Soros Center for Contemporary Art on Wed, 5 Jun 1996 14:53:23 +0200 |
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C3: Center for Culture & Communication Opening |
C3: Center for Culture & Communication Soros Foundation Hungary / SiliconLab A new center, C3: Center for Culture & Communication, will be opened on June 26, 1996 by the Soros Foundation Hungary. As a result of the collaboration between the Soros Foundation Hungary, Silicon Graphics Hungarian Liason Office and MATAV (Hungarian Telecommunications Company), C3 will facilitate the expanded exploration of digital media technology, will encourage creative usage of the Internet and will function as a public forum for debate and innovation regarding communication and culture. C3 will function as a research center and media lab, resource facility, internet provider and public access Internet lab, operating a multi-disciplinary arts and culture program and gallery, and will run various educational and grants programs dealing with the Internet and new media art technologies. The latest in Silicon Graphics technology (ONYX, INDY) will be accessible via C3. C3 will incorporate the SCCA (Soros Center for Contemporary Arts-Budapest), which will also be located at Budapest I, Orszaghaz utca 9. Further information may be obtained from C3: Pf. 419, H-1537 Budapest, tel.: 36.1/ 214.68.56, fax: 214.68.72. Board Members Miklos Peternak, (Chair), Founding Director of Intermedia Department, Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest; Gabor Halasz, Operation Manager, Silicon Graphics Hungary, Budapest; Katalin Neray, Director, Ludwig Museum, Budapest; Dr. Lajos Nyikos, Science Advisor, Central Research Institute for Physics, Budapest; Mihaly Poharnok, Director, Hungarian Design Center, Budapest; Elek Straub, Executive Director, MATAV, (Hungarian PTT), Budapest; Tamas Waliczky, artist, researcher, Center for Media Art (ZKM), Karlsruhe (Germany/Hungary) International Advisory Committee Members Prof. Richard Kriesche, artist, professor, Hochschule fuer Gestaltung, Offenbach (Austria/ Germany); Kathy Rae Huffman, freelance curator and critic (Austria/USA); Marina Grzinic, video artist, curator, theoretician (Slovenia); Prof.Dr. Siegfried Zielinski, Director, Kunsthochschule fuer Medien Koln (Germany) Staff Members Program director: Suzanne Meszoely; Assistant director: Andrea Szekeres Technical manager: Andras Tuedos; System managers: Gabor Endredi, Tamas Szalay Program Coordinators: Adele Eisenstein, Agnes Veronika Kovacs, Livia Paldi, Laszlo Toelgyes, Zoltan Szegedy-Maszak, Marton Fernzehelyi MISSION STATEMENT communication = the open society public -- content - culture -- technology -- future C3 is a public, non-profit forum for debate and laboratory for exploration and innovation regarding communication, culture and the open society. C3s commitment, first and foremost, is to content, quality, and artistic creativity and integrity. The concept of open society is based on the recognition that people act on imperfect knowledge, with no one individual in possession of an ultimate truth, rather taking the rule of law and respect for the rights of others as its starting point, and creating progress and prosperity from that sound base. Open societies respect the right of people to freely receive and communicate information, optimizing citizen participation towards societal planning strategies. The Soros Foundation supports the qualitative and creative use of the Internet and its impact on the creation and maintenance of open societies. C3 functions as an thought-provoking, public center that encourages debate and allows for the free exchange of information on a range of issues insufficiently explored in the public and commercial realm, promoting connections and cooperation nationally and internationally. Our objectives combine the eternal and valuable tradition of human culture with the developing of a new society, building on continuity to change the world in a positive, progressive direction. The technology is ultimately just the actual, contemporary means by which to provide real and permanent value: the preservation of democracy, empathy, cooperation, participation and creativity. What we are striving to offer the public is human-oriented values based upon new technologies. C3 behaves essentially as an interdisciplinary interface for the expanded exploration and creative development of digital media technology, operating as a think tank, in its uniting of Hungarian and international practitioners and theoreticians in new forms of collaboration. As a Center investigating both media archeology and the potentialities of new technology, C3 provides access to intellectual material as well as various high powered computers through which the general public and specialists are introduced to an exploration of the future. We envision C3 as a quality content provider - an experimental laboratory utilizing the latest developments in computer and communications technologies to expand the notions of their functionability and usage, with an emphasis on critical and social discourse from within and without the media. The Eastern European context especially must be highlighted: Eastern Europe, with its totalitarian legacy, is characterized by a critical approach to the media in the media, in contrast to the Western tradition, which is more formal, and less critically-contextually oriented. The results of our research and creative experimentation are presented in our ExplorationLab, abroad and on our www server. A primary objective of the Center is to promote the results of C3 projects within Hungary, the region, internationally -the global village- in an attempt to communicate with the broadest public. Program Outline InternetLab Public Internet Access, Education Program and Dial-Up Service A free of charge facility by appointment only, where members of the general public are able to browse the Internet using eight Silicon Graphics INDY computer terminals. Expert guides will maintain the InternetLab, offering assistance to visitors. A regular series of public lectures on Internet usage and WWW site production will offer training for beginners, intermediate and