|
Checkpoint 95
Stadtwerkstatt TV in Zusammenarbeit mit/in cooperation with Paper Tiger TV, New York, Association of New Screen Technologies, Moskau
Live TV and Telepresence
Three programs by the studios
Stadtwerkstatt TV, Nibelungenbrücke, Linz
Studio ATR, Moscow
and BMCC Media Center, New York City
taking place simultaneously
linked by the Multimedia Satellite-link Moscow-Linz-New York and broadcast in Europe, Asia and North America via 3sat, Channel 2 of the Russian State Television Company, Deep Dish Satellite TV Network and Manhattan Cable
Tuesday, June 20. 1995. 10:30 p.m. until 12:00 p.m. CET
MULTIMEDIA WITHIN NETWORKS … The Stadtwerkstatt multimedia team reaches ahead of present developments. In the course of our continuous work on multimedia interfaces that can be used within networks, we are trying to develop a system for possible telepresence applications.
Multimedia is the key enabling us to see, hear and even move virtual things at the computer interface. Gestures, eye contact and language provide a very natural way of communication, just as we developed it over a million years ago. So far, electronic media have only supplied us with rather bad analogies of this interaction. Now we are, on the one hand, developing the ability to explore the subtleties of drama in the exposition and, on the other hand, acquiring the flexibility we need to develop interactions within a group.
Given the present state in the development of systems like the information superhighway, the belief that it allows on-line multimedia conferences is nothing but a myth. Just try to make a telepresence project materialize within the multimedia net in real time and it will not take you very long to find out that the highway is not working properly yet. Therefore we are using the only working and existing multimedia telecommunications network, i.e., television. In order to guarantee a smooth flow of communication, we have to solve the problems that occur in connection with protocols and interfaces: the artist as a communicator.
OUR TELEPRESENCE APPLICATION: PARALLEL SPACE DISPLAY In order to perceive the virtual space generated by the computer, head-mounted displays are used as the interface between the user and main computer in most commercial virtual reality projects. This confronts us with two problems: virtual environments require enormous computer capacity, which we cannot access and, moreover, the head-mounted display cuts the user off from his real environment.
Given all that, we decided to combine a head-mounted display with two helmet cameras in order to obtain a stereoscopic effect. These two cameras are fixed onto the helmet in such a way as to electronically clear the view which otherwise would be blocked by the monitors in front of the user's eyes. This enables the user to perceive himself in his real environment via the cameras (he can look at his hands and feet, see and operate the equipment in front of him, and all that without a data-glove). Then, the candidate is positioned in a common blue box environment, which makes it possible to key an external video signal with a camera image by applying the time-proven chromakey-technique. This external video signal may, for example, be transmitted live to our system via ISDN or another data line from any other place. At this other place the camera which produces the video signal is mounted on a toy car, which is in turn operated by our candidate using a normal telephone for remote control purposes. Thus the candidate is telepresent. The combination of a camera and a remote- controlled toy car equals a real 3D mouse. Our candidate may move and act within this space as if the environment were real, so he may also move things.
CHECKPOINT '95 It was in October '94, that Tatiana Didenko from the Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company and Marty Lucas from Paper Tiger TV, New York, visited Linz and presented Russian video art and American Independent Television productions at the city's Landesmuseum. Kathy Rae Huffman, an American free-lance curator of contemporary media arts, suggested organizing a joint multimedia net project within the framework of Ars Electronica. So Stadtwerkstadt TV met with the two Americans and the Russian colleague in the Café Landgraf at the bridgehead in Linz/Urfahr. Our different national origins made us think of the history of the place, where only half a century ago Russians and Americans had been stationed for ten years, separated only by the Nibelungen Bridge. Then, after World War II, Linz was a divided town with the American occupation zone south of the Danube and the Russian one in Urfahr north of the Danube. Checkpoints were installed on the bridge, and anybody passing the checkpoint had to present their identification cards to American and Russian soldiers. A very concrete clue to the cold war. The soldiers were not allowed to enter the other, i.e., foreign zone.
The Nibelungen Bridge in Linz did not just give rise to, but also stands as a metaphor for this project. It spans the Danube, which forms a natural boundary between the North and the South. In the days of the Roman Empire, the river separated Romans and barbarians. The bridge got its name from the Nibelungs, who then were travelling downstream. The legend of the Nibelungs is one of the few European surviving myths from the era of the Migration of Peoples.
