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<nettime> The Weekender 074b



   . The Weekender ...................................................
   . a weekly digest of calls . actions . websites . campaigns . etc .
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   . please don't be late ! delivered every friday . into your inbox .
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01 . Peoples' Global Action  
     Secretariat              . Inter-Continental Caravan for 
                                Solidarity and Resistance
02 . video@imprese.com        . Videxparty: new numb
03 . opencity@rtimearts.com   . RealTime 29 now online
04 . Ivo Skoric               . (Fwd) [ALBANIAN] talk on Kosova
05 . McKenzie Wark            . invitation
06 . Frank Fremerey           . [Fwd: Alfred Sohn-Rethel]
07 . Phillipe Taminiau        . Second International Browserday, 
                                May 20th 1999, Amsterdam
08 . maxb@xs4all.nl           . 1st International Browserday 
                                reviewed in Eye #31
09 . euro@cryptic.demon.co.uk . Coin - Note - Sign
10 . Femke Snelting           . T H E   W A L K - I N   R E A D E R 




   ................................................................... 01

From: "Peoples' Global Action Secretariat" <pga@agp.org>
Subject: Inter-Continental Caravan for Solidarity and Resistance



   **please spread widely this message**

Six Hundred Representatives of Southern People's Movements
will Demonstrate throughout Europe in May and June 1999

600 representatives of Southern grassroots movements will come to Europe
>from the 22nd of May to the 21st of June to protest at the gates of the
major transnational corporations, multilateral institutions and at the EU
and G8 Summits. These are the people who are most directly affected by a
development model imposed and maintained from the North in collaboration
with Southern elites, a development paradigm which is condemning them to
poverty, destroying the natural resources on which their livelihoods are
based, taking control of their lives out of their hands and making them
dependent on extremely exploitative and highly volatile multinational
capital.

This initiative has been proposed by the Indian farmers' movements, one of
the strongest and most dynamic actors in the global civil society. These
movements have been struggling for years in order to make their demands
heard both at national and international level, but the results of their
efforts have been limited by the fact that policy-making happens
increasingly far away from the place where they live, too far away for
their protest to be registered or even known about. They have thus
resolved
to send a delegation of 500 representatives to Europe, in order to have
direct contact with people of all walks of life, dialogue with a wide
range
of organisations about the destruction caused by globalisation and about
alternative development models, and take direct action against the centres
of power that are at the root of their problems. They will be joined by
one
hundred representatives of grassroots movements in other countries.

Frequently asked questions about the Inter-Continental Caravan (ICC)
********************************************************************

-> Who are the Southern people coming to participate in the ICC?

Out of the 600 participants, 500 will be representatives of different
Indian grassroots movements. Most of these 500 will be representatives of
Gandhian farmers' movements, and there will be smaller numbers of
representatives of Adivasis (the indigenous peoples of India), Fisherfolk,
people resisting the construction of big dams in their regions and
representatives of the revolutionary struggles in the states of Bihar,
Orissa, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. The other 100 participants will
represent peasant, indigenous, women's and other grassroots movements from
other Southern countries.

-> Who are the people receiving them in Europe?

A large number of organisations are working in the 'welcoming committees'
set up in each country to prepare the caravan. There are organisations of
all kinds, ranging from peasant organisations such as the French Peasant
Confederation or the Dutch Agriculture Association to squatted social
centres such as Leoncavallo in Milan, EuroDusnie in Leiden and the
Reithalle in Bern, from anti-nuclear networks such as For Mother Earth to
the migrants' organisations of almost all European countries, from direct
actions groups such as Reclaim the Streets! to academic institutions such
as the Institut Argent et Societ, from women's organisations such as
Espace Femmes International to unemployed groups such as AC! Lille, from
activists' support groups such as Theaterstraat to development NGOs such
as
CETIM, from Zapatista committees in many different cities to groups
working
against genetic engineering such as Biotechnologie Archief NoGen, from
youth environmental groups such as A SEED to the Italian Christian peace
movement. This list is in no ways exhaustive, in fact it is growing every
day, and there are many people who do not belong to any organisation and
are actively involved in the preparations.

-> What is this caravan about?

