some six million third world women under the age of thirty have been used and discarded by these multinational employers .⁷ These were statistics from the 1980s. Even though such statistics are increasingly available because of organized labour such as the Asia Monitor Resource Center based in Hong Kong,⁸ increased international solidarity between environmental and labour movements in the East and West, and heightened awareness of health issues around technological industries, environmental wastes and health ergonomics, not much has changed in relation to who makes these components and who suffers the effect of its obvious pollutions – women, children and the poor of developing nations and in production zones such as in Silicon Valley (see The Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition web site, svtc.etoxics.org/site/PageServer)

http://news.bbc.co.uk

© BASEL ACTION NETWORK

FROM EDWARD BURTYNSKY www.edwardburtynsky.com MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES www.mercuryfilms.ca

Added to this are the ecological costs of micro-electronics. At Intel’s microchip factory which can make 5000 silicon wafers in a week : the production of every single six-inch wafer uses : 3,200 cubic feet of bulk gases, 22 cubic feet of hazardous gases, 2,275 gallons of deionized water, 20 pounds of chemicals, and 285 kilowatt hours of electrical power. And for every single six-inch wafer manufactured, the following wastes are produced : 25 pounds of sodium hydroxide, 2,840 gallons of waste water, and 7 pounds of miscellaneous hazardous wastes. In addition to this, it takes more than 700 compounds to make one computer work station. And then designed for near instantaneous obsolescence, more than twelve million computers (300,000 tons of electronic junk) are disposed of annually. Some of these tons are shipped every year to China to be incinerated producing highly toxic pollution.⁹

Such is post-industrialism. It is where labour practices and the exploitation of natural resources continue in the legacy of industrialization. Production in our post-industrial economy has forged a trajectory producing technologies for global use that can be understood as a logical progression of post-colonialism. Here we find multinational corporate agendas creating ideal manufacturing conditions in third world countries where the use of cheap and expendable labour can be carried out without discovery or burden of conscience. More recently, we find that it is not only in the third world where such practices nor health and environmental risks occur. Cancer clusters and high miscarriage rates have been found among high-tech workers in factories in Scotland and the Silicon Valley, California.¹⁰

I had imagined the computer and information to be clean, to be environmentally friendly. It seems magical how it is contained in its plastic box on my desk not spewing out any malicious fumes like factories of our previous generations. Now I know this is not so. In our contemporary post-colonial legacy of ‘domination’,¹¹ the push towards digitising technologies is intricately linked to questions of power and control [12] : ‘who has it?’, ‘why do we want it?’, ‘at what or whose cost?’

PHOTOS: EDWARD BURTYNSKY www.edwardburtynsky.com

Where did our bodies go?
“We see our brains and our other products impelling us on a historical course of escalating technological domination; that is, we build an alienated relation to nature…
This logic leads to the superiority of the machine and its products and ensures the obsolescence of the body.“
Donna Haraway [13]

Our desire to push beyond our physical, fleshly limit to attain some form of contemporary enlightenment through information has evolved into a sophisticated level of bodily mediation and technologization. This can be witnessed in our methodical, technological movement towards a virtuality where a mathematical paradigm proceeds to make flesh, blood, bone — and the accompanying instinctive and intuition-based capabilities of the senses — insignificant, obsolete, and replaceable by technological parts and apparatus. Some may consider this mobility, others may consider it immobility, the question is not whether or not we are moving, but what are we choosing to move toward both physically and metaphysically ?

Today, information is a prime currency of exchange in its commodification. This can be seen in the increasing value of information-based products such as software, databases, and the production of archives of scientific information such as the Human Genome and the Visible Human Projects.¹⁴

Worst case scenarios are always imaginable with human inventions and some of these scenarios have taken place (Hiroshima ; Three Mile Island ; etc) — and with the Human Genome Project’s possibility of bringing to fruition the unpleasant agendas of eugenics supporters is not far-fetched. Similarly, with the Visible Human Project where with the funding assistance of millions of dollars, two cadavers one of a Maryland housewife, and another of an executed Texan murderer have been sliced into vertical pieces like cheese, millimeters in width, to be scanned and recorded for ‘medical’ purposes. As of 1999, this odd (disempowered) couple, paired together for eternity — the ‘Visible Man’ (an executed convict) and the ‘Visible Woman’ (a ‘housewife’) — were subjected to over 18, 000 slices which were scanned and recorded and to date thousands more have been added. Three-dimensional viewing is available on the World Wide Web confirming for me the weird fetishism found in many uses of imaging technologies.

In this digital world, race, class, gender and sexuality become homogenized. There is no difference. A slice of human will represent a slice of every human. There will be a gradual erasure of any expectation for difference. And in this bland future, we may be unable to discern or have patience for something that just is different.

A pause in the acceleration
As cultural workers and as feminists, how can we offer an alternative vision to create a perception and approach that counters this technological and homogenizing consciousness in which we find ourselves? It is not technology that is the problem. It is the means of production within this system (patriarchal, corporate, military-industrial [15]), its values of greed and exploitation, the disempowering and extinction of many marginalized cultures, the unsustainable depletion of natural resources, the hidden and blatant agendas of multinationals and the military, and, our complacence and acceptance of these conditions that are the problem.

How do we renew our feminist vision with ethics and conviction? As our culture is propelled to turn the physical body into text, it is with conviction that I return to retrieve the physical — the body of woman, the body of the other, the lesbian body, the body of colour, the body of sex — all that is different, uncontrollable, considered unclean, to be hidden – joie de vivre / jouissance. I return to this not merely as a representational vision where I circulate representations of these in the world, but as an embodied (post)structural being active within communities — conscientious of how I tread and mark this earth, conscientious and compassionate toward those around me, paring everything down so as to be present and accountable in every moment.

