F powell buleravwen LL, Pel| education also the electronic i image becomes more and more important ge analysis is a skill that becomes increasingly valuable nowadays. a The vision of artists presents us with a certain outlook on life. It is tl perception, not always the most accessible one, which forms the core of the s World Wide Video Festival. It is the idiosyncratic view ‘of artists, heedless of common opinion, that determines the content and look of this festival. | Against the trends of conformity and specialization media art is developing in an interdisciplinary way. Visual artists join forces with, musicians, choreographers and composers, to name but a few, anda are just as much at ease in a museum as on a stage or in cyberspace. Nowadays, if you want to keep in touch with what's going on in art, you can surf the Web looking for — as yet sporadic artworks, visit museums, go to the ‘theatre’ and buy videotapes and cp-roms. In the seventies and eighties some artists were still pondering publishing limited, numbered editions of videotapes. Now you can simply buy a copy of a tape or cp-rom in the shops. After all, the artistic quality of a work doesn’t change when there are many copies of it around. Its uniqueness lies in the force of the artwork, and, in some cases, also in the environment where the work is exhibited. its Image size, framing, volume level, serenity, silence, time, environment, isolation: all elements which are essential to the presentation of media art. The one hundred selected works in the 16th World Wide Video Festival are Tee with these thoughts in mind. On the following o you will find an account of our choice and descrip- tions and images of the individual videotapes, cp- xoMs, stallations, performances and websites. A number of artists have been interviewed, -_ allowing us a a deeper insight into their work. During the estival itself artists 5further explore the background and ideas of a generation of artists who apply the dynamics and versatility of electronic images and sounds. Fortunately, these artistic expressions are no longer limited to highly industrialized countries. In an ever growing number of places all over the world productions are made, allowing the discourse to take place on a global level. Tom van Vliet DirectorPhilip J. Pocock, Florian Wenz, Udo Noll & Felix §. Huber A Description of the Equator and some @therLands BRD 1998 — website Equator is een ‘travel-as-art-as-information’ project dat werd gemaakt voor Documenta X waarin kunstenaars berichtten van en optraden op de evenaar in centraal Oost-Afrika en Zuidoost-Azié, maar ook Elders. Equator is sindsdien uitgegroeid tot een grote website waar vaste gebruikers, agents en robotten : vertoeven. Al deze virtuele wezens voegen inhoud en software aan Equator toe. ‘Otherlands’ presenteert de landschappen die door deze kunstenaars en vele bezoekers van de site worden gemaakt. Alle gebruikers worden uitgenodigd, zo niet gedwongen, om iets aan de site toe te voegen. Volgens Pocock is Equator post-beat, zowel op tekst gebaseerd als op actie, een soort groepsportret of dagboek, gekenmerkt door met elkaar verweven scénes die door de deelnemende kunstenaars worden ge-upload en die vervolgens worden uitgebreid en gewijzigd door e-mailboodschappen van webbezoekers. De Equator als metafoor wordt opnicuw in kaart gebracht in de netwerkruimte van moederbord Aarde als een correspondentie tussen voorlopige identiteiten. Als vorm is de Equator een schuivend s1os (Binary Large Object) in de virtuele ruimte tussen architectuur (datatextuur) en film (hypercinema). De esthetiek is niet alleen evident (consumabel), maar ook relatief (participerend). De Equator gaat over verbinden, verkeerd verbinden, opnieuw verbinden, verbindingen verbreken. De Equator is één persoon in meerdere lichamen en meerdere personen in één lichaam. De Equator is cen film die nict vlakbij u te zien is, maar binnenin u. — woe Philip J. Pocock, 1954, Ottawa (Canada) Woont en werkt in Karlsruhe (BRD) Florian Wenz, 1958, Miinchen (RD) Woont en werkt in Ziitich (Zwvitserland) Udo Noll, 1966, Hadamar (xp) Woont en werkt in Keulen (sx) Felix. S. Huber, 1957, Ziirich (Zwitserland) Woont en werkt in Keulen (pxp) 39>,The Equator is a ‘travel-as-art-as-information’ project produced for Documenta X with artists reporting from and performing on the equator in Central Eastern Africa and South East Asia, as well as Otherwhere. The Equator since then has grown into a large website, where regular users, agents and robots reside. All these virtual beings add content and software to Equator. ‘Otherlands’ presents the landscapes build by these artists and many of the visitors to their website. Any user is invited, if not forced, to add content to this site. According to Pocock, the Equator is post-beat, both word-based and performative, a sort of group portrait or diary described by interwoven scenes uploaded by participating artists, extended and interrupted by email messages from web guests. The Equator as metaphor is remapped in motherboard earth’s network space as a correspondence between provisional identities. As form, the Equator is a shifting stop (Binary Large OBject,) existing in a virtual space between architecture (data texture) and film (hypercinema). Its aesthetic is not only apparent (consumable) but relative (participatory.) The Equator is about connecting, misconnecting, reconnecting, disconnecting. The Equator is one person in several bodies, and several persons in one body. The Equator is a movie playing not near you but in you. M.m.v: Frederick W. Ayer, Fabrizio Gallanti, Mo Diener, Davide Legittimo, Nanne Prauda, John Zinnser, Walter van der Cruijsen e.v.a. uri: hitp://www.kingdom.de/equator/INFO MAP NEWS CHAT . il over to get directions to the equator. a Foe A oe |pe 4 +) pip Fa Eilon 2 2 2:442685 13-44: BorderTown border) IE lee Mn CET late to cross. The nic Elites \ enact ma tergal hed om = RUN add ins upd ¢ aR ee reece ation: road to Busta - NiCr Ve U ste as re = Number One: You guys stay in theWorld Wide Video Festival Marnixstraat 411 roy MSL) Nederland Telefoon 31.20.420 77 29 Sree w ere es| wwvf@wwvf.demon.nl World Wide Video Festival