AliaK [filter] ::: specture

In an era of globalization, activities of the creative economy such as fashion, film, television, theater, music, dance, visual arts, design, architecture, advertising, publishing, multimedia and information technology, have contributed significantly to local economy, community life and the creation of places in cities. Such cities have taken advantage of the trend in natural agglomeration of creative industries, not only as a result of economic efficiency but of innovative synergies unleashed in industrial clusters, given that information, imagination, opinions and cultural sensibilities are transmitted through them. This agglomeration of design and knowledge-intensive industries attain place-specific competitive advantages by utilizing local symbolic culture, which becomes embedded in products that are value-added and unique in character. Together with this trend, carefully designed places in cities that offer life-style choices and amenities emerge as an important strategy for attracting talented people. These cultural places become hubs for creative communities, given that groups of creative professionals tend to cluster in places that provide not only the kind of jobs they seek but also the quality of life amenities they prefer. However, there remains a gap between global and local settings, in which a framework is needed to situate the cities of developing countries within this global phenomenon. Equally important is an understanding of how local knowledge and creativity in different cultural and economic contexts, particularly of cities in developing countries with their informal economy, contribute to this continuing discourse at both theoretical and practical levels. Read more or visit http://www.ar.itb.ac.id/artepolis for more details

Recent years have seen a strong interest among academics, policy makers, activists, business and other practitioners on open collaboration and access as a driver of creativity. In some areas, such as free software / open source, sustainable business models have emerged that are holding their own against more traditional, proprietary software industries. In the sciences, the notions of open science and open data demonstrate the strong tradition of openness in the academic community that, despite its past successes, is increasingly under threat. And open access journals and other open content provide inspiring examples of collaborative creativity and participatory access, such as Wikipedia, while still in search of models to ensure sustainability. There are clear links between these areas of openness: open content often looks explicitly towards open source software for business models, and open science provides through its history a glimpse of the potential of openness, how it can work, as well as a warning of the threats it may face. Finally, open collaboration is closely linked to access to knowledge issues, enabling active participation rather than passive consumption especially in developing countries. Register at http://numenor.lib.uic.edu/fmconference/ and/or send an abstract or paper to http://numenor.lib.uic.edu/fmconference/

CeC & CaC is The Carnival of e-Creativity & Change-agents Conclave - the first in a series of public events deploying an exploratory and widely-inclusive canvas of participation & content from India and the world. The forum aims to address the Creative Empowerment of Individuals by the burgeoning spread of Technology across multiple streams of Creative Human Endeavour. visit http://www.theaea.org/cec_cac for more details

Mediamatic presents a 2-day workshop on social tagging, or MOBTAGGING. Mobtagging is what happens when users freely apply and exchange labels (metadata) to online information. This non-hierarchical method of structuring information is rapidly spreading over the web, with Flickr.com, Del.icio.us and Technorati as most famous examples. It gives users the possibility to specify, index and search information on their own terms. During this workshop we will analyse the inner workings and the social effects of mobtagging. How is social tagging changing the structure of (online) information, and our relation to it? For which usergroups and what type of information is Mobtagging rewarding? What roles does Mobtagging play next to more traditional ways of indexing information? This workshop is designed for bloggers, webmasters, artists and theorists; people with a practical as well as a theoretical interest in Mobtagging. Four cutting-edge speakers (see below) introduce various concepts and practises of social tagging, and assist the participants with the (re)design and evaluation of their own Mobtagging scenario's or applications. Visit www.mediamatic.net/mobtagging for more details

Where is digital film and interactive design heading in the new year? VIDFEST (Vancouver International Digital Festival) has launched its call for entries to its 3rd annual competition to find out. VIDFEST is developing a reputation for bringing independent and creative producers together with big name digital entertainment and media companies like EA, Nokia, ABC, Warner, and Disney. Those who make the final cut and are selected for screening or exhibition at the festival enjoy full access to all the conference sessions, events, and parties. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2006. Entrants can submit in two areas: Digital Film : VIDFEST is looking for digitally produced shorts including: music videos, game sequences, animation, digital video; and Interactive Design : VIDFEST is looking for original, highly usable, and innovative websites in 4 categories: Business, Education, Entertainment, and Experimental/Art. More details and entry forms are available at http://www.vidfest.com

The Dance & Technology Zone (DTZ) is a resource for artists and others who are particularly interested in using new media and information technologies in the creation and performance of dance, dance theater and related live performance works. The new Dance & Technology site will be at http://dancetechnology.org/dancetechnology/

'Gang' is a new contemporary art festival in the heart of Sydney's inner city suburb of Chippendale, carving innovative strides in the area of international collaboration. For the first time, Gang Festival will bring together the cutting edge of artist run initiatives in Indonesia and Australia through an artist exchange program, culminating in a showcase of works and art projects in Australia and Indonesia. Spearheaded by artist run spaces in Chippendale, this project will span 7 months and involve over 16 art organisations in over 10 residencies and dozens of community arts projects, building to a spectacular street festival finale on the 29th January 2006. visit http://www.gangfestival.com for details

the goulbourn plover fanciers society and dual poultry are proud to present the second annual ZINE AND RECORD FAIR : JANUARY 15 2006 - Lan Franchis Retirement Village in association with Dual Plover and Goulburn Poultry Fanciers Association bring you ZINE FAIR 2 the biggest display of small publications in the whole of the Asia Pacific region. Our collaborating organs from Indonesia will join forces with the fertile activity of Australia's own, in a smorgasboard picnic delight of zines zines and more zines for your leafing through pleasure. Indonesia boasts a prolific wing of street level publications made by an astounding array of artist groups and grass roots communities.

Monolake makes his 2nd trip to Australia after his incredible performances of 2003. This time he's showcasing his new invention the Monodeck for the very first time in Australia playing his signature subaquatic bombastic basslines totally live. Joining him for the first time in Australia is Background Records head honcho Andy Vaz who has been touring the world in 2005 showcasing his Soundvariation releases plus the Live in Detroit CD, on sale at the gig. His live melodics and percussive complexity has found fans worldwide and should not be missed. MONOLAKE & ANDY VAZ February 4th 2006 @ The Mercat Cross

Openframe is Room40's inaugural sound and media festival celebrating all manner of new performance, experimental audio and media cultures. It creates a space for dialogue in sound, vision and performance. This year the festival celebrates improvisation in all its forms bringing together a diverse and powerful line up of players including Mego mastermind Pita (aka Peter Rehberg), iconic French musician Xavier Charles, as well as some of Australia's most central figures in contemporary improvisation. The festival also features 'noh cinema', presented in conjunction with AbjectLeader who curate an international selection of 16mm avant-garde films from the past 50 years, selected from the national film archives, exploring minimalism, the dreamstate, and the often seductive disintegration of sound, image, and meaning.

Peter Newman is a Sydney based video artist who has exhibited and performed at various NSW festivals and galleries.

From his bio:

http://optimismesans.blogspot.com/

Alias Frequencies are an Australian organization that promotes and publishes media art, with an emphasis on collage-based experimental electronic music. Their website includes information about the artists as well as excellent articles about the Sydney electronic / experimental music community and performance spaces. Artists in the collective include

I remember reading about holographic storage / crystalline data storage in the mid 90s but back then they could write the data but couldn't read it back off. seems like they've fixed the problems according to the tests run last november. looking forward to the personal device using these to be available.. they've been doing tests with broadcasters for hdtv and the like. http://www.hiptechblog.com/2005/11/25/maxell-introduces-groundbreaking-h...

With all the emails circulating this week, this is one which Sydney-siders should read. "Rally Against Racism! Sunday 18th. It's time for ALL Australians to Unite Against Racism! The Unite Against Racism Rally WHEN: Sunday 18th December 2005 ::: TIME: 1pm ::: WHERE: Town Hall Square ::: After a marathon meeting at UTS last night, NUS (National Union of Students) and other associated community and cultural groups think it's time that the countless thousands of Sydney-siders who DID NOT like what they saw last weekend in Cronulla took to the streets to make their voice heard. We need to send the strongest possible message to the rest of Australia and to the rest of the world that those 5000 people who rioted at Cronulla do not speak for us. As such we need to quadruple their number, rain hail or shine! Spam this out to everyone you know! Lets get down there and show the world that we ain't (sic) a nation of redneck dic*heads."

Unsilent Night is, to quote its founder Phil Kline, an "outdoor ambient music piece for an INFINITE number of boom box tape players. It's like a Christmas carolling party except that we don't sing, but rather carry boom boxes, each playing a separate tape which is part of the piece. In effect, we become a city block long stereo system!"