[Nettime-bold] Neighbourhoods of the world

["Dimos Dimitriou" <addfield@ath.forthnet.gr>]

Neighbourhoods of the world

Concept
"Neighbourhoods  of the world" is a new international network that aims to
create a new platform of different areas from all around their world. A
number of neighbourhoods will be adjoined virtually and create a new
community that wishes to build new strong and real relationships between
areas and between people. While virtual communities expand more and more
nowadays, at the same time they are accused that they tend to replace the
real geographical ones becoming actually a substitute of them. This project
wishes to readdress this subject starting off from the core of the
geographical vicinities. We are looking back to the nostalgic concept of the
neighbourhood that is being lost, aiming to recapture its sense and enliven
it. The art centers, the organizations that will undertake the work for this
project, need to reach out to the residents of the area and work with them
so as to reflect their view of their place and transfer these images to the
web site.

Structure
The neighbourhood can be a street and its surrounding area, a small
territory a kid may walk through every day, a small world that encloses the
residents' most familiar images and every day life.
This project addresses to art centers, university departments, music places,
libraries, or other associations of any place in the world that are
interested to work on their neighbourhood. For the realization of the
project these centers need to discover the distinctive character their area
has and develop powerful relationships with the small surrounding community.
They need to become the dynamic cells of their neighbourhood and form a team
of people (residents, artists, professionals, students etc) that will work
together on the project. Each team will need to start an ongoing research
and gather material - videos, photographs, interviews, texts- where the
specific features of the area will be documented. As this material is to be
presented on line, the particular centers need to play a double role; acting
as the coordinators of the workgroup of their area on one hand and as an
intermediary between the area and the whole network on the other.

The material of each neighbourhood, after its first procession by the
project team will consist  part of the site. The overall construction,
coordination and supervision of the site will be undertaken by Fournos
Center for Art and New Technologies, in Athens. Fournos, that is situated in
the area of Neapoli in Athens, will develop a project on its surrounding
neighbourhood.

In brief, the workgroup of Fournos can be described as the following:

Project Internal Team:
-          Project "Wizard" (Person that acts as a supervisor for the whole
project and plays a general overseeing role ensuring its development; is
critical for its overall development and success; inspires the on going
process of the work; negotiates with the external team)
-          Project "Anima" (Person that enlivens the spirit and the concept
of the project; is responsible for the ongoing process, defines the needs
and the steps; contacts and communicates with the other participant art
centers; cooperates with the artists and the other people who are working
for the site)
-          Project "Equilibrium Finder"  (Person responsible to define the
core functionality and the architecture of the site. He needs to address the
needs of the audience visiting the site and to define the user experience.
As  the site aims to create a web community , his task is to oversee its
development and keep the content of the site close both to its concept and
the needs of its users)
-          Project "Web Monster"  (Equivalent to the Web Master but in a
more extreme sense. Person that takes the material on the area and rebuilds
it; creates the virtual neighbourhood that will be mostly based to the
energy and the fantasy of a place; edits the pieces together and subtracts
anything needless as trash, traffic signs or moody passengers.)

Project External Team:
-          Artists (Architect, Musician, Video Artist, Photographer,...)The
participation of artists is essential. It is preferable if they live or work
in the area. Their work inspired by the place can greatly influence the
development and the content of the site. e.g. a musician can capture and
record sounds from the vicinity.
-          Residents (Texts, photos by current habitants and newcomers )
-          Old people (Testimonies and thoughts from the past generation
creating a documentation on the internet of their view of the world, a world
that fades away)
-          Professionals (Reference to traditional professions that may be
preserved in the area from the past till nowadays)
-          Kids (Words, pictures, photographs taken by children will be
included)




The virual neighbourhoods will need to form a workgroup with a similar
structure. Persons taking the positions of the Project Equilibrium Finder
and the Project Web Monster may not be needed for the participant centers as
the overall development of the site lies mainly to Fournos'
responsibilities. The material gathered by the centers will be processed and
edited within Fournos Lab. However, the process of the material by a site
designer or an internal technical team can surely help before the data
reaches our technical support team. It is important to notice that all work
will take place within the center and that no external private company will
undertake the designing, construction and maintenance of the site. This is
to avoid any advertising interventions as well as possible alterations in
the content and appearance of the site. As the ongoing administration,
maintenance and modification of the site will be kept in-house, it becomes
clear that a close and steady cooperation between the participant centers
is necessary. A dynamic and creative network needs to be created that will
present several and different images of the various neighborhoods.

