Mapping E-culture - Virtueel Platform

Transcription

Mapping E-culture
Mapping E-culture
Virtueel Platform
Damrak 70-6.54
1012 LM Amsterdam
The Netherlands
+ 31 (0)20 627 37 58
[email protected]
www.virtueelplatform.nl
ISBN 978-94-90108-01-4
VIRTUEEL PLATFORM
CATHY BRICKWOOD,
EDITOR
Contents
5
INTRODUCTION
Floor van Spaendonck
10
MAPPING ECulture, eCultuur,
E-Cultuur, or e-culture
Richard Rogers in converation
with Annet Dekker
16
E-CULTURE IN A TRANSFORMING
MEDIA LANDSCAPE: TOWARDS
A FUNCTIONAL APPROACH TO
NEW MEDIA CULTURE
Eric Kluitenberg
30
BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH:
ON THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY
ON CULTURE AND THE ARTS
Caroline Nevejan
134
BEYOND THE MEDIA MYSTIQUE:
ADRESSING MEDIA AND
E-CULTURE IN EGYPT,
LEBANON AND PALESTINE
Nat Muller
Introduction:
145
TRACING THE TRACE
Bronac Ferran
153
DUTCH SUMMARIES /
NEDERLANDSE SAMENVATTINGEN
Assumptions and questions relating to e-culture were
the trigger for publishing a book about the state of the
art. These questions include: what is e-culture? Can we
talk of a new, stand-alone arts discipline that touches
upon all the other disciplines? Or is the implementation
of new media culture, digital and electronic arts a temporary phenomenon and will we understand it in ten
years’ time? Is e-culture the driving force behind technological innovation in the broader arts sector and
does e-culture serve social innovation? What does eculture include? Games? What about science, industry,
the health sector? In short, there is clearly a need to
examine the importance of e-culture, who is taking
part in it and what the state of play is. We asked four
‘hands-on experts’ to write about some of these issues.
E-culture spans several arts disciplines, overlaps with
various social sectors and also has its own sector. To
map the current situation we chose four areas to focus
upon: education, culture, industry and media culture.
158
CREDITS
44
TEN YEARS OF NEW MEDIA
EDUCATION IN THE NETHERLANDS
Emilie Randoe
57
5X E-CULTURE AND COMMERCE
Antoinette Hoes
65
DUTCH TRANSLATIONS
NEDERLANDSE VERTALINGEN
Eric Kluitenberg, Caroline Nevejan,
Emilie Randoe, Antoinette Hoes
E-culture in relation to cultural policy and funding has
long been a focus of Virtueel Platform. Eric Kluitenberg,
a media theorist with a long track record of programming projects, festivals and debates about media
culture in De Balie, writes about media labs in the
changing media landscape and makes a plea for more
production funding.
97
PRACTICE-BASED RESEARCH
IN THE ARTS
Henk Borgdorff, based on an
interview with Anne Helmond
104
PATCHING ZONE:
COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE AND
Anne Nigten, by Anne Helmond
111
EMBODYING RESEARCH
Dick Rijken, Kristina Andersen
Emilie Randoe, an expert on higher education in the
new media sector, and until recently director of the
Institute for Informatics, the Institute for Interactive
Media and the Media Lab at the Hogeschool van
Amsterdam, University of Applied Sciences, maps
the education field. What role does education see itself playing and to what extent is a Communication
and Multimedia Design training related to e-culture?
There is a clear need for the education system to
meet the needs of the professional media sector and
recently the dialogue between the two has taken on
116
OPEN CULTURAL ECONOMY?
Klaas Kuitenbrouwer
126
THE CHINESE DREAM
Alex Adriaansens, based on an
interview with Anne Helmond
4
MAPPING E-CULTURE
In 2008 the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
officially designated a sector for e-culture and selected
and institution to take on the role of supporting this
sector. The task fell to Virtueel Platform. In the meantime Virtueel Platform is laying the basis for the sector
institute and this publication can be seen as part of
this process. The articles are a first attempt to contextualise a number of developments in the field and
make them more visible.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
FLOOR VAN SPAENDONCK
5
a more structured, official form. Steps and developments that contribute to the professionalisation of
the sector.
researching new tools, services, formats, rights issues,
social contexts, and so on. In some fields the recognition of this work is growing, and the relationship between research carried out in the cultural or media
sector with academic research is growing gradually
closer: social sciences, computer studies, communication and media, are but a few of the fields in which
research links can be made. The recognition of new
media as a key economic sector has grown over the
past years, but rhetoric about creative industries often
fails to look at how different actors in the sector are
actually working in practice. In the section on new
business models Klaas Kuitenbrouwer examines
issues of open content and e-culture.
Other developments that indicate professionalisation
are to be found in the game industry. This industry is
now recognised as a new industry on its own terms.
As well as game companies, studies, consultative
bodies, the first steps have been taken to organise
the profession, with the Dutch Games Association
(DGA). The DGA was set up in 2008 to represent the
interests of the industry at large. Games and e-culture
overlap and developments in the game industry contribute towards the development of e-culture, both on
a technical level and in terms of professionalisation.
Antoinette Hoes, an expert on online media and communication, and founder of Leylines bv, is in a good
position to observe these links and analyse their
potential.
There is still a lack of quantitative and qualitative
data about the Dutch e-culture sector. Whilst Virtueel
Platform is at the beginning of mapping activities in
the Netherlands, it has also been involved in a number
of recent mapping projects of other countries. Countries that have been singled out by the government
as key centres for cooperation in the future, including
China, Brazil and the Middle East. This book closes
with stories of how these countries are developing
their own e-culture and in some cases the ways in
which Dutch cultural organisations can work with or
learn from them.
In a broader perspective is the link between e-culture
and the ‘creative industry’ as a whole. This link offers
many opportunities for developing innovation in the
broader cultural sector. The non-profit mentality of
artists and arts institututions is often at odds with
the commercial approach of industry but in terms of
content there are many commonalities. Experiments,
content and research from the arts field is extremely
valuable for industry, while industry offers large numbers of high standard applications which reach a wide
audience, and this is also very valuable.
V2_ has worked in China with the academic sector
on a grand scale and in a very centralised way, very
much in contrast to the practical, open and decentralised Dutch approach, which is based on small-scale
projects and flexibility. Nat Muller’s tour of the Middle
East, where she works as an independent curator, emphasizes the value of media culture on a political and
social level, mentioning for example the way in which
new media circumvent problems of mobility. Bronac
Ferran was commissioned by SICA in 2008 to map
the digital media sector there. Ferran’s overview of
this mapping project explains a great deal about the
country, its needs and the way it is developing. Her
analysis will be instrumental in bringing about further
cooperation. One of the people she writes about is renowned singer and former Minister of Culture Gilberto
Gil. He sees the country as a laboratory for the future.
An attractive prospect for cooperation.
What of the term ‘e-culture’ itself? Is e-culture merely
a fashionable term for policy makers to bandy about?
Is it used in practice and what does it mean? Govcom
was given the task of researching the extent to which
this term is used, and by whom. This book opens with
the results.
The broad context of e-culture is at the same time a
challenge: the number of issues to cover is too vast
to do justice to the theme. In selecting a number of
issues to examine we came up with two areas that
are currently developing in the Netherlands: practicebased research and new business models. In themselves these are broad issues. Practice-based research
in relation to the cultural sector is another way of raising the issue of what research is and where it can
be carried out. The new media sector is constantly
6
MAPPING E-CULTURE
The foreign surveys that have been carried out, and
are referred to in this section, are useful to various
INTRODUCTION
FLOOR VAN SPAENDONCK
7
audiences. The context, specific information and
indexes of certain regions will offer the e-culture
sector a better overview as well as link up activities.
In addition they are useful to policy makers in search
of arguments to support future activities, as well as
finding links between plans and examining the added
value of financial support. For foreign partners the
surveys offer an opportunity to put on paper and collate their experiences, rendering their activities more
visible and defining the issues they would like to
deal with.
Floor van Spaendonck is director of Virtueel
Platform, the Dutch sectoral institute for
media, arts and digital culture. Virtueel
Platform stimulates innovation and supports
knowledge exchange in the field of e-culture
in the Netherlands and abroad. Floor studied
history. Her professional expertise lies in
the field of digital culture and media art, arts
administration and funding. Her focus in the
field of arts is on shaping conditions and
creating a platform for crossovers, research,
experiment and debate in the field of arts.
Previously she worked as staff member for
the Amsterdam Arts Foundation and was
programme manager at media lab Waag
Society.
Mapping E-culture
The importance of working at an international level,
exchange and cooperation forms the basis of this section and would appear self-evident. The international
surveys do not so much provide a legitimation of such
exchange but rather seek depth, continuity and sustainability in relation to these activities. Their value is
clear and they will be continued.
Floor van Spaendonck
8
Virtueel Platform
MAPPING E-CULTURE
MAPPING E-CULTURE
Mapping ECulture,
eCultuur, E-cultuur,
or e-culture
Richard Rogers
http://www.govcom.org
in conversation with
Annet Dekker
http://www.virtueelplatform.nl
What is e-culture what was e-culture?
1996:e-culture is the end of the divide
between high culture and low culture
1999:e-culture is the opposite of
e-commerce
2002:e-culture comes after visual culture
and print culture
2003:e-culture is not digitisation,
e-culture is online culture
2007:e-culture is an engine of innovation
2008:e-culture is a fully accepted e-word,
like e-mail
Google shows: e-cultuur - 51.500 results
eCultuur - 6.410 results
a social science way, that consisted of keywords
in terms of activities as well as type of organisation. With this data we started counting to
get an overall characterisation of the field and
to see if a particular organisation type dominates the field. We also queried each organisation website for the term e-culture. We found
that funders, for example, were the ones that
used that word e-culture very often, which
then gives this sense that e-culture is more or
less accepted in funding circles. Whereas the
actual organisations use the word far less
frequently. Instead they use other terms.
Richard Rogers holds the Chair in New
Media & Digital Culture at the University
of Amsterdam. He is also Director of the
Govcom.org Foundation, Amsterdam, the
group responsible for the Issue Crawler
and other info-political tools, and Director
of the Digital Methods Initiative, reworking
method for Internet research. He is author
of Information Politics on the Web, awarded
the best 2005 book by the American Society
for Information Science and Technology
(ASIS&T). Current research interests include
Internet censorship, googlization & Google
art, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the
Web as well as the technicity of content.
1
The interactor module
is built into the issue
crawler, and extends
the uses of the network
location software.
The issue crawler now
has three crawling
options: co-link analysis, snowball and interactor.
2
In co-link analysis,
the issue crawler
crawls the seed URLs,
captures their outlinks and retains those
that have received at
least two links from
the seeds. In the
snowball approach, the
issue crawler captures
all out-links from the
seeds as well as the
out-links’ out-links,
retaining every page
found. In the interactor module, the
issue crawler crawls
and maps the links
between the seed
URLs.
For more information on the
Mapping project see the fold-out
sheet enclosed with this book.
ANNET DEKKER
In order to get to grips with the term ‘e-culture’ Virtueel Platform
asked Govcom.org to map the term. The result is now mapped
and clouded. How did you go about it and what did you find?
Richard rogers
Recently, we defined clouding as a particular analytical technique. This doesn’t mean merely visualising the results of
analysis in a cloud, but that you start your analysis by thinking
that you’re going to cloud it. This in turn means that you do
the analysis in a particular way because you’re clouding. In the
clouding we tried to characterise what e-culture is about. In all,
the analysis had three components; What is e-culture about,
who does it, and, who recognises the term?
MAPPING E-CULTURE
AD
You just said that you consider clouding an
official method of analysis. Could you describe
the differences between regular methods and
the advantage of clouding?
RR
Traditionally there are two ways of thinking
of information visualisation. The first one is
that you have an analytical output, and then
you visualise it. In some sense visualisation
becomes the finished product. That is a traditional way of thinking about it. And there are
also specific ways of visualising that have to
do with a particular analytical method. IBM’s
Many Eyes project lists visualisation types
depending on data outputs. For example, a
line graph is good for things that rise and fall
We started with a set of organisations, in our case about 250
organisations that were selected and coded by Virtueel Platform. That is to say, we made up a coding scheme, coded in
10
For the mapping we built the ‘interactor
module’ 1. This software finds links between
entered urls. Within our source set we watched
over a longer period of time to see a general
composition of actors surfacing in a field;
this gives a sense of who’s receiving a lot of
attention and whether that attention is rising
or falling according to in-link counts. We also
used a different mapping approach that looked
for links in between organisations, so-called
co-link analysis 2. This brings in other organisations that are not on the initial list. The
analysis showed for example that according
to the links from the Dutch e-culture sites
YouTube is seen as an extremely important
e-culture actor, or platform. This mapping
analysis shows the significance of some of the
things e-culture has, in this case the many
dependencies of e-culture on other organisations or platforms outside of the Netherlands.
INTERVIEW
E-cultuur, or e-culture
RICHARD ROGERS
11
over time like stock prices. But what we are
putting forward is that the visualisation is at
the beginning of the analysis. This happens in
two ways; first of all you start by thinking in
visual terms in such a way that the analysis fits
the visualisation. And secondly the clouding
drives your questions. Given all the issues on
the global human rights agendas, which issues
are the ones that have the most campaigns?
You look at things that are cloud-able. This
form of analysis tries to stay close to its origins:
digital online data. The tag cloud is a natively
digital format that doesn’t have a precedent;
in some sense it stems from the new kind of
information culture and therefore could be
considered a new way of thinking about data
online, and also made into an approach and
method of analysis.
AD
What is ‘Govcom.org’, and who are you?
RR
The name relates to several projects we did
(myself, Noortje Marres and some students
at the University of Amsterdam in the department of Science Dynamics, and the Royal
College of Art in London) in 1998 and 1999.
The first project started because I was asked
by the International Herald Tribune to write
a newspaper article on climate change. This
was 1997. I, like many people do, went to a
search engine, typed in ‘climate change’ and
hit return. I was going through the various
returns, ‘surfing’ if you will, and I noticed that
a lot of the organisations that I came across
made hyperlinks to other organisations, but
not all organisations linked to all other organisations. The hyperlinking was in some sense
selective. What I ultimately noticed is that
some organisations received more links than
other organisations.
We started manually, with a chalk board
and coloured chalk, drawing little circles signifying the sites of the organisations involved
in climate change and lines between them
signifying hyperlinks. What we noticed was
that there was something that we eventually
called ‘the politics of association’ on display.
That is, some organisations linked to others
for particular reasons.
We thought that hyperlinks at the time, if
you take a large sample of them, might signify
12
the reputation of an organisation. The organisations that get the most links from other
organisations working in the same area, one
would imagine could have more authority or a
higher reputation than the other organisations.
In fact the hyperlinks, we thought, displayed
some kind of reputation distribution. First of
all they showed a politics of association, and on
the other hand a sort of reputation distribution.
Where the politics of association is concerned,
we made a film in 1999 that was our next
larger project whilst we were research fellows
of the Jan van Eyck media and design fellowship. I was the research fellow and I brought
with me a number of colleagues both from
Amsterdam (including Noortje Marres) and
some people from the Royal College of Art –
largely students. We sat at the Jan van Eyck
Academy for about five months. We made a
video as well as some other things, and one of
the things we were looking to find out was why
organisations link to one another. So we interviewed the webmasters of Shell, Greenpeace as
well as RTMark which is the famous organisation which pioneered ‘rogue’ websites – or ‘fake
sites’. The three of them were all in the same
issue-space with regard to climate change, and
when we interviewed them we found out that
they all are, in some ways, competing for attention in the same space.
What we noticed when we were mapping
was that when you map an issue, the types of
organisations that are on the map most prominently are .govs, .coms and .orgs. So, that is
where the name comes from: Govcom.org.
AD
RR
The work is something that can be presented in
a variety of discourses. It has the scientific to it.
It has the design to it. We are always very
conscious about the narrative. What is the
story? What are we telling here? In that sense
the presentation is always important. We feel
the things we do can be presented, shown and
talked about in any of the discourses that we
have people from on our team. We are at a
point where people can cross over quite well.
I am very comfortable working with designers,
artists and programmers. I can speak their
languages.
RR
INTERVIEW
AD
How do you see your work yourself? In what
context would it be most beneficial?
We are known for issue analysis, or issue
mapping. This came out of the Jan van Eyck
period where we made a piece of software
called the NetLocator, and later the Issue
Crawler, which is web network location and
visualisation software. That was one of the
first major achievements on our part in terms
of software making, and we have been working
on it since about 2000/2001. The designed
version came online in 2004 and it is doing
quite well. I mean, it has a mind of its own and
breaks a lot and we never know exactly why.
It maps issues networks.
MAPPING E-CULTURE
RR
Well, it goes back to a particular tradition in
the academic area that I studied, that I got
my PhD in, which is Science and Technology
Studies. One of the areas is Science and Technology Controversy Studies, and it was our
contribution to that field to look into particular
social issues. I think all of the projects we have
done are conceptual, but the conceptual is
always backed up by the analytical. We are
constantly doing analysis, because we like to
think that we can make claims. Once we think
we are able to make claims, then from there
we try to figure out the best form in which to
make them.
But there are a number of ways of answering this question. One of the things, for me
personally, is to put on display that issues are
everyday concerns. If you read the news or
watch the TV news, you’ll see that some issues
have more attention than other issues. So a
project that we did after the Issue Crawler
was to look at the difference between news
attention cycles for issues, versus civil society,
or NGO, attention cycles to issues. We made
a piece called infoid.org, which is an issue
tracker, and it shows issue attention according
to civil society’s campaigning behaviours. We
found the good news is that civil societies have
a much longer attention span to social issues
than the news.
We used the web in order to find this out…
What are you known for?
AD
What is your interest in these subjects?
RICHARD ROGERS
13
AD
AD
What is the role of the public for you? Do they
have a say in the thing? Is there an open forum?
Can they only be listeners, lurkers or also
participants?
Can you tell me a little bit about the software
you are using?
Can you see that changing in the future, with
the arrival and popularity of the Web2.0?
political statements, or are you more interested
in showing what is happening with different
issues?
remember what is happening on the ground.
Whether or not, depending on participation
in these summits, they abandon certain issues
in favour of other ones. We are always, in
some sense, making statements generally about
attention to social issues. Whether or not you
should watch the news at all, but also other
ideas such as whether organisations leave certain issues unexpectedly because their issues
aren’t in the news, for example.
Also another term that we use is ‘issue
hybridisation’. That is the coupling of two or
more issues together. One of the things we
have been asking critical questions about is
what happens to an issue when the organisations doing the issue suddenly enter the human
rights discourse, thereby framing issues in
terms of rights, coupling the issues with rights.
We have noticed on a couple of occasions that
when the rights language comes into a certain
issue space, the sub-issues that were in that
space previously begin to go into decline.
For example on a study we did on the
Narmada Dams controversy in India, much
of the local concern was about people being
displaced because of the construction of the
dam. They have to move and they would like
compensation. When large organisations, or
NGOs, started getting involved, they changed
the discourse from compensation, displacement and land loss to rights. Human rights,
which has its own dynamics.
In that sense we are making statements
by the kinds of analysis we do.
RR
We make open source software, but we do not
make SourceForge projects because that is a
RR
whole world which requires constant attention.
What we have found is that there is much
We share code… a lot. But, when one says
to critique in various projects (especially web
‘open source software’ there is often the
ones) that have great assumptions about the
impression that everything we do is put into
empowerment of publics. The secret of
the open source community, when in fact it
publicity is that there is no public (see Publicis not. With the Issue Crawler, in particular,
ity’s Secret by Jodi Dean). Noortje Marres,
says in her dissertation: ‘no issues – no publics’. we have extensive documentation. But we do
not have the actual code bundle online. That
Often times the question a lot of people work
is not to say that we have a problem sharing.
on is: how do publics form? Are there freeWe make it in the spirit of open source, we use
floating ones, or do they form around someopen source licenses but as of yet we haven’t
thing? Noortje’s answer is that they form
around issues, and that they are not just there. done the SourceForge project for it.
The consequence is that with the Issue
When we do issue mappings, what we notice
is that you basically have quite powerful profes- Crawler we do not have the community of
programmers, which is something that occasional organisations at work. There is no man
sionally hurts us because the Issue Crawler is
on the street involved, nor being recognised
user supported. Every year or so we realise we
by these actors. When you study issue power,
you find that public participation is something do not have any money, so I write to my institutional supporters, which are quite important
that is more of an ideal than a reality.
On the basis of those sorts of perspectives, universities. There is a list of about 15 or 20.
We suffer, in some sense, from not having
based on some findings, I think the short
taken the time or made the extra effort to
answer to the question about public particicreate a SourceForge project.
pation is that they participate when they do,
and when they form. We do not engage in
AD
work that forms everyday publics.
Would you say that with your projects you make
AD
RR
Every once in a while we do a piece of work
that has some kind of public dimension in
mind. For example, one of the proposals that
accompanied the Issue Tracker (a piece of
software which monitors whether social issues
are rising or falling) was to have it as an augmented space project. Initially it was inspired
by the protests in the streets of Genoa during
the G8 meeting in 2001. There was a red
zone, and green zone: where the protestors
were on one side, and conference on the other.
We thought an issue ticker would make a
nice interface between those two zones. It
has a public dimension to it, but it is more
of a showing, a form of presentation of our
findings.
14
RR
We have made a lot of different statements,
and some are summarised in the different
terms we use. We are concerned about ‘issue
abandonment’. We are concerned about ‘issue
drift’. We are concerned about the life that
issues lead and are continually, in some sense,
making statements about issues through those
sorts of terms.
For example, in ‘issue drift’ one notices
that international NGOs and inter-governmental organisations go from summit to summit, and conference to conference. At each
of these different venues, there are different
agendas and if you look at it over time you’ll
notice how particular issues rise and fall in
these agendas. We always ask ourselves the
question of whether or not these organisations
MAPPING E-CULTURE
INTERVIEW
Part of this interview is based on
an earlier interview with Govcom.
org, ‘The politics of association on
display. Interview with Govcom.org
(Richard Rogers)’, by Annet Dekker
for Netherlands Media Art Institute,
Amsterdam, http://www.nimk.nl –
March 2007.
RICHARD ROGERS
15
E-Culture in a Transforming
Media Landscape:
Towards a Functional
Approach to New Media
Culture
Eric Kluitenberg
http://ww.debalie.nl
Eric Kluitenberg is a theorist, writer, and
organiser on culture and technology. He
is currently based at De Balie – Centre for
Culture and Politics in Amsterdam, and
teaches a course on ‘Culture and New Media’
at the University of Amsterdam. He taught
media theory for the post-graduate education
programmes in art & design and new media at
Media-GN and Academy Minerva in Groningen,
the Netherlands, and worked on the scientific
staff of the Academy of Media Arts, Cologne.
Since 1988 he has been involved as an
organiser in numerous important media
culture events.
The arts have been at the forefront of a productive discourse
with the latest technological developments since the first
decades of the twentieth century. In the pre-war period, the
technological beast was the prey of various European avantgarde groups. Such movements were always highly diverse,
varying from the animated nihilism of Dada, the ecstatic
adoration of the Futurists to the more pragmatic utopian
approach of Bauhaus and the Constructivists. After the war,
the gauntlet passed to the American Art and Technology
movement, which centred on artists like Robert Rauschenberg
and scientists like Billy Klüver, who refigured thinking on art
and technology.
Where the machines of the 1980s were cumbersome, by the
early 1990s they had become fully-fledged multi-media tools
able to connect image, sound, text, data and interaction in an
MAPPING E-CULTURE
The interaction between the various fields (in random order:
science, art, commerce, technology and everyday life) sparked
off something that can be called a ‘new media culture’. The
hybrid character of its origins is its signature. New media
culture is not limited to any one of these areas but covers or
cross-cuts all of them, making it a phenomenon that is difficult
for relative outsiders to comprehend and use.
The new media culture underwent a definitive breakthrough
in the mid 1990s with the advent of Internet. This initially
began as a primarily text-communication oriented medium
with strong roots in the scientific laboratory culture from which
it emerged. But Internet became a comprehensive and almost
all-encompassing multi-media network at a pace that astonished even those involved. All other media forms and modalities
were increasingly swallowed up by this multi-media network
(radio, television, telephone, photography, audio-visual archives,
e-mails, newsgroups and interactive media forms that, fifteen
years ago, were only conceivable on CD-ROM). This process
is generally referred to as ‘media convergence’. In a nutshell,
it refers to the fact that almost all media channels, driven by
technical and economic advantages, have since gone digital:
audio and video production, radio and television, news and
press photography, the layout and printing of print productions, and telecommunications connections. This has enormous
implications for the position of art and culture in the new media
landscape and for the public functions of media in general.
The development also has its downsides. Convergence of the
media has exponentially boosted the consolidation trend in
the media market. The increased international dimension of
electronic media had been ongoing for some time, referred to
by economists as ‘horizontal integration in the media industry’: media companies merged or were taken over by their
own branch, creating media conglomerates that increasingly
neutralise competition. (Economists are unanimous in seeing
the perils this holds for the market). The trend for digitising
all media channels and forms has also caused an explosive
proliferation of ‘vertical integration’ in the media and telecommunications industry: the confluence of distribution, content
production (programmes, editorial content, media formats,
services) and the provision of access for final users, even into
the very homes of individual consumers. (Which economists
deem utterly disastrous).
In hindsight, we realise that the real ‘explosion’ of activity
accompanied the miniaturisation of computer technology
(and corresponding declining costs) and the tide that came into
its own in the 1980s. The market ‘democratised’ technology
on a previously unseen scale. The instruments of scientists and
IT specialists suddenly became that of the bookkeeper, grocer,
chemist, hobbyist, designer and artist.
16
entirely new way (the era of the CD-ROM). For artists, this
was the dawning of the age of new, limitlessly flexible synthetic
art forms. A symphony of image, sound and movement of
which Scriabin could only dream, was now within reach of
almost every artist.
ESSAY
E-CULTURE IN A TRANSFORMING MEDIA LANDSCAPE:
Towards a Functional Approach to New Media Culture
ERIC KLUITENBERG
17
The combination of massive horizontal and vertical integration
in the media and telecommunications industry has led to a
catastrophic decimation of the range of public information and
communication on offer. This seems paradoxical in a situation
in which almost everyone has access to online publication –
which is indeed the only lifebuoy for public culture currently
at hand. But when professionally produced media products and
services are primarily considered, the landscape that unfolds is
one in which, apart from public broadcasting companies, the
lion’s share of the available media and access to information
channels is provided – and therefore controlled – by a swiftly
shrinking number of globally active media conglomerates.
This is not only extremely adverse from an economic perspective, resulting as it does in the worldwide failure of markets
on an unheard-of scale, but also from a cultural one, where the
law of numbers reigns supreme. From a political vantage point,
the phenomenon is also dreaded because it seriously hampers
the diversity of opinion forming – consider the bravura in the
headline of British tabloid The Sun after the first election of
New Labour leader Tony Blair: ‘It’s The Sun that’s won it!’.1
In the light of the convergence of media and the concentration
in international media markets it should be clear that the
‘wisdom of the crowds’, the DIY media culture and the various
public media are mutually complementary and badly need of
each other to effectively counterbalance 2 the consolidating
market forces in the media landscape. Only safeguards of public
access combined with pronounced public functions in media
production and supply can guarantee the diversity and quality
of the public range of information and communication in the
long term. This is also the context within which the new media
culture functions and within which clear functions and
accountabilities can be identified.
New media culture
In the field of e-culture, both aspects (the creative, producing
functions and the joint co-creation of content) play a crucial
role. In a stricter sense, the public sector (cultural institutions,
the role of the government, public media providers) primarily
play a part in creative e-culture or new media culture. Since
the mid 1990s, this new media culture has, in a rather more
confined sense, been the subject of active international debate
in which the Netherlands and the Dutch culture sector were
clearly pioneers. One of the first policy documents drafted by
the sector in a European context was the so-called Amsterdam
Agenda, presented on 1 November 1997 during the Practice to
Policy Conference in Amsterdam. The paper identified three
elements of apparently crucial importance for Europe’s rapidly
developing new media culture: innovation, education and social
quality. 3
18
MAPPING E-CULTURE
At the time, innovation was spoken of with specific reference
to the frequent collaborations between artists and cultural
producers, and technology developers and academic researchers
concerning both the application of new instruments and the
development of new methods and formulation of problems.
Secondly, with the development of new areas of application
for new media technologies, a productive relationship was
perceived between culture and industry. Artists in particular
were pushing the boundaries of new media into new areas,
while industry made the instruments available to ever-increasing groups of producers and customers.
In the education area, partnerships with schools and educational institutions with the objective of developing educational
projects and new (multi-medial) teaching methods, was also
considered. The educational effect of new media culture was
also underlined, in which the public is tempted to play with
new media forms and effortlessly becomes familiar with
technology and how it works; informal learning or learning
by doing.
1
The suggestion was
that, in switching political allegiance from
the Conservatives to
New Labour, Rupert
Murdoch’s tabloid had
managed to secure
the election outcome.
After the Conservative victory in 1992,
The Sun had run the
headline: ‘It’s The Sun
that’s won it!’.
2
Counterveiling power.
3
The Amsterdam Agenda:
Fostering emergent practices in Europe’s media
culture, 1 November
1997. Conference
Towards a New
Media Culture in
Europe: From Practice
to Policy, organised by
the Virtueel Platform,
the Dutch Ministry
of Education, Culture
and Science, and the
Dutch Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, under
the auspices of the
Council of Europe, 29
October – 1 November
1997, in Rotterdam
and Amsterdam.
ESSAY
Front and back
cover of New Media
Culture in Europe
Additionally, art and culture were allocated a critical position
a priori as regards the social consequences and implications of
new technology. And, through precisely this critically inquiring
mentality, it was deemed capable of making an important contribution to a socially sound integration of new media and new
technology. New media cultures were also expected to go a long
way towards strengthening the social quality of the new media
applications. This was because many cultural projects were
developed as joint initiatives (in a real, tangible context where
new media is used by a far more diverse group of users than in
a technical laboratory).
ERIC KLUITENBERG
19
Creative Industry
The association of new media culture and the fast-developing
market for new media applications in general has proved
extremely fruitful. This far broader context opened up fertile
ground, predominantly for designers and cultural producers of
a range of media for a broader demographic (entertainment,
edutainment, infotainment and related areas). The United
Kingdom led the way by spotting the potential, at an early
stage, of these ‘creative industries’ as an engine for innovation
and new and highly diversified markets. Designers had always
worked on the interface of culture and industry but the new
digital instruments and distribution channels meant that they
occupied a decisive niche, designing a completely new industry
where information, communication, encounter and entertainment seamlessly converge. The result is a thriving sector that
is also fully embraced by policymakers.
Cultural competence
In the book New Media Culture in Europe (Virtueel Platform
1999) Portuguese policymaker Luis Soares wrote, ‘At ground
level, things happen at a speed which is often incompatible
with the speed of Europe’s public and political institutions’.
However, in subsequent years, thinking and policy frameworks
containing new media culture developments happened in
rapid succession.
At the end of the 1990s, there was a pronounced shift in
emphasis to increasing cultural competence in public and
technological policy frameworks. The assumption was that
the developments were not visible at grassroots level and were
not sufficiently understood by the people and institutions that
took the decisions in the public and technological sector.
The groundbreaking nature of artistic and cultural experiments
made it particularly difficult for policymakers to determine their
value, and a clearer grasp of such experiments was required.
The highly interdisciplinary nature of the new media culture
made this even more complex.
Culture 2.0
Because new media culture has always encompassed the
cultural producers and, less rigidly, the production of cultural
expression by individuals and non-professional communities,
investigating opportunities for interconnecting and cross-pollinating the two appeared an obvious step. This was suggested
by the development of the Internet into a broad multimedial
medium, and by the emergence of a new generation of electronic consumer products from digital photo and video cameras,
imaging software programmes for home computers to DIY
Web design programmes. New Web services from photo
galleries to video sites (YouTube and others) and the explosion
of blogging (online diary entries with sound and image) have
entirely changed the playing field for cultural participation.
This phenomenon is generally referred to as Web 2.0. The
active aspect (talking with, and talking back to, the media) is
deemed the most innovative. Internet veterans may mumble
that talking back is the Internet’s core principle, so should be
categorised under Web 0.1.
Public domain 2.0
Around the millennium, a different dialogue emerged, one
that primarily pondered ways that new media can contribute
towards revitalising the public domain. This could partially
be promoted by offering DIY new media initiatives greater
scope. Joint projects in particular, in which groups of people
used new media tools for the benefit of a shared interest, for
opinion-sharing and organisational purposes, offered ideal
opportunities for this. In the Netherlands, De Digitale Stad
(Digital City, DDS), a network community founded in 1994
which boomed in the late 1990s, was pivotal in all this.
Although DDS also won immense international admiration,
it never enjoyed more than incidental support from Dutch
public funding bodies, not even after political institutions used
the network to circulate information to the – in the meantime
huge – list of users. DDS was ultimately the victim of its own
success; without a more commercially-honed revenue-generating model which, in those days, was not available, the facilitating structure had become unfeasible.
As a concept, Culture 2.0 was suggested as means of investigating how the professional cultural sector could encourage
the active participation of a wider public, also in professional
cultural production and cultural heritage. The latter is given
considerable stimulation by the rapid digitalisation of cultural
heritage and its increasing accessibility on the Internet. This
involves issues such as a more interactive exploration of the
culture available, the co-creation of works by artists with
individual culture consumers or communities, and the joint
critique of expressions of culture, discussions about this (in
groups and on the Internet, among others) and the creative
reuse of existing works and materials.
E-culture
Hard on the heels of the e-commerce boom and the popularity
of e-trading, the new media culture was re-christened e-culture.
After the notorious dotcom crash of spring 2000, however,
this association became tarnished and vanished into the background. The ‘e’ mainly referred to the electronic media that
were the carriers of the new cultural forms that evolved around
the new media. In policy circles, e-culture has remained a
popular nomenclature but is rarely recognised or used as such
in practice.
20
MAPPING E-CULTURE
The latter is especially complicated. The creative reuse of
ESSAY
ERIC KLUITENBERG
21
existing materials (images, music, software) actually promotes
active participation in culture in the broadest sense. Copyright
provisions and protecting the integrity of artistic productions
explicitly discourage creative reuse, and not always without
justification. An initiative like Creative Commons 4 therefore
developed an alternative licensing system which makers and
right-holders can use to freely give their materials for reuse
(partially or wholly) for educational and non-profit purposes.
However, the problem with this is that it only offers an answer
for works the right-holder is aware of, and for which it is
prepared to give freely for specific or all forms of reuse. With
this, the bulk of the materials for this form of active cultural
participation fall outside the scope of this paper.
4
See http://www.
creativecommons.nl
Logo Economies of the Commons
E-participation
E-participation is a policy framework closely related to the
concept of culture 2.0 but which transcends the bounds of
the cultural sector. In a strict sense, e-participation can be
deemed the ways in which citizens can be more closely involved
in government functioning at various levels, both local and
national. More broadly, this context can be seen as the activities
that can involve citizens in developing their own environment
and society as a whole, naturally by using new media applications. It is in concept 5, introduced relatively recently, that the
presumed productive role that new media culture might play in
reinforcing the social quality of a highly technological society,
will find a niche. In a sense, culture 2.0, ‘community arts’ and
e-participation are contiguous, and harmonisation and crosspollination are within arm’s length.
The gist of it
From this confined panorama we can deduce that, in less than
a decade, at least five successive policy contexts have evolved,
setting out the new media culture.6 In other words policy is
renewed, astonishingly enough, every two years. Luis Soares
would be scratching his head. One wonders whether ground
level is able to keep pace with developments at policy level.
22
MAPPING E-CULTURE
Based on concrete practical experiences with new media
culture, it is clear that innovation is being fully explored in
new forms of collaboration in the arts sector between science
and research, and also in the intimate interlacing with the
media industry in the creative industries sector. The educational dimension has found form in numerous projects and, in the
meantime, has its own expertise centres and various practical
projects. In a broad popular culture surrounding new media,
an active kind of cultural participation and non-professional
cultural production seem to have sprung up. In blogs and video,
this has reached exponential heights, at least in terms of scale
– the number of registered blog-sites, worldwide, has now
reached some 1 billion, far outstripping all expectations.
However, as regards professional cultural production and the
professional public media offer, the opposite is happening.
Where the explosive growth in the new media culture (including blogs, photo and video portals) may have been expected to
have gone hand in hand with a wave of productions boasting
high artistic and production values, the opposite seems to be
the case; compared to the mid 1990s we are seeing a gradual
decrease in innovative projects. Many of the artist-related
new media productions are also occurring in an area that seems
closely related to or that entirely overlap with dominant trends
in the contemporary art world. With which the promise of a
vital new art discipline seems, curiously enough, to have fizzled
out while everything implied that, precisely because of the
explosive growth in media culture across the board, this new
art discipline was destined for great things.
At the same time, the offer of professional public productions
on the Internet is limited. This is partly restricted to incidental
and sometimes large-scale but autonomous projects or is closely
connected or even executed by traditional broadcasting authorities that originally stem from the public mass media landscape
(broadcasting corporations and other public broadcasting
companies).
5
See: http://www.
eparticipatie.nl.
6
For the sake of clarity,
I won’t include the
discussion about
Public Domain 2.0
here, given that it was
not the subject of a
policy discussion, but
was a discourse triggered at grassroots
level.
ESSAY
And the question here is, of course: why? It has certainly
nothing to do with a dearth of ideas on the part of a young
generation of artists, designers and media makers. And there is
no question about the professionalism of standard public media
producers. Nonetheless, there seems no sign of the emergence
of a large-scale, innovative public new media culture, for which
there seems no apparent answer.
The problem may be one of economics rather than anything
else. Despite five successive policy frameworks for new media
culture and fast-paced developments, there is still no effective
support, either in the Netherlands or abroad. In contrast to
photography or film, new media culture does not have its ‘own’
ERIC KLUITENBERG
23
production, distribution and financing structure that makes
the structural development of a professional new media culture
feasible. For young artists and designers graduating from
the (highly diverse) training programmes, the choice is simple:
a challenging journey reliant on many different sources of
funding from temporary grants, project subsidies generally
allocated for reasons of artistic content, national and international residencies and working in the industry to carve out a
new media practice and oeuvre of their own. The alternative is
a lucrative, potential-filled, high-paying career in the dynamic
new media industry in a broad sense, or a safe haven in the
established order of the contemporary arts.
system. For the government, the essence of the task of public
broadcasting is to guarantee sufficient multiformity and quality
of the range of information and communication offered to the
public. The routes leading to this are many. The government
does not need to set up or manage media infrastructures and
production facilities itself. It can also step in to regulate and
intervene in the event of market failure, as part of this task.
However, as suggested earlier, the developments in the market
that relate closely to the convergence process (increased horizontal and vertical integration in the media industry) are responsible for the grave disregard of this public broadcasting
mandate if developments are left to the market. As a player,
the government is largely absent from the arena of new media
development and mostly leaves this task to the traditional
broadcasting companies, which assign it low priority.
It is hardly surprising that almost none of the new generation
opts for the nomadic existence of the new media culture-maker.
For those wishing to undertake this daunting challenge, the
lack of a clear financing structure for their own projects greatly
hampers the development of a long-term personal practice.
The innovative and idiosyncratic nature of their projects creates
difficulties in connecting with the market and existing institutional arrangements. The subsequent frenetic activity that is
part and parcel of this ‘bricolage’ way of working compromises
the quality of the work.
Traditional broadcasting companies and media producers give
new media little priority. Their work process, institutional
structure and vested interests (in the form of advertising revenues for mass media distribution, which are the life blood
of public broadcasting companies) remain founded in the
long-established practice of the mass media (radio, television
and print media). This practice will not change of its own
volition but developments in the environment of the public
(and commercial) media organisation compel change and shall
do so increasingly in the near future.
Focus on Functions
In December 2004 the Scientific Council for Government
Policy (WRR) published the report Focus on Functions: Challenges for a future-proof media policy.7 The Council expands on a
future vision for the Dutch media, based on rapid technological
changes in the media landscape and, in specific, the process and
effects of media convergence discussed earlier. In this report,
the Council concludes that the media policy’s traditional focus
on ‘channels’, on established media forms like radio and television, is not sufficient to formulate an adequate response to the
challenges posed by rapid technological advances. In the report,
the Council argues that this media policy should be based on
media functions as more ‘stable categories’ 8 for a future media
policy.
E-participatie site,
http://www.eparticipatie.nl
7
Focus op Functies:
uitdagingen voor een
toekomstbestendig
mediabeleid. Amsterdam: Amsterdam
University Press/
WRR, 2005.
8
Ibid., p. 77.
10
Ibid., p. 77.
This raises the issue of the public functions of the media
24
MAPPING E-CULTURE
9
Ibid., p. 76.
ESSAY
The need for a shift of focus in the media policy from channels
to functions is dealt with in depth by the Council in the report.
Below, I quote the principal arguments they advance for this:
–Future-proof: as a result of convergence and competition,
infrastructures and media are less ‘instrumental’ in market
failure and analysing market failure more on the level of
the functions of media services and media producers seems
logical. This does not mean that there is longer attention
for the (market failure) of specific media and infrastructures. However, it does mean that, from the perspective of
the desired functioning of the media landscape, important
other forms and levels for the failure of media markets are
a point of concern.9
–Relevance of values: a second point is that the validity of
normative elements of media policy – the values and public
interests and objectives that spring from them – are also
increasingly unrelated to the type of infrastructure or
medium.
The normative elements and values that underpin media
policy are primarily relevant to the functions the media
landscape must fulfil and less to the functioning of infrastructures and media.10
ERIC KLUITENBERG
25
The values of independence, accessibility and multiformity
are relevant, in principal, to all functions; however, the way they shape the weighing of the various interests, will
differ depending on, for instance, news or entertainment
programmes are at issue.
–Hybridisation: Thirdly, the developments of hybridisation
and virtualisation which are explored in detail in paragraph
2.5, are vital in supporting a functions-directed approach.
Advancing technological potential for reproducing and
modifying forms of information have sparked off all kinds
of new ‘hybrid content’ (such as infotainment). Developments in journalism, consumer feedback, competition
among providers, technological and socio-cultural developments, have given rise to motives and opportunities for a
disorderly blend of functions and related content, which
is not immediately apparent to the consumer.11
However, the production fund model must not be written
off for the future and be deemed politically infeasible a priori
because of its incompatibility with established financial and
political interests. The production funds model seems far and
away the most ‘future proof ’. Moreover, this model presents
considerable potential for the further development of a vital
and high calibre public new media culture.
11
Ibid., p. 77.
In the light of the developments it has perceived, the Council
considers the current media system and corresponding media
policy no longer tenable or workable in future. The place,
function and form of the public media system are particularly
at issue here. After all, legislation is the most effective tool in
managing the private media sector. Active government intervention is required where public media functions not necessarily shaped by the market, are involved.
The Council’s analysis also leads to a fundamental reassessment
of the form and function of public broadcasting in the Netherlands in particular. In the last chapter, the Council formulates
a number of possible modalities for the future structure of
public media functions. The four modalities that it highlights
vary from a minimal variant in which the government takes a
solely regulatory role; a production fund model in which the
government provides for news provision and guarantees funding
for public media functions that can be given substance by civil
society organisations that are not, in principle, part of the
media system; a slimmed-down version of the ‘BBC model’
adapted to the Dutch context in which the government facilitates one editorially independent central public media provider
able to offer a programme on all current and future media
channels; and, finally, a mixed and open system where the
bedrock of broadcasting corporations remains largely intact,
but the system is opened up to dialogues and partnerships
with civil society organisations.12
Based on the Council’s analysis of the environment, it is a
strong supporter of the production fund model but ultimately
selects the fourth proposal of a mixed and open system that
most closely reflects the current structure of the Dutch public
media system.
26
MAPPING E-CULTURE
The production funds model and a public content
creation regulation
As I observed earlier, the Netherlands currently has no adequate financing scheme for the creation of artistically highquality productions and socially relevant initiatives in the
field of new media, while it is clear that a sizeable number of
these productions and initiatives are not supported or, enabled
by the market. In the last few years, the ‘Interregeling’, a
funding scheme linking a number of the larger cultural funds,
was involved in financing artistic productions, although the
scheme was set to end in 2008, and its future is uncertain at
the time of writing. The Interregeling appears to have received
a huge number of funding applications for relevant projects,
less than 25 percent of which were granted. This percentage
and the trend towards a mounting number of project proposals
underline just how large social need for such a scheme is.