It is from this contemplative position – aware of the tools I use and the intentionalities of our socio-political constructions for their use – that I encounter a new approach to creativity every time.
L A I W A N 1999 / 2007

Notes:
[1] N. Katherine Hayles, “Virtual Bodies and Flickering Signifiers”, October Magazine, issue 66, Fall 1993, Massachusetts: MIT. p. 70.
[2] “Most people during the nineteenth century were aware that the empire was something of a collective improvisation. In the heyday of the empire the Foreign Office was small and overworked…The work was often done by any educated person, however unqualified, working in whatever department, stationed wherever, who felt he had to do it simply because he was British. These people were painfully aware of the gaps in their knowledge and did their best to fill them in. The filler they liked best was information. From all over the globe the British collected information about the countries they were adding to their map. They surveyed and they mapped. They took censuses, produced statistics. They made vast lists of birds. Then they showed the data they had collected into a shifting series of classifications. In fact they often could do little other than collect and collate information, for any exact civil control, of the kind possible in England, was out of the question. The empire was too far away, and the bureaucrats of empire had to be content to shuffle papers.” Thomas Richards, The Imperial Archive: Knowledge and the Fantasy of Empire, London: Verso, 1993. p. 3.
[3] See Paul Virilio’s essay “A Critical Transition” in the anthology ReThinking Technologies, edited by Verena Andermatt-Conley, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1993. p. 9.
[4] See Ursula M. Franklin’s Every Tool Shapes the Task: Communities & the Information Highway, Vancouver: Lazara Press 1996.
[5] See Celia Lury’s Prosthetic Culture: Photography, Memory and Identity, London: Routledge, 1998
[6] Joyce Nelson, Sultans of Sleaze: Public Relations and the Media, Toronto: Between The Lines, 1989
[7] Joyce Nelson, ibid. p. 105.
[8] A non-profit, pro-labour, non-governmental organization based in Hong Kong, Asia Monitor Resource Center (AMRC) www.amrc.org.hk also publishes the Asian Labour Update (ALU) a quarterly news bulletin on labour issues in southern and eastern Asia.
[9] These statistics were found on the website of Corporate Watch www.corpwatch.org/trac/feature/hitech/overview.html from the article The Environmental Cost of Computer Chips www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=3432 written by Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition February 10th, 1997
[10] Corporate Watch: ibid.
[11] “If our experience is of domination, we will theorize our lives according to domination.” Donna Haraway, Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, New York: Routledge, 1991. Pg 19. Such theorizing will inevitably result into material manifestations of perception, imagination and enactment / creativity.
[12] I am highly interested in the idea that the computer is a contemporary form of an information panopticon. See Shoshana Zuboff’s In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power, New York: Basic Books, 1988 p. 319 -.
[13] Donna Haraway, op. cit., p. 22.
[14] The Human Genome Project is an ambitious undertaking on a global scale by government sponsored scientists to identify, document and archive all the genetic markers of the human race. Similarly see the Visible Human Project for digital activities related to the exploration of the human body reshaping moral and ethical boundaries at www.visiblehuman.epfl.ch and www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html
[15] Computer networks, the Internet, email, virtual and simulated realities, heat sensor imaging devices, cameras the size of the tip of the lead of a pencil, satellite communications / surveillance, and, other communications / bio-technology systems were developed by the military for the military. This martial agenda shapes and is shaped by a particular worldview. It is an aggressive global perception and sense of entitlement to possess and also kill – an image, an object or a body. See also Joyce Nelson’s The Perfect Machine: TV in the Nuclear Age, Toronto: Between The Lines, 1987

Additional References:
Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry
edited by Ted Smith, David A. Sonnenfeld and David Naguib Pellow, foreword by Jim Hightower
Temple University Press, 2006 www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1788_reg.html

Edward Burtynsky for the photographs included with this article go to www.edwardburtynsky.com , look to left menu click on: Works: China: Recycling also www.mercuryfilms.ca/misc/Man_Land_trailer.mov

BAN BASEL ACTION NETWORK www.ban.org
Images from www.ban.org/photogallery/index.html Journalists are permitted one-time use of photos that are posted here as long as the Basel Action Network is given credit with © Basel Action Network 2006. Photos may not be used without additional approval from BAN. Contact jpuckett@ban.org

Additional documentaries from BAN:
The Digital Dump: Exporting High-Tech Re-use and Abuse to Africa, a photo-documentary report exposes the ugly underbelly of what is thought to be an escalating global trade in toxic, obsolete, discarded computers and other e-scrap collected in North America and Europe and sent to developing countries by waste brokers and so-called recyclers. In Lagos, while there is a legitimate robust market and ability to repair and refurbish old electronic equipment including computers, monitors, TVs and cell phones, the local experts complain that of the estimated 500 40-foot containers shipped to Lagos each month, as much as 75% of the imports are “junk” and are not economically repairable or marketable. Consequently, this e-waste, which is legally a hazardous waste is being discarded and routinely burned in what the environmentalists call yet “another “cyber-age nightmare now landing on the shores of developing countries.

Exporting Harm: The High Tech Thrashing of Asia
The new hard-hitting documentary on the dumping of toxic computer wastes to China that continues to open peoples’ eyes to the true horror of the high-tech revolution.

Biography
LAIWAN is an interdisciplinary artist and writer of poetics and philosophy based in Vancouver, Canada. Born of Chinese origin in Zimbabwe, she immigrated in 1977 to leave the war in Rhodesia. In 1983 she graduated from ECIAD and started the OR Gallery. She is well published, has curated projects in Canada and Zimbabwe, shown in many exhibitions and is an activist in lesbian, feminist and ‘of colour’ community organizing. She engages in panel discussions, gives solo readings and lectures, and teaches in the MFA Interdisciplinary Arts Program, Goddard College, Vermont, USA.

Recent projects:
DUET: ÉTUDE FOR SOLITUDES (2006) www.yyzartistsoutlet.org
www.imagesfestival.com

CALL NUMBERS: THE LIBRARY RECORDINGS (2007) thelibraryrecordings.eciad.ca

There is probably no better example of the relationship between mobility, time and power than the plight of the Palestinian people, who on a daily basis have their freedom of movement, and time resources curbed under occupation. The disruption of everyday life manifests itself exactly within the realm of the temporal and of movement. We have become so used to the images of endless queues in front of checkpoints, of taxis and mini vans waiting for their passengers ; we know about the system of “settler only roads”, which deprive the Palestinians from land contiguity; we know about walls, curfews, and the impossibility of obtaining permits and passes to travel, live, and work freely. Palestinians are forced – since 1948 – in a perpetual transit without final destination. As much as occupation is about colonising and grabbing land, it is also about subjugating a people to the temporal regime of the occupier, where it is the occupier who dictates where, when and how the occupier spends time.

Palestinian artists reflect the above issues in their work by various strategies, a.o. insisting on the abrasiveness of a particular pace in relation to the medium utilised. For example, the photographs of Taysir Batniji and Tarek Al-Ghoussein. The former frames his images in such a way that the paralysis of time suspended becomes prevalent in the aesthetics of his subject matter (transit zones, waiting rooms). Al-Ghoussain in his Self Portrait Series _(2002 – 2003) highlights the impossibility of movement, by depicting himself as a lone figure wrapped in the emblematic _keffiyeh (traditional Palestinian headdress) who seems out of place in the non-descriptive locations he finds himself in ; whether he walks down a sand hill that’s demarcated by red tape, stands in front of a tunnel blocked by heaps of sand, or walks briskly past a truck, a boat, a plane, a house in ruins. The suggestion of potential mobility, or of flight is always present yet never comes to pass. The static medium of photography is perfect to capture these snapshots of inertia.