Now that the Cold War has come to an end, now that the barricades have fallen and some frontiers have opened, new technologies are increasingly net-working the world, and while some frontiers disappear, new ones emerge.
BUILDING A NEW BRIDGE – THE SUPER-DATA-HIGHWAY-INFORMATION-BRIDGE Image, sound and data lines provide for a Moscow-Linz-New York link. Satellites transmit signals from Linz to the studios in Moscow or New York, where they are processed and finally sent back to Linz. The TV studio in Linz takes on some sort of server function, which links New York and Moscow. The Linz studio again edits the signals from Moscow and New York, co-ordinates and processes them and subsequently makes them accessible to European TV audiences via the 3sat channel.
At the same time, the TV-studios in New York and Moscow produce their own live shows, which are broadcast in New York by the Manhattan Neighborhood Network via Manhattan Cable, all over North America by Deep Dish Satellite TV Network and in Russia by Channel 2 of the Russian State Television Company.
Together with the telepresence application Parallel Space Display, this data bridge enables users in Moscow and New York to be present at the Nibelungen Bridge in Linz by means of a remote-controlled camera-equipped vehicle (toy car).
By using the conventional means of the telephone, home audiences sitting in front of their TV sets may also participate in the respective program.
TRANSMISSION SCHEDULE Live telecommunication via telepresence. An experiment within the multimedia network. By using various kinds of access permissions/possibilities, a conference on the information myth will be held – Checkpoint '95.
Part 1: Meeting
Although actually in their studios in Moscow and New York, Russians and Americans are telepresent in real terms at the neutral location of the Nibelungen Bridge in Linz, Austria. They meet and close the history book of the Cold War.
Meeting on the bridge
Former soldiers, veterans from the Russian and American zones of occupation, once stationed at the bridge will now, years after the occupation, be given the historic opportunity to cross the bridge once more as the first "car-drivers". Located in Moscow and New York, they will be driving onto the bridge in order to meet in the middle. Historical picture and sound documentation will accompany this ride; furthermore, witnesses of those days will recall and talk about the postwar period and the beginning of the Cold War. A time travel from '45 until today.
Part 2: The Teleconference
The gap between the former occupants is bridged. The meeting on the Nibelungen Bridge is an occasion to do some joint thinking on the post-Cold War era, the information age. The teleconference studio in Linz acts as the host for the conference between Moscow and New York and tries to mediate where necessary. The interior design of our teleconference studios (a round table designed as a blue box) enables us to present the audience at home with the image of conference participants from Linz, Moscow and New York sitting at one table.
Joint expedition
In this part of the program we try to combine our telepresence system with the representational possibilities of the fine arts in order to add material, poetic and visual elements to the predominantly language-oriented nature of the conference. Installations especially designed for this conference turn into courses for the camera-equipped cars (driven by new telenauts) from New York and Moscow.
Part 3: Abolishing all barriers
For the home audiences in front of their TV sets, all conference participants from Linz. Moscow and New York are sitting at one table, the blue table in Linz. The telenauts, who operate the camera vehicles on the blue table in Linz from their respective locations in New York and Moscow by remote control, now take over as hosts. Being telepresent they may physically affect the course of the conference. By mere eye contact they may not only address the conference participants at the blue table in Linz, but also those located in their studios in New York. As the conference proceeds, more and more images and sounds are being transmitted from all three studios until all locations seem to merge into a single one. The abolition of barriers in real and virtual environments creates new limits, the boundaries of possibility, the only limits we cannot overcome.
THE INFORMATION MYTH – WELCOME TO THE NET WORLDS What makes humans so eager to learn? What sort of new possibilities of transfer and exchange of knowledge do those new technologies present us with? Will public access to those new technologies become and remain easier? Action is the key! If you do not act to obtain the information you need, you have no one else to blame but yourself. The demand for more and more information multiplies the number of nets. A net consisting of scattered pieces of information. The myth about networks is also a myth about the ability to consume information. Ask the wrong question and you are either left without any information at all, or you are showered with so much data that you will find it hard to sort out what you really need.
What did information and the transfer of knowledge look like in former times?
Myths were a common source of information and were passed on to everybody. Information then was a story, which served to regulate society, tried to explain what life was about and was a means of education and development The myth itself implies that information is passed on. A myth is not a single person's property, but that of all human beings.
The myth of the Nibelungs is one of the few European legends passed on to today. What does this legend tell us? It tells about a treasure, the magical materialization of satisfaction, good fortune and power. The Nibelungs searched for treasures of gold, whereas the desireable treasures of today are knowledge and information. Welcome to the net worlds.