The political contents of the ICC are (in order of importance):
(1) Global policy-making, with particular emphasis on the push for "free"
trade and economic globalisation.
(2) TNCs and transnational capital.
(3) Agribusiness, Green Revolution, Biotechnology, and Patents on Life.
(4) 3rd World Debt.
(5) Militarism and nuclear issues.

These contents are ellaborated in a manifesto which is being discussed by
the Indian participants of the caravan. This manifesto will be the
ideological basis on which they are coming to Europe, and clearly reflects
the view that if the world is to survive we need a far-reaching and
participatory process of political, economic and social change, a
bottom-up
process initiated and controlled by grassroots movements, not by
governments or multilateral institutions. This is the basis on which the
PGA process is taking place.

-> What are the objectives of the caravan?

(1) Bringing its political contents close to people's lives in all the
places where actions will take place.
(2) Encouraging as many as possible to get actively involved in the
preparation and realisation of the actions and to remain active in
confrontational non-violent action in these issues after the project.
(3) Promoting more contact and co-operation between all the organisations
(from Europe and other continents) involved in the project
(4) Attracting local, national and international media attention on the
political contents of the programme. Strengthening and building up new
autonomous media.
(5) Preparing the field (in Europe and everywhere else) for the PGA days
of
action against the WTO during the third Ministerial Conference in fall
1999.
(6) Promoting non-violent direct action and civil disobedience as tools
for
political change.

-> What will the participants of the caravan actually do in Europe?

They will meet as many European as possible directly, face to face,
communicate with them not through newspaper articles or video
documentaries, but at the human level. They want to convey directly their
understanding of the world system of governance to people of all walks of
life, not just to those who are already politically active.

Many of them do not speak English, but they will use different ways to
communicate with Europeans, many of which are more direct and real than
language - the most important of which is action. There will be plenty of
action during the caravan, action at the gates of headquarters of
corporate
criminals such as Nestle, Monsanto, Cargill, Novartis and Shell, action in
front of multilateral institutions at the roots of misery like the WTO and
NATO, action on the face of the 'global leaders' responsible for slow
genocide at the EU and G8 summits. We will also have other activities,
like
public meetings with speakers and audience, open-air picnics, living
together with farmers or squatters, press conferences, parties, video
shows
and so on, but action will be at the heart of the caravan.

-> Who came to the idea of organising such a notoriously complicated
project?

The idea of the caravan was proposed by the Indian peasant movement KRRS
(Karnataka State Farmers' Association), the biggest Indian grassroots
movement with a constituency of approximately 10 million people (the total
population of Karnataka is 50 million).

The KRRS has been since two decades struggling for comprehensive social
change in Karnataka, for the ideal of the Village Republic and for
sustainable and equitable policies and technologies. They proposed the ICC
due to their conviction that unless people mobilise in large numbers in
the
countries where the global centres of power are located, their protest
will
continue to be ignored. They know that the destruction of their livelihood
is caused primarily by global forces which can afford ignoring their
protest, but cannot (yet) afford ignoring the protest of people in the
North.

Their proposal was immediately picked up by all major Indian movements,
since they all share the same analysis regarding the impact of capitalist
globalisation and the inability of isolated action to stop it. The
farmers'
movements of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala,
Madya Pradesh, Maharastra, Punjab, Rajastan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and
West Bengal will be represented in the caravan, as well as the indigenous
peoples of several states.

-> Who is paying for the caravan?

The finances of the Caravan are organised in an as decentralised and
participatory manner as possible. The activists from the South pay their
own travel expenses to Europe (see below). Food and accomondation, as well
as all the costs of local actions and publicity are borne on the local
level by the local welcoming committees. The costs of travel within Europe
and of co-ordination are centralised, but fundraising efforts are shared
by
all welcoming committees, which are still very busy asking for donations,
organising concerts, applying for funds and selling t-shirts in order to
gather all the money necessary to make the caravan happen (about 210.000
US$). No money for the central costs will accepted from multinational
corporations, national governments,  EU institutions, or political
parties.

-> How can poor peasants and indigenous peoples pay a flight ticket to
Europe?

