<nettime> The Weekender 080b

[fokky <Sandra.Fauconnier@rug.ac.be>]

   . The Weekender ...................................................
   . a weekly digest of calls . actions . websites . campaigns . etc .
   . send your announcements and notes to announcer@simsim.rug.ac.be .
   . please don't be late ! delivered every friday . into your inbox .
   . http://simsim.rug.ac.be/announcer/ for subscription info & help .
   ...................................................................



01 . Alain Kessi           . [ggg] seminar: Globalisation in Central 
                             and Eastern Europe
02 . valery grancher       . berkeley art museum California
03 . Decadent Action       . April 6th - PHONE IN SICK
04 . Dew, Harris           . Technology in the 1990s at MoMA



   ................................................................... 01

From: Alain Kessi <kessi@bitex.com>

This goes out to all of you who are making visible our social,
political, everyday problems with your activities and spoken word.

Seminar in Tabor/Czech Republic from 3-9 May 1999
GGG: GLOBALISATION, GENDER, GENETECH
focussing on Eastern Europe

Languages: Russian and English
Please send applications to <tusovka@artamis.org> or <kessi@bitex.com>
(see application form below).
This and updated information is available from
<http://www.savanne.ch/tusovka/seminar.html>.

The theme of this seminar is threefold:
GGG stands for Globalisation, Gender, Genetech.

How do I feel Globalisation on my skin?
How does Gender shape my identity?
Why should I believe in Genetech?

We would like to open a discussion which puts the three topics in
relation to each other, focusing on the situation and struggles in
Eastern Europe and the relation between Eastern and Western Europe.

We would like to explore the topics on various levels: personal
experience, political and economic analysis, struggles against the loss
of autonomy of people, etc.

We want to close the gap between discussions and action.

We want to delegitimise the status of experts talking about other
people's lives.  We are all experts of our own experience and this is
the expertise on which we want to build.

We want to disrupt the fatalism of the 'transition' from real-socialism
to capitalism and from a 'soviet' union to a european 'union'. We do not
want a 'transition' from A to B where B is defined by Western and global
interests, but a collective search for new ways to shape our lives.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
----- The personal is political. -----
---------------------------------------------------------------------

The seminar is part of a wider initiative to link up existing political
and environmental projects within Eastern Europe. We do not say that
either Eastern or Western Europe is one block, nor do we want to build
up new barriers between east and west.  On the contrary, we aim to work
out the inner structure and diversity and raise awareness about existing
differences and "borders".

The aim is to facilitate autonomous strategies of resistance.  These
strategies should be adapted to the specific political and social
situation of Eastern Europe.  We hope in this way to counterbalance the
often biased power relations between Eastern and Western activist
groups. It is closely related to our efforts of overlapping and
confronting political discussions in Eastern and Western Europe through
our Russian-English newsletter Tusovka (see
http://www.savanne.ch/tusovka).

In the long run, the aim is to contribute to a culture of resistance -
resistance against mechanisms which take away people's autonomy and
prevent them from shaping their lives in interaction with their
surrounding. There are various groups and individuals active in
resistance in various fields of life: environmentalists, feminists,
lesbian and gay movements, human rights activists, anti-racist groups,
art-and-politics or media activists, and more.  If people from these
various backgrounds come together, they may find out that they want to
join their efforts and see their struggles as a common struggle towards
more autonomy.

We hope this seminar will provide the opportunity for finding ways of
collaborating -- collaborate and still keep the diversity of struggles.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Struggle can also be subversive behaviour in your immediate
surrounding. -----
---------------------------------------------------------------------

We think that mechanisms of oppression have something in common.  We
have chosen to explore the common ground between various mechanisms of
oppression using the examples of Globalisation, Gender and Genetech.
Our experience is that GGG have separately come up repeatedly in recent
seminars and discussions.

We would now like to explore how they relate to each other.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What is the relationship between GGG?

Here are some thoughts and questions that have emerged in our
discussions so far:

Globalisation, Gender and Genetech are three mediums of attack on
personal autonomy.

Gender has had a central and constant role in histories of personal
autonomy.  Globalisation and Genetech have made a more recent entrance.
Are we experiencing the Globalisation and Genetech Revolutions?  Or, by
granting them this title of 'revolution', are we giving credibility to
their own hype?