"NIBELUNGEN – NEWBELUNSEN – NEW BELONGINGS" 1. "Treasures" (the mythological aspect of the concept)
A. The days of yore: The Nibelung myth - The treasure is a mass of gold "belongings", collected from all over the world and stored at some secret place. This huge mass of gold represents the magical materialization of "satisfaction", "good fortune" and "power".
Dwarf Alberich cast a spell over this magical abundance of wealth, so that it brought bad luck to the owner of the Nibelung Hoard.
- So, what does it mean to break this spell cast over the Nibelung Hoard?
The gold belongings, originally used in a meaningful way, were removed from their place and arbitrarily piled up into a huge and useless mountain of gold. The individual belongings no longer live their own lives, but are trapped.
To break the spell of the Hoard means to distribute this mountain of gold all over the world and to take each belonging back to its historical origin so that it can be reused.
And these belongings will become the New Belongings.
B. The Past: 1945 - Some of the largest treasures of mankind are unity and community. But they are precisely the treasures that also proved to be the most significant problems of the 20th century, for they led to the development of and subsequent conflict between two of the world’s largest nations. What was regarded as a treasure (large quantities of people and land) turned into mere violence, oppressed the people and deprived them of their right to make their own decisions.
The violent separation of historical communities was the consequence of this unification of nations (casting a spell on the treasure) at all costs. Thus the Nibelungen Bridge was turned into a checkpoint to separate people and watch over their specific rights to unity.
- So, what does it mean to break the spell on this treasure called unity?
It means returning to its origins the freedom and the right to make one's own decisions, that is, for each individual person, for only a benevolent and voluntary union can be the real "treasure".
C. The Present: 1995 - Mankind's third largest treasure, i.e., knowledge, also brings bad luck to people. The huge mass of information deprives them of their ability to judge the significance of a specific item of information. It deprives them of the possibility to act intelligently. Whoever collects information inevitably becomes both its guardian and its slave; he cannot stop collecting (just like gold, information attracts further information).
- So what does it mean to break the spell cast over the treasure of knowledge?
It means to return knowledge to where it came from to each individual person. This means more than creating a global system for the distribution and use of information, it means returning the essence of personal knowledge to the common, impersonal information and giving people the possibility to use it as a basis for their personal actions.
2. Interlude: "The bewitched (spellbound) myth"- In the history of mankind, the myth about the Nibelungs, just as its content – the treasure – proves to be spellbound. It brings bad luck to those who consider themselves the only owners of the treasure. For example, those who strive for its one and only valid interpretation – the "truth of the myth". Totalitarian thinking, thinking which does not allow a variety of interpretations, homogeneity and leveling of the myth metaphor metamorphosis turn it into a doctrine.
- So, what does it mean to take the spell from the myth and the Nibelung myth as a whole?
It means that no claim must be made that one is the only one to completely and exclusively understand its content; one has to start from a whole spectrum of different but equally admissible interpretations. Thus, the myth becomes a source of personal interpretation.
3. "Frontiers and boundaries" (the culturo-topological aspect of the concept)
Each bridge is an attempt to leave behind frontiers and boundaries, to find oneself on the other side where everything is completely different from "home".
Frontiers and boundaries are attractive and cause us to go further.
A. The days of yore: Civilization and savagery
In the days of the Roman Empire, the Danube was the only boundary separating the civilized world form the barbarians, the savages, the uncivilized. Up to the middle of the 20th century these kinds of frontiers were regarded as antagonistic. lines between "yes" and "no", between "culture" and its non-existence, between civilization" and "savagery". Thus we saw the various cultural myths and models of civilization as something completely alien to each other, something incapable of mutual permeation, of mutual perception, comprehension or acceptance.
B. The Past: Neighbors and Enemies
Centuries passed. Frontiers not only turned into issues of permanent interest, but also into the permanent site of "global perestroika"; they were taken from one place to the other, just like belongings. People learned to talk to their enemies and something really important happened: People on both sides of the frontier were able to somehow interact.
And then it turned out that there were even more frontiers, but they were more permeable than they used to be.
C. The Present: More limits, borderlines and differences
Today we are becoming increasingly aware of limits, borderlines and differences related to ethnic origin, professional background, groups, sex, age, and so on.
