18-19 January, 2008 | Club 11, Amsterdam

In response to the increasing potential of online video becoming a significant form of personal media on the Internet, this conference examines the key issues emerging around independent production and distribution of online video content. What are the responses of artists and activists to the popularity of ‘user-generated content’ websites? Is corporate backlash imminent?

After years of talk about digital convergence and crossmedia platforms, we are now witnessing the merger of the Internet and television at a spectacular pace. For the film and television establishment, its media organisations and conglomerates, this fusion is a nightmare come true. Not only because of copyright issues but increasingly due to the shift of audience away from ‘one-way’ media towards vlogging and video-sharing websites – all part of the development of a broader participatory culture. However, what will it mean when video files become part of everyday life, when all situations not only can and will be recorded, but are then instantly distributed on the Internet?

The Video Vortex conference aims to contextualize these developments by tracing continuities and faultlines over recent decades in artistic, activist and mainstream activity. Contrary to the way online video presents itself as entirely new, it has long threads woven into the history of visual art, cinema and documentary production. The rise of the database as the dominant form of storing and accessing cultural artefacts also has a rich tradition that needs exploring. Video Vortex is a platform for artists and researchers to respond to this emerging field.

themes: participatory culture, art and aesthetics, activism and public media, the narrative and the cinematic, curating online video, and vlogging.

credits: Organised by the Institute of Network Cultures. Concept: Geert Lovink, Seth Keen and Vera Tollmann. Supported by: Mondriaan Foundation and The Netherlands Film Fund.

website: To subscribe to the Video Vortex discussion list, or to access conference documentation go to www.networkcultures.org/videovortex.