---------------------------------------------------------------------
----- We are the experts of our own experience. -----
---------------------------------------------------------------------

We propose that Globalisation can be seen as a manifestation of the
interplay between
 gendered oppression in the form of patriarchy;
 economic oppression in the form of capitalism;
 racist oppression in the form of (neo-)colonialism, identity checks on
the street, and a nationalist backlash.

 Genetech can be seen as
 imposing the ideology of science and a patriarchal myth of progress
globally;
 imposing the legal concept of intellectual property rights through
biopiracy (a phenomenon which nicely shows how property is theft).

 A few questions on Gender we ask ourselves:
 How do I experience patriarchy?
 Why do I want to struggle against patriarchy?
 Can we subvert compulsory heterosexuality?
 What could non-patriarchal behaviour look like?

Can we find the struggle against patriarchy in the struggle against
Globalisation and Genetech?
What can other struggles learn from the struggle against patriarchy?


PRELIMINARY PROGRAM - WORKSHOPS (estimated 2 hours each)

(Note: this is a flexible working document. The aim is to give an
impression of the seminar as we see it. No doubt changes will be made as
we discuss the specific contents with the invited speakers. Please give
us feedback on the program, so that we know your priorities when making
changes.)

Summary followed by descriptions of individual workshops.............

Monday, 3 May
Why GGG? Why in this way?
Perceptions of Gender Relations: Personal Stories I
History of the Perception of Gender Relations in Eastern Europe
The Neoliberal Globalisation Attack Against the Autonomy of People

Tuesday, 4 May
Women's migration: Personal Stories II
Patriarchal Structures in State and International Institutions
Border Identities and 'GastArtBeiter': Personal Stories III
Planning Session I: Eastern European Participation in the ICC

Wednesday, 5 May
History of the Perception of Gender Relations in Western Europe
Dealing with Sexisms in So-Called Progressive Groups
Mechanisms of Media Bias
Playing with the Media

Thursday, 6 May
Perestroika and Forced Transition
Ethnicising Society: The War in Yugoslavia
Strategies in Gender Relations: Personal Stories IV
Planning Session II: Press Work

Friday, 7 May
GGG Interlinked: The Modernisation of Agriculture and the Destruction of
Subsistence
Struggles against the Introduction of Genetically Modified Crops
What Images Are Used when Speaking about Genetic Engineering?
Planning Session III: Critical Review of Current Strategies

Saturday, 8 May
EU and NATO Enlargement
New European Migration and Fortress Europe
Activism Under Conditions of Survival in Russia, the Ukraine,
Byelorussia: Personal Stories V
Planning Session IV: Cologne 1999

Sunday, 9 May
The Global Financial Casino and the Russian Crisis
What Could a Non-Patriarchal Economy Look Like?
Nature for Sale: Travelling Scientists Looking for 'Usable' Plants
Planning Session V: Genetech Watch Eastern Europe

Time slots:

7:30		Wake-up call
8:00		Breakfast
9:00-11:00	Workshop I
11:15-13:15	Workshop II
13:30		Lunch
14:45-16:45	Workshop III
17:00-19:00	Workshop IV
19:15		Dinner
20:30(-21:00)	Discussion

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF WORKSHOPS:

Monday, 3 May

WHY GGG? WHY IN THIS WAY?
What is our motivation to organise this seminar? What is our personal
experience with Globalisation, Gender and Genetech? Why a personal
approach? Discuss concepts that we have used in describing our approach
to GGG: Autonomy, Dependency, Struggle, Subversion, (De-)Legitimising,
Personal and Group Identity, Categorisation.

PERCEPTIONS OF GENDER RELATIONS: PERSONAL STORIES I
When did you first find out that there were men and women in your
society? How did you perceive the difference? Did you perceive it as
unjust? How did this perception and your analysis of it change along
your life? Starting from the personal experiences of women and men from
Eastern and Western Europe with gender relations, we would like to
develop and discuss various possible analyses. What are the stereotypes
involved (in the East; in the West) in describing men's and women's
roles in society, and how did they evolve? How do these stereotypes give
rise to gendered power relations?