This situation bears the potential for conflict. What can we do to (re)solve this conflict anew every day? Why do I cross the boundaries and frontiers and enter new territory? Do I want to create new qualities within myself, or do I try to appropriate other people's property? What is property? And what is "mine"? There are innumerable frontiers and limits, still they are not infinite.
4. "Realities and Illusions"
(The perception- and value-changing aspect of the concept)
Here-and-there realities.
The name of the Nibelungs (Nibelunge, Niflunger) is derived from the German word Nebel (mist), and means darkness, the "otherworld" (early Span.: hiflheim "the world of darkness", "the other world"). This means that the Nibelung Hoard is somewhere beyond some other frontier, at some other place – there. What we perceive here is nothing but its shadow, its appearance, a projection, its illusion. There it means safisfaction, power and good fortune, but here it is nothing more than a heap of gold.
Which of the two realities is spellbound? Which one is more real?
What is the positive aspect of recurring technogenic illusions?
The positive aspect is that, as they appear, many of the former and already accustomed illusions become clearer. That makes it possible to depart from the whole range of illusions.
Hence, to take the spell from everybody's existence means to regard all socio-cultural realities as old illusions. And that is the object and aim of the project "Nibelungen-NewBelungen-New Belongings": to embark on the route back to our basic virtual realities by means of new media technologies. "'To climb up stairs which lead downwards." That is the 20th century interpretation of the formula by Hermes Trismegistos, which reads: "What is up, is down".
Anatoly Prokhorov
COLD WAR TV – LESSONS FROM THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE Only fifty years ago mass media was radio (no transistor radios or walkmen), no color TV, no superdata-highway for high-speed communication of images. News Images of the day were filmed, and shown weeks later in Cinemas, or photographed and printed in daily newspapers and monthly journals. During the allied occupation of Austria, there was no development of TV in the small "buffer" country between East and West. It was controlled by each of the four military zones, and each had its own broadcasting structure and stations, and as each controlled forces in their region (French, American. Russian and British) they used TV as a propaganda and information vehicle.
It was not until 1953, that VHF transmitting equipment was even allowed to be tested in Austria, even though the Allied Council had been petitioned for the return of its broadcast and communication system several times. When the Allies departed, they finally had to return control of TV to the Austrian Federal Government. On July 27, 1955, the "Funkhaus" in Vienna broadcast the last RUSSIAN HOUR, the propaganda program of the Soviet Forces, and simultaneously "Radio Rot-Weiss-Rot" ceased broadcasting in Vienna and Salzburg. (1)
Austria's current system of Television, Radio and Telecommunications is one of the last remaining communication monopolies in Europe. It is state owned, controlled and managed. There is no private or commercial TV allowed in Austria and no Public Access Cable TV exists either. But, as visitors to Ars Electronica since 1986 have witnessed, the ORF is a serious promoter of innovative and experimental television work by artists, especially for international festivals and events.
When America entered the War in 1941, the advance of the television industry was stopped in their country and most broadcasting was suspended as Wartime Code banned many programs and froze all new station construction to conserve war materials. In 1945 – the year WW II was declared ended – there were only about 6000 TV sets in operation the entire world (2) , but sales of TV sets in America during 1947 doubled the number of new living room centerpieces. Sales continued to increase at unprecedented rates for the following four decades. There was no national TV – or any international broadcast – existing in Austria, the USA or the Soviet Union in 1945 – there still were no microwave links for television transmission or satellites.
Commercial TV in the Cold War took advantage of the American post-war mentality and, in part, was responsible for the American's dread of Communism and Russia. For example, in 1950 "Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television" was published by the editors of Counterattack (three former FBI agents). It listed 151 people in the entertainment field who were reported to have Communist leanings (3). This printed report began widespread blacklisting, first instituted by CBS, of actors who refused to sign a loyalty oath to the United States of America and to the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954 (investigating communism in the US Army). (4) The first coast-to-coast live broadcast in America showed a side-by-side TV image – a collage – of the Brooklyn Bridge and the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Another show featured a live transmission of the Atomic Bomb Test 17 from Nevada – demonstrating the power of the bomb, with cameras and news reporters only 40 miles away. This program will be best remembered for its attack on Senator Joe McCarthy, and for turning public opinion back to a sensible position with regard to the hysterical anti-Communist movement of the 1950's in America.