In Spring 2008, the Virtueel Platform also commented on
the disappearance of the Interregeling and lack of an appropriate provision for the creation of public content in a letter
to the Council for Culture and the Minister of Education,
Culture and Science. In the letter, the Virtueel Platform
proposes setting up a provision that focuses on a number
of vital functions for the further development of the public
new media culture in the Netherlands.
12
See: Focus op Functies,
6.5.5 enkele denkbare
modaliteiten voor de
vormgeving van de
toekomstige publieke
omroep, pp. 171-179.
ESSAY
The specific focus of the scheme would be on projects which:
–Have social, technological (hardware and software) and
scientific pretentions and applications (such as new
interface design, developing open source software);
–Are inter-disciplinary and cross-medial (projects that
simultaneously work with different media and channels);
–Integrate a wide (commercial) public function (similar
to projects supported by the Netherlands Film Fund’s
scheme to finance Dutch feature films).
–Are relatively small and/or short-term and not necessarily innovative but of significance to e-culture and new
media.
These focal points again highlight the interdisciplinary nature
of new media culture and its interfaces with broader social and
societal functions. Consequently, it would appear that this issue
can no longer, and exclusively, be resolved within the cultural
ERIC KLUITENBERG
27
sector in the narrow sense (the ‘arts arena’) and its inherently
curtailed resources.
develop a critical understanding of the economic principles
and mechanisms operating in the new media sector in a broad
sense. Such a critical perspective enables making strategic and
policy choices that enable these organisations to mobilise these
economic mechanisms in achieving their original objective or
recognising the limitations of these economic principles and
pursing a realistic policy reflecting this. This works to realise
the ultimate aim of continually enhancing the capacity and
sustainability of these online initiatives.
The production fund model identified by the WRR presents
an obvious and very apt solution to this issue. This model
separates public media functions from the specific media
channels that distribute them and regards their intrinsic social
and cultural value. The WRR feels that this presents great
opportunities for involving civil society organisations, nongovernmental organisations, citizen initiatives and art and
cultural organisations in the creation of the public media in
the Netherlands. This not only democratises the structure and
functioning of the public media system but creates a framework for direct social and cultural participation for many
broad layers in Dutch society with which it also boosts social
cohesion by directly involving people in these crucial forms
of public communication.
The WRR’s model also affords the desired and requisite scale
for the fertile development of a Dutch new media culture:
one that combines social relevance and social commitment
with high artistic value. And which, therefore, should be
implemented as soon as possible.
Flickr Commons Nationaal Archief,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
nationaalarchief/
Economic competence for the public and cultural sector
Setting up a production fund for public and creative content
creation in and around new media does not, however, resolve
all the issues faced by current new media culture in the Netherlands. The players in the rapidly evolving professional arena
must also take responsibility for giving this innovative form.
If this is to be realised effectively, the economic competence
of the public and cultural sector must be strengthened. This
explicitly does not mean that cultural and social organisations
have to adjust their working method and ‘product’ to an
abstract market logic or a (corporate) economic model borrowed from the commercial sector. Quite the opposite; social
and cultural organisations active in the new media sector must
28
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
ERIC KLUITENBERG
29
Between Heaven and
Earth: On the Impact
of Technology on
Culture and the Arts
Caroline Nevejan
http://www.being-here.net
http://www.nevejan.org
Quiet Now, Just Wait,
All Will Be New
(Stil maar, wacht maar, alles wordt nieuw)
The ‘heaven and earth’ in which culture exists and develops
has changed dramatically over the last decade. Music, dance,
theatre, art, libraries, the media, archives, literature, film and
architecture come about and exist in an environment that is
rapidly altered by digitisation. These changes influence every
discipline and sector in its own way. Children come into contact
with and are affected by the culture around them in ways that
have radically changed.
Here I will discuss a number of trends that are consequences of these developments: shifts in views of identity, changes
to the roles of the amateur and the professional, shifts from
management and control to guidance and inspiration, and
changes to cultural participation. I will then briefly sketch out
current trends in a number of arts disciplines and parts of the
cultural sector.
Caroline Nevejan is a researcher and
designer with a focus on the implications
of technology on society. She is a member
of the Dutch National Council for Culture
and the Arts. Currently Nevejan pursues
this research with the Intelligent Interactive
Distributed Systems group of the Free
University in Amsterdam. She is also
research fellow with PrimaVera, which is
part of the Amsterdam Business School.
Nevejan was the producer of numerous
international conferences, member of staff
of the musical venue Paradiso, co-founder
of the Waag Society, director of research
and development of the Hogeschool
van Amsterdam, research associate of
Performing Arts Labs (UK). And was deeply
involved with the Doors of Perception
network.
New views of identity
The world’s population has doubled in the years since my birth
and more than half of these people live in cities. Information
from around the globe can be collected on a vast scale and used
by people all over the world. Millions of people travel by air, sea
and land at great speed. We can see and talk to people ‘live’ in
other parts of the world. We can even see our planet ‘live’ from
outer space. Microscopes, scans and other medical technologies
have given us an internal view of our bodies, we can see babies
before they are born. Above all, the technologies that make this
knowledge and these images of the world possible are accessible
to millions of people. Old tales and new stories merge together
disseminating a new imagination around the world. And this
has changed us.
Heaven and Earth
Quiet Now, Just Wait,
All Will Be New
Heaven and Earth
(De hemel en de aarde, stil maar, wacht maar,
alles wordt nieuw de hemel en de aarde)
If you have ever been in the mountains and looked down into
the valley where you are staying, you will never forget that new
perspective. Equally, humankind has created new views of its
existence which have changed ideas of identity. How much and
which history do people need? How many streams of information can a person cope with at any one time? How much
time can a person mentally spend somewhere else while still
continuing to function normally in his or her own environment? How much interaction is healthy? Where and how do
people want to act and when should we let a machine take
over? What dramatic developments are recognised by new
people and what speed and rhythm are necessary for this to
happen? Will a new aesthetic accompany each new phase of
technological progress and what will it look like? If everyone
has access to everything, will everyone become the same?
How do we recognise difference and how do we deal with
difference? Or am I exaggerating: Are people today the same
as people used to be? They’re born, grow up, fall in love, work,
accumulate all kinds of material and immaterial stuff, have
children, die.
Huub Oosterhuis
We sang this song in church in the 1960s. It was a song that
always made me feel happy, gave me confidence and a sense
of space. This song told me I should wait patiently, that renewal
would come of its own accord. Renewal sung to that tune
sounded like spring approaching, not yet visible in the cold
of winter.
When Virtueel Platform asked me to describe the current
situation in the wider cultural sector from the perspective
of e-culture, I was reminded of this song and its message of
faith in the future. And I realised that developments in digital
culture, global capitalism and the climate of crisis have made
such lyrics almost impossible. Do children still sing this song?
And how can we make it possible for children to sing such
songs of faith in the future?
30
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
On the Impact of Technology on
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
31
become a centre for knowledge production by facilitating a
network of amateurs and professionals. The museum in Gouda
(known as museumgoudA) for instance, has an exceptional
collection of Gouds Plateel (painted earthenware that looks
like porcelain). Because the people of Gouda worked in the
factories that produced this earthenware at the beginning of
the last century, many pieces have remained in local families.
The museum has started documenting a network around this
collection, which has deepened the knowledge about the earthenware and has actually increased the size of the collection.
Through this project the museum has become the director of
a structural collaboration between a number of social institutions in Gouda, including the library.
Digital technology changes very quickly and at the same time
has a profound effect on our daily lives. Whether in terms of
maintaining an archive, designing a game, or developing new
journalistic formulas there is confusion about the current state
of affairs because even the near future presents enormous
uncertainty. What would happen, for instance, if the music
industry were to be more influenced by intuitive emotions than
rational arguments? And the same voices were always heard
through this intuitive feeling. An almost unbridled interest in
new possibilities is at odds with the profound understanding
that that which exists now should be protected. We can put
everything on the Internet and learn all we want to there. But,
says another voice, although you can find a lot on the Internet,
you cannot find wisdom.
In many scientific forums the question is being asked as
to whether the cognitive development of people growing up
in this new media landscape is different from before. Some
stress that children growing up in an urban media environment
today are able to handle rapid and complex situations. But, says
another voice, new children also need a context in which they
can blossom through love and trust, where they can develop
the resilience to experience ‘processes’ and learn to read and
concentrate.
New views of identity generate great opportunities and new
tensions: between generations, between different communities
living in the same place. The relationship with people who live
elsewhere has also changed. The confusion between how people
experience each other in the ‘real’ world, how this resonates
with images from the media, and how this is understood when
viewed from different religious and historical contexts, is in
many situations both tangible and a major source of conflict.
At the same time, millions of people are in everyday contact
with people who are very different from them and/or who live
far away. This has never before been possible.
In the ‘heaven and earth’ of today a new human identity is
emerging. How we experience time and place has changed,
the way in which people interact has changed, and their
relationships with people they know and people they don’t
know has changed.
Decorative vase with thistles. Gouda
pottery (‘plateel’) factory Zuid-Holland
plc, circa 1903-1904, model no. 5013
(Model from Gouda pottery factory
Rozenburg plc, model 136) inv.no.
18760.
The professional and the amateur
Another great change is underway that relates to how we view
our identity. A tension has arisen between the amateur and
the professional because (the role of intermediaries in) the
professional environment, in particular, has changed. Record
companies occupy a different position, now that professional
musicians and amateurs are able to sell their own work worldwide and find each other on the many Internet platforms. The
museum, which was where knowledge was exhibited, can now
32
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
The word amateur is derived directly from the Latin amator
‘lover’, from the Latin amare ‘to love’. Professional comes
from the Latin for profession professio(n-), which comes from
the Latin profiteri (‘declare publicly’). The difference between
amateur and professional therefore appears historically to lie
in the different domains in which people act: the amateur in
the private domain and the professional in the public. With
the arrival of large Internet platforms and the many Web 2.0
applications it would seem that the realms of action for both
professionals and the amateurs are shifting. While amateurs
now publish in public en masse, professional life is increasingly
being played out within protected intranet environments.
People’s keenness to share information and knowledge in the
public domain means the distinction between the amateur and
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
33
Managing and guidance
Whenever the question is asked about how a person’s identity
develops, the question also arises about the environment the
person needs. A complex question, especially when one takes
into account that developments in our time have no clear
intention. There is no ‘masterplan’, rather, a dynamic has arisen
that is fed by what many people do and for which no one is
ultimately responsible. Moreover, major commercial interests
play a part in this dynamic. These interests, which focus on
short-term financial profit, are far from always visible, but
they do profoundly alter the social structure of global society
in the long term. Consequently, the question of the essence of
the quality of society becomes more imperative. How should
the market for the commercial production of culture be organised to enable global diversity to survive? How can we ensure
that when people share their information and knowledge it
isn’t abused? What culture will the people of tomorrow need
in order to live together? What knowledge and creativity can
people share and when is it necessary to earn money? How
much culture can we effortlessly bear? How large and expensive
may an artwork be? And how can the Dutch government
stimulate and protect Dutch culture and its local cultures
within this dynamic?
professional contribution can no longer be made on the basis
of public claims to knowledge or information. With the help
of the Internet, amateurs have entered the realm of the professional in huge numbers and the distinction between the one
and the other appears, in public, to be primarily determined by
context. An important side-effect of this new field of tension
is that the question of how something came about and how
one may identify quality has become imperative.
‘Samples’ of work by other people are used in digital montages
of images and sound. In these montages the originals and the
context in which they appear are changed. Here, too, different
voices can be heard. Some argue that the montage is a new
work, while others argue that the quality is in fact derived from
the work of the makers of the original material. However, it
appears that millions of people, including many artists, consider
it normal to want to use someone else’s material without feeling
they are stealing from them. It feels just like learning to sing
a song. Someone sings a song and if I also learn to sing it we can
sing together and have a lot of fun. People grow up in an environment in which culture plays a major role and, as in nature,
people have a natural sense of being allowed to use elements
from this environment. The ‘sharing economy’, as Lawrence
Lessig has described this phenomenon, seems to be much larger
and more powerful than expected. However, the sharing economy is at odds with the current economy where property, including intellectual property, is the driving force behind economic
and judicial dynamics. Yet it would also seem that copyright
does not get in the way of people downloading music.
It also seems that millions of authors now publish in the public
domain without claiming copyright. An important aspect of
this is that certain conditions of trust are met, even though
such trust usually arises because a platform is used by many
rather than because a legally documented copyright protects
it. However, this does not detract from the fact that an author,
whether amateur or professional, feels the need to provide his
or her work with a signature, while at the same time freely
using the work of others. After all, culture has become a major
part of urban nature for more than half the world’s population.
People like to be able to touch and use their own environments.
However, the enormous scale and scope of the Internet means
the visibility and usability of the products changes at such a fast
rate that we are looking for a new feeling, view and conclusion
of what the rights of the author are and what right someone
else has who want to use the same material, because it is in
their environment.1 The question of quality in the work of the
professional and the work of the amateur is also up for discussion. This social dynamic leads to complex situations that need
to be resolved on a daily basis.
34
MAPPING E-CULTURE
Traces of our history do not necessarily need to be preserved
at great cost, but if the monuments and archives cannot be
visited, people cannot develop a sense of history. Libraries that
are prevented from making sources and resources accessible,
because they are increasingly being confronted with copyright
obstacles or costly thresholds, see the ground beneath them
being eroded. And then, the view that what is no longer used
no longer has value conflicts with the view that an exceptional
archive should be preserved because one day someone will take
pleasure from it. The Dutch film sector needs to be protected
because it is has value for Dutch culture, but if that sector does
not make it commercially, where does the limit lie for how
much public money s/he may receive? From this perspective,
art and culture as an instrument is diametrically opposed to art
and culture as a value in itself, even though both perspectives
of art and culture are perfectly able to supplement each other
and while respecting both the artist and art-lover.
1
Fair use, copyright,
copyleft and creative
commons aim to protect
the intellectual copyright of the author and
to organise transactions
between authors. The
question remains as to
whether this is possible
and/or desirable.
European research is
currently being carried
out at the London
School of Economics
into transferring the
burden of proof: everyone may use everything,
except another person’s
name. So, I may quote
Michael Jackson but,
without his explicit
permission, I may not
state that it is he I am
quoting. Author’s rights
in this example are
minimised up to the
point of being able to
defend one’s reputation.
ESSAY
It should be clear by now that these questions are complex and
that there are no straightforward answers. In addition to this,
the technologies, which are only understood by a few, are constantly changing, dominated by frequently invisible financial
interests, and even large projects frequently go belly-up.
Nonetheless, the question of quality arises at all levels,
including in daily management situations and policy-making
environments where there is seldom time to go into things
in more depth. Every sector and every industry has to conBETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH:
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
35
the news are dependent on the potential viewers. In this shift
from product to service design, people have become the products. This is why people are counted, followed and made
quantifiable.
stantly make decisions about what is necessary, where investment should be made, what should be legally protected, how
much space amateurs and professionals get to make their own
contribution, and how desirable pre-agreed compliance and
action is.
Bold direction is needed; there are major opportunities,
but hard-won freedoms are at stake. Major commercial and
political interests with a structural lack of transparency are
currently at liberty to do almost whatever they want to. Yet
few people understand the implications of current technological developments. Bold direction needs the support of a strong
organisational structre supported by an adequate judicial and
financial infrastructure to which technological platforms
also commit themselves. Now and in the coming years, great
alertness and vigour is needed because a reliable global
environment could be built in the next few decades. It has
become apparent over the last ten years what is possible, and
perhaps impossible, with current technologies. The so-called
‘innovation space’ has filled itself up. It is now time to dare to
find out what is happening, with all the rationality and intuition available to us. Only then will it be possible for children
in 2058 to sing together
In our rapidly mediatising society it is difficult in some sectors
to predict where developments are leading, and the relationship
between policy and decision is comparable to that of a farmer
sowing seeds and hoping for good weather.
Daring to take responsibility in complex situations that
one has no control over is difficult, but also unavoidable. The
question of how personal responsibility relates to the dynamic
of the collective is in many situations unclear. That the issues
of the day hold sway is born out by the many news reports
which put the responsibility of administrators up for discussion.
True leadership, a major theme in management circles, requires
a personal integrity and responsibility which is formed and
develops independently of the issues of the day.
This rapidly changing landscape requires new forms of
governance and organisation models to guide both the market,
the public domain and the arts in and towards good a relationship. Management and control create reliability and responsibility, but can also lead to fossilisation and a lack of insight
into what is actually going on. Good guidance and a healthy
dose of inspiration nurture healthy, enterprising cultures, but
they become vulnerable and short-lived when they lack a solid
judicial and financial infrastructure. In terms of management
style, a huge difference has begun to arise between the ‘old’
and the ‘new’ styles of management. The new style balances
between the dynamic sketched out above – moving from
control to guidance – making mistakes, but also booking
successes. The old style consolidates and tries primarily to
rescue whatever can be rescued, is amazed by what is going
on in the world, and shuts itself off. More and more people
are realising that information and communication technologies
not only increase profit and efficiency, but can also make a very
real contribution to the quality of the daily lives of many users
and non-users. It is amazing that we can be in contact with
people on the other side of the world, that we can hear music
from all corners of the globe without ever going there, that
we can share images and compose together, that archives are
available online and that we can order library books from home,
that artists can publish their own work, that the public can find
it with three clicks of the mouse, that we can look up information and check facts as we have never been able to before.
Heaven and Earth
Quiet Now, Just Wait, All Will Be New
Heaven and Earth
(Stil maar, wacht maar, alles wordt nieuw de hemel en
de aarde, stil maar, wacht maar, alles wordt nieuw de
hemel en de aarde)
without first having to pay royalties to Huub Oosterhuis, or
perhaps being banned from visiting Indonesia because it can
be digitally proven that they once sung a Christian song.
(In fact I would like to finish this first section with a
Peanuts cartoon that I saw in the International Herald
Tribune on Monday 20 October, 2008. But, because this is
going to be published, I can’t for reasons of copyright. In
this cartoon Charlie Brown lies in bed with Snoopy lying
on his tummy. He mumbles a bit before falling asleep
‘Sometimes I lie awake at night and ask, “Can my generation look to the future with hope?”’ In the next image he
turns over, while Snoopy looks at him and says: ‘Then, out
of the dark, a voice comes to me that says: “Why sure...well,
I mean...that is...it sort of depends...I mean ...if...when...
who...we...and...”’)
Fundamental processes in the different value chains are now
shifting from ‘product’ to ‘service’ design. The museum directs
a network in order to be able to exhibit things. The musician
publishes online in order to be able to play live. The filters of
36
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
37
Brief Impression of E-culture
Trends in Art and Culture
Flyer Images for the Future,
http://www.imagesforthefuture.org
Music:
Technological changes have had a major impact
on the music industry. Recording and editing
equipment have become much cheaper and
better quality. The entire value chain in the popmusic industry has been turned on its head:
consumers download music and artists have
become their own producers with the help of
the Internet and, interestingly, it has been proven
that more people go to live concerts in this digital age. Apparently the experience of attending
a live concert is of a completely different order.
On the Internet, amateurs and professional seem
to mix effortlessly; both have access to the public domain. However, the record companies had
their heads in the sand for a long time. Consequently they have lost a lot of ground which they
are now trying to regain through initiatives like
iTunes. Classical and modern music would seem
to be becoming increasingly vulnerable due to
the ubiquitous presence of pop music. In fact,
the number of visitors has stabilised over the last
ten years. That this is primarily an older public
may be just as much an advantage as a disadvantage. The decline in interest for music education – both in regular schools and music schools
– is a major problem. Learning an instrument
takes time. Developing talent, therefore, starts
at a young age. Talent that is not spotted at a
young age cannot catch up later. A good music
education is vital for introducing young people to
all kinds of music so that they also know what a
symphony orchestra sounds like, as well as pop.
Luckily there are more and more initiatives aimed
at bringing young people into contact with less
well-known music, such as the New Year’s Concert by the Netherlands Wind Ensemble (Nederlands Blazers Ensemble), which is broadcast
every year on Dutch television.
Film:
In film, digital technology has greatly affected
the production process and distribution, as well
as the filming process. In terms of filming and
editing equipment, and in the areas of animation
and special effects animation, digital technology
has vastly expanded the possibilities available.
Equipment has become extremely accessible
to amateurs and films shot by amateurs at the
site of major disasters often hit the world’s TV
news programmes. Despite the millions of home
38
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
39
videos (on YouTube, for instance), there are still
film producers who make ‘big’ films possible.
This is not easy for the Dutch film industry: the
Netherlands is a wealthy, but small country with
a limited language base. In Europe alone, where
the most obvious co-productions may be found,
more than 40 languages are spoken. Dutch filmand documentary-makers repeatedly run into
the same production limitations. Within the dynamism of inspiration and control, the issue here
is the safeguarding of a space for expression.
Through investment regulations, tax agreements
and subsidies, the Dutch government tries to
continue to stimulate the Dutch film industry
and to make a range of productions possible.
Without such efforts the Dutch film climate
would look very different.
Art and design:
Because equipment has become so simple and
sampling material so easy, one might have expected the distinction between amateur and
professional artists to have changed. But just as
a child’s drawing is very different from a drawing
by Joan Miro, the efforts of a professional artist
are of a very different order to those of an amateur. Whether an artwork is produced in two
dimensions (graphically), three dimensions
(sculpturally), four dimensions (time-based) or
five dimensions (influencing relations between
people), the artwork places itself within the
tradition of art and aims to contribute to it.1 On
the other hand, interactions between popular
culture and professional artists have profoundly
influenced each other: from branding to fashion,
from blog to interior architecture.
However, the fact that artists and designers
have begun to use digital technology in their
work also has implications. The tradition of art
and technology has established itself as its
own domain, with its own museums, production
houses, conferences, magazines and scientific
publications. A number of things have radically
changed in this tradition: the way the process
of making an artwork is executed, modes of
presentation, the ways in which art is bought
and sold, and conservation and preservation
methods. Because the possibilities and implications of technology are highlighted by artists in
this tradition, the relationship between art and
40
not, to my knowledge, monitored electronically.
In this sense the theatre is ‘luckily’ still a digitalfree zone. The Internet is primarily used as an
information and sales channel.
Yet it is unavoidable that the changing media
environment will have a dramatic effect on stage
arts, even if only because the audiences have
become accustomed to other dramatic forms.
After so any years of television and daily computer use, a new value is now attached to being
‘live’ at an event, making a visit to the theatre
attractive to many people once more.
Games and environments such as Second
Life, in which people make ‘digital theatre’ en
masse, mean it is not improbable that new relations between stage artists and their audiences
might also take on an Internet form before long.
In the same way film and television have done,
these new forms will influence how an audience
understands dramatic narrative.
science is closer.
The nature of the technologies have also
made other kinds of interaction with the public
possible. Just as stone is different from paint,
so technology as a medium presents specific
possibilities. Interaction and public participation
in the making of an artwork especially are completely different from in the past as consequence
of new technologies.2
Theatre and dance:
Although digital technology obviously plays an
important part in the technical side of theatre,
theatre itself has hardly been touched by new
technologies. Even though performances are
produced which integrate new media and which
experiment with holding the performance at
different locations simultaneously, for example,
or interacting with the audience, or employing
ingenious mise-en-scène, in which the image
plays a more important part than the actor, the
nature of theatre has remained fundamentally
untouched. No radical changes have taken place
for either the actors, audiences or intermediaries.
In dance, digital notation systems have been
developed; technology is used to analyse and
optimise dancers’ movements. But the fundamental nature of dance for the dancer and the
audience has remained unaltered by these
developments. However, what has emerged,
is that work by Dutch choreographers cannot
be danced at dance schools because of the
copyright on these ballets. Although this is not
a direct consequence of technological developments, in terms of current thinking on the accessibility of cultural heritage in the public domain,
which has resulted from technological developments, it is significant.
As far as the world of theatrical arts is concerned, one could argue that the omnipresence
of audio-visual technologies means many more
people are playing and dancing: at home, at
friends’, at parties, on the Internet, at a concert,
or in nightclubs. On the other hand, the amount
of attention and concentration people are able
to commit to playing an instrument, performing
a poem, singing a Dutch song, has declined.
Barbara Visser, TL/Tijdlamp
The Internet has so far played a marginal role in
theatre production and marketing. Audiences are
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
Literature:
Never before in history have so many people
written in the public domain. In thousands of
blogs, wikis, websites and communities people
describe their opinions, experiences and share
their information and knowledge. Amateurs and
professionals express themselves in all kinds of
ways in difference environments and together,
as if it were quite natural. More is being read
than ever before and at the same time the
market for literature published in book form is
shrinking. Small publishers find it hard to keep
their heads above water, the range offered by
major publishers is narrowing. Knowledge about
classical literature and its techniques is becoming more scant. However, the productive collaboration between players in the market and the
government means this sector is thriving nonetheless. The works of many new authors lie in
the bookshops, Dutch authors are translated into
many languages, and the work of foreign authors
is accessible in the Netherlands. The literature
funding bodies, working closely with publishers,
seem to be able to bring the professional sphere
of literature to a high level through a deliberate
and varied policy. Digitisation in the book branch
is moving fast. The sector is bending its brains
over the issue of copyright for digital products
and publishers are developing new business
models.
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
41
Yet many are very concerned about literary
education and there is an concern that if children
do not learn to enjoy reading, literature will die.
At the same time it can be proven that as new
forms and styles develop in popular culture, such
as music and the Internet, that young people
learn to be literate in many terrains in a way
that older people do not understand and/or
cannot experience. In other words: the last
word has not been spoken on this matter.
The collaboration between market and
government, the alternation between inspiration
and control, between freedom and responsibility,
works well in this sector.
At the same time, digitisation also presents the
possibility of enormously widening the range
and expansion of use and participation. Digitisation makes a much broader, national collection
possible through audiovisual documents, which
can be distributed through the Internet. Libraries
increasingly provide access to information that is
located elsewhere: in other libraries, in archives,
broadcasting companies or museums, but also
with users. This increases libraries’ potential to
reach a wider audience.
1
I formulated the difference between
2, 3, 4 and 5 dimensions for the first
time in an interview with Geert Lovink
about the ‘Politics of Presence
Design’. See www.nevejan.org.
Endnotes:
2
An example of a five-dimensional
artwork from the art and technology
tradition: Because the concept of time
– both objective (the time on the
clock) and subjective (subjective) – is
so strongly present at school, Barbara
Visser developed an artwork that says
something about the way we measure
and represent time and how that can
provide the impetus for the development ideas or activities around the
conceptof time. The ‘TL/Tijdlamp’ (TL/
Timelight), which she developed with
inventor/programmer Stijn Buis and
artist Koert van Mensvoort is shaped
like a fluorescent tube light (TL) which
gradually fills up with coloured light.
The light represents time. The longer
the light hangs or stands in a certain
place, the more it adjusts itself to the
division of time in that space. It does
this using sensors (‘eyes’ and ‘ears’)
which measure sounds and movements. The ‘TL/Tijdlamp’ arrives at
the school colourless, but learns to
recognise a pattern of activities, for
instance, the rhythm of the lesson
timetable in a certain classroom. At
the end of every lesson it will show a
registration of how busy the class was
in the form of a pattern of coloured
stripes: increases in noise levels
change the colour of the light.
All this, of course, has major consequences
for established institutions like libraries and
archives. They are being forced to think about
Archives and libraries:
their own organisations (buildings, staff, compoIf libraries still exist in 20 years’ time, what will
sition of collections, accessibility). The public will
they look like? A beautiful, silent book museum,
increasingly come to occupy a central position, a
a lively public reading room-cum-cafe-cumpublic that will (want to) participate more actively
debating centre, or will libraries be in our homes in determining how information is given meaning
in our computers?
and who will want to be served faster and better.
Developments in the area of new media and Citizens are increasingly organising their own
ICT and the mediatisation of society are moving
activities and do not want to be told what to do,
so fast that it’s almost impossible to predict what but to be given support. This demands a different
not only libraries, but also archives, will look like
approach from libraries and archives, one less
and what purposes they will fulfil. What is certain geared towards distribution and supply, and more
is that the developments named above will put
towards actively facilitating expression, exchange
the intermediary role of institutions like libraries
and the laying of connections between people,
and archives under pressure. Knowledge is seen ideas and sources.
to be an increasingly important economic factor
Within the library sector the developments
and the complexity and scale of the information
I have described have led to a fundamental disstream is growing. Information and communicacussion about the function and even the position
tions technologies have brought about the entry of the public library. In the archive sector a simiof numerous new parties into the information
lar discussion is underway about the existing
domain: publishing concerns, telecom companies order and how long it can last. Libraries and arand (Internet) providers unlock information on a
chives are becoming more and more involved in
major scale and not infrequently occupy a posiglobal developments that stretch far beyond their
tion of power in doing so. Internet is now consid- grasp, and sometimes even beyond the grasp
ered a ‘main library’ by many people, somewhere of national governments. At the same time they
where you can get information 24/7.
have to deal with a public that is changing, that
Yet, digitisation also makes us vulnerable.
takes ever less notice of established reputations
Our immediate past slips out of our grasp as
or institutional borders. In order to respond they
we watch: information in the digital era is fleeting will have to push their own institutional interests
and intangible, presenting archives with a new
to one side and work and think more in network
problem. The memory of the digital government
structures and cooperative partnerships.
is revealing gaps and what has not already disappeared is difficult or impossible render productive due to poor technical and/or intellectual
management.
42
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
43
Ten Years of New
Media Education in
The Netherlands
Emilie Randoe
http://www.randoeverandermanagement.nl
Emile Randoe was the first Director of
the new Institute of Interactive Media at
Hogeschool van Amsterdam, University
of Applied Sciences, and set up the Communication and Multimedia Design department
there in 2002. Randoe is also Secretary of
the Board of Virtueel Platform, a member
of the Advisory Board of the ICT Innovation
Platform and was from 2004-2008 Chair of
the national CMD Platform.
The end of 2009 marks the passing of a decade since the
first wave of new media education at HBO level (Higher
Vocational Education) in the Netherlands. Emilie Randoe,
until recently Director of the Institute for Interactive
Media at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
(HvA) from 2001, reflects on the pioneering years of new
media education in the Netherlands and identifies strategic
issues for the future.
(Left) Website HKU – Game Design
and Development, http://www.hku.nl/
The first of October 2008 was a historic date for new media
education at HBO level in the Netherlands, or at least for
those courses known as Communication & Multimedia Design
(CMD): the Advisory Council for CMD courses gave the goahead for a standardised national occupational profile. Their
approval concluded a lengthy process, during which the seven
different CMD courses developed their own identities and, on
the basis of these, reached a consensus on their commonalities.
(Right) Website NHTV International
Game Architecture and Design,
http://www.nhtv.nl/
The development of innovative concepts for new media
applications is key to the national occupational profile. This
means that an important role is assigned in the courses for
the development of concepts in line with the strategic aims
of businesses and organisations. To do this effectively, a CMD
student has to have a broad perspective. The occupational
profile of the CMD courses therefore offers plenty of opportunities for ingenious combinations of knowledge and proficiency
in media theory and technological culture, marketing and
communications, design, interactive design, project management, scripting, and design and development methodology.
Another important characteristic of a CMD education is that
it focuses on three crucial levels: the operational (the ability to
make something), the tactical (a capacity to organise) and the
strategic (the ability to design something new that contributes
to the strategic aims of the client).
44
This combination of disciplines resulted in the CMD courses
frequently having to defend themselves on their own turf from
the existing Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) and Communications courses. And at the beginning
of 2000, external forces justly took the CMD courses to task
in the debate about ‘trendy’ courses that, although successful
in attracting students, would probably only result in more
unemployment. Fortunately, ten years later the converse appears
to be true: there are plenty of employment opportunities for
HBO [applied sciences degree] graduates with a new media
education and they appear to be performing well in the
industry.
MAPPING E-CULTURE
1
Saxion is among the
largest universities
of applied sciences
in the Netherlands.
(Link: http://www.
saxion.edu/).
ESSAY
TEN YEARS OF NEW MEDIA EDUCATION
IN THE NETHERLANDS
Although the enrolment statistics compiled by the Netherlands
Association of Universities of Applied Sciences (HBO-raad)
and the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU)
were consulted for this essay, it remains difficult to make an
accurate assessment of the number of students following an
education in new media. This is because of the complexity
involved in finding out how much new media is included in the
curricula of some of the courses. This essay focuses on HBO
and university (Wetenschapelijke Onderwijs) courses, within
which we differentiate between Bachelor and Master courses.
The CMD courses are not the only ones at HBO level that
enable students to qualify in new media studies. Of the 123
study choices available, an impressive 67 courses (at both
Bachelor and Master level) were identified as foundation-based
courses with a significant portion of new media in the curriculum. The oldest new media course in Holland is Art and
Technology at the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU), which
can now also be followed at Saxion.1 According to enrolment
figures, most students interested in new media opt for a CMD
education (approximately 1100 first-year students), with the
Communication Systems course ranking a respectable second
(550 new students in 2007). A relatively new player in the field
is the game course offered by the Breda University of Applied
Sciences (NHTV), which drew 127 first-year students in 2007.
The Art and Technology course (HKU and Saxion) attracted
331 first-year students. The intake for all new media courses
has increased significantly in the last ten years. Moreover,
EMILIE RANDOE
45
traditional ICT courses are rapidly gaining ground by offering
major and minor honours degrees in the areas of new media,
human–computer interaction and game design. Each year,
approximately 3000 students in the Netherlands embark on
a new course focusing on new media.
Shortly before the turn of the century it was de rigueur in the
Netherlands to complain about the inadequate dovetailing of
the knowledge and competencies of recently graduated young
professionals on the one hand, and the labour market on the
other. The HBO raad responded to this by introducing
so-called competency-oriented education. Professional skills,
an ability to cope with critical situations in professional life
and to implement knowledge in a practical way thus became
paramount. During the development of the occupational profile
for Amsterdam, we therefore sought to create a robust foundation for formulating competencies. We held discussions with
40 large and small companies, but were none the wiser at the
end of them. Each new media company had its own descriptions for tasks and functions and there appear to be significant
disparities between consultancies and the producers of technology and media. The requirements of the clients and customers
of these companies were another consideration. When examining employment opportunities we were struck time and again
by the combination of activities in the then new field. For
example, webmasters were expected to ensure that the website
worked flawlessly, that all questions submitted were handled
efficiently, that external editors, designers or technicians kept
to their schedules and that management was properly informed
about developments in this new medium – all in just three days
a week. Common catchphrases at the time included ‘innovation’, ‘thinking out-of-the-box’ and ‘creativity’. Meanwhile,
results of ongoing research were published, including that
conducted by the Gartner group,2 which indicated that ICT
and new media projects frequently took twice as long to
complete, cost double the budget and were only half as functional as anticipated.
While trawling through the literature, we chanced upon
Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital, a book written
by the Argentinean economist Carlota Perez.3 In it, Perez
presents the results of her research into the five technological
revolutions that have taken place in our society since 1771.
Her findings indicate that these revolutions, despite occurring
in different time periods, have an identical dynamic that is
inextricably linked to the economy. Such revolutions start with
the interruption or suspension of normal activity or progress
caused by the invention of new technology, such as steam,
oil, electricity, steel or ICT. Its disruptive character attracts
investors hungry for quick profits, resulting in a stock market
surge. Inevitably, the new technology cannot satisfy the
46
MAPPING E-CULTURE
The Blob (Ronimo Games)
2
Gartner, Inc. is a
leading global information technology
research and advisory
company (http://www.
gartner.com).
3
Perez, C., Technological Revolutions and
Financial Capital:
The Dynamics of
Bubbles and Golden
Ages, Cheltenham:
Edward Elgar
Publishing, 2003,
p. 52.
ESSAY
IN THE NETHERLANDS
EMILIE RANDOE
47
overblown expectations and, predictably, a stock market crash
follows. The fortune hunters are left licking their wounds and
the new technology gradually trickles down to general use.
This is followed by a period of roughly 50 years, during which
the new technology produces meaningful applications and
reaches maturity.
During the 2001 dotcom crash, Perez’s conclusions proved
invaluable when plotting the path for the sustainable organisation of communication and multimedia design courses. We
tried to identify the organising principle behind the relatively
stable period after the crash, not a simple task because the field
of study and the sector was still in its infancy (the concept of
a ‘creative industry’ had not yet gained ground in the Netherlands). Despite the crash, the idea that companies would create
new products and services by incorporating interactive media
still flourished. In retrospect it can be said that this approach
actually succeeded in a number of cases. Museums, for example,
no longer limit their exhibitions to physical spaces. Large
numbers of Asian students attend lectures at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT). And thanks to the Internet,
new services like the car-share companies Autodate and
Greenwheels got off to a flying start, as did vanity publishing
and the online ordering and printing out of airline tickets.
And we no longer leave the house to go to the bank to transfer
money or post our remittance slips.
However, innovating with new media appears to be more
problematic than originally thought, because improving,
overhauling or even brainstorming about the underlying
industrial processes is more complicated, frequently takes
much longer and is more costly to realise than expected.
4th year students HKU
local and national governments, as well as the educational and
commercial sectors, to rethink the way they organise information both downstream and upstream. This 2.0 discourse is
driven by demand (not supply) and users are expected to take
control and manage the information these organisations require
from them. The expectation is that these self-service concepts
will simplify our lives, but most Internet users know how frustrating they can be because of their many design flaws. In the
slipstream of this discourse, civil servants, teachers, customer
care employees and so forth are reinventing themselves as
operators in a 2.0 world governed by demand rather than
supply.
Although the flurry of discussions about trendy courses has
subsided and new media is a long way from fulfilling all the
promises relating to its innovative qualities, it is now commonly
accepted that new media can connect the various components
in the value chain, and that interweaving these value chains can
create ‘value webs’. Doing this correctly results in added value
for the client. It is now common practice to book a holiday
apartment or hotel and hire a car at the same time as buying an
airline ticket, or, when buying a ticket for a performance online,
to be offered suggestions of other performances that may be
of interest. Museums and cultural institutions have invested
substantial amounts of money in the last few years to make
their collections available on the Internet. Pupils and students
can explore the cultural heritage of their neighbourhood or
town using mobile telephone games. That this can occur is
doubtless also due to the fact that the World Wide Web 2.0
has allowed ‘users’ (customers, clients, etc.) to take control of
the interface and become producers and publishers of their own
information on the Internet. This development has triggered
48
MAPPING E-CULTURE
The current state of new media education
Applying Perez’s model, it is understandable that upscaling
(the use of applications) and economic growth (by producing
companies and organisations) are the profession’s two key issues
– even during a credit crisis. Furthermore, sustainability, as
well as aspects such as eco-design (the ICT sector is among
the most polluting industries in the world because it runs on
electricity and because of the rapid turnover of equipment) and
innovation strategy (nobody wants applications that have to
be replaced every 18 months) have become important criteria.
In addition, the discussion about globalisation plays a role in
terms of both division of labour and in terms of diversity:
societies are anything but culturally homogeneous and geographical boundaries do not exist in the world of interactive
media. Outsourcing and offshoring is not an option for all
design and development programmes, but large companies
ESSAY
IN THE NETHERLANDS
EMILIE RANDOE
49
Final exam exhibition 2007, Ice Magnet game
(Ronimo Games)
do outsource work to places where it can be done efficiently,
cheaply and quickly. This is, of course, a trend not limited to
our times, but it has accelerated due to the ease of communication offered by the Internet. Another important trend is service
design: making the requirements and the conduct of users of
new media the core issue. When we reach the point when all
our computer-driven devices have similar capabilities, and
bandwidth and Internet access are problem-free, the most
important area for competition will be accessibility, i.e., the
ability to customise applications to one’s own requirements
and surf the Internet without impediment.
It is impossible to gauge how the rapid economic growth
currently underway in Asia and parts of Africa and the economic crisis in the West will affect Dutch students and
graduates in the long run. For a long time we were able to
rest on the laurels of Dutch design’s fabulous reputation. But
anybody who has recently visited India or Southeast Africa,
cannot help but notice that something very interesting is
taking place: the rapid emergence of new economic superpowers with strong domestic markets.
Given the number of ICT students and designers being
trained in these regions, the question is whether Europeans
and Americans will be able to maintain their position as
shapers of the new media discourse in the long term. Personally, I doubt it: as I see it, Africans and Asians possess three
qualities that combine to form an exceptional basis for 21stcentury leadership: traditional knowledge, a deep understanding of the need to work together to achieve any goal, and a
basic understanding that each individual also needs to work
for the benefit of the community, because their governments
simply do not have the financial means to solve all the social
and economical challenges. These cultures are fuelled by the
credo ‘We are, therefore I am’, whereas the Western equivalent
is ‘I think, therefore I am’, or even ‘I possess, therefore I am’.
Project market 2008, 4th year projects
In new media education there is a broadly developing demand
for specialisation. When the Internet truly started making
inroads ten years ago, employment opportunities were created
piecemeal for new functions such as webmasters and interaction designers, and recruitment advertisements frequently
requested jacks-of-all-trades. Now that the medium has
matured, specialists are more in demand. There is also a
relationship with economic cycles: a growing economy provides
more opportunities for generalists; only champions survive
when the going gets tough. Nonetheless, everyone working
in this sector should be able to function in multidisciplinary
teams, and to do this effectively requires an understanding of
the roles and professional ethics of other disciplines. In this
context, we can speak of ‘T-shaped people’ (a concept formulated by Ideo Design): the vertical leg of the T represents their
52
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
IN THE NETHERLANDS
EMILIE RANDOE
53
students who feel the course does not meet their intellectual
requirements or students who become involved in developing
their own companies while in the final stages of the course.
–The increase in the number of providers of new media
education, many of which cast doubt on the quality of
courses offered by the other providers. This could result
in courses that detrimentally affect the market.
–Keeping abreast of developments in the field and the
developments in the mindset about good education and
combining these to create an educational institution that
leads the way, instead of following market trends.
–Offering and maintaining sufficient quality in the funding
system. Regular colleges in the Netherlands maintain a
lecturer/student ratio of 1 to 30. Although this ratio is
more favourable in the arts education sector, the Netherlands is a poor cousin when compared to many other
countries in this respect.
principal skill, while the horizontal line represents the empathy
they need to work in a team, think out-of-the box, recognise
patterns of behaviour, and so on. The CMD’s advisory council
rightly asks whether recently qualified students at HBO
Bachelor level possess all these qualities; after all, they are
young graduates who have yet to acquire practical experience.
There is consensus regarding the fact that performing effectively in this sector requires a combination of expertise and
all-round proficiency. In the main, new media education is in
pretty good shape, but the expectation is that after a period of
lateral expansion, people will require a deepening of expertise.
The CMD courses take these developments into consideration
and incorporate them in the available courses. The curricula of
all the courses are organised so as to ensure a wide selection of
opportunities that enable students to orientate on their future
careers. But there are concerns, too.
–The quality of the intake is of great concern. Applicants to
courses in the arts education sector are subject to a selection
process. Other courses do not implement any such procedure. Professional education at HBO level must introduce
improvements to the quality of education in basic abilities
such as languages (Dutch as well as English) and learning
skills.
–There are also concerns for the economic position of
graduating students, who frequently have to persevere in
small companies in the creative industry. Lecturers who
supervise students during internships or who have spoken
to them after they have graduated are concerned about
the rapidity with which young talent burns out.
–Art students study to become new media designers able
to frame new rules and therefore act as process designers,
but they frequently get started, and then stuck, as designers
who have to follow the rules and standards set by others.
–Upscaling higher education. Almost all Dutch colleges are
(again) busy clustering courses in Academies, Domains or
Faculties. These are generally government-initiated
programmes that should result in greater efficiency. But
do courses that focus on structures and control still have
the time to ensure the commitment of lecturers who are
frequently also active in the industry?
–Safeguarding the profile of the course, which involves the
further enhancement of its identity and visibility in society;
in other words, how to make ‘technology’ user-centred and
accessible in a creative way and thereby create surplus value.
Furthermore, what is the appropriate approach to overlaps
with other courses and what steps should be taken to
preserve the innovative character (namely a predominantly
competence-driven and student-driven curriculum)?
–Loss of talented students. On average, half the students
do not finish their courses. Approximately half of these are
54
MAPPING E-CULTURE
4
The Hot100 are
the most talented,
newly introduced,
most impassioned and
promising up-andcoming creative media
talent (http://www.
virtueel platform.nl/
page/ 11934).
ESSAY
in The Netherlands
There are not only concerns, but dreams too. We asked participants in our survey about their visions for the future and the
measures they thought Virtueel Platform could take to improve
new media education.
