Video Vortex #9 – Re:assembles of Video

 
Video Vortex #9, Re:assables of Video, is conceived and hosted by the Moving Image Lab and Post-Media Lab of the Innovation Incubator at Leuphana University Luneberg, Germany. The conference will be held from February 28 until March 2, 2013. The call for contribution is open until 31 August 2012.

Online video vortices such as Youtube, are assemblages of assemblages: its infrastructure and spheres of use and production again consist of assemblages. The video sphere today is a mesh of different types of ellements; we have databases, screens, interfaces, protocols and server farms. Comments, tags, lists and channels, cameras, producers, frames, users and audiences. Last, but not least, money flows, broadcasters, advertisers, property rights, eyeballs and statistics, all add to, and operate in multiple assemblages.

Currently we see new configuration of components in video culture, interacting in new ways and with loose forms of influence. VideoVortex #9 proposes that now is a time to re-engage with a structural and contextual analysis of online culture.

We encourage critics, theorists, artists, programmers and video makers to look at:

1.)… assemblages of different videos, graphics and texts, be it in material or with a view to new environments of authoring or curation. Such an approach re-poses the question of interactive multi- and hypermedia in the age of html-5, Popcorn, Apps and the likes.

2.)… assemblages of content, interfaces and infrastructures, as done in platforms, with their changing forms and logics of circulation, thereby scrutinizing the profiles of media-‘flows’, ‘liveness’, ‘channels’, ‘archives’, ‘lists’, and, addressing the current nature of visual experience, affection and attention, producing ‘dissolving originals’ and new forms of mash-ups.

3.)… socio-cultural assemblages of producers, owners, curators and ‘audiences’. New forms of managing and staging video production, attempts to re-organize systems of retribution or questioning the conditions and social realities of video- and TV-production are of interest here. Issues of copyright, the re-organization of (‘imaginary’) capital or the ‘migration of images’ will evoke questions. The overarching question might be: To what extent technology, standards and protocols (and their symbolisms) are taking over the role of what has been ascribed to ‘culture’?

4.)… assemblages contributing to ruptures and revolutions: Indeed „the whole world is watching“ the (televisual) world being entangled in different real or so-called ‘revolutions’: social upheavals are transmitted via video, the system of the broadcast-era itself is being questioned and entangled in new ways, the question what it means to be an ‘observer’ (individually, socially or scientifically), a ‘participant’ or a ‘witness’ (going back to the Rodney King event) is projected on our screen, as we realize the ‘terminal identity’ we are all drawn into. Questions of relevance, media positioning and ‘real virtuality’ are urging themselves upon us.

And of course we particularly welcome analysis which crosses and combines the levels outlined above – as their separation is itself owed to a heuristic assemblage, which can be done in this way, or otherwise.

The call is open until 31 August 2012
Please send your proposals, abstracts (max. 500 words) and video teasers (max 5 mins) and any other form of short outline.
The Video Vortex #9 team. – Date: Feb 2013

More information: complete call for contributors, post media lab, May 15 2012.

Video Vortex #8 will be held May 17th-19th, 2012 in the The Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Croatia

Call for contributions

We are pleased to announce that the 8th edition of Video Vortex will take place at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, Croatia, between the 17th and the 19th of May, 2012. So far Video Vortex has
taken place twice in Brussels and Amsterdam and once in Ankara, Split and Yogyakarta. The Video Vortex network was founded in in 2007 and deals with the cultural, political and artistics aspects of online video. Video Vortex 8 is organized by the Kazimir Association in Split and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb in collaboration with the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam.

The moving image and the Internet are still defining the parameters of their mutual relationship. The conference will focus on issues concerning changes in contemporary art and cinema as well as broader cultural, social and technological issues.

Video Vortex 8 will consist of a conference, an exhibition, screenings and performances. This call pertains to the conference. Artists who will present work at the conference will also be included in the accompanying exhibition. If you have an idea for an alternative way to present your work on one of the themes below please let us know. For all themes we expect up to a 500-word abstract while for artist presentations we would like also to receive documentation via URL.