Ten years later in the USA and twenty years later in Russia – the time distance from the horrors of WW II allowed for it to be humored too – and humanized. Popular 1960's shows like "Hogan’s Heros" (smart Americans in a German prisoner of war camp outsmart their fumbling captors) emerged, and the 1970's Russian program "Four Tank Drivers and a Dog" was the most popular Moscow TV series. TV continued to reinforce the fears of the cold war era in re-runs, while the Korean War of the 1950's was recreated in the 1960s comedy series M*A*S*H. which relieved tensions and memories. The Vietnam War changed the tone and the tempo of military reality – and live news reports shocked Americans into their eventual rejection of the political support for it. The 1990s brought another kind of reality to TV and War – both in America and in Europe. The Gulf War – also known as the CNN's Living Room War -showed the world a methodical suppression of information, clear censorship and the analytical use of high tech weapons. Citizens in American could only tune into alternative satellite programming offered by Deep Dish TV's 'Gulf War Series". (5)
In Europe, the breaking up of the Communist block was televised to the world and the bloody revolutions throughout East Europe (which began with the celebration and breaking down of the Berlin Wall and the unification of Berlin) often took place in order to gain control of the television. The struggle for democracy in the East was also a revolution for the control of television, and the battles to occupy TV centers played a major role in the power struggles in Russia, Romania. Latvia, Czechoslovakia and other Eastern countries. When it lost TV, the Communist Party and its apparatchicks lost total control of communication to its citizens and the world. A particularly daring Russian program during the early days of Glasnost was "Fifth Wheel" in St Petersburg (then Leningrad) – which was one of three programs (along with "600 Seconds" and "Public Opinion") that tested the new media freedoms by allowing non-Partyline opinions to be expressed on political and cultural issues. (6)
Kathy Rae Huffmann
STADTWERKSTATT TV, LINZ The main object was not only to give artists the opportunity to present art in television, but also to have them work with this medium on a live and experimental basis. Austria, however, was not able to provide the framework required for that kind of work. Thus years of cultural and political work were necessary. Despite some hesitation at the very beginning, Ars Electronica has in the past few years succeeded in giving artists an opportunity to work with TV as a medium and an artistic and experimental basis within the festival.
In 1987 Stadtwerkstatt TV tried to gain access to TV as a medium for their artistic purposes for the first time. The plan was to broadcast a five pilot project called "Starterkabel – Brucknerkanal" for a period of one week over the local cable-net Linz-Wels-Steyr at times when there were no other programs on the TV channel FS 2, this was supposed to take place within the framework of the Ars Electronica. Despite some intervention from important authorities and positive feedback from the Head Office of the Austrian Federal Postal Services, the plan did not materialize because of constitutional problems. The ORF had a monopoly on television.
The Ars Electronica people, however, succeeded in organizing a concert of construction machinery at the building site of an underground car park in the Hauptplatz in Linz. This concert was recorded by four cameras, mixed live and shown on a huge screen.
In the course of investigating the legal situation of the media in Austria, a legal way of producing television outside the ORF was found. Within the "Österreichische Filmtage" in Wels.,the then largest film festival in Austria, Stadtwerkstatt TV provided for TV around the clock, with programs being transmitted by the closedcircuit TV system at the hotel "Greif". The camera was never turned off. This was only possible because hotels have permission to broadcast to a certain extent, since their audience is not a public, but a private one. The hotel proved to be an excellent model for TV, which gave producers and audience the opportunity to interact. On the one hand, the guests could enjoy the privacy of their rooms and on the other hand, use the common rooms of the hotel. The hotel guests either contributed to the programs by using the telephones in their rooms or by coming straight to the studio.
In 1989 a new effort was made. The organizer of Ars Electronica threatened to give artists a chance to broadcast illegally during the festival, if necessary. With the help of public opinion, negotiations with the ORF bore fruit and the Ars Electronica team was allowed to broadcast live on 3sat. Not on any of the Austrian stations, however, and only after midnight. The program was dedicated to the issue of "interactive art". Gambling machines are the best examples of interactive machines. Stadtwerkstatt TV installed an amusement arcade in the hall of the Brucknerhaus, where the audience "produced" the program in real time.
1990 – The situation in Austria has not changed, there is still no possibility to broadcast one's own alternative TV programs. As a consequence, Stadtwerkstatt TV went to America, where an invitation by the Art Centers Hallwalls helped them to go on air live on 6 evenings per week via the local cable-network in Buffalo, New York, using the TCI Public Access Channel 32. From the roof of the university building, where a studio was installed with old, new and hired technical equipment Stadtwerkstatt-TV sent an infrared TV signal to the transmitter of the TCI cablelink which was located within sight.
