<nettime> location1

[drazen <drazen@xs4all.nl>]

Location One: Catalyst for Content and Convergence


This is our credo:

First, the Internet will be about content, not just conduit.

The nature of the technology changes content - not just access and
distribution - with implications across the full range of artistic
expression and subject matter. 

Second, Location One is about convergence. 

We are bringing together creativity along the two standards that have
governed the history of human expression - the axis of expressive
discipline and the axis of available technology. 

Third, Location One is a catalyst. 

We select talent, stimulate interaction, supply resources, and provide
real and virtual forums. We enable things both cool and consequential to
happen. 

New media transform artistic expression.  Conventional barriers of time
and distance are erased. With them depart a myriad of social, political
and cultural distinctions.  Access, distribution, participation become
universal (and affordable). Creative alternatives proliferate. 

These things are known. Less widely understood is the degree to which
technology transforms content.  (Or, more accurately, continues a
transformation that began midway through the 20th century).  A work of art
begins with its creators. But, more than ever before, it also encompasses
its audience, interactivity and the potential for ongoing evolution. 

Location One is creating a new environment for contemporary art, one that
is rich in interdisciplinary context.  The new media are interactive - but
so have always been live events.  Our unique opportunity lies in the
linkage between live performance, exhibition and dialogue and electronic
broadcast, feedback and interaction.  Each of our activities will comprise
some combination of live and electronic elements, according to the vision
of their creators. 

We assign a central place to new media and the Internet in our
presentation of contemporary art. Our focus, however, differs from others
encouraging cultural application of new media.  We believe - and this is
our central belief - that there is extraordinary value to be gained from
the collaboration of new media artists with artists from every other
artistic and expressive discipline. We applaud the countless efforts
underway elsewhere to explore purely digital work, to enhance technical
expertise and extend access and delivery; our contribution will lie in the
implications of media convergence for artistic content. 

The work we commission asks contemporary artists - painters, sculptors,
dancers, musicians, poets, storytellers - to collaborate with computer,
video and new media artists.  We have seen their minds stretch, their work
grow, and their audiences come alive.  What emerges from these
collaborations is unique, unexpected, provocative and sometimes brilliant. 
The media re-invent the content. 

We will continue to put together imaginative combinations of proven and
promising talents from both the physical and virtual sides of the house of
creativity. We will encourage them to explore, to learn, to discuss, to
argue, and ultimately to create, present and perform.  We will support
their activity both with fellowships and with commissions for specific
bodies of work.  We place neither demand nor restriction on subject, style
or medium. We are catalysts. 

We will provide access to the tools and resources of the new media;  they
are beyond the limited means of most artists.  We will support visiting
artists and artists in residence.  We will encourage them to develop their
work to the needs and opportunities of the
live-performance-and-exhibition/Internet-streaming synthesis.  This is
not, we have found, a simple process; friction and dislocation are part of
the price of new creative experience. 

We will open early this fall our new physical space (and headquarters
office) in New York9s Soho/Silicon Alley district.  It will enable regular
exhibitions of physical, digital and video art; live performances;
workshops and discussions; and a broad range of collaborative and
experimental effort.  Our new space will be linked electronically as well
to our affiliated locations in the US, Japan, and Europe. 

We will be broadcasting daily, through our Internet site and related
electronic technology.  We will present not only the events taking place
at our home and affiliated spaces, but also a wide range of other programs
and electronic projects.  We intend to be quite selective.  We will
function less as an aggregator site than as a relatively narrow portal
opening onto convergent artistic content of a very high quality. 

We have found that our approach appeals to a wide spectrum of non-trivial
users of technology - some are artists, many are relatively young, most
are interested in artistic, technological or cultural innovation.  We view
the discussion and debate that the Web makes possible as central to the
development of an artistic vocabulary of convergence.  Perhaps more
important, we view the transmission of our artists9 works and the
consequent perceptual, conceptual or interactive response of the audience
as integral elements of the works themselves. 


Location One is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation incorporated in
the State of New York, with funding from corporations, foundations and
private individuals. 

www.location1.org
location1@location1.org
tel: 212.334.3347	fax: 212.334.3289
19 Hudson Street, NYC 10013


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