+Commissioned by Rhizome.org+

Conference Report: Dutch Electronic Arts Festival 07
by laurie halsey brown

'Open Systems - a perspective on the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival 07'

OInteract or Die!O was the eighth edition of the Dutch Electronic Art F=
estival-with the first edition in 1995. DEAF07 (April 10-29) also marked th=
e 25th anniversary of V2, the Rotterdam-based Institute for the Unstable Me=
dia, who organizes the festival.

I attended DEAF03 as well as DEAF04, on which I reported for Rhizome in an =
article entitled, 'WhereOs the Art in Electronic Art?' Each DEAF Festival=
includes an exhibition, and the DEAF04 exhibition was a bit of a high-end =
science fair with a large predominance of work that fit the Opush button,=
step on platform to make something vaguely pointless happenO profile. Du=
ring a symposium at DEAF04, Dutch theoretician/ writer Arjen Mulder describ=
ed interactivity as two sub-systems connecting: art as a system and the aud=
ience as a system to equal the meaning as a process of creation. If the art=
ist presents an Open System then the audience will form a network to then =
OcreateO the piece.

The corresponding DEAF07 OInteract or Die!O exhibition did include seve=
ral works that reflect MulderOs concept of interactivity.

The viewerOs movement down a long, dark hallway affects the resolution of=
the image on a LCD screen at its end. The closer one gets, the blurrier th=
e video image, until it totally vanishes.'Lowest Resolution,' by Zhang Peil=
i (China) reinterprets the scientific process of the video signal to poetic=
ally refer to an interactive 'approach.'

Hu Jie MingOs (China) 'Go Up! Go Up!' consists of 24 TV screens stacked a=
s a vertical column. The TV screens show a number of people climbing franti=
cally. The audience interacts with the climbing scene by either shouting at=
them or making noises–which intensifies the climbing–but they still fall=
down hopelessly, and start to climb again. The work exemplifies the Chines=
e proverb that the more you want something, the more unattainable it become=
s.

Everyday components of the physical and virtual worlds converge in 'Object =
B' by Exonemo (Japan). A large cube screens a video game on all four sides.=
Placed in front are beautiful assemblages using ordinary materials such as=
hair dryers, keyboards, chainsaws, drills, cleaning brushes–all interconn=
ected to move and create sounds in response to the video games. This collis=
ion of the everyday creates an opening for the viewerOs own experience of=
interactive process.

Roman Kirschner (Austria) created a subtle art / science experiment based o=
n a model of a chemical computer by Gordon Pask in the early 1950s. The pie=
ce is called 'Roots,' and like many traditional science experiments, it is =
contained within a glass tank–although beautifully lit and placed in a dar=
k room. The tank is filled with electricity, which is the key to the transf=
ormation of the root-like apparatuses in the tank. They make organic connec=
tions to one another amidst bubbles that dissolve into clouds: dark iron cr=
ystals grow, break off and sink to the dark ground. Interact or Die!

The DEAF07 symposium focused on the ways that ideas become effective throug=
h interaction within networks.

Jeanne Van Heeswijk is a Dutch artist who focuses on the Osocial in the p=
ublic realmO. Her talk during the symposium dealt with her interest in ne=
w forms of intervention in public space. She discussed how public space is =
controlled and non-typical behaviors are not tolerated. She referred to the=
OFree Hugs CampaignO video on YouTube that won an award for being OM=
ost InspirationalO although the campaign itself was forbidden in several =
countries, including Australia and China. Van Heeswijk is presently working=
on a new piece in which empathy is seen as a radical act. She believes tha=
t living in a city is an art and we need the language of art to negotiate o=
ur experience within the city. Her interventions are designed to interact w=
ith public space to create alternative connections: a technocratic approach=
vs. the traffic control of space.

At other DEAF07 seminars, the concept of social interaction was recurrent. =
OTransdisciplinary InnovationO included a talk by Sally Jane Norman, t=
he Director of Culture Lab in Newcastle, UK. She discussed how transdiscipl=
inary practice Owill constantly display itself,O as it reflects contemp=
orary society. Transdisciplinary practice differentiates itself from interd=
isciplinary practice by the level of interaction between collaborators, and=
by the outcomes of the collaboration. Norman is focused on participatory k=
nowledge structures in response to how larger organizations create niches. =
The Culture Lab positions experts in situations outside of their area of ex=
pertise. This creates an awareness of points of non-communication, which is=
seen as an aspect of a path leading to new areas of discovery. The Culture=
Lab is interested in accessing the non-generic user, towards creating soci=
al software that can affect social change.

