<nettime> De Hoeksteen: Innovating within a non Commercial Framework

["T. Dokter" <Itfits@flash.A2000.nl>]

(Outline of the presentation of De Hoeksteen at the conference: New Media: 
Working Practices in the Electronic Arts. London School of Economics
November 12th, 13th, 14th 1999) 

A presentation by Prof. Alexandra Ramos. 

The main reason why De Hoeksteen Communications has been selected for this
presentation at the conference New Media Electronic Practices is because
the very basic but complex infrastructure in which De Hoeksteen has been
operating in the Netherlands for the past seven years. 

In order to understand the simplicity and complexity of that
infrastructure it might be important to first look up to the way in which
De Hoeksteen has developed into its present form and the cultural, social
and geopolitical circumstances that surround that development. 

The First Steps

De Hoeksteen began as a four hour long, local television program in the
spring of 1992, cablecasted by Salto (Amsterdam umbrella organisation for
local radio and television) every Third Saturday of the month from 22:00
until 02:00 the following morning, for the Amsterdam metropolitan area. 
Months latter, the entire night was allocated to De Hoeksteen and the
program was transmitted from 22:00 hours Saturday until 10:00 hours the
following morning. 

The program was initiated Raul Marroquin, a Colombian artist living in the
Netherlands and Dutch stage actor and director Titus Muizelaar, they have
been experimenting together with video, since their student days in
Maastricht during the early 70s. Muizelaar withdraw shortly after but has
continued until today to participate as columnist, contributing editor and
advisor. 

The Early Years

At first De Hoeksteen -like all of the television in Salto- was a
pre-recorded program but when it was decided to cablecast the whole night,
it became for those involved, tedious and exhausting to produce such a
long program on a monthly basis. 

After 3 months of pre-recorded programming, media artist Marino Matron
suggested to Raul Maroquin to go live avoiding with this recording and
editing. This conversation took place on the Wensday before the
cablecasting; Marroquin contacted Salto to inquire if there was a video
link in any of the five radio studios at the Salto premises. After finding
out that there was one place with a video connection that Studio 5 had
such a connection it was decided, to go live the following Saturday with
what became the first cablecasting of De Hoeksteen Live! Television. 

Politics and Finances

The first cablecastings De Hoeksteen Live! Television mainly consisted of
interviews displays and performances by visual artists, theatre makers and
experimental musicians but slowly, slowly politics and economics began to
play a more prominent role in the programming and soon the became
paramount features of the program. 

This change in editorial policy took place organically and to some degree
accidentally, mainly because of the simple, flexible infrastructure of the
organisation, the accessibility to politicians and opinion leaders
characteristic of Dutch society and the influence and connections of
Hoeksteenıs main anchorman Otto Valkman (1946-1996) in local and national
politics, as well as Marroquinıs desire to work in areas beyond culture
-not ³making art about art² or culture only- trying to penetrate fields
that gave a chance to play a more active part in the local decision making
process.  Within months the programming of De Hoeksteen Live! Television
began to play a quite important role in the coverage of local and national
politics, culture, economics, communications culture and current affairs
in Amsterdam. 

Artists, local city council members, house wives, MPs and cabinet members,
environmental activists, opinion leaders, taxi drivers, academics, main
stream journalists, captains of industry and many other representatives of
the community became regular visitors and active participants. Some of the
names include Prof. Dr. Rick van de Ploeg: Secretary of State for Cultural
Affairs and Communications -and a graduate of the London School of
Economics-, Hans Hoogervorst: Secretary of State for Social Affairs,
Eduardo Valencia Ospina: Register and Secretary General of The
International Court of Justice and many others. 

Special Events

Next to the Third Saturday of the month, regular program, De Hoeksteen has
done extensive coverage and discussed the Amsterdam local elections and
the national parliamentary elections in 1994 and 1998 as well as most of
the Amsterdamıs referenda during that period. The 2500 hours of extra
coverage of the local and national elections, two referenda and the
Amsterdam Eurotop in January 1998 are some of the examples that illustrate
the situation. 

Viewership and Viewers Participation. 

Although ratings were never a priority or the motivation to initiate or
generate De Hoeksteen and on the contrary it was always considered a
special interest program from the very early stages it became clear that
the many ³Amsterdamers² was were watching the program. by 1993 De
Hoeksteen had an average of 200000 viewers at ³Prime Time² -De Hoeksteen
Prime Time- 02:00 hours (the time when bars close and Amsterdamers go back
to their homes) It is important to take into account that 98 % of the
house holds in the Amsterdamıs metropolitan area have cable. 

>From the very early stages viewers were invited to phone into the
cablecasting, send faxes, and by this, take part in the events taking
place on their television sets. There was no filtering of either phone
calls or faxes, receiving an average of 200 calls and roughly the same
amount of faxes per program. 