–Creating opportunities for encounters between academies
and training institutes, as well as between training institutes
and companies or organisations working with new media,
on the theme of e-culture and developments in the public
domain. And preferably not only in Amsterdam, but
throughout the country. This would result not only in
the dissemination of knowledge, but also in opportunities
for teacher training on the one hand, and the provision
of interesting educational opportunities for professionals
on the other;
–The professionalisation of new and small creative industry
companies with respect to issues such as entrepreneurship
and career development and stimulating companies’ interest
in encouraging staff members to take up a teaching post
for one or two days a week, preferably in cooperation with
a training institute;
–Improving the current situation, such as ranking talent in
the Hot100,4 as well as inviting students to conduct a case
study in a Virtueel Platform framework that is relevant for
the sector, so that students are challenged to think about
exciting new media issues;
–Contributing to a high-quality knowledge centre dedicated
to e-culture and new media, a place where, for example,
relevant (Masters) theses can be accessed or where participatory discussions are held that include students and
lecturers and professionals from the field with practical
experience.
–Compiling a national database of supply of and demand
for young talent.
EMILIE RANDOE
55
How did this essay come into being?
Twelve education managers and course coordinators participated in an electronic survey on Surveymonkey.5 The intention
of the survey was to discover the burning issues for education
managers. Interviews were also conducted by telephone, and I
incorporated my own experiences and ideas, accumulated in the
seven years since I became director of the Institute for Interactive Media for the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.
The selection of courses included in the survey is based on
earlier research undertaken by the GOC Knowledge Centre as
part of the ‘Mediacompetenties’ (Media Competencies) project.6
This overview is supplemented with a summary of the courses
attended or completed by participants in the Hot100. These
lists were then compared with the overview of courses at both
the Bachelor and the Master levels at www.123studiekeuze.nl.
Student numbers
At HBO level, most new media students attend the Communication & Multimedia Design course. This course is taught at
eight colleges throughout the Netherlands (including Utrecht,
since September 2008). In 2007, 1143 students enrolled, of
whom 219 were women (slightly less than 20%). The Communication Systems courses ranked second, attracting a combined
total of 588 students in 2007, 244 of whom were women
(almost 40%). In 2007, 266 students enrolled in the Art &
Technology course, almost 35% of whom were women.
There are also courses available at only a single location,
including Grafimediatechnology (Rotterdam, 63 students,
13% women) and Game Architecture and Design (NHTV,
Breda, 129 students, 5% women).7
HBO students attending information technology courses
with a new media orientation were not included in this
overview. An estimated quarter of information technology
students are involved with new media. A total of 2400 new
ICT students enrolled in the Netherlands in 2007, of whom
4% were women. Adding up these figures, we arrive at roughly
3000 new students studying new media in the Netherlands in
2007, 18% of whom were women.
Education in the sciences does not explicitly include new
media education. Those that come closest to doing so are
the Media and Culture and Communication Sciences courses
with a total intake of almost 1400 students, 50% of whom
were women. The University of Amsterdam offers an international Master programme in New Media and Digital Culture,
for example.
5
Intelligent survey
software that enables
anyone to create
professional online
surveys quickly and
easily (http://www.
survey monkey.com).
5x E-culture and
Commerce
Stephan Fellinger
Antoinette Hoes is an expert on interactive
media and communication. She is managing
director and founder of Leylines BV. Leylines
advises on interactive media strategies,
e-business development and the uses of
online media buying & PR. Antoinette also
teaches new media management at the
Centre for communications and Journalism
of Hogeschool Utrecht. Antoinette’s past
work experience includes working as
business unit manager at Randstad and
at an IT Consultancy. She also worked as
interactive strategist for MediaMonks.
Until recently Antoinette was programme
manager for creative industry at Virtueel
Platform. She also blogs for DutchCowgirls
and Marketingfacts.
http://www.fellinger.nl
Dagan Cohen
6
The GOC Knowledge
Centre (Kenniscentrum GOC) focuses
on education, the
labour market, training
and advice in grafimediatechnology.
(http://www.goc.nl).
http://www.uploadcinema.nl
Guido van Nispen
htttp://gnispen.blogspot.com
Jeroen de Bakker
http://www.qi-ideas.com
Walter Amerika
http://www.walteramerika.blogs.com
Antoinette Hoes
http://www.leylines.nl
1
Stephan Fellinger is co-founder and chairman of the board of the
SpinAwards foundation, which presents awards for creativity and
effectiveness in interactive communication. He is also a regular
columnist for Tijdschrift voor Marketing (Marketing Magazine)
and writes for MolBlog, the Tijdschrift voor Marketing weblog
that he initiated. In 2006 Stephan was selected as Online Media
Man of the Year. In 2007 he was awarded the Coq d’Honneur by
the Advertisers’ Federation (Bond van Adverteerders, BVA), the
Society of Advertising (Genootschap van Reclame, GVR) and
the Association of Communication Consultancies (Vereniging
van Communicatie-Adviesbureaus, VEA). In 2008, Tijdschrift
voor Marketing selected him as one of the 40 best marketeers
in the Netherlands.
7
Grafimediatechnology is a study aimed
at a combination
of multimedia and
information and
communication
technology.
His experience in interactive media and marketing stretches
back to 1990. After some years working in public broadcasting
and advertising he became an Internet entrepreneur in 2001.
He advises organisations on the changing interactive media
landscape with particular attention to changes in human
behaviour.
Stephan is a member of the advisory board for the Amsterdam
University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool van Amsterdam)
and Generation Next. He is also a member of the jury for the
category ‘Innovation’ at this year’s Home Shopping Awards.
56
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
ANTOINETTE HOES
STEPHAN FELLINGER
57
ANTOINETTE HOES
SF
What does the term ‘e-culture’ mean to you?
STEPHAN FELLINGER
First, I’ll go back to the definition of culture
according to Wikipedia: In its broad sense, the
word ‘culture’ is synonymous with ‘everything
society produces’. In this sense, culture is
placed in opposition to nature. In a narrower
sense, ‘culture’ is used to describe artistic
expressions.
I prefer the first definition, and for me it
connects with the influence of technology
on everything society produces. And it’s also
important to me that they talk about culture
influencing our life. That’s exactly what fascinates me about interactive media: the way it
influences our life; how we communicate with
each other, for example, rather than all the
technical possibilities.
AH
Can you name any examples of ‘e-art’ that
have inspired you?
SF
What’s special about interactive media is that
there is an iceberg effect. Only a small portion
of the landscape is visible above the water.
Most of what’s going on happens under the
surface; I call it the underworld. So it’s entirely
possible that the most amazing developments
are occurring entirely out of my field of vision.
I have that same feeling with e-art. I’m a great
fan of Micha Klein. He won a SpinAwards
prize several years ago for a Coca-Cola project
where young people could combine elements
of Micha with elements of themselves. Nowadays, this sort of thing is very common,
but Micha was way ahead of his time. He
also developed a character for the game Spore.
What’s great about Micha is that he mixes up
different worlds and inspires people with the
results.
In the mix between the different worlds.
Creatives often have the conservative tendency
to primarily look around in their own world.
But it is in the unusual combination of
different worlds that true inspiration lies.
For example, we want the SpinAwards to
bring worlds such as Internet, television, film,
advertising, music, telecom, games, art and
education into contact with one another, and
so create new things. The modern creative
and artist is a perfect mixer who is unafraid
of technology.
and enthusiasts curate and edit all the films into
an evening-long programme.
AH
Can you suggest ways in which e-culture and
e-art (policy) could contribute to your professional
practice?
AH
Where do you see the renewal/innovation taking
place in your practice/field?
58
Another way of looking. Even though I teach
people to look at the world in different ways,
I also regularly need people to provide me with
new insights. Before you know it, you become
what you have always fought against. That’s
what gives me my drive to keep on changing.
I call it the ‘Veronica effect’: Veronica TV used
to be a pirate broadcaster that confronted the
establishment; now it is the establishment.
That’s not what you want, is it?
INTERVIEW
DC
Yes, I’ve got plenty of examples of e-art.
Jonathan Harris, for example, who keeps on
developing new visualisations and interfaces
using Internet data, and Graffiti Research
Lab, which makes graffiti on buildings with
lasers.
AH
Do e-art and e-culture have a renewing
influence on your practice or that of other people
in your field?
2
MAPPING E-CULTURE
AH
Can you name any examples of ‘e-art’ that have
inspired you?
SF
In 2008 he founded Upload Cinema a monthly
event in De Uitkijk cinema where films from the
web are taken to the big screen.1 Every month
has a theme and visitors can submit web films
for inclusion. Dagan and a small group of experts
DAGAN COHEN
I think it’s a rather old-fashioned concept,
and as far as I can see it’s not really a hot issue
in society, either. Current (youth) culture is
saturated with electronic and digital means
of communication and expression. We’ve left
e-culture behind. Culture is already digital.
But that doesn’t alter the fact that insufficient
attention is given in education, specifically art
education, to the principles of digital media
and the opportunities it can provide.
DC
Yes, I keep up to date with the work of
students and artists who are active in the
digital domain. And I try to integrate the
experimental spirit of autonomous artistic
work in my company by, for example, engaging
in projects with academies or individual
students.
Dagan Cohen is the creative director of Draftfcb
Amsterdam, an integrated marketing communications agency that utilizes and combines all
available communication channels (old and new)
to reach and engage consumers. Besides his
AH
work at the agency, Dagan teaches at the
Rietveld Academy and is juror for the Dutch
influence on your practice or that of other people Design Awards. For The Next Web he selected
in your field?
the most innovative ‘pre-start-up’ companies in
SF
the digital field.
Of course they do. Good artists show the
world in a different light, and we all need
that to progress as humanity.
ANTOINETTE HOES
AH
DC
Renewal happens at the boundaries: the
boundaries of old and new, of familiar and
unexpected, and of physical and virtual –
and in collaborations between seasoned
professionals and open-minded young people.
1
http://www.upload
cinema.nl.
AH
Can you suggest ways in which e-culture
and e-art (policy) could contribute to your
professional practice?
ANTOINETTE HOES
DAGAN COHEN
59
DC
I would like to see the government and
e-culture organisations creating a policy-level
stimulus for co-operation between commercial
companies and artists, between designers and
arts courses. This would be an aid to ensuring
that good, rejuvenating ideas reach the market.
3
sector that has any real influence on what the
rest of the digital/Internet world is developing.
But then, I’m rarely in situations where I’m
confronted with that type of artistic expression.
HDTV, news rights, sports rights: it would be
interesting to do something about these issues
from the culture and policy side and take the
necessary measures to help everyone progress.
AH
e-art (policy) could contribute to your professional practice?
GVN
The commercial and subsidised paths are really
two separate worlds. On the more commercial
side, I see a lot of start-ups that pride themselves on their entrepreneurship. This is a
perspective that can occasionally lead to an
Guido van Nispen is managing director of
inflexible fixation on the kind of company, or
Veronica Holding, a Dutch media organisation
service, or platform they have in mind. I don’t
that has always been at the frontier of the media see the Digital Pioneers (Digitale Pioniers)
landscape. Cross-media operations include radio, initiative or the Media Guild (Media Gilde) as
Internet, events and video.
the most obvious place for projects starting up
again. There may be plenty of ideas, but there
Veronica encourages young talent through its
needs to be more emphasis on scalability or
in-house cross-media V-Academy, as media
ongoing development. These approaches are
producers in media companies, and by investing separated off and fragmented and are very
in media and entertainment start-ups.
focused on their own scene. Success lies in
people being able to use things.
As well as being MD at Veronica, Guido is
fund manager of the Dutch Creative Industry
Fund (DCIF), a seed capital private equity fund
belonging to Telegraaf Media Group, Sanoma,
IDG and Veronica. DCIF specialises in funding
Dutch media and technology start-ups and has
built up a good portfolio of promising companies.
Guido is chairman of IPAN, the association that
brings together professionals in the interactive
and online field. Finally, Guido is an advisory
member of the Lift Conference board and an
active blogger and avid photographer who is
never seen without his camera; his latest project
being a portrait series entitled Dutch Digital
Pioneers.
ANTOINETTE HOES
GUIDO VAN NISPEN
Well, first try and explain what it is; the term
has no real connotation or meaning for me.
AH
inspired you?
GVN
I don’t see anything emanating from the arts
60
AH
influence on your practice or that of other people
in your field?
The cultural sector could help by realising
volume. The Hot100 initiative is fantastic,
for example, but it needs a robust follow-up.
It’s about getting people from different fields
together and allowing new things, new collaborations, to come into being. If you plant
enough seeds, good things are bound to grow.
4
AH
2
http://www.qi-ideas.
com.
GVN
You could put the talent from the Hot100 into
a competition in this context. That would work.
If you’re young and starting a business and
you only stay within your own area of interest
while online, you keep coming across the same
things. And that stands in the way of renewal.
If you put entrepreneurs and people from the
cultural sector together, it creates new contexts.
Young digital entrepreneurs are sometimes
burdened by their own rock-star behaviour.
They see themselves as the standard and shut
out other people’s ideas. What’s more, the
entire global rights issue is a disaster that
slows down a lot of initiatives. Music rights,
MAPPING E-CULTURE
INTERVIEW
GVN
People on the commercial side would appreciate it if they could carry forward those things
that have been developed with public funds.
If a project is subsidised the applications or
platforms that are built should be released
into the public domain. Take, for example,
the Fabchannel platform. They are commercialising it themselves, but why not make the
platform (without the Indie music content/
direction) available to others so they can
develop new concepts with it? But things
often aren’t produced in that way – or can’t
be transferred. Releasing applications into
the public domain establishes their requirements for quality of design, scalability and
documentation.
Jeroen de Bakker co-founded Qi in the last
quarter of 1997. 2 Qi developed numerous
award-winning interactive marketing and brand
concepts for clients such as Heineken Netherlands, Heineken International, Bols Distilleries,
Amster-dam Airport Schiphol, Air Miles, Essent,
Bacardi, Philips Europe and Unilever. Qi also
developed its own digital media products, including the virtual advertising agency Qineboko.com,
and the mobile content platforms Fanplay and
Notones. Jeroen later worked for TBWA/Company Group, where brand activation and new
media were combined. Here he was responsible
for the roll-out of Brand Gossip.
At the moment, Jeroen is focusing on starting
new innovative media ventures, consulting with
clients on how to deal with online media, and
ANTOINETTE HOES
GUIDO VAN NISPEN
61
working as the strategy director at Creative Shop
2009 (which started last year, as Creative Shop
2008). Together with Rembrandt Smids, he also
started a new company called BrandWebbing,
a new and unique brand strategic approach for
online media.
ANTOINETTE HOES
JEROEN DE BAKKER
I think I understand what is meant by e-culture, but I never use the term. I assume it’s
that area of culture that is influenced by
technological, electronic and digital developments.
AH
Can you name any examples of ‘e-art’ that
have inspired you?
JDB
Off the top of my head, no – I don’t have
much direct contact with new media arts or
e-arts. My colleagues do – the people with
the truly creative functions in the company.
They often go to exhibitions or gatherings
at places like Mediamatic or De Zwijger.
Myself, I go to Picnic and I visited the
DEAF electronic arts festival and I saw some
good stuff there – last time mostly around
the subject of augmented reality. There were
interesting approaches to the combination
of the physical and the virtual. It’s not so
much that people in the arts have progressed
further; the arts and the commercial world
are focusing on the same developments. I’ll
go back to DEAF next time.
AH
influence on your practice or that of other
people in your field?
JDB
The people working on the creative and
conceptual aspects put a lot of the things
they see and experience into the work they
develop.
As far as my function is concerned, I
look primarily at what the advertiser needs.
I sometimes filter out (innovative) things if
they don’t serve the brand or the advertiser
sufficiently. It’s all well and good if things are
attractive, smart and innovative, but in our
business it’s got to have a function. That’s
the area I have to safeguard.
62
AH
5
Where do you see the renewal/innovation
taking place in your practice/field?
JDB
It’s surprising how long the distinction
between the ‘old’ world and the digital world
has managed to survive. Depending on the
original discipline, a single starting point,
such as ‘technology’, is often used. I expect
it’s not much different in the arts than it is in
the advertising world. At some point, the ‘e’
prefix will be redundant, but we aren’t there
yet.
Innovation occurs when talents are
combined; they amplify one another. It’s
important to have creative hot beds, places
where people from the arts and other sectors
can get to know each other and apply
themselves, where bordering territories
come together. And I personally love to
work with teams in which we bring various
disciplines together.
Walter Amerika is an independent boardroom
consultant, creative entrepreneur and speaker
on creativity and innovation. His newest project
is the Creative Industry SOFA, which seeks new
ways to finance creative industry initiatives.
He is also:
– Head of the Market Faculty at Eindhoven
Design Academy
– Chairman of the Doors of Perception
Foundation (international ICT/Design
conference/think tank)
– Member of the Dutch National Education
Forum (cross-discipline group concerned with
the future design of the Dutch educational
system)
– Board member of States of Humanity
(international cultural brand/work of art),
Advisor to the Dutch National Committee for
International Cooperation and Sustainable
Development on Dutch Design in Development
(exchange platform between the Dutch
creative industries and exporting companies in
developing countries)
– Member of the advisory board of Custom Fit
(an EU project concerned with rapid
prototyping/manufacturing)
– Advisor to Dutch management centre DeBaak
on the creative industries, Ambassador of the
Dutch Design Awards.
AH
Can you suggest ways in which e-culture
and e-art (policy) could contribute to your
professional practice?
JDB
It seems to me that the most important
thing is to invest in new forms of education.
It’s remarkable, don’t you think, that Eckart
Wintzen set up his new type of school in
America and not here. Now that we have
all established that creativity is one of the
cornerstones of our Western economy, there
should be more emphasis on it in education. We are heading towards a completely different
economy, it’s entirely new and will require
different skills – beyond reading and writing.
There’s a lot to be done in this area.
How we deal with intellectual property
already is and will continue to be a very
important factor.
The existing policy for stimulating
traditional arts should be duplicated for
new technological forms and arts.
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ANTOINETTE HOES
WALTER AMERIKA
Culture is such a broad notion. It is definitely
true that culture comes into being under the
influence of all manner of new technological
developments, but is it also high culture? As in
the physical world, there is far too little ‘high
culture’ in the digital domain. Far too much is
developed on the basis of a technology push,
but that is very different from people actually
needing it, from it truly enriching our world.
AH
inspired you?
INTERVIEW
ANTOINETTE HOES
JEROEN DE BAKKER
63
WA
Yes, I see a lot of different work. The first
to come to mind is Montevideo and their
interactive art. And Danielle Kwaaitaal and
Micha Klein, for example, who engage in
video culture.
AH
influence on your practice or that of other
people in your field?
WA
Innovation comes from the amateurs in the
[banking] sector. Those who work in the
banking sector prefer to keep their cards
close to their chest and are conservative.
The current legislation doesn’t help, because
it nips innovation in the bud; you only get
licences if you adhere to the traditional
model.
AH
Where do you see the renewal/innovation
taking place in your practice/field?
WA
Certain sectors are moving quickly and some
companies have gone a long way in incorporating new developments in their work
processes and concepts. Take, for example,
AMO, Rem Koolhaas’ bureau, where
architecture is seamlessly integrated with
other disciplines of the creative industry.
And then there’s the banking sector…
they all share the same backbone; there’s
nothing to distinguish them. The banks focus
on the standardisation of processes instead
of deploying technological developments.
There should be a willingness in such sectors
to think in form and image – not just in
technical interfaces.
We are presently engaged in renewing
the banking sector with technologies such as
peer-to-peer banking and cooperative banking.
It’s no longer top-down; with the help of
technological developments, among other
things, it also bottom-up. If things change
in these areas, it results in a cultural shift
throughout society.
Work should be more demand-led, but
that’s not going to come from the technology.
WA
You can implement industrial policy if there
is sufficient political support for those choices.
If the Netherlands now relies – or is going to
rely – on the trade in ideas and creativity, then
it is appropriate to apply policy to it, but that
doesn’t mean you have to subsidise everything:
you can achieve the same effect through
investment. Make investment attractive
through changes to taxation; raise the underwriting of investment. At present, these kinds
of regulations are too focused on technological
innovation. ‘Softer’ forms of innovation should
be eligible too. And if you provide the stimulus, you have the right to set fairly substantial
requirements as far as the results are concerned.
At the moment, subsidies sometimes go
to niches of niches. Fabchannel is a wonderful
project, but as a platform it could be used on
a far broader scale than in the niche (contentwise) it presently occupies.
And I believe that if you provide a stimulus
to innovation using public funds, the public
should benefit from the results.
Besides the supply side, some attention
should be paid to the demand side. How do
you make it clear to the different sectors what
e-culture and creativity and innovation have
to offer?
The interviews above were carried
out in January 2009.
Dutch
Translations/
Nederlandse
Vertalingen
AH
e-art (policy) could contribute to your professional practice?
64
MAPPING E-CULTURE
INTERVIEW
NEDERLANDSE VERTALING
DUTCH TRANSLATIONS
65
E-cultuur in een transformerend
landschap: Naar een functionele
benadering van mediacultuur
Eric Kluitenberg
De kunsten voeren al sinds de eerste
decennia van de vorige eeuw een
productieve dialoog met actuele
technologische ontwikkelingen. In de
vooroorlogse periode waren het de
diverse Europese avant-garde bewegingen die op verschillende wijzen
het technologische beest te lijf gingen.
De variatie was altijd groot: van het opgewekte nihilisme van Dada, de extatische adoratie door de Futuristen tot
de meer pragmatisch utopische benadering van Bauhaus en het constructivisme. Na de oorlog was het vooral
de Amerikaanse Art and Technology
beweging rond kunstenaars als Robert
Rauschenberg en wetenschappers als
Billy Klüver die de gedachtevorming
over kunst en technologie nieuw leven
in bliezen.
Terugkijkend kunnen we echter
constateren dat de echte ‘explosie’
van activiteit hand in hand ging met
de miniaturisering van computertechnologie (en dus dalende kosten) en
de personal computer revolutie die in
de jaren tachtig goed op gang was
gekomen. De markt ‘democratiseerde’
technologie op een schaal die nooit
eerder was waargenomen. Het instrumentarium van wetenschappers en
informatici werd plotseling ook dat van
boekhouders, kruideniers, apothekers,
hobbyisten, ontwerpers en kunstenaars.
Waren de machines in de jaren tachtig nog onhandzame apparaten, in de
vroege jaren negentig ontwikkelden ze
zich tot volwaardige multimediamachines die op een geheel nieuwe manier
beeld, geluid, tekst, data en interactie
aan elkaar wisten te koppelen (het
tijdperk van de CD ROM). Voor kunstenaars opende zich een perspectief op
een nieuwe synesthetische kunstvorm
van oneindige flexibiliteit. Een symfonie
van beeld, geluid en beweging waar
Skrijabin alleen maar van kon dromen
lag nu binnen handbereik van vrijwel
iedere kunstenaar.
Uit de wisselwerking van al die
terreinen (in willekeurige volgorde:
wetenschap, kunst, markt, technologie en het alledaagse leven) ontstond
iets wat een ‘nieuwe mediacultuur’
kan worden genoemd. Het hybride
karakter van haar oorsprong is haar
handelsmerk geworden. Nieuwe mediacultuur beperkt zich niet tot één van
deze terreinen maar omvat of doorsnijdt ze allemaal. Dat maakt het fenomeen moeilijk te begrijpen en hanteren
voor de relatieve buitenstaander.
Met de opkomst van het Internet
volgde de definitieve doorbraak van
66
MAPPING E-CULTURE
de nieuwe mediacultuur in het midden
van de jaren negentig. In eerste instantie was het Internet een tekst gebaseerd medium dat sterk verankerd
was in de wetenschappelijke laboratoriumcultuur waar het uitgekomen was.
Maar het Internet heeft zich, zelfs voor
betrokkenen, in een onvoorstelbaar
snel tempo ontwikkeld tot een volwaardig en vrijwel allesomvattend
multimedianetwerk. Alle andere
mediavormen en -modaliteiten worden
in toenemende mate door dit multimedianetwerk opgeslokt (radio, televisie,
telefoon, fotografie, audiovisuele
archieven, e-mail, nieuwsgroepen en
interactieve mediavormen die amper
15 jaar gelden alleen op CD ROM
denkbaar waren). Dit proces wordt
doorgaans aangeduid als ‘convergentie’ van de media. In een notendop
verwijst dit naar het feit dat vrijwel alle
media kanalen, voortgedreven door
technische en economische voordelen,
inmiddels digitaal zijn geworden:
audio- en videoproductie, radio en
televisie, nieuws- en persfotografie,
opmaak en druk van papieren publicaties, telecommunicatieverbindingen.
Dit heeft enorme consequenties voor
de positie van kunst en cultuur in het
nieuwe medialandschap en voor de
publieke functies van media in het
algemeen.
1
De suggestie was dat
Rupert Murdochs
tabloid, dat switchte
van politieke steun aan
New Labour in plaats
van aan de conservatieven, de verkiezingsuitslag had bepaald.
Na de conservatieve
zege in 1992 kopte
The Sun: ‘It’s The Sun
that’s won it!’.
2
Counterveilling power.
De ontwikkeling is niet alleen in positieve termen te beschrijven. Convergentie van de media heeft de trend
van consolidatie in de mediamarkt
exponentieel versterkt. Al veel langer
was met de toegenomen internationale
dimensie van elektronische media
een proces gaande van wat economen
‘horizontale integratie in de media
industrie’ noemen: mediabedrijven
die fuseren of worden overgenomen
binnen de eigen branche, waardoor
mediaconglomeraten ontstaan die
in toenemende mate concurrentie
neutraliseren. (Economen vinden
dat doorgaans heel erg slecht voor
marktwerking.) De trend naar digitalisering van alle mediakanalen en -vormen
heeft echter ook een exponentiële
toename veroorzaakt van ‘verticale
integratie’ in de media en telecommunicatie-industrie: het samensmelten
van distributie, productie van content
(programma’s, redactionele inhoud,
media formats, diensten) en de verschaffing van toegang voor de eindgebruikers tot binnen in het huis van
de individuele consument. (Economen
vinden dit doorgaans een absolute
ramp.)
E-CULTUUR IN EEN TRANSFORMEREND
MEDIALANDSCHAP
Vooral de combinatie van massieve
horizontale en verticale integratie in
de media- en telecommunicatie-industrie heeft geleid tot een catastrofale
verschraling van het openbare aanbod
van informatie en communicatie. Dit
lijkt paradoxaal in een situatie waar
vrijwel iedereen toegang heeft tot
publicatiemiddelen op Internet – en
dit is inderdaad de enige reddingsboei
voor publieke cultuur die momenteel
nog voorhanden is. Maar wanneer
primair de professioneel geproduceerde mediaproducten en -diensten in
ogenschouw worden genomen, toont
zich een landschap waarin buiten
publieke aanbieders het overgrote
aandeel van media-aanbod en toegang
tot informatiekanalen door een snel
afnemend aantal wereldwijd opererende mediaconglomeraten verzorgd
en daarmee gecontroleerd wordt.
Dit is niet alleen extreem slecht
in economisch opzicht omdat het
wereldwijd tot marktfalen op een
ongekende schaal leidt, maar ook in
cultureel opzicht waar de wet van de
grote getallen oppermachtig heerst.
En ook in politiek opzicht is deze
ontwikkeling extreem slecht omdat
het de diversiteit van opinievorming
in zeer ernstige mate belemmert –
denk bijvoorbeeld aan de bravoure
in de headline in de Britse krant The
Sun na de eerste verkiezing van New
Labour leider Tony Blair: ‘It’s The Sun
that’s won it!’.1
In het licht van de convergentie van
media en de concentratie in internationale mediamarkten is het duidelijk
dat de ‘wisdom of the crowds’, de
doe-het-zelf mediacultuur en het
publieke media-aanbod elkaar vooral
aanvullen en elkaar bovendien dringend nodig hebben om een effectief
tegenwicht 2 te bieden aan de steeds
sterker consoliderende marktkrachten
in het medialandschap. Alleen garanties voor publieke toegang gecombineerd met sterke publieke functies in
mediaproductie en -aanbod kunnen
op langere termijn de diversiteit en
kwaliteit van het publieke aanbod van
informatie en communicatie garanderen. Dit vormt de context waarin de
nieuwe mediacultuur functioneert
en waarin duidelijke functies en verantwoordelijkheden kunnen worden
geïdentificeerd.
New Media Culture
Binnen het terrein van de e-cultuur
spelen meerdere aspecten (de scheppende, producerende functies en de
ERIC KLUITENBERG
67
gemeenschappelijke co-creatie van
content) een belangrijke rol. De publieke
sector in engere zin (cultuurinstellingen, de rol van de overheid, publieke
media-aanbieders) speelt primair
een rol in de scheppende e-cultuur
of nieuwe mediacultuur. Over deze
nieuwe mediacultuur wordt sinds
het midden van de jaren negentig
een actieve internationale discussie
gevoerd, waarin Nederland en de
Nederlandse cultuursector een
duidelijke voortrekkersrol speelt.
Eén van de eerste Europese beleidsdocumenten uit de sector was de
zogenaamde Amsterdam Agenda.
Deze werd op 1 november 1997 tijdens
de Practice to Policy Conferentie in
Amsterdam gepresenteerd. Hierin
werden drie elementen geïdentificeerd
die in erg belangrijk waren voor de
zich snel ontwikkelende nieuwe mediacultuur in Europa: innovatie, educatie
en sociale kwaliteit.3
Op het gebied van innovatie werd
verwezen naar de veel voorkomende
samenwerking die ontstond tussen
kunstenaars, cultuurproducenten, technologieontwikkelaars en wetenschappelijk onderzoekers. Deze samenwerking kwam voort uit de behoefte voor
toepassing van een nieuw instrumentarium en de ontwikkeling van nieuwe
probleemstellingen en methodieken.
Tevens werd een productieve relatie
gezien tussen cultuur en industrie
waarbij het ging om het ontwikkelen
van nieuwe toepassingsgebieden voor
nieuwe mediatechnologie. Kunstenaars
rekten de agenda van de nieuwe media
op naar nieuwe terreinen, terwijl de
industrie het instrumentarium bereikbaar maakte voor steeds grotere
groepen producenten en afnemers.
Op het vlak van educatie werd
zowel gedacht aan concrete samenwerking met scholen en onderwijsinstellingen om educatieve projecten
en nieuwe (multimediale) lesmethoden te ontwikkelen. Maar ook werd
verwezen naar het educatieve effect
van nieuwe mediacultuur waarbij het
publiek wordt verleid tot een spel met
nieuwe mediavormen en zo spelenderwijs vertrouwd wordt gemaakt
met de technologie en haar werking;
informeel leren of leren door te doen.
Kunst en cultuur werd daarnaast
een a priori kritische positie toegekend
voor wat betreft de maatschappelijke
gevolgen en implicaties van nieuwe
technologie. Juist door deze kritisch
onderzoekende houding werd zij in
staat geacht een belangrijke bijdrage
68
te leveren aan een maatschappelijk
verantwoorde integratie van nieuwe
media en nieuwe technologie. Doordat veel cultuurprojecten in gemeenschapsverband werden ontwikkeld
(in een concrete doorleefde context
waarin een veel grotere diversiteit
van gebruikers met de nieuwe media
werkt dan in een technisch laboratorium) zou nieuwe mediacultuur tevens
een grote bijdrage leveren aan het
versterken van de sociale kwaliteit
van de nieuwe mediatoepassingen.
Culturele Competentie
In het boek New Media Culture in
Europe (Virtueel Platform, 1999)
schreef de Portugese beleidsmaker
Luis Soares nog dat de ontwikkelingen
in de praktijk zich met een zo grote
snelheid voltrokken dat deze vaak niet
overeenkwamen met de snelheid van
de publieke en politieke instituties in
Europa.4 In de jaren daarna heeft zich
een snelle opeenvolging voltrokken
van denken beleidskaders waarin
de ontwikkelingen in de nieuwe mediacultuur zijn vervat.
Eind jaren negentig werd de nadruk
gelegd op de vergroting van de culturele competentie in publieke en technologische beleidskaders. De aanname
was dat de ontwikkelingen in de praktijk
niet zichtbaar waren en onvoldoende
begrepen werden door de mensen en
instituties die beslissingen namen over
de ontwikkeling van de publieke en
technologische sector. Juist door het
vooruitstrevende karakter van artistieke
en culturele experimenten was het
moeilijk voor beleidsmakers om de
waarde ervan vast te stellen en moest
er meer begrip voor worden gekweekt.
Het sterk interdisciplinaire karakter van
de nieuwe mediacultuur maakte dat
extra lastig.
1994 en tot grote wasdom gekomen
in de late jaren negentig, hierin een
zeer prominente rol. Hoewel DDS
ook internationaal grote bewondering
oogstte werd zij nooit meer dan incidenteel ondersteunt vanuit publieke
middelen in Nederland, zelfs niet nadat
ook politieke instituties het netwerk
gebruikten om hun informatie te verspreiden aan de inmiddels zeer omvangrijke groep gebruikers. Uiteindelijk
zou DDS bezwijken aan haar eigen
succes, de facilitaire structuur was
niet langer te handhaven zonder een
sterker commercieel terugverdienmodel, dat in die tijd niet voorhanden was.
Publiek domein 2.0
Rond de millenniumwisseling kwam
echter een ander discours tot ontwikkeling waarbij men zich vooral afvroeg
hoe nieuwe media kunnen bijdragen
aan een revitalisering van het publieke
domein. Deels wilde men dit bevorderen
door de ruimte voor doe-het-zelf initiatieven op het gebied van nieuwe media
te vergroten. Vooral gemeenschapsprojecten boden hiervoor goede aanknopingspunten. Hier konden groepen
mensen rondom een gedeeld interesse
of belang de nieuwe media instrumenten gebruiken om meningen te delen
en zich te organiseren. In Nederland
speelde het gemeenschapsnetwerk
De Digitale Stad (DDS), opgericht in
MAPPING E-CULTURE
E-cultuur
Creatieve industrie
In navolging van de e-commerce boom
en de populariteit van e-trading werd
de nieuwe mediacultuur omgedoopt tot
e-cultuur. Na de beruchte dotcom crash
in het voorjaar van 2000 verloor deze
associatie echter veel van haar glans
en verdween zij naar de achtergrond.
De ‘e’ verwees vooral naar de elektronische media die de drager vormden van
de nieuwe cultuurvormen die zich rond
de nieuwe media ontwikkelden. E-cultuur is in beleidskringen een populaire
aanduiding gebleven maar wordt in de
praktijk zelden gebruikt of herkend.
3
The Amsterdam
Agenda: Fostering
emergent practices in
Europe’s media culture,
1 november 1997,
conferentie Towards a
New Media Culture in
Europe: From Practice
to Policy, georganiseerd
door het Virtueel Platform i.s.m. het Ministerie
van Onderwijs, Cultuur
en Wetenschap en het
Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, onder
auspiciën van de Raad
voor Europa, 29 oktober
– 1 november 1997,
in Rotterdam en
Amsterdam.
Uitermate vruchtbaar is de associatie
gebleken van nieuwe mediacultuur
met de zich snel ontwikkelende markt
voor nieuwe mediatoepassingen in het
algemeen. Deze bredere context bood
vooral aan ontwerpers en cultuurproducenten van media-aanbod voor een
bredere doelgroep (entertainment,
edutaintment, infotaintment en aanverwante gebieden) een zeer vruchtbare voedingsbodem. Het Verenigd
Koninkrijk vervulde een belangrijke
voortrekkersrol door deze creative
industries vroegtijdig te herkennen
als motor voor innovatie en nieuwe
zeer gediversifieerde markten. Ontwerpers functioneerden altijd al op
het snijvlak van cultuur en industrie,
maar met de nieuwe digitale instrumenten en distributiekanalen kregen
zij een centrale rol in het vormgeven
van een compleet nieuwe industrie
waar informatie, communicatie, ontmoeting en entertainment naadloos
in elkaar overvloeden. Het heeft een
bloeiende sector opgeleverd die ook
door beleidsmakers innig is omarmd.
4
Luis Soares: ‘At the
ground level, things
happen at a speed
which is often
incomptabile with
the speed of Europe’s
public and political
institutions.’ (New
Media Culture in
Europe, 1999).
5
Zie ook: http://www.
creative commons.nl.
Cultuur 2.0
Omdat de nieuwe mediacultuur altijd
zowel de cultuurproducenten, als in
MEDIALANDSCHAP
minder strikte zin de productie van
cultuuruitingen door individuen en nietprofessionele gemeenschappen heeft
omsloten, lag de vraag voor de hand
welke dwarsverbanden en kruisbestuivingen hier mogelijk zouden zijn. Hierin
heeft niet alleen de ontwikkeling van
het Internet tot een breed multimediaal
medium een prominente rol gespeeld,
er is ook een nieuwe generatie elektronische consumentenproducten
ontstaan: van digitale foto- en videocamera’s, beeldbewerkingprogramma’s
voor de thuiscomputer, tot doe-het-zelf
programma’s om webpagina’s te ontwerpen. Nieuwe webdiensten als online
fotogalerieën, videosites (YouTube en
anderen) en de explosie van het fenomeen blog (dagboek notities met beeld
en geluid op Internet) hebben het speelveld voor culturele participatie volkomen
veranderd. Dit fenomeen wordt meestal
aangeduid met de term Web 2.0. Het
actieve aspect (terugpraten met en
naar de media) wordt hierin als meest
vernieuwend gezien. Internetveteranen
mompelen doorgaans overigens dat
terugpraten het wezensprincipe van
Internet is en er dus eerder sprake is
van Web 0.1.
Cultuur 2.0 is als notie naar voren
geschoven om de vraag te verkennen
welke rol de professionele culturele
sector zou kunnen spelen om een
meer actieve participatie van het brede
publiek te stimuleren, met name bij
de professionele cultuurproductie en
het cultureel erfgoed. Dat laatste wordt
sterk gestimuleerd door de voortgaande digitalisering van het culturele erfgoed en de toenemende ontsluiting
ervan op Internet. Het gaat hierbij over
kwesties als een meer interactieve exploratie van cultuuraanbod, co-creatie
van werken door kunstenaars met
individuele cultuurconsumenten of
met gemeenschappen, maar ook om
gezamenlijke becommentariëring van
cultuuruitingen, discussie daarover
(ondermeer via Internet) en het creatieve hergebruik van bestaande werken en materialen.
Het creatieve hergebruik van bestaande
materialen (beelden, muziek, software)
bevordert een actieve cultuurparticipatie in de meest letterlijke zin, maar
auteursrechtelijke bepalingen en
bescherming van de integriteit van
artistieke producties werken creatief
hergebruik expliciet tegen, en niet
altijd ten onrechte. Een initiatief als de
Creative Commons 5 heeft daarom een
alternatief licentiesysteem ontwikkeld
waarmee makers en rechthebbende
ERIC KLUITENBERG
69
materialen geheel of gedeeltelijk vrij
kunnen geven voor hergebruik (bijvoorbeeld voor educatie en niet-commerciële doeleinden). Het probleem
hierbij is echter dat dit alleen een oplossing biedt bij die werken waarvan
de rechthebbende bekend is en deze
bereid is het werk vrij te geven voor
bepaalde of alle vormen van hergebruik. Veel van de meest interessante
materialen voor deze vorm van actieve
cultuurparticipatie blijven hiermee
buiten beschouwing.
E-participatie
E-participatie is een beleidskader dat
nauw verwant is aan de gedachte van
een cultuur 2.0 maar dat de grenzen
van de cultuursector overschrijdt. In
engere zin kan e-participatie worden
begrepen als de manieren waarop
burgers nauwer betrokken kunnen
worden bij het functioneren van de
overheid op verschillende niveaus,
zowel lokaal als landelijk. In ruimere
zin kan dit kader worden begrepen
als alle activiteiten waarmee burgers
meer betrokken kunnen worden bij
ontwikkelingen in hun omgeving en
de samenleving als geheel, uiteraard
door middel van nieuwe media toepassingen. Het is in dit tamelijk recent
geïntroduceerde begrip 6 dat de veronderstelde productieve rol die nieuwe
mediacultuur zou kunnen vervullen
voor een versterking van de sociale
kwaliteit van een hoog-technologische
samenleving, een plek kan vinden. In
zekere zin liggen cultuur 2.0, ‘community arts’ en e-participatie in elkaars
verlengde en dus ligt afstemming en
kruisbestuiving zeer voor de hand.
The gist of it
Wat we uit dit kleine panorama kunnen
constateren is dat in een periode van
amper tien jaar maar liefst vijf opeenvolgende beleidskaders zijn ontwikkeld
waarbinnen de nieuwe media-cultuur is
vervat.7 Dat geeft een duizelingwekkende gemiddelde omloopsnelheid van
beleid van twee jaar. Luis Soares zou
zich nog eens achter zijn oren mogen
krabben. De vraag doemt zelfs op of
de praktijk nog wel in staat is om de
ontwikkelingen op beleidsniveau bij
te benen!
Verder is op basis van de concrete
praktijk in de nieuwe mediacultuur
te zien dat het aspect van innovatie
steeds duidelijker haar weg vindt in
nieuwe samenwerkingsvormen in de
kunsten cultuursector, tussen wetenschap en onderzoek, en in de innige
verstrengeling met de media-industrie.
70
De educatieve dimensie is in tal van
projecten uitgewerkt en kent inmiddels
haar eigen expertisecentra met tal van
praktische projecten. In een brede
volkscultuur rond de nieuwe media lijkt
zich een actief soort cultuurparticipatie
en niet-professionele cultuurproductie
te ontwikkelen. Op het gebied van blogs
en video is deze zelfs overweldigend
te noemen, in ieder geval wat betreft
haar omvang. Het aantal geregistreerde
blog-sites beweegt zich wereldwijd
gestaag richting de 1 biljoen, een getal
dat elk voorstellingsvermogen te boven
gaat.
Maar juist waar het gaat om de professionele cultuurproductie en het professionele publieke media-aanbod doet
zich een tegengestelde beweging voor.
Waar verwacht had mogen worden
dat de explosieve groei in de nieuwe
mediacultuur in brede zin (inclusief
blogs, foto- en videoportals) gepaard
zou gaan met een vlucht aan artistieke
en hoogwaardige producties, lijkt er
eerder sprake te zijn van een gestage
afname van vernieuwende initiatieven
in vergelijking met midden jaren negentig. Veel van de artistieke nieuwe
mediaproducties bevinden zich
bovendien in een gebied dat nauw
verwant lijkt aan dominante trends in
de hedendaagse kunstwereld of daarmee zelfs geheel samenvallen. De
belofte van een vitale nieuwe kunstdiscipline lijkt daarmee geen gestalte
te krijgen, terwijl alle aanleiding bestond te verwachten dat juist in de
context van een explosieve groei van
de mediacultuur in brede zin deze
nieuwe kunstdiscipline zich met grote
kracht zou vestigen.
Tegelijkertijd is het professionele
publieke aanbod op Internet beperkt.
Voor een deel blijft dit beperkt tot incidenten en, soms grootschalige, op
zichzelf staande projecten. Aan de
andere kant blijft het nauw gerelateerd,
of zelfs uitgevoerd, door de traditionele
zendgemachtigden.
En de vraag hier is natuurlijk: waarom?
Aan de ideeënrijkdom van een jonge
generatie kunstenaars, ontwerpers
en mediamakers ligt het niet. Ook
de professionaliteit van de reguliere
publieke mediaproducenten mag als
gegarandeerd worden beschouwd.
Toch lijkt er geen echte grote vernieuwende publieke nieuwe mediacultuur
tot stand te komen en dat blijft in
eerste instantie een raadsel.
Het probleem lijkt eerder economisch van aard. Voor nieuwe media-
MAPPING E-CULTURE
8
Focus op Functies:
uitdagingen voor een
toekomstbestendig
mediabeleid. Amsterdam: Amsterdam
University Press/WWR,
2005.
9
Ibid., p. 77.
6
Zie ook: http://www.
eparticipatie.nl.
7
Voor het gemak tel
ik de discussie over
Publiek Domein 2.0 hier
even niet mee aangezien dit geen beleidsdiscussie is geweest,
maar een discours
dat uit de praktijk is
voortgekomen.
cultuur bestaat ondanks vijf opeenvolgende beleidskaders en stormachtige
ontwikkelingen geen adequate ondersteuningsregeling. Niet in Nederland en
ook niet in het buitenland. Anders dan
binnen de fotografie of filmsector is er
geen sprake van een ‘eigen’ productie-,
distributie- en financieringsstructuur
die een structurele ontwikkeling van
een professionele nieuwe mediacultuur
haalbaar maakt. Voor jonge ontwerpers
en kunstenaars die de (overigens rijk
gesorteerde) opleidingen verlaten dient
zich een simpele keuze aan, een lastig
parcours dat zich van veel verschillende ondersteungingsbronnen bedient.