advanced level visitors, encouraging the expanded use of the computer and the rapidly broadening information highway. Via a Soros Foundation Hungary grant program, local non-profit cultural institutions, libraries, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals may receive free twelve-month dial-up Internet connectivity. Successful applicants will also receive dial-up service instruction and Internet usage training, as well as assistance in developing WWW sites, promoting themselves internationally and researching the WWW to create new resource networks. ResourceLab The international information, culture and media ResourceLab (multimedia library and archive) will maintain journals, CD-ROMs, and various material focusing on contemporary culture, computer technology and Internet developments. The ResourceLab will also collect information on international and national organizations, cultural exchange opportunities, scholarships, residencies, exhibitions, festivals, competitions, etc., and will maintain various databases relevant to the center's activities, including scholarly documentation on contemporary Hungarian arts. The ResourceLab will publish a newsletter in both printed and digital form of these opportunities, as well as a brochure outlining the programs and upcoming events of C3. A continuous research program will be run by the ResourceLab, with special focus on the following areas: Hungarian and international media art history and theory; The changing relationship of art, science and technology; New languages, new terminology: methods of restructuring traditional academic disciplines in the post-information society. SiliconLab An open facility offering the latest in Silicon Graphics computer hardware and software to content providers, invited specialists and successful grant recipients for experimentation, project development and the expanded utilization of digital media technology. An ONYX Infinite Reality Engine and two INDY computers complete with Silicon Graphics software, as well as PCs and Macintoshes will be made available with technical assistance for determined periods of time to grant recipients of the C3 Open Grant program. The grant program has been designed to advance the understanding of culture and communication by supporting outstanding projects demonstrating a multi-disciplinary team approach, in addition to an expansive usage of the available computer and network technology. International team members may apply to the grant program within a team including Hungarian nationals. Projects focusing on the exploration of computer-generated 3D applications, Interface research, or Process-based aesthetics will be given preference. Successful applicants will be able to use the expanded facilities of the Center, and the Internet, as well as the administrative facilities, including fund-raising assistance and international connections for research in media archaeology and new media technology - their impacts on society at large and on global culture. OpenLab A multi-purpose hall where educational programs, symposia, conferences, workshops, lectures by international speakers and performances are held. Additionally, biweekly moving image (video, CD-ROM, CD-i, expanded cinema, etc.) screenings and projections are presented to the public. Biennial Exhibition A major biennial exhibition and series of international media arts events will be held in collaboration with the Mucsarnok (Budapest Kunsthalle), presenting the results of C3s activities and offering an insight into the contemporary international situation. These events will be accompanied by symposia dealing with the theoretical issues surrounding the theme of the exhibition. ExplorationLab - Opening Exhibition A multi-purpose space used for presenting project results and ideas developed in the SiliconLab and ResourceLab, as well as innovative, challenging projects produced abroad, enhancing the activities of the Center. The ExplorationLab is also used as a work-in-progress studio space, performance space and facility for workshops, symposia, lectures and conferences. Scheduled Opening Exhibition Exploration Network: exhibition on and around the net The ExplorationLab has been transformed into a demonstration space in which we are showing the C3 current and planned projects, such as: exhibitions, symposia, archiving and research, and the educational and art programs in connection with these. The presentation of the planned activity, using primarily the Internet, the working-exhibition reflects the inspiring presence of those individuals and previous initiatives that can be connected to the operations of the Center, and, moreover, carrying a timely message. Demonstrating the cultural continuity between past and present, open in every aspect ("That which is being made is ready." - Erdely Miklos), the schedule/matrix, arousing the impact of a multidisciplinary diagram, is accessible to the interested guests who are physically in the exhibition space, as well as for the Web-gastronauts surfing towards us. Thus the future-users are able to step into a latent gallery, where they can act as an active, collaborative participant in developing the real or the (virtual) image. Understanding the past tense as the traffic signs of the highway, the next moment can be the common responsibility of the viewer and the creator. Is it the pitfall of methodological chaos, or the new grammar of the new synthesis that symbolises the interface used for accessing global knowledge? The Butterfly Effect (Media archaeology) Research in the Intermedia Department (Internet Galaxy www student works, "New Interface" Research (J.A. Tillmann), Metaforum (Janos Sugar)) Beyond Art (Ludwig Museum Budapest/Neue Galerie Graz) Flusser-Symposium Body-CDi + Infermental Miklos Erdely Exhibition Optical Simulators Stereo Future Virtual Gallery (Imre Weber- SZTAKI) Cryptography, Steganography, Virtual Communities (Cryptogram - Zoltan Szegedy-Maszak) Virtual Reality (VR) Exploration Simulated Worlds Interface Exploration Artificial Intelligence (AI), Bots Chaos Theory Soros Center for Contemporary Arts http://www.scca.hu email: sccabp@mail.datanet.hu Phone/Fax: 36-1-343-5379