The work of Jerusalem-born Larissa Sansour is a case in point when it comes to stretching pace and temporality, in lieu of the content, and its mediation. Working predominantly with video, Larissa has the past years focused her work on the Palestinian situation – more specifically on her hometown of Bethlehem – often trying “to set the viewer off balance, breaking stereotypes of ethnicity as well as clichés in the frame work of art display.”¹ I would add that the setting “off balance of the viewer” is specifically enhanced by her tactical usage of visual rhythm and time. In other words, the “scopic pace” of her work trespasses on conventional scopic time regimes, either by condensing or accelerating time through editing techniques and nods to popular culture, or by stretching time and keeping the visual experience in a suspended limbo. Here her short videos, such as “Bethlehem Bandolero” (2005) and “Happy Days” (2006), differ significantly in strategy and feel from her more documentary work, such as “Mloukhieh” (2006) and “Severed Routes” (2006).

Larissa Sansour, Bethlehem Bandolero, 2005, video still.

In “Bethlehem Bandolero” the opening sequence shows the separation wall, surrounding all of Bethlehem ; the wind blows eerily and what follows is footage taking us through the streets of Bethlehem, while the bells tool menacingly. The stage is being set for action and confrontation. Sansour walks the streets of her hometown sporting a big red sombrero and wielding 2 guns like a generic spaghetti western gunslinger. Her pace is accelerated, which – accompanied by a classic cowboy film soundtrack – gives her character a caricature-like and cartoonesque quality. By walking and moving she appropriates her city as hers with very step ; she asserts confidently that she has a right to mobility, even when confronted by her enemy : the segregation wall. The cheesy effects, reminiscent of 1970’s westerns and music clips, and the alteration between stills and accelerated image, highlight the absurdity that the artist is fighting a duel with a wall. Moreover, the exaggerated visual editing, captures a conflict, where the equilibrium of power is so disproportionate, it becomes grotesque. Hence the act of drawing her guns on an enemy that is so much vaster and bigger than herself, yet with a determination that suggests she will not give up, and that the sheer scale of the wall will not deter her, is yet another articulation of Palestinian resistance. In “Happy Days” similar editing strategies are adopted. To the theme of the popular 1970’s sitcom, which portrayed an idealized version of life in late 1950s and early 1960s America, Sansour portrays life in Palestine… far from idyllic, of course. By fast forwarding the image, and introducing us in a playful way to the protagonists (Larissa as the generic Palestinian, the Israeli army, the watchtowers, roadblocks and checkpoints, and historical landmarks in Jerusalem and Bethlehem), she creates a world that appears happy and cute. The irony of reality couldn’t have been crueler. “Happy Days” offers us a worldview that is completely distorted from what’s really happening, sugar-coating every trace of ugliness, guilt and violence. This is not to say it is not present : on the contrary, it makes up the stuff of the film. In that respect it is quite reminiscent of how Israel, and its ally the US, portray the Israeli occupation : as a distorted reality, where only a uni-lateral interpretation is wished for… yet never achieved.

Larissa Sansour, Happy Days, 2006, video still.

Larissa Sansour’s video art pieces rely on a mechanism of saturating the viewer with a hyperreality. As Hamid Dabashi points out in relation to Palestinian filmmaking : “What happens when reality becomes too fictive to be fictionalized, too unreal to accommodate any metaphor?”² The only way of affecting the viewer comes by way of hyperbole. Her documentary work functions differently. In order to convey a particular reality, she focuses on detail in personal narrative, and literally keeps the subject matter “close to home”: her family and her hometown of Bethlehem. Such is the case for “Mloukhieh” (2006) and “Severed Routes”. “Mloukhieh” the traditional Palestinian dish, a stew made from the leaves of jew’s mellow (!), served with rice and lemon, functions as a vehicle to narrate life under occupation. We see Sansour and her family members enjoying mloukhieh on a Bethlehem rooftop as the table talk about the origin and qualities of mloukhieh soon turn into a conversation about politics. By zooming in and out on the dishes, and the diners, we get a slight feeling of being voyeuristic witnesses to a private family meeting. By hardly averting the camera from the table, a micro-cosmos is created with as its citizens the diners. Though drenched in a specific locality: the picturesque setting, the traditional food, the Arabic, we are also always reminded of the hybridity and dispersed diasporic character of many Palestinian families. Sansour herself is the daughter of Russian mother and Palestinian father, and has lived in the UK, US, and currently in Denmark. The Arabic spoken at the table is interlaced with English, and family members have British and American passports, which appear easier for them to use than their Palestinian ones. The diasporic globalised and urban metropolitan gets mixed with tradition and national identity. Mloukhieh becomes something that is scarce and authentic, and embodies the essence of “Palestinianess”, not to be appropriated or colonized. The choice of using black and white film, with a few specks of colour (the lemons, rice and dish of mloukhieh) only adds weight to the solemn promise that some things will not be confiscated.

The relation between time and mobility is most overtly articulated in the 30’ documentary “Severed Routes”. The film starts with an image of an airport, a quintessential non-place for mobility. The normal travel time from Copenhagen to Bethlehem : 6 hours, yet for a Palestinian it’s more than 24 hours. Also here Sansour interviews her brother and sister, who recently moved back to Bethlehem after years of living abroad. What becomes apparent in their and other personal accounts is that those privileged enough to have a foreign passport, can travel easier within Palestine, those who are less lucky, or even don’t have any papers, are imprisoned to a world that becomes increasingly smaller, and more suffocated because of the Israeli occupation and its asphyxiating policies of (en)closure. It is as if freedom of mobility is only possible when one’s Palestinian identity is effaced, invisible and non-existent. Yet Larissa Sansour reaffirms her Palestinian identity through exile, through return, and through her work.

Larissa Sansour, /Severed Routes/, 2006, video still.

Footnotes

[1] Quote from artist statement: www.sakakini.org/visualarts/sansour.htm

[2] Dabashi, Hamid. “Introduction”. Dreams of a Nation: On Palestinian Cinema. London : Verso, 2006. p. 7 – 22.