Voorbeelden van financiering om een
eigen nieuwe mediapraktijk en oeuvre
te kunnen ontwikkelen zijn: tijdeljke
beurzen, projectsubsidies (die meestal
om niet toegekend worden), residenties
in binnen- en buitenland en opdrachten
voor de industrie. Het alternatief is een
lucratieve carrière vol mogelijkheden
en met een hoog inkomen in de dynamische nieuwe media industrie, of een
veilig onderkomen in de gevestigde
echelons van de hedendaagse kunsten.
Het is niet verwonderlijk dat vrijwel
niemand van de jonge generatie kiest
voor het nomadische bestaan van
de nieuwe media cultuurmaker. Voor
degenen die, desondanks, deze uitdaging aangaan, blijft het ontbreken
van een duidelijke financieringsstructuur voor eigen projecten een grote
belemmering voor het ontwikkelen van
een duurzame eigen professionele
praktijk. Juist vanwege het innovatieve
en eigenzinnige karakter vinden dergelijke projecten moeilijk aansluiting
bij de markt en bij bestaande institutionele arrangementen. De jachtigheid die
noodzakelijkerwijs uit deze ‘bricoleur’
activiteit volgt is ook niet bevorderlijk
voor de kwaliteit van het werk.
Bij de traditionele zendgemachtigden en mediaproducenten behouden
de nieuwe media een lage prioriteit.
Het werkproces, de institutionele
structuur en de gevestigde belangen
(ondermeer in de vorm van advertentiegelden voor massamediale verspreiding, die van levensbelang zijn) blijven
gegrondvest in de praktijk van de
massamedia (radio, televisie en printmedia). Uit zichzelf zal deze praktijk
niet veranderen, maar ontwikkelingen
in de omgeving van deze publieke
(en commerciële) mediaorganisaties
dwingen wel veranderingen af en zullen
dat in de nabije toekomst in toenemende mate blijven doen.
MEDIALANDSCHAP
Focus op Functies
In december 2004 bracht de Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid het rapport Focus op Functies:
Uitdagingen voor een toekomstbestendig mediabeleid 8 uit. De Raad bracht
daarin een toekomstvisie voor het
Nederlandse mediabestel naar voren.
De snelle technologische veranderingen in het medialandschap en in het
bijzonder het eerder besproken proces
van convergentie van media en haar
effecten vormden het uitgangspunt in
dit rapport. De Raad constateert in dit
rapport dat de traditionele focus in het
mediabeleid op ‘kanalen’, op gevestigde mediavormen als radio en televisie,
niet adequaat is om relevante antwoorden te vinden op de uitdagingen die de
snelle technologische ontwikkelingen
stellen. In plaats daarvan houdt de
Raad een pleidooi om dit mediabeleid
te baseren op de functies van media,
als ‘stabiele categorieën’ 9 voor een
toekomstige mediabeleid.
De publieke functies van het mediabestel zijn daarmee in het geding. De
overheid wil garanties bieden voor een
adequate pluriformiteit en kwaliteit van
het openbare aanbod van informatie en
communicatie. De wegen hiertoe zijn
veelvuldig. De overheid hoeft niet
nadrukkelijk zelf media-infrastructuren
en productiefaciliteiten in te richten of
beheren. Ook in de vorm van regulatie
en interventie bij marktfalen kan zij
voorzien in deze opdracht. Wat ik
echter al eerder heb aangevoerd is dat
ontwikkelingen in de markt die nauw
samenhangen met het convergentieproces (toegenomen horizontale en
verticale integratie in de media-industrie) er juist toe leiden dat deze publieke opdracht ernstig in geding is als
ontwikkelingen aan de markt worden
overgelaten. Evenwel is op het gebied
van nieuwe media-ontwikkeling de
overheid als actieve speler grotendeels
afwezig en laat zij deze taak over aan
de traditionele zendgemachtigden waar
het een lage prioriteit wordt toegekend.
De noodzaak voor de verschuiving
van de focus in het mediabeleid van
kanalen naar functies wordt door de
Raad uitvoerig toegelicht in het rapport. Ik citeer hieronder de belangrijkste argumenten die zij aanvoert:
– Toekomstbestendigheid: Als gevolg
van convergentie en concurrentie
worden infrastructuren en media
minder ‘bepalend’ voor marktfalen en
ligt het voor de hand om marktfalen
meer op het niveau van de functies
ERIC KLUITENBERG
71
van mediadiensten en -producten te
analyseren. Dat betekent niet dat er
geen aandacht meer is voor (marktfalen van) specifieke media en infrastructuren. Het betekent wel dat er
vanuit het oogpunt van het gewenste
functioneren van het medialandschap
vooral aandacht is voor belangrijke
andere vormen en niveaus van het
falen van mediamarkten.10
– Relevantie van waarden: Een tweede punt is dat de geldingskracht van
normatieve elementen van het mediabeleid, de waarden en de daarvan af
te leiden publieke belangen en doelen,
steeds meer los komt te staan van
het type infrastructuur of medium.
De normatieve elementen en
waarden die aan het mediabeleid
ten grondslag liggen, zijn immers
vooral relevant voor de functies die
het medialandschap moet vervullen,
en veel minder voor het functioneren
van infrastructuren en media.
De waarden van onafhankelijkheid,
toegankelijkheid en pluriformiteit zijn
in beginsel voor alle functies relevant,
maar in de uitwerking en belangenafweging zal er verschil zijn tussen
bijvoorbeeld nieuwsvoorziening en
amusement.11
– Hybridisering: Ten derde zijn de
ontwikkelingen van hybridisering
en virtualisering die in paragraaf 2.5
uitvoerig zijn besproken, een belangrijke ondersteuning voor een op functies gerichte benadering. Door de
toenemende technologische mogelijkheden om vormen van informatie te
reproduceren en te modificeren ontstaan er allerlei nieuwe ‘hybride inhouden’ (bijvoorbeeld infotainment).
Als gevolg van ontwikkelingen in de
journalistiek, consumentenvraag,
concurrentieoverwegingen van aanbieders, technologische en sociaalculturele ontwikkelingen ontstaan
motieven en mogelijkheden voor een
onoverzichtelijke en voor de consument niet direct kenbare vermenging
van functies en daarmee verbonden
inhouden.12
Op basis van de door de Raad waargenomen ontwikkelingen acht zij het
bestaande mediabestel en het daaraan
gekoppelde mediabeleid niet langer
houdbaar noch werkbaar voor de toekomst. De analyse van de Raad leidt
tot een fundamentele heroverweging
van de vorm en functie van met name
de publieke omroepen in Nederland.
Juist waar het publieke mediafuncties
betreft die niet vanzelfsprekend door
de markt worden ingevuld is een
72
actieve interventie van de overheid
gewenst.
In het laatste hoofdstuk verkent
de Raad daartoe een aantal mogelijke
modaliteiten voor een toekomstige
inrichting van de publieke mediafuncties. De vier modaliteiten die zij daar
herkent variëren van een minimale
variant waarin de overheid slechts
regulerend optreedt; een productiefonds-model waarbij de overheid
toeziet op nieuwsvoorziening en
middelen garandeert voor publieke
mediafuncties die inhoudelijk door
maatschappelijke organisaties kunnen worden ingevuld, welke zich niet
principieel binnen het mediabestel
bevinden; een afgeslankt ‘BBC model’,
toegesneden op de Nederlandse verhoudingen waarin de overheid één
redactioneel onafhankelijke centrale
publieke media-aanbieder faciliteert
die op alle huidige en toekomstige
mediakanalen een programma aanbod kan verzorgen; en tenslotte, een
gemengd en open bestel waarbij het
uitgangspunt van omroepverenigingen
grotendeels wordt gehandhaafd maar
wordt opengesteld voor convocaties
en samenwerking met organisaties uit
het maatschappelijke middenveld.13
Op basis van de omgevingsanalyse
van de Raad stelt zij dat zij het productiefonds model een zeer warm
hart toedraagt, maar toch kiest zij
uiteindelijk voor het als vierde voorgestelde gemengde en open bestel
dat het meest aansluit op de huidige
inrichting van het Nederlandse publieke mediabestel. Het productiefondsmodel moet echter voor de toekomst
niet worden afgeschreven. Het productiefonds model lijkt veruit het meest
‘toekomstbestendig’. Bovendien biedt
dit model een zeer interessant perspectief voor de verdere ontwikkeling
van een vitale en kwalitatief hoogwaardige publieke nieuwe mediacultuur.
10
Ibid., p. 76.
11
Ibid., p. 77.
12
Ibid., p. 77.
13
Zie: Focus op Functies,
6.5.5 enkele denkbare
modaliteiten voor de
vormgeving van de
toekomstige publieke
omroep, pp. 171-179.
Het productiefonds model en een
publieke content-creatie regeling
Zoals ik eerder heb geconstateerd
ontbreekt in Nederland op dit moment
een adequate financieringsregeling
voor de creatie van artistiek hoogwaardige producties en maatschappelijk
belangwekkende initiatieven op het
gebied van nieuwe media. Het is duidelijk dat een belangrijk aandeel van deze
producties en initiatieven niet door de
markt worden gedragen noch worden
mogelijk gemaakt. Voor wat betreft de
artistieke producties heeft in de afgelopen jaren de Interregeling, een
MAPPING E-CULTURE
dwarsverband tussen enkele grotere
cultuurfondsen een rol gespeeld, maar
deze regeling liep eind 2008 af, zonder
een helder beeld van een vervangende
regeling. Ook blijkt de Interregeling
in hoge mate overvraagd door steunverzoeken voor relevante projecten
waarvan minder dan 25% wordt toegekend. Uit dit percentage en de
tendens naar een toenemend aantal
projectvoorstellen blijkt een grote
maatschappelijke behoefte aan een
dergelijke regeling.
Het verdwijnen van de Interregeling
en het ontbreken van een deugdelijke
regeling voor de creatie van publieke
content is eveneens door het Virtueel
Platform geconstateerd in een schrijven aan de Raad voor Cultuur en de
Minister van Onderwijs, Cultuur en
Wetenschappen in het voorjaar van
2008. In de brief stelt het Virtueel
Platform voor om een regeling die zich
richt op een aantal vitale functies die
zorgen voor een verdere ontwikkeling
van de publieke nieuwe mediacultuur
in Nederland.
De regeling zou zich in het bijzonder
moeten richten op projecten die:
– maatschappelijke, technologische
(hard- en software) en wetenschappelijke pretenties en toepassingen
hebben (zoals nieuw interface design,
ontwikkeling van open source software);
– interdisciplinair en crossmediaal
van karakter zijn (projecten waarbij
tegelijkertijd met verschillende media
en kanalen gewerkt wordt);
– een brede (commerciële) publieksfunctie betreffen (gelijk aan bijvoorbeeld projecten die het Filmfonds
ondersteunt in haar regeling voor
de Nederlandse lange speelfilm);
– relatief klein en/of kortlopend zijn,
niet direct innovatief zijn maar van
groot belang zijn voor e-cultuur en
nieuwe media.
In deze aandachtspunten komt wederom het grensoverschrijdende karakter
van de nieuwe mediacultuur en haar
raakvlakken met bredere maatschappelijke en sociale functies sterk naar
voren. Het lijkt daarom dat deze problematiek niet kan worden opgelost
zonder meer en uitsluitend binnen het
kader van de cultuursector in enge zin
(het ‘kunstenveld’) en haar inherent
beperkte middelen.
Het eerder genoemde productiefonds model biedt hier een zeer voor
de hand liggende oplossing. In dit
model worden publieke mediafuncties
los gekoppeld van de specifieke media-
MEDIALANDSCHAP
kanalen waardoor zij worden gedistribueerd en bezien op hun intrinsieke
maatschappelijke en culturele waarde.
De Raad ziet hier goede mogelijkheden
om ook organisaties uit het maatschappelijke middenveld, non-gouvernementele organisaties, burgerinitiatieven
alsmede kunsten cultuurorganisaties
bij de creatie van het publieke mediaaanbod in Nederland te betrekken.
Niet alleen heeft dit belangrijke democratiserende effecten voor de inrichting
en het functioneren van het publieke
mediabestel maar het creëert ook een
raamwerk voor directe maatschappelijke en culturele participatie voor
veel brede lagen van de Nederlandse
samenleving. Het bevordert daarmee
in sterke mate de sociale samenhang
omdat mensen direct bij deze cruciale
vormen van publieke communicatie
worden betrokken.
Het model dat de Raad met veel
sympathie bejegent creëert tevens de
schaal die gewenst en noodzakelijk
is om tot een vruchtbare ontwikkeling
van een maatschappelijk belangwekkende, en betrokken en artistiek
hoogwaardige nieuwe mediacultuur
in Nederland te komen en zou daarom
op zo kort mogelijke termijn moeten
worden geëffectueerd.
Economische competentie voor
de publieke en culturele sector
Met de inrichting van een productiefonds voor publieke en creatieve
content creatie in en rond de nieuwe
media zijn echter nog niet alle vraagstukken beantwoord voor de actuele
nieuwe mediacultuur in Nederland. Het
is noodzakelijk dat ook de actoren in
het zich snel ontwikkelende professionele veld hun eigen verantwoordelijkheid nemen om deze op innovatieve
wijze vorm te geven.
Om dit effectief te kunnen doen is
het dringend gewenst om de economische competentie van de publieke en
culturele sector te versterken. Dit houdt
expliciet niet in dat culturele en maatschappelijke organisaties hun werkwijze en ‘product’ moeten aanpassen
aan een abstracte marktlogica of aan
een commerciële sector ontleend
(bedrijfs)economisch model. Integendeel, wat hiermee bedoeld wordt is
dat ook maatschappelijke en culturele
organisaties die actief zijn op het terrein van de nieuwe media een kritisch
begrip moeten ontwikkelen van de
economische principes en mechanismen die werkzaam zijn in de nieuwe
media sector in brede zin. Vanuit een
dergelijk kritisch perspectief kunnen
ERIC KLUITENBERG
73
vervolgens strategische- en beleidskeuzes worden gemaakt die deze
organisaties in staat stellen om deze
economische mechanismen in te
zetten voor het bereiken van hun
oorspronkelijke doelstelling, of eerder
de beperkingen van deze economische
principes te herkennen en daar een
realistisch beleid op af te stemmen.
Het uiteindelijke doel is om de draagkracht en duurzaamheid van deze
initiatieven blijvend te vergroten.
Tussen hemel en aarde: over
de impact van de technologie
op cultuur en de kunsten
‘Stil Maar, Wacht Maar, Alles wordt
Nieuw, de Hemel en de Aarde
Stil Maar, Wacht maar, Alles wordt
Nieuw, de Hemel en de Aarde’
Caroline Nevejan
Huub Oosterhuis
In de jaren zestig van de vorige eeuw
zongen wij dit liedje van Huub Oosterhuis in de kerk. Het was een liedje
waar ik blij van werd, dat vertrouwen
gaf en ruimte. Het liedje zei me dat als
ik rustig zou wachten, de vernieuwing
vanzelf zou komen. Vernieuwing klonk
op die melodie als de lente die er aan
komt, hoewel zij in de koude winter
nog niet zichtbaar was.
Virtueel Platform vraagt me de stand
van zaken in de brede cultuursector te
beschrijven vanuit het perspectief van
de e-cultuur. Ik herinner me dit liedje
vol vertrouwen in de toekomst en
realiseer me dat de ontwikkeling van
de digitale cultuur, het mondiale kapitalisme en de ontstane klimaatcrisis
een dergelijke tekst inmiddels bijna
onmogelijk heeft gemaakt. Zijn er nog
kinderen die dit zingen? En hoe kunnen
we de kinderen van de toekomst zulke
liedjes vol vertrouwen laten zingen?
De ‘hemel en aarde’ waarin de
cultuur bestaat en zich ontwikkelt, is
de afgelopen decennia ingrijpend aan
het veranderen. Muziek, dans, theater,
bibliotheken, media, archieven, literatuur, film en architectuur ontstaan en
bestaan in een door digitalisering snel
veranderende omgeving. Deze veranderingen beïnvloeden disciplines en
sectoren ieder op eigen wijze. Ook de
manier waarop kinderen in aanraking
komen met de cultuur om hen heen
en erdoor geraakt worden is ingrijpend
veranderd.
Hieronder bespreek ik een aantal
trends die het gevolg zijn van deze
grote veranderingen: verschuiving van
perspectief op identiteit, verandering
van rollen van amateurs en professionals, verschuiving van sturing en
controle naar regie en inspiratie, en
veranderingen in cultuurparticipatie.
Vervolgens schets ik kort wat er speelt
in een aantal kunsten cultuursectoren.
Nieuwe perspectieven op identiteit
Sinds mijn geboorte heeft de wereldbevolking zich verdubbeld en inmiddels
woont meer dan de helft van de mensen in een stad. Informatie uit de hele
wereld kan op grote schaal worden
verzameld en wereldwijd door mensen
worden gebruikt. Miljoenen mensen
74
MAPPING E-CULTURE
TUSSEN HEMEL EN AARDE: OVER DE
IMPACT VAN DE TECHNOLOGIE OP
CULTUUR EN DE KUNSTEN
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
75
reizen door de lucht, over het water en
(snel) over het land. We kunnen ‘live’
kijken en praten met mensen op andere plaatsen op de aarde en zelfs
vanuit de ruimte naar onze planeet
kijken. Door microscopen, scans en
andere medische technologie hebben
we een beeld gekregen van ons inwendige lichaam. We kunnen baby’s
al zien voordat zij zijn geboren. Bovenal: de technologie die deze kennis en
beelden van de wereld mogelijk maakt
is voor miljoenen mensen bereikbaar.
Oude sprookjes en nieuwe verhalen
smelten ineen en een nieuwe verbeelding wordt wereldwijd verspreid. Lokale
culturen onderscheiden zich van een
zich ontwikkelende wereldcultuur.
Via Internet en televisie kennen vele
mensen over de hele wereld dezelfde
beelden. Dit heeft ons veranderd.
Als je eenmaal vanaf een berg hebt
gekeken naar het dal waar je verblijft,
kan je dit nieuwe perspectief niet
meer vergeten. Evenzo heeft de mens
nieuwe perspectieven op zijn bestaan
gecreëerd, waardoor opvattingen over
identiteit veranderen. Hoeveel en welke
geschiedenis heeft de mens nodig?
Hoeveel stromen van informatie kan
een mens tegelijk aan? Hoeveel tijd
kan een mens mentaal ergens anders
zijn en toch nog goed functioneren in
haar of zijn eigen omgeving? Hoeveel
interactie is gezond? Waar en hoe wil
een mens kunnen handelen en wanneer mag een machine dit doen? Welke
dramatische ontwikkelingen worden
door de nieuwe mens herkend en welk
tempo en ritme is daarvoor noodzakelijk? En ontstaat er ook een nieuwe
esthetiek in een volgende fase van
technologische vooruitgang en hoe
ziet deze er dan uit? En als iedereen
toegang heeft tot alles wordt iedereen
dan ook gelijk? Hoe herkennen we
verschillen en hoe gaan we om met die
verschillen? Of is dit allemaal overdreven en is de mens van nu dezelfde als
de mens van vroeger, die geboren wordt,
opgroeit, verliefd wordt, werkt, allerhande materiële en immateriële zaken
verzamelt, kinderen krijgt en sterft?
Digitale technologie verandert in hoog
tempo en heeft tegelijkertijd grote
invloed op het dagelijks leven van
mensen. Of we nu spreken over het
behoud van een archief, het ontwerpen van een game of het ontwikkelen
van nieuwe journalistieke formules:
er heerst verwarring over de huidige
stand van zaken omdat de nabije
toekomst al grote onzekerheid biedt.
76
Wat er gebeurt in bijvoorbeeld de
muziekindustrie wordt meer bepaald
door intuïtieve gevoelens dan door
rationele argumenten. En in dit intuïtieve
gevoel zijn telkens weer dezelfde stemmen te horen. Een bijna ongebreidelde
interesse in nieuwe mogelijkheden
spreekt tegen een diep besef dat
beschermd moet worden wat er nu is.
We kunnen alles op Internet zetten en
er alles leren, maar, zegt een andere
stem dan, hoewel er veel op internet
staat is wijsheid er niet te vinden.
Op verschillend wetenschappelijke
fora wordt de vraag gesteld of de cognitieve ontwikkeling van mensen die in
dit nieuwe medialandschap opgroeien
anders verloopt dan vroeger. Sommigen benadrukken dat de kinderen
die nu opgroeien in een stadse mediaomgeving sneller complexe situaties
kunnen hanteren. Maar, zegt de andere
stem dan, ook de nieuwe kinderen
hebben een context nodig waarin ze
opbloeien door liefde en vertrouwen,
waarin ze de weerbaarheid ontwikkelen
om processen te kunnen doormaken,
en waarin zij leren lezen en leren zich
te concentreren…
is als voorheen. Platenmaatschappijen
hebben inmiddels een andere positie
nu mensen zelf muziek kunnen downloaden, professionele muzikanten en
amateurs hun eigen werk wereldwijd
kunnen verkopen en elkaar kunnen
vinden op vele platforms op Internet.
Het museum, dat een bron van kennisexpositie was, kan een centrum worden
van kennisproductie door het faciliteren
van een netwerk van amateurs en professionals. In museumgoudA bijvoorbeeld is een bijzondere collectie beschilderd aardewerk dat als porselein
oogt te vinden. Veel van deze stukken
‘Gouds Plateel’ zijn in Goudse families
bewaard gebleven omdat de mensen in
Gouda werkten in de fabrieken die dit
aardewerk in het begin van de vorige
eeuw maakten. Het museum is rond
deze verzameling een netwerk gaan
regisseren, waardoor de kennis over
dit aardewerk is verdiept en de feitelijke verzameling groter is geworden.
Ook is het museum door dit project
regisseur geworden van een structurele samenwerking tussen een aantal
sociale instituties in Gouda waaronder
de bibliotheek.
Door de nieuwe perspectieven op
identiteit ontstaan grote kansen en ook
nieuwe spanningen tussen generaties
en tussen verschillende bevolkingsgroepen die op dezelfde plaats leven.
Ook de relatie met mensen die elders
leven is er door veranderd. De verwarring tussen hoe mensen elkaar waarnemen in de ‘echte’ wereld, hoe dit
resoneert met beelden uit de media
en hoe dit begrepen wordt vanuit
verschillende religieuze en historische
contexten is in vele situaties voelbaar
en oorsprong van grote conflicten.
Tegelijkertijd zijn miljoenen mensen
dagelijks in contact met mensen die
heel anders en/of ver weg zijn, zoals
nooit tevoren mogelijk was.
Het woord amateur is direct afgeleid
van het Latijnse woord ‘amare’, dat
‘houden van’ betekent. Professioneel
refereert aan het Latijnse ‘professi’, dat
volgens het etymologische woordenboek ‘in het openbaar verkondigen,
openlijk verklaren, zijn beroep te
maken van, doceren’ betekent. Het
onderscheid tussen amateur en professional blijkt historisch te liggen in
verschillende domeinen waarin men
handelt: de amateur in het privédomein, de professional in het openbare.
Met de komst van de grote internetplatforms en de vele Web 2.0 applicaties blijkt dat het handelingsdomein
van zowel de professional als van de
amateur aan het verschuiven is. Terwijl
de amateurs massaal in de openbaarheid publiceren, speelt het professionele leven zich meer en meer in
beschermde intranetomgevingen af.
Mensen blijken graag kennis en
kunde in de openbaarheid te willen
delen, en zodoende is het onderscheid
tussen de bijdrage van de amateur en
de bijdrage van de professional niet
meer te maken op basis van het in
de openbaarheid claimen van een
bepaalde kennis of kunde. Amateurs
hebben met behulp van Internet
massaal de handelingsruimte van de
professional betreden en het onderscheid tussen de één en de ander lijkt
in die openbaarheid voornamelijk
In de ‘hemel en aarde’ van vandaag is
een nieuwe identiteit van de mens aan
het ontstaan. Niet alleen de ervaring
van tijd en plaats is veranderd, maar
ook de wijze waarop men handelt en
de relatie met andere mensen die we
wel of niet kennen.
De professional en de amateur
In deze tijd van nieuwe perspectieven
op onze identiteit voltrekt zich ook een
andere grote verandering. Tussen de
amateur en de professional is een
spanningsveld ontstaan omdat met
name (de rol van de intermediairs in) de
professionele omgeving niet dezelfde
MAPPING E-CULTURE
contextafhankelijk te zijn geworden.
Een belangrijk neveneffect van dit
nieuwe spanningsveld is dat de vraag
naar het ontstaan en herkennen van
kwaliteit indringend wordt gesteld.
In digitale montages van beeld en
geluid worden ‘samples’ van anderen
gebruikt en in deze montages worden
originelen en de context waarin ze verschijnen veranderd. Ook hier klinken
verschillende stemmen. Er wordt geargumenteerd dat in de montage nieuw
werk ontstaat. Anderen argumenteren
dat de kwaliteit feitelijk wordt ontleend
aan het werk van de makers die het
oorspronkelijke materiaal hebben gemaakt. Het blijkt echter dat miljoenen
mensen en vele kunstenaars als vanzelfsprekend materiaal van anderen
gebruiken zonder dat men het gevoel
heeft iets te stelen van een ander. Het
voelt net als een liedje leren zingen.
Iemand zingt een liedje: Als ik het ook
leer zingen dan kunnen we het samen
zingen en hebben we plezier! Mensen
groeien op in een omgeving waarin
cultuur een grote rol speelt en net als
met de natuur heeft men een vanzelfsprekend gevoel om elementen uit
deze omgeving te mogen gebruiken.
De ‘sharing economy’, zoals Lawrence
Lessig dit fenomeen genaamd heeft,
blijkt veel groter en sterker dan verwacht. De ‘sharing economy’ staat
echter op gespannen voet met de
huidige economie waar eigendom,
ook geestelijk eigendom, de motor
is achter de economische en juridische dynamiek. Het blijkt echter dat
auteursrechten en copyrights de
miljoenen amateurs bijvoorbeeld niet
belemmeren in het downloaden van
muziek.
Ook blijkt dat inmiddels miljoenen
amateurs publiceren in het openbaar
zonder dat men auteursrecht of copyrights claimt. Belangrijk daarbij is dat
aan bepaalde voorwaarden voor vertrouwen is voldaan. Een dergelijk
vertrouwen blijkt eerder te ontstaan
doordat een platform door vele
anderen wordt gebruikt dan dat een
juridisch vastgelegd auteursrecht
dit beschermt. Dit neemt echter niet
weg dat een auteur, professioneel of
amateur, behoefte heeft eigen werk
van een eigen signatuur te voorzien,
maar tegelijkertijd het werk van anderen vrijelijk wil kunnen gebruiken.
Cultuur is immers voor meer dan de
helft van de wereldbevolking een groot
gedeelte van hun stedelijke natuur
geworden. Mensen willen graag hun
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
77
eigen omgeving kunnen aanraken en
gebruiken.
Door de grote schaal en reikwijdte
van het Internet is de zichtbaarheid en
bruikbaarheid van de producten echter
in zo’n hoog tempo veranderd, dat we
op zoek zijn naar een nieuw gevoel,
opvatting en vaststelling van wat het
recht is van een auteur en wat het
recht is van een ander die hetzelfde
materiaal wil gebruiken.1 Ook de vraag
naar de kwaliteit van het werk van de
professional en die van de amateur
staat ter discussie. Deze maatschappelijke dynamiek leidt tot complexe zaken
waar in vele dagelijkse beslissingen
een uitspraak over wordt verwacht.
Directie en regie
Wanneer de vraag wordt gesteld hoe de
identiteit van de mens zich ontwikkelt,
wordt tegelijk de vraag gesteld naar de
omgeving die deze mens nodig heeft.
Een complexe vraag, zeker wanneer
men zich realiseert dat de ontwikkelingen in onze tijd geen heldere intentie
hebben. Er is geen sprake van een
‘masterplan’ maar er is een dynamiek
ontstaan die wordt gevoed door wat
vele mensen doen en waar uiteindelijk
niemand voor verantwoordelijk is. In
deze dynamiek spelen bovendien grote
commerciële belangen een rol. Deze
belangen, die gericht zijn op financieel
rendement op korte termijn, zijn lang
niet altijd zichtbaar maar veranderen
wel diepgaand en op de lange termijn
de sociale structuur van de mondiale
samenleving. Als gevolg wordt ook de
vraag naar de essentie van de kwaliteit
van de samenleving steeds indringender gesteld. Hoe de markt voor de
commerciële productie van cultuur
te organiseren opdat er mondiale
diversiteit kan blijven bestaan? Hoe
te zorgen dat wanneer mensen hun
kennis en kunde delen deze niet kan
worden misbruikt? Welke cultuur
hebben de mensen van morgen nodig
om met elkaar te kunnen leven? Welke
kennis en creativiteit kunnen mensen
delen en wanneer is het noodzakelijk
dat er verdiend wordt? Hoeveel cultuur
dragen we vanzelf? Hoe groot en duur
mag het kunstwerk worden? En hoe
kan de Nederlandse overheid in deze
dynamiek de Nederlandse cultuur en
haar lokale culturen stimuleren en beschermen? Sporen van onze geschiedenis hoeven niet persé tegen hoge
kosten te worden bewaard, maar als de
monumenten en archieven niet kunnen
worden bezocht, kunnen de mensen
ook geen gevoel voor geschiedenis
78
ontwikkelen. Bibliotheken die belemmerd worden in het ontsluiten en
toegankelijk maken van bronnen
en materiaal omdat zij steeds vaker
geconfronteerd worden met auteursrechtelijke sloten of kostbare drempels,
zien hun bestaansgrond wankelen.
En dan strijdt de opvatting dat wat niet
meer bruikbaar is geen waarde meer
heeft, met de opvatting dat een bijzonder archief bewaard moet worden
zodat op een dag iemand er van zal
genieten. De Nederlandse filmsector
moet worden beschermd omdat zij
een waarde heeft voor de Nederlandse
cultuur. Maar als die sector het commercieel niet redt, waar ligt dan de
grens aan hoeveel gemeenschapsgeld
zij mag gebruiken? Kunst en cultuur
als instrument staat in dit perspectief
tegenover kunst en cultuur als waarde
in zichzelf, terwijl beide perspectieven
op kunst en cultuur elkaar juist zo
goed kunnen aanvullen. Zo worden de
kunstenaar en de kunstgenieter beiden
gerespecteerd.
Het mag duidelijk zijn dat deze vraagstukken complex zijn en geen eenduidige antwoorden kennen. Daar komt
nog bij dat de technologie maar door
weinigen wordt begrepen en voortdurend verandert. Bovendien mislukken
ook grote projecten regelmatig en
worden ze vaak door onzichtbare
financiële belangen gedomineerd.
Niettemin komt de vraag naar kwaliteit
op allerlei niveaus naar boven. Ook in
dagelijkse managementsituaties en
beleidsomgevingen waar zelden de tijd
is om er dieper op in te gaan. In iedere
sector en in iedere industrie moeten
voortdurend beslissingen worden genomen over wat er nodig is, waarin
geïnvesteerd wordt, wat juridisch wordt
beschermd, hoeveel ruimte amateurs
en professionals krijgen voor een eigen
inbreng, en in hoeverre gehoorzaamheid en handelen volgens afspraak
wordt verlangd. In de snel medialiserende samenleving is het in sommige
sectoren moeilijk om te voorzien waar
de ontwikkelingen heen gaan en wordt
de ratio onder beleid en beslissingen
vergelijkbaar met de situatie van een
boer die zaait en hoopt op goed weer.
Verantwoordelijkheid durven te nemen
in complexe situaties die men niet in
de hand heeft is moeilijk maar onafwendbaar. De vraag hoe de persoonlijke verantwoordelijkheid zich ver
houdt tot de dynamiek van het collectief is in veel situaties niet helder. De
waan van de dag regeert, getuige ook
de vele actuele kwesties waarin de
MAPPING E-CULTURE
1
Fair use, copyright,
copyleft en creative
commons beogen het
intellectuele eigendom
van de auteur te beschermen en transacties tussen auteurs te
organiseren. De vraag
is of dit haalbaar en/of
wenselijk blijft. Op de
London School of Economics vindt nu een
Europees onderzoek
plaats dat de bewijslast
verlegt: iedereen mag
alles gebruiken, behalve
elkaars naam. Ik kan
dus een citaat van
Michael Jackson gebruiken, maar mag
zonder zijn uitdrukkelijke toestemming
niet vermelden dat dit
van hem afkomstig is.
Auteursrecht wordt in
dit geval geminimaliseerd tot het kunnen
verdedigen van de
eigen reputatie.
verantwoordelijkheid van bestuurders
ter discussie staat. Het ‘ware leiderschap’ is een groot thema in managementkringen en vereist persoonlijke
integriteit en verantwoordelijkheid die
zich onafhankelijk van de waan van de
dag vormt en ontwikkelt.
Het snel veranderende landschap
vraagt om nieuwe bestuurs- en organisatiemodellen om zowel de markt
als het publieke domein als de kunsten
in goede verhoudingen te regisseren.
Sturing en controle creëren betrouwbaarheid en aansprakelijkheid, maar
kunnen ook leiden tot verstarring en
gebrek aan inzicht in wat er aan het
gebeuren is. Goede regie en veel
inspiratie creëren een bloeiende cultuur met veel initiatief, maar worden
kwetsbaar en vluchtig zonder fundament in de vorm van een goede juridische en financiële infrastructuur.
Qua managementstijl begint er inmiddels een groot verschil te ontstaan
tussen de ‘oude’ en de ‘nieuwe’ stijl
van managen en besturen. De nieuwe
stijl balanceert tussen de hierboven
geschetste dynamiek van sturing naar
regie, maakt fouten, maar heeft ook
succes. De oude stijl consolideert en
probeert voornamelijk te redden wat er
te redden valt, is verbaasd over wat er
in de wereld gebeurt en sluit zich af.
is de mens zelf het product geworden.
Daarom wordt de mens geteld, gevolgd
en meetbaar gemaakt.
Steeds meer mensen realiseren zich
dat de informatie- en communicatietechnologie niet alleen rendement en
efficiency moeten opleveren, maar ook
wezenlijk kan bijdragen aan de kwaliteit van het dagelijks leven van vele
mensen. Het is geweldig dat we in
contact kunnen staan met mensen aan
de andere kant van de wereld, dat we
muziek uit alle windstreken kunnen
horen zonder er te zijn, dat we beelden
kunnen delen en samen kunnen componeren, dat archieven online beschikbaar zijn, dat we bibliotheekboeken
thuis kunnen bestellen, dat kunstenaars hun werk kunnen publiceren,
dat het publiek dat werk in drie klikken op de computer kan vinden, dat
we informatie kunnen opzoeken en
checken als nooit tevoren!
Het blijkt dat fundamentele processen
in de verschillende waardeketens kenteren in deze grote omslag van ‘product design’ naar ‘service design’. Het
museum regisseert een netwerk om de
dingen te kunnen tonen. De muzikant
publiceert online om live te kunnen
spelen. De filters van het nieuws zijn
afhankelijk van de potentiële kijkers. In
deze omslag van product naar service
Een moedige regie is noodzakelijk:
er zijn grote kansen en er staan grote
verworven vrijheden op het spel. Grote
commerciële- en politieke belangen
met een structureel gebrek aan transparantie hebben op dit moment bijna
vrij spel. Maar weinig mensen begrijpen
de implicaties van de huidige technologische ontwikkeling. Een dergelijke
moedige regie heeft ondersteuning
nodig van een goede organisatievorm
die ondersteund wordt door een adequate juridische- en financiële infrastructuur waaraan ook de technologische platforms zich committeren. Er is
op dit moment en in deze jaren een
grote alertheid en daadkracht vereist
opdat in de komende decennia een
betrouwbare mondiale omgeving kan
worden gebouwd. Wat er (on)mogelijk
is met de huidige technologieën is in
de afgelopen 10 jaar zichtbaar geworden. De zogenaamde ‘innovatieruimte’
heeft zich gevuld. Het is zaak om nu te
durven weten wat er aan de hand is,
met alle ratio en intuïtie die ons ter
beschikking staat. Alleen dan is er kans
dat in 2058 de kinderen rustig samen
zullen zingen:
‘Stil maar, wacht maar, alles wordt
nieuw, de hemel en de aarde..’
zonder dat ze eerst auteursrechten aan
Huub Oosterhuis hebben afgestaan.
Of dat ze bijvoorbeeld Indonesië niet
mogen bezoeken omdat ze ooit,
digitaal aantoonbaar, een christelijk
liedje hebben gezongen.
(Eigenlijk wil ik dit eerste gedeelte
afsluiten met een Peanuts cartoon dat
ik in de International Herald Tribune
van maandag 20 oktober 2008 zag
staan. Maar omdat dit artikel wordt
gepubliceerd kan dat niet vanwege de
copyright. In deze cartoon ligt Charlie
Brown in bed en Snoopy ligt op zijn
buik. Hij mijmert een beetje voor het
in slaap vallen en zegt ”Sometimes I
lie awake at night and ask, can my
generation look to the future with
hope?”
In het volgende plaatje draait hij
zich om, terwijl Snoopy hem nu aankijkt en zegt: “Then, out of the dark, a
voice comes to me that says, : “why,
sure… well, I mean... that is... it sort of
depends. i mean...if... when… who…
we… and...”)
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
79
orte impressies trends e-cultuur
K
in kunst en cultuur
Muziek:
In de muziekindustrie hebben de
technologische veranderingen grote
impact gehad. Opname en montage
apparatuur zijn veel goedkoper en
beter geworden. In de popmuziekindustrie staat op dit moment feitelijk
de gehele waardeketen op zijn kop:
consumenten downloaden de muziek
en artiesten zijn met behulp van Internet hun eigen producent geworden. In
deze digitale beweging is het interessant dat live concerten aantoonbaar
meer worden bezocht. Blijkbaar is de
ervaring van het bezoeken van een
concert van een geheel andere orde.
Op Internet mengen amateurs en
professionals zich schijnbaar moeiteloos. Beiden hebben toegang tot het
publieke domein. De platenmaatschappijen hebben echter lange tijd hun kop
in het zand gestoken. Zij zijn hierdoor
een groot terrein verloren dat zij nu
proberen terug te winnen met initiatieven als iTunes. De klassieke muziek
en de moderne muziek lijken steeds
kwetsbaarder te worden door de alomtegenwoordigheid van de populaire
muziek. Feitelijk blijkt echter dat de
bezoekersaantallen zich de afgelopen
10 jaar hebben gestabiliseerd. Dat
dit een overwegend ouder publiek is,
kan net zo goed een voordeel als een
nadeel zijn. De verminderde aandacht
voor muziekonderwijs – zowel op de
reguliere school als op muziekscholen
– is wel een groot probleem. Het leren
bespelen van een instrument kost nu
eenmaal veel tijd. Het ontwikkelen van
talent begint daarom op jonge leeftijd.
Indien talent niet op jonge leeftijd wordt
opgemerkt is dit op latere leeftijd niet
meer in te halen. Goed muziekonderwijs is ook belangrijk om jongeren
kennis te laten maken met verschillende soorten muziek zodat ze behalve
popmuziek ook weten hoe bijvoorbeeld
een symfonisch orkest klinkt. Gelukkig
zijn er steeds meer goede initiatieven
van musici zelf om ook minder bekende muziek onder de aandacht van jongeren te brengen, zoals het bekende
nieuwjaarsconcert van het Nederlands
Blazers Ensemble dat ieder jaar op
televisie wordt uitgezonden.
Film:
In het filmveld heeft digitale technologie zowel in het productieproces,
distributie als afname grote invloed.
Met opname- en montageapparatuur
en op het gebied van animatie en
special-effect is zoveel meer mogelijk dankzij nieuwe technologie. Voor
amateurs is de apparatuur zeer
80
MAPPING E-CULTURE
2
Het onderscheid tussen
twee, drie, vier en vijf
dimensies heb ik voor
het eerst geformuleerd
in een interview met
Geert Lovink over de
‘Poltics of Presence
Design’, http://www.
nevejan.org.
3
Een voorbeeld van een
kunstwerk in 5 dimensies uit de traditie van
Kunst en Technologie:
Omdat het begrip tijd –
zowel objectief (de tijd
op de klok) als subjectief (gevoelsmatig) –
zeer sterk aanwezig is
op school, ontwikkelde
Barbara Visser een
kunstwerk dat iets
vertelt over het meten
en het weergeven van
tijd en ook aanleiding
kan zijn voor het ontwikkelen van ideeën of
activiteiten rond het
begrip tijd. De TL/Tijdlamp die zij in samenwerking met uitvinder/
programmeur Stijn
Belle en kunstenaar
Koert van Mensvoort
ontwikkelde, heeft de
vorm van een Tl-buis,
die langzaam volloopt
met gekleurd licht. Licht
dat staat voor tijd. Naarmate de lamp langer
op een bepaalde plek
hangt of staat kan hij
zich aan de tijdsindeling van die omgeving
aanpassen. Dat doet hij
met behulp van sensoren (‘ogen’ en ‘oren’)
waarmee geluiden en
bewegingen gemeten
kunnen worden. De TL/
Tijdlamp komt blanco
de school binnen, maar
leert patronen in activiteit te herkennen, bijvoorbeeld het ritme van
lesuren in een bepaald
lokaal. Na afloop van
ieder lesuur zal een
weerslag te zien zijn
van de drukte in de
klas, in de vorm van
een gekleurd strepenpatroon dat ontstaat
doordat een hoger
geluidsniveau de kleur
van het licht laat
veranderen.
bereikbaar geworden: bij grote rampen
zijn het vaak filmpjes van amateurs
die het wereldnieuws halen. Ondanks
de miljoenen homevideo’s (zie bijvoorbeeld YouTube) zijn het nog steeds
alleen de filmproducenten die ‘grote’
films mogelijk kunnen maken. Voor de
Nederlandse filmindustrie is het niet
eenvoudig: Nederland is een rijk maar
ook klein land met een klein taalgebied.
Alleen al in Europa, waar de meest voor
de hand liggende coproducenten zijn te
vinden, worden meer dan veertig talen
gesproken. De Nederlandse speelfilmen documentairemakers lopen dan
ook telkens weer tegen productionele
grenzen op. In de dynamiek van inspiratie en controle gaat het hier om het
beschermen van ruimte voor expressie.
Met investeringsregels, belastingafspraken en subsidies probeert de
Nederlandse overheid de Nederlandse
filmindustrie te blijven stimuleren en
een divers aanbod mogelijk te maken.
Zonder een dergelijke inspanning zou
het Nederlandse filmklimaat er heel
anders uitzien.
Beeldende kunst en vormgeving:
Omdat de apparatuur zo simpel is geworden en het sampelen van materiaal
zo makkelijk, zou men kunnen verwachten dat het onderscheid tussen
amateurs en professionele kunstenaars is veranderd. Maar net zo als een
kindertekening iets heel anders is dan
een tekening van Joan Miró, zo blijft de
wezenlijke inspanning van een professionele beeldend kunstenaar van een
geheel andere orde dan die van een
amateur. Of een kunstwerk nu is geproduceerd in twee dimensies (grafisch),
drie dimensies (beeldend), vier dimensies (time-based) of vijf dimensies (en
relaties tussen mensen beïnvloedend),
dit kunstwerk zet zich uiteen met de
traditie vande kunst en wil daar een
bijdrage aan leveren.2
Anderzijds heeft de interactie tussen populaire cultuur en professionele
kunstenaars de verbeelding van beide
diepgaand beïnvloed: van merk tot
mode, van blog tot binnenhuisarchitectuur.
Het feit dat beeldend kunstenaars en
ontwerpers digitale technologie in hun
werk zijn gaan gebruiken heeft echter
wel degelijk implicaties. De traditie van
kunst en technologie heeft zich inmiddels gevestigd als een eigen domein
met eigen musea, productiehuizen,
conferenties, tijdschriften en wetenschappelijke publicaties. In deze traditie zijn een aantal zaken ingrijpend
KORTE IMPRESSIES TRENDS E-CULTUUR
IN KUNST EN CULTUUR
veranderd: de wijze waarop het proces
van het maken van het kunstwerk zich
voltrekt, de wijze van presenteren, de
manier waarop wordt verzameld en verkocht, de manier waarop wordt geconserveerd en bewaard. Omdat in deze
traditie de mogelijkheden en implicaties van technologie door het werk van
kunstenaars worden belicht is de relatie
tussen kunst en wetenschap in deze
traditie hechter.
