Syndicate: Piramedia - Tirana, 28 - 31 May 1998

["edi muka" <kiko41@hotmail.com> (by way of Andreas Broeckmann)]

The Syndicate goes ...

Piramedia - Tirana, 28 - 31 May 1998

The word Piramedia was first thought of due to the events which occurred
in 1997 in Albania. Those events were caused by the fall of the so
called fincancial "Piramids" which with the mystery of a real Pyramid
swallowed in a day billions of dollars.

"The media" with its increasing power in the East and with its already
well known dominion in the West, has an intriguing feature similar to
the mystery of the power of the Pyramids. In both there is still
something undiscovered, something to be explored, something still new.

Certainly, the exotic consideration we (especially Albania) receive from
the West is not appreciated. But let's put this aside for a moment and
try to see what are the common aspects between East and West in this
universal medium that the Media has become in the close of this
millennium.

Since the fall of the iron regime media art in Eastern European
countries had to be explored, developed and institutionalized, yet
within different patterns from the ones established in the West. From
that moment on, in most of those countries media art is not just a
tendency anymore, but has a clearly defined position within the
framework of contemporary arts. In the West meanwhile the inarrestable
advance of the technological standard brought about new developments and
a lot of question marks to the existing cultural borders and to the
media culture as well.

"Piramedia" is an invitation to adventure, first physically by going to
Tirana (yet undiscovered), and secondly to discover the new
transformations of media art practice in the new cultural environments
of East and West whith their new problematic and their new challenges.

- What's the function of media art in such territories with social and
political unrest, and such others with inarrestable technological
advancing. Is there a meeting point between the two?

- Is it possible to have an independent, critical stand towards the
media as its importance has increased in the East while in the West it
is already important?

- Are there any common features that help forming and identity of media
culture of the Eastern European countries except for the low high tech?
Can such an identity, if it exists overcome social differences caused by
ethnic and nationalist problems?

This and other issues can be topics for selection and discussion for the
Piramedia program.


This time we decided to have a light selective structure. Instead of a
jury selecting the works mailed to Albania, we chose to have several
coordinators for eventual applications in a local base.

The dead line for applications is April 12th.
Accepted formats VHS, S.VHS, Beta Cam.

Regarding contact persons, information to follow in the Syndicate
mailing list.

Edi Muka
"edi muka" <kiko41@hotmail.com>



abroeck adds:

edi adds that his e-mail address is stable, but that he cannot access it
every day. for the time being, it would therefore be good to cc everything
related to Piramedia to

abroeck@v2.nl

what we should establish as soon as possible is who would have a general
interest in coming to tirana in may; you should expect that you have to
arrange your travel & travel costs yourself, while edi will try and arrange
accommodation for syndicate members during Piramedia.

so, if you know that you want to come, please, let us know soon.