Biography

Nat Muller is an independent curator and critic based in Rotterdam. Her main interests include: the intersections of aesthetics, technology and politics; (new) media and art in Middle East. She has published articles in off- and online media, and has given presentations on the subject of media technology and art (inter)nationally. Her latest projects in 2004 include The Trans_European Picnic – The Art and Media of Accession (Novi Sad), DEAF_04: Affective Turbulence: The Art of Open Systems (Rotterdam); INFRA_ctures (Rotterdam), Xeno_Sonic: a series of experimental sound performances from the Middle East (Amsterdam), and many international video screenings. She is co-initiator of the Upgrade! Amsterdam, and has taught at the Willem de Kooning Academy (NL) and at the Lebanese American University in Beirut (LB).

[This article is but a brief summary and a few highlights of an amazing journey. along the mysterious travels many lasting connections and images were established. Further information, programs, travel reports and images can be found on the project website http://www.htmlles.net/export2
Please feel welcome to create your own account and contribute online to the dialog]

info: info@htmlles.net.

Is the consumption of an art work or practice a one way transfer? Who is important in this transfer, the artist or the viewer? How is the consumption of art work affected by limited viewing/interaction time? It happens regularly that people take the time to look at art work but not often they get to meet the artist.

The HTMlles EXPORT project included the travel of five Canadian artists, one Canadian curator and eight art works to the cities of Belgrade, Sofia and Istanbul between the dates of October 18th and 31st. The group included established artists with practices involving scientific research and detailed technology. StudioXX, 10 year old feminist engaged center for the creation, critique and diffusion of technology art initiated the project for the second time. Biannually, StudioXX produces a touring project which allows for artists who have participated with their works in the most recent edition of the HTMlles Festival for Media Art + Networked Practices in Montreal to travel with their art works. The goal of the EXPORT artists mobility projects is develop further audiences and markets for Canadian Media art works, for StudioXX, for the HTMlles festival and for the artists to have the chance to experience varied perspectives and approaches to their own art works.

For this brief trip across vast distances curator Kyd Campbell asked the artists to pack lightly. As the tour to 3 cities would be made in only 12 days it was imperative to figure out what the objectives of touring with this group of artists were and make the most of the conditions and opportunities available. As the cultural scene, the logistic and economic situation was vastly different in Belgrade, Sofia and Istanbul; it was necessary to create very flexible programming and to find tactics for engaging with the local communities in this tight time schedule. In each of the hosting cities partnerships were made with active local curators and major contemporary art centers as well as culture magazines and other art groups. Though it could have been a possibility to move with an elaborate exhibition of works to be briefly installed in local art galleries in each city, the option was taken to place the focus on personal encounters. In each city the local curators involved local artists in the short program and focused their outreach activities on the local art and activist communities as well as towards students in disciplines related to the technical directions of the featured projects.

[ find below comments by some of the artists, curators and participants of the EXPORT2 artists mobility project ]

Beginning on October 19th, 2006 the program in Belgrade, Serbia was curated by independent curator Maja Ciric and Miroslav Karic of Remont Independent Artists Association (www.remont.co.yu) and was greatly supported Kontekst Young Artists Center (www.kontekstgalerija.org) and O3one Gallery (www.o3.co.yu). The program included many local artists both as presenters of their own artworks and as participants in discussions. The local presenters include Anica Vucetic, Zana Poliakov, Natasa Teofilovic and Aleksandra Jovanic. A highlight of the local artists program was Natasa Teofilovic’ presentation of s.h.e., a complex digital animation project. Events hosted in Kontekst (www.kontekstgalerija.org) Gallery provided a comfortable atmosphere for the Canadian artists to encounter many local artists and students. Certainly the most remarkable aspect of the Belgrade art scene appears to be the fact that numerous local art centers and cultural operators work very closely together. This local connectivity allows for constant critical observation of the Serbian cultural scene and provides an active and rapidly opening art community. The EXPORT projects final event in Belgrade was a combination of Jennifer Willet’s presentation of her research with Bioteknica and the first meeting of The Upgrade ! Belgrade at O3ONE Gallery (www.o3.co.yu==), a new monthly gathering for artists, curators, technicians and others interested in technology art.

In Sofia the project was hosted in The Red House Center for Culture and Debate: Andrey Nikolov (www.redhouse-sofia.org). The local presenters included: Yofka, Veronika Tzekova, Adelina Popnedeleva, Diana Popova, Greta Gancheva, Nina Boyanova, Yana Kostova, Vladia Mihailova, The Upgrade! Sofia and The Upgrade! Skopje. The Bulgarian section of the program paid special attention to include curators and artists from Bulgaria and Macedonia in dialog about the local cultural structures and current practices in the region. Two young Macedonian curators, Elena Veljanovska and Jelena Trajkoska, from the group Line (www.lineinitiativeandmovement.tk) in Skojpe joined the group of Canadian artist for the duration of our visit in Sofia, presenting numerous Macedonian artists and the phenomenon of how street art has very strongly influenced the cultural scene in their country. The time spent in Sofia was enriched for all by the assistance of Neda Pencheva, a young student from the small town of Sliven, Bulgaria who assisted the entire group with interpretation and translation and who participated in a collaboration with artist Chantal Dumas for the Oral Histories project. Together Dumas and Pencheva created an audio documentary with the elderly Sofian Teodora Mousseva about her life long relationship with technology. It was extremely evident for all that the mentorship experienced by Neda through her work with Chantal and Theodora was also occurring in reverse as she acted as cultural guide and interpret for the entire group of Canadian artists, most of whom were experiencing Bulgarian culture for the first time.

As the last stop of the trip, the group was again able to experience a rapid overview of the local Istanbul cultural scene. In Istanbul, HTMlles EXPORT 2 [06] was co-produced by NOMAD. At the opening in Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center a large public attended the screening of Caroline Martel’s film The Phantom of the Operator and a vibrant discussion followed. As the events were held in this very central gallery as well as in The Apartment Project a smaller artist run gallery, all activities were centered in one of the most active urban environments of the world. This provided for constant interaction with the outdoor public and excellent photographic conditions for Michelle Teran’s participatory walking project Flatlandia (www.ubermatic.org/flatlandia). Again creating an audio documentary, Chantal Dumas was assisted by communications student Zeynep Onal and they explored the city together gathering commentary and field recordings. Curator Basak Senova from NOMAD brought together local artists as well as members of Filmmor Women’s Film collective(www.filmmor.org) for a presentation which greatly put into view the different feminist perspectives and conditions for women from Turkey and Canada. The local presenters included Basak Senova, NOMAD: Ceren Oykut, Ozlem Sulak, Hatice Guleryuz, Bengu Karaduman, The Apartment Project: Selda Asal, Filmmor Women’s Cooperative: Ulku Songul, and Melek Ozman. Numerous foreign artists living in Istanbul attended the presentations.