The case of India is quite special: the European groups are preparing to
receive such a large number of Indian representatives in order to make it
much easier for them to participate, since their flight expenses per
person
will be less than one half of the normal cost of a return ticket. It is
still a lot of money for the participants, people who are among the most
exploited and marginalised in the world. However, these are also people
who
have been struggling for decades in their country on the basis of
self-reliance (i.e. they do not accept donations from any source other
than
the constituency of their own movements), and many Indian activists have
spent this kind of amount travelling around India as part of their
campaigns. It was their proposal since the very beginning that they cover
the travel expenses.

-> Does this mean that the participants of the caravan are relatively rich
peasants?

No. Most of the participants own between 2 and 5 hectars. Just for the
purpose of comparison, a farm in the European Union must have at least
around 40 hectars to be considered economically viable (information
provided by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Buerliche Landwirtschaft). And the
Indian government does not pay the kind of subsidies that the EU does.
There will also be some participants who will not pay for their flight
(landless peasants, indigenous peoples, representatives of the
revolutionary struggles) since they cannot afford it but the Indian
organisers consider their presence as politically important. Their travel
expenses will be shared among all the other participants.

These Indian peasant activists give enough political importance to this
project as to devote large amount of resources to it - and this was one of
the things that has really touched us (the organisers in Europe) and
encouraged us to do our best to make this project a success. We see their
determination as a clear sign of their deep understanding that they have
to
contribute to increasing awareness and action at a global level if they
are
to survive.

-> There are few people working against capitalist globalisation in
Western
Europe. Does it make sense to invest so much of this limited potential of
work and resources in one single project, one single month?

We believe that the inter-continental caravan is one of these rare
projects
which generate much more energy than it requires. We see already that many
different groups which were not working on global issues and many people
who were not particularly involved in politics before are now joining
local
welcoming committees, because the caravan appeals to their imagination and
motivates them to participate in a struggle that so far was not really
theirs.

Furthermore the caravan is not conceived as an isolated project: we see it
as the beginning of a long-term process of organic (i.e. not 'organised')
convergence between a large diversity of organisations and individuals
with
similar views on social change - people who agree on the need to reclaim
our lifes, challenging the current structures of power from below, and
constructing alternatives controlled by the people.

-> Can I participate in this crazy project?

Yes! The number of people who will be physically in the caravan will be
rather limited, but there are many ways to join this project - no matter
whether you are in Europe or not. You can join by making information
available to the press and the people in the place where you live, by
organising an action in June 18 (during the days of action against
financial centres), by engaging in similar activities, etc. And of course,
we need lots of help of all kinds (economic, organisational, etc). Please
contact the secretariat if you want to be part of this project:

Inter-Continental Caravan
European Coordination Office
P.O. BOX 2228,
2301 Leiden, NL
Tel/Fax 00 31 71 517 3094 or  00  31 71 517 3019
email: caravan@stad.dsl.nl
Web page:  http://www.agp.org   or   http://stad.dsl.nl/~caravan


*******************************************
Peoples' Global Action 		pga@agp.org
against 'Free' Trade 		www.agp.org
and the WTO (PGA)





   ................................................................... 02

Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 20:30:10 +0100
From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Vide=F8party?= <video@imprese.com>
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Vide=F8party?=: new numb

Videparty  http://www.imprese.com/video

New numb/ nuovo numero:
Rosso vivo:
Mutazione, Trasfigurazione e Sangue nell'Arte Contemporanea
Blood Red:
Mutation, Transfiguration and Blood in Contemporany Art

Ron Athey, Franco B, Betty Bee, Louise Bourgeois, Reuven Cohen, Simon
Costin, Renee Cox, Janietta Eyre, Jan Fabre, Cesare Fullone, Thomas
Grunfeld, Gerd Holzwarth, Laura Masserdotti, Yasumasa Morimura, Orlan,
Pierre et Gilles, Marcel.l Antunez Roca, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman,

Nicholas Sinclair, Annie Sprinkle, Stelarc, Jana
Sterbak, Joel-Peter Witkin

Se non desidera ricevere i nostri messaggi, ci rinvii questa e-mail con
soggetto "remove"
Grazie
If You don't agree to receive our messages, Please forward than with
subject "remove"
Thanks
--
Videparty
http://www.imprese.com/video
video@imprese.com





   ................................................................... 03

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 11:44:33 +1000
From: opencity@rtimearts.com
Subject: RealTime 29 now online

Hi RealTime supporters

RealTime 29 is now online featuring...