Door de aard van de technologie zijn
ook andersoortige interacties met een
publiek mogelijk geworden. Even als
steen anders is dan verf, zo biedt ook
technologie specifieke mogelijkheden
als medium. Met name de interactie en
bijdrage van het publiek aan het ontstaan van het kunstwerk is door de
technologie van een geheel andere
orde geworden dan daarvoor mogelijk
was.3
Theater en dans:
Digitale technologie speelt in de
theatertechniek uiteraard een belangrijke rol, maar verder zijn de podiumkunsten eigenlijk nauwelijks door de
nieuwe technologieën beroerd. Er zijn
weliswaar voorstellingen die nieuwe
media integreren en experimenteren
met bijvoorbeeld voorstellingen vanuit
meerdere locaties, publieksinteractie
en ingenieuze mis-en-scènes waarin
het beeld een even grote rol speelt als
de acteur, echter het wezen van de
podiumkunst is onaangeraakt gebleven. Noch voor de kunstenaar, de
bezoeker of de intermediairs hebben
er ingrijpende veranderingen plaats
gevonden. In de dans zijn digitale notatiesystemen ontwikkeld. Met behulp
van technologie kunnen bewegingen
van danseres worden geanalyseerd en
geoptimaliseerd. Maar ook het wezen
van de dans is voor de kunstenaar of
de bezoeker niet door deze ontwikkelingen aangetast. Wel blijkt bijvoorbeeld
dat op de dansopleiding de Nederlandse choreografen niet kunnen worden
gedanst vanwege het copyright op
deze balletten. Dit is geen gevolg van
de technologische ontwikkelingen. Al
blijkt een dergelijk gegeven vanuit de
hernieuwde aandacht voor de toegankelijkheid van cultureel erfgoed in het
publieke domein ten gevolge van de
technologische ontwikkelingen wel
degelijk van belang.
Wat betreft de wereld van de amateurs
in de podiumkunsten zou men kunnen
argumenteren dat dankzij de alom
aanwezige audiovisuele technologie
veel meer mensen spelen en dansen:
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
81
thuis, bij vrienden, op een feest, op
Internet, in een concert of in de club
bij nacht. Anderzijds is de aandacht
en concentratie minder geworden
voor bijvoorbeeld het spelen van een
instrument, het declameren van een
gedicht of het zingen van een Nederlands lied.
In de productie en de marketing van de
podiumkunsten speelt het Internet tot
nu toe een marginale rol. Ook wordt
gedrag van bezoekers bij mijn weten
niet elektronisch geregistreerd. Wat dat
betreft is dit ‘gelukkig’ nog een digitale
vrije zone. Internet wordt voornamelijk
als informatie- en verkoopkanaal gebruikt. Toch kan het niet anders dan dat
de veranderende media omgeving wel
degelijk effect heeft op de podiumkunsten. Al is het maar omdat het publiek
ook gewend is geraakt aan andere
dramatische vormen. Na zoveel jaren
televisie en het dagelijkse computergebruik van vele mensen is er een nieuwe
waardering voor het ‘live’ aanwezig zijn
bij een gebeurtenis en het bezoek van
een theatervoorstelling wordt vanuit dat
perspectief weer meer gewaardeerd.
Games en omgevingen als Second
Life waarin mensen massaal ‘digitaal
toneel spelen’ maken het niet onwaarschijnlijk dat binnenkort nieuwe relaties
tussen podiumkunstenaars en hun
publiek gestalte zullen krijgen, ook
via media als Internet. Net als film en
televisie invloed hebben op hoe een
publiek dramatische lijnen begrijpt
zullen deze vormen daar ook effect
op gaan krijgen.
Literatuur:
Niet eerder in de geschiedenis schreven zo veel mensen in de openbaarheid. Op duizenden blogs, wiki’s, websites en communities beschrijven
mensen hun meningen, belevenissen
en delen zij hun kennis en kunde.
Amateurs en professionals uiten zich
op allerlei manieren in verschillende
omgevingen en als vanzelfsprekend
gezamenlijk. Er wordt meer gelezen
dan ooit, en tegelijkertijd krimpt de
markt voor de literatuur die in boekvorm verschijnt. Kleine uitgevers
houden met moeite het hoofd boven
water, het aanbod van grote uitgevers
versmalt. De kennis over en techniek
van de klassieke literatuur verschraalt.
Dankzij een goede samenwerking
tussen marktpartijen en overheid gaat
het in deze sector niettemin goed.
Feitelijk ligt werk van vele nieuwe
auteurs in de boekenwinkels, worden
82
Nederlandse auteurs in vele talen
vertaald en is werk van buitenlandse
schrijvers in het Nederlands toegankelijk. De letterenfondsen blijken door
welbewust en gedifferentieerd beleid
in samenwerking met uitgevers in staat
te zijn de professionele omgeving van
de literatuur tot hoog niveau te brengen. Digitalisering in het boekenvak
gaat snel. De sector buigt zich over
auteurscontracten voor digitale producten en uitgevers ontwikkelen
nieuwe businessmodellen.
Wel is er grote zorg omtrent het
literatuuronderwijs en is er het bewustzijn dat wanneer kinderen niet leren
genieten van lezen de literatuur zal
versterven. Tegelijkertijd kan men
vaststellen dat in de populaire cultuur
even als in de muziek en op het Internet nieuwe stijlvormen ontstaan, dat
jonge mensen geletterd kunnen zijn op
vele terreinen op een manier die oudere
mensen niet begrijpen of kunnen waarnemen. Met ander woorden: het laatste
woord is hier niet over gezegd.
De samenwerking tussen markt
en overheid, de afwisseling tussen
inspiratie en controle, tussen vrijheid
en verantwoordelijkheid, werkt in deze
sector goed.
Archieven en bibliotheken:
Als de openbare bibliotheek over 20
jaar nog bestaat, hoe ziet zij er dan uit?
Een mooi, stil boekenmuseum, een
levendige publieke leeszaal annex
café annex debatcentrum? Of vinden
we de bibliotheek thuis achter onze
computer? De ontwikkelingen op het
gebied van nieuwe media en ICT en de
medialisering van de samenleving gaan
zo snel, dat nauwelijks is te voorspellen
hoe de toekomstige bibliotheken en
archieven eruit zullen zien en welke
functie zij zullen vervullen. Zeker is wel
dat genoemde ontwikkelingen de intermediaire functie van instellingen als
bibliotheken en archieven onder druk
zetten. Kennis wordt als economische
factor steeds belangrijker en de complexiteit en omvang van de informatiestroom nemen toe. Informatie- en
communicatie technologie heeft de
intrede van tal van nieuwe partijen in
het informatiedomein bewerkstelligd:
ook uitgeefconcerns, telecombedrijven
en (Internet)providers ontsluiten op
grote schaal informatie en nemen
daarin niet zelden een machtspositie
in. Internet wordt inmiddels door
grote groepen mensen beschouwd als
‘hoofdbibliotheek’ waar je 24 uur per
dag en zeven dagen per week terecht
MAPPING E-CULTURE
kunt met alle informatievragen.
Maar de digitalisering maakt ook
kwetsbaar. Ons actuele verleden ontglipt ons waar we bij staan: informatie
is in ons digitale tijdperk vluchtig en
ongrijpbaar en voor archieven vormt
dat een nieuw probleem. Zo vertoont
het geheugen van de digitale overheid
gaten, en wat niet al weg is, is door
slecht technisch en/of intellectueel
beheer moeilijk of helemaal niet meer
productief te maken.
te maken dat verandert, dat zich
steeds minder aantrekt van gevestigde
reputaties of institutionele grenzen.
Om daar op in te kunnen spelen moet
het eigen, institutionele belang terzijde
worden geschoven en meer in netwerkstructuren en samenwerkingsverbanden worden gewerkt en gedacht.
Tegelijkertijd biedt digitalisering mogelijkheden tot een enorme verbreding
van het aanbod en een uitbreiding van
het gebruik en de participatie. Digitalisering maakt een veel bredere, nationale collectie mogelijk, onder meer
met audiovisuele bestanden die via
het Internet gedistribueerd kunnen
worden. Bibliotheken geven in toenemende mate toegang tot informatie die
zich elders bevindt: bij andere bibliotheken, bij archieven, omroepen of
musea, maar ook bij gebruikers. Daarmee groeit het potentiële publieksbereik van de bibliotheken.
Dit alles heeft uiteraard grote gevolgen
voor gevestigde instituties als bibliotheken en archieven. Zij worden gedwongen na te denken over hun eigen
organisatie (gebouwen, medewerkers,
publieksbenadering) en over hun dienstverlening (distributie, selectie, collectievorming, toegankelijkheid). Het publiek,
dat actiever (wil) deelnemen aan de
betekenisgeving van informatie en
beter en sneller bediend wil worden,
zal steeds meer centraal komen te
staan. Burgers organiseren steeds
meer eigen activiteiten en willen daarin
niet gestuurd maar wel ondersteund
worden. Dit vraagt van bibliotheken
en archieven een publieksbenadering
die zich minder richt op distributie en
aanbieden, en meer op het actief
faciliteren van expressie, uitwisseling
en het maken van verbindingen tussen
mensen, ideeën en bronnen.
Binnen de bibliotheeksector hebben
de beschreven ontwikkelingen geleid
tot een fundamentele discussie over de
functie en zelfs de positie van het openbaar bibliotheekwerk. In de archiefsector is een soortgelijke discussie over
het bestel en de toekomstbestendigheid ervan op gang gekomen. Duidelijk
is dat bibliotheken en archieven steeds
meer te maken krijgen met mondiale
ontwikkelingen die boven hun eigen
macht reiken en soms zelfs boven de
macht van de nationale overheid.
Tegelijkertijd hebben ze met publiek
KORTE IMPRESSIES TRENDS E-CULTUUR
IN KUNST EN CULTUUR
CAROLINE NEVEJAN
83
Tien jaar nieuwe media opleidingen
in Nederland
Emilie Randoe
Eind 2009 is het tien jaar geleden
dat de eerste grote golf nieuwe media
opleidingen in Nederland op HBOniveau van start ging. Emilie Randoe,
vanaf 2001 directeur van het Instituut
voor Interactieve Media van de Hogeschool van Amsterdam, blikt terug op
de pioniersjaren van het nieuwe media
onderwijs in Nederland en schetst de
agenda voor de toekomst.
1 oktober 2008 was een historische
datum voor de nieuwe mediaopleidingen op HBO-niveau in Nederland, althans voor die opleidingen die bekend
zijn onder de naam Communication &
Multi Media Design (CMD): de landelijke opleidingsadviesraad gaf groen
licht voor het landelijk gedeeld beroepsprofiel. Met deze goedkeuring werd een
langdurig proces afgesloten waarin de
zeven verschillende CMD-opleidingen
hun identiteiten ontwikkelden en vanuit
die verschillende identiteiten overeenstemming bereikten over wat hen bindt.
Innovatieve concepten ontwikkelen
voor nieuwe media toepassingen staat
centraal in het landelijk gedeeld beroepsprofiel. Dat betekent dat er in
de opleidingen een belangrijke rol is
weggelegd voor het ontwikkelen van
concepten in lijn met de strategische
doelen van bedrijven en instellingen.
Om dat goed te kunnen, heeft de
CMD student een breed blikveld nodig.
Het beroepsprofiel van de CMD-opleidingen biedt daarom ruim baan voor
een slimme combinatie van kennis
en vaardigheden op het gebied van
theorie op het gebied van media en
technologische cultuur, marketing en
communicatie, ontwerpen, interaction
design, projectmanagement, scripting,
ontwerpen ontwikkelmethoden. Een
tweede typisch kenmerk van de CMDopleidingen is dat ze aandacht hebben
voor zowel het operationele (iets kunnen maken), het tactische (iets kunnen
organiseren) als het strategische
niveau (iets nieuws kunnen ontwerpen
dat een bijdrage levert aan strategische
doelen van de opdrachtgever). Die combinatie van disciplines bracht met zich
mee dat de CMD-opleidingen zich in
eigen huis vaak moesten verdedigen
tegen de reeds bestaande ICT en communicatie opleidingen. Buitenshuis
kwamen de CMD-opleidingen begin
2000 terecht in de vuurlinie van de
discussie over ‘modieuze’ opleidingen,
die weliswaar veel studenten trokken,
maar vermoedelijk opleidden tot werkloosheid. Gelukkig is tien jaar later het
tegendeel van deze vrees gebleken:
84
MAPPING E-CULTURE
HBO studenten met een nieuwe
media opleiding komen gemakkelijk
aan het werk en blijken daar goed te
functioneren.
Voor dit artikel zijn de instroom gegevens van de HBO Raad en de VSNU
geraadpleegd. Toch is het lastig om
een accurate inschatting te maken van
het aantal studenten dat een opleiding
in de nieuwe media volgt. Dat komt
doordat van niet alle opleidingen inzichtelijk is hoeveel nieuwe media er
in het curriculum opgenomen is. In
dit artikel ligt het accent op HBO- en
WO-opleidingen. Daarbinnen maken
we onderscheid tussen bachelor en
masteropleidingen.
De CMD-opleidingen zijn niet de
enige opleidingen op HBO-niveau waar
studenten zich kunnen bekwamen in
de nieuwe media. Via 123studiekeuze
zijn maar liefst 67 opleidingen (op
zowel bachelor als master niveau)
geïdentificeerd als funderende opleiding met een flinke dosis nieuwe
media in het curriculum. De oudste
nieuwe media opleiding in Nederland is
Kunst & Techniek van de Hogeschool
voor de Kunsten Utrecht. Deze opleiding kan inmiddels ook gevolgd worden
bij Saxion. Blijkens de instroomgegevens kiest de bulk van de studenten
met belangstelling voor nieuwe media
studenten voor een CMD opleiding
(ruim 1100 eerstejaars). Een goede
tweede is de opleiding Communicatie
Systemen (550 nieuwe studenten in
2007). Een betrekkelijke nieuwe speler
in het veld is de game opleiding van
NHTV (127 eerstejaars in 2007). De
opleiding Kunst en Techniek (HKU en
Saxion) trok 331 eerstejaars. Voor alle
nieuwe media opleidingen geldt dat de
instroom de afgelopen tien jaar sterk
is gegroeid. Daarnaast zijn de traditionele ICT opleidingen sterk aan het
opstomen in het nieuwe media veld
via afstudeerrichtingen en minoren op
het gebied van nieuwe media, human
computer interaction en gamedesign.
Over de duim ingeschat starten in
Nederland jaarlijks zo’n 3000 studenten
met een opleiding gericht op nieuwe
media.
Het was vlak voor de eeuwwisseling in
Nederland ‘bon ton’ om te klagen over
de aansluiting tussen de kennis en
kunde van net afgestudeerde jonge
professionals en de arbeidsmarkt. Het
HBO reageerde hierop met de invoering van het zogenaamde competentiegerichte onderwijs. Beroepsvaardigheden en het vermogen om adequaat
TIEN JAAR MEDIA OPLEIDINGEN
IN NEDERLAND
te kunnen handelen in kritische
beroepssituaties kwamen centraal
te staan. Het werd dus belangrijk om
kennis daadwerkelijk te kunnen toepassen. Bij het ontwikkelen van het
beroepsprofiel voor Amsterdam gingen
we daarom op zoek naar een stevig
fundament om de competenties te
kunnen formuleren. We spraken met
zo’n veertig grote en kleine bedrijven,
en zaten na afloop met onze handen
in het haar. Elk nieuwe media bedrijf
hanteerde eigen namen voor functies
en er bleken grote verschillen te zijn
tussen capaciteitsbedrijven (de adviesbureaus) en de producenten van technologie en media. Nog weer anders
lagen de behoeften bij de klanten en
afnemers van deze bedrijven. Bij het
doorspitten van vacatures werden we
telkens getroffen door de combinatie
van werkzaamheden in het toen nieuwe
werkveld. Van webmasters bijvoorbeeld
werd verwacht dat ze er in drie dagen
per week voor zorgden dat de website
vlekkeloos werkte, alle vragen die
binnenkwamen goed en snel werden
afgehandeld, dat externe toeleveranciers op het gebied van redactie, design
of techniek werden aangestuurd en dat
de directie adequaat werd geïnformeerd over de ontwikkelingen in dit
nieuwe mediakanaal. Gemeenschappelijke trefwoorden
in die tijd: innovatie, out of the box
denken en creativiteit. Ondertussen
verscheen het ene na het onderzoek,
onder andere van de Gartner groep,
waaruit bleek dat ICT en nieuwe media
projecten vaak twee keer zoveel tijd in
beslag namen als verwacht, twee keer
zoveel geld kostten als begroot en
meestal maar de helft van de oorspronkelijk bedachte functionaliteit bevatten.
Bij het doorspitten van literatuur
stuitten we op het boek The Structure
of Technological Revolutions van de
Argentijnse econoom Carlota Perez.
In dit boek doet zij verslag van haar
onderzoek naar het verloop van de
vijf technologische revoluties in onze
samenleving sinds 1771. Uit haar
onderzoek blijkt dat deze revoluties,
ondanks het feit dat ze in verschillende
historische perioden plaatsvonden, een
identieke, en met de economie samenhangende dynamiek kennen. Een
revolutie begint met ontwrichting door
de uitvinding van een nieuwe technologie, zoals stoom, olie, elektriciteit, staal
of ICT. Het verstorende karakter trekt
investeerders met een goudzoekers
profiel, met als gevolg dat de aandelenkoersen omhoog schieten. Het kan niet
EMILIE RANDOE
85
anders dan dat de nieuwe technologie
de enorm hoog gespannen verwachtingen niet beantwoordt. Dan volgt
een beurscrash waarna de goudzoekers hun wonden likken en de nieuwe
technologie zijn weg vindt naar algemeen gebruik. Daarna breekt een
periode van ongeveer 50 jaar aan,
waarin de nieuwe technologie zinvolle
toepassingen oplevert en tot rijpheid
komt.
De conclusies van Perez hielpen ons
om midden in de dotcom crash van
2001 het spoor uit te zetten naar een
duurzame opzet van de CMD-opleidingen. We probeerden de organiserende
beginselen van de relatief stabiele
periode na de crash in het vizier te
krijgen. Dat was niet eenvoudig, want
het vakgebied en de sector – het
begrip creatieve industrie bestond toen
nog niet in Nederland – was nog jong.
Ondanks de crash was het idee dat
bedrijven via de inzet van interactieve
media tot innovatie van producten en
diensten zouden komen nog volop
levend. En terugkijkend kun je ook
stellen dat het in enkele gevallen ook
echt is gelukt. Musea bijvoorbeeld
beperken zich niet langer tot fysieke
tentoonstellingsruimten. Studenten in
Azië volgen massaal colleges bij
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT). Nieuwe diensten als Autodate
en Greenwheels konden dankzij het
internet een grote vlucht nemen, net
als het zelf boeken en printen van
vliegtickets. En wie herinnert zich nog
de tijd dat we voor het opnemen van
geld naar de bank moesten of
overschrijvingen op de post moesten
doen?
Toch blijkt innoveren met nieuwe
media lastiger dan gedacht, omdat
verbetering, vernieuwing of zelfs
transformatie van de achterliggende
bedrijfsprocessen lastiger is dan
gedacht en vaak vele malen langer
duurt en kostbaarder is dan van te
voren is ingeschat.
En hoewel de discussie over modieuze
opleidingen verstomde en nieuwe
media lang niet al hun beloften over
hun innovatieve kwaliteiten inlosten,
kan wel gesteld worden dat het inmiddels gemeengoed is dat via nieuwe
media de verschillende lagen in de
waardeketen aan elkaar geknoopt
kunnen worden en dat door het aan
elkaar knopen van verschillende ‘value
webs’ kunnen ontstaan. Wie dat slim
doet, creëert toegevoegde waarde voor
de klant. Zo is het gebruikelijk dat je
86
tegelijk met de vliegreis, ook het appartement, het hotel en de autohuur regelt.
Of dat je bij de aankoop van een kaartje
voor een voorstelling, ook suggesties
krijgt voor andere voorstellingen in
jouw belangstellingsgebied. De musea
en culturele instellingen hebben de
afgelopen jaren flink geïnvesteerd in
het online zetten van hun collectie.
Leerlingen en studenten kunnen het
culturele erfgoed van hun buurt of stad
verkennen via mobiele games. Dat dit
gebeurt, is zonder twijfel ook mede te
danken aan het feit dat het Internet de
consument en afnemers de regie gaf
over de knoppen, met hoeveel frustratie of ergernis dat soms ook gepaard
gaat in de wereld van het web, overheid,
e-cultuur, ambtenaar of docent 2.0.
Waar staan de opleidingen nu?
Geredeneerd vanuit het model van
Perez, is het begrijpelijk dat opschaling
(van het gebruik van applicaties) en
economische groei (van de producerende bedrijven en instellingen) de
twee belangrijkste thema’s zijn in
het beroepenveld, ook in tijden van
kredietcrisis. Daarbij is duurzaamheid,
zowel begrepen als ecodesign (de ICT
sector behoort tot de meest vervuilende ter wereld vanwege het elektriciteitsverbruik en de snelle omlooptijd
van apparatuur) als vernieuwingstrategie (niemand wil nog applicaties die
om de anderhalf jaar compleet vervangen moeten worden) een belangrijk
criterium geworden. Daarnaast speelt
de discussie van globalisering in termen van arbeidsdeling, maar ook in
termen van diversiteit: samenlevingen
zijn verre van cultureel homogeen en
in de wereld van de interactieve media
bestaan geografische grenzen niet.
Outsourcing en offshoring is niet voor
alle ontwerpen ontwikkeltrajecten een
optie, maar zeker grote bedrijven besteden werk uit naar de plaats waar dat
het beste, goedkoopste en snelste
gedaan kan worden. Dat is overigens
een trend van alle tijden, maar wel één
die dankzij de communicatiemogelijkheden van het Internet, versneld is.
De vijfde belangrijke trend is die van
service design: het daadwerkelijk
centraal stellen van de behoeften en
het gedrag van de gebruikers van
nieuwe media. Als alle apparaten
ongeveer hetzelfde kunnen, bandbreedte en toegang tot het internet
eigenlijk geen probleem meer zijn,
vormen toegankelijkheid, het gemakkelijk kunnen wijzigen van je instellingen
om de werking van een applicatie toe
te snijden op jouw behoeften, en
MAPPING E-CULTURE
zonder hindernissen kunnen navigeren
de belangrijkste concurrentievoordelen.
Niemand weet nog wat de gevolgen zijn
voor de Nederlandse studenten en afgestudeerden van het hoge tempo van
de economische groei in Azië en delen
van Afrika. Zij richten hun ogen niet
zozeer op de Westerse economieën,
maar op hun thuismarkten. Gezien de
aantallen ICT-ers en ontwerpers die in
deze regionen worden opgeleid, is het
de vraag of de Europeanen en Amerikanen op de wat langere termijn positie
als vormers van het discours kunnen
behouden. Aziaten en Afrikanen beschikken in vergelijking met Westerlingen immers over drie competenties die
hen een uitstekende uitgangspositie
bieden voor een leiderspositie in de
21ste eeuw: ambachtelijke kennis en
het vermogen om dingen te maken
naast het vermogen om te kunnen
samenwerken.
Een brede ontwikkeling binnen de
nieuwe media opleidingen is de roep
om specialisatie. Toen het Internet
tien jaar geleden echt opgang begon
te maken, werd mondjesmaat vacatureruimte gecreëerd voor nieuwe functies
als webmasters en interaction
designers. Vaak werd gevraagd naar
‘alleskunners’. Nu het medium volwassen is geworden, groeit de roep om
specialisten. Er is ook een samenhang
met de economische golven: als de
economie groeit, is er meer ruimte voor
generalisten, bij krimp overleven alleen
de kampioenen. Maar hoe dan ook
dienen alle werkers in deze sector te
kunnen functioneren in multidisciplinair
samengestelde teams. Om dat te
kunnen moet je iets begrijpen van
waarin je alleen de rol, beroepseer en
ethiek van andere disciplines. Er wordt
in dit verband wel gesproken van
‘T-Shaped people’ (een begrip dat
gemunt is door Ideo Design): in de
verticale poot zit stevige expertise op
het gebied van de eigen discipline, in
de horizontale lijn bevinden zich de
competenties om samen te werken,
‘out of the box’ te denken, verbanden
te kunnen leggen etc. De landelijke
opleidingsadviesraad van CMD roept
terecht de vraag op of pas afgestudeerden op HBO/Bachelor-niveau al over al
deze kwaliteiten kunnen beschikken.
Het zijn immers jonge professionals
die net starten. Eenstemmigheid is
echter wel over het feit dat succesvol
werken in deze sector vraagt om de
combinatie van expertise en generalistische vaardigheden. In de breedheid
IN NEDERLAND
zit het wel goed met de nieuwe media
opleidingen, maar de verwachting is
dat men zich na verbreding ook weer
gaat toeleggen op verdieping.
De CMD-opleidingen zijn zich van deze
ontwikkelingen bewust en spelen in op
het onderwijsaanbod. Alle opleidingen
hebben het curriculum zodanig ingericht dat er veel mogelijkheden zijn
voor studenten om zich te oriënteren
op het latere beroep. Maar kopzorgen
zijn er ook:
–Een grote zorg betreft de kwaliteit
van de instroom. De opleidingen
in het kunstvakonderwijs kunnen
selecteren en doen dat ook. De
andere opleidingen selecteren niet
aan de poort. Vakopleidingen in
het HBO moeten steeds meer tijd
vrijmaken voor het aanbrengen van
‘basic skills’ als taal (Nederlands
maar ook Engels) en studievaardigheid;
–Zorgen zijn er ook over de economische positie van de studenten die
uitstromen. Zij moeten flink bikkelen
in de kleine bedrijfjes in de creatieve
industrie. Docenten die studenten
begeleiden tijdens stages of hen
nog eens spreken na het afstuderen,
maken zich zorgen over het tempo
waarin het jonge talent opbrandt;
–Bij de kunstopleidingen worden
studenten opgeleid tot nieuwe
media ontwerpers, maar zij gaan
vaak aan de slag als vormgevers;
–De schaalvergroting in het hoger
onderwijs. Vrijwel alle hogescholen
zijn bezig met het (opnieuw clusteren van opleidingen tot Academie
of Domeinen of Faculteiten. Dit zijn
over het algemeen bestuurlijk
ingezette trajecten die moeten
leiden tot een grotere efficiency.
Hebben opleidingen die druk zijn
met de structuren en de controle
nog wel tijd om de betrokkenheid
van docenten, die vaak ook met één
been in de beroepspraktijk staan, te
organiseren?
–Het bewaken van het profiel van de
opleiding, waardoor herkenbaarheid
en profilering in maatschappelijke
omgeving verder toeneemt; met
andere woorden hoe op creatieve
wijze het gebruik van ‘technologie’
user-centered en laagdrempelig te
maken en daardoor meerwaarde te
creëren. En hoe om te gaan met
overlappingen met andere opleidingen en het behoud van het innovatieve karakter (namelijk een meestal
competentiegestuurd en studentgedreven curriculum)?
EMILIE RANDOE
87
–Uitval van getalenteerde studenten.
Gemiddeld maakt bijna de helft van
studenten die een opleiding start,
deze niet af. Ongeveer de helft van
deze uitvallers bestaat uit studenten
die intellectueel onvoldoende aan
hun trekken komen of uit studenten
die in de periode van het afstuderen
in de knel komen met de groei van
hun eigen bedrijf;
–De groei van het aantal aanbieders
van nieuwe media opleidingen,
waarvan de aanbieders elkaars
kwaliteit nog wel eens betwijfelen.
Dat kan leiden tot opleidingen die
de markt voor andere verpesten;
–Het bijbenen van de ontwikkelingen
in het beroepenveld, de ontwikkelingen in het denken over goed
onderwijs en daarmee een kennisinstituut neerzetten dat de weg wijst,
in plaats van de markt te volgen;
–Het bieden en behouden van
voldoende kwaliteit in de bekostigingssystematiek. In Nederland
hanteren reguliere hogescholen een
docent/student ratio van 1 docent
op 30 studenten. In het kunstenonderwijs ligt deze ratio gunstiger,
maar in vergelijking met het buitenland, steekt Nederland met deze
cijfers mager af.
zijn, zoals de Hot 100, maar
studenten uitnodigen om in Virtueel
Platform-verband een case te laten
uitwerken die relevant is voor de
sector, zodat studenten worden
uitgedaagd om na te denken over
interessante nieuwe media vraag stukken;
–Het leveren van een bijdrage aan
een hoogwaardig kenniscentrum
op het gebied van e-cultuur en
nieuwe media, waar bijvoorbeeld
relevante afstudeerscripties te
vinden zijn of waar je kunt deelnemen aan gesprekskringen die
bestaan uit professionals uit de
praktijk, studenten en docenten;
–Het landelijk bij elkaar brengen
van vraag naar en aanbod van
jong talent.
Behalve kopzorgen zijn er ook dromen.
Wat zou Virtueel Platform naar de
mening van de mensen die deelnamen
aan het onderzoek voor het nieuwe
media onderwijs kunnen doen?
–Het creëren van ontmoetingsmogelijkheden tussen academies en
opleidingen, maar ook tussen de
opleidingen en de bedrijven of
instellingen op het gebied van
nieuwe media rond het thema
e-cultuur en ontwikkelingen in het
publieke domein kunnen. En dan
graag niet alleen in Amsterdam,
maar door het hele land. Dat zou
niet alleen moeten leiden tot
kennisdisseminatie, maar ook tot
mogelijkheden voor docentstages
aan de ene kant, en het aanbieden
van interessante opleidingsmogelijkheden voor professionals aan
de andere kant;
–Het professionaliseren van de jonge
en kleine bedrijven in de creatieve
industrie rond thema’s als ondernemerschap en loopbaanontwikkeling
en het interesseren van bedrijven
om medewerkers één à twee dagen
per week te interesseren voor een
rol op de opleidingen, bij voorkeur
in samenwerking met de opleiding;
–Versterken van zaken die er nu al
88
MAPPING E-CULTURE
Hoe kwam dit artikel tot stand?
Studentenaantallen
Twaalf onderwijsmanagers en
opleidingscoördinatoren deden mee
aan een elektronische enquête via
Surveymonkey. Die enquête was
bedoeld om te achterhalen wat er
leefde onder de opleidingsmanagers.
Daarnaast werden er telefonische
interviews gehouden. Vervolgens
bracht ik mijn eigen ervaringen en
visie in, opgedaan in de zeven jaar
dat ik aan het hoofd stond van het
Instituut voor Interactieve Media van
de Hogeschool van Amsterdam.
Verantwoording
De basis voor de opleidingen in het
onderzoek is gelegd door eerder
onderzoek van Kennis-centrum GOC
in het kader van het project Mediacompetenties. Dit overzicht is aangevuld met een overzicht van de opleidingen waaraan de deelnemers van de
Hot 100 studeerden of die zij hadden
afgerond. Deze lijsten zijn vervolgens
vergeleken met het overzicht van opleidingen op http://www.123studie
keuze.nl voor zowel het bachelor- als
het master-niveau.
In het HBO kiest de bulk van de
studenten nieuwe media voor een
opleiding Communication & Multimedia Design. Deze opleiding wordt
door acht hogescholen verspreid over
heel Nederland aangeboden (sinds
september 2008 ook in Utrecht). In
2007 schreven 1.143 studenten zich
in, waarvan 219 vrouwen, dat is iets
minder dan 20% van de populatie.
De tweede grote bron wordt gevormd
door de opleiding Communicatiesystemen. Deze opleidingen trokken in 2007
gezamenlijk 588 studenten, waarvan
244 vrouwen bijna 40% van de studentenpopulatie. Kunst & Techniek trok
in 2007 266 studenten, waarvan bijna
35% vrouwen.
Landelijk uniek zijn de opleidingen
Grafimediatechnologie (Rotterdam,
63 studenten, 13% vrouwen) en
Game Architecture And Design (NHTV,
Breda,129 studenten, 5% vrouwen).
De HBO-studenten informatica die
zich op nieuwe media richten zijn in
dit overzicht niet meegenomen. Naar
schatting een kwart van de informatica
studenten, is met nieuwe media bezig. Nederland telde in 2007 in totaal 2400
nieuwe ICT studenten, waarvan vier
procent vrouwen. Tellen we deze
aantallen op, dan komen we op ruwweg 3000 nieuwe studenten nieuwe
media in Nederland in 2007, waarvan
18% vrouwen.
Het wetenschappelijk onderwijs kent
geen expliciete nieuwe media opleiding. Het dichtste bij komen Media &
Cultuur en Communicatiewetenschappen met een gezamenlijke instroom
van bijna 1400 studenten, waarvan
ongeveer 50% vrouwen.
IN NEDERLAND
EMILIE RANDOE
89
5x E-cultuur en commercie
Stephan Fellinger
Dagan Cohen
Guido van Nispen
Jeroen de Bakker
Walter Amerika
Stephan Fellinger is bestuursvoorzitter
en medeoprichter van Stichting SpinAwards, dé prijzen in Nederland voor
creativiteit en effectiviteit in interactieve
communicatie. Ook is hij vaste columnist voor het Tijdschrift voor Marketing
en schrijver en mede-initiatiefnemer
van MolBlog, het weblog van Tijdschrift voor Marketing. Stephan werd
in 2006 gekozen tot Online Mediaman
van het jaar. In 2007 kreeg hij een Coq
d’Honneur uitgereikt van de Bond van
Adverteerders (BVA), het Genootschap
van Reclame (GVR) en de Vereniging
van Communicatie-Adviesbureaus
(VEA). In 2008 werd hij door Tijdschrift
voor Marketing gekozen bij de top 40
beste marketeers van Nederland.
Hij heeft sinds 1990 ervaring met
interactieve media en marketing. Na
een aantal jaren aan omroepen bureauzijde te hebben gewerkt, is hij
sinds 2001 Internet-ondernemer. Hij
adviseert organisaties over het veranderende interactieve medialandschap,
hierbij speelt vooral het veranderende
gedrag van mensen een hoofdrol.
Voor de Hogeschool van Amsterdam
en Generation Next zit hij in de Raad
van Advies. Bij de Thuiswinkel Awards,
is hij dit jaar jurylid.
In gesprek met
Antoinette Hoes,
januari 2009.
AH: Ken je inspirerende voorbeelden
van e-kunst?
1
Antionette Hoes: Wat is voor jou e-cultuur?
Stephan Fellinger: Eerst maar even terug naar de definitie van cultuur
volgens Wikipedia:
# In brede zin wordt cultuur gebruikt
voor ‘alles wat door de samenleving
wordt voortgebracht’. ‘Cultuur’ wordt
tegenover ‘natuur’ gesteld.
# In engere zin wordt het woord
gebruikt voor kunstuitingen.
Ik ben een liefhebber van de eerste
definitie. En link het dan met de
invloed die technologie heeft op
alles wat door de samenleving
wordt voortgebracht. Voor mij is
het dan ook belangrijk dat het gaat
om cultuur die ons leven beïnvloed.
Dat is ook mijn fascinatie voor
interactieve media, de wijze hoe
het ons leven beïnvloedt, hoe we
bijvoorbeeld met elkaar communiceren, en niet alleen wat er tech nisch allemaal mogelijk is.
90
MAPPING E-CULTURE
SF: Bijzonder van interactieve media is het ijsbergeffect: slechts een klein
gedeelte van het landschap begeeft
zich boven water. Het grootste
gedeelte speelt zich af onder water,
ik noem dat de onderwereld. Bij
een ijsberg zit letterlijk 7/8 onder
water. Het is dus heel goed mogelijk
dat de prachtigste zaken, zich totaal
buiten mijn gezichtsveld afspelen.
Dat gevoel heb ik ook bij e-kunst.
Ik ben een enorme fan van Micha
Klein. Jaren geleden won hij bij de
SpinAwards al een prijs voor een
project voor Coca-Cola. Daarbij
konden jongeren elementen van
Micha en zichzelf mixen. Nu is dat
heel gewoon, maar Micha was toen
zijn tijd ver vooruit. Ook voor de
game Spore ontwikkelde hij een
karakter. Het leuke aan Micha is
dat hij al die verschillende werelden
mixed en daar mensen mee inspireert.
AH: Hebben e-kunst en e-cultuur (een vernieuwende) invloed op jouw
praktijk of die van anderen in je
omgeving?
SF: Natuurlijk, goede kunstenaars
laten je met een andere bril naar
de wereld kijken en dat hebben we
allemaal nodig om als mensheid
verder te komen.
AH: Waar zie jij de vernieuwing/ innovatie ontstaan in jouw praktijk/
beroepsgroep?
SF: In de mix tussen de verschillende werelden. Creatieven hebben vaak
de conservatieve neiging vooral in
hun eigen wereld rond te kijken.
Maar de ware inspiratie zit juist in
de ongewone combinaties van
verschillende werelden. Met de
SpinAwards willen we bijvoorbeeld
werelden als Internet, televisie, film,
reclame, muziek, telecom, games,
kunst en opleidingen met elkaar in
contact brengen, zo ontstaan weer
nieuwe zaken. De moderne creatieveling en kunstenaar is de perfecte
mixer en niet bang voor technologie.
de wereld te kijken en heb regelmatig andere mensen nodig die mij
nieuwe inzichten geven. Voor je het
weet, word je dat, waar je je altijd
tegen afgezet hebt, dat is mijn drive
om te blijven veranderen. Ik noem
dat altijd het Veronica effect: ooit
de piraat tegen de gevestigde orde,
en nu zelf gevestigde orde. Dat wil
je toch niet?
2
Dagan Cohen is creative director bij
Draftfcb te Amsterdam, een geïntegreerd marketing- en communicatiebureau die de consument bereikt en
betrekt door gebruik te maken, alsmede combinaties te vormen, tussen
de beschikbare communicatiekanalen
(oud en nieuw).
Daarnaast doceert Dagan aan de
Rietveld Academie en jureert hij voor
de Dutch Design Awards. Voor The Next
Web selecteerde hij de meest innovatieve ‘pre-start-up’ bedrijven binnen
het digitale veld.
In 2008 richtte Dagan Upload Cinema op, een maandelijks evenement
in film theater De Uitkijk, Amsterdam,
waar films van het web worden geprojecteerd op het grote scherm. Elke
maand kent een thema en bezoekers
kunnen hun eigen webfilms aandienen
voor het programma dat vervolgens
door Dagan en een kleine groep experts en enthousiasten wordt gevormd
tot een avondvullend programma.
Antionette Hoes: Wat is voor jou e-cultuur?
AH: Kun je je voorstellen wat e-cultuur en e-kunst (beleid) zouden kunnen
bijdragen aan jouw beroepspraktijk?
Dagan Cohen: Ik vind het een ouder-
wets begrip dat volgens mij ook
niet leeft in de samenleving.
De huidige (jongeren) cultuur is
doordrongen van elektronische/
digitale communicatiemiddelen
en uitingen. E-cultuur is een gepasseerd station. De cultuur is al
digitaal. Dat neemt overigens niet
weg dat in het onderwijs en met
name in het kunstonderwijs de
beginselen en mogelijkheden van
digitale media onvoldoende onder
de aandacht worden gebracht.
SF: Een andere blik. Ik leer mensen
zelf op een andere manier naar
AH: Ken je inspirerende voorbeelden van e-kunst?
5X E-CULTUUR EN COMMERCIE
ANTOINETTE HOES
91
DC: Ja, ik ken genoeg interessante voorbeelden van e-kunst. Bijvoorbeeld Jonathan Harris die steeds
nieuwe visualisaties en interfaces
voor het weergeven van internetdata
ontwikkeld. Of het Graffiti Reseach
Lab die met lasers lichtgraffiti
maken op gebouwen.
AH: Hebben e-kunst en e-cultuur
(een vernieuwende) invloed op
jouw praktijk of die van anderen
in je omgeving?
DC: Ja, ik houd het werk van studenten en kunstenaars die in het digitale
domein actief zijn in de gaten. En
probeer de experimentele geest van
het autonome werk in mijn bedrijf
te integreren. Onder andere door
projecten te doen met academies
of individuele studenten.
beroepsgroep?
DC: Vernieuwing ontstaat op grensgebieden. Van het oude en het
nieuwe, het vertrouwde en onverwachte, het fysieke en virtuele.
En in de samenwerking van doorgewinterde professionals en
onbevooroordeelde jonge mensen.
DC: Ik zou graag zien dat de overheid en e-cultuur organisaties de samen werking tussen commerciële be-
drijven en autonome kunstenaars,
ontwerpers en kunstopleidingen
beleidsmatiger zouden stimuleren.
Zodat goede, vernieuwende ideeën
hun weg naar de markt kunnen
vinden.
3
Guido van Nispen is managing director
van Veronica, een mediaorganisatie die
veel pionierwerk verricht heeft aan de
grenzen van het medialandschap.
Veronica moedigt jong talent aan
met de V-Academy, de eigen cross
media academie, maar ook als media
producent in media bedrijven en door te
92
investeren in beginnende media en
entertainment ondernemingen.
Naast zijn positie als MD bij
Veronica is Guido fondsmanager bij
het Dutch Creative Industry Fund, een
seed private equity fund van Telgraaf
Media Groep, Sanoma, IDG en Veronica.
DCIF is gespecialiseerd in het sponsoren van beginnende Nederlandse
ondernemingen op het gebied van
media en technologie, en heeft een
degelijk portfolio van veelbelovende
starters opgebouwd.
Daarnaast is Guido de voorzitter
van IPAN, een genootschap die professionals uit het interactieve en online
veld bij elkaar brengt. Tot slot is hij lid
van de adviesraad van Liftconference,
actief blogger en fotograaf. Zo maakte
hij in zijn laatste project een serie van
portretten van Nederlandse digitale
pioniers.
Antoinette Hoes: Wat is voor jou e-cultuur?
Guido van Nispen: De term heeft geen echte lading of betekenis voor mij.
GVN: Ik zie geen dingen uit de kunstenhoek komen die echt invloed
hebben op wat de rest van de
digitale/Internet wereld ontwikkelt.
Maar ik ga ook weinig naar gelegenheden waar ik wordt geconfronteerd
met dat type kunstuitingen.
(een vernieuwende) invloed op jouw
omgeving?
GVN: Het commerciële en het ge-
subsidieerde traject zijn echt twee
gescheiden werelden.
Ik zie uit de Digitale Pioniers
(regeling) en het Mediagilde
niet echt de doorstarters komen.
Het zijn gescheiden gefragmenteerde trajecten die heel erg in
hun eigen circuit bezig zijn. Voor
mij zijn dingen succesvol als
mensen er direct iets aan hebben.
De Culturele sector zou kunnen
helpen bij een schaalvergroting,
zo’n Hot 100 initiatief is fantastisch.
Mensen uit verschillende hoeken
bij elkaar zetten en daar nieuwe dingen, nieuwe samenwerkings verbanden laten ontstaan.
MAPPING E-CULTURE
beroepsgroep?
GVN: Je zou het talent uit de Hot 100
binnen die context in een competitie
kunnen stoppen. Dat werkt. Als je
als jonge startende ondernemer
alleen maar online je eigen dingen
doet, dan blijf het vinden wat je al
vond. Dat stopt de vernieuwing. Als
je ondernemers en cultuurmensen
bij elkaar zet, dan kunnen ze samen
een nieuwe context creëren. De
jonge digitale ondernemers hebben
soms last van ‘rockstar’ gedrag. Ze
nemen zichzelf als norm en sluiten
ideeën van anderen uit.
Daarnaast is alles rondom rechten
nu wereldwijd een ramp en dat remt
veel initiatieven of laat ze sneuvelen.
Muziekrechten, HD-tv, nieuwsrechten, sportrechten, het zou interessant zijn om daar aan de cultuuren beleidskant iets mee te doen
en daar de slagen te maken die
iedereen verder gaan helpen.
Daarnaast ontwikkeld Qi ook zijn eigen
digitale mediaproducten zoals het
virtuele reclamebureau Qineboko.com
en mobiele content platformen. Daarna
werkte Jeroen voor de TWBA Company
groep waar merk activering en nieuwe
media gecombineerd werden.
Op dit moment focust Jeroen
zich op het opstarten van innovatieve
media ondernemingen, door cliënten te
adviseren in hun omgang met nieuwe
media en door te werken als strategisch directeur bij de Creative Shop
2009. Daarnaast is hij samen met
Rembrandt Smids een nieuw bedrijf
gestart, genaamd BrandWebbing: een
nieuw en uniek merk strategische
benadering voor online media.
Jeroen de Bakker: Ik kan me bij e-cultuur wel iets voorstellen, maar
ik gebruik de term nooit. Voor mij
is het dat deel van de cultuur dat
wordt beïnvloed door technologische, elektronische en digitale
ontwikkelingen.
