[Nettime-nl] Better than Fantasy

[Justine Smithuis <Justine.Smithuis@amsu.edu>]

Better than Fantasy: Reality Engineering and the Computer
Amsterdam, 31 augustus - 2 september 2001

een internationaal seminar georganiseerd door The Amsterdam-Maastricht
Summer University en Stichting Mediamatic. Zie hieronder het complete
programma in het Engels. 

contactpersoon: Justine Smithuis (AMSU), tel. 020-6200225, e-mail
justine@amsu.edu
websites: www.amsu.edu, www.mediamatic.net

(met excuses voor cross-posting)

Introduction
The symposium Reality Engineering and the Computer provides a glimpse into
the past and the future of the computer-assisted construction of reality. *
It will consider different aspects of the provocative and lively exchange
between fantasy and reality, concentrating particularly on the role of
computers and computer networks. 
One could, for instance, see computers as waystations on a track running
from idea, to design, to experience (from the imagination of things to their
representation) and back again. The symposium covers three days, each of
which will concentrate on a separate theme: Net, Trip and Sound.

--Net--
On the first day, Net, the symposium will examine the 'protocols' with which
reality is 'engineered'. How do Mercedes Bunz, essayist and editor of the
German cult magazine de:Bug, and Jodi Dean, author of Aliens in America, see
the information politics of the World Wide Web? In discussions with other
speakers chaired by Arie Altena and Noortje Marres, they will tackle
questions such as: How are specific realities coordinated on Internet? How
do protocols enable other kinds of knowledge? and What are the
micro-politics of ICT?

--Trip--
The second day, Trip, will look at various aspects of reality engineering as
promulgated in the books and works of George Dyson and Bert Mulder as
'science faction'. The scientists Arjen Mulder and Dirk van Weelden will
guide us through the cool language of the computer, the gentle world of
drugs, and the unbounded environment of outer space. George Dyson, renowned
for his study of the origins of the computer, Darwin among the Machines,
lets us in on a secret 1950s American plan to build a space-ship powered by
nuclear bombs. Bert Mulder explores, in his own inimitable way, the space
between fact and fiction. 

--Sound--
The third day is given over to Sound. Under the direction of Paul Groot and
Roland Spekle, science fiction, music and the plastic arts will be reviewed
as products of the computer. Guest of honour is Miltos Manetas, the Los
Angeles-based artist whose site www.manetas.com embodies his own,
particularly personal, reality. Other artists, composers and musicians for
whom electronic fields are means to artistic ends will also be presenting
their work.

* See, for instance, Paul Edwards' book The closed world, a study of the
birth of the computer from the perspective of the Cold War of the '50s and
'60s. Mediamatic will be devoting special attention to this in a later
symposium.

Applicant Profile
This seminar is intended for free-floating academics and joystick
intellectuals.

Language
English

Location
The seminar will be held at Felix Meritis, Keizersgracht 324 and Club BABY,
Keizersgracht 676 in Amsterdam.

Fee
NLG 1250 (Euro 567.23), including lunches and free access to the cultural
and social evening programme of the Amsterdam-Maastricht Summer University.

Application
Applicants should return the completed application form before 1 August 2001
to the Amsterdam-Maastricht Summer University, P.O. Box 53066, 1007 RB
Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 
tel: +31 (0)20 6200225, fax: +31 (0)20 6249368.
There is a limited number of scholarships, covering the course fee,
available for participants from Central and Eastern European countries.
Please contact the course co-ordinator at The Amsterdam-Maastricht Summer
University for more information. If you wish to apply, send a letter of
motivation, curriculum vitae and a letter of recommendation along with your
application form. Please note that all materials should be written in
English.

Registration
Participants are expected to register for the seminar on Thursday 30 August
from 4 to 5 p.m. at Felix Meritis, Keizersgracht 324 in Amsterdam. At 5 p.m.
a welcoming drink will be served to all participants and trainers.

P R O G R A M M E

Friday 31 August
Net
10.00 - 10.15 		Introduction
10.15 - 11.00 		Noortje Marres
11.00 - 11.15		break
11.15 - 12.00 		Mercedez Bunz
12.00 - 13.00 		lunch
13.00 - 13.45 		Christiaan Alberdingk-Thijm
13.45 - 14.30 		Jodi Dean
14.30 - 14.45 		break
14.45 - 15.45 		discussion

Saturday 1 September
Trip
10.00 - 10.15 		Introduction
10.15 - 11.00 		George Dyson
11.00 - 11.15 		break
11.15 - 12.00 		Bert Mulder
12.00 - 13.00 		lunch
13.00 - 13.45 		Dirk van Weelden
13.45 - 14.30 		Arjen Mulder
14.30 - 14.45 		break
14.45 - 15.45 		discussion

Sunday 2 September
Sound
10.00 - 10.15 		Introduction
10.15 - 11.00 		Miltos Manetas
11.00 - 11.15		break
11.15 - 11.30 		Roland Spekle
11.30 - 13.00                'Clicks and Cuts in Post-digital Music': Kim
Cascone (to be confirmed)
13.00 - 14.00		lunch
14.00 - 15.15		central discussion
			in Club BABY
16.00 - 18.00 		the EUREKA moment of...

Course Leaders and Lecturers
Christiaan Alberdink-Thijm (NL) is an Internet-lawyer and attorney in
Amsterdam.

Arie Altena (NL) is editor of Mediamatic Magazine. He writes about
20th-century literature, new media arts and the WWW.

Mercedez Bunz (D) is a culture critic and editor of the German magazine
de:Bug.

Kim Cascone (US) is a recording artist and head of "Silent Records".

Jodi Dean (US) teaches political, feminist, and cultural theory at Hobart
and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. She wrote: Aliens in
America. 

George Dyson (US) is a historian of technology and author of Baidarka (1986)
and Darwin among the Machines (1997). His is currently completing a history
of Project Orion, the 1957-1965 attempt to build a space ship powered by
nuclear bombs. 

Paul Groot (NL) is editor of Mediamatic Magazine and art critic. 

Miltos Manetas (US) studied Visual Arts in Brera-Milan, Italy. Lives and
works between Los Angeles and New York. As an artist he is especially
interested in the world of computer games. 

Noortje Marres (NL) is currently doing research on the philosophy of science
and technology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

Arjen Mulder (NL) is biologist and essayist. He published several books on
media, bodies, literature and photography.

Bert Mulder (NL) is director of 'De Informatie Werkplaats' and lectures
throughout Europe on new media and the architecture of information systems.

Roland Spekle (NL) organises concerts and cultural events in Holland and
abroad.

Dirk van Weelden (NL) is a novelist and writes for several newspapers.

Course Co-ordinators
Justine Smithuis (The Amsterdam-Maastricht Summer University), 
tel. +31 (0)20 6200225, fax +31 (0)20 6249368, e-mail justine@amsu.edu.
Jans Possel (Mediamatic Foundation)

Mediamatic Foundation
Mediamatic Foundation was established in 1983 as a meeting place for video
artists and TV dissidents. In 1985, it started Mediamatic Magazine, which
has evolved in today's illustrious quarterly on art, media and the changes
being brought by techno-culture, hypermedia and virtuality. From spring 2000
onwards, Mediamatic Magazine is only available on the Internet.
The Foundation also organises workshops, under the title of Designing
Behaviour, which focus on the way media behave. The current programme is
aiming at the development of the fundamental aspects of interactivity in an
interdisciplinary way.
In addition to these activities, Mediamatic arranges public presentations of
new media art and design. These presentations draw on various disciplines:
theatre, visual arts, music, literature, television and architecture.


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