HISTORY OF THE PERCEPTION OF GENDER ROLES IN EASTERN EUROPE
Women and the Women's movement and state-imposed "equality". The taboo
imposed by the Communist party on discussions of gender relations and
sexuality. The state's reintroduction of the traditional family as the
cell of the society. Role of the family in perpetuating gender
stereotypes, in contradiction to the "equality" doctrine.
Women, jobs, nursery schools - benefits and coercion. What influence did
the post-WW II "fatherless generation" have on the perception of gender?
Negative attitude towards "feminism" - where does it come from? The
development of the Lesbian movement and its difficult relation to
feminism. NGO funding and its influence on feminism in Eastern Europe.

THE NEOLIBERAL GLOBALISATION ATTACK AGAINST THE AUTONOMY OF PEOPLE
The basic assumptions of neoliberalism. Globalisation does not just
happen, but is made. Headquarter economy and the new role of cities. The
trap of nationalism in the struggle against globalisation and against EU
enlargement. Transition economies in a global context.

Tuesday, 4 May

WOMEN'S MIGRATION: PERSONAL STORIES II
Forced and planned migration. Different possibilities and perspectives
for staying in a target country: bars, sex work, marriage, house work.
Dependencies involved, and space for shaping one's life against these
dependencies.

PATRIARCHAL STRUCTURES IN STATE AND INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
Army. Police. State administration and bureaucracies in general. Higher
education. Court system and treatment of sexual abuse. Asylum and
reasons for fleeing specific to women. Development aid and population
control. GATT/WTO. World Bank and implementation of gender concepts. How
are which types of masculinities legitimized and strengthened through
these institutions (see Connell, Masculinities)? And what kind of image
of women do they convey? In which institutions are women present in what
positions, and what does this have to do with the gender stereotypes
conveyed by those institutions?
(A selection of the topics mentioned here will be made with the
speaker(s). This list is intended rather as a brainstorming.)

BORDER IDENTITIES AND 'GASTARTBEITER': PERSONAL STORIES III
Identities in transition.
Western interest for Eastern contemporary art. Explicit and hidden
relations of power - Western curators on eastward trips.

PLANNING SESSION I: EASTERN EUROPEAN PARTICIPATION IN THE ICC
The ICC -- The Inter-Continental Caravan (ICC99) is a project originally
proposed by the KRRS, the Indian Karnataka State's peasants'
organisation, in which 600 peasants and other activists from India and
all over the world will come to Europe, in May/June 1999, and protest
against the neoliberal policies, and make contact with local peasant and
activist groups.

Wednesday, 5 May

HISTORY OF THE PERCEPTION OF GENDER ROLES IN WESTERN EUROPE
>From Virginia Woolf and Mary Woolstonecraft to Simone de Beauvoir. The
French critics -- Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva (what influence did
the latter's Bulgarian background have?).
Public vs. private space - "the personal is political". Production and
reproduction work. Double burden through reproduction work and "career".
The critique of the "difference feminist" approach by Lesbians and other
women who were not middle class, white and western.
The emergence of "gender feminism" and the challenge to the very
categories of "men" and "women". Triple oppression -- the relationship
between sexisms, racisms and classisms.

DEALING WITH SEXISMS IN SO-CALLED PROGRESSIVE GROUPS
Using recent examples from Zurich as a starting point, look at the
attempts of men to come to grips with gender concepts and with sexisms
and sexual violence within their political groups.
How do political groups deal with, or avoid dealing with, blatant cases
of sexual violence, and how do they deal with everyday sexisms?
What strategies could we develop to create greater awareness of, and an
effective struggle against, stereotypes, sexisms and sexual violence?

MECHANISMS OF MEDIA BIAS
The invention of advertising and its effect on the media landscape.
The scissors in the head - self-censorship.   Writing between the lines
- state censorship and strategies to counter it.
Monopolies and transnational media corporations.
Alternative media and other attempts at reaching out. Sympathetic
journalists in the mainstream  media. Selling a product, not
information.

PLAYING WITH THE MEDIA
Telling "the truth" is not enough -- taking cultural grammar into
account.
Subverting discourses -- tactics of communication guerilla.
The internet -- real chances and delusions.

Thursday, 6 May

PERESTROIKA AND FORCED TRANSITION
The actors and motives of perestroika.
Different approaches in different countries -- Poland and Bulgaria.
Forced transformation of the economies and political regimes in Eastern
Europe -- the role of governments, international institutions,
transnational corporations.
How did people in various Eastern European countries perceive the
process, and what did it mean for their everyday life?