GVN: Het zou aan de commerciële kant JDB: Ik heb niet direct zicht op kunst, op prijs worden gesteld als je met
nieuwe media of e-kunst. Mijn
de zaken verder kan die met
collega’s hebben dat veel meer, de
publieke middelen zijn ontwikkeld.
mensen die echte creatieve functies
Als je daar subsidieert moet je
in het bedrijf hebben. Zij gaan vaak
het later vrijgeven aan de wereld.
naar tentoonstellingen en bijeenNeem als voorbeeld het Fabchannel
komsten zoals bij Mediamatic of in
platform. Dat wordt nu door henzelf
de Zwijger.
verder vercommercialiseerd, maar
Zelf ga ik bijvoorbeeld naar Picnic
waarom zou je het platform, zonder
en ben ik bij het DEAF electronic
de ‘indie muziek content/richting’
arts festival geweest en daar heb ik
niet vrijgeven zodat anderen er
leuke dingen gezien. De laatste keer
weer nieuwe concepten op kunnen
vooral rondom het thema augmenontwikkelen. Maar de dingen zijn nu
ted reality. De combinatie van het
nog vaak niet overdraagbaar. Een
fysieke en het virtuele werd goed
dergelijk model stelt eisen aan de
ingevuld. Maar ik denk niet dat ze in
kwaliteit van het ontwerp, de schaalde kunsten verder zijn. De kunsten
baarheid en het documenteren ervan.
en de commerciële wereld zijn met
dezelfde ontwikkelingen bezig, maar
passen ze anders toe. Ik zou een
volgende keer weer naar DEAF gaan.
(een vernieuwende) invloed op
jouw praktijk of die van anderen in
je omgeving?
4
Jeroen de Bakker is medeoprichter
van Qi, tot stand gekomen in het laatste
kwartaal van 1997. Qi heeft verscheidene prijswinnende interactieve marketing- en merkconcepten ontwikkeld.
JDB: Alles wat de creatieven en (concept)ontwikkelaars zien en
meemaken verwerken zij in hun
opdracht.
ANTOINETTE HOES
93
Vanuit mijn functie kijk ik primair
vanuit de behoefte van de adverteerder. Ik ben het filter dat soms
(vernieuwende) dingen tegenhoudt
als het geen of onvoldoende functie
heeft voor het merk of de adverteerder. Het is leuk als dingen mooi,
slim en vernieuwend zijn, maar het
moet in ons vak ook nog een functie
hebben. Ik bewaak dat stuk.
beroepsgroep?
JDB: Het is opvallend dat de schei-
ding tussen de ‘oude’ wereld en
de digitale wereld nog zo lang blijft
bestaan. Er wordt afhankelijk van de
oorspronkelijke discipline heel vaak
met één uitgangspunt bijvoorbeeld
technologie, gestart. Dat zal in de
kunsten niet veel anders zijn dan in
de reclame. Ooit zal de toevoeging
‘e’ overbodig zijn, maar het gaat
niet snel.
Innovatie ontstaat waar gecombineerd talent zit, dat versterkt elkaar.
Broedplaatsen zijn belangrijk, plek ken waar mensen (uit de kunsten en uit andere gebieden) van elkaar
leren en samen gaan toepassen.
Een plek waar aangrenzende dingen
bij elkaar komen. Ik werk zelf ook
graag met teams waarin we diverse
disciplines bij elkaar brengen.
JDB: Het allerbelangrijkste lijkt mij het
investeren in nieuwe vormen van
onderwijs. Het is toch frappant dat
Eckart Wintzen zijn nieuwe type
school in Amerika ging oprichten en
niet hier. Nu wij hebben vastgesteld
dat creativiteit een van de peilers is
voor onze Westerse economie zou
daar in het onderwijs meer nadruk
op mogen liggen. In die totaal andere
economie die eraan komt zijn naast
lezen en schrijven ook hele andere
en nieuwe vaardigheden nodig.
Daar zou veel in mogen gebeuren.
Ook hoe we omgaan met intellectueel eigendom is en blijft heel
belangrijk.
Het stimuleringsbeleid dat nu voor
de ‘oude kunsten’ bestaat zou ook
voor nieuwe vormen en kunst in
combinatie met technologie moeten
bestaan.
94
5
Walter Amerika is een onafhankelijk
adviseur voor bestuursraden, creatieve
ondernemer en spreker op het gebied van creativiteit en innovatie. Zijn
nieuwste project is de Creative Industry
SOFA, waar naar nieuwe mogelijkheden
gezocht wordt om initiatieven binnen
de creatieve industrie te financieren.
Daarnaast is hij tevens hoofd van
de faculteit ‘Market’ aan de Design
Academy in Eindhoven, voorzitter van
de stichting Doors of Perception, lid
van de Nederlandse Onderwijsraad,
bestuurslid van States of Humanity,
adviseur voor het Nederlands Comité
voor Internationale Samenwerking en
Duurzame Ontwikkeling op het gebied
van Nederlands Ontwerp in Ontwikkeling, lid van de adviesraad van Custom
Fit, adviseur op het gebied van Creatieve Industrie bij management centrum
DeBaak, en ambassadeur voor de
Dutch Design Awards.
Walter Amerika: Cultuur is zo’n breed begrip. Er ontstaat zeker cultuur
onder invloed van alle nieuwe
technologische ontwikkelingen.
Maar is het ook hoge cultuur? Net
als in de rest van de wereld is die
‘hoge cultuur’ er in het digitale
domein veel te weinig. Er wordt
veel ontwikkeld op basis van een
technology push, maar dat is iets
anders dan dat mensen er daadwerkelijk behoefte aan hebben.
WA: Ja, ik zie veel verschillende zaken. Ik denk dan bijvoorbeeld aan het
Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst of interactieve kunst.
Maar ook mensen als Daniëlle
Kwaaitaal en Micha Klein die zich
met videocultuur bezighouden.
AH: Hebben e-kunst en e-cultuur (een vernieuwende) invloed op jouw
omgeving?
MAPPING E-CULTURE
WA: Innovatie komt vanuit de hobby-
isten in de (banken) branche.
Bankiers zelf houden liever de
kaarten tegen de borst en zijn
conservatief. De wetgeving helpt
ook niet mee, daar stokt het hele
proces van vernieuwing, omdat je
alleen maar licenties krijgt als je
beantwoordt aan het oude model.
beroepsgroep?
WA: Bepaalde branches en sommige bedrijven zijn heel ver in het incorporeren van nieuwe ontwikkelingen in hun werkprocessen en
concepten. Denk aan AMO, het
bureau van Rem Koolhaas waar
architectuur naadloos wordt geïn tegreerd met andere disciplines
uit de creatieve industrie.
Maar bijvoorbeeld de bankenbranche... Daar hebben ze allemaal
dezelfde back bone. Ze onderscheiden zich niet. De banken concentreren zich op proces-standaardisatie
in plaats van dat ze technologische
ontwikkelingen inzetten om zich
daarmee te onderscheiden. Er moet
een bereidheid ontstaan in de
branches om ook in vormen en in
beelden te denken en niet alleen in
technische interfaces.
fiscaal interessant, rek de garantstellingen op. Nu zijn dat type
regelingen nog teveel puur gericht
op technologische innovatie. Ook
‘zachtere’ vormen zouden hiervoor
in aanmerking moeten komen.. en
als je dan stimuleert mag je aan de
resultaten ook best behoorlijke
eisen stellen.
Op dit moment gaan subsidies
soms naar niches van niches.
Fabchannel is een prachtig project,
maar het platform is veel breder
inzetbaar dan de niche, qua content,
waar het nu voor wordt ingezet.
Ik denk ook dat als je innovatie
stimuleert met publieke middelen
dat je dat weer terug moet geven
aan het publiek.
Naast de aanbodkant zou er ook
aandacht mogen zijn voor de
vraagkant. Hoe maak je aan de
verschillende sectoren duidelijk
wat e-cultuur en creativiteit en
innovatie te bieden hebben.
Wij zetten ons nu in voor de vernieuwing van de bankenbranche,
denk aan zaken als peer-to-peer
banking, coöperatief bankieren. Niet meer top-down, maar (onder
andere met behulp van technologische ontwikkelingen) ook bottomup. Als dat soort zaken gaan veranderen betekent dat een cultuuromslag voor de hele maatschappij.
Er zou meer vraaggestuurd gewerkt
moeten worden, maar dat ontstaat
zeker niet vanuit de technologie.
AH: Kun je je voorstellen wat e-cultuur en e-kunst (beleid) zouden kunnen bijdragen aan jouw beroepspraktijk?
WA: Je mag best industriebeleid voeren als er politiek draagvlak is voor die
keuzes. Als Nederland het moet
(gaan) hebben van de handel in
ideeën en creativiteit dan mag je
daar beleid op loslaten. Dat
betekent niet dat je alles hoeft te
subsidiëren. Dat kan ook met
investeringen. Maak investeren
ANTOINETTE HOES
95
Practice-based
Research in the Arts
Henk Borgdorff is professor (lector) of Art
Theory and Research at the Amsterdam
School of the Arts, and research fellow at
the Royal Academy of Art and the Royal
Conservatoire in The Hague. Borgdorff is
co-chair of the research group ARTI (Artistic
Research, Theory and Innovation) at the
Amsterdam School of the Arts, where he
supervises practice-based research projects
by research fellows and staff members.
Borgdorff has published on Immanuel
Kant’s music aesthetics, Theodor W. Adorno,
Donald Davidson, John McDowell and on
the (philosophical and political) rationale of
artistic research. His research interests are
the epistemology of artistic research, music
aesthetics and critique of metaphysics.
Henk Borgdorff
http://www.ahk.nl/ahk/lectoraten/therorie/arti/indez.shtml
based on an interview with
Anne Helmond
http://ww.annehelmond.nl
Anne Helmond is a New Media lecturer
at the Media Studies department of the
University of Amsterdam.
Research groups in the Netherlands
In 2002 research groups were introduced throughout the Dutch
system of higher vocational training (hoger beroepsonderwijs,
HBO), including arts education. There are now approximately
400 research groups, 30 of which are in the arts, focusing on
widely diverse areas. In arts education, the head of each
research group, the lector, is expected to do four things:
1.
Conduct research: there is a fixed budget for research that
can be carried out by teaching staff and by individuals from
outside the school. The lectors are assigned a budget they can
use to conduct research themselves and to fund research by
the research group in the academy;
2.
Encourage innovation in education;
3.
Improve the relationship with the outside world (specifically
professional practice), in our case the arts world;
4.
Professionalise teaching staff.
My research group Art Theory and Research – the first of
its kind at the Amsterdam School of the Arts (Amsterdamse
Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, AHK) – was formed in 2002, and
more followed in subsequent years. The first three of the now
five research groups at the AHK have a supra-faculty position.
Ours is a large art school with six faculties, the largest of which
96
MAPPING E-CULTURE
IN THE ARTS
HENK BORGDORFF
97
is the Conservatorium van Amsterdam; the others are the
Theatre School, the Netherlands Film and Television Academy,
the Academy of Architecture, the Reinwardt Academy (museology) and the Academy of Visual Arts Training (Academie voor
Beeldende Vorming, teacher training for visual arts and design).
We do not have an autonomous visual arts department; in
Amsterdam that role is filled by the Rietveld Academy, which
is independent but with whom we frequently collaborate. The
supra-faculty lectors thus work for the organisation as a whole.
My research groups and I work closely with Marijke Hoogenboom and her research group Art Practice and Development.
We collaborate as ARTI (Artistic Research, Theory & Innovation1), an interdisciplinary research group composed of teaching
staff and research fellows (from outside the Academy) who all
participate in research projects; some of these projects are truly
practice-based, while others have a more classical approach.
Several of the people involved are conducting doctoral research.
Research in the Arts
My own work in this context is meta research that examines
the rationale behind what research in the arts is, or could be.
To what extent, for example, does this form of research differ
from scientific research? And how does it relate to the field,
art and practice? Several of the articles I have written on the
subject have been published online.2 My other activities include
teaching and involving myself in matters of policy development
in the Netherlands and abroad, and I am a member of the
HBO board’s strategic working group on research.
1
http://www.ahk.nl/
ahk/lectoraten/theorie/
arti/index.shtml.
2
http://www.ahk.nl/
ahk/lectoraten/theorie/
publicaties-theorie.
shtml.
Research as a trend
An examination of funding applications confirms that research
is a hot topic at the moment. In the Netherlands we have
several channels for research that are not education-related,
the cultural funds, for example. This is something we observe
on an international level too: it’s a separate field financially
stimulated by the government. In principle, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has separate channels
of support for culture and education. Sometimes, however,
the division is unclear, especially in the case of post-academic
institutions such as the Jan van Eyck Academy and the Rijksacademie voor Beeldende Kunsten. In addition, there are
production houses and workspaces that also conduct a certain
amount of research, but the traditional home of research is
academia: universities and, increasingly, the universities of
applied sciences. It was only with the advent of the lectors and
research groups that the universities of applied sciences started
becoming involved, but research now ranks high on the agenda.
Abroad, academies are nowadays called ‘universities of applied
science’, and research is one of their core activities, along with
education.
98
MAPPING E-CULTURE
In fact, it is a three-pronged approach, because the academies
are required to focus on education, research and professional
practice. In the Netherlands, the precise definition of what is
and can be called ‘research’ is still being contested. A couple
of years ago the Advisory Council on Science and Technology
Policy in the Netherlands (Adviesraad voor Wetenschap en
Technologiebeleid in Nederland) published a report Design and
Development. The function and place of research activities in
universities of professional education, a title that underscored their
opposition to universities of applied sciences using the term
‘research’ to describe their activities. The report maintains that
what we describe as research only amounts to design and
development, and that true research is the exclusive preserve
of traditional universities. The advisory council had to concede
defeat on this point because research does have a high priority
at the universities of applied sciences, including those involved
in art education. We are, however, still lagging behind comparable institutions abroad.
ESSAY/INTERVIEW
3
‘Primary financing’
comes from the
Ministry of Education
Culture and Science,
‘secondary financing’
comes from independent public organisations such as the Dutch
Organisation for
Scientific Research
(Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek,
NWO) and ‘tertiary
financing ’ is projectbased and may come
from private institutions or government
departments.
IN THE ARTS
The dissolving boundary between universities of
applied science and universities
Internationally, and especially in Europe, there is an increasing
tendency for the distinction between universities of applied
sciences and universities to become fuzzy. Sometimes these
changes have been far reaching, as in the UK where former
polytechnics are now regulated in the same way as universities.
In practice there are still differences, but in principle it means
that they have an equal claim to research funding through
so-called primary and secondary financing.3 This means that in
the UK there are basic financial resources available for research
staff members. Until recently, this was not the case in the
Netherlands. If you were appointed to an academy, you were
paid to teach, not conduct research. The arrival of the lectors
and the research groups has created a little room for manoeuvre. Just a little. Research is not included in the tasks assigned
to those employed by the universities of applied sciences. The
situation is different in the UK, where it is an integral part of
the basic funding of the universities of applied sciences (the
primary financing), putting them on level footing with the
universities in this regard. And then there is secondary financing, which is guaranteed because of the funds in the UK, funds
that are in fact research councils. These funds invite competing
applications for the funding of research projects, including
those within universities of applied sciences. Because of this
equal treatment, universities of applied sciences can apply for
basic research funding. In practice, however, most of the money
goes to the universities because the universities of applied
sciences have not yet been able to prove themselves. We see
similar developments taking place in Scandanavia, Belgium,
Austria, Switzerland and Germany, where there are now
third-cycle post-Master, or doctoral, programmes.
HENK BORGDORFF
99
In the Netherlands we still make a clear distinction between
universities and universities of applied sciences. There is
university education with research, and vocational training
without or with little research. Government legislation still
strongly regulates the separation between HBO institutions
and universities. I don’t know how long we can maintain this
situation when it is changing elsewhere in Europe. Of course
it is related to the Bologna Process, which seeks to create a
European Higher Education Area (EHEA) from 2010, the
underlying principle being that it would simplify the comparison of diplomas. The mobility of teaching staff and students
plays an important role in this context. Another important
contributing factor is the intended region-wide implementation
of a parallel three-phase structure, comprising Bachelor, Master
and doctorate degrees. This means that in time there will be
a third phase in art education too, as already exists abroad.
Last year, I organised a two-day conference on the third phase,
in the Felix Meritis, Amsterdam.4
We are really trailing behind when it comes to infrastructure and facilities for practice-based research in higher arts
education. Much has to be achieved before 2010.
The old guard steps on the brakes
Various forces influence the situation in the Netherlands:
the old guard still rules the roost at the art academies and are
stepping on the brakes, while all manner of developments
are taking place beneath the surface. A year ago, a national
platform called the Platform for Doctoral Studies in the Arts
(Platform Promoties in de Kunsten) was set up to tackle the issue
of PhD studies in the arts and advocate a place for the third
cycle and its financing within arts education. It consists of
people from the arts education sector and the universities,
especially the various art studies. Over the intervening year
we have worked on constructing a framework for doctoral
research which we presented to The Netherlands Organisation
for Scientific Research (De Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, NWO), which has in turn collaborated
with the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design
and Architecture (Fonds Beeldende Kunsten Vormgeving en
Bouwkunst, BKVB) on starting a pilot PhD programme
for two (visual) artists. Although such programmes exist
elsewhere, this is a first for the Netherlands. It is a breakthrough, a small breakthrough certainly, but an important
and positive development.
discursive component should be produced that can stand on
its own: a dissertation. There are differences of opinion about
the relationship between these two.
In summary, the encouraging developments taking place
beneath the surface are: the breakthrough at the NWO, a
national platform, consideration of a third cycle as an extension
of the conference, and lectors focusing on research. On the
downside, there are many people in the Netherlands who
happen to be in controlling positions who are applying the
brakes and not prioritising research.
‘Artistic research is not one of the academy’s core activities’
The Amsterdam School of the Arts recently organised a meeting involving the Board of Governors, all the faculty heads, and
those responsible for policy within the school. It emerged from
this meeting that artistic research is not among the academy’s
core activities. In other countries there is explosive growth in
prioritising practice-based research in arts education, while
people in the Netherlands are wary, concerned perhaps that we
are getting ideas above our station. To quote one leading figure
at the school, ‘We are a technical school’. Some research is
allowed, but it isn’t given a prominent position. It is a fair point
of course, because we are in the first place an institution for
vocational education, and research isn’t everybody’s cup of tea.
4
De derde cyclus: Artistiek
onderzoek na Bologna
(The Third Cycle:
Artistic Research After
Bologna). International
conference on the
third cycle in higher
education in the arts,
Amsterdam, 10 and
11 October 2007.
http://www.ahk.nl/
ahk/lectoraten/
theorie/conferentie3/
programma.shtml.
Collaboration on a European level
There is an official, contractual collaborative relationship
between the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, the Conservatory in The Hague, Leiden University, the Orpheus Institute
in Ghent and Leuven University: DocArtes; they collaborate
on a practice-based doctoral programme in the area of music
for composers and musicians. This collaborative relationship
has been extended to an alliance including the Royal College of
Music in London, Oxford University and Royal Holloway,
University of London. This robust collaboration, funded by
the European Community, intends to develop a type of joint
programme in the field of music education. In the Netherlands
a doctoral studies course has also been initiated in the visual
arts – it’s the first in the Netherlands and is a collaboration
between the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and the PhD
Arts course at Leiden University.
There are good contacts with the Norwegian Research Fellowship Program, which provides artists with the opportunity to
conduct full-time research. These are mid-career artists with
substantial track records. This makes for a win-win situation
in which the pressure to produce work on a day-to-day basis
is removed, giving time to pause, reflect and develop, while
providing benefits for the educational establishment through
exchanges that occur during seminars.
A key issue in practice-based research is the relationship
between the artistic and the discursive aspects, between the
practice (what can be shown, displayed, demonstrated, made)
and the theoretical, verbal aspects. Some people regard the
artistic component as sufficient (proof of ability/degree of
competence) for the third-cycle level. Others think a written,
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY/INTERVIEW
IN THE ARTS
HENK BORGDORFF
101
The characteristics of practice-based research
There is no universal methodology; you have to adapt to what
the project needs. People wrestle with the term ‘methodology’,
but I prefer to avoid it and talk about ‘a method’; there are
various options and the choice depends on the subject, the
framing of the question and the goal. I’m very open-minded in
this respect: anything goes as long as it deals with the subject
in an effective way. In the case of practice-based research this
means that:
5
De waarde van
kunstvakonderwijs
(The Value of Art
Education), Position
Paper, HBO board,
February 2009.
1. The practice of making, creating (studio-based), is key to
the method – so there’s no sitting behind a desk; it’s all
about getting into the studio and getting you hands dirty.
In this respect it is comparable to experimentation in the
natural sciences: in a laboratory, as it were;
being trained for unemployment’) and also mentions research.5
In fact, research as a key task of the universities of applied
sciences features fairly prominently in the position paper, contrasting the current situation in the Netherlands. The paper was
originally going to contain a lot of far-reaching ideas but these
were omitted for political reasons, for example, a proposal to
follow the lead of Norway and the UK in setting up a research
fellowship programme and a third cycle programme. And not
everyone within arts education is behind it: ‘Let the cobbler
stick to his last; we are a technical school’. A certain amount
of information about research is included in the position paper,
but Dutch decision-making is based on the ‘polder model’,
which means it takes a long time before decisions are made at
national level. Although the Netherlands is a small country, it is
just too big for us all to merge forces and speak with one voice.
2. There is a fine example of this happening in Austria. Last year,
the six rectors of the art universities there collaborated on
writing and publishing a leaflet entitled Money (f )or the Arts,
which declares that ‘fundamental artistic research, independent
of market-focused art production, is the future of Austria as a
cultural nation’. We need research in the arts. At the moment,
it is inconceivable that statements like this could be made in
the Netherlands. There are too few managers in control in this
country who think in such a visionary way. The problem with
a new development such as this on the European mainland is
that it meets a great deal of resistance. It is understandable that
there is a certain degree of scepticism. Some think it is passing
phase; there is also some scepticism about these developments
within the art world. But the fact is that arts practice became
reflective by itself; we have to discard our naivety, even if only
because of external pressures. Artists have to position themselves in society and contextualise their work. They have to
account for their activities to funding bodies and the general
public. But something is going on within art itself: it has
become reflective – and not only conceptual art, because
modern art has had a tendency to be reflective since the end of
the 19th century. Reflection is inherent to art, and this generates a need for artists to have the space to pause and reflect on
their work, not only produce. That space simply does not exist
within the current framework of higher education, or at least
not at the third-cycle level. The universities are unconvinced
because they see their own funding shrinking. In the end it’s
always about power and money. These two factors can be said
to corrupt existing developments, developments that have a
certain intrinsic validity, necessity and urgency.
The results of the research must be practical and not just
a written treatment of acquired knowledge; not just words.
Something tangible has to be produced.
It’s up to the artist which additional method is selected. Some
cases might require a method derived from techniques applied
in the humanities: interpretation, hermeneutics, deconstruction,
psychoanalysis, critical theory or cultural studies. Other cases
might require a method more oriented towards techniques used
in the social sciences, such as engaged ethnographic research or
observational participation, or it could be research based on a
more scientific or technological approach. Any of these could
apply, depending on the subject.
What distinguishes this research from standard academic
research is that it focuses on arts practice – as distinct from
research into the arts. Of course there is an element of reflection, and the research will involve a certain amount of contemplation and writing, but the resulting written work will not
always fit into the framework of a classical academic thesis. The
most important factor is that it is appropriate for the practice:
the practice is paramount. A great deal of the practice-based
research conducted at the AHK is done on an individual basis,
but there are also interfaculty and interdisciplinary collaborations.
The future: money (f )or the Arts
We are expecting (at the time of interview) a letter from
the Minister of Culture, Mr. Plasterk, in which he is
expected to have stern words for the arts education sector
in the Netherlands or announce planned cutbacks. So, this is
not the moment to propose all manner of new initiatives to
the ministry. The higher arts education sector (the SAC-KUO,
the HBO board’s advisory council for the arts education sector)
has prepared a position paper, which includes responses to
rumours and attacks by the press on art education (‘Artists are
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY/INTERVIEW
IN THE ARTS
HENK BORGDORFF
103
Cultuurlokaal Gouda
The Patching Zone:
Collaborative Practice
and Practice-Based
Research
Anne Nigten is the director of The Patching
Zone, a praxis laboratory where Master, PhD
students and professionals work together on
meaningful creative content. Prior to her
current position, she was the manager of V2_
Lab, the aRt&D department of V2_, Institute
for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam, the
Netherlands. She lectures on research and
development in the interdisciplinary field
from an art perspective. She advises several
media art and science initiatives in the
Netherlands and Europe. She completed
her PhD at the University of the Arts London
(UK), and frequently publishes papers on art,
engineering and (computer) science collaboration and software development. Before her
current position at V2_ she worked as an
independent media artist, and simultaneously
fulfilled several management jobs for the
media art sector in the Netherlands.
Anne Nigten
http://patchingzone.net
http://processpatching.net
Anne Helmond
http://www.annehelmond.nl
The Patching Zone is a transdisciplinary laboratory for
innovation where Master’s students, postgraduates and
professionals from various fields create meaningful content.
Anne Nigten, the initiator of the Patching Zone, discusses
the ‘Process patching’ approach used by the Patching Zone
as the primary methodology for creative research and
development.
anne helmond
What inspired you to start the Patching Zone?
anne nigten
1
V2_, Institute for the
Unstable Media is
an interdisciplinary
centre for art and
media technology
in Rotterdam, the
Netherlands, http://
www.v2.nl/.
THE PATCHING ZONE:
Collaborative Practice and
Practice-Based Research
I was concerned with the question of how artists active in the
realms of art and technology can optimise cooperation with
technicians, computer scientists and designers. I noticed that
this has been a recurring problem for the last few years at V2_
in Rotterdam and therefore decided to write my PhD thesis on
this subject.1 The greatest and most obvious problem appears to
be cooperation, which ultimately prompted the question: which
methodology and approaches do artists working in the areas of
art and technology and electronic art utilise? Even today, I still
encounter the same situation in the education sector: you can
see that creative practice is increasingly becoming collaborative,
and extremely difficult to adapt to college curricula. Even if it
involves working with people from different branches, almost
ANNE NIGTEN
105
all of them are branches of the same tree.
Frequently there is also an existing educational
model that inhibits collaboration between
people with very different backgrounds.
I wanted to establish a practice-oriented
laboratory where I could further shape these
ideas; I wanted to examine how cooperation
between people working together can be
optimised and how the gaps can be filled by
the colleges themselves, thereby making a
contribution for future artists. Although we
do work with students and researchers from
diverse disciplines, our origins are in the art
world. This is the core issue. The approach
has emerged from our own backgrounds and
our experience at V2_. The Patching Zone sees
art and design as having paramount importance.
a mandatory number of seminars and lectures.
It would not be correct to state that people are
not interested, because the most important
factor is the problem with scheduling. This
will be addressed so that, as much as possible,
all future projects will start in September, to
ensure that they are concurrent with college
rosters. Of course, it won’t be possible to
perfectly synchronise all the courses.
We have just started an active information
campaign for all courses in the Netherlands
that is not limited to one region only, but is
intended to fulfil a national role. This initiative
is thus not restricted to Rotterdam. We intend
to start working at a European level as soon as
possible.
ah
How does the Patching Zone relate to practicebased research?
The Patching Zone works with students on a
project basis. How do students apply?
aN
Applicants for Patching Zone projects come
from a wide variety of backgrounds, but it is
usually the better students that feel up to it.
It is noteworthy that there is more interest
from abroad than from the Netherlands. This
can be partly explained by the fact that the
Netherlands is still catching up in the area
of dual education: there are as yet no Master
degrees and PhDs in the arts- and design
sectors, and Master’s and PhD courses at
technical colleges are generally more focused
on themselves. We have some extremely
talented students from many European
countries for our upcoming project. Applications from abroad were generally of a higher
quality than those from the Netherlands.
aH
Do you actively seek affiliations in your own
region?
aN
Insofar as it is possible, I try to involve local
universities and colleges, but ultimately it
also has to fit into the curriculum, as well as
in the academic roster. Notwithstanding that
a Master’s and PhD approach is developing
in the Netherlands, one Master student may
be working on a single project from September
to June, while another is allocated a fixed
number of months to complete the final paper.
Moreover, students frequently have to attend
106
2
PhDArts is joint
programme of
The Faculty of Arts,
University of Leiden,
and the Royal Academy of Art (RKA)
in The Hague.
Certain modules are
also carried out in
partnership with the
Research Institute at
the KU Leuven. For
more information see
http://www.lectoraat
kabk.nl/nl/phd-inde-kunst/index.html.
The programme has
been extended to
include a PhD in
partnership with the
Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts,
Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB).
aH
aN
As most of our students are from the arts and
design worlds, they work according to one of
the variants of practice-based research, which
knows a number of trends. Students attending
courses having a more technical and theoretical
orientation, i.e., reflective studies, obviously
work in a completely different way. The issue
of cooperation has also made inroads in
practice-based research relating to electronic
art and the creative industry. We hope that it
will gradually become clear that the role played
by artists and designers in innovation teams
is also extremely interesting if it involves
cooperation, and that this gives their work
added value. In this way we hope that we can
refine the image of practice-based research,
and demonstrate that it does not always have
to be a solo endeavour – while the model of
scientific PhDs in particular is far more
focused on the individual.
I think that this is an interesting complement, especially for courses focusing on
innovation. It will be far less well received
by autonomous artists; it is meant for those
who have mastered the process. Being helped
to increase awareness of their methodology
provides interesting new opportunities for
artists and designers in collaborative projects.
This really gives a practice-based PhD enormous extra value. This is something I am
trying to achieve at the Patching Zone. We
MAPPING E-CULTURE
INTERVIEW
are not particularly concerned in this regard
with a courses such as the PhD in Leiden.2
They are now collaborating with the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and
Architecture on a course which is much more
rooted in a variant of the scientific academic
model that has held sway since the Enlightenment: the model of the individual, creative,
contemplative artist.
We aspire to a somewhat different approach at the Patching Zone. We ensure that
practice and theory run parallel so that they
can nourish each other and more knowledge
becomes available about the working process
and the methodology, and any shortcomings
can be identified. These are extremely valuable
components when shaping theory. The power
of many art and design processes is derived
from the fact that theoreticians also actually
involve themselves in the practical aspects
during the process, and not only retroactively.
This is a completely different way of reflecting
on one’s work if you are really in the thick of
it: combining the first and third person means
that, sometimes, you are directly involved,
while at other times you observe from a distance, and it is easy to alternate these roles.
This is an issue I would like to explore further
with the students and my colleagues at the
Patching Zone – to be involved with much
more awareness, so that you can also benefit
more from the process.
aH
How does the Patching Zone intend to disseminate the knowledge produced by the projects?
aN
One example of how we intend to document
our activities is with leaflets. This is general
documentation for a broad audience that is
conversant with the creative field. We also
frequently produce scientific publications, both
academic papers and popular scientific works.
Students are involved as much as possible in
writing these papers. Several papers relating
to our previous project are currently being
prepared. Already, various PhD chapters and
Master theses have been written by students,
either as PhD chapter, papers, or as a case
study – and we assist them with these as well.
We will also post some superb video footage
on our website: short films documenting the
THE PATCHING ZONE:
ANNE NIGTEN
107
process and how people reacted, which also
demonstrate that this curious approach can
sometimes elicit a very interesting and
disarming reactions.
Finally, a book that we published in
cooperation with The Hague University:
Het Woudlopersboek voor de Cultureel Erfgoed
Medewerker 2.0 was presented during the
Digital Heritage Netherlands Congress in
December 2008.3 It is a report on the Cultuur
Lokaal project,4 and is written from the
perspective of an employee working at a
cultural institution.
The assignment for this project was to
create a training course for employees at three
cultural organisations: the library, museumgoudA and the Regional Archive. Employees
apparently had great difficulty anticipating the
changes that new models and interaction with
the public could have on their professional
work. How were their roles going to change
and how could this be stimulated or shaped?
How can you play a pro-active role to avoid
alienating your audience? Employees must be
able to adapt to present or future expectations.
The Hague University and Web in de Wijk
(web in the neighbourhood5) collaborated on
a formal training programme. We took care
of the informal training programme in which
a group of Patching Zone students conducted
a series of interventions in the public space
that were all based on topics suggested by the
employees of the cultural organisations, such
as the project ‘Vergeten Eten’ (forgotten food).
The archive employees told us that they had
some beautiful 16th- and 17th-century recipe
books written in Old Dutch, which included
regional recipes that they wanted use as the
basis of the project. They selected several
recipes and these were brought up to date and
prepared using ingredients that are available
nowadays, and with our current notions about
flavouring. Our friends were our test subjects.
We erected a lovely, large, red Vergeten Eten
tent on the Gouda market square and employees from the Regional Archive cooked and
served the food. Many visitors to the market
came and sampled our wares. Diners were
asked to leave a recipe behind, thus ensuring
that all the basic components were included
in the project: giving, sharing, creating an
108
environment, and engaging in discussions.
It was an extremely enjoyable event. We also
created a layout for putting the recipes online
in a small network. Neither the interventions
nor the website were intended as end products,
as such, but they were important facets of the
training programme. It enabled project participants to make contact in an entirely different
way with people who we couldn’t have known
in advance would be interested in doing
something with food. We received recipes and
knowledge about the city from people with
whom we probably would not have come into
contact. It was not a formal topic provided by
the cultural organisations, but a pleasant public
event which enabled people to learn a great
deal by applying a method between art and
research. Moreover, it was not a high profile
event, and we did not create brouhaha about it.
Some of our participants walked around the
market inviting people into the tent, which
involved a ‘canvassing’ function completely
different to a supportive function behind the
counter at an organisation.
We have organised a number of events that
started with the basic principles of social
networking and co-creation and gradually
introduced elements of a technically oriented
approach. Each step involved an additional
technical aspect, which required the intensive
practical application of various design and
development principles – especially from the
areas of ethnographic field research and social
sciences. It was an interesting combination of
context research and design research. It’s
important to note that they were extremely
pleased with our efforts. Four events were
held and the project is now completed. The
most interesting result of the entire project
was that one of the employees was assigned a
new job: previously an archivist in the Regional
Archive, he is now the innovation manager. It
is extremely encouraging that a training course
can lead to a transformation in the professional
lives of these employees.
aH
When selecting students do you also consider
the balance between theory and practice?
‘Vergeten eten’, The Patching Zone
(2008)
3
The publication Het
Woudlopersboek voor
de Cultureel Erfgoed
Medewerker 2.0 can
be ordered from the
Research group for
Information Technology and Society of
The Hague University
of Applied Sciences
4
Cultuur Lokaal is a
collaboration between
the Waterwolf laboratories (Haagse Hogeschool lectoraat
Society and ICT by
Dick Rijken and three
cultural institutions
in Gouda: the Public
Library Gouda, the
Regional archive
Central-Holland,
Museum GoudA)
and The Patching
Zone in the Netherlands. http://cultuur
lokaal.patchingzone.
net/.
5
Web in de Wijk is an
initiative aimed at
improving neighbourhood life, by making
it easier for residents
to find out more about
their neighbourhood,
become acquainted
and plan activities
together by means
of the Internet.
aH
With whom do you collaborate, and in what kinds
of formal or informal networks do you
collaborate?
aN
We always work on the basis of assignments,
and two important criteria are evaluated when
MAPPING E-CULTURE
INTERVIEW
selecting students. Firstly, the appropriate
knowledge must be represented in the team
to ensure that the assignment is carried out
in accordance with the expectations. Secondly,
there must be a healthy balance between
the members of the group: not only between
the relative numbers of men and women,
and between theory and practice, but also
between the various disciplines themselves.
The composition of the team is of vital
importance. We always start by assessing our
requirements, firstly by evaluating what we
require, and then by ensuring that there is a
good balance between theory, practice, design
and implementation.
We want people with a theoretical background to play an active role at the start of
the process and not only at the end, or when
compiling the report. We now have a theorybased participant, who joined the team at its
inception in January. This is an important
factor. In general it is much easier for theoreticians to look back and reflect on a completed
project than to accumulate sufficient knowledge to analyse the working process while it
is in progress. I think it is important that this
reflection does not only occur retroactively.
You need retroactive analysis, too, but if it is
nurtured throughout the entire process in
which people play an active role, theory and
practice can flow among the people involved.
THE PATCHING ZONE:
ANNE NIGTEN
109
aN
The Patching Zone has a network of ‘ambassadors’. These are people who operate purely out
of interest and without financial reward on our
behalf to create alliances with the industrial,
scientific and governmental communities.
We have several partners and are funded
by Creative Challenge Call, a collaborative
programme between the Ministry of Economic
Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Culture
and Science; the The Go-for-IT! project is
commissioned by Rotterdam South Pact in
close collaboration with city district Feijenoord
and Stichting Welzijn Feijenoord in south
Rotterdam.
Kristina Andersen is a maker and researcher
based at STEIM in Amsterdam. She works
with electronics to create unusual objects
and experiences as a part of her ongoing
obsession with ‘naïve electronics’. She holds
an MA. in wearable computers, an M.Sc in
tangible objects in virtual spaces, and was
a research fellow at the Interaction Design
Institute Ivrea. She has mentored and taught
at DasArts, Piet Zwart Institute and Willem de
Kooning Academie and she was an honorary
visiting design fellow at the University of
York. She has designed and hosted countless workshops in strange locations. She
currently mentors at the Patchingzone and
is director of research and communication
at STEIM.
aH
Embodying
Research
Do you have European ambitions?
aN
We are currently in the inventorying phase and
are actively ensuring that we have a robust base
in the Netherlands. We are going to closely
monitor our operating procedures because we
want to work on an assignment basis as much
as possible and do not want to become
affiliated with one particular university. That
would create obligations and we would rather
develop a workshop or seminar model that
we can use to cooperate with several colleges,
instead of creating the impression that we are
obliged to accept a given number of students
from a particular college each year. We want
our selection procedure to be determined by
the quality of the students and their suitability
for the project.
We are organising a meeting at ISEA
in Belfast in Northern Ireland in August
2009 to advance our European alliances.
This encounter will consist of a panel that
will on the one hand provide a platform for
our students, students from elsewhere and
researchers, and on the other hand, provide
them with an opportunity to discuss our
approach and their experiences within both
a scientific and an artistic context. In a new
field such as this, it is extremely important
to safeguard quality and create a portfolio.
The Patching Zone is a unique concept,
and it is therefore impossible to compare our
activities and progress with other initiatives,
which perhaps emphasises the importance
of precisely defining quality criteria. This
is the first thing we want to do.
110
MAPPING E-CULTURE
Dick Rijken graduated as a cognitive
psychologist, with major excursions into
Sonology and Computer Science. He was
head of the Interaction Design department
at the Utrecht School of the Arts in the early
1990s. Since then he has worked at VPRO,
a broadcasting organisation, as project
manager and strategic consultant for
Internet projects. Currently, he is director of
STEIM, and lector in Information Technology
and Society at the The Hague University
of Applied Sciences where he studies the
role of cultural institutions in the context of
Web 2.0. He also works as an independent
consultant for companies and non-profit
organsations and as a lecturer and project
coach on strategic and conceptual issues
in digital communication.
Dick Rijken
http://www.steim.nl
Kristina Andersen
http://www.steim.nl
Cathy Brickwood
http://www.virtueelplatform.nl
Workshop Go-for-IT!, The Patching
Zone (2008)
STEIM is a practice based laboratorium for research and
development of instruments and tools for digital live performance,
based in Amsterdam. It is also an international meeting place,
an artist hotel, and production office. It serves an international
group of people working in the field of live electro-acoustic music,
DJ’s, VJ’s, theatre and installation makers and video artists.
CATHY BRICKWOOD
What is your understanding of practice-based research?
KRISTINA ANDERSEN
At the moment, there is a very active debate all over Europe
about practice-based research. Basically, it’s a spectrum. At
one end of that spectrum, the artist is seen as an intuitive and
individual creator, untouchable by reason and untouched by
society. Practice is then seen as the creation of art and only
the art itself determines the success of the endeavour. Thus,
an individual artist can be granted a PhD solely on the basis
of an artistic body of work. At the other end of that spectrum,
the artist is seen as connected to all of society, to philosophy,
to science, and to critical reflection. Thus, it makes sense to
ask artists to explain themselves—without having the ‘magic’
disappear. Like in science this approach is based on notions
of rigourousness, repeatability and experiment: You build on
other people’s work, you reference your work and you disseminate it in the system. This can result in demanding more or less
traditional PhD theses from artists, complementing their actual
works of art. So the spectrum ranges from ‘makers’ to ‘scholars’,
INTERVIEW
EMBODYING RESEARCH
DICK RIJKEN
KRISTINA ANDERSEN
111
with most art practice and artistic research
somewhere along that spectrum. Likewise,
researchers and researchers position themselves
there as well, with products ranging from art
works to purely academic publications, or
combinations of the two.
CB
How do you see the position of STEIM as a
research body?
in academic research, so we can work broadly
on that spectrum between art and scholarship.
KA
In some way we cannot help but feel that
the current discussion about practice-based
research validates the way we work at STEIM.
We are in an excellent position of provide
a space for exploring what practice based
research can be here in the Netherlands.
DICK RIJKEN
STEIM doesn’t experience artistic practice and
technical or conceptual research as conflicting
activities. In our specific practice of building
instruments for live performance, it’s natural
for us to connect them. It requires a lot of
research at the technical and artistic level. We
are often forced to create innovative technical
solutions and there is a continuous process of
critical artistic reflection about the relationship
between instrument design and artistic expression. As we create new instruments, we generate knowledge that can be interesting to other
fields as well. Live performance is a very
valuable context for interactivity, because it
is such a critical situation where notions like
feedback, timing and expressivity can never be
compromised. The knowledge we acquire by
helping people build instruments is present
here in the organisation. However, due to the
large number of projects (around 150) that
turn up each year, it is a big challenge to decide
what to focus on for external publication. This
is our primary challenge for the near future:
to pick out the best projects and publish what
we learn from them to both develop our body
of knowledge and reach a larger audience.
As part of the process of instrument design
and development, we are going to have more
critical discussions, more explicit ways of
documenting what happens and why. We
will interview people during the process, take
photos, explain choices, show intermediate
results, etc. Thus, we are contributing to a
conceptual vocabulary for physical interactivity.
The resulting knowledge will be presented
in different media, ranging from videos and
interviews on our websites to books, and it
will also feed in to the more academic world
with scientific publications. The ideal guest is
someone who is both a musician and interested
112
As an institution we have a lot of freedom,
and we have been able to develop a high level
of craftsmanship as ‘makers’ over the years.
Labs that are part of traditional universities
complain that everything they do has to be
validated by publishing academic papers in
academic journals. We can develop relationships with institutions like that by moving
them slightly away from that academic focus,
and they appreciate us for doing that, since
there is knowledge that only emerges from
making instruments that work. STEIM is
unique in this sense. Other institutions
build interfaces, test them, and then write
an academic paper. We make instruments
that you have to learn to play, that grow as
you practice.
DJ Sniff
DR
And that process of changing and tweaking,
while someone is learning to play an instrument, yields new knowledge as well. It’s
another very valuable opportunity for reflection.
Laetitia Sonami plays the Lady’s Glove
There is a longer process of interaction involved. We’re not into ‘proof of concept’,
we make real things. That is what also makes
it interesting from a scientific point of view,
that it is lived. So it transcends an objectified
view on research where the researcher is
disconnected from what is studied.
KA
Two kinds of musicians come to STEIM.
One group is the more traditional musicians
who make a living playing, and then there is a
group with a more academic orientation. Both
cultures have different reward systems and
peer review systems. We have the reputation
of being a safe house, we don’t judge processes
harshly on their outcomes and we accept the
value of failure. We want to continue to be a
place where you can experiment and take risks.
MAPPING E-CULTURE
INTERVIEW
Alex Nowitz plays Nintendo Wii
113
KA
We have produced a small number of publications, but there have been countless tours,
concerts, exhibitions, and workshops. All these
things are valuable to us. The artists that work
with us, perform all over the world – they are
seen by people and they talk about us. Also,
our guest house plays has an important role
in bringing people together. People meet each
other, work together, and often end the day by
having dinner in the shared kitchen. The guest
house is a place to exchange ideas and form
intricate networks and these networks make
us grow in turn.
DR
The concerts are also part of the experimentation process. You make yourself vulnerable to
an audience, the work is only validated in the
performance situation.