FESTIVALS

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras preview
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/mardi.html
Sydney Festival
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/sydfest.html
Pacific Wave
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/pacific.html
Festival of the never never: Darwin
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/darwin.html

CULTURE
A visit to Denmark by Australian artists
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/denmark.html
Book review: Mary Zournazi
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/millner.html

WRITING/HYPERMEDIA
interview with merge media
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/merge.html
review: A Book About Things That Didn't Happen & Hollow Days
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/mergekk.html
hypermedia and video games
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/hutchin.html
writesites - writing on the net - Noon Quilt
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/writesit.html

ONSCREEN - FILM, MEDIA & TECHNO-ARTS
Film Reviews:
The Sugar Factory http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/sugar.html
Redball http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/redball.html
Men With Guns http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/menguns.html
Hurly Burly http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/hurly.html
TV to film and film to TV adaptations: la femme nikita and The Avengers
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/lafemme.html
National Cinemas: sites of resistance conference
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/may.html
Cinema and the Senses conference
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/senses.html
dLux media arts' futureScreen
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/immerse.html
Brisbane Animation Festival
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/farley.html
South Park poo
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/teledict.html
Cinesonic: songs in the movies 98
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/cineson.html
Super 80s retrospective
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/super8.html
Book review: Neil Spiller's Digital Dreams
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/wilken.html
A new book on a classic film: Nic Roeg's Performance
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/roeg.html
Forgotten Fruit CD-ROM
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/farmer.html

DANCE
interview with Lisa Nelson
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/nelson.html
the works and teachings of Deborah Hay
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/hay.html
Wendy Houstoun's barmaid rhythms
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/houstoun.html
risky new dance in Bodyworks 98
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/bodywork.html

PERFORMANCE
the odds for and against performance in the UK
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/sierz.html
brink's brittle in Brisbane
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/brink.html
an overview of Adelaide theatre 98
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/bramwell.html
Head to Head Circus & Physical Theatre Conference
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/headhead.html
Gravity Feed's Host
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/host.html

VISUAL ARTS
the interplay of art and commerce in Tokyo
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/japan.html
Torres Strait art and culture in Cairns
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/torres.html
Fuzz Factor in Brisbane
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/fuzz.html
artist relationships in twins @ Contemporary Art Centre SA
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/twin.html

MUSIC / SOUND
interview with David Chesworth about Badlands
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/cheswor.html
Adelaide's The Ring Cycle
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/thering.html
The new Studio at the Sydney Opera House
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/opera.html
Adelaide's sound underground
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/harger.html
CD reviews
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/rt29/cds.html

______________________________________
RealTime 29 is now online:  http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/index.html

This issue includes:

contemporary culture in Japan
Sydney Festival
South Park
Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras preview
Pacific Wave festival
TV to film adaptations
Brisbane Animation
Fuzz Factor in Brisbane
Super 8 screenings
interviews with Lisa Nelson and Wendy Houstoun
New deal for new music at the Sydney Opera House
Hypermedia and video games
New cult publisher, merge media
Film reviews:
The Sugar Factory, Redball, Hurly Burly, Men With Guns

RealTime Australian  Contemporary Arts
Incorporating OnScreen
http://www.rtimearts.com/~opencity/
e-mail: opencity@rtimearts.com
Editorial: +61 2 9283 2723 Fax: +61 2 9283 2724
Advertising: +61 2 9313 6164





   ................................................................... 04

From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 22:54:47 +0000
Subject: (Fwd) [ALBANIAN] talk on Kosova


                                 TALK BY

                                 BOGDAN DENITCH

                                  Kosovo Crisis
                        Tensions, Strains & War

                        Wednesday, February 24
                                7:30 p.m.

                                 at
                                BRECHT FORUM
                        122 W. 27th Street
                                10th Floor
                                12/242-4201

                sliding scale fee: $6/$8/$10

Kosovo has emerged as a serious foreign policy concern as sharpened 
tensions between the U.S., European Union and the U.N. reveals European 
incapacity to mount a concerted response and deepening European 
misgivings about American domination of security issues in Europe, 
almost a decade after the end of the Cold War.

Bogdan Denitch, honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America 
and a leading analyst of European foreign policy will lead a discussion 
on one of the major conflicts of the late 20th century.