ETHNICISING SOCIETY: THE WAR IN YUGOSLAVIA
Discussion among people from different backgrounds on origins of
conflict and on interests and strategies of the various parties
involved, including international interests. What strategies did
progressive, anti-war movements develop? How did the ethnicising make
solidarity difficult, and how did people try to counter this?
Nationalist tendencies within activist groups.

STRATEGIES OF GENDER RELATIONS: PERSONAL STORIES IV
Build upon Personal Stories I, the two historical presentations on the
development of gender relations in East and West, and other related
workshops. Discuss in more detail strategies of power, or of solidarity
and cooperation, of men and of women using or subverting gender
stereotypes.
How are dependencies created, and what strategies do we use to preserve
or win back our autonomy?

PLANNING SESSION II: PRESS WORK
For the various events planned, and also in the long run, it would be
useful to build up a network of sympathetic journalists in the various
countries of Eastern Europe, and activists who can contact them and
spread information.

Friday, 7 May

GGG INTERLINKED: THE MODERNISATION OF AGRICULTURE AND THE DESTRUCTION OF
SUBSISTENCE
The story of the Great Plains, the "Green Revolution" and the "Monsanto
Revolution" as attacks on the autonomy of subsistence agriculture.
The price of higher yields -- greater dependency on industrial input.
The myth of "feeding the world".
The real-socialist project of industrialising the agriculture in the
Soviet Union -- who wins, at whose expense?
Lyssenkovshina and the rejection of genetics -- breeding programs gone
astray.

STRUGGLES AGAINST THE INTRODUCTION OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS
Monsanto's problem -- continuing to reap profits even after the Roundup
patent expires.
Eastern Europe -- a testing field for genetically modified crops.
Collaboration between Monsanto and Ukrainian genetic research
institutions.  The labeling campaign and the failure of Greenpeace in
the Ukraine.
Polish peasants against genetically modified crops.
GenetiX Snowball, "Cremate Monsanto".

WHAT IMAGES ARE USED WHEN SPEAKING ABOUT GENETIC ENGINEERING?
How do people speak about genetic engineering?
What is left out of the picture?
Genetic code -- computer code. Cross-legitimation of discourses from
technology and nature.

PLANNING SESSION III: CRITICAL REVIEW OF CURRENT STRATEGIES
How do networks like EYFA, A SEED, CEE Bankwatch, Social-Ecological
Union, PGA work? What lessons can be learned? Critical discussion of the
concepts used (sustainability, civil society, public participation,
etc.).

Saturday, 8 May

EU AND NATO ENLARGEMENT
Myths and expectations. Real prospects.
Motives of politicians in Eastern Europe.
The humiliation of Schengen and visa regimes.
Accession promises as leverage to force changes.
Agenda 2000.

NEW EUROPEAN MIGRATION AND FORTRESS EUROPE
New borders. Historical humiliation and lack of perspectives -- a whole
generation on the lookout for opportunities to "get out of here". Why do
people from Eastern Europe want to migrate? Perceptions of "the West" in
Eastern Europe. Would asylum still exist without the "human traders"?
Who has the possibility to migrate "legally"? Who has the power to
define what is "legal" migration? Solidarity movement with migrants in
Western Europe. Specific conditions of migration for women. Fortress
Europe, Schengen and reasons for the changes in migration policies of
Western European countries.

ACTIVISM UNDER CONDITIONS OF SURVIVAL IN RUSSIA, THE UKRAINE,
BYELORUSSIA: PERSONAL STORIES V
How do the difficulties of everyday life influence activism? "How do you
expect people to be active if they are worried about remaining hungry?"
How can we overcome lethargy and fatalism? "It's easy for people in
Western Europe: they can just be on social welfare and do political
work." Political activism at a zero budget. Strategies of survival of an
Eastern activist at a meeting in Western Europe at which the organizers
have no idea what it means to have no money to buy even a sandwich in an
expensive country. Condition of dependence on Western activists'
goodwill.