KA
It’s a cliché and a joke but: ‘It’s what you do
with it that counts’. An instrument doesn’t
only have to be able to work at the moment
of completion, it has to afford virtuosity. A
good instrument can be played for a long time,
it can become someone’s tool for expression.
Learning to play and becoming a virtuoso is
something that requires the instrument to
have space for growth and exploration and
even surprise. We want instruments that are
developed through use and practice. That is
an approach you don’t see often elsewhere.
CB
Where is elsewhere?
DR
Other labs with a more classical scientific
mentality, but also thousands of small studios
and hobby rooms, people doing it themselves.
These days, anybody can buy a Wii controller,
hook it up to their computer, press a button,
swing the controller through the air and make
a sound. But, for us, that’s only the beginning.
DIY culture is actually enabling us to move
away from sensor technology, and focus more
on artistic coaching and the development of
knowledge. We are experts when it comes to
114
KA
We often modify string instruments. People
entrust us with very old, valuable instruments.
Violins are a classic example. John Rose is
a musician who has been a regular visitor to
STEIM for the past 20 years. He uses electronics to modify his violin and experiments
with different types of strings and bows,
enriching the instrument. He embodies the
process of constantly revisiting and tweaking.
Another example is is Laetetia Sonami who
has been working and re-working her glove
controller for years.
DR
The world needs places that can host practicalbased research. We already get requests from
people who want to do their PhD at STEIM.
It’s an excellent opportunity for us, not only
in terms of research methodology, but also for
further developing our concepts and content,
linking the physical and conceptual aspects of
our work.
CB
DR
The most obvious example is the current trend
of interfaces becoming more physical. Smart
objects and gesture-based interactivity, these
are big topics in current human interface
design, but we’ve been doing that kind of
research for decades. You can also describe our
instruments as tangible interfaces for real time
manipulation of data. We know what it is like
to design physical interfaces. We are used to
thinking in terms of situated and embodied
experience that does not originate from a
flat computer screen. Recently, we developed
a museum installation in in the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague where teenagers
physically interact with sound. That installation was a direct result of our research on
musical instruments. Now that physical
interaction is becoming more common,
we have valuable knowledge to contribute.
MAPPING E-CULTURE
INTERVIEW
DR
Music is timing. Music is consciously designed
and composed sound, that is organised in time.
If you use our software to build an instrument
it will be better because of this timing issue.
But it’s an underestimated issue in interface
design, and people are starting to realise this.
Timing is crucial in many application areas of
computing. We can feed into all those areas
with our knowledge and expertise.
Returning to an earlier point about performance
based innovation being very relevant to other
fields of innovation, can you give an example?
KA
An issue that constantly comes up for us is
‘time’ – timing, synchronisation, scheduling,
clocks, both technically and conceptually.
When you are building instruments, you
cannot tolerate delays. We take this very
seriously in all our software and hardware,
shaving milliseconds off the reaction time of
an interface might not be worth doing for
anybody but us, but for us it is part of taking
our performances seriously. There are notions
of timing that come straight from dance,
and others that refer to the internal clocks in
all electronic devices and processors. Every
performer runs on an internal clock, the body
has an internal clock. Timing is enormously
important to what we do: Being present in the
moment working directly with the electronics
that you’re controlling. Our constituency
knows and cares about this: if you get the
timing wrong, everything falls apart.
building instruments. We can mount sensors
on your oboe without damaging the instrument. But, more importantly, we can reflect
CB
on what it is that you want to achieve by doing
Even without publishing you have built a strong
international reputation. How did you manage that? this, and help you refine and evolve your art.
It’s OK to come to STEIM and find out that
your idea doesn’t work.
Modified Cello Bow (top),
Modified Saxophone (bottom)
EMBODYING RESEARCH
KA
We are very excited about what the future
will bring in terms of who we will engage
with about these issues. It may not be who we
think it is. It will depend on how we publish,
what language and vocabulary we use. In the
process we will build up a vocabulary that will
be a pidgin of a range of fields, science, music,
philosophy, dance and so on. The vocabulary
will need to be both broad and very specific
about the work and concerns of our constituency. We are lucky, we have a specific knowledge of very different worlds and we can
draw on this. In many ways it’s quite a simple
story. We feel the world is moving towards
us. Instead of seeing it as a sign that we are
obsolete, we are incredibly excited: We feel
we have something very timely to contribute
and we want to move the work, the conversation, the exploration forward.
DICK RIJKEN
KRISTINA ANDERSEN
115
Open Cultural
Economy?
By Klaas Kuitenbrouwer
www.virtueelplatform.nl
www.otocron.net
it is a defensible standpoint that culture created with public
means should also be accessible for each and every citizen.
Klaas Kuitenbrouwer is programme manager
at Virtueel Platform. Until recently he worked
at Mediamatic. Klaas has researched and put
together conference programmes, courses
and workshop curricula for professionals in
various cross sections of media, technology
and culture. His main focus has been the
appliance of RFID / NFC technology in social
contexts, creative use of game technology in
various media and cultural sectors, online
and mobile audiovisual projects, physical
computing. He advises several cultural
organisations, and cultural funds in the
Netherlands on new media and teaching
programmes and lectures and teaches at
universities and art academies in various
countries in Europe.
There is one key word that is shared by a number of important
innovative movements in electronic media and new communication technologies. That word is ‘open’, as in ‘open source’,
‘open access’, ‘open content’, ‘open hardware’, etc. Many of the
practices these terms refer to originate in the techno-cultural
vanguards of the 1980s and have in the meantime evolved to
become part of mainstream culture.
The term ‘open’ as used above can be broadly interpreted in
two ways: firstly, as establishing the principle that the development process of an open object is accessible to all, and secondly
that the open object can be used by everyone to their own ends
(and usually at no cost).
All these open practices are derived from the distributed interactive communication that is made possible through digital
networking and from the characteristic of digital information
that it is able to be reproduced from wherever it is present
(server, browser window, hard disc, etc.). Open practices are
thus a useful application of a feature of digital reality. But the
term ‘open’ encompasses an entire ideology: the conviction that
the development of culture and those participating in it is best
served by open processes and the free distribution of open
objects.1 Or in a wider, political sense, it is the way in which
digital space becomes public space that can be organised
democratically.
Participation in culture (and by this I mean both the production of culture as well as the consumption thereof ) in the
digital domain is very susceptible to these open developments.
Obviously, and to a large extent, culture is stimulated by
its free availability, and the Internet, like no other medium or
instrument, also offers the means to achieve this. Furthermore,
116
MAPPING E-CULTURE
2
See Software Studies,
Lev Manovich, 2008;
and Free Culture, the
Nature and Future of
Creativity, Lawrence
Lessig, 2004.
3
‘Pirates and
Samaritans: a Decade
of Measurements on
Peer Production and
their Implications for
Net Neutrality and
Copyright’, by J.A.
Pouwelse, P. Garbacki,
D.H.J. Epema, H.J.
Sips, in Telecommunication Policy Journal,
December 2008.
1
For the pre-digital
background to this
cultural attitude, see
‘Remixologie – over
de bronnen van
Shareware’, Omar
Muñoz-Cremers, in
Metropolis M, no. 1,
2009.
ESSAY
4
Works published
under the GNU Public
License or under
Creative Commons
licences that touch
upon or are combined
with (parts of )
copyright-protected
works are still thorny
legal issues that have
to be resolved.
5
http://www.beelden
voordetoekomst.nl/.
Disarray
The cultural economy, however, is thrown into complete
disarray by these developments. It depends for its proper
functioning on two mechanisms: the marketability of cultural
products by means of their physical carriers; and a system for
sharing the rights accrued from the distribution of the content
of cultural products, i.e., copyright. In recent decades cultural
products have come to include purely digital objects that can
easily be distributed, adapted, doctored, stretched, duplicated
and refined without any loss of quality. This has become one
of the most important engines of cultural regeneration.2
In the current techno-cultural context the preservation
of copyrights is somewhat problematic. In December 2008 a
team from the Delft University of Technology published the
report Pirates and Samaritans about the current situation and
the anticipated developments in file sharing and peer-to-peer
networking. This report includes data from the most substantial scientific research relating to the unpaid and illegal downloading of copyright-protected songs, films and games. The
report concludes that copyright enforcement will be impossible
in practice from 2010.3
Moreover, many would regard the (presently theoretical)
protection of copyrighted works as an undesirable legal
restraint on an important cultural engine.
The ‘open’ approach is no longer solely a political choice
or a smart and inexpensive method of developmental process:
it is part of the new digital nature.
Some rights reserved
Some creative alternatives to the increasingly unrealistic ‘all
rights reserved’ culture have been developed. The GNU Public
Licence for software and various Creative Commons licences
for different types of open content are successful projects that
stimulate technological and cultural innovation in a way that
is unique to the new digital reality and makes a constructive
contribution to the development of new legal concepts.4
A large-scale project to improve access to media archives is
Beelden voor de Toekomst (Images for the Future),5 a collaborative project by Beeld en Geluid, the Filmmuseum, the National
Archive, the Association of Public Libraries (Vereniging van
Openbare Bibliotheken), the Rotterdam Central Record Library
(Centrale Discotheek Rotterdam) and the Nederland Kennisland
Foundation. One of the aims of the project is to make available
a basic collection of digital film and sound recordings, primarily
for educational purposes, either copyright-free or under the
provisions of a Creative Commons licence. In this framework,
part of the National Archive’s collection of historic photographs has been scanned at high resolution and posted on
KLAAS KUITENBROUWER
117
Flickr: The Commons 6 (a Library of Congress initiative) under
the Creative Commons licence.
The GNU Public Licence and Creative Commons are legal
constructs that support the political and social dimensions of
open culture.
Who pays the bills?
How does the open concept work on an economic level? The
basic costs involved in developing open objects can be kept to
a minimum if people participate in the project on a voluntary
basis. Many types of audiovisual productions can now be made
for considerably less money than previously: broadcast-quality
audiovisual projects can be produced with equipment costing
around 5000 euros. The IDFA Festival regularly screens films
that cost even less than this to make.
But production costs also include infrastructure, support
and management. The Beelden voor de Toekomst initiative
managed to find a project-based subsidy to make the archives
available to a wider audience. But sound business models still
have to be developed that will ensure the maintenance of public
digital archives in the long term.
In addition, much ‘open’ content is not produced by an
open process per se, and is only published as an open work
after it is completed. Also, individual authorship is an important production modus in our current culture. In such cases,
production costs for open objects are no different from those
for non-open objects, and those working in the cultural sector
also want to be able to pay the rent (or even a mortgage).
At the other end of the spectrum are the budgets of highend blockbuster films, which run from 90 million euros to three
times this amount. And the budget of a TripleA game such
as Killzone2, manufactured by the Dutch company Guerilla
Games, is estimated to be a tidy 60 million euros. Making a
single copy of a copyrighted work for home use is not illegal,7
but unlimited free distribution of expensive digital products
drives a stake through the heart of the blockbuster business
model.
6
http://www.flickr.com/
commons.
Bumboat trader/flaoting grocer in rowing boat selling
groceries (milk) to a skipper, 1930, Collection Spaarnestad
Photo, available on Flickr Commons
7
http://www.thuiskopie.
nl/.
Specialised services
Production costs and income for makers have to be protected
in some way, and if copying is free, then only something that
is not a copy can be sold. How can money be made from open
objects?
Several models have been applied in various parts of the
world that ensure open objects create a flow of money. The
first is supplying specialised services relating to open objects,
services that have to be paid for. The most well known example
is Linux, a very robust, safe and versatile operating system,
published under the GNU Public Licence, which means no
one has to pay licence fees. Open source development means
that a group of programmers continually improves the software
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
Recording a radio play, The Netherlands, 1949,
Collection Spaarnestad Photo, available on Flickr
Commons
ESSAY
KLAAS KUITENBROUWER
119
on a voluntary basis. Open source development guarantees the
quality and safety of the product (if it is properly managed).
A company like RedHat does not earn anything from selling
Linux itself, but from the installation, maintenance or customisation of Linux applications. This model is also applied to open
source applications such as Drupal and Joomla 8 (and many
others), which are dedicated content management systems
(CMS) for websites and online communities. Companies offer
specialised commercial services for both systems, without
selling actual software licences. Particularly the use of standard
applications results in lower prices for clients.
Donations
Another well-known open model is that of donations, which is,
surprisingly, reasonably financially tenable – Wikipedia survives
this way, for example. No expenses are incurred in developing
the content on Wikipedia – this is done by volunteer contributors and editors from all corners of the Internet – but costs
that do have to be paid include those for hosting, software
development, and making and maintaining accessibility. In the
case of a massive project such as Wikipedia these costs can be
enormous.
Wikipedia is entirely financed by donations from individuals and independent funding sources. The most recent, large
fundraising campaign – an appeal for donations on the front
page of the Wikipedia website – generated in excess of 6 million dollars between 5 November 2008 and 2 January 2009.9
This initiative succeeded because Wikipedia enjoys worldwide repute, is used a great deal and especially because Wikipedia has enormous value for many people.
Smaller projects with lower production costs can also be
financed in this way. Steal This Film, an open-content film about
file sharing and PirateBay,10 was financed by voluntary donations from viewers after its release on peer-to-peer networks.
approach guaranteed them all the rights to their material (the
large record company EMI holds the rights to their earlier
works). And when the album was released later as a CD, it
entered the pop charts at the number one position in both
the United Kingdom and the United States.
8
http://www.drupal.org
and http://www.
joomla.org.
9
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_
releases/Wikipedia_
fundraiser_surpasses
_$6million_USD_
January_2009.
10
http://www.open
business.cc/2006/
08/25/steal-this-film/.
11
http://www.blender.
org/blenderorg/
blender-institute/.
Screenshot Steal This Film
Radiohead made their album In Rainbows available on their
own website from 10 October to 10 December 2007. Visitors
were asked to pay what they could afford for the album, but
could, in effect, download the tracks for free. Estimates of
Radiohead’s income from this experiment range from 5 to 10
million euros. More important for the band itself was that this
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
12
https://www.google.
com/adsense/support/
bin/answer.py?answer
=81567; http://www.
johnchow.com/theinternets-biggestgoogle-whores/.
ESSAY
The entire freeware model works in a comparable way. Freeware
is software (both open source and non-open source) that is
published as open. People who actually use the software are
asked to make a donation. These are rarely large amounts and
such projects are usually not capital-intensive.
Other models have been developed whereby financing can
be crowd-sourced prior to production – the current term is
crowd-funding. Steal This Film 2 was pre-financed according
to the so-called Street Performers Protocol (SPP) – a practice
specially developed to stimulate the publication of creative
work in the public domain. The SPP requires that the maker
of a given work release that work into the public domain when
a previously agreed amount of money has been donated in
escrow. This fund is managed by a third party, who pays the
maker and the publisher (if there is one) if the conditions have
been met. Obviously, this model only works if the maker’s
reputation makes it likely that he or she will produce a work
of the anticipated quality.
These models can work for relatively low-budget productions. It is also important to note that better production quality
can also be achieved with technology that continues to decrease
in cost.
Blender, for example, is free, open source 3D animation
software of professional quality, with a global community of
developers and users. This community’s first Open Movie,
the Big Buck Bunny project, was a great success and formed the
basis of a creative and functioning business model. This model
is an interesting mix of free software, paid services, donations,
subsidies and sponsoring, from which funds new Open Projects
can be financed in advance.11
Advertising
A third generic business model applied in open e-cultural
practice is (online) advertisements. In this model it is not the
makers, users or managers of the open objects that generate
direct income, but the third parties who pay to be seen by
visitors to the site in the context of the open object. Google’s
AdSense works well in the context of sites dedicated to specific
subjects (e.g. blogs); sites that appeal to a so-called niche
public. Other systems only work with sheer volume, and are
more interesting for busy non-specific sites. A reasonably
busy website with a more or less specific audience can recoup
hosting costs with Google AdSense: the large and busy site
digg.com earned 250.000 dollar per month from Google
advertisements in 2007.12
KLAAS KUITENBROUWER
121
Subsidies
Subsidies are the fourth important source of money for
producers of culture, much of which comes from taxes,
but some of which is also sourced from private funds. With
software that is developed with public money, it is common
that the recipient of the funding wants the software to also
be published as open source, so that in theory other participants
in the public domain can reuse the software. In practice, however, specific cultural software applications are rarely reused.
Each new maker has his or her own goal that requires slightly
different tools. One effective way to enrich the software
content of the public domain would be to increase contributions to the creation of more generic building blocks that could
form the basis for a wider variety of software; to illustrate: a
new type of Lego brick makes possible an infinite number of
new designs, while the design of new robot that juggles ping
pong balls is only interesting to someone who was looking for
precisely such a machine.
It should be noted that the classical copyright model
protecting content made with public money is generally
rigorously safeguarded.
New paths
These four flows of funding seem to suggest some realistic basis
for a vibrant cultural economy. But the real research is still in
its infancy. If it is possible to conceive of other funding models,
where should our search start?
Jan Velterop is Chief Executive Officer of Knewco
(http://www.knewco.com) and a leading expert in open access
and open business models in academic publishing. Velterop
says there are three possible sources of funding for such models.
The business model follows naturally from the answer to
the question, ‘Who has the most to gain from publication?’
The paying reader? This is the classical, copyright, model that
is becoming increasingly difficult to enforce. Moreover, there
has long been great resistance from academia to the prevailing
expensive and exclusive subscription system in academic
publishing, because it obstructs the free dissemination of
academic material, something that is of vital importance to
the development of science.
Is it perhaps the third parties who will pay to advertise?
This does create income, but to claim that advertisers are the
greatest stakeholders in academic publishing would be incorrect. No, the most important stakeholder is the author. This is
not as strange as it may appear, because the author’s academic
status depends on the publication of his work and the degree
to which his or her research is referenced. Where universities
once paid for publication by means of expensive subscriptions
to scientific journals, they now pay the author. The flow of
money is being re-routed. And this makes open access to
scientific articles a realistic financial model.13
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
14
http://www.kennisland.
nl/nl/mensen/harry/
index.html and http://
www.frankwatching.
com/archive/ 2008/09
/14/het-niet-kopieer
bare-businessmodelvoor-de-toekomst/.
15
See the impressive
information graphics
at http://www.nytimes.
com/interactive/2008/
02/23/movies/2008
0223_REVENUE_
GRAPHIC.html.
16
According to Peter
Kaufman at the
Economies of the
Commons convention,
11 April 2008, http://
www.debalie.nl/player/
playmovie_v2.jsp?movie
id=254647&
videofragmentsid=.
17
http://www.tribler.org.
18
1) The ability to
distinguish good
contributions from
bad. 2) A regulatory
mechanism for computer and network
resources. 3) Good
mechanisms for group
communication. 4) A
sense of community.
Cultural sales tax
This is probably the reason for iTunes’ rumoured consideration
of a different business model, a standard subscription that would
give users free access to all iTunes content. The income would
then be shared between the makers and iTunes.
This system shares some features with the one used by
Stichting De Thuiskopie (Home Copy Foundation, established
in 1991) during the heyday of taped audio and video. To this
day in the Netherlands a small surcharge is levied on blank
CDs and DVDs. The money raised in this way is then divided
among copyright holders by several funds. But nowadays
most copying no longer requires a CD or a DVD.
The new iTunes model is more redolent of an idea developed by the copyright lawyer Lawrence Lessig (who also came
up with the Creative Commons licence) and William Fisher.
In brief, the government would pay makers based on how
frequently their works, or derivatives thereof, are read, watched
13
http://research.images
forthefuture.org/
panel-4-uncommonbusiness-models/.
ESSAY
Better than free
Harry Verwayen of Kennisland 14 analysed the reasons that
could move people to pay for open content. What is better
than getting something for nothing?
Speed is better than free. People are prepared to pay for
immediacy: to be the first to have something or to get it as
quickly as possible, or to save time. The income graphs of
large film productions indicate a clear trend: the films earn
more and more income in increasingly shorter periods of
time after the first screenings.15 Live football is a prime
example of a successful, profitable model for television, which
can still transmit real-time images better than the Internet.
Personal is better than free. Beck’s album The Information
was sold in a cover that only had his name on it, but which
included a set of funky stickers that purchasers could use to
create a personalised cover.
Authenticity is better than free. Despite making the music
available online for free, Radiohead still sold a great many
CDs with the same tracks, but this time with a great cover
and booklet. Open content can also work as a viral campaign
for events or products in the physical world. In accordance
with this mechanism, the average price of a concert ticket
has risen substantially.
A product that has been selected, annotated and provided
with a context, that is safe and has guaranteed sound quality,
is better than a whole heap of free stuff. iTunes lives from the
proceeds – although it only takes about eight minutes before
a new song on iTunes becomes available for free on a P2P
network.16 But according to the report Pirates and Samaritans
(mentioned earlier, see footnote 3) it is only a matter of time
before P2P networks overcome such obstacles. Tribler 17 is P2P
technology that scores well in the four most important quality
characteristics of peer-to-peer networks.18
KLAAS KUITENBROUWER
123
or heard. The money is amassed from a form of cultural sales
tax, imposed on all products that are related in some way with
cultural production and distribution. One could imagine it
might work, but how could it be introduced globally and all
at once? Or could it be done at a European level? It is, in any
case, being discussed seriously by various governments.
Open Movie project Elephants Dream
The actual functioning business models suggest a reasonable
future for relatively inexpensive productions where components
that can usefully be produced in an open source process are
voluntarily contributed by web users. But whether such a
system can also be used to finance larger productions with a
‘high production value’ still has to be ascertained. P2P networks
could perhaps be used for outsourcing large rendering tasks –
open and free of charge, and the same would be true for other
large digital jobs that could become very costly if they had to
be carried out at a single dedicated and specialised location.
A good, and early (1999) example of such online crowd-sourcing involves the installation by millions of home computer
users of the Seti@Home module (Search for Extra Terrestrial
Intelligence) that makes use of each computer’s downtime to
process the enormous amount of data picked up by gigantic
radio telescopes, to ascertain if aliens somewhere out there
really are trying to establish contact with us.
Blender Open Movie project Big Buck
Bunny
124
The current credit crisis does not create a stimulating context
for experimentation with new business models, although the
crisis underscores the increasing urgency for such a system.
But, the crisis aside, these are certainly extremely interesting
times, with untold opportunities for a new networked culture
and a new cultural economy.
KLAAS KUITENBROUWER
125
The Chinese Dream
Alex Adriaansens
http://www.v2.nl
based on a interview with
with Anne Helmond
http://www.annehelmond.nl
cultural exporters and players in the future. Right now, their
main focus is knowledge development: see what is going on
abroad, attract people to China and set up networks. After the
Cultural Revolution, China was closed to outside influences
and responded to what was going on in the world in a limited,
selective fashion. Many Chinese know little about their own
culture let alone other cultures, although this has changed over
the last two decades, and has sparked great openness and
curiosity about the West. This ‘outward gaze’ is often a way
for the Chinese to discover themselves.
Alex Adriaansens is one of the founders
of V2_ Institute for Unstable Media (1981),
of which he is director. He has given many
talks and presentations around the world
on topics including art and public space/
domain; art & science; the construction
of world models; space time constructs.
He has curated and co-curated many
exhibitions, symposia and public space
events. He is also the artistic director of
the DEAF festival. Alex is a member of the
Advisory Board of Transmediale, Berlin;
The Franck Mohr Institute for Media Art
Education; eArts festival in Shanghai. He
has been an advisor for different institutes
and organisations in countries including
China, Netherlands, Spain, Korea, Japan,
Taiwan, Germany, Croatia, France, Norway,
Canada, and jury member of a variety
of international art festivals and awards,
including Ars Electronica (Austria), Transmediale (Germany), Share (Italy) and
Laboral (Spain).
Universities as cultural beacons
Five years ago, Tsinghua University in Beijing, one of the
largest universities in China, invited V2_ to discuss setting up
a programme devoted to art, science, technology and society.
Tsinghua University is famous and renowned for bringing forth
the party leaders, and because the revolutions always originated
there. An important university in the field of policy developments and ‘the new coming man’. The universities are important players in China at the moment. They are places for
innovation, or certainly were five years ago. The young generations meet here and can enjoy a large degree of openness thanks
to the energetic exchange programme that is an integral part of
the universities’ large-scale cultural programmes. All the major
universities have a museum. Tsinghua museum is larger than
Boymans van Beuningen. Tsinghua University has a traditional
art faculty and an industrial design department. China is very
focused on creative industries, which is used as a kind of slogan
for innovation. Precisely what the creative industries are is still
being nailed down. Here in Europe and the Netherlands, no
one really understands what creative industries are, and China
is no different. It is a kind of catch-all for getting things
started, and steering them in the right direction.
Workshop during eArts festival,
Shanghai (October, 2008)
Over the last five years, V2_, Institute for the Unstable
Media, has developed a series of activities in China varying
from small-scale conferences and debates to large-scale
exhibitions. V2_’s network now includes bloggers and
independent art spaces, the National Museum of China
and a number of universities. Alex Adriaansens talks
about what V2_ is doing in China and what it hopes to
achieve in the years ahead.
In the history and background of China, you can see that
there’s been a huge explosion of a so-called ‘open market’ over
the last 20-25 years. China has opened up to outside influences.
This also means that you are going to see new ideas about culture which you will need to take on board. A buoyant economy
always goes hand in hand with cultural export. Looking at
all the major influential regions over the last century and in
America in particular, you can see how, fired by the booming
US economy, American culture became a global export. In
Japan, this is evident in the manga culture, which has swept
the globe.
Five years ago, Tsinghua asked an intermediary to establish
contact with a number of organisations in the world. The
intermediaries are often Chinese who fled to the West in the
1980s, where they studied and now hold good jobs. They are
being welcomed with open arms because they can act as a
bridge between China and the West. They know both cultures
and their ways of thinking and working. The Tsinghua intermediary was asked to see which parties might be interested
in setting up a long-term trajectory. For the universities, this
would be an incentive to new programmes, developing a
network and a biennial or triennial in Beijing to act as an
international point of contact and put Beijing in the position
of playing an international role in artistic, scientific, technological and social developments. Three parties were invited to
participate in this long-term strategy: Ars Electronica in Linz,
ZKM in Karlsruhe and V2_. The programme was to centre
around these three pioneering organisations. We then began
Japan and China excel at copying, amplifying and improving.
They go about cultural innovation in a very different way to the
Americans. The entire Southeast Asia region, to which China
belongs, is developing at an exponential rate. People in the
region are very aware that they are set to become significant
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
THE CHINESE DREAM
ALEX ADRIAANSENS
127
The intermediary then involved the National Art Museum
of China (NAMOC), one of the country’s wealthiest and
most influential museums. It was quite a strange move because
young artists are reluctant to or avoid working with museums
because museums represent the old guard and all that is slow,
unwieldy and at fault in the institutions. However, two years
ago, the NAMOC appointed a new, young, director to instigate
change. If anyone can reinvigorate the museum world, it would
be him. This was also one of the reasons why I decided to work
with the institution. Our network is built on a web of informal
organisations and small independent art spaces. We have contacts with more formal organisations but are mainly interested
in the new, young organisations because of their greater longterm potential for the network.’
presentations of institutions: which are the institutions we
consider important in this field? Can we feature them in
a special exhibition linked to a three-day conference? 25
universities from China were also involved. One item on
the agenda was how Tsinghua can act as a catalyst within
the university world in China.
Looking back on the first meeting five years ago, it’s
obvious how rapidly things have changed in China. For the
first exhibition, we sent a shipment of all our publications, but
they got stuck in Customs. We were told that the books had
to be approved by a committee for entry into the country.
The day before the exhibition opened, they were released on
the understanding that the publications were allowed into
the exhibition but had to be shipped back to the Netherlands
afterwards without leaving the exhibition space. I’d brought
a similar suitcase with me which had got through Customs
without a hitch. During that first year, we really had to learn
how to deal with the official and unofficial sides of doing
business in China: unofficially, there’s quite a lot of freedom
but official channels are subject to all kinds of rules and strict
protocols.
1
http://www.media
artchina.org.
The first exhibition and conference wasn’t just a great discovery
and positive journey, it was also the start of building a network
in China. Primarily because 25 universities attended. The idea
was to see how we could move on from this point. In the years
that followed, we organised a larger exhibition and conference.
It expanded. It was all about the artists and themes, not the
institutions. In the second year, in 2005, I organised a small
exhibition on behalf of V2_ as part of a larger exhibition
exploring the relationship between media, art and public space.
Public space is a very tricky theme in China. It is the most
controlled domain. It is a particularly problematic area for the
media because relationships very different in nature to those
in the physical public space, spring up via media. During its
period of explosive growth five years ago, China fully embraced
the Internet and now boasts the highest number of Internet
users and bloggers. All the online games are based in China.
The blog community was thriving because it was a very informal way of communicating – a media channel to talk about
anything and everything. Naturally, the Chinese government
soon got wind of this and unleashed a 30,000-strong squad to
get Internet traffic ‘under control’. However, Chinese bloggers
are supremely inventive in finding ways of getting material
online through their networks.
There are more success stories, even outside Beijing and the
programme with Tsinghua University. We managed to build
a huge network in China in a very short space of time. All the
young organisations and players in China are looking for a
place to meet foreign institutions. Factory 978 in the Beijing
978 Art Zone is an old industrial complex in China where
young avant-garde artists have been working for the last 25
years. With small galleries and studios it was a kind of sanctuary for the arts. We also established contact with the bloggers
community in China and with a number of architecture
faculties. Urban development in China was significant to us
because it encompasses issues concerning media and infrastructure and a new social cohesion in China. Urban development is,
by definition, an anchor. This led us to realise that, although we
could visit China each year, it was clear from my meetings with
Chinese artists, curators and educators that what they really
want is to connect with networks here. In 2007 we invited
23 young curators and artists for the DEAF festival with a
China programme to give them opportunities for connecting
with our international network. Everyone gets together during
the DEAF festival, which is ideal for them. The Mondriaan
Foundation gave them a tour of other institutions like Waag
Society and the Netherlands Institute for Media Arts, so they
could see how they operate. They also visited art colleges and
institutions to get some idea of their activities.
Successes
After a couple of years in China the partners wondered if
the time was ripe to organise the major event exploring themes
relating to art, science and technology in which all parties,
national and international, were represented.
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
The collaboration with the NAMOC was a triumph. In June
2008, together with a number of parties, we organised Synthetic
Times – Media Art China 2008,1 which attracted 100,000
visitors over a three-week period. If the NAMOC organises
an exhibition, the art world sits up and takes notice; all the
museum directors saw the exhibition and formed an idea of
it. The media reviewed it and the show received widespread
attention. The exhibition’s success prompted the NAMOC to
turn it into an official triennial. The next edition is in 2011.
ESSAY
THE CHINESE DREAM
ALEX ADRIAANSENS
129
are primarily concerned with how we can actively bring the
festival to disadvantaged areas. As Shanghai is such a huge city,
this will mainly take shape in 2010. This year, they organised
the festival across three or four districts, with many activities in
public parks. In Shanghai, for instance, there’s a neighbourhood
populated only by students – 150,000 of them. It was once built
by a project developer: there are ten universities cheek by jowl
all eager for social and cultural interaction in the public space.
The festival can be instrumental in this. It can also involve this
demographic in developing insights on art, culture, media and
science.
In addition, we presented a number of projects from China, the
most important of which was The Long March. The aim of the
project is to address and challenge realities and myths about
China, its historical and political context, and potential future.
The enterprise, organised by Chinese curators and artists, has
been running for several years and follows the route of Mao
Zedong’s Long March through China that began in October
1934. Performances and workshops are held along the route to
explore specific local cultural traditions such as paper-cutting
and tattooing. The project focuses on the question: what is
China’s identity? What could it be? For many Chinese, The
Long March was about underlining the fact that the nation’s
identity was in fact a Western import, and examined the West’s
views of exotic China. And the Chinese are quick to make this
their own, while history and reality are very different.
E-Arts receive funding from the cultural development corporation in Shanghai and are supported by a number of Shanghaibased organisations but must achieve independence within four
years. It is a monumental festival and, now in its second year,
they opened a hotel with 150 rooms, a restaurant and large new
exhibition space. The space is used for the festival and is hired
out in between as commercial spaces. They generate revenue
form the hotel, restaurant and exhibition space. It is a very
young, hard-working organisation, but many of their difficulties are directly related to their small structural budget: they are
unable to keep many of their project personnel, so lose knowledge. The intention is a smaller festival next year – a more
concentrated event so there can be greater investment in teams
and a solid team and organisational structure so that we’ll have
a strong organisation in place in 2010.
Developing the network
V2_ has been concentrating efforts on developing the network
with all kinds of partners in China: universities, small, independent artist’s groups, young curators and several museums.
Hong Kong is the most European-oriented city, with great
potential for activities. A theme such as art and public space is
a common feature in festivals because it’s easier to work in the
public space there. This isn’t the case in Beijing, for instance:
there, I had to show a museum how projects work in the public
space, and the kinds of themes they can deal with. Now, five
years later, E-Arts, the party I worked with in Shanghai, has
made public space and media one of its spearheads. This shows
how much interest there is in the theme of public space,
openness and exchange in Chinese cities, especially among
cultural players, and that people are pushing back the boundaries. Definitely with the World Expo around the corner: if you
could really open up the theme of public space, you’d really
have achieved something. We set up a coalition on several levels
with the E-Arts festival for the next three years: as international advisor to the festival, as advisor on an exhibition with
Chinese artists this year, and as co-curator of E-Arts. In 2010
we will see if we can realise one or two media art and public
space projects from the Netherlands during the World Expo
in Shanghai.
In China, they take a very different approach to us, with
self-supporting spaces that generate income. A basic infrastructure that provides them with sufficient exhibition space
to organise activities and host residencies throughout the year,
with no extra costs because they have their own hotel and
restaurant. The city provided them with the basic infrastructure
cost-free. In the Netherlands we are used to having a structural
relationship with the state but this is more complicated in
China because the state wields more power and influence.
The organisation is hoping to be completely self-supporting
within four years, which will allow them to operate far more
freely.
V2_ takes an international approach to national and international exhibitions. We only mentioned V2_ in the first exhibition. After that, we only featured our logo and secured the
participation of Dutch and international artists, and organised
many shows around specific themes. We haven’t promoted
e-culture as a specific sector – which in principle wasn’t our
mandate, either. We’ve always tried to see V2_ as representative, as a typically Dutch institution in that it works, thinks
and works towards shaping internationalisation.
It is a multi-phase programme. I generally start on a small
scale with a party in China to see how the organisation works,
who it consists of, how they operate and the network they
belong to. In Shanghai, I have now met the owner of the
largest LED screen in the world, for instance. They want to
use it for cultural projects, so we’re looking into that. Another
project, the Oriental Tower, in the centre of Shanghai, will
probably host an exhibition next year [2009]. Those are two
important landmarks for foreigners in Shanghai, but E-Arts
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
THE CHINESE DREAM
ALEX ADRIAANSENS
131
Entrance NAMOC museum Beijing. Design exhibition
and entrance by Lars Spuybroek, sound installation
by Edwin van der Heide
Nat Muller is an independent curator and
critic. She has held positions as staff
curator at V2_, Institute for Unstable Media
(Rotterdam) and De Balie, Centre for Culture
and Politics (Amsterdam). Her main interests
include: the intersections of aesthetics,
media and politics; (new) media and art in
the Middle East. She has published articles
in off- and online media; is a regular contributor for Springerin, Bidoun, and MetropolisM.
Her latest projects include: Xeno_Sonic: a
series of experimental sound performances
from the Middle East (Amsterdam, 2005),
DEAF07 (Rotterdam, 2007), the workshop
‘Between a Rock and a Hard Place?
Negotiating Artistic Practice, Audiences,
impoverished population and its dwindling infrastructure with
an iron fist; sleepy, stable Jordan does as Jordan does, under the
yoke of the monarchy. In the Gulf the starry-eyed glitz and
construction frenzy – Walhallas of consumer capitalism – are
grinding to a halt because of the global credit crunch. Dubai in
particular is hard-hit, with vacant hotel rooms and unfinished
buildings. Abu Dhabi, the oil-richest Emirate has more or less
bailed out Dubai, and continues its own cultural megalomanic
branding projects with the development of the Louvre and
Guggenheim on Saadiyat Island.
Representation and Collaboration within
Local and International Frameworks’
(Amman, 2007). She has curated video
screenings for projects and festivals in a.o.
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Berlin, New York,
Istanbul, Copenhagen, Grimstad, Lugano,
Dubai, Cairo and Beirut. She has taught at
the Willem de Kooning Academy (NL), ALBA
(Beirut), the Lebanese American University
(Beirut), and A.U.D. in Dubai (UAE).
The above illustrates in 250 words how we are usually conditioned to ‘map’ the geo-political territory called ‘The Middle
East’, more often than not mediated to us by bad news. I have
written elsewhere about the inadequacy of terminology such
as ‘the Arab World’, ‘the Middle East’ or ‘MENA’ (Middle
East and North Africa) to designate a region heterogeneous
in culture, customs, ethnic and socio-political make-up.
More often than not, it is Western orientalist convenience
that likes to homogenise and lump things together, especially
if rss feeds, broadcast media and newspapers keep offering us
the same images and narratives time and time again. By
corollary, the idea of mapping e-culture and media practices
within this region will always have to critically take into
account the importance of media as ideological agents of
representation, projection, and counter-representation. In
addition, material constraints with regard to physical mobility
(especially inter-regional), telecommunication monopolies,
class and accessibility privileges, state repression, infrastructural constraints and media literacy need to be factored in.
More often than not, when listing initiatives and institutions
engaged in the utilisation of media (for artistic, educational,
political or social purposes),the struggle for these affordances
do not feature on the map.
Beyond the Media
Mystique: Addressing
Media and E-culture
in Egypt, Lebanon
and Palestine
Nat Muller
http://www.labforculture.org/en/labforculture/blogs/10739
If anything, this incomplete and subjective ‘mapping’ outlined
below, should first and foremost be read as a selection of the
cartographer’s tastes, interests and fieldwork in Palestine,
Egypt and Lebanon.
These words are written in late January 2009, while a fragile
ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is barely holding after three
weeks of bloodshed and destruction in Gaza. In the meanwhile,
neighbouring Lebanon is still licking its wounds from the violent sectarian clashes of May 2008, which rekindled fears of a
return to the days of civil war (1975-1990). Also here battered
South Lebanon and the Beiruti suburbs are still in the process
of reconstructing the ruins of the 2006 war with Israel. The list
of debris and occupations gets longer, if we consider Iraq.Unfortunately, the dynamics of destruction, disarray and thwarted
reconstruction are the ones we are most accustomed to when
conjuring up the Middle East. That, or the hard-handedness
of weakening dictatorial regimes: Syria is making attempts to
scramble out of its diplomatic isolation and its axis-of-evil
stigma; Egypt is trying desperately to contain its hungry and
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
Uneasy relations and the preservation of memory
In Lebanon much of contemporary art attempts to excavate
the narratives and untold histories of Lebanon’s tortured past
of civil strife (1975-1990), and its re-articulation within
the present. Well-established artists such as Akram Zaatari,
Walid Raad, Tony Chakar, Lamia Joreige, Joanna Hadjithomas,
Khalil Joreige and Rabih Mroue have made this the crux of
their work. The relationship to media is always uneasy, if not
suspicious. Indeed, much of this work actually deconstructs the
inadequacy or taintedness of any medium to convey catastrophe, or lays bare the ideological scripts embedded in any media
ESSAY
Adressing Media and E-culture in Egypt,
Lebanon and Palestine
NAT MULLER
135
Beyond the institutional
One often hears that Western funders are to invest in capacity
building and the development of public institutions. Yet
within the complex political reality of the Middle East, where
in Lebanon the public sector is as good as non-existent, in
Egypt a corrupt and repressive regime has eradicated all trust
in public institutions, and in Palestine one cannot even speak
of a State, the role of the institutional becomes convoluted. In
Egypt, for example, institutions are plagued by bureaucracy,
inefficiency, cronyism, over-staffing and corruption. So too are
the state-run art academies, where one video projector serves
a few hundred students, and foreign guests cannot lecture officially, due to ‘security concerns’ (=censorship). These educational institutions have de facto become state tools for exercising
containment. It is due to individuals like media artist and
Helwan University Professor Shady Noshokaty,4 that students
from modest backgrounds – unable to foot he exorbitant
tuition fees of the censor-free private universities such as
the American University of Cairo (A.U.C) and the German
University in Cairo (G.U.C) – have had some exposure to
electronic art and new media practice. With a controversial
PhD titled ‘Media Art and Egyptian Identity’ (2007),
Noshokaty has worked tirelessly over the past eight years to
introduce media arts to his students by ways of seminars and
hands-on workshops. Of course all this is organised afterhours, in his own free time, with no support from the institution whatsoever. Moreover, the university has often rebuked
Noshokaty for exposing the students to bad influences – such
as video art and digital art.
for purposes of perceptual and representational management.
Nevertheless, the preservation of memory is a venture that is
very much media-related. It is therefore telling that in Beirut,
three remarkable initiatives focus on the preservation, cataloguing and digitalisation of media heritage. The Arab Image
Foundation,1 founded in Beirut in 1996 by a collective of
Lebanese artists and photographers, is a case in point. As a
unique project in the Arab world, its objective is the preservation of the photographic heritage of the Middle East and
North Africa. In addition to restoring and preserving the
images and, digitalising them, a comprehensive online database
offers an extraordinary research tool. Similarly Umam D&R,2
founded in 2004 by the Lebanese-German couple Lokman
Slim and Monika Borgmann, aims to ‘preserve and revive
fading memories of civil violence and war, as well as to provide
a platform for public access to, and exchange of, such memories’.Umam’s collection consists of a vast body of materials,
ranging from books, newspapers, leaflets, posters, videos and
magazines to personal and official documents, narratives and
interviews. During the 2006 war with Israel, much of Umam’s
collection, which was stored in a hangar in Haret Hreik (the
heavily-hit South-Beiruti suburbs) was damaged. The digitalisation of the material thus became very urgent. Slim and
Borgmann state that digitalisation and online accessibility are
the only way to fully protect the archive. An equally important
analysis of memory is to be found in American University of
Beirut Professor Zeina Maasri’s ongoing research into the
political posters of Lebanon’s political factions during the 15
years of civil war (1975-1990). Since 2004 Maasri has been
examining the convergences of visual culture, graphic design,
and political ideology from a semiotic and aesthetic perspective.
Her research is rooted within a local historic context and
understanding of visual iconography and media, and hence
offers a novel way of articulating a media theory which is
situated. In April of 2008 this research culminated in the
exhibition Signs of Conflict: Political Posters of Lebanon’s Civil
War (1975-1990), during the Homeworks IV – Forum on
Cultural Practices, and the newly-published book Off the Wall:
Political Posters of the Lebanese Civil War (I.B. Tauris, 2009).
Here too an online database, which will make this wealth of
historical material accessible to a larger userbase, is planned.
The latter situation is not uncommon in Egypt. In Alexandria,
Egypt’s second largest city, ACAF 5 (Alexandria Contemporary
Arts Forum) faces similar hurdles. Founded in 2005 by curator
Bassam el Baroni, ACAF has since 2006 been focussing
strongly on electronic art and new media, with small exhibitions, presentations, workshops and artist residencies. Due
to the small size of the art community and the power of the
state-run art academy in Alexandria, ACAF events are often
boycotted by academy professors. Nevertheless, Baroni and his
team continue their work, in what almost seems like a vacuum.
The 2008 Cleotronica: Festival for Media, Art and SocioCulture6 was a highly ambitious project, which comprised a
six-month lecture and workshop programme as a run-up to
the concluding symposium. With a slew of well-know international media artists, Cleotronica covered topics as broad as net.
art, interventions in public space, psycho-geography, tactical
media, and design. I could not help but think that the final
symposium in May 2008 – where I was invited as a speaker
– and the subsequent themes of curating new media art, were
somehow lost on the local audience.
Initiatives such as UMAM, D&R, the Arab Image Foundation
and Zeina Maasri’s research not only urge us to go back to
old(er) media in order to understand present contexts, but also
call for a reconceptualisation of what we think of as media, in
a country plagued by practically the most expensive telecommunication in the world, narrow bandwidth, politically-driven
telecom monopolies, and a political situation which makes any
legislation on the part of relating to ICT impossible.
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
NAT MULLER
137
a significant lack of contextualising new media art within
larger art historical and theoretical frameworks, which could
possibly also tie into the students own particular locality.
