Re: <nettime> ISEA 2011 fees

[Ayhan Aytes <ayhana@gmail.com>]

Hi nettimers,
I would like to chime in as a local scholar/artist who is deeply concerned
with the funding issue faced by ISEA11. I think before proposing a net based
alternative event we need to consider some of the local aspects of
organizing international conferences and how they might affect change in
different parts of the world.  In 2010 Istanbul was a European Capital of
Culture which was funded by an extra tax applied nationally on certain
crucial items such as gas. The organization of that year-long event was
highly controversial because of the extra tax burden and the direct
involvement of government officials in decisions made for the cultural
program. As far as I know, that tax is still getting collected but not
diverted for funding of any of the cultural events.

Aside from this fact, currently the internet access in Turkey has
been highly censored  because of the political pressures applied by the
current government on net based forms of expressions. There are further
proposals to turn the net into another authoritarian tool in Turkey which
would take affect in August 2011. Yesterday (May 15) there were country wide
protests organized to address these proposed censorship measures. Here is
the link to the press release:
http://internetimedokunma.com/may-15th-2011-turkey-cencorship-press-release/

I think it would be valuable for ISEA in Istanbul to serve also as a venue
for addressing the issue of censorship and supporting local activists in
Turkey. I agree that electronic arts is a love child of techno-capital
and academia but that bastard also bothers whole lot of old forms
of authoritarian systems and that might be one of the reasons why ISEA had a
hard time in getting funding in Turkey. I don't mean to suggest a mission
for ISEA to change the world but this issue goes to the heart of the
question of the artistic production in networked social systems and it makes
total sense for ISEA to be a natural venue for a discussion of that.

Although I don't want to open a can of worms about ISEA's general mission
here,  I agree that one way to change the current perception is to create
more events that engage with real issues that affect the existential
conditions of the net based forms of expression.

Best,

Ayhan Aytes

Ph.D. Candidate
Communication and Cognitive Science
University of California San Diego

On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 1:33 AM, Heiko Recktenwald <
heikorecktenwald@googlemail.com> wrote:

> Am 15.05.2011 17:08, schrieb roberta buiani:
>
>  I am all for "self-organize a collective inquiry into the
>> development of planetary information/visualization/communication" as Brian
>> suggests.
>
> The visual in
>
> "information/visualization/communication"
>
> is the big error. Read the philosophers in the Middle ages. And real
> books, the discussiu0on is slow and must be slow and expensiv if yoiu
> dont have a library next door. And speak with people.
 <...>


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