PLANNING SESSION IV: COLOGNE 1999
In June, two major summits will take place in Cologne: the EU summit and
the G8 summit. There will be actions in Cologne on both occasions, and
worldwide actions on 18 June against financial centers on the occasion
of the G8 summit. Discuss possibilities of doing actions in Eastern
Europe.

Sunday, 9 May

THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CASINO AND THE RUSSIAN CRISIS
What are the direct effects of the "Russian crisis" on people's lives in
Russia and neighboring countries? What local conditions made the crisis
possible?
How are international institutions, governments, transnational
corporations, speculators involved? How is the "Russian crisis" linked
to those in South-East Asia, Japan, Brazil?
Conflicts between the World Bank and the IMF.
Foreign investment -- short-term benefits and long-term dependencies.
How can these dependencies be decreased? Byelorussia -- where does the
isolationist variant lead?

WHAT COULD A NON-PATRIARCHAL ECONOMY LOOK LIKE?
What is patriarchal about capitalism, and about its 'Soviet'
state-capitalist variant? Is capitalism more patriarchal than a feudal
system? How can a struggle against capitalism be combined with a
struggle against patriarchy? What alternatives to capitalism can we
think of, and in what way would they be patriarchal? Look at LETS,
different systems of barter propagated as alternatives, or developed as
strategies of survival.

NATURE FOR SALE: SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITIONS LOOKING FOR 'USABLE' PLANTS
Early expeditions of Linne at the service of commercial use. Globalising
the plunder: Vavilov and his global view on exploiting biodiversity.
Current biopiracy expeditions and struggles against them. Expeditions
into the body: the human genome project and the interests behind it.

PLANNING SESSION V: GENETECH WATCH EASTERN EUROPE
Plan and coordinate a continuous working group on genetic engineering in
Eastern Europe, with the aim of setting up a database of information
about genetic engineering in the various countries (policies of TNCs and
governments, legislation, field tests, media, awareness, struggles,
etc.), which can serve to develop analysis and further campaigns.

END OF PROGRAM

=====================================================================

APPLICATION FORM

As we have a limited amount of money for travel reimbursement PLEASE
FILL OUT THE FOLLOWING APPLICATION AS COMPLETELY AS POSSIBLE, this will
greatly increase your chances of being selected for reimbursement.
DEADLINE.  Return faxes and e-mail before April 1st (postal mail
accepted until the 3rd), or else we will not have enough time to send
you your invitation (required for several countries, stamped by the
foreigners' police, need to be sent to you by postal mail).

1. Contact details
Full Name:
Passport Number (needed for invitation):
Address where you are registered (needed for invitation):

Postal address (if different from registration address -- for sending
invitation!):

e-mail address (if applicable):
Tel:
Fax:
Name of organisation (if applicable):

2. Logistics
Please try to stay for the full program, and not just for the workshops
you feel are most interesting for you, since the aim is to link
different struggles.  Please tell us when you plan on arriving in Tabor,
and when you plan on leaving (the seminar is from 3-9 May; best to
arrive on 2 May in the evening, and leave on 10 May in the morning; you
can also come early to participate in 1 May activities in Prague,
contact <zemepredevsim@ecn.cz>):

3. Motivation and expectations
Specifically explain your MOTIVATION to attend the GGG seminar -- why do
you want to come & what do you want to gain?  (Please write more than
the usual "meet people, exchange experiences, learn more" -- we are
looking for clear, concrete motivation and expectations which can help
us in preparing the seminar):

4. About yourself
In order to facilitate contacts between participants to the seminar, we
would like to prepare a BOOKLET with a brief description of each
participant's interests and areas of activity, which we will distribute
to all participants when they arrive in Tabor. Please describe (not more
than 1000 characters) in what way you are dealing with, or plan to deal
with, Globalisation and/or Gender and/or Genetech, with an emphasis on
the struggle/resistance aspect. We want a mix of people, so we do not
expect you to be an expert in the topics.

5. Contributing
Would you like to contribute to the seminar by participating in
organising one of the workshops? Several of the workshops will be
prepared by a group of people rather than individual speakers. Please
indicate which workshop(s) you are interested in contributing to, and
briefly describe in what way.