(Notice from Brecht Forum flyer)

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Opinions expressed on ALBANIAN do NOT necessarily reflect the views of the
owner, co-owners and/or moderators,  nor any  of their host  institutions.
**>>> Technical support: albanian-request@listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu <<<<**





   ................................................................... 05

Date:  Thu, 18 Feb 1999 10:49:36 +1100 (EST)
From: McKenzie Wark <mwark@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au>
To: Multiple recipients of <announcer@simsim.rug.ac.be>
Subject:  ann! ...  invitation



Pluto Press invites you to the launch of 
McKenzie Wark's new book
Celebrities, Culture and Cyberspace

to be launched by Richard Fidler

Gleebooks, 49 Glebe pt road Glebe
Wednesday 10th March, 6 for 6.30pm






__________________________________________
"We no longer have roots, we have aerials."
http://www.mcs.mq.edu.au/~mwark
 -- McKenzie Wark 





   ................................................................... 06

Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 09:28:34 +0100
From: Frank Fremerey <frank.fremerey@homenetz.com>
Subject: [Fwd: Alfred Sohn-Rethel]

if you should be in Vienna on 6 March 1999 you should definitly pass by
at the Point of Sale, an artistic Project by Andreas Wegner. Mr.
Wolfgang Henrich, a German writer, will talk about Alfred Sohn-Rethel
and his extensions to Marx' theory and he will introduce the listeners
to his new book "Das tote Geld" (the dead money, a tribute to Alfred
Sohn-Rethel) in which he shows how interest rate based-capitalism
affects not only the way we work but also strongly influences the way we
communicate. The whole event will be in German, although
English-language questions will be answerd.


With kindest regards

Frank Fremerey
Bonn 18 February 1999


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Alfred Sohn-Rethel
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 07:48:24
From: Wolfgang Henrich <wolfgang.henrich@homenetz.com>
To: frank.fremerey@homenetz.com


*****


NEWS aus dem POINT OF SALE

Andreas Wegner, Knstler und Entertainer und in dieser Eigenschaft Besitzer
des
POINT OF SALE in der Wiener Operngasse 36, hat zum 6. Mrz, 19 Uhr, den
deutschen Schriftsteller Wolfgang Henrich eingeladen, von Wien aus Berlin
ins
Gedchtnis zu rufen, was Alfred Sohn-Rethel eben dort whrend der Weimarer
Republik erarbeitet hat und wie sein Capolavoro, die Soziologische Theorie
der
Erkenntnis, uns den Kapitalismus begreifen lt, der, kaum da er die
ideologischen Oligopolstellungen auf den Monopol gebracht hat, unter
unseren
Augen das Geld entwirklicht.

Erinnert man sich noch an den von Heinz Edelmann gezeichneten Beatles-Film
Yellow Submarine, der fr die ApO zum Inbegriff  "des schnen Scheins der
Warenwelt" wurde? Da gab es doch die bezeichnende Szene mit dem
Vakuum-Schlucker', der sich am Ende selbst entsorgt, weshalb Andreas
Wegner
diese Szene zur Einfhrung auf die Leinwand werfen lt, um dann die
Maler-Familie Sohn-Rethel zu prsentieren und so das geschtzte Publikum
erst
einmal ins buchstbliche Bild zu setzen. Henrich schildert dann Alfred
Sohn-Rethels Werdegang bis Mitte der 20er Jahre, wobei seine Autoritratti'
gezeigt werden und zugleich seine Vesuvbesteigung zu hren sein wird.

Es folgt Die Geschichte des 30. Juni 1934, so wie sie Sohn-Rethel
rekonstruiert hat, als Adolf Hitler wegen angeblicher Putschgefahr durch
die SA
seinen Gnner Rhm und dessen 120-kpfigen Fhrungsstab im Stadelheimer
Zuchthaus zu Mnchen sowie 2000 Oppositionelle im ganzen Reich ermorden
lie.
Anschlieend geht der Gang in die Bendlerstrae in Berlin, wo sich sozusagen
im
Auge des Orkans, inmitten des geballten Naziterrors, der konspirative
Kreis um
Alfred Sohn-Rethel und Margret Boveri bis 1936 halten kann. Und so kommt
die
Rede ganz zwangslufig auf den wirtschaftlichen Aspekt der faschistischen
"Konjunktur", darauf, wie die sog. defizitren Kreise resp. die faulen
Debitoren die "schpferische Zerstrung" des Herrn Schumpeter inszenierten.
Und
damit das Publikum nun aber nicht vor lauter Angst vergeht resp.
stiftengeht,
wie der Berliner sagt, lt Henrich es wie Simplicius Simplicissimus den Weg
zum Einsiedler finden, lt also Alfred Sohn-Rethel als Philosophen
sprechen,
als jemanden, der bei allem Agnostizismus an den caracter indelebilis des
Christentums glaubt.