In 1991 Stadtwerkstatt TV produced a live TV-show called "Niemand ist sich seiner sicher", which was broadcast in three parts and represented a contribution to the Ars Electronica's motto "Out of Control". The scene of action was a leisure area below one of the bridges of the Linz freeway. The plot developed live in front of the audience.
In 1992 the Ars Electronica festival was dedicated to the issue of "Die Welt von innen – Endo und Nano". Stadtwerkstatt TV entered the particle jungle of probability. Various plots and loads of TV equipment were packed into a few square meters of studio.
Ever since then, Stadtwerkstatt TV has been working on the development of the telepresence system Parallel Space Display and on processing material about television available to artists: Stadtwerkstatt TV 87-94.
PAPER TIGER TV, NEW YORK Paper Tiger is a collective of media activists and videomakers who produce television in New York City. The group was formed in 1981, soon after public access cable became a reality in Manhattan. Paper Tiger's half-hour weekly shows on local cable TV provide a critical reading of a mass media product. They are an ongoing exploration of corporate information culture and are based on a few simple notions: - The power of mass culture rests on the trust of the public.
- This legitimacy is a paper tiger.
- Investigation into the corporate structure of the media and critical analysis of their content is one way to demystify the information industry.
- Developing a critical consciousness about the communication industry is a necessary first step toward democratic control of information resources.
Public access channels set aside for non-commercial use by the community give Paper Tiger a regular audience of channel zappers; and die hard fans. Paper Tiger has produced over 250 shows. These shows expose the economic and stylistic elements within commercial television, newspapers, magazines and most recently, the information superhighway. Paper Tiger shows have a look and feel of their own:
Individuals state their opinion speaking in their own voice at their own pace, free of the limitiations of sound bites, make-up or the framing of an interviewer's question, underscoring their comments, which pass before the camera. This homemade look, a PTTV trademark, encompasses both set enhancements and sound cues, camera shots of the crew, and other technical transgressions. These "mistakes" disrupt the insular nature of television production, proving to viewers that individuals of varying talent and economic circumstances (maybe even themselves!) can provide worthwhile TV. (7) Paper Tiger's style remains surprisingly consistent considering that more than one hundred producers have been members of the group.
Over its 14 year history Paper Tiger has provided hands-on production experience for media artist and activists of many ages and backgrounds interested in stemming the unimpeded march of corporate, commercial media. As arts’ funding has gone from bad to almost non-existent, Paper Tiger's volunteer members continue to make TV shows, as well as installation works, media workshops, and international broadcasts.
In 1985, Paper Tiger's sister organization, The Deep Dish Satellite TV Network, began satellite broadcasting for public access viewers, in hundreds of communities. Deep Dish offers a critical perspective on international, national and local issues. At this time, Deep Dish connects a diverse group of community-based producers through some 400 public access cable stations across the U.S., in a network wholly outside the commercial mainstream.
The importance of having an alternative information network was proved definitively in late 1990 when the Gulf War began and Americans found themselves in a media environment heavily involved in promoting the war. The Gulf Crisis TV Project co-produced by Paper Tiger and Deep Dish gave TV viewers a clear sense of widespread opposition to US policy in the Gulf. The 10part series of half-hour shows offered viewers a framework for critical debate concerning the cultural, historical, military and economic issues which led to a major war involving half a million Americans. The widespread popularity of The Gulf Crisis TV Project demonstrated that an alternative view could appeal to a significant audience.
Over the last two years, Paper Tiger programs have focussed on the new electronic media, noting the dangers of a corporate cyberutopia, presenting the views of media organizers, computer experts and community advocates working to ensure that the Information Superhighway is accessible and functional for all users.
The "PTTV Network" Presents "The Bridge Project"
By creating a virtual network for this broadcast, Paper Tiger has chosen the conventional mode of electronic visual information exchange used in the United States, i.e. the TV network. Currently there are at least seven (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, MTV, etc,) commercial networks and one public network in the U.S.
Our portion of the Checkpoint '95 program is put forward in the style of the American TV network. By taking the position of 'The Networks" and occupying this "electronic public sphere", we give ourselves the opportunity to examine the structure of network mass market broadcasting and what it promises and provides to audiences. Checkpoint '95 is another manifestation of PTTV's interest in drawing attention to the conventional framework of US broadcasting, where advertizers buy time from broadcasters.