6. Travel reimbursement.  Partial travel reimbursement (around 50%) can
be given, but wait for our confirmation before you're sure you will get
it!!! In case you cannot possibly pay the other 50%, we can discuss this
individually. If on the other hand you have a sufficient income, please
consider leaving the travel reimbursement to someone else.
In order to allow a maximum of people to come, the idea is to pay only
the cheapest way of transport (no airplane fares if possible).  IF YOU
APPLY FOR REIMBURSEMENT, GIVE AN ESTIMATE OF THE TRAVEL COSTS (indicate
with what means of transport):


Send the form as quickly as possible -- BY THE DEADLINE.  We'll let you
know by April 3rd if you are selected for travel reimbursement, and
we'll send travel directions, and in case you need it (depends on the
country), an invitation. Don't forget that invitations have to be sent
by postal mail, which can take several weeks from the Czech Republic
depending on the country of destination.

Contact us at <tusovka@artamis.org> or <kessi@bitex.com>, or by
telephone or fax at ++359-2-980 96 52. Applications by postal mail can
be sent to GGG Seminar, PO Box 122, 252187 Kiev-187, Ukraine (note that
postal mail may take several weeks -- e-mail or fax are preferable if
you have this possibility). Updated information on the seminar is
available from <http://www.savanne.ch/tusovka/seminar.html>.

The seminar will take place at CESTA/Cultural Exchange Station Tabor,
Novakova 387, Tabor 39001, Czech Republic, tel: +420-361-258-004, email:
<cesta@mbox.vol.cz>, web: <http://www.cesta.cz>.





   ................................................................... 02

Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 23:39:53 +0200
From: valery grancher <vgranger@imaginet.fr>
Subject: berkeley art museum California

PRESS RELEASE:

24h00: internet artwork by Valery Grancher
UC Berkeley Art Museum, Fall 1999

        The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific
Film Archive is pleased to announce an exhibition by French artist Valery
Grancher, which will be launched on the Museum's website in the Fall of
1999.  The work, entitled 24h00, will be part of the Cte Ouest: A Season
of French Contemporary Art, a series of exhibitions of contemporary French
art to be held in seven cities on the West Coast.

        24h00 will involve a collaboration between the artist and a
group of twenty-four students from the University of California at
Berkeley.
Intended to explore perceptions of identity and time, the project requires
each of the students to take twenty-four snap-shot portraits of themselves
or others, one per hour, over a 24-hour period.  These images will then be
made available at the Museum's interactive
website-http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu-along with the time the photograph
was taken, and a single word that describes the subject's feelings as the
photograph was taken.  People logging on to the Museum's website will see
a grid of numbers, which when 'clicked' will reveal each photograph in a
sequence determined by the viewer.  In this way, the artist perceives that
both the photographer and the individual logging on to the Museum's
website will be able to  "create" the artwork and the possible narratives
or scenarios that they evoke.

        24h00 is the second internet-based artwork presented by the UC
Berkeley Art Museum.  In 1997-1998 the website featured an artwork by
Jochen Gerz, The Berkeley Oracle, which invited visitors to the website
to pose questions to the Oracle, a selection of which were later installed
throughout the Museum's public spaces.  Earlier in 1997 the Museum's
website was named by the arts organization Musee as one of the world's
seven best museum websites.  At present the website attracts more than
300,000 visits per year.





   ................................................................... 03

Date:  Tue, 30 Mar 1999 11:00:30 +0000
From: Decadent Action <decadent@underbelly.demon.co.uk>
To: Multiple recipients of <announcer@simsim.rug.ac.be>
Subject:  ann! ...  April 6th - PHONE IN SICK

*APRIL 6th, PHONE IN SICK*
A week today most of you will be able to have a deserved lie in. 
Tuesday April 6 is, as you know by now, World Phone in Sick Day. 
You can see it as a small step in bringing the economy crashing down, 
or just as a day to spend in bed (particularly useful for those who wish
to conceive a millennium baby). Use it as a way to get back at your boss
or to show what you think of the UK Governments derisory new minimum
wage.
Tell your friends, tell your work colleagues, tell your union
representative, tell your mum.

http://www.underbelly.demon.co.uk/decadent/docs/sickcont.htm

You know what to do, pick up that handset and PHONE IN SICK.

