Re-LAB electronic arts and media centre
11. Novembra Krastmala 35-94,
LV 1050 Riga, Latvia
Tel. (+371) 721 02 97
http://re-lab.netabout Re-LAB activities and further development
Summary:
In the period 1.1.1998 - 1.1.2001 the Re-Lab organization wishes to develop its activities on a more structural basis. The aim is to establish the E-Lab as a networking and project office for cultural and social non-profit projects in the field of digital and networked media (CMC - Computer Mediated Communication), and Interactive Multimedia; both within Latvia, as well as on an international plane. This proposal intends to give insight into the activities of the Re-Lab, the context it operates in, and outlines a proposed organizational and financial structure for the Re-Lab for the coming three years.
Activities:
* In the past two years the Re-Lab has developed into the heart of digital culture in Riga. It organized the first conference on the cultural and social implications of the coming information society in Latvia, in November 1996.
* In the year that followed, the Re-Lab organized a very successful series of weekly Wednesday evening seminars on various aspects of digital culture and the relationship between culture and new technologies, for a local audience in Riga. The series was called "Open Zone" and included both local as well as international presentations. "Open Zone" presented critical accents and innovative ideas about culture and new technologies, and managed to interest in particular a young audience (both Latvian and non-Latvian) in these issues.
* Re-Lab has also provided facilities and support to young musicians from Latvia, who wished to work with digital media. This resulted in the group Sounds Open Systems, who also presented themselves at the media art and culture festival Interstanding 2, October 1997, in Tallinn, Estonia.
* E-Lab has provided access to the Internet to artists and other interested persons and provided support for artist's projects with digital media and the Internet.
* In the past year the Re-Lab has quickly developed itself into a pioneer of 'broadcasting' via the Internet. They were offered facilities on Real Audio servers of the Internationale Stadt Berlin and XS4ALL in Amsterdam, to make public work of young alternative musicians in Latvia, and to send out lectures and presentations held in Riga to specific locations elsewhere in Europe and beyond.
* Recently the Re-Lab has installed its own Real Audio server (ra.re-lab.net), which was used to send out all the presentations ate second Art+Communication festival in Riga, November 12-16, to the rest of the world.
* Presently the Re-Lab wishes to continue the series of seminars on media culture on a monthly basis, to invite artists, lecturers, artists and other presenters from abroad to offer insights into the rapid developments in contemporary media culture and the information society for a local audience and the wider Baltic region.
Context:
The Re-Lab has established an elaborate international network of co-operation in the field of culture and new digital media. The organizations, networks and festivals it has established working relations with include (in alphabetical order):
Organizations:
* Berlin Biennial [Contemporary art events] Berlin, Germany
* B 92 [Independent media centre and radio station] Belgrade, Yugoslavia
* E-Media Centre [Estonian Academy of Arts] Tallinn, Estonia
* Internationale Stadt [Community Network] Berlin, Germany
* Media Filter [Internet Project Office] New York, USA
* MEDIA-GN - Centre for Emergent Media [Postgraduate education, research & production
centre] Groningen, The Netherlands
* Media Research Foundation (MRF) [Independent research and project foundation for media
culture] Budapest, Hungary
* Muu Media Base [Art centre for new media] Helsinki, Finland
* Multimedia Centre Riga [Organizer of French Baltic Video Festival] Riga, Latvia
* Open Studio / WRO [Art centre for new media] Wroclaw, Poland
* De Waag - Society for Old and New Media [Research and development centre for public
applications of information technology] Amsterdam, The Netherlands
* V2_0rganization [Arts centre for new (unstable) media / organizers of the internationally renown DEAF festival] Rotterdam, The Netherlands
* XS4ALL [Largest independent Internet access provider of the Netherlands] Amsterdam, The NetherlandsNetworks:
* Xchange [net.audio and radio network] (initiated and established by Re-Lab)
* Cyber Feminist International [Network for women ad technology]
* nettime [International network for net criticism]
* Sounds Open System [Network for contemporary electronic music in Riga, Latvia]
* Syndicate / V2_East [Network for Media Art & Culture in Central and Eastern Europe]
* 7-11 [Network for net.art]Festivals:
* Ars Electronica [Largest festival for electronic art in Europe] Linz, Austria
* DEAF - Dutch Electronic Art Festival [Organized by V2_0rganization] Rotterdam, The Netherlands