Features of the project
The site will be the main feature of the project as it will represent the
network of the neighbouhoods belonging to the new community. Each
participant neighbourhood will be represented virtually on the net. All
material gathered by the project team as images, texts and videos will be
accessible to users entering the site. From the first page a photo-picture
of the vicinity will offer links to all possible next steps. The user will
be able to click on several spots such as buildings, roads and people and
discover features related to the area. By clicking, for instance, on a
person appearing on the screen a video or a small text will pop up where the
particular resident will be saying his personal thoughts and memories, his
favorite place on the area etc.  The profile of the resident, his name, age
and profession will be stated, giving the sense of a new acquaintance to the
people visiting the area. (e.g. Alison Parker, artist // Nick Papadakis,
student, 12 yrs old).  Our aim is to give the info on the area mainly
through its residents. This is to avoid forming a mere archive or a database
on the area and to help creating a site that enlivens a particular space and
brings it closer to people's eyes and mind.

A variety of information can be provided. If a person names also his
favorite food, a picture of it can be included and the recipe can also be
given. Likewise, images and texts related to the buildings, the flowers and
gardens, the small shops or other features will be presented on line. The
network created will enable users to pass at any moment from one
neighbourhood to another, as there will be a common general pattern for all
vicinities. For example, from the pop up video for the foods of one area,
links will be given for the foods of the other neighbourhoods as well.

In the context of the site a forum will also be created where various
subjects will be open for discussion. Through this new web community, we
want to encourage the communication and the exchanging of experiences
between people coming from different regions of the world. This community
can give birth to a new platform of creation and dialogue for artists,
residents, curators and all the visitors of the site. Users will be invited
to join discussions, send mails to each other or even have an on line chat
with other people.

Each person entering the site will have to register, state his username,
password and email. If they wish, they can also complete their own personal
profile, adding their interests and other characteristics. This will help
create an archive of profiles that will enable future communication. After
logging in, the user can visit the several neighbourhoods he wishes and view
what's on line.

The travelling exhibition and the other events
An exhibition focusing on the distinctive features of the participating
neighbouhoods will be scheduled in the future time that will be hosted in
succession by the participant art centers. Along with the exhibition, other
events will be programmed each time; installations, performances, art events
and happenings will take place in several spots of a neighbourhood and
enliven it. These events will have a major contribution in the acquaintance
and the cooperation of the different areas. Artists will be invited to work
in the venues of the different neighbourhoods and work on projects that will
be co-curated by more than one art centers. The participation of the people
of the areas will also be essential. An exchange program between residents
can take place where people will be invited to visit neighbourhoods and meet
the people they may have been in contact with via the net. Most of these
events will be programmed to happen after the completion of the first year.
During the first year, that the project will be going through an
experimental phase smaller happenings or actions can be scheduled to bring
the different areas closer. One idea is for the teams of the art centers to
exchange gifts! Gifts to approach another community, like kids do in school
classes before Christmas.

To sum up, we hope that through the process of the project the participating
art centers and the neighbourhoods will succeed in: bringing the residents
closer to their area aknowledging its specific character; create a dynamic
group of residents, artists, professionals and people working in art centers
that will be able to work together and reach out to the community; create a
network of neighbourhoods and people from the world that will share their
views and experiences; offer a new territory for collaborations between
artists and art centers from all around the world that will turn more to the
neighbourhoods and will be inspired by them.

If you are interested in participating, please read the conditions for
participation that are attached and send us:
-          the profile of your association
-          the profile of the creative team that will undertake the work for
the project
-          a short text describing how you will develop the project on your
neighbourhood.
Also, please free to contact us for any queries you might have.

 Daphne Dragona
General Coordination and Communication, Project "Anima"

 Manthos Santorineos
Director of Fournos, Project "Wizard"

 Solon Sasson
Project "Equilibrium Finder"

Fournos, Center for Art and New Technologies
Mavromichali 168, Athens, Greece
Email: daphne@fournos-culture.gr
Tel: +301 64 60 748
Fax: +301 64 70 069




Conditions of Participation for the "Neighbourhoods of the World Project"


1.  The project shall be supported by an art center, a media lab, a
university department, a  library, music center or other non-profit
association.
2.       All the associations will conduct a research on the area and
present the material in the form of videos, photos and images.
3.       The work for each neighbourhood will be accomplished by a group of
people from the center and the people living in the area.
4.       Fournos, Center for Art and New Technologies of Athens undertakes
the overall construction of the site as well as the supervision of the
project.
5.       Fournos as well as the participant centers accept to host the
travelling exhibition that will take place in the future in their venue or
other area in the neighbourhood.
6.       Each center should be able to support financially the part of the
project for its neighbourhood.
7.       Fournos is responsible the financial support for the construction,
modification and supervision of the site.
8.       Deadline for the first call of participation is May the 31st ,
2001. The material should be gathered and processed by the centers by the
end of October 2001 and the site is scheduled to launch by the end of
December 2001.




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