*Messing with the UKGovernment* 
Absenteeism costs the public sector in the UK up to 6 billion pounds per
year and specific targets to cut absence rates by 20 per cent by 2001
and 30 per cent by 2003 have been set by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Gordon Brown.
We have taken this as a challenge and are now doubling our efforts in
the UK to ensure that absence rates INCREASE by 20 per cent by 2001 and
30 per cent by 2003. With your help we can do it. Spread the word. What
could be more fun than seeing the dull Mr. Brown having to anounce his
abysmal failure? We hope that those in the private sector will do their
bit too. Perhaps you could see it as a competition - public sector
against private as to who can run up the highest bill for time off sick.

*Decadent Action in Europe*
Those of you in Europe may wish to know that there is extensive coverage
of Decadent Action coming up in the Sunday magazine of German newspaper
Suddeutsche Zeitung. We are also featured in Ne travaillez jamais (Never
Work) a programme about anti-work attitudes to be screened in France by
Canal+ in May.

*Phone in Sick Day in the USA*
For our US subscribers we have reproduced the press release of our US
sponsors RTMARK who are organising phone in sick action in the US.
A special Australian Phone in Sick Day is also planned for May.

*Press* 
Any articles in magazines or papers that we may miss would be much
appreciated. Send clippings to Decadent Action, BM Decadence, London
WC1N 3XX. UK. or email us at mailto:decadent@underbelly.demon.co.uk
This is also a contact for members of the press who wish to get in
touch.

*To subscribe*
If you are receiving this message as a FWD from someone else you can
sign up for more of our messages (about one a month) by sending an email
to mailto:decadent@underbelly.demon.co.uk 
with the subject header subscribe

*Press Release from RTMARK*
RTMARK SPONSORS USA PHONE IN SICK DAY, APRIL 6 
Last year's event was wildly successful

Contacts: RTMARK (mailto:events@rtmark.com; 
                  http://rtmark.com/phoneinsick.html)
          Decadent Action (mailto:decadent@underbelly.demon.co.uk)

For the second year in a row, the British are coming--not to impose
their tea but to wean us from it. Last year's RTMARK-funded event was
credited with causing the "sickout" of 80% of the Irish police force, as
well as some prison guards; the previous year's event, its first, was
blamed for 2000 British Airways employees phoning in sick. 

This year's event, which occurs near the thirtieth anniversary of John
Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Bed Peace" action, has already received attention
on French and Canadian television, British and Australian radio, and in
European newspapers and magazines. RTMARK wishes to bring to the event
U.S. attention as well.

Phone In Sick Day was begun in Britain by "consumer terrorists" Decadent
Action.  The avowed purpose of Decadent Action is "to destroy the
monetary system... at their leisure," according to their press release
(http://www.underbelly.demon.co.uk/decadent/docs/sickcont.htm).

RTMARK's stated goals are more modest. "We want to remind Americans of
their history," said RTMARK spokesperson Ray Thomas. "The American
Revolution was in large part a revolt against corporations, which are
bodies formed to allow rich people to shirk responsibility for
abuses--they allow exploitation without representation. The Founding
Fathers thought corporations immoral, and they were illegal here during
the first fifty years of the Republic.  Superfresh would have been
banned." (Superfresh, by the way, used to be the Great Atlantic and
Pacific Tea Company, or A&P.) 

RTMARK and Decadent Action are calling on workers to phone in sick on
April 6 for any reason at all--in protest, in commemoration of murdered
time, or simply in the interests of personal pleasure. As a Decadent
Action spokesperson said, "For too long, business has greedily stolen
our time. It's time we took a little back." April 6, by the way, would
also be an excellent day to conceive a millennium baby....





   ................................................................... 04

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 17:14:46 -0500
From: Dew, Harris <Harris_Dew@moma.org>
Subject: Technology in the 1990s at MoMA