Viewers participation increased more with the introduction of e-mail, IRC
and Net Meeting in the programming. 

Radio

In the Summer of 1993 De Hoeksteen Live! Radio was introduced; a weekly
program broadcasted & cablecasted from one of the Salto studios every
Tuesday morning at first and latter on the afternoon of Wednesdays. 

Parallel Television Programming

In 1996 when Salto introduced a Second television channel. This channel
was inaugurated with De Hoeksteen first simultaneous, live cablecasting of
two different programs (in two different channels at the same time) for
the inauguration of the N5M, Next Five Minutes that year (a tactical media
conference initiated by British media artist David Garcia) parallel
programming became latter a standard feature for special events and
occasions. 

Citizen Digital Communications Technology

>From the very early stages in live programming De Hoeksteen Live! 
Television incorporated digital technology in the cablecastings, first bbs
(bulletin board systems) mixed with the camera image. 

The Second step was to incorporate IRC and moderated discussion groups
running parallel and discussing the subjects ventilated in the program. 

Cu-See Me in the meanwhile gave the first opportunity of a basic, graphic
interface that permitted the incorporation other locations outside the
studio and as soon as more sophisticated office and latter consumer video
conferencing became available, they were immediately incorporated allowing
the participation of groups and individuals outside Amsterdam and the
Netherlands. Dispatches from places as far London, New York and Tokyo and
as close as The Hague and Rotterdam became an integral part of the overall
programming. 

In 1996 De Hoeksteen had its own studio ³Studio Den Haag² in the Second
Chamber of Parliament in The Hague, at the office of Oussama Cherribi MP
where interviews were conducted with MPs and civil servants that could not
be present in the studio. In 1998 ISDN video conferencing was used to
transmit to Amsterdam the May First celebration organised in Rotterdam by
the PvdA (Dutch Labour) featuring among others the newly elected Tony
Blair. From 1997 on De Hoeksteen began to stream both radio and television
programming via ASDL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) a new system
introduced by the Dutch PTT as a try out in the Amsterdam city center at
the same time it began to make items available ³on request² from the
archives of De HoeksteenNet, the programıs site on the web. 

Steaming radio and t.v. programming open the doors to the introduction of
the streaming division of De HoeksteenNet that has been operational since
June of 1999. 

The Summer Webcastings of De HoeksteenNet

On the suggestion of Lisbeth van de Kar from the DDS (the digital city in
Amsterdam) a series of webcastings were organised that began in June of
1999 and have continued throughout the fall. 

At first the webcastings of real video were streamed at random until it
was decided that Thursday was the best (less bad) day for everyone
involved so now a days programming is streamed from 16:00 hours in the
afternoon of Thursday until 04:00 hours on Friday morning C.E.T. (Central
European Time) every other week. Instead of retransmiting cable -radio and
television- programming via the net, De Hoeksteen concentrates in the
streaming of real video specially produced for an interactive
international public. 

This new initiative has brought radical changes in the modus operandi of
the team: 

-Interviews discussions and presentations are not longer in Dutch, as it
was formerly done with the cable programming, but in English, Spanish,
French and German. 

-Dutch interviewers from the cable division cannot interview Dutch guests
in a foreign language so a new team of (foreign) interviewers has t been
put together to talk with the Dutch guests and Foreign guests have to be
constantly found for the Dutch team. In all items that are been streamed
the views and opinions expressed by the viewers participants have to be
taking into consideration not only because of ethical considerations but
because they are -very- present there right next to the video stream. 

-Another important conclusion reached after the very first webcastings is
that some of the issues that are interesting for local radio and
television, often become confusing, boring or even incomprehensible in the
global context of streaming media, so radical changes where forced in
editorial policies from the very early stages. 

-The idea that the streaming of video can be followed from everywhere in
the world have brought a new dimension to the operation. Potential guests
outside Amsterdam are more inclined to participate ³in remote mode² phone,
chat, video conferencing when they can follow the program in their own
computers. 

-Although not been new in De Hoeksteen environment, user video
conferencing facilities have enhance the incorporation of point-to-point
and multipoint video conferencing features that become one of the most
regular items in the program. 

- Streamed video is only one of the elements of the webcasting; moderated
discussions run parallel to the streaming and become more and more
important within the overall situation. 

Video on Request

Programming on request have proved to be very important. There are more
and more visitors to the archives containing all items that are streamed
during the program, reaching an average of 2000 visitors a day. 