* Interstanding [Conferences and art events about contemporary media culture and the information society] Tallinn, Estonia
* Hybrid Workspace / documenta x [The presentation and workspace for net culture of the largest art manifestation of the world] Kassel, Germany
* LEAF / Video Positive [Media art festival and conference] Liverpool / Manchester, United Kingdom
* Media & Ethics [Conference on ethical issues in contemporary media culture - co-organised by Muu Media Base & Finnish TV] Helsinki, Finland
* Metaforum lll [Conference on net culture] Budapest, Hungary
* WRO / Open Studio Festival [Media art festival] Wroclaw, PolandThe Re-Lab was recently selected as one of 15 representatives of the most innovative initiatives in the field of culture and new media in Europe for the conference 'Towards a European Media Culture - From Practice to Policy' which was organized under the auspices of the Council of Europe, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 29 - November 1. The conference was organized by the Virtual Platform, a co-operation structure of the 7 most important cultural organizations in the field of culture and new media in the Netherlands, and
reported to the Council of Europe's "Project Group for New Technologies: Cultural Co-operation and Communication", the European Commission DGX: "Culture and Audiovisual Policy", DGIII (industry): "Information Technology - Research & Development", and the European Parliament ('Electronic Highway / Information Society').
Analysis:
* To develop its activities more efficiently the Re-Lab has to challenge some basic impediments that currently block further development. The declared aim is not to change the basic idea of the Re-Lab, a small scale, independent cultural and non-profit initiative that develops and supports cultural projects with digital and networking technologies in Riga.
* Though the Re-Lab has continuously managed to find support for individual projects, travel and participation in festivals, conferences and workshops for members of the Re-Lab, as well as young artists and musicians from the Riga environment, what has proven to be impossible is to find support for the core activity of the Re-Lab itself: collecting and distributing information, maintaining contacts with organizations and professionals abroad, and developing and maintaining the network support structure for all its activities, and last but not least the office itself.
* It is reasonable to assume that the Re-Lab will continue to be able in the coming few years to find further support for new projects through the various national and international networks it has started to operate in. But this work will only be possible to maintain on any level if the basic requirements for the office support (The Re-Lab Backbone) are met on a more structural basis.
* For the coming three years (1998 - 2001) it therefore seems necessary to distinguish these two levels within the organization. While individual projects will continue to draw upon the enthusiasm of artists, musicians and other interested persons who can find support, competence, and inspiration for their own projects in the Re-Lab, the core activity of the Re-Lab, the office, will have to find more structural support to strengthen its function.
Conclusions:
* As a small scale, independent artist organization for new media, the Re-Lab has been very successful in the past two years to introduce digital media culture in the local community of Riga and Latvia.* In the next three years (1998 - 2001), the Re-Lab has to establish itself more pertinently as a networking and project office for cultural and social, non-profit, projects in the felled of digital and networked media (CMC - Computer Mediated Communication), and Interactive Multimedia; both within Latvia, as well as on an international plane.
* Its organizational structure should remain simple and is proposed to consist of two parts: 1 - The Elab Backbone: a small project office and support structure for projects 2 - Project Structure: A continuously changeable collection of on-going projects, co-ordinated by the Re-Lab office
* The office's main tasks are to collect and distribute information about digital media culture for the local community in Riga and Latvia, to develop and support cultural, non-profit projects in the felled of digital and networked media, to offer artists and other interested persons easy access to these media, and to organize public projects and find support for all these activities. Ultimately this initiative will only be able to survive if its core activities are supported on a more structural level by the local community of Latvia ad Riga. This support will however be able to generate a strong current of activities and support from external support, to which the Re-Lab has managed to find access through its excellent work in the past two years and its very elaborate national and international co-operation network.