> For Immediate Release
> March 1999
>
>
> ANNUAL LECTURE SERIES AT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
> EXPLORES ARTISTS' PIONEERING USE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES
>
> Technology in the 1990s
> April 12, 19, and 26 at 6:30 pm
> The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2
>
> Technology in the 1990s, a lecture and presentation series organized by
> the Department of Film and Video, returns to The Museum of Modern Art in
> April.  This annual program, now in its sixth year, invites leading
> artists working in new art forms powered by the computer to display and
> discuss the use of interactive technologies in their work.  This year's
> forum, which takes place on three consecutive Mondays beginning April 
12,
> features multimedia artist Lynn Hershman, who presents two recent
> telerobotic Internet pieces; film/videomaker and media theoretician
Peter
> Weibel, discussing visual perception in the computer age; and Asymptote
> Architecture [Rashid + Couture] exhibiting the "virtual trading pit" the
> firm has designed for the New York Stock Exchange.
> "As the decade draws to a close, the reach of new technologies into
almost
> every aspect of art and life becomes ever more pronounced," notes
Barbara
> London, Associate Curator, Department of Film and Video, The Museum of
> Modern Art, who co-organized the program with Sally Berger, Assistant
> Curator.  "Technology in the 1990s explores the ways in which
> technological developments have expanded the possibilities of existing
> disciplines, such as filmmaking and architecture, and sparked the
creation
> of new fields of work such as virtual reality environments."
> Individual program descriptions follow.
> Monday, April 12 at 6:30. Technology in the 1990s. Lynn Hershman, Double
> Helix/Double Bind: Seductive Interactions and Virtual Telerobotics. For
> the past thirty-five years, Lynn Hershman has been working in a range of
> media to explore the politics of identity, surveillance, and alienation,
> issues especially pertinent in our electronic age. In this presentation,
> she will show recent works that depend upon collaborative interactions
> between people in both the physical and the virtual worlds. Included
will
> be examples of two recent multi-user, telerobotic Internet pieces,
Tillie
> the Telerobotic Doll, which turns users into virtual cyborgs, and The
> Difference Engine #3, which uses Identity Avatars to explore the
> boundaries of shared identities. She will also show a CD-ROM excerpt of
> the virtual set processes used in her recent feature film, Conceiving
Ada.
> 	Monday, April 19 at 6:30. Technology in the 1990s. Peter Weibel,
> From Expanded Cinema to Neuro-Cinema. Artist and media theoretician
Peter
> Weibel explores the transformation of visual perception in the computer
> age. He will discuss his views on how the electronic image has turned
into
> a model world, autonomous and yet responsive to its environment. "The
> animated image constitutes the most radical challenge to our classical
> visual notions of image and representation."
> Weibel is the recently appointed chairman of Zentrum fr Kunst und
> Medientechnologie Karlsruhe (ZKM), the renowned center for media art in
> Karlsruhe, Germany. Prior to this position he was artistic director of
the
> Neue Gallery am Landesmuseum Johanneum in Graz, Austria, and professor
of
> visual media at the University of Applied Art in Vienna. His films and
> videotapes have been exhibited internationally since the 1970s. The
> Technology in the 1990s: Peter Weibel presentation is supported by the
> Austrian Cultural Institute, New York.
> 	Monday, April 26 at 6:30. Technology in the 1990s. Asymptote
[Rashid
> + Couture],  Convergences. Asymptote Architecture, a collaborative
> practice based in New York City, was initiated by Lise Anne Couture and
> Hani Rashid in 1989. Their work ranges from experimental installations
and
> computer-generated environments to building and urban design. Most
> recently Rashid and Couture designed a large-scale, computer-generated
> environment for the New York Stock Exchange and an accompanying "first
> reality" theater of operations presently in construction on the trading
> floor of the Stock Exchange. Asymptote was also selected by the Solomon
R.
> Guggenheim Museum to design and implement the Guggenheim Virtual Museum.
> Asymptote's built work includes a large theater, the dimensions of which
> can be altered to accommodate different uses, constructed in 1997 in
> Denmark; presently the team is designing a Museum of Digital Art in
Seoul,
> Korea, and a Multimedia Research Facility in Kyoto, Japan. In 1995
Rizzoli
> International published the first monograph on Asymptote, entitled
> Architecture at the Interval. The lecture will discuss the firm's
practice
> and work, most recently involving datascapes, three-dimensional virtual
> architectures, and "first reality" interfaces.
>
> 	Tickets for Technology in the 1990s programs are included with
> Museum admission, which is $9.50, $6.50 for students and senior
citizens,
> and are available on the day of the program at the information desk in
the
> Museum lobby, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY.  Remaining tickets for
the
> evening's program are free after 6:00 pm.


---
#  distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@desk.nl and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/  contact: nettime-owner@desk.nl