Throughout the trip numerous friends and connections were made. One of which was with mysterious nomadic open source software activist Meinhard Benn who joined the group and helped to document the project in Sofia and Istanbul. The experience of traveling and working closely together for two weeks created friendships between all the women traveling and close bonds with all of the kind people encountered along the voyage. The artists have continued to contribute to the travel journal on the HTMlles website and to share their photos on flickr. On February 1st, 2007 the project was presented at an evening event in StudioXX, Montreal.

The touring works involved in the EXPORT2 project include:
-The Lies Project – Emily Hermant [CA] www.theliesproject.org
-The Phantom of the Operator – Caroline Martel [CA] www.artifactproductions.ca
-Flatlandia – Michelle Teran [CA/DE] & Amanda Ramos [CA] www.ubermatic.org/flatlandia
-Oral Histories – Chantal Dumas [CA] & Valerie Walker [CA] http://projets.studioxx.org"
-Distributive Justice – Andreja Kuluncic [Croatia] www.distributive-justice.com
-Bioteknica – Jennifer Willet [CA] & Shawn Bailey [CA] www.bioteknica.org
-XS Labs – Joey Berzowska [CA] HYPERLINK www.htmlles.net/export2 website

Michelle Teran

Michelle is a Canadian artist living in Berlin. Michelle visited us twice during the EXPORT project, in Belgrade and Istanbul, for less than 24 hours each time and presented her shared database project Flatlandia, collaboration with Amanda Ramos.

“The dinner table as a social interface. Throughout different cities and settings a familiar ritual is played out. We sit around a large table populated with small plates of local culinary creations of vegetables, cheese and meat which we take from and eat. We begin to digest the information introduced in the talks and workshops during the day and offer additional insights about the local and the translocal, our desires and fears. Wine loosens the tongue, an enabler for conversations about politics, culture, identity, economics, the benefits and pitfalls of international exchange and how and why we move. It is when we are most at ease that more is said. The shared space of the dinner table, a communal space for ideas and exchange.”
www.ubermatic.org

Meinhard Benn

Meinhard Benn is an Open Source Software Activist and a nomad, originally from Germany. He encountered the HTMlles tour is Sofia and joined the team for the remainder of the trip as documentary photographer and videopgrapher and friend.

“ Being at the right time at the right place has become my way of being over the last years. So I also was in Sofia when the HTMlles ladies arrived. My everyday life in Bulgaria – which I felt was a little isolated up to that point – suddenly was connected to fast moving river of the international media art. I was immediately accepted as a team member and I enjoyed helping with little things that popped up here and there. While working and spending time with the people that presented their art I could gain a deep insight into themes and motivations, and I learned how their creations changed them over time. The day after the HTMlles left Sofia I followed them overland to Istanbul and enjoyed my role between spectator and actor one more week. I became good friends with the group and I am sure that we have not met the last time.”
www.benn.org

Caroline Martel

Caroline is a documentary filmmaker from Montreal. She presented her film The Phantom of the Operator during the EXPORT project.

“… Périphéries + Proximités : thématique de la dernière édition du festival qui nous a poursuivit dans cette ère, encore relativement nouvelle, où le wifi est constamment sur notre parcours et participe à l’altération de notre sentiment d’être vraiment, complètement à quelque part – car toujours en lien avec l’ailleurs/‘back home’. Quand je songe à cette tournée HTMlles, je nous revois en train de pitonner passionnément sur nos ordinateurs entre deux présentations d’artistes, un tour de ville express en taxi et un souper collectif. Extraordinairement mobiles à travers les fuseaux horaires et les villes et immobiles devant nos écrans. Voyager n’est plus vraiment ce que c’était ; “ Si loin, si proche”… Or s’il y a une destination certaine où cette tournée m’a conduite, de par ma fréquentation des Kyd, Chantal, Joey, Jennifer et Michelle, c’est dans les territoires du “ nouveau web social “, dans lesquels je me suis plus sérieusement aventurée pour la première fois. Après tout, l’acronyme du festival n’évoque-t-il pas cette idée de demoiselles encodant les réseaux? Au terme de ce voyage d’artistes techno-médiatiques, je me serai convertie à l’usage de Flickr (où j’ai archivé allègrement nos albums de voyage : www.flickr.com/photos/carolinemartel), de Skype, del.icio.us, YouTube et finalement de Hospitality Club. Et il fallait bien que ce soit avec un geek nomade radical, un gestionnaire de réseaux allemand charmant du nom de Meinhard, que nous ayons terminé notre tournée. M’entendant récapituler comment j’avais acquis une nouvelle mobilité en-ligne de par ce voyage, il a conclu : “ Welcome to Web 2.0, Caro !”
www.artifactproductions.ca/phantom

Joanna Berzowska

Joanna Berzowska is a Montreal artist and researcher creating innovations in electronic textiles. During the EXPORT tour she presented her body of research with Xslabs.

“…After my first presentation in Serbia, I was informed (in private, outside the building) that the Design Academy barely had a couple of old computers. The students who attended my presentation were interested, of course, but were also critical (in private, outside the building) of what they perceived as the arrogance inherent in my expectation that they would have access to the same resources and training that we provide in the West.
My reply to those women, as well as those in Sofia and Istanbul, is that yes, in the words of William Gibson, “The future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” On the other hand, I personally believe that many of their fears and doubts are not justified. I believe that there is a lot of propaganda, especially aimed at women, about electronics and digital technology being hard and inaccessible. But I am hoping to show, through continuing “export”, that we can use simple electronics to do things that, although they are extremely cheap and technically trivial, can be very complex conceptually or aesthetically. Although they are simple, they can raise complicated issues around questions of individual, social, cultural, and political identity. This is not high tech; it is merely good design.”
www.xslabs.net

Jennifer Willet

Jennifer Willet is a researcher in the ongoing collaborative project with Shawn Bailey called BIOTEKNICA which takes a creative and critical look at biotechnology. In each city she presented a live surgery on locally produced teratoma.

