Syndicate: from LEA: C. Giannetti on MECAD Barcelona

[Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck@v2.nl>]

<  MECAD - Media Centre d'Art i Disseny  >
                                  Claudia Giannetti, director


MECAD \ Media Centre d'Art i Disseny
Claudia Giannetti, directora
MECAD\Media Centre d'Art i Disseny
Avda. Marques de Comillas, 79-83
08202 Sabadell - Barcelona - Spain
Tel: (+34) 93 745 70 40
Fax: (+34) 93 726 81 83
URL: <http://www.mecad.org>

------------
Introduction
------------

Digital and telecommunications technologies are opening paths towards
hitherto unprecedented aesthetic experiences. During recent decades
these new media have made a deep impact on art and design, and their
future development prospects are considerable. This has led us to
create the MECAD \ Media Centre d'Art i Disseny in Sabadell -
Barcelona, a centre oriented specifically towards research and support
for creative practices using infographic, audio-visual, and telematic
media and hypermedia.

---------------------
The Creation of MECAD
---------------------

MECAD was created in September 1998 on the initiative of the FUNDIT
Foundation, the institution that in 1989 founded the School of Design
ESDI with the aim of fostering design culture and providing the
necessary pedagogical and research means to do so. With the recent
creation of MECAD and the appointment of Claudia Giannetti as director
of the Centre, FUNDIT has made a substantial step forward in its
endeavour to fortify the increasingly close links betwenn design, art
and the new technologies. The Foundation Board is composed of various
institutions. Among these, the following are especially remarkable:

Spanish Intertextile Council; Catalan Department of Industry, Commerce
and Tourism; Association of Manufacturers of Sabadell; Ministry of
Industry and Energy; Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Sabadell.

--------------------------
Physical and Virtual Space
--------------------------

MECAD has been born with the will to be an open, decentralised entity.
We believe that traditional models of institutions that restrict their
field of action to the limits of the physical space they occupy have
become obsolete and ineffectual, since they base their activities on
closed policies that hamper dialogue.

MECAD identifies with the metaphor of the "hub" from which a wide
variety of ideas and actions radiate, and also with that of the
"nucleus", which becomes a meeting point, debate forum and centre of
creation. In this context we aspire to promoting and developing both
our own projects and initiatives in conjunction with other centres,
entities or individuals, as well as to support and share projects from
outside. In practice, this means that we act both "at home", by
generating activities from the MECAD itself, as well as elsewhere in
Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain and the international context.

Besides the physical space we occupy in the FUNDIT building with an
area of 10,000 sqm --space we share with ESDI--, our field of action
also encompasses telematic space, which allows us to be present on a
global level. By building our web we set out both to facilitate access
to important information concerning Media Art, and through the network
to develop new strategies and supports for creation.

Through these proposals, open to all kinds of projects and
collaborations, our intention is to increase the scope of our action
to become a centre of research and production of ideas and activities;
a nucleus of reception and support for projects carried out by artists
and other entities; and a point of dissemination and launching pad for
artists for creators from all areas of Media Art.

... [Content omitted: Ed.] ...


[Ed. note: the complete content of this profile is available at the
LEA website: <http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-journals/LEA/>.]


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