ALBA has since 2006 had the plan of setting up a media
lab for its students, interested artists and researchers, but the
unstable political situation has made it impossible to bring
the project to fruition. A frequent visitor and participant in
European festivals such as Ars Electronica, EMAF and
Transmediale, as well as on international panels on e-culture
and DigiArts, Ricardo Mbarkho has done much to introduce
new media and electronic art to a generation of Lebanese
students, and encourage local exhibitions. The most recent
example being the 2008 Lebanon Now: New Media Art exhibition, organised by the Lebanese Artists Association, which
featured older and newly commissioned work – much of it
interactive – by seven Lebanese media artists.
In the absence of the transparent functioning of state institutions, in Egypt it is mostly up to a handful of individuals and
organisations such as ACAF, The Townhouse Gallery of
Contemporary Art and Contemporary Image Collective (CIC),
all running on foreign funding, to provide media literacy
education, editing and software workshops and introductions
into media art and theory. The divisions are not always as stark
as the two camps – the government scene and the so-called
‘independent’ scene - like to sketch out. In 2008 the Egyptian
Ministry of Culture set up a huge exhibition at the Palace of
the Arts, called What’s Happening Now showcasing a large
amount of contemporary artists engaged in media: from video,
to interactive installation; from sound art to photography.
Interestingly, quite a few of the artists usually associated with
the ‘independent scene’ showed their work in a governmental
context for the first time. Likewise, this year’s Cairo Biennial
boasted workshops in collaboration with the Spanish embassy,
LABoral Centro de Arte (Gijon), and Hangar (Barcelona) on
DIY hardware, free software and tactical cartographies.
It would be impossible to write about e-culture in the Middle
East without mentioning the work of Lebanese electro-acoustic
musician and media artist Tarek Atoui. Moving nomadically
between France, Amsterdam, Beirut and Cairo, Atoui has
worked with renowned institutions such as IRCAM (Paris),
STEIM (where he was artistic director), and performed at
major festivals and events such as DEAF, Today’s Art, Transmediale, Art Dubai and Art Miami. His practice oscillates
between his own performance work and showing artists in
the Middle-East region the possibilities of new technologies.
This has been particularly well-designed in the ‘Bytes and
Pieces’ workshops, conducted in Lebanon and Egypt, wherein
artists are introduced to different types of software and sensor
technology – taking the technological limitations of locality
into account – and develop an artistic project or tool that relies
on these technologies and techniques. Atoui supervises the
project from its conceptual phase to its material execution.
In his Empty Cans project, he worked with youngsters in
Palestinian Refugee camps in Lebanon, and with disenfranchised youth in France and Egypt, using self-developed
software which allows live audio-visual manipulation with
game console joysticks. Especially in post-2006 Lebanon,
these workshops have helped kids articulate their wartime
experiences. The Zan Studio14 design collective in Ramallah
has undertaken a similar project using pinhole cameras, when
working when kids in refugee camps across the West Bank.
The Egyptian case is very specific: in Lebanon and Palestine
there are universities and academies doing excellent work under
dire conditions. An apt example is the Virtual Gallery at Birzeit
University in the West Bank (Palestine), co-founded in 2005
by artist and Professor of Islamic art and architecture, Vera
Tamari. The idea for this project came in reaction to lengthily
imposed closures and heavy restrictions on travel imposed on
the Palestinian population. The Virtual Gallery offers a gateway
to work of Palestinian artists in the West-Bank, Gaza, within
Israel and the diaspora. In addition to featuring a comprehensive database of Palestinian artworks, which includes biographical information, documentation, articles, photos and video
excerpts, the Virtual Gallery profiles monthly a contemporary
Palestinian artist in its ‘artist of the month’ section. In addition,
the Virtual Gallery offers a credited online course on Palestinian art history (from the 1920s to the present) for Birzeit
students. It is Tamari’s wish that the Virtual Gallery develops
into an augmented virtual architecture, with a 3-D space
wherein curators and artists can collaborate professionally
on local, regional and international levels, and hold virtual
exhibitions, virtually open to all, in defiance of the curbed
access and freedoms of reality.
In Lebanon ALBA (Acédemie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts)
spearheads new media education, with a cinema/audio-visual
department, and a department dedicated to multi-media
under the auspices of Ricardo Mbarkho and Sammy Moujaes,
respectively a media artist and a designer. Having taught there
myself, I was impressed with the infrastructural facilities and
technical skills of the students – due to a curriculum offering
modules taught by professionals in the field. Yet, there is still
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
The young, the collective, and their obstacles
In Egypt, as well as in Palestine, there is a young generation
of artists and media practitioners who have grown weary and
suspicious of foreign aid, and funding bodies with dictating
policies and double agendas. They prefer to set up their
activities independently, and keep their ventures afloat by
commercial work and/or by surfing on the infrastructure of
ESSAY
NAT MULLER
139
The opening of the exhibition Lebanon Now at LAA Gallery,
Beirut, Lebanon (June 2008), work by Ricardo Mbarkho,
Digital visuals from Lebanon, a series of digital images
rendered from text files
Idioms films studio
Contemporary Image Collective, Cairo, Egypt
141
in developing a website for any cause [they] find worthy or
interesting and for any speech that is censored or prosecuted
in Egypt’. Apart from that they organise the ‘Arab Digital
Expression Camps’ 23 for teenagers, and Manal was co-founder
of the Egyptian GNU/Linux Users Group (EGLUG) 24 in
2004. Within this context, and with the active participation
of Manal and Ala, the first Arab Techies 25 gathering, hosted at
the Townhouse Gallery (December 2008), is definitely worth
mentioning. Over 20 Arab ICT activists and professionals
from across the Arab world met to highlight the social role of
techies, with the objective to pull them out of their isolation.
Subjects covered were: digital activism, citizen media communities, running community hubs support, training and documentation for activists, artists and social entrepreneurs, and
tech savvy activists, artists and media practitioners. The main
purpose of this historical gathering was to learn, strengthen
ties, and connect peers across the Arab world.
existing institutions and organisations. A prime example of the
former, is the Ramallah-based filmmakers collective Idioms,15
founded in 2006 by Yazan Khalili and Mohanad Yaqubi.
While Idioms certainly boasts one of the best editing facilities
and studio spaces in Ramallah, the members have expressed
their concern with issues of professionalisation and developing
business and working models befitting the hardships of their
local context. In addition, more pragmatic and technical
problems such as copyrights, digitalisation and preservation,
distribution and online release of material, as well as managerial
and sustainability topics, have been operational handicaps. For
both young Palestinians and Egyptians constraints in mobility
have resulted in very little – to no – inter-regional collaboration
and exposure. This while one can discern similar obstacles:
the Cairene collective Medrar,16 for example, are hampered by
comparable problems. Run by Mohamed Allam and Dia’deen
Helmy, both in their mid-twenties and both former students
of Shady Noshkaty, they have since 2005 put on an annual
alternative video and short film festival accompanied by workshops, encouraging students and very young artists to experiment with video. Their tactic has been one of piggybacking on
the facilities of other organisations. The first time I met them
in May 2008, Allam was still keeping the collective’s archive in
his bedroom, and complained about lack of visibility!
While the above illustrates bottom-up and tactical media
approaches, in Beirut the Rootspace 26 collective tries to
combine ICT4D with social entrepreneurship, and promote
open source, Creative Commons, as well as address intellectual
property issues specific to Lebanon in their ‘OpenSesameBarCamp’, 27 the first BarCamp in the Arab world. The discourse
Rootspace uses is a dazzling cocktail of hip managerial lingo,
creative industry speak and FLOSS terminology, which makes
their mission at times confusing, but somehow also typically
Lebanese. It is these types of initiatives that sit interestingly
within the context of the region, especially when juxtaposed
with more traditional ‘free speech’ platforms, such as the
Menassat 28 website, which specifically addresses censorship,
press freedom and the position of journalists in the Arab world.
Electronic and experimental music has fared better, with wider
exposure and professionalisation because of a few strong
independent labels. In Cairo Mahmoud Refat’s 100 copies 17
label, virtually created an electronic experimental music scene.
The label, founded in 2006, functions as a platform and
network for experimental musicians. Similarly in Beirut, labels
such as the now obsolete those kids must choke 18 (founded by
Charbel Haber), al Maslakh 19 (founded in 2005 by Mazen
Kerbaj) and the annual IRTIJAL 20 improv and experimental
music festival (founded in 2000 by Mazen Kerbaj and Christine and Sharif Sehnaoui) have been seminal in pushing and
strengthening an otherwise fragmented scene.
The limited scope of this article has not allowed for a very
meticulous contextualisation. Yet in a time when global politics
will have us lulled into the mystique of the general and the
generic, any ‘mapping’ involving such a contested geo-political
region as the Middle East, will do good to insist on the specific
and the particular.
Critical platforms and networks: makers and shakers
Web 2.0 applications have solidly conquered the Arab world:
facebook is not only widely popular, but has also proven to be
the most effective tool to rally people for cultural and other
events. Especially in Egypt, the use of facebook is widespread,
and has become the prime outlet critiquing Hosni Mubarak’s
28-year old regime. This has led to the subsequent arrest 21 and
torture of facebook activists and bloggers, and to parliament
debating how to regulate and curtail online media for the sake
of ‘order and security’. Well-known Internet activists putting
their safety at risk are a young couple simply known as Manal
and Ala,22 who host a political blog, advocating free speech.
They also offer a ‘drupal based free hosting space and free aid
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MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
NAT MULLER
143
Endnotes/Links:
1
Arab Image Foundation:
http://www.fai.org.lb/.
19
Al Maslakh:
http://www.almaslakh.org/.
2
Umam Documentation and Research:
http://www.umam-dr.org/.
20
Irtijal: http://www.irtijal.org/.
3
Homeworks IV:
http://www.ashkalalwan.org/.
4
Shady Noshokaty:
http://www.noshokaty.com/.
5
ACAF: http://www.acafspace.org.
6
Cleotronica:
http://www.cleotronica.org/.
7
The Townhouse Gallery:
http://www.thetownhousegallery.
com/.
8
Contemporary Image Collective:
http://www.ciccairo.com/.
9
Cairo Biennial:
http://www.cairobiennale.gov.eg/.
10
Virtual Gallery:
http://virtualgallery.birzeit.edu/.
11
ALBA: http://www.alba.edu/.
12
Ricardo Mbarkho:
http://www.ricardombarkho.com/.
21
A well-known case is that of the
‘April 6’ facebook group, which called
in 2008 for a national strike. More
than 14 activists were arrested and
tortured.
22
Manal and Ala:
http://www.manalaa.net/.
23
Arab digital expression camps:
http://www.arabdigitalexpression.
net/.
24
EGLUG:
http://www.eglug.org/.
25
Arab Techies:
http://www.arabtechies.net/.
26
Rootspace:
http://www.therootspace.org/.
27
Open Sesame BarCamp:
http://barcamp.org/
OpenSesame+BarCamp-Lebanon.
28
Menassat:
http://www.menassat.com.
13
Tarek Atoui: http://asa-djinnia.com/.
14
Zan Studio:
http://www.zanstudio.com/.
15
Idioms Films:
http://www.idiomsfilm.com/.
16
Medrar: http://medrar.org/.
17
100 copies:
http://www.100copies.com/.
18
Those kids must choke:
http://thosekidsmustchoke.com/.
144
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
Alexandre Freire’s Lab under
construction, Bonete, Ilha Bela.
Tracing the Trace
Bronac Ferran
http://www.boundaryobject.org
Bronac Ferran works part time as Senior
Tutor for the Industrial Design Engineering
Department at the Royal College of Art in
London where among other things she
manages theidealaboratory, a space for
connecting thinking and research across
disciplinary boundaries She is also working
freelance as a writer, researcher and
consultant and current projects include
a cultural mapping of digital culture in
Brazil for SICA in the Netherlands and
an essay entitled ‘Rethinking Ownership’
for Arts Council England. She is part of
the jury for the Transmediale festival in
Berlin and organised the Paralelo event
in Sao Paulo for the British Council in
Spring 2009.
‘Maps do not only represent borders of one’s country with
neighbouring ones, but also invisible borders, geopolitical,
cultural and society borders that exist inside the country,
between countries or in any given community..’.1
This quotation from Michel de Certeau was the starting point
for a report commissioned by SICA 2 and published in March
2009, as part of a suite of mapping documents surveying
artforms as well as architecture and design in Brazil. Each
report attempts an overview in 40-45 pages of the multiple
constellations of activities and endeavours that combine to form
a particular map seen from the perspective of the authors in
each case. For the report on digital culture I invited Brazilian
media researcher Felipe Fonseca to be co-author. Felipe
brought an in-depth engagement and understanding of a strand
of development in Brazil which one might call ‘a networked
ecology’. This ecology lies right at the heart of the story we tell,
which shows also that empathising with the desire for decentralisation and a distributed and collaborative process of
working and interacting is key to an appreciation of important
trends in the country. European practice to policy models from
the late 1990s were being replicated but then also shifted from
centralising and institutional models to decentralised and
distributed networks. We noted how micro, network based
initiatives (such as metareciclagem,3 which Felipe co-founded)
could be seen as spores, or intensive points on a star-map,
glittering for a while and, though not always sustained,
affecting memory and leaving traces. The act of naming and
briefly describing each tactical media spore conveys the sense of
a movement. In the report we also point to a series of horizon146
tal connections between parts of what is a highly centralised
set of venues and institutes, and the more distributed developments which have been a fairly constant pattern for a number
of decades. The full mapping report can be read on the SICA
website.
MAPPING E-CULTURE
1
Michel de Certeau,
The Practice of
Everyday Life.
Trans: Richard Nice.
Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1988.
2
SICA is a portal for
Dutch cultural policy
for professionals involved in international
activities. http://www.
sica.nl.
3
Metareciclagem, an
open network founded
in 2002 in Brazil.
http://www.unesco-ci.
org/cgi-bin/ifapstories
/page cgi?g=Detailed%
2F32.html;d=1
http://rede.metarecicla
gem.org/
http://faultlines.waag.
org/wp-content/up
loads/2007/10/slides
_pf4.pdf.
4
The short story ‘Of
Exactitude in Science’
may be found in
J. L. Borges, J.L.
A Universal History
of Infamy. London:
Allen Lane, 1973.
http://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=if0YH_
PC02Y.
5
J.G. Ballard, Empire
of the Sun. London:
Victor Gollancz, 1984.
http://www.research
pubs.com/Blog/?page
_id=150.
6
Introduction to
catalogue Brazil – L’art
des nouveaux médias en
Brésil, dans un approche
historique et actuelle:
de l’art concret and
neo-concret à internet,
Paris: Festival @rt
Outsiders 2005, 1
Anomalie digital_arts
series.
7
Eduardo Kac:
‘Waldermar Cordeiro’s
Oeuvre and its Context:
a Biographical Note’,
ibid.
8
Arlindo Machado:
‘Pioneers of Electronic
Art in Brazil’, ibid.
9
Christine Mello: ‘New
Media Art: Practices
and Contexts in
Brazil since the 1990s’,
ibid. and http://www
magazines.documenta.
de/frontend/article.
php?IdLanguage
=1&NrArticle=229.
‘Never confuse the map with the territory’
This sentiment found in both J. L. Borges 4 and J.G. Ballard 5
was important for us in the process of writing the first report
and also this essay. Since completing the text, which like all
cultural maps, had to start and end somewhere, we of course
have recognised gaps and omissions, and indeed we look at
things differently having travelled along a particular road. It
reinforces something we felt strongly at the outset. It is an act
of paradox to try to limit the description of developments in
such a kinetic, emergent and dynamic field (and country) to
the act of writing sentences, though the poetics of assemblage
which we attempt hopefully takes some people on a journey if
they have time to read and reflect on what we have written. An
online version that enables further expansion and addition to
the exercise using graphic and visual methods would perhaps be
an appropriate thing to encourage and develop for the future.
The best way to do this kind of exercise is using open and
collaborative methods and so the output could also be opened
up for change, transformation and recombinant exchange.
In generating the narrative, that runs from the 1920s in Brazil
through to 2009, considering many marks made on this
territory by those who came before, we condensed and compressed many different dialogues and exchanges. We had help
from a publication produced in Paris in 2005 to coincide with
an exhibition of Brazilian digital media art there, which
deserves to be reissued in electronic form for a broader audience. In his introduction to this publication based on the 2005
Outsiders Festival, Emanuel Quinz 6 comments on:
‘… a common thread, the issue of a “Brazilian specificity”,
of a constant in the plurality of approaches, of a particular
way of appropriating the media and transforming its
structures and strategies into artistic material. This specificity could be identified in the “mixture of tropical sensuality
and Constructivist rigor” that Eduardo Kac 7 talks about or,
in the “critical thrust”, that Arlindo Machado 8 talks of, a result of the confrontation between artistic practices and an
extremely difficult social context, or even in the “anthropofagic” attitude mentioned by Christine Mello 9 a kind of
cultural recycling strategy.’
This book provides insights for European audiences into the
depth and intensity of experimentation with technological
communication systems in Brazil over several decades. It points
to a desire for ‘wholeness’ – for communication across distanc-
ESSAY
TRACING THE TRACE
BRONAC FERRAN
147
es, using whatever emergent technologies were at hand at
that time – from fax art to mail art to telematics. And it also
conveys to those of us who had (wrongly) perceived Brazilian
digital culture as a latter day activity (linked to the high profile
Cultura Digital initiative 10) that this was (like most things)
based on a deep and magnetic well spring of previous action
and reaction. One might suggest that the search for wholeness
has been fulfilled with the emergence of connective networks
that allow many types of relationships to exist and co-exist
across geographical and time divides.
A natural knowledge economy
One aspect of Brazil which we needed to address in the report
was the sense of this being a country on the move, a threshold
country, a ‘natural knowledge economy’ 11 and an accelerating
‘new economy’ different from those older economies such as
the UK and other European countries which appear sometimes
to be (in development terms) played out. It is also - for the first
time in its history – beginning to reach out and take notice of
its Latin American partners. There are several cultural initiatives in train to bring together artists, curators and so on from
different Latin American countries. In geographical terms its
scale can over-awe European visitors who may have vague
notions of the leading cities – often distorted through media
or touristic lens – but nothing beyond. The gaps between
the under-developed north and north east, the west and the
intensely populated south east, with regional disparaties among
the largest in the world, is a key cultural factor, particularly
when one realises that large-scale migration from north east to
urban centres and particularly Sao Paulo is still a critical factor
in terms of the Brazilian cultural imaginary. This imaginary of
course also relates to forced and voluntary migration from many
different countries to Brazil, which has provided the country
with its heterogeneity and linguistic/cultural diversity underlying the surface of unified Portuguese. Vilém Flusser, the Czech
born media philosopher and writer who lived as an exile in Brazil for 35 years, has written texts based on his experience there
which go much further into the complexities behind what at
times can be a superficial narrative about the unity – despite the
diversity – of Brazilian culture. He touches on how poets and
other cultural protagonists in the 1920s creatively exposed the
schisms which existed between the formal language of the
academy, law etc. in Brazil – an inorganic Portuguese that had
been transferred over along with the colonisation process – and
the informal vernacular living speech. The latter combined
many difference influences drawn from the diverse strands of
peoples living in the country (who also according to Flusser
would speak Portuguese in the classroom or other formal
situations then go home to speak Japanese, German, etc). The
nature of this complexity was such that it drew lines between
formal and informal encounters and led to a concern for the
148
MAPPING E-CULTURE
working out of language as a system leading directly into
the strengthening of engagement of many Brazilian artists
with concretism and neo-concretism in poetry and other artforms – through into a close engagement with semiotics and
a digital poetics which continues to run through today.
10
http://www.cultura.
gov.br/foruns_de_cultura/cultura_digital/
index.html.
12
http://www.bricolabs.
net.
11
Brazil: The Natural
Knowledge Economy,
Report from Demos,
July 2008, ed. Kirsten
Bound.http://www.
demos.co.uk/publications/brazilz.
13
http://pub.descentro.
org/fine_young_canni
bals_of_brazilian_tac
tical_media.
14
http://www.network
cultures.org/incom
municado/index.php?
onder deelID=2&
paginaID=7.
A play with language and the ‘poetics of difference’ has been
notable in many examples of the networked ecologies I note
above, which influence also debates and dialogues on websites
such as bricolabs,12 a mailing list of now over 150 people worldwide working in areas related to DIY, open source, free media
and independent media research. The bricolabs network was
partially founded in Brazil and its ethos and spirit reflects much
of the energy and desire for collaborative exchange as well as
linguistic subversion/experimentation that characterises a great
deal of the online activity among Brazilian based media artists
and others working there in the cultural field.
The underlying sequences and cosmologies that are perhaps
a truer map of a culture as pluralistic and diverse as Brazil
are hard, if not impossible, for occasional visitors to penetrate.
Dutch researchers and organisers have been in the foreground
of directly or indirectly stimulating writing by and about
independent media in Brazil. Two examples are David Garcia’s
report, ‘Fine Young Cannibals of Brazilian Tactical Media’,
written in 2004,13 and a useful chapter on the background
to the Cultura Digital experiment and the FLOSS Project,
written by Alexandre Friere, Ariel G. Foina and Felipe Fonseca
in the Incommunicado Reader.14 This was published in 2005
following the conference of the same name which brought the
Brazilian Cultura Digital experience into a useful shared critical
context with other developmental initiatives worldwide. In
the months following the completion of the SICA mapping
document a publication edited by the late Ricardo Rosas and
funded by Waag Society (as a subset to its programme of work
with the Sarai Institute in Delhi) has finally been published.
Paul Keller (who was involved with the commission) commented on his website on 19th January this year:
Digitofagia book
‘Yesterday evening I found an envelope with a copy of the
book Digitofagia - net_cultura1.0 by Ricardo Rosas and Giseli
Vasconcelos on the stairs to my apartment (thanks for the
relay Geert!). This book has been in the making for more than
ESSAY
TRACING THE TRACE
BRONAC FERRAN
149
thoughtful and exploratory way. Freire sets out the agenda for
the next decade on Bonete in a systematic and thoughtful way.
His aim, though, is to provide for the needs of the ‘seventh
generation’, so this is a long-term engagement and investment,
balancing out somehow the high speed, highly accelerated work
he was previously at the heart of within the Cultura Digital
programme, which scaled up too quickly and outran its own
energy and resources. His plan for Bonete is to:
‘-finish construction of first lab, supporting horticulture and
fruit gardens, sewage and compost treatment systems
- install renewable energy infrastructure
-install publicly available mesh wifi, voip, fm radio, and
vhf tv telecommunications infrastructure
4 years and I had more or less accepted that I would never see
it in print. The idea for this book came up in the context of
the Waag-Sarai Exchange platform in late 2004/early 2005.
The book collects a number of articles and essays that discuss
the - very lively - netculture/hactivism scene in Brazil at that
time. It is the outcome of a number of discussions we had with
people around the projects midiatactica and metareciclagem
around that time. Realizing this book was one of the more
complicated things I have contributed to over time (transferring money to Brazil is a real nightmare) and when we were
ready to go to print we learned that Ricardo, who had spent
an enormous amount of energy chasing authors and finding
a publisher, had passed away.’
In writing the mapping document, I spoke with Keller last
autumn at Ars Electronica who showed me the PDF of the text
on his computer - and it is excellent that this key text has now
reached the light of day, though its story needs updating.
Another publication about digital culture in Brazil - called
Apropriacoes Tecnologicas - has also recently been produced,
edited by Karla Schuch Brunet at the Federal University of
Bahia.15
The Bonete Laboratory: 100 linhas
Back in Brazil, some of the original protagonists who were
deeply enmeshed in the government programme mentioned
above (which was initially influenced also by discussions and
debates held at the Next 5 Minutes conferences in Amsterdam) have decided that they need new tactics and strategies to
achieve their collective goals. One noteworthy project, mentioned briefly in the mapping document, which deserves a little
more space here is the Laboratory being built (literally built,
constructed, made by their own physical work) by brothers
and coders Alexandre and Fernando Freire. It is located in
a place called Bonete, on Ilha Bela, off the Sao Paulo coast.
The construction of this Laboratory is well under way, using
permaculture methods, and the plan is to make a residency
space for visiting researchers (for members of the bricolabs
network from other parts of the Southern hemisphere, for
example) for exchange, collaborative projects and so on. The
venture has been drawing deeply on ecological and sustainable
methodologies – with the site providing its own water (from
a nearby waterfall) and heat from solar panels, food grown on
the land or exchanged/bought from the locals, whose economy
is based on fishing and small-scale tourism. There is no desire
here to create a modernist space that has little reference to its
surrounding locality – rather it draws on the territory and on
the social networks that have deep roots in this small community. The purpose of the Lab is primarily to contribute to the
context within which it is sited and to develop processes that
re-engage the technological with the social/natural world in a
150
MAPPING E-CULTURE
from 2011 to 2014
-
-
-
-
And he describes the context:
‘Bonete is a small (100 families) fishing village surrounded by
Mata Atlantica forest. It currently only has one school that
provides education up to the 4th primary grade, after that
youth are encouraged to attend a TV course in the evenings but
most either go surf, work in construction or work in the fields
or fishing at the sea with their parents. The only connections
to the outside world are two public satellite telephones and now
a shared wifi connected to a satellite backbone provided by our
lab 100linhas.’
15
http://www.vialibre.
org.ar/2008/12/05/
apropriacoes-tecno
logicas/.
16
http://www.desc
entro.org/.
ESSAY
construct expanded living quarters
experiment in exchange programmes
research everyday tactics of digital culture
interact with the local school.’
TRACING THE TRACE
Lessons learnt from the successes and failures of the Cultura
Digital project, which though temporary has catalysed much
in its wake, have been used to inform many other follow-on
projects, not least the work of the members of the DesCentro 16
network, many of whom (like Friere) have gone even more
deeply into the ground of development through hands-on,
rooted, projects with a radical engagement with ecology and
society. Others – like Ricardo Ruiz – continue to influence
government policies at regional and trans-regional level and,
as outlined more fully in the mapping report, are engaging in
a programme of self-organised critical reflection, publishing
and research, to diffuse and disseminate elements of what has
been discovered through the processes of experimentation. It is
clear that network culture is alive and thriving in this constantly moving society where energies are spent seeking to reach
across localities and to connect and combine old models (such
as the building of media centres with which we are familiar in
Europe) into new forms that engage rather than disengage
from society and which dig deeper into the terrain of development than many media arts practitioners often tend to do.
BRONAC FERRAN
151
The lessons from these Brazilian experiments are fascinating
ones: the combining of European practice to policy initiatives
with a Brazilian tactical/meta/recombining – moving from
notions of centring to decentring and to distributed models of
exchange – takes us off our familiar maps and into new and
rather glorious territories. The social and economic challenges
in this country are enormous, and areas just off the corners of
any digital culture map will show evidence of great difficulties
and personal investment. One story recently on the bricolabs
list by Atteqa Malik from Karachi told us that a Brazilian
media educationalist who had greatly inspired her had e-mailed
to say she was closing her project in Salvador in Bahia in north
east Brazil after many years working with little support and few
personal resources. Bernard Stiegler the French media philosopher, has spoken of the need for systems of attention and ‘care’17
– and it is clear that as we activate the capacity of networked
media to develop our human networks we need also to consider
how we might help projects elsewhere to be sustainable or to
find ways to help each other beyond temporary observations,
mappings and star gazing exercises.
17
http://www.scribd.com/
doc/6990534/Care-ByBernard-Stiegler.
Dutch
Summaries/
Nederlandse
Samenvattingen
152
MAPPING E-CULTURE
ESSAY
SAMENVATTINGEN
153
[Mapping ECulture, eCultuur, E-cultuur
or e-culture, Richard Rogers, p23-28]
Govcom.org is een Amsterdamse
stichting die zich bezighoudt met het
maken en hosten van politieke tools
voor het web. Een groot deel van de
werkzaamheden bestaat uit het in kaart
brengen (‘mappen’) van netwerken rond
maatschappelijke kwesties, bijvoorbeeld
met de zogenaamde IssueCrawler. De
naam van de stichting is een samenvoeging van de extensies van drie grote
actoren in maatschappelijke debatten
online: gov (overheid), com (commerciële sector) en org (maatschappelijke
organisaties). Govcom.org werkt op
projectbasis en met wisselende teams
van vormgevers, researchers, programmeurs en data-analisten.
In 2008 vroeg Virtueel Platform aan
Govcom.org om de term e-cultuur te
mappen. Richard Rogers van Govcom.
org zegt dat de manier waarop je de
resultaten in kaart wilt brengen, ook
de methode van onderzoek bepaalt.
‘We zijn op zoek gegaan naar dingen
die ‘cloud-able’ zijn. Deze vorm van
onderzoek blijft dicht bij de bron: online
digitale data. De tag cloud is verhalend,
een digitaal concept dat geen precedent
kent. Je zou kunnen stellen dat het een
nieuwe manier van informatiecultuur
is, dat je het kunt zien als een nieuwe
manier van denken over online gegevens. Wij willen dat vertalen in een
nieuwe manier van onderzoek.
Die e-cultuur map heeft drie componenten: Waar gaat e-cultuur over,
wie maakt het en wie (h)erkent de
term? We zijn begonnen met een
verzameling van Nederlandse organisaties. In dit geval heeft Virtueel Platform
er eerst 80 geselecteerd. We hebben
deze gecodeerd volgens een schema
dat bestond uit keywords van zowel
activiteiten als type organisatie. Aan
de hand van deze data werden de organisaties uitgebreid tot 250 en zijn we
begonnen met tellen om een algemeen
beeld te krijgen van het veld, en om
te zien of een bepaald type organisatie
dit veld domineerde. We zochten op
de websites van de organisaties ook
naar het begrip e-cultuur. Zo ondervonden we bijvoorbeeld dat het begrip
e-cultuur veel gebruikt wordt door
fondsen, waaruit je kan concluderen
dat het begrip geaccepteerd is in die
kringen. De organisaties zelf, daarentegen, gebruiken het woord e-cultuur
veel minder vaak. In plaats daarvan
gebruiken ze andere termen.’
154
[The Patching Zone, Anne Nigten,
p104-110]
[The Chinese Dream,
Alex Adriaansens, p126-133]
[Embodying Research, STEIM,
p111-115]
The Patching Zone is een transdisciplinair laboratorium voor innovatie waar
studenten uit de master- en doctoraalfase, post-doctoraalstudenten en
professionals met verschillende achtergronden zinvolle content creëren.
Initiatiefnemer Anne Nigten vertelt
over de ‘Processpatching’-aanpak die
The Patching Zone hanteert als de
voornaamste methodiek voor creatieve
research en ontwikkeling.
‘De aanmeldingen voor de projecten
van Patching Zone zijn zeer divers,
maar het zijn veelal de betere studenten die het aandurven. Opvallend is
dat er grotere belangstelling is vanuit
het buitenland dan uit Nederland zelf.
De meeste komen uit de kunsten
ontwerpdisciplines en werken dus
volgens één van de varianten van praktijk gebaseerd onderzoek. De studenten uit de meer technische en theoretische opleidingen werken op een hele
andere manier. Wij hopen dat het besef
gaat doordringen dat de rol van kunstenaars en ontwerpers binnen innovatieteams juist ook heel erg interessant
is als het om samenwerking gaat, en
dat daarin een meerwaarde zit. Op die
manier kun je aantonen dat praktijk
gebaseerd onderzoek niet altijd een
solistische praktijk hoeft te zijn. Het
levert interessante nieuwe mogelijkheden op voor kunstenaars en ontwerpers in samenwerkingstrajecten.
In de Patching Zone proberen we
om praktijk en theorie de hele tijd
parallel te laten lopen en elkaar te
laten voeden, zodat er meer kennis
beschikbaar komt over het werkproces
en over de methodieken en mankementen: de ene keer zit je er midden
in en de andere keer kijk je vanaf een
afstand. Je kan daar heel makkelijk
tussen switchen. Het is een van de
dingen waaraan ik graag verder zou
willen werken – om daar veel bewuster
mee om te gaan, zodat je er ook veel
meer uit kan halen.’
V2_, instituut voor de instabiele media,
ontwikkelde in de afgelopen vijf jaar
een reeks van activiteiten in China,
variërend van kleinschalige conferenties en debatten tot grootschalige tentoonstellingen. V2_’s netwerk omvat nu
bloggers en kunstenaarsinitiatieven,
maar ook het Nationaal Museum van
China en een aantal universiteiten.
Alex Adriaansens vertelt over V2_’s
inspanningen in China en hoe die de
komende jaren worden voortgezet. ‘De eerste tentoonstelling, vijf jaar
geleden, was niet alleen een leuke
ontdekking en een goede zoektocht,
maar ook het begin van het opzetten
van een netwerk in China.
Na een paar jaar in China vroegen
de partners zich af hoe ze nu tot een
groot evenement konden komen,
waarin nationaal en internationaal
alle partijen vertegenwoordigd waren
en waarin kunst, wetenschap en technologie tot uiting kwamen. In dit kader
kwam de samenwerking met het National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) tot
stand. Samen met een aantal partijen
hebben we er in juni 2008 Synthetic
Times – Media Art China 2008 georganiseerd, waar in drie weken tijd
100.000 bezoekers op afkwamen.
Een ander voorbeeld van succesvolle internationale samenwerking
is The Long March, dat vanuit China
zelf gepresenteerd werd. Het project
centreerde zich rondom de identiteit
van China. Hoe kijkt het Westen naar
exotisch China? Veel Chinezen nemen
die geprojecteerde identiteit over, terwijl de geschiedenis en werkelijkheid
anders is.
We zetten e-cultuur niet specifiek
als sector weg – dat is onze opdracht
ook niet. We positioneren V2_ als
typisch Nederlandse instelling die
vorm geeft aan internationalisering.’
STEIM is een laboratorium voor
elektronische muziekperformance
en vernieuwende instrumenten. In de
beginjaren werkte STEIM exclusief in
het domein van de levende elektronische muziek, maar sindsdien is het
gegroeid naar een ontwikkelings- en
onderzoekscentrum op het gebied van
interactie tussen mens en machine in
de podiumkunsten en in de e-cultuur.
In Europa is een actief debat gaande
over praktijk gebaseerd onderzoek. De
discussie bestrijkt een breed gebied
met aan ene kant de individuele scheppende artiest en aan het andere kant
de theoretische wetenschap. In het
ene geval gaat het puur om het maken
van het kunstwerk zelf en de betekenis
die de artiest eraan geeft, het andere
uiterste van het spectrum is een verhandeling over methodologie.
Voor STEIM is het heel gewoon om
praktijk en theorie met elkaar te verbinden: een instrument moet technisch
goed zijn maar ook artistiek van hoog
niveau.
‘In tegenstelling tot labs die aan
universiteiten verbonden zijn hebben
we een hoop vrijheid. We hebben ons
kunnen ontwikkelen tot ambachtslieden van hoog niveau, en hoeven niet
alles wat we doen wetenschappelijk
te verantwoorden. Onze kennis komt
voort uit het maken van instrumenten,
de praktijk. Wij werken graag samen
met instituten en krijgen zelfs verzoeken van mensen die hun PhD bij STEIM
willen doen. Onze grootste uitdaging is
om de kennis uit onze 150 jaarlijkse
projecten aan een breder publiek te
presenteren.
“It’s what you do with it that counts”:
Naast publicaties en tentoonstellingen
is STEIMs internationale reputatie
vooral te danken aan de artiesten die
overal optreden en over ons vertellen.
We zijn heel benieuwd wat de toekomst gaat brengen, en wie hierbij
betrokken gaan worden. Dat zal mede
afhangen van hoe we ons werkterrein
omschrijven. Zo is ‘de tijd’ bijvoorbeeld
een terugkerend thema, zowel in technisch als conceptueel opzicht. Het
begrip verwijst naar de interne klok en
ritmegevoel van de performer, maar
ook naar de reactietijd van interfaces
MAPPING E-CULTURE
SAMENVATTINGEN
155
en processors. We maken als het ware
een nieuw vocabulaire, een tweede taal
die afkomstig is uit wetenschap, muziek,
filosofie, dans, enzovoorts.
We laten de dingen gewoon op ons
afkomen, en dan springen we erbovenop.’
[Practice-based Research in the Arts,
Henk Borgdorff in gesprek met Anne
Helmond, p97-103]
Henk Borgdorff is lector Amsterdamse
Hogeschool voor de Kunsten. Zijn faculteitsoverstijgende lectoraat Kunsttheorie en onderzoek was in 2002 het
eerste van de huidige vijf lectoraten op
de Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de
Kunsten (AHK). Lectoraten zijn posities
aan kunstopleidingen die tot doel hebben om onderzoek te doen, het onderwijs te vernieuwen, de docenten te
professionaliseren en de relatie met
de buitenwereld te versterken met de
beroepspraktijk en de kunstwereld. ‘Schoenmaker houd je bij de leest’,
vinden sommigen. Maar onderzoek
hoort wel degelijk tot de kerntaak
van de hogeschool, zegt Borgdorff.
‘In het buitenland is het overal
booming business om praktijk gebaseerd onderzoek hoog op de agenda
te krijgen van het kunstonderwijs, terwijl we in Nederland huiverig zijn dat
we teveel universiteitje gaan spelen.
Ook de universiteiten zijn sceptisch:
die zien hun eigen subsidie slinken.
Vanuit de kunstwereld wordt ook
wel met argwaan gekeken naar deze
ontwikkelingen. Maar feit is dat de
kunstpraktijk reflexief is geworden.
Je kan niet meer naïef zijn, al was het
maar vanwege de druk van buitenaf.
Kunstenaars moeten zich positioneren in de samenleving en als het ware
rekenschap afleggen aan fondsen en
het publiek. Er is ook iets met kunst
zelf aan de hand. Niet alleen de conceptuele kunst, maar ook de moderne
kunst vanaf eind 19e eeuw heeft een
slag gemaakt: kunstenaars moeten niet
alleen kunnen produceren, maar ook
reflecteren en stil staan bij wat ze doen.
Dat vraagt onderzoeksvaardigheden,
en die zijn er nog onvoldoende binnen
het gebouw van het hoger onderwijs.’
156
[Beyond the Media Mystique: Addressing Media and E-culture in Egypt,
Lebanon and Palestine, Nat Muller,
p134-144]
Wanneer we e-cultuur in het Midden
Oosten naar Westerse maatstaven in
kaart brengen ontstaat er een incompleet en gekleurd beeld, waarin ‘slecht
nieuws’ overheerst. De regio is echter
niet zo homogeen als veel media ons
willen doen geloven, en onze definities
van e-cultuur zijn niet van toepassing
op het Midden Oosten.
Libanon bijvoorbeeld wordt gekenmerkt door de duurste telecommunicatie in de wereld, zeer beperkte bandbreedte en politiek gedreven telecom
monopolies. Als gevolg kunnen ICT
initiatieven niet bestaan zonder terug
te grijpen op meer traditionele media
zoals fotografie en print.
De ontwikkeling van publiekgerichte
instituten, die e-cultuur in het Midden
Oosten zouden kunnen ondersteunen,
stuit op veel problemen. Dat is niet in
de eerste plaats een geldkwestie, maar
een gevolg van de politieke situatie in
de verschillende landen. Zo is er in
Libanon nauwelijks sprake van een
publieke sector en heeft Palestina
geen erkende overheid. In Egypte is
er vanwege het corrupte en onderdrukkende regime argwaan tegenover grote
instellingen.
Ook onderwijsinstellingen worden
in deze landen door de overheid gecontroleerd. Dat studenten kennis kunnen
maken met ‘slechte invloeden van
buiten’ (zoals video en digitale kunst)
is te danken aan een handjevol kunstenaars en professoren. Het blijft
echter vaak bij een kennismaking:
onder de politieke omstandigheden
kunnen de meeste studenten niet in
alle vrijheid aan de slag met nieuwe
media en ICT.
Jonge kunstenaars en media
makers in Egypte en Palestina willen
onafhankelijk blijven en zijn steeds
wantrouwender tegenover buitenlandse hulporganisaties of fondsen met
een dubbele agenda. Liever bekostigen
ze hun activiteiten door het maken van
commercieel werk. Technische, logistieke en politieke belemmeringen
maken dat hun kunst nauwelijks
publiek bereikt en dat samenwerking
met andere regio’s niet mogelijk is.
MAPPING E-CULTURE
Kansen en mogelijkheden van globalisering en het World Wide Web gaan
vooralsnog voorbij aan de politieke
context van deze landen: wie oog wil
hebben voor e-cultuur in het Midden
Oosten moet kijken naar het specifieke
en het particuliere.
[Tracing the Trace, Bronac Ferran,
p145-152]
SICA (Nederlands instituut voor het
internationaal cultuurbeleid) en Virtueel
Platform vroegen Bronac Ferran om
een beschrijving van het Braziliaanse
e-cultuur veld te maken waarin organisaties, individuen en uitwisselingsmogelijkheden in kaart worden gebracht. Het volledige rapport werd in
maart 2009 gepubliceerd.
Brazilië is een land on the move
waarin de ‘nieuwe economie’, in vergelijking met oudere economieën, heel
snel groeit. Media kunstenaars maken
variaties op bestaande modellen (zoals
Europese media centra) die beter aansluiten op de plaatselijke cultuur en
omgeving. Een goed voorbeeld is het
laboratorium in Bonete, een residentie
waar onderzoekers uit alle delen van
Brazilië kunnen samenwerken en kennis kunnen delen. Het is een zelfvoorzienend lab, met water uit de nabijgelegen waterval, voedsel uit eigen tuin en
zonnepanelen voor energie. Het doel
van Bonete is om binnen de context
van de omgeving projecten te ontwikkelen die technologie en ecologie
bijeen brengen.
De lessen uit deze experimenten
zijn fascinerend: de samenvoeging van
de Europese praktijk met de Braziliaanse initiatieven kunnen onze vertrouwde
paradigma’s wijzigen en toegang geven
tot een nieuw gebied dat nog niet eerder in kaart is gebracht. In geografisch
opzicht is de omvang van Brazilië ontzagwekkend. Regio’s kennen enorme
verschillen in ontwikkeling en urbanisatiegraad. Het zijn sleutelfactoren voor
de mapping van digitale cultuur in het
land. Sociale en economische problemen in Brazilië zijn groot, maar juist
de gebieden die net buiten de grenzen
van de digitale culturele kaart liggen
inspireren diegenen die van uitdagingen houden.
SAMENVATTINGEN
157
Credits
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
Page 19
Images front and back cover of New
Media Culture in Europe, published
by De Balie and Virtueel Platform,
Amsterdam, 1999
Page 33
Collection museumgoudA, photo
by Tom Haartsen, © All rights
reserved
Page 41
Photo by Stroom, The Hague,
© All rights reserved
Page 38
Image by Images for the Future,
Page 47
Images The Blob, Ronimo Games,
Page 49, 50, 51, 52
Photos by Daisy Komen,
Page 104, 109, 110
Photos by The Patching Zone, 2008,
Page 113, 115
Photos by Frank Baldé,
Page 119
Photo (top), photographer unknown,
collection Spaarnestad photo
Photo (bottom) by Wiel van der
Randen, collection Spaarnestad
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank all the authors
for their contribution to this book.
CREATIVE COMMONS
Publication: Virtueel Platform 2009
Except where otherwise stated,
content in this publication is
licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0
Netherlands license. The user is
allowed to copy, distribute, transmit,
and to adapt the work, under the
following conditions:
This book was made possible due
to the support of the Netherlands
Ministry of Education, Culture and
Science.
EDITED BY
Cathy Brickwood
COPY EDITING
Cathy Brickwood
Puck de Klerk
A. Attribution:
The user must attribute the work in
the manner specified by the author
or licensor (but not in any way that
suggests that they endorse you or
your use of the work).
IMAGE EDITING
Niels Kerssens
TRANSLATIONS
Lisa Holden (Eric Kluitenberg,
Alex Adriaanssens)
Annabel Howland (Caroline Nevejan)
Mark Poysden (Emilie Randoe,
Henk Borgdorff, Antoinette Hoes,
Klaas Kuitenbrouwer, Anne Nigten)
Puck de Klerk (Dutch summaries)
B. Noncommercial:
The user may not use this work for
commercial purposes.
For any reuse or distribution, the user
must make clear to others the license
terms of this work. Any of the above
conditions can be waived if the user
gets permission from the copyright
holder. Nothing in this license impairs
or restricts the author’s moral rights.
This is the human-readable version
of the full license.
Go to http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc/3.0/nl/deed.en to
view this license.
DESIGN
Novak, Amsterdam
PRINTING
Lecturis, Eindhoven
VIRTUEEL PLATFORM
2009
Page 126, 132/33
Photos by Alex Adriaansens,
Page 140
Photos by Ricardo Mbarkho,
Page 141
Photos by Floor van Spaendonck,
158
MAPPING E-CULTURE
CREDITS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
159

Mapping E-culture - Virtueel Platform

Transcription

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