1. Contemporary art and online video

Museums which follow and present ontemporary Art as well as Centres for Art, Media and Technology have specific contexts in which they present and preserve the moving image in the 21st century. Spatial issues and exclusivity are put in relation to the constant virtual presence of artwork. Fast changing technologies are undermining the very sense of the preservation of the moving image in an online
context.

2. Theoretical discourses and online video.

Concepts related to the aesthetics and structure of the moving image. Including, but not limited to, online-only production, torrent-based original programming, YouTube-centered narrative and artwork, community-funded cinema and scholarship in an online environment.

3. Social networks and online video in the region.

Reports on new the discourses of online video in Middle and Southeast Europe.

4. Techno-colonialism, surveillance and control of the distribution of
the moving image.

Shutting down or channelling online video. The possibility of stealing the online-originating revolutions in North Africa. The technological dominance and control of worldviews and basic human value systems. The
speed of communication and what is left to those isolated from it.

5. The perspective of online cinema.

The relationship between film and the Internet. What is happening to independent cinema due to technical accessibility and online quality in the making, producing and distribution of films? Do we see specific
new film forms in the online environment? The end of 35mm film. How does digital cinema distribution work, from DCP (Digital Cinema Package) passwords to open online video/film collections or cinematic databases?

6. Artists talk about their own work and research in online video.

Presentations of artistic practices related to the Internet from artists participating in the exhibition which runs concurrently with the conference. These practices include working on the web and using the web as a medium and using the Internet as found footage; in other words, it is channeling the art process through Internet-based communication. Other topics could include the Internet as a public presentation venue for artists and discussions about curating online.

7. Technological aspects of new developments in participatory video.

The moving image on the Internet has opened itself to tagging, telepresence and social communication. Can it still open itself further through visual browsers and HTML5? With HTML5 authors can script their own user interface, but there is also a way to trigger a user interface provided by the user agent – is this a seed for a new manner of online video communication? Does it indicate developments of open personalization and/or the further fragmentation of users? Other issues could include technologies of the private and the public spheres.

The deadline of submission of proposals and abstracts is 20th January, 2012.
Proposals and questions should be addressed to Brian Willems:brianwillems@gmail.com.

The conference itself is free and if possible the presenters or institutions to which they are attached should take care of the travel and accommodation expenses.

Bron: NOS op 3, vrijdag 9 december 2011

Met Kunst & Nieuws in de publieke ruimte zoekt NOS Lab actief de samenwerking op met jong en creatief talent. Gezamenlijk wordt er geëxperimenteerd op het raakvlak van kunst, digitale media en technologie.

Voor dit project hebben twee kunstenaarscollectieven de kans gekregen om de nieuwsbeelden van internationale persbureaus van Reuters en de EBU te gebruiken voor een interactieve nieuws toepassing waarbij bezoekers met een smartphone interactie kan hebben met het nieuws dat getoond wordt op een enorme LED-wand in de publieke ruimte.

Het project heeft als doel te experimenteren met kunstzinnige, innovatieve vertelvormen voor nieuws en is tentoon gesteld op het media en technologie festival STRP in Eindhoven en het mediakunst festival Freemote in Utrecht.

De Barometer (gemaakt door Zesbaans) scant de wereld en toont ongefilterde beelden van actualiteiten die de meeste aandacht krijgen van internationale persbureaus. Als kijker kun je door middel van De Barometer een goede afweging maken over de hoeveelheid redactionele interventie op het nieuws. Deze extra informatie verschijnt als een parallelle vertelling bij de beelden.