“The schedule was grueling, the accommodations unpretentious, and the cuisine variable from excellent to sometimes confusing. …I gave a talk that traces the history of the project around the world – in galleries and laboratories – culminating in a ‘workshop’ where audience members are invited to participate in a faux autopsy of a grotesque and bloody meat sculpture. The presentation required several levels of preparation at each local: (1) the purchase of irregular meat products at a local butcher, (2) two hours cutting and sewing the meat in a sculptural form resembling a cancerous tumor, (3) procurement of various surgical tools in each country (as it is difficult to travel with such items across multiple international boarders with no medical license), and (4) a tech/check confirming digital video and laptop display…”
www.bioteknica.org>

Neda Pencheva

Neda Pencheva is 16 years old from Sliven, Bulgaria. She speaks and writes perfectly in Bulgarian and English. Neda was interpreter and translator for the Bulgaria part of the HTMlles project and was the main participant in the Oral Histories workshop

“… irreplaceable experience, inspiration, adventure, warmth, freedom of mind and speech, a journey to Neverland and back. So here I am now- knowing more than I knew before… it was way beyond what’s describable…the secret ingredients are: creativity, talent, brains, simplicity and courage (yeah, it took quite some courage from time to time) all joined together by five open- minded, open- hearted and lovely female artists! Kyd, Joey, Caroline, Jennifer, Chantal (I hate it when I have to put friends’ names in order), they brought up to life a perfect little world, covered in electronic textiles, inhabited by the phantom of The Operator and a life-size teratoma and endowed with reason by oral histories. I’m thankful for being a part of the fellowship of the tour!”

Chantal Dumas

Chantal Dumas is a sound artist from Montreal. In Belgrade, Sofia and Istanbul she collaborated with young and elderly women to create audio documentaries exploring the role of technology in their lives. Through the three-day collaborations is each city she developed close relationships and explored the cities with their guidance.

“Ma participation au projet de diffusion/curculation a été de donner un atelier-mentorat qui a pour nom Histoires Orales. Ce projet permet à travers une introduction aux techniques de documentaires audio, une rencontre intergénérationnelle entre adolescentes âgées de 16 ans et des aînées. En une dizaine d’heures réparties sur une période de 2-3 jours, les adolescentes sont initiées à quelques aspects techniques, dont l’utilisation d’un microphone et d’un mini-disque et reçoivent une introduction sur comment développer un sujet et mener une entrevue…. Ce qui ressort de tous les projets réalisés est que ce thème de “ la nouvelle technologie “ suscite un commentaire qui est étroitement lié au parcours de vie de ces femmes… Moi c’est à travers les yeux de ces adolescentes que j’ai découvert Belgrade, Sofia et Istambul. Avec beaucoup de gentillesse, elles m’ont présenté leur ville, l’histoire de leur pays, les tensions qui y existent et par bribes m’ont fait part de leurs préoccupations et aussi leur passion.
Dans ce voyage, la technologie fut l’interface pour établir la communication.”
http://projets.studioxx.org

Yana Kostova

Yana Kostova is a curator and art historian from Sofia, Bulgaria. She participated in groups dialogs and presented her recent project ‘Critics Selection’, a critical look at how contemporary art is deal with in the Bulgarian cultural context.

“…it was a pleasure to meet some other participants and know more about their work. Interesting for me was that we (the participants from the Balkan countries) could exchange some more or less common experience with our oversea colleagues who offered a new view towards our local art scenes…. I think that the EXPORT HTMlles tour supported the exchange of very important cross cultural debates of trying to locate specifically local issues and to put them in an international context.”

Basak Senova

Basak Senova is a curator and founder of NOMAD art projects, a group of artists, designers and curators, based in Istanbul that curates internationally, produces sound art events and publishes an online magazine. Basak was the organizer of the Istanbul part of the EXPORT project.

“How does “interaction” proceed with the current art practices when the interacting cultures differ? Do we have to develop different strategies and presentation modes to open up lines of communication among projects/works, artists and audience in each cultural context?”

Kyd Campbell

“I personally wish to thank the Canada Council for the Arts, Le Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Quebec, The Canadian Embassy in Ankara and all of the local curators who took this projects on as one of their own, without these contributions, this experience would not have been possible.”
www.frontierlab.org
www.tinynoise.com
==www.theupgrade.net

~Kyd Campbell, curator, HTMlles EXPORT2 artists mobility program, HTMlles Festival + other indepedent projects
www.frontierlab.org

_~Basak Senova, curator and founding member of NOMAD and ctl_alt_del sound art project , Istanbul.
www.nomad-tv.net
http://project-ctrl-alt-del.com

StudioXX and the HTMlles Festival receive support from numerous governmental and private bodies including : The Canada Council for the Arts, Le Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, the Canadian Embassy in Ankara.

These days, arts organisations increasingly have to justify their existence in economic terms. Long gone are the days where the benefits of “Art” could only be spoken in terms of Kultur – that great (although problematic) invention born in the 18th century to signify the elevation of one’s civilization via its Culture. While the notion contributed to the invention of cultural elites and is still much present today (take for example the existence of Departments of Culture in most governments of the world), it has become difficult to articulate the function of arts organisation solely in humanist terms, so to speak. Rather, in order to survive nowadays, arts organisations are required to specify what kind of contribution they make to society. The emergence of the concept of “creative industries” is completely entangled in this development – a concept that perhaps is less familiar in Canada, given its relatively exclusive and rather heavy system of public funding of which artist-run centres and other types of arts organisations are dependent on. However, in the United Kingdom, and perhaps especially in London, “creative industries” is a keyword when one talks about Culture. The UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport defines creative industries as “those that are based on individual creativity, skill and talent [and] have the potential to create wealth and jobs through developing and exploiting intellectual property.”¹ The definition is rather telling.

A recent event forced a London-based media arts centre to particularly confront aspects of this reality. SPACE (Space Provision, Artistic, Cultural and Educational) STUDIOS [2] was founded in 1968 by Bridget Riley and Peter Sedgley. The registered arts educational charity has its very history embedded in the notion of service provision, that is, mainly renting (much needed) affordable studio space to artists. It was more during the 80s that SPACE developed its gallery in order to further sustain itself, and during the 90s, its educational programs. At the moment, SPACE offers innovative programs in media arts, exhibitions, community development, collaborations, professional development and international residencies – most of the projects being anchored in the community, like the upcoming Media Cluster Network. Throughout these many (often challenging) years, SPACE acquired a distinctive role and “expertise” as the first and largest London studio provider.

