Re: Syndicate: Next 5 Minutes

[Eric Kluitenberg <epk@xs4all.nl>]

Dear all,

Having been closely involved with the last edition of Next 5 Minutes, and
still being Amsterdam-based, I feel I should at least react to Andreas, but
still cannot resolve the mystery completely..

anythingonce@shortterm.co.uk wrote:

>>Is there going to be a Next 5 Minutes festival this year?  Does anyone know?

and Andreas Broeckmann wrote:

>interesting question - though the next n5m year is 2002 (3-year cycle after
>1993/96/99)
>calling amsterdam ...

---------------

The general formula as I understood it at the time, was that Next 5 Minutes
would only be organised when there is a clear need to organise it. On the
question wether such a need exists, the answer should invariably be that
this is not the case until such time that the decision is made to organise
it...

Currently I do not believe there is an immediate initiative to organise
another edition of Next 5 Minutes in Amsterdam, and it is even more
unlikely that it will be organised anywhere else.

My personal opinion is that Next 5 Minutes should not be organised again,
but should remain a monument, a mythology almost. As a perpetually dormant
(but not dead) structure it can inspire coutnless follow-up activities that
neither are nor are called Next 5 Minutes, but do tap into the ideas and
the energies behind the event.

I remember when I first encountered the N5M phenomenon as a mere visitor in
1996 the sheer maniacal energy was a wounderfull kick. More than anything
it seemed that N5M and *tactical media* was about an attitude: towards
media, towards art, towards politics, towards culture. For me it seems most
productive that a multitude of events and structures can inherit this
energy and attitude, and continuously reinvent what  *tactical media* means.

Still it does not preclude that in the end another Next 5 Minutes might yet
happen, whenever...
(certainly not this year..)

grtngs,
eric
:)