Name : Hay Scoolmeesters, Hugo van Valkenburg, Willem van Weelden Time : Subject: ATEA Date : |
| Association for Trans European Art We won't travel for the fun of it, as far as I know; we're foolish, but not that foolish! (Samuel Beckett) The term 'global village' is chanted around the globe as a mantra-like metaphor to describe the media upheaval on the electronic information revolution. In the media spotlight this slogan still exerts a strong influence on how people try to understand the consequences of electronic communication. However the concept of a shrinking globe due to these new media is a misleading presumption given current network realities. When McLuhan coined this term in the early sixties it somehow made sense within the framework of his publications, but nowadays it seems a rather naive topology of looking at the ever expanding and transforming conditions under which electronic communication takes place. The suggestion that new media really are capable of shrinking the globe in seize, and letting it become more transparent, village-like and human, is a gross sign of underestimating not only of the pace and scale of the developments, but also of the political, financial and cultural information wars that are currently determining a vast portion of all network activity. Nothing less than our traditional capabilities to handle scale and complexity are on the line. It leaves policy-makers in the realms of politics, culture and business in a continuous challenge to re-address the issue of composing new societal forms under new conditions. These social engineering challenges are often seen as highly dependent on the adaptability of the technology for a wide use. Research into standardisation, low threshold technology, user-friendly interfaces and the development of worthwhile electronic services are still on the priority-lists of the organisations and institutions who try to shape the future of our digital communication environment. However a societal outlook and the critical treatment of subjects as democracy, human rights, privacy and cultural diversity should not be neglected or be set back when the individualisation of mass media is almost complete. Digital life is about the sole individual in a digitised world that is at the same time somewhere else and asynchronous as it is synchronous. The convergence of the media, the integration of traditionally separated communication technologies and their contents, is no longer a mystic subject when facing the developments in mass media. Seen from a technological perspective this integration is slowly reaching a point in which most of the compatibility problems seem to be overcome: we are flooded by all the slick graphical interfaces with smiling faces and coarse jokes. But seen from a cultural perspective we are still on the verge of a new era of social experiment and play. The debates on determining the preconditions for a wide use and democratic access have already a vast and still growing interest. Generally speaking one could say that interaction on a wide scale guarantees enough commitment to enhance the potentialities of the newly introduced media and communications technologies. But in practice it is still difficult to arrange diversified information supply via these new media and make something of the dream of real democratic access come true. Artists more and more take on to the role of the social engineer to dedicate themselves to making efforts on this level. Artists networks are popping up on Internet like mushrooms in autumn. But very few are explicitly dedicated to the cultural implications of our convergent society. Support is needed to regulate and facilitate these activities on the information superhighway, especially when seen on a level of trans cultural convergence. Political, social and economic differences need a special kind of attention when composing a strategy of action within the new information environment. The Association for Trans European Art is a platform of European convergence in the arts that is dedicated to cultural differences.People apparently are in need of a tangible relation to the world around them. The global scale of Internet exceeds our comprehension and as a counter-balance local communities (as the Digital City) originate. Thus for individuals surveying units come into being with which they can enter a relation. For organisations this is different. Their working area rarely stays limited to the direct environment: even when the task primarily is local, there are diverted functions such as research and exchange of knowledge, representat ion of interests, logistic co-operation in which is co-operated in a larger context. Free accessible networks, in Internet, between all organisations which are active in a working area can fortify the view in existing social relations and can function as convergence platforms (in which all knowledge and information, technical and ideological viewpoints and social questions congregate). The origination of such platforms is also impeded by the impasse, which is felt in political and business circles, with regard to the found ing of the necessary alliance- and co-operation connections. Together with science art has a strong influence on thinking and the ability of perception of human beings. This development of thoughts and ideas is mostly taking place within communities of equal directed minds and communication forums. Exchange, also in an international sense, is self-evident; thus currents and tendencies are developing simultaneously at different places in the world. In this respect the visual arts are a work field in which such a convergence platform comes about easy and fast. This can be based on plain structures, which build on a fundament which is laid by a few art institutes which conduct their own Internet servers. These servers can be knotted together. With this the backbone of a network arises. Nerves to smaller art institutes deep in Eastern Europe supplement this image. Such structures improve the perceiving, work clarifying to the information questioner and offers the opportunity to obtain insights in the working of electronic communication and to enter into social experiments which are not possible without this structure. With this the emplacement of such structures is becoming the domain of wide social responsibility. In the first three years of her development this electronic network will concentrate on the geographical area which corresponds with the trans-European shipping route along the Rhine, Main, Main-Danube channel and Danube, from the North Sea to the Black Sea. The motivation for the choice of this geographically defined area can be found in the plan River Europe of Portable Gallery Foundation. Both projects strive for durable co-operation between visual arts institutes in eleven countries of Europe; The Netherlands, Germany (especially the federal states Nordrhein-Westfahlen, Rheinlandpfalz, Hessen, Baden-W¸rtemburg and Beieren), Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. In a few respects this geographic area forms a representative section of Europe. Measured to the gross national income, to average income per head of the population, the quality of the infrastructure and the level of political and economic stability the mutual differences between the eleven countries along the route correspond properly with the differences which apply to the whole European continent. In the field of technology, science and information-supply such differences are also present. The federation aims for a publicly accessible electronic network as a mean for European co-operation, communication, presentation and distribution. Amongst others the goal of this platform is to offer an opportunity to connected organisations to present themselves and to give insight in the projects and activities which they develop. Besides this ATEA.net offers the opportunity to efficiently support the European exchange in the arts. The ATEA network uses the term 'resident' for sponsors, press, research institutions, companies and public organisations that have a distinct relation to the subjects of the network such as visual art, art policy, the electronic society, communication technology, geography and logistics. In a similar way as member-organisations, these suppliers of information and companies and public organisations with whom an association is made, will be allowed to enter their information directly on the network; they have executable access (possibility to add, change and delete information and to a large extend a freedom of choice in the structure that is used) to the domain in which their information can be found. Part of the network that is accessible through telnet and that is reserved for members of ATEA.net, contains information on funds, potential sponsors, press, suppliers of equipment and materials, insurance companies, transport and clearance formalities. As a starting point we take it that all information and knowledge that is not of strategic importance to a member organisation, will be shared on a basis of reciprocallety. This supports the mobility of activities and decreases the information setback of small organisations (e.g. in Eastern Europe). It would be contrary to the non-hierarchical structure of Internet to want to build an open but hierarchically structured network inside and furthermore this is in contradiction to the federate organisation structure of ATEA.net. A de-central structure has an additional advantage in the fact that growth of the network does not have to be proportional to growth of the organisation. A decentralised approach has some important disadvantages. It is difficult to keep a grip on the integrity of information; update of information becomes a task for many. In addition to this building fields of information within Internet still takes a lot of knowledge and experience. On the other hand it is entirely in agreement with the starting point of the thinking and learning organisation that ATEA.net wants to be, to find the solution for this problem within the potential available.To allow member organisations to maintain their own information environment within the network they have to extend existing knowledge by means of schooling and/or newly developed software has to create the possibility of direct transfer of files to a Hypertext format. A development in this direction is expected in the near future.
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