Based in Hackney (in the North-East of London) for the past few years, SPACE has recently been involved in an appeal case by Nellbush Ltd against the Council of the London Borough of Hackney. The appeal site is a 1930s former laundry building on Richmond Road, characterized by high ceilings and large windows. The second floor is occupied by affordable studio space rented out by SPACE to artists. The first floor is shared by Flowers East, for gallery storage, and Momart, a fine art storage and shipment company, which also occupies the ground floor. The Public Inquiry, held on 17-19 October and 9 November 2006, caused by the third and fourth appeal of the development agency (who first proposed the demolition and redevelopment of the building in 2005) had three main players before the Planning Inspector: the appellant, Nellbush Ltd, on the one side, and the Council and SPACE, on the other. It is interesting to note here that SPACE was represented by women — the only ones present, except for the Inspector. For various reasons, which are impossible to address here, Flowers East and Momart were absent from the Inquiry process. I had the opportunity to sit through the final day of the Inquiry and the following comments stem from my observing of a clash of clearly different worldviews and interests between the parties involved.

Let us start with the Council. The main grounds upon which it was able to oppose Nellbush’s development projects was the fact that the building in question lies within the Mare Street Conservation Area, which is characterised by late 19th and early 20th century factory and warehouse buildings of generally robust and simple design. The Council argued that the Richmond Road building had to be maintained as it made a positive contribution to the Conservation Area and represented a “visual link with the history of the area” (e.g. historical land uses) as well as provided a “sense of place.” It also pointed out the uniqueness of the building – built pre-war, of a style distinctively of its time, and one that is likely to be associated with the 1930s by the public. Ironically, one of Nellbush’s main arguments for the demolition/redevelopment of the building was a critique of the fact that it reflected its original functional use — a point completely rejected by the Council, obviously. Nellbush proposed two different schemes: the first one suggested complete demolition and replacement while the second one proposed partial demolition, “mixed-use” replacement and maintenance of the building’s façade. In its closing statement, the Council asserted that the schemes proposed were “not the only way could be redeveloped” pointing towards a specific openness to the addition of contemporary design, but one that “should reflect the scale, proportions and robust quality and details of the neighbouring buildings.”

In contrast, Nellbush’s position inscribed itself perfectly within a discourse of “modernity.” It literally situated its rationale on the level of “modernity’s requirements” – that is, the need for the building to serve better and “beneficial” use, and grounded its claims upon its observation that the site was being especially “underused.” According to Nellbush, old buildings such as the one on Richmond Road were “reaching the end of their lives” and thus were unable to meet “modern expectations.” In order words, old buildings were of no use anymore. Their mission therefore was to “maximize the use” of these buildings, making that region of Hackney “a destination rather than a route.” It is also interesting to note here that Hackney will be the main site of the upcoming 2012 Olympics. In addition, it claimed that the current architecture did not provide adequate lighting for artists (a claim contradicted by SPACE) and emphasised that most tenants (namely Flowers East and Momart) were leaving the site because it did not suit their needs. However, obviously, the needs of SPACE artists and those of the other tenants are of very different nature. In the end, Nellbush’s attitude was one that largely denied SPACE’s credibility – even accusing the charity of using the Inquiry as a tool for rent negotiations since they could not possibly be opposed to redevelopment in principle.

It is fascinating to observe the various claims to a certain kind of expertise by Nellbush. Their argument of under-usage rested mainly on they visiting the building and seeing no artists using the space. However, as noted by SPACE, artists have very flexible schedules (shared with teaching jobs, etc.) and their livelihood depend on being able to rely on a permanent space. Nellbush’s argument was also rejected by the Planning Inspector. On the other hand, SPACE also emphasised its area of expertise as a major part of its argument, as suggested by their opening statement which said: “SPACE have provided affordable studio space for artists since 1968, we are experts in knowing market need in this sector.” Indeed, SPACE’s defence rested on the argument that they play a substantial role in the area, providing for over 600 artists and creative businesses (406 of which are in Hackney) and thus are “essential to the infrastructure of creative industries in the borough.” Furthermore, they convert their premises as economically as possible, keeping management costs as low as possible so that units can be passed on at rates which the creative sector can afford. SPACE also pointed out the “high demand for these products” with 1600 current registrations.

The second main argument was that SPACE contributes to the “regeneration of the borough.” An important note here is that Hackney faces one the highest levels of unemployment in London – a fact that all parties involved recognised and modulated their arguments according to. SPACE thus detailed their inward investment to Hackney of £630,000 for programmes to benefit the community, their educational programs focussed on youth, their employment training in the creative industries, their co-production of a youth led broadcasting channel, and their set-up of free wireless internet access for small businesses in Hackney – all services being not-for-profit and provided by artists. Although SPACE’s lease runs until 2017 and that policy is supposed to protect them, they were nevertheless forced to justify their position in blunt economic terms – for instance, that the studios fall into the developmental requirements of various reports (e.g. Atkins Hackney Employment Report, Mayor of London’s Cultural Strategy, etc.) which promote rejuvenation via the creative industries.

SPACE’s third main argument rested on their focus on affordability, pointing out that Nellbush has no track record in providing studio space and the lack of evidence that their management proposal will guarantee creative industry use, whereas SPACE has been a sustainable creative workspace provider since 1968. The opposition of the studios stemmed from they being offered floorspace at a rate of 342% to their current one; SPACE was initially open to learning about the scheme, but this was a non-starter for them. In that context, they claimed that the projected flats would suit absent city workers who contribute little to the area, in contrast to artists who both live and work in the area, thus leaving a small eco-footprint. Finally, they mentioned that “artists put Hackney on the map and bring in tourism” and denounced Nellbush’s plan to use the expression “studios” for the new building (as a key selling point while displacing artists) as cynical.

Well, so what was the final decision? Nellbush won its last appeal. My suspicion is that “section 106” (handed in at the very last minute) made all the difference. Mainly, it included provisions for replacement accommodation for artists as well as “affordable rents” (their own quotation marks). The Inspector also judged that their second design scheme made sufficient compromise with regards to the conditions of the Conservation Area. In fact, Nellbush specified that their second scheme was at the very limit of a balance between “responding to housing needs in Hackney” and conservation interests, stating that “further increasing build costs by seeking to retain an even greater portion of the building, which is no longer fit for purpose, will result in a further proportional reduction in the level of affordable housing which can be supported by the redevelopment.”