La Piedra Angular en La Red (the Spanish speaking division of De
HoeksteenNet) 

One of the great frustrations at the moment is that only 20% of the
capacity of the DDS is been used during the webcastings of De HoeksteenNet
so the short term plan is to begin a Spanish division ³La Piedra Angular
en La Red² (Cornerstone in the Web) that runs parallel to the streaming of
the international (English / French / German / Italian/ Greek and Turkish,
etc.) webcasting of De HoeksteenNet. Spanish has been chosen not only
because Raul Marrqouin and many of the editors and interviewers are
Colombians, native Spanish speakers or individuals who speak that
language, but also because Spanish is the second languages in the Net. 
Similar divisions in other languages are been considered at this moment. 

Global and Local at the Same Time

Last September, DDS Joost Flint, director suggested to combine the
streaming of De HoeksteenNet with the cablecasting of De Hoeksteen Live! 
Television for the Amsterdam cable network, simultaneously the DDS. The
initiative was enthusiastically received by the entire Hoeksteen team; a
dedicated fibber optics and a microwave link already connect the DDS and
the Salto transmitters, so it is only a question of finding the right time
slots in Saltoıs schedule so that the transmission of both programs
simultaneously and independently can be implemented. 

Such a set up creates a lot of challenges as well as many possibilities: 
it simplifies production while maximising the use of the presence of
guests that can participate in one program and than go to the other. 
Killing to birds with one shot. 

Technical Facilities and Requirements. 

Since the very early stages De Hoeksteen has been produced with office and
consumer, second hand discarded equipment that has been bought for very
low prices or that have been donated. It could be said that De Hoeksteen
operate with electric appliances instead of television equipment. This
minimises costs and consequently fund racing efforts that can be very
demanding while contributing to the development of a new, audio visual
language urgently required to distance self media from industrialist, main
stream media and mass communications. The ³graphic quality² of an old
black and white video camera from the late 60s or early 70s can hardly be
achieved or even imitated with one of the newer models (not to talk about
the new generation of digital equipment) so it is very interesting to
combine different sources of different quality in order to break up with
the monotony of uniformed, linear programming. Old, discarded equipment in
De Hoeksteen Communications is cherished and used with the respect it
deserves. 

 The Financial Aspects of De Hoeksteen. 

De Hoeksteen has always been produced on a no budget basis; it is a non
commercial operation, everybody in the team collaborates voluntary and has
a job on the side: architects, bankers, bus drivers, artists and many
others get together and make the program not as a hobby but as the
initiative of committed citizens willing to participate in the
developments taking care in their community. 

At first, in its pre-recorded period, Tonnelgroep Amsterdam (the theatre
company where Hoeksteen co-founder Titus Muizelaar plays and directs) paid
postproduction and cablecasting costs. Latter when the programme became
live, the cablecasting costs were paid with a small subsidy given by Salto
(to pay Salto!) or privately by either Raul Marroquin or Otto Valkman
until his dead in 1996. Salto in the mean while is fully financed by the
city of Amsterdam with part of the money received by the city with the
privatisation of the network in the early 90s. 

In 1998 right after the national elections, Salto presented De Hoeksteen
with a bill of more than Fl. 20000 (aprox. 10000 euros) demanding its
immediate cancellation or a solution found through public subsidy or
private sponsorship instead of simply increasing the subsidy. 

De Hoeksteen refused to go for either of the options proposed by Salto and
radio and television programming stopped in the late Spring of that year. 

Public Founding

De Hoeksteenıs refusal to comply with any of Saltoıs scenarios is not only
based on the fact that everybody in the team is working full time and have
a busy agenda with no time left to invest in mascarades introduced by
bureaucrats to work less and 'look more professional'. 

Local public access in the Netherlands is not there for the programming of
professional radio and television (professional meaning looking
professional) constantly adding more incompetent bureaucracy while clumsy
imitating the prehistoric, dying, administrative infrastructures of mass
communications. Public access is there to encourage and facilitate the
input of groups and individuals that want to play an active in the
decision making process of their communities so infrastructures like Salto
should be open and flexible to fresh new initiatives. It is after all
because of projects like De Hoeksteen that public founding for Salto
tripled in the last half a decade and the sad result is that Salto is
today a sinking ship with to half empty channels and the double of
personal that walk around like beheaded chickens trying to look busy but
without any idea of what they are doing or which way to go next, in stead
of investing in research and development while trying to keep the
administrative infrastructure flexible and to the minimum. 

Other Sources of Public Founding

More than 80% of the local initiatives in public access in Amsterdam are
financed with the of the cityıs cultural budget or its equivalents on
regional and national levels. 