Tigers in the Net
The Nibelungen Bridge seems an appropriate place to discuss mythology. The current myth regarding the Information Age is that we all live in a cyber-linked, computer-interfaced world that will make us free. Paper Tiger 2 wonders how this myth will become reality. The information systems that exist now will soon be commercialized. The non-profit Internet "backbone" run by Advanced Network and Services was sold to America On-line. The backbone comprised the administrative nodes that connect the university and research institute-based network of communications. (America On-line purchased this system for $35 million dollars) Who will control these networks? What kind of room will be left for community-based "free nets" and other forms of public access? Media activists and others have been fighting a loosing battle for noncommercial space on the new National Information Infrastructure. And even if some non-commercial turf is carved out how will we find the funding and the training to take advantage of this opportunity?
Network of Desires
In this new media age, the cliché that information is knowledge takes on new meaning. For us as Americans, knowing is knowing what to buy. As the popular slogan has it: "The educated consumer is our best customer." The most salient characteristic of mediated culture is the commodification of consciousness.
As we move away from a text-based information exchange system, we are moving toward an image-generated system. It is only a matter of time before the computer screen shows us the same images we already see on our TV sets, images of consumption.
For Paper Tiger's position is – Stop being a consuming couch potato and become a producer.
ASSOCIATION OF NEW SCREEN TECHNOLOGIES, MOSCOW The Association was established on the decision of the Secretariat of the Filmmakers' Union of Russia on February 14, 1994.
The initial meeting of ANST took place on April 19, 1994 in the Central House of Filmmakers.
Andrew Konchalovsky (film director) was elected the Head of the Board of ANST, Dr. Anatoly Prokhorov (philosopher of culture) was elected the President of the Association.
1. What is New Screen Technologies Association?
The main idea of the Association is the consolidation of efforts of professionals in technologies, humanities and arts in developing new screen technologies (NST), i.e.: computer cinema (graphics, animation, special effects), interactive cinema and television, videoart, multimedia products, telecommunications etc.
Association of New Screen Technologies is an independent non-govemment public organization of creative professionals who deal with development, production and realization of artistic and sociocultural audiovisual projects in the NST-sphere.
The Association believes that the new screen technologies sphere, as a part of audiovisual art and industry, has equal rights with traditional "motion pictures".
2. The major directions of the Association's activity.- Computer cinema
- Interactive works
- Videoart and alternative television
- Telecommunications
3. Prehistory of the Association (in brief).
For the last 3 years, prior to the establishment of the Association, the group of enthusiasts – professionals in humanities, cinema and computer science and technology did a lot of work consolidating their creative efforts in the NST-sphere. For instance, R&D conferences were held: "Computer animation: perspectives and problem" (1991); "Computer games as the art of reacting screen" (1992), "Computograph: from concept toward image" (1992); "Multimedia: culture as media, media as culture" (1993); "Modern technologies of communication (humanitarian aspects of telecommunication)" (1994). Experts' Forum "New Culture Technologies" was established which arranges its meetings regularly.
4. The major objectives of the Association - Assisting the formation of NST as a sphere of art, culture and industry in Russia;
- forming of united multi professional community of creative workers in NST sphere, who represent computer science and technologies, humanities and arts;
- Creation of the best conditions for professional creative labour of NST professionals;
- Extension and deepening of international collaboration of NST professionals;
- Participation in organization of a system of professional NST education.
5. About the Association's plans.
As the first concrete project, the Association suggests a series of seminars on technological aspects of modern culture and on humanitarian aspects of high technologies; organization of several thematic Experts' Forums "New Culture Technologies", participation in specialized festivals, exhibitions, forums and other public events, holding of NST-promotion activities in domestic press and on TV, the publishing of monthly information bulletin of the Association. The Association plans to keep in touch with analogous organizations and printed editions abroad.