In sum, the Inquiry showed how completely different worldviews and interests come to collide, as demonstrated with the contradictory discourses about ‘suitability’ between Nellbush and SPACE. The experience of the studios suggests that a major challenge in the development of a sustainable art will be characterised by a competition of expertise. In the world of “creative industries” (where the concept does no more guarantee sustainability, as suggested by the State’s definition), not only do artists have to become good administrators and business people, they also have to prove that they are better positioned in leading the development and rejuvenation of neighbourhoods. The Executive Summary of the Sustainable Development Strategy of the Olympic Delivery Authority begins with the statement that “One of the central reasons London won the right to host the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games was its long-term vision of the far wider role the Games could play in encouraging young people to participate in sport and regenerating east London [and] to achieve this in a sustainable manner, provide value for money, and to leave a lasting social, economic and environmental legacy for east London.” It is clear to me that the outcome of the Inquiry contradicts these high aims. In contrast, SPACE was built on the very principles of community involvement, affordability and sustainability. The message sent by the decision then is that the people who have the means to pursue “alternatives” will win. Unfortunately, they rarely coincide with the same people who have undeniable experience in using their creativity and dedication as a way of building a sustainable form of artistic life.

I would like to thank Victoria Browne and Anna Harding from [ space ] studios for their generous help in providing me with the written statements of all the parties involved.

[1] www.culture.gov.uk/about_us/creativeindustries
[2] www.spacestudios.org.uk

Le Web est l’endroit de prédilection pour la tromperie, la mystification et le canular. Les identités y sont brouillées, multiples, indéfinies. Derrière le site commercial de la Panchira Corp, une entreprise high-tech de Tokyo proposant un produit révolutionnaire mais controversé, les Forget Me Not Panties, se cache en fait un collectif d’artistes new-yorkaises : The Panty Raiders.

En 2005, Leba Haber Rubinoff, artiste des télécommunications interactives, et Katie Marsh, designer graphique, mettent sur pied ce collectif, dont les œuvres sont vouées à une diffusion exclusive au Web. En plus de faire le tour des blogues, leur première création, Forget Me Not Panties (www.forgetmenotpanties.com) a attiré l’attention de plusieurs médias américains dont le magazine Rolling Stone et le bulletin télévisé CBC Night News. Il y avait matière à soulever l’indignation puisque le produit proposé sur ce site consiste en une arme de phallocratie massive ! L’époque des ceintures de chasteté encombrantes et inconfortables est révolue ! Voici une petite culotte 100% coton, offerte en plusieurs jolis modèles, et dotée d’un sensatech system, qui comprend un GPS (Global Positioning System) et deux types de capteurs, qui permettent aux maris jaloux et aux pères inquiets de garder le contrôle sur l’être cher. Puisqu’il s’agit d’une technologie finement développée, tout ce système a été dissimulé dans un petit appliqué très discret de la forme d’une fleur. Celle qui porte la culotte ne peut donc soupçonner la présence de cette technologie de pointe dans son sous-vêtement. Lorsque la température de son corps et son rythme cardiaque augmentent dangereusement, les données sont transmises en temps réel à l’ordinateur ou au téléphone portable du mari ou du père. Le GPS lui permet de localiser la crise et d’intervenir à temps !

Le site Web propose également les témoignages de clients satisfaits : David, le père d’une adolescente, était constamment inquiet depuis que sa fille s’habillait de façon révélatrice et rentrait à des heures tardives. Grâce aux sous-vêtements Forget-me-not, il a désormais le contrôle sur les agissements de sa fille et par le fait même, il a retrouvé sa tranquillité d’esprit. Il propose tout de même une amélioration au produit : y intégrer une caméra vidéo. De son côté, Tim soupçonnait sa femme d’infidélité et avec l’aide des Forget-me-not panties, il l’a prise sur le fait. Les enregistrements des données recueillies par le sensatech system lui serviront même de preuves lors du divorce !

Lorsque l’internaute convaincu par l’efficacité du produit clique sur l’icône «Order now!», la bannière rose des Panty Raiders apparaît, l’informant qu’il s’agit d’un canular et que la Panchira Corp est une compagnie fictive inventée par les artistes. Même si les GPS et les capteurs de chaleur et de rythme cardiaque existent, ils n’ont heureusement jamais été intégrés à des sous-vêtements. Le produit fictif, qui a dupé bien des internautes, a valu aux artistes au-delà de 300 offres de distribution, de nombreux courriels haineux et plusieurs demandes pour la création d’un boxer forget-me-not pour hommes. L’œuvre s’est mérité le 1er prix du Eyebeam Contagious Media Showdown 2005, un concours d’art Web basé sur la popularité des œuvres auprès du public.

Voir également le site des Panty Raiders (www.pantyraiders.org/)

Biographie
Marianne Cloutier est diplômée de la maîtrise en études des arts de l’Université du Québec à Montréal. Elle s’intéresse principalement aux liens entre art, science et éthique, notamment dans l’art biotechnologique. Elle travaille actuellement en galerie et elle est chercheure pour le NT2 : Nouvelles technologies, nouvelles textualités (UQÀM), un laboratoire de recherche visant à promouvoir l’étude, la création ainsi que l’archivage de la littérature et de l’art hypermédiatique.

Mobilité suspendue : tensions entre la fluidité de la mobilité et le statisme du corps :

Dans ce numéro de .dpi, nous aimerions mettre l’accent sur un aspect inversé de la mobilité en quelque sorte ; une occasion de poser une réflexion ou de produire un court essais sur les comportements statiques des corps et des objets au sein de la mobilité. Les nouveaux appareils technologiques qui participent à une plus grande mobilité de transmission d’informations et de données transforment aussi notre relation à l’espace et au temps en nous propulsant mentalement dans le virtuel, tout en nous transformant en un pôle fixe d‘émissions et de captations.

Quelques pistes pouvant servir de réflexion :

* Tensions entre la projection de soi dans le virtuel et la position fixe du corps;

* Construction de nouveaux territoires virtuels illimités et absence de frontières (par exemple dans un contexte de jeux en ligne) ;

* Irruptions de micros conversations privées dans le public (téléphone cellulaire dans les transports en commun) ;

* Le courriel, le clavardage, Msn, Skype, etc. ;

* Le déplacement de la salle de cinéma dans un habitacle mobile (DVD dans les voitures et films dans les avions) ;

* La présence des ondes et des champs électromagnétiques autour de nous ;

* Le corps handicapé, vieillissant, dans une ère de vitesse et de mobilité.

Date de tombée du résumé : 15 mars 2007
Afin de sélectionner les textes qui seront retenus par le comité de sélection, nous demandons un résumé (250 mots), incluant un titre ainsi qu’une biographie (100 mots).

Date de tombée du texte final : 20 avril 2007
L’article retenu devra faire entre 1500 et 2000 mots (excluant les références) et être accompagné d’un résumé de 50 mots. Références, bibliographie et crédits photos adéquats (s’il y a lieu). * cachet d’auteur : entre 100$ et 150$ pour un article.

Envoyez le tout à programmation@studioxx.org

Bonne écriture!