Although the cultural budgets have steadily increased because of the
flourishing of the Dutch economy, sponsorship is aggressively promoted by
cultural administrators. Government agencies dealing with art and culture
are been privatised at a very fast rate. This dangerous trend is due to
several reasons: First because civil servants want to work less, Secondly
and more dangerous because founds allocated for culture are been diverted
and used for political propaganda. Fake, populist schemes disguised as
³multiculturalism² on behalf of the Social Democrats and the use of art
and culture as exclusive entertainment by the liberals, are the two main
trends hunging above the government cultural policy. Open air ³barbecue²
concerts and art exhibitions (that everybody should be able to
understand!!!) have become a regular feature in urban environments, mainly
targeting the less educated native population and new immigrant
communities clearly preparing the electorate for the next elections. 

Not that long ago a conference organised in the Stedelijk Museum in
Amsterdam tried to find ways to make art more user friendly (as if art is
something is something to be used) instead of considering ways to elevate
the cultural level in the less favoured sectors of the community. It is
the same as if the level of quantum physics research should lowered so
that everybody can understand it. While Social Democrats see use art and
culture as the means for populist, political propaganda, Neoliberals
demand the right to transform museums and concert halls into souvenir
shops and receptions centres for their own entertainment. According to
them all public space, cultural institutions should function as Sky Boxes
for the entertainment of the rich and successful. Harry van Bommel MP form
the SP the Dutch Socialist Party (the extreme left in the Dutch political
landscape) was one of the first to detect these dangerous tendencies as a
member of the Amsterdam city council and the first to ring the alarm bell
and make people aware of the situation. 

What ever public money is left goes into cultural initiatives through the
hands of 'advisers' and specialised organisations that vampireze budgets
through commission fees and other similar sort of schemes while trying to
impose rules, have a say in the creative and redefine the role of the
artists in society according to their own requirements. The consolidation
of power for the sake of power. The city of Amsterdam paid Fl. 100 000 000
(aprox. 50 0000 000) to advisors. It is as if art management is more
important that art; at such rate, a point will be reached where there is
no art any longer but art management only. 

Artists today are no longer artists but interior decorators. In the
electronic media, artists are no longer artists but artisans, the ones
implementing the short sighted ideas of 'the cultural elite' (that is no
elite at all) or the entertainers of the private sector. 

Private Sponsorship (the dangers of a young, inexperienced industry) 

It was not until recently that the concept of sponsorship for art and
culture was introduced in the Netherlands so it is not possible to talk
about a tradition of private sector participation in the development of
art and culture, there is not even an art buying tradition among the
wealthy. In terms of sponsorship, the private sector regards art and
culture as one more outlet for increase in profits and self promotion, and
the expected results are very high because the only point of reference are
the achievements of sponsorship in sports and other mass events; sponsors
have become one more uneducated voice in the discussion and the creative
process of the artist. 

Only a few weeks ago the direction of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam
(once again) almost signed a contract with German automobile manufacturer
Audi for a Fl. 12 000 000 (Aprox. 6 000 000 euros) disguised as ten year
interest free loan, that would give the manufacturer the right to use
areas of the museum (a public space that is supposed to belong to all of
the citizens of Amsterdam) to display their newest models. Gerrit Goedhart
the leader of the CDA (Christian Democratic Party) in the Amsterdam city
council brilliantly remarked that the Direction of the museum was giving
the car manufacturer real estate worth Fl. 1200 per square meter in that
part of the city for the modest sum of Fl. 120 per square meter. The Local
Government should not expect that museum directors are also though, hard
nosed businessmen when instructing them to seek sponsorship. 

In the particular case of local, public access the situation is very
complex because advertisement was not allowed until recently in local
radio and television offers were limited to bill boards after the programs
and /or mentioning the sponsorıs name in the title role. Because
viewership was always measured in Salto with the instruments used by
(national) network television, it was not until recently that anyone could
have a rough idea of the approximate ratings. 

But even when ignoring these obstacles for the sake of argument, the
advertisement industry in the Netherlands is very young and conservative
and cannot see any potential in local advertisement so it will be long
before big business and corporations are present in local programming. The
local business community in the meanwhile does not have the capacity to
pay for advertisement or is not interested in it. 

Above all of this and most important, local programmers are small
organisations of private citizens that, even if they want, donıt have the
human resources (nor the knowledge) to go after advertisers. 

>From Sponsorship to Partnership

Although De Hoeksteen can rightly be described as a multidiciplinary
project it is also an artist initiative and plans to continue working with
in the parameters and traditions of the visual arts, rather going for a
dignified partnership in stead of hard and dominating sponsorship with
organisations like the DDS, one of those young, intelligent, innovative
organisations that through hard work and vision managed to evolve from a
subsidised experiment into a solid business that cater for the information
community. They are among this new breed of organisations that see the
importance of investing part of their profits as a business in research
and development. 

It is because of this that De Hoeksteen plans to continue operating as a
no budget, non commercial operation and the cable television program is
coming back is only because the DDS will pay the cable time. 

(A text by Raul Marroquin and Alexandra Ramos with reports from Idzarda
Lindenbergh) 


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