(1)
"Television in Austria 1955-1987" by Heidi Grundman quotes Viktor Ergert: 250 Jahre Rundfunk in Österreich". Volumes II (1975) and IV (1985) (Residenz Verlag, Salzburg) to examine the early Austrian television situation und the beginnings of ORF in Mignot, Dorine, editor. Revision: art Programmes of European TV Stations. The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1987, pages 8-15.  back
(2)
Fireman, Judy. ed. TV-Book. Workman Publishing Co., New York, 1977, pages 10-98. back
(3)
Sterling, Christopher H. and John M. Kitross, Stay Tuned: A concise History of American Broadcasting,. Wadsworth Publishing Co.,. Belmont Ca., 1978, page 307. back
(4)
1950 – the same year – the Zenith Corp. was allowed to test its experimental Phonevision System for 90 days in Chicago. back
(5)
"Resistance by Satellite" by Martin Lucas and Martha Wallner, in Dowmunt Tony, editor. Channels of Resistance: Global Television and Local Empowerment. British Film Institute and Channel 4 TV, London, 1993, pages 176-194. back
(6)
Smith, Hedrick, The Russians. Avon Books, New York, 1991, pages 49-173. back
(7)
Adrienne Jenik. What is Paper Tiger Anyway? ROAR! The Paper Tiger Television Guide to Media Activism. The Paper Tiger Television Collective, New York 1991 back
CHECKPOINT 95 CREDITS
erdacht und konzipiert von Stadtwerkstatt-TV Donke, Hauenschild, Lehner, Ritter
Internationale Initiative: Kathy Rae Huffman
Technische Leitung und Parallel Raum Display: Thomas Lehner
Produktionsleitung: Stadtwerkstatt-TV
Produktion Linz: Stadtwerkstatt-TV. Peter Donke. Brigitte Vasicek.
Redaktion: Georg Ritter. Gabriele Kepplinger
Produktion Moskau: ANST, Tatjana Didenko
Redaktion: Anatoly Prokhorov
Produktion New York: Paper Tiger TV. Karin Helmerson, Martin Lucas
Redaktion: Joseph Di Mattia
Team Linz
Bildregie: Thomas Lehner
Bildmischung: Elke Rittenschober
Schauspielleitung: Caspar v. Erffa
Kameraregie: Wolfgang Lehner
Computer Graphik: Peter Hauenschild, Herbert Schager
Sound & Music: Dee Dee Neidhard, Mark Vojka, Peter Postl
Technical Design: Thomas Lehner
Meßtechnik: Gerhard Blöchl
Techn. Betreuung PRD: Franz Xaver
Video- & Computer: Margarete Jahrmann, Max Moswitzer
Set Design: Georg Lindorfer
Licht Design: Wolfgang Lehner
Still Photography: Norbert Artner, Nigel Dickinson
Produktionsbegleitung: Joachim Eckö
PR Koordination: Peter Donke, Gerald Harringer
WWW Koordinator: Paul Fischnaller
Produktionsteam: Judith Vorbach, Andreas Ehrenberger, Andreas Kozmann, Horst Mayerhofer, Alfred Wögerbauer, Horst Spannlang, Dominique Bejvl, Juha Balou, und viele andere
Team New York
Paper Tiger Television Production Team: Mike Eisenmenger (WWW Coordinator). Mary Feaster, Jessica Glass, Javier Hernandez-Miyares, Linda Iannacone, Adrienne Jenik, Rick Jungers, Kym Maxwell, rachel melman, Freddy Molina, Carlos Satsedo, Roy Wilson, and friends.
Team Moscow
Associate producer: A. Schamazskiy
PR Coordinator: Tatyana Moguilevskaya
Supervising script: Sophia Sarovskaza
Photographer: Alexei Shulgin
Computer Graphics: Vladimir Koschkin & Co.
Video Graphics: Sergei Schutov & Co
Sound-Music: D. Ariupin & V. Saveliev
Videoclips-Doc Spots: A. Schamazskiz & T. Didenko
Technical Design: S. Antipov & 0. Kunin
Set Design: Vladimir Rzlioce
Lighting Design: A. Vartarnihn
WWW Coordinator: Eugene Peskin
Dank an
ORF Landesstudio OÖ, ORF-Kunststücke, 3sat, LIVA, Landesmuseum OÖ, The Media Center, Borough of Manhattan Community College, Deep Dish Satellite TV Network, Interactive Telecommunications Program, New York University, Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Whitney Museum of American Art.
Russian State Television and Radio Broadasting Company (RTR)
Pilot, Soros Center for Contemporary Art, Moskau
Kunstlabor, Leo Schatzl, DNS Studio, U.N.D. Fischer Film, Suter + Suter, Stadt Linz, Ars Electronica BG
CHECKPOINT '95 im Netz: Die Konferenz läuft
Beiträge zum Thema ab jetzt an & von The Whitney Museum of American Art Cybersponsor on the World Wide Web http://www/echonyc.com/whitney/WMAA/wetcome.html
Ars Electronica Center http://www.ars.co.at/ars/
|
