[Nettime-bold] WRO2000, Wroclaw/Poland

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WRO2000@KULTURA
20th November - 10th December 2000
Wroclaw
Poland

organized by:
Open Studio/WRO Media Art Center
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WRO2000@kultura is a large media art exhibition to be held
from November 20th to - December 10th in Wroclaw/Poland.
It's key component, the Mediation/Medialization Congress, will
take place from November 29th to December 3rd, 2000.

The special edition of WRO International Media Art Biennale,
commemorating the 1000th Anniversary of the City of Wroclaw,
will be held at some of the most beautiful historic spaces of
baroque Wroclaw University: the Leopoldinum Hall, the Oratorium
Marianum, the Mathematical Tower (open to the public for the
first time since II WW), as well as in the National Museum in
Wroclaw.

Discussing the issues of cultural changes in the age of digital
technology from art and science to everyday life - in the
historic surroundings will emphasize both the continuity and the
evolution of culture.

Congress: MEDIATION/MEDIALIZATION
- Dimensions of the Media Revolution
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Mediation is an aspect of technology that is extending the
universe of perception. Mediation is leading us into new areas,
introducing new worlds, extending our horizons by taking us into
prior inaccessible spaces. Mediation broadens our environment,
opens communication and enhances our habitat. Medialization is
the functional and conceptual reinterpretation of the reality
through the use of technology in areas which used to be
experienced directly, without technology. Technology does change
the world that we know; it affects structures already established
through our historic experience, it transforms the existing
biological, physical, cultural and economic parameters of human
existence. Medialization interferes with our established value
systems, forces their reinterpretation, creates anxiety, and makes
the environment creative, dynamic and unstable.

Meridian 17th - the Exhibition.
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The title of this exhibition is related to the geographical
location of the Mathematical Tower. The 17th meridian crossing
is marked with a stone line on the floor.

During three consecutive weeks of the exhibition dedicated to
distinct domains of media, international artists will present
their works. Invited artists represent various forms of media art,
and use various aspects, features and strengths of technology -
- from digital video to virtual reality.
Ideas such as virtual reality, cyberspace, interactive art, net
art, digital technologies and hypermedia will be exemplified by
experimental artistic creations from around the world.
Our aim is to emphasize the various ways of extending our senses,
to examine certain aspects of perceiving and interpreting
information, and to explore the evolving relationship between the
eyes, the mind and the technology. One of the exhibition's main
objectives is to appeal to the audiences with different level of
exposure and interest in the contemporary art.
With this objective in mind, some of the exhibition's
installations will have an educational character, making and
interactive exchange or a casual dialogue in the cyberspace
possible simply by playing with the technological devices.

The original interactive media installations will make up the main
part of exhibition. A core of exhibited works will have a
character of attractive and absorbing visual-sound installations,
making it possible for viewers to participate in the creative
process by using sophisticated interfaces and new processing
devices.
The exhibition will also include live performances, seminars, open
discussions, meetings with artists, as well as screenings of
video programs by invited curators. This program will be
supplemented with works from the WRO video archives including
videos awarded and non-awarded during 10 years of international
WRO competition.

East of Cyberspace/Wschod Cyberprzestrzeni - Art Net Activity
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This Polish title means two things at the same time "the rise of"
and "the east of" cyberspace. This duality of meaning, impossible
to incarnate into a single English term, was the reason why we
decided to present the title in English and Polish as well.
We want to emphasize small differences and the local flavor in the
universal area of the Internet. The Internet is almost always
considered in universal categories; universal communication,
departure from limitations, departure from local conditions in
favor of a untied nomadism, and the possibility of assuming new
personal and cultural identities.

However, the question is, can an artist working with the net,
truly be free of his local anchor and identity, or should he want
to hide them, what advantages and possibilities are offered by
the global internet communication.
We want to explore this question by making it a focus of
presentations by artists and net activists, especially those
from countries in which freedom of information and communication
was restricted.

SPACES_n_PLACES - presentation of major media art centers.
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Wroclaw is a home of the Open Studio/WRO, an independent,
nonprofit organization created in 1988. It was the first center
devoted to media art and culture in Eastern and Central Europe.
In January 2001, it will become the WRO Media Art Center, a city
supported place, to promote international development of media
art and culture.
In preparation for this transition, WRO2000@kultura will provide
special presentations of international centers of art, media
technology and communication.

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Piotr Krajewski, artistic director
wro@wro.getin.pl

www.wro.art.pl
www.wro.getin.pl