NOS op 11 (door Heinze Havinga en  Kasper Kamperman) gaat over het verijken van nieuws met online data tot het moment dat het niet langer informeert. De naam is een verwijzing naar Spinal tap’s eleven is one louder scene. De kijker kan zelf door middel van een knop bepalen hoeveel extra informatie hij wil zien. De ruwe persbureaubeelden zonder context geven uit zichzelf weinig duidelijkheid over wat de beelden proberen te vertellen. Door de meta-data bij de video te analyseren en te gebruiken om online informatie aan te roepen en deze over de video heen te leggen ontstaat een beeld van wat er besproken wordt in de video’s. Bij de hogere standen van de knop slaat het verrijken echter door in nutteloze toevoegingen waardoor de beelden verdrinken in de extra informatie en stoppen met het informeren van de kijker.

Samen met de mediakunstenaars en DROPSTUFF werkt NOS Lab in masterclasses met studenten om samen te zoeken naar innovatieve technieken en manieren om in contact te komen met diverse doelgroepen.

SCREENING THE CITY SEMINAR
Donderdag 1 December, 10-17u, deur open 9.30
Locatie: Trouw de Verdieping, Wibautstraat 127, Amsterdam

Screening the City draait om data van bewoners, beeldmateriaal van de stad en de infrastructuur van de ‘smart city’. Tijdens het seminar en in de expositie presenteren ontwerpers, onderzoekers, programmeurs, illustratoren en journalisten mogelijkheden om lokale content en data terug te geven aan de stad, via urban screens, mobiele apps, interactieve tv-formats en andere kanalen.

Na de succesvolle urban screen conferenties in Amsterdam (2005 en 2009), Manchester (2007) en Melbourne (2008), vindt van 29 november t/m 1 december alweer het vijfde Urban Screens event plaats, met als thema ‘Screening the City’.

In het seminar worden o.a. twee Culture Vortex projecten gepresenteerd, namelijk Docs on the Spot (IDFA, Instituut voor Beeld & Geluid, Stadsarchief Amsterdam, MediaLAB en INC) en Kunst en Nieuws in de Publieke Ruimte (DROPSTUFF en NOS). Het gehele programma is te vinden op http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/urbanscreens/amsterdam-11/programma/.

Screening the City is onderdeel van onderzoeksproject Culture Vortex en wordt mede mogelijk gemaakt door SIA RAAK.

An initial mapping of the different aspects in this projects has been made. Four cornerstones have been identified. Changing any aspect, will change the target and also the roles of the other aspects. That is why, before you can realistically say (or even see) what the target is, all the other aspects should be well defined.

The first one is the documentary itself. Although the first plan was to use several different documentaries in the application, this was soon cut down to one. The meaning, contents, subject matter and goal of the documentary all play an important role in the execution of the project, and vary heavily depending on the movie. The documentary “Haven, omzwervingen in de nacht” has been selected.

Team Led It Up is back and working quite a lot to be ready for the Netherlands Film Festival (NFF). After our working hours, we are meeting to work on this new project.

During this week, the team is uploading some movies to create the content of our game, Galgje, while our designer Roxanne is taking care of the design.

All of this to create the perfect game for the professionals/fans of movies!

We also already planned a testing day. That will be next Thursday, in Utrecht at the Neude, since the screen is already installed there and running. So we can test our application to make some changes before the D-Day.

We keep you updated about the next news!

Led It Up

Hi there folks!

Long time no news. After Festival Mundial we said goodbye to the MediaLab and enjoyed a nice holiday. Although the MediaLab is over for us, Led It Up lives on! Our presence at Mundial has generated interest in our interactive installation from various organisations. We have decided to continue the project for as long as we can.

So first great news: we’re going to the Netherlands Film Festival (NFF)! This annual festival takes place in Utrecht where this year we will be entertaining the public on Neude. The database that we use will consist of only film, so no more Open Images. This means the game will  be slightly different. The upcoming weeks we’ll be working hard to put together a neat experience for all you film lovers. It’s a great new challenge for us to adapt our game to a new setting, and to optimalise our installation.

There might be some other festivals we’ll be attending in the near future so keep an eye on our blog / facebook / twitter to find out what’s next. Find us at Neude from 21 – 30 September 2011.

Keep you posted!

Led It Up