Re: <nettime> Armin Medosch (1962-2017)

["Erich M." <me@quintessenz.org>]

On 2017-02-24 23:40, Michael Goldhaber wrote:

>    I'm so sorry to hear of Armin's premature death. As far as I know, I
>    never had the pleasure of meeting him, nor did I know was one of the
>    founders of Telepolis where I had a column years ago.

What sadness should I express than the same all others have expressed?

Armin was my editor when when we broke all  those news stories on
Wassenaar, Echelon and the "ENFOPOL papers", nucleus to all my
investigative Stories on the standardization of surveillance in ETSI to
follow. This was in 1998, a decisive year.

Out of nowhere an AustroGermanDutchBritish team of in-depth researchers
had surfaced at Telepolis. All with their differing skills and sources
hitting old school media with these new topics.
Armin and Florian coordinated this cross borders effort as if they'd
never done anything else before. All of us were awarded a fuqing
AOL-Bertelsmann "European new media" prize that came with no money, as
the Dot.com Bubble just had imploded.
;)
We could not care less, then. Being on our way into new terrains, Armin
always gentle, coordinating and caring. We had not even met before,
being both Austrinas. Armin kew me from the early 90ies from my columns
in Austrian daily Der Standard. I first encountered  Armin methinks
pretty early on nettime-list, before 1998.
First met him much later in Munich round 2000. Amazed that he was even
taller than me - I am 1,89 - a true Styrian Oak. Both in body and mind
as Armin was a true Renaissance man transcending traditional borders of
art, journalism and communications theory. Armin simply did not accept
borders and thus ignored them.

And this oak was felled so early and randomly by a heinous disease. My
thoughts are with his companion Ina, longtime ORF radio colleague of
mine and a friend. Just do not know what to tell Ina now. There is no
consolation for this loss around.

To avoid that we all now sink into desperation beyond tears here is a
last one from the after hours during our first meeting in Munich.
Nightly Scene in a pub Armin led us afterwards. I had delivered a major
talk and document show about then new shit like IMSI-Catchers and GSM
surveillance at some conference there. Media interviews, discussions
following into the night at the pub, then Armin turning up at my table
whispering in my ear in broad Styrian dialect: "Haha, fuq surveillance.
You look exhausted mate, therefore I prepared a refreshment line waiting
for you at the toilet window. Hurry up, so no one else takes it".
Handed me a 10 Euro note tube and I blew my mind off because the line
was according to Styrian Oak standards. This all led to adventures
unforseen in Munich clubs and definitely not my own hotel room in the
early hours.
;)
Armin was a true Renaissance man in celebrating, too. This is what we
must remember ourselves to keep us strong, as our bodies can burn out
and bust into smoke much sooner and more randomly than anybody can imagine.
Don't despair. Let us rather think how we might how we might celebrate
Armin.
Nightly thoughts
Erich M.



>    Best,
> 
>    Michael
> 
>    On Feb 24, 2017, at 12:12 AM, Felix Stalder <[1]felix@openflows.com>
>    wrote:
> 
>    Armin Medosch died yesterday, on the day two months after being
>    diagnosed with cancer. I'm sure many people on nettime knew him very
>    well. He was a long-time mover and shaker in the media arts and
>    network culture scene in Europe. Indeed for much longer than even
>    nettime exists.
 <...>

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