DEAF04 had an extremely positive seminar series that was also continued in =
DEAF07. Nat Muller is the curator for the Snack and Surge Brunch series, wh=
ich is subtitled OBiting at the Poetics of Power.O Each of the four sem=
inars in the series included lunch as art, with the themes of each discussi=
on topic reflected in the food. Here, eating became an art experience, and =
a tasty form of interactivity.

The Out in the Open panel dealt with the myth of openness which is specific=
to collaborative process. Lauren Wright from Furtherfield.org discussed DI=
WO: Do it With Others and considered how to emphasize the OwithO in the=
title. One thing she felt was relative was collaboration vs. remote connec=
tion. Tim Jones, production coordinator for NODE London, discussed NODE as =
a model for other cities to connect all their media-based organizations to =
form one network. He also focused on social software that can extend the co=
llaborative process. To find the right tools, the fundamental collaborative=
elements should be understood: OLook at how people interact and then dev=
elop software that develops out from that. Start with behavior, and then te=
chnology is used as an extension of this.O During this discussion, artist=
Saul Albert used MindMap software to visualize what was being said. He als=
o presented the project OThe People SpeakO in which artists create stra=
tegies for engaging public debate.

Rules of Engagement asked, 'With 72 million blogs, how do they impact on cu=
lture? Can they be a form of activism?' Panelist Mazen Kerbaj (Lebanon) put=
s his drawings of war on his blog that communicate his experience globally.=
Xu Wenkai (China) maintained that blogs have little impact on local cultur=
e as the government controls the blogs. In China, there are firewalls in pl=
ace that can filter and edit blogs based on list of objectionable words, bu=
t the government has very little understanding of the content, so the filte=
r system can be sidestepped. The list of objectionable words gets smaller a=
ll the time, but he is looking forward to a day when the list is obsolete. =
Ellen Pau (Hong Kong) is an artist and activist who thinks that the online =
tool is powerful for protest in that it preserves memories of urban experie=
nce, in relation to a rapidly changing Hong Kong.

Media Insurgency looked at insurgency as legitimate from the inside. Andrea=
Natella (Italy) created www.where-next.com in which one can bet on where t=
he next international attack will be. The project looks at fear vs. reality=
, presenting a live map of perception, to see if perception corresponds to =
reality. Panelist Naeem Mohaieman works on documentaries about Bangladesh p=
olitics that deal with audience perception, and is concerned with how his w=
ork continues or dissuades stereotypes. He also discussed the inside vs. ou=
tside / local vs. global media lens. Contemporary political actions are hyp=
er-aware of media influence, and work in tandem with the media in some case=
s. His presentation was followed by a live web cast from Extremadura in Spa=
in where they had set-up a temporary media lab near a disused power plant i=
n a 'struggle to free the building.'

Marked-Up City was monumental in that it brought together Mushon Zer-Aviv (=
Israel) and Leila El-Haddad (Palestine) who are working on a project as par=
t of youarenothere.org. The festival was the first time these two collabora=
tors had met face-to-face. They are using place as a foundation for each cu=
lture to share commonalities. Their project is groundbreaking and of great =
value, both politically and artistically. It deals with urban tourism and =
a reflection of the human scale of a city as it demonstrates how two cities=
can live the same realities. Also discussed was city branding by Merijn Ou=
denampsen (Holland) who saw city identity–as constructed through tourism–=
as a simplistic representation of a city.

Another interesting seminar, entitled OCreateO (a.k.a. Creative and Tec=
hnology Exchange), focused on online media archives. Researcher Keith Baker=
discussed the importance of these archives and the lack of memory in net.c=
ulture. The seminar advertised its focus thus: 'As technology-inspired art =
is gaining more widespread acceptance, documentation of the rich and divers=
e media art histories is becoming increasingly important.' Rhizome was ment=
ioned as an important node in the constellation of media art archives.

+ http://www.deaf07.nl
+ http://www.movinginplace.net/DEAF07/