CROSSING OVER I/II Project - Syndicate Launch

["Iliyana NEDKOVA" <iliana@[194.141.1.156]> (by way of abroeck@v2.nl (Andreas Broeckmann))]

CROSSING OVER CULTURES                                          26 October
1996

The project CROSSING OVER that will be launched in two stages -
CROSSING OVER I in November 1996 and CROSSING OVER II in March 1997
may be approached as a Mini-International Festival of New Video Art.
Both of the Festival stages share an agenda that comes in three
programmes at venues throughout Sofia, Bulgaria. 1] Public Screenings
of new video works 2] Public Artist's Talks & Informal Bar Meetings.
3] New Video Art Workshop for 20 emerging artists The project has been
initiated at Soros Center for the Arts-Sofia and kindly supported by
Cultural Link Program of Open Society Institute, New York as well as
by various local collaborative institutions.

CROSSING OVER I/II Background and Objectives
The purpose of the Festival CROSSING OVER I/II is to establish a
framework within which East European artists will be able to develop
and implement initial experimental projects using a digital studio
facilities. The Festival would like to foster contacts between the
isolated young art practitioners from Eastern Europe who tend to
contact mainly the Western agencies. Thus the Mini-International
Festival will promote the skills and the output of young videomakers
and create further connections between artists, distributors and
viewers. The basic hindrance to any East-European video artist - the
access to proper high technology or knowledge of alternate production
technologies - will be thoroughly explored.

The immediate goal of the pilot 1996 project CROSSING OVER I will be
to initiate prospective contacts, discuss various production
possibilities and end with clear-cut videoart concept & production
strategy.

CROSSING OVER II in March 1997 will aim at implementing the production
 and provide  critical evaluation of the proposed works at the
Audio-Visual Center, National Academy of Film and Theatre Arts -
Sofia. Ryszard KLUSZCZYNSKI of the Contemporary Art Center, Warsaw and
the University of Lodz, Poland will present a screening of Polish
video art and will contribute to the critical evaluation of the
projects. CROSSING OVER II will provide a catalogue which will
comprise the events of CROSSING OVER I and II, as well as a critique
and venue for broad/narrowcasting of the works. Detailed CROSSING OVER
II agenda with screenings and talks is under construction.

The series of CROSSING OVER I/II public screenings and talks are
particularly important for a thorough comprehension of the current
media art-scape.  In order to gain a broader understanding the showing
of international and regional work is absolutely vital. However
without proper context the screenings could lead to misunderstandings
about artistic practice and the cultural framework within which they
operate. Thus a very careful attention was paid to the selection of
the workshop presenters. The primary aim was to choose presenters who
have a thorough understanding of video/media art production both in an
East European and a wider international context. A further goal was to
ensure that the presenters will fully contribute to the critical
discourse of the impending projects both in a conceptual and a
pragmatic sense.


CROSSING OVER I Workshop
CROSSING OVER I Workshop will focus on Project Development. The notion
of the workshop is to introduce people to possibilities with the
moving electronic image. All Soros Foundations within the Network were
invited to announce the Festival and identify motivated CROSSING OVER
I Workshop participants. There was no age or arts area limit yet for
feasibility and high technology access reasons the number of the
Workshop participants is limited to 20 - half international
(East-European) and half Bulgarian ones. The final selection will be
approved by the Workshop Master - Ms. Nina CZEGLEDY. Thus artists from
a wide variety of areas or people in professions where they might have
a future possibility to initiate a video project are expected to apply
and profit from this. So the emphasis of Crossing Over Workshop is on
concepts and not on experience.

The workshop master will couple her efforts with the digital
technology consultants from the host venue at the Audio-Visual Center,
NAFTA to explore the following issues through the