Ja, und dann sind schon die zwei Stunden um, die mit der Schlsselarie aus
Hndels 1708 in Rom komponierten La Resurrezione beschlossen werden, in der
sich die Sopranstimme erhebt, ganz so wie es in dem in Klosterburg bei
Wien
aufbewahrten Evangeliar auf dem herrlich verzierten Buchdeckel geschrieben
steht: "Angeli tubis canunt". Was Sinn macht, da anschlieend Wolfgang
Henrich
sein im Bettina Wassmann Verlag Bremen soeben erschienenes Buch Das tote
Geld
signiert. Zweifellos soll es als Hommage an Alfred Sohn-Rethel wie an
Robert
Ranke-Graves und den im letzten Jahr verstorbenen Niklas Luhmann gelesen
sein.
Zugleich enthlt es eine wunderschne Entdeckung, nmlich da die arabischen
Buchstabennamen Abkrzungen des Glaubensbekenntnisses der
griechisch-sprechenden Kreter darstellen und das dort erstmals geschlagene
Mnzgeld Symbol des Sonnenheros und seiner Wiederauferstehung ist. 

Alfred Sohn-Rethels Geburtstag jhrte sich am 4. Januar zum 100. Male.





   ................................................................... 07

From: taminiau@waag.org (Phillipe Taminiau)
URL: http://www.waag.org/brower (results of 1998)
Subject: Second International Browserday, May 20th 1999, Amsterdam

		Defy the Frame!

One year after the 1st International Browser Day (organised in Amsterdam
in
April 1998), the development of the Internet seems to have warped into
another millennium. Big brother Microsoft is engaged in a furious battle
with the EU and US, over its attempt to become the worlds' monopolist of
the web. The complete integration of the browser and the Windows '98
system
threatens to wipe away all competitors.

After the 'war of the browsers' the battle over standards has now been
unleashed. Who is going to win? Windows as the meta medium for everything;
net, tv, radio, multimedia? Or are web tv and the set-up box going to
become the standard of the future; surfing the web from your comfy chair?
Is the virtual super market, apparently everyone's preoccupation right
now,
really the only thing we can come up with?

If there is one good reason not to let these people win, it is that
everything they design looks so incredibly bad! - explorer and web-tv,
this
cannot possibly be the future of media? The Linux community has shown that
there are viable alternatives, sometimes *designed* by thousands of net
users together.

We challenge young designers across Europe to show that all this can be
seen in a completely different light, that the net is more than an
interactive shopping channel. Drop your inhibitions and design a truly
inspiring medium for the next millennium; subversive, distinguished,
high-tech or back to basics, specialised or endlessly interconnected,
charming or breath taking. Imagination is the only relevant standard, and
isn't that supposed to be boundless?

The 2nd International Browser Day is a design competition that will
culminate in a show program at Paradiso in Amsterdam on Thursday May 20
1999. The best proposals out of the competition will be presented there.
In
the evening political cultural centre De Balie will host the 2nd
International Browser Debate, which features internationally renown
designers and thinkers. The day will be concluded with the 2nd
International Browser Award ceremony, followed by the 2nd International
Browser Party.

The 2nd International Browser Day is organised by the Society for Old and
New Media in co-operation with De Balie, Paradiso, Rietveld Academy, the
Utrecht School of the Arts - Faculty for Art, Media, and Technology, the
Sandberg Institute and Media-GN. This time also schools outside of the
Netherlands will participate.

For more information on registration/participation, e-mail to:
taminiau@waag.org





   ................................................................... 08

>From maxb@xs4all.nl Thu Feb 18 13:35:42 1999

1st International Browserday reviewed in Eye #31

The upcomming issue of Eye, the international review of graphic design,
features a review of works made for the First International Browserday, in
April last year. Shown are designs by a.o. Vanessa Borcic / Hjordis
Thorborg, Ian Borcic / Luna Maurer, award winner Joes Koppers, Uta
Eisenreich, Madelinde Hageman, A. Galia and Anneke Rijnders. 

Eye's editor Max Bruinsma writes:

"The design agenda for these applications, that may very well be
challenging operating systems in the near future, has untill now been
primarilly set by software developers. But recently, graphic designers and
artists are being drawn to the possibilities of the application. In April
last year the Amsterdam based Society for Old and New Media (De Waag) held
a design competition for (graduate) students of graphic and new-media
design to make proposals for a new generation of browsers. It seemed an
exiting endeavour for the internationally diverse group of young designers
from three Dutch art and design academies: to reinvent the browser by
going to the root of the system, not just re-designing its visual
appearance. Ultimately, the most sophisticated proposals for the
competition went much further than that - though mainly in a conceptual
manner. Obviously, to design a fully functioning browser from scratch (or
even from Netscape's source code) would take much more than what a graphic
designer can cope with within a couple of months. Still, the results of De
Waag's 'First International Browserday', 38 in all, were at the least
amusing comments on the idiosyncrasies and shortcommings of existing
browser and internet technology, and at best highly thoughtfull concepts
of what the technology could become." 

Eye #31 will be out first week of March 1999





   ................................................................... 09

Date:  Thu, 18 Feb 1999 15:44:37 +0000
From: euro@cryptic.demon.co.uk
To: Multiple recipients of <announcer@simsim.rug.ac.be>
Subject:  ann! ...  Coin - Note - Sign


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Help fill the Strange Case with euros!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

January saw the launch of a new virtual currency, the euro. The euro is
the
first purely corporate currency: you can only spend it if you have a
credit
card, write a cheque or work for a bank as a currency dealer. Coins and
notes will not exist until 2002, though there are prototype note designs
on
the European Union website: I have borrowed these designs, and you too can
borrow them from this site:

http://www.cryptic.demon.co.uk/euro/cash.html

The euro is an idealistic project, and the notes, designed through a
competition, are very bland. The neutrality of the imagery tries to
represent fiscal probity and European unity. The effect is also to mask
the
terrible histories of national conflict in Europe, which the euro is
supposed to help prevent happening again. Despite this laudable aim, the
suspicion exists that this currency is more for the convenience of global
corporations than for citizens. Behind the gleaming electronic facade of
the new Europe, poverty and inequality are still widespread.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You are invited to design alternative notes, with imagery which perhaps
more accurately reflects either the contemporary situation, or histories
of
European peoples. You may wish instead to question the notions of currency
or value exchange.

Once done, send an e-mail, with the image(s) attached. All designs will be
displayed at this site:

http://www.cryptic.demon.co.uk/euro/notes.html

10 designs will be chosen to be printed into alternative euro notes.
Another will be added to make 11, one for each of the States in the
Euroland. The money will then be transported to Lorient, Brittany in the
Strange Case and put on display at the internet art festival x-99 in
March:

http://www.x-arn.org/x99/

The remaining designs will also be on display through a net terminal next
to the case. Some notes will be distributed to people at the festival,
perhaps also used in an attempt to purchase drinks.

Participation in this project will have several dimensions:

the exchange of simulations of a virtual currency, which only exists in
electronic or written form;

a design competition;

the printing of "counterfeit" currency;

the smuggling of this currency into the Euroland from a non-euro zone; the
display of said currency in public;

hopefully, some artistic and critical discourse on the nature of money
(whether "real" or electronic), perhaps also some questioning of the
realities of contemporary Europe.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For further information, visit:

http://www.cryptic.demon.co.uk/euro.html

http://www.cryptic.demon.co.uk/case.html

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++





++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Coin - Note - Sign
the strange case of the euro
euro@cryptic.demon.co.uk
http://www.cryptic.demon.co.uk/euro.html

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Strange Case of Art
http://www.cryptic.demon.co.uk/case.html

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





   ................................................................... 10

>From snelting@aladdin.rotterdam.luna.net Mon Feb 15 10:19:58 1999

T H E W A L K - I N R E A D E R
...........................................................  Saturday,
February 20 / 13.30 MAPPING / IN KAART BRENGEN a tour through Amsterdam
with dr. Rob Engelsdorp Gastelaars
...........................................................  Sunday,
February 21 / 13.30 ENVISIONING CULTURAL PARADIGMS ACROSS DISCIPLINARY
BOUNDARIES / DENKEN OVER CULTURELE MODELLEN VOORBIJ DE GRENZEN VAN
DISCIPLINES roundtable discussion with Anke Bangma + Ine Gevers
...........................................................  in: De Appel,
Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 10, Amsterdam
........................................................... 

MAPPING How do we topographically envision the environments we live in and
how is that depicted beyond simple cartography? Dr. ROB
ENGELSDORP-GASTELAARS, from the Department of Human Geography, will be
touring the inner-city looking at the evolution of architectu re and the
process of gentrification throughout the city. Duration of the tour: appr.
two hours


ENVISIONING CULTURAL PARADIGMS ACROSS DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES Moving
beyond the critique of the institution, the goal of this discussion is to
look at constructive ways art can engage with other disciplines, social
issues and networks. With respect to their own practices as educators and
curators, Ine Gevers and An ke Bangma have been invited to reflect upon
the potential of introducing art into new environments. They will be
addressing possible interactive models and forms of collective creativity
plus discussing how art along with its supportive mechanisms can ope rate
in order to facilitate a more communicative, socially viable and
responsive relationship with the broader public. 

ANKE BANGMA is currently co-ordinator of post-graduate studies at the
Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. She has curated exhibitions such
as 'The Rotterdam Project' and has written for such publications as the
Witte de With Cahiers and Archis.  INE GEVERS teaches at the Jan van Eyck
Akademie in the Department of Theory and has organised symposia there such
as 'Place, Position, Presentation, Public'. She has co-curated with Jeanne
van Heeswijk the exhibition, 'I + the Other. Art and the Human Con dition'
and co-edited 'Beyond Ethics and Aesthetics'. 

Unlimited.NL-2 is an exhibition currently on view at De Appel, Amsterdam. 
Guest curator Hou Hanru has asked a variety of artists, artist initiatives
and architects to reflect upon urban transformation in the Netherlands. 
For the exhibition De Geuzen has designed THE WALK-IN READER, a space
functioning as a resource for research, screenings and discussions. For
the period of two months there will be several roundtable discussions
based on selected themes: MAPPING, FEELING AT HOME: A SENSE OF
(BE)LONGING, SHIFTING ECONOMIES, MOMENTS OF CONVERGENCE and ENVISIONING
CULTURAL PARADIGMS ACROSS DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES. 
...........................................................

U P C O M I N G   E V E N T S
...........................................................
Saturday, February 20 / 13:30

MAPPING

A walking tour through Amsterdam with Dr. Rob van Engelsdorp Gastelaars
(Human Geographer) 
...........................................................  Sunday,
February 21 / 13:30 ENVISIONING CULTURAL PARADIGMS ACROSS DISCIPLINARY
BOUNDARIES Roundtable discussion with Anke Bangma (discussing her approach
to art-education) and Ine Gevers (adressing strategies of curating) 
...........................................................  Saturday,
February 27 / 13:30 ENVISIONING CULTURAL PARADIGMS ACROSS DISCIPLINARY
BOUNDARIES Antiopee: a tour through the Unlimited.NL exhibition with Nic.
Tummers (University of the Socio-Space) 
...........................................................  Sunday,
February 28 / 13:30 ENVISIONING CULTURAL PARADIGMS ACROSS DISCIPLINARY
BOUNDARIES Roundtable discussion with Jacob Bijker, Rene Kool, Stefan
Kunzmann + Gabrielle Marks on their collaborative project for art
education among primary and secondary schools
...........................................................  Sunday, March
7 / 13:30 FEELING AT HOME: A SENSE OF (BE)LONGING Roundtable discussion
with Branimir Medic and Pero Puljiz on housing in the Netherlands
...........................................................  Friday,
Saturday + Sunday, March 12-14 (times to be anounced)  MOMENTS OF
CONVERGENCE The Next 5 Minutes: informal interviews and discussions
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