Syndicate: net.congestion - PRESS RELEASE & ANNOUNCEMENT PRELIMINARY WEB SITE

[Eric Kluitenberg <epk@xs4all.nl>]

Dear Syndicalists,

Below the press release for net.congestion - International festival of
Streaming Media, 6-8 October in Amsterdam. We put up a preliminary web site
that will be updated in the period running up to the festival.
( http://net.congestion.org )

We hope to announce the concept program in the second half of august, also
via the web site.

best wishes,
eric


-------------------------




***  PRESS RELEASE & ANNOUNCEMENT PRELIMINARY WEB SITE ***

Amsterdam, August 1, 2000



net.congestion

International Festival of Streaming Media


De Balie, Paradiso, Melkweg, radioqualia, De Waag, Montevideo/TBA

Amsterdam, October 6 - 8, 2000


http://net.congestion.org



net.congestion, the first international festival of streaming media in The
Netherlands, is the result of the collective effort of a broad coalition of
Dutch and international cultural & media organisations, artists and media
tacticians. The festival is devoted to new forms of broadcasting and live
programming that have emerged around the Internet (the so-called "streaming
media"). The festival presents and explores the use of streaming media as
an artistic and tactical (social / political) medium, i.e. the points where
artistically challenging work and socially relevant content meet.

The main venues will be Paradiso, De Balie and Melkweg, creating a unique
festival infrastructure around the Leidse Plein in the heart of Amsterdam.
Montevideo/TBA - Netherlands Media Art Institute, and the Society for Old
and New Media (De Waag) will act as important workshop locations.

The festival will be a showcase of the most exciting and innovative
artistic and tactical streaming media projects from around the globe. The
program includes performances, concerts, club events, public presentations
and debates, the 'Media Bank' (a public do-it-yourself media space),
walk-in studio's that give the audience a chance to see the artists and
technicians at work and interact with the live programs as they are being
made, workshops and seminars. A large part of the festival will actually
happen within the media; on the Internet, in local and national radio
broadcasts, via cable television, satellite, and any other (trans-)
national medium that the festival manages to seize upon.

While commercial parties dominate the main-stream development of the field,
the festival will instead create a public platform for the multitude of
innovative artistic and tactical initiatives that have emerged around the
streaming media. The enhanced possibilities of audio, video and live
programming via the internet open up countless new avenues for artistic
experimentation, new forms of documentary media production, and media
activism. These initiatives have, however, remained largely unnoticed by a
wider audience. Organisations and initiatives such as FreeSpeech TV (USA),
Free B92 (Yugoslavia), Kunstradio (Austria), xchange (int.), and Interface
Pirate Radio (UK) are among the important pioneers for the cultural and
social domain present at the festival.

The festival will be a meeting point for various artistic and tactical
communities who do not regularly meet each other. It aims to give new
incentives to these communities, create new lasting structures for
co-operation, and encourage the development of fresh ideas and improved
technology in this field.



PRELIMINARY FESTIVAL WEB SITE:

A preliminary festival web site has been put on-line to provide background
information about the festival at the following address:

http://net.congestion.org

The web site will be extended and updated continuously  during the period
running up to the festival. We expect to publish the concept program in the
second half of August, which will then also be made available through this
web site.



FURTHER INFORMATION:

For further information about the festival you can contact the organisers
via De Balie in Amsterdam.

Contact:

Lucas Evers

De Balie
Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10
1017 RR Amsterdam

Tel. +31.20.553 51 51

e-mail: congestion@balie.nl


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