September 23-24, 2005 | Club 11 CS, Amsterdam

Urban Screens 05 investigated how the commercial use of outdoor screens could be broadened, or augmented, with cultural content. The conference addressed the nexus of digital media culture, urbanism, architecture and art. The main aim of Urban Screens 05 was to discuss the strategies for artistic intervention on these screens, binding them more to the communal context of the urban space, thus creating local identity and engagement.

This groundbreaking event launched a discussion around how digital culture could make use of existing and future screen infrastructure, in terms of art and social or political practices. The conference sought to redefine the function of this growing infrastructure by addressing its existing commercial models while also exploring the nuances between art, interventions and entertainment. Other key issues were: mediated interaction, content management and curation, participation of the local community, technical requirements and standards, and the immersive effects of incorporating the screens into urban landscape and architecture, resulting in a complex, mediated and dynamic merger of material and immaterial space.

themes: shaping the urban mediascape, addressing social value and civic culture through participation, project sketches, opening up the commercial use of outdoor screens, future technology of outdoor screens, various artists’ presentations, and experiences with new content creation.

speakers: Frank Abbott, Jim Shorthose, Jez Noond, Roberta Alvarenga, Franck Ancel, Anthony Auerbach, Perry Bard, Florent Aziosmanoff, Olga Barham, Louis M. Brill, Vera Bühlmann, Andreas Wenger, Sabine Gebhardt Fink, Mike Gibbons, Christoph Kronhagel, Vladimir Krylov, Raina Kumra, Karen Lancel, Hermen Maat, Peter Lavery, Jason Lewis, Lev Manovich, Scott McQuire, Jürgen Meier, Julia Nevárez, Florian Resatsch, Daniel Michelis, Elizabeth Sikiaridi, Jan Schuijren, Arseny Sergeev, Wolfgang Straus, Kate Taylor, Valentin Tomic, Adrian Velicescu, and Linda Wallace.

website: To access audio and video documentation and interviews with conference speakers, or to subscribe to the Urban Screens discussion list, go to: www.networkcultures.org/urbanscreens.

credits: Urban Screens 05 was organised by the Institute of Network Cultures, the Rietveld Academy and the Department of Art and Public Space at the University of Amsterdam, in collaboration with Mirjam Struppek, Interactionfield, Berlin. Concept: Mirjam Struppek. Supported by: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

publication: Pieter Boeder and Mirjam Struppek (eds.), Issue #4: Urban Screens: Discovering the potential of outdoor screens for urban society, First Monday 2005: www.firstmonday.org/issues/special11_2/

follow up: Urban Screens Manchester, October 11-12, 2007, focused on the development of non-commercial content for big urban displays such as LED, LCD, plasma screens, media facades and projections onto buildings. What characterises these huge displays as media platforms in urban space, and which particular spatial and social situations do they create? How are they perceived? How does creative content flow from this? At the two-day international conference media experts, designers, artists, architects and broadcasters explored the vast spectrum of potential content for urban displays.
See www.manchesterurbanscreens.org.uk.