The Future of Computer Arts

& The History of the International Festival of Computer Arts, Maribor

1995-2004

Edited by

Marina Grzinic

Published by

MASKA, Ljubljana

MKC, Maribor

2004

The Future of Computer Arts has been conceived as a theoretical-activist dispositif that aims on one hand to reflect the 10^th anniversary of the International Festival of Computer Arts, which began in 1995 in Maribor, and on the other as a critical and political matrix of the state of affairs in computer arts, new media and new information/communication technology. It aims to be a foundation reader in this field. The book consists of three parts. It opens as a spatio-temporal dispositif of thinking, working and acting with, through, and beyond the field of new media and new information/ communication technology, toward the esthetical, political and social. The first part of the book clearly shows that there exist several histories of technology, numerous strategies for developing communities, open sources and exchange modes, where knowledge can be used for political and strategic options.

In the second part of the book hundreds of names and projects, artists and groups, fake names and world renowned stars from the new technological milieu are presented. In past years the Festival developed archives more similar to unstable zones of facts, data and moves.

The third part describes, analyzes and documents one of the most important strategic points of the International Festival of Computers Arts, being not just a space of representation, but a space of active exchange, research and connections between students, professors, educational and research institutions. In such a manner, the book closes with the opening of possible future international collaborations between different educational institutions and new generations of students.

Marina Grzinic

THE FUTURE OF COMPUTER ARTS

(CONTENTS)

PART ONE: TECHNOLOGY BETWEEN ACTIVISM, THEORY, LIFE, KNOWLEDGE AND LABOR

Konrad Becker: Culture, Conflict and Control in the Infosphere

0100101110101101.ORG: Nikeplatz: Guerrilla marketing or collective hallucination?

Sefik Seki Tatlic: Dispersion of the Virtual into the New Democracy

Or Fake Articulations of the Public Sphere

Armin Medosch: Not Just Another Wireless Utopia: Developing the social protocols of free networking

Janez Strehovec: From Work of Art to Artistic Service

Marina Grzinic: Global capitalism and the genetic paradigm of culture

Mojca Puncer: Allegories of Angelic Bodies

Rosa Reitsamer: Black Culture – White Nature

Ralo Mayer and Philipp Haupt: Gothenburg N.B.

STELARC: Prosthetic head: intelligence, awareness and agency

Interview with the Prosthetic Head by Stelarc

PART TWO: HISTORY OF THE MARIBOR INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF COMPUTER ARTS 1995 – 2003

PART THREE: EXCHANGE, RESEARCH AND CONNECTIONS BETWEEN STUDENTS, PROFESSORS AND EDUCATIONAL–RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS

1. Ljubljana: Fine Arts Academy at IFCA (1998 – 2004)

2. Maribor: Department of Fine Arts, Faculty of Education, University of Maribor

3. Vienna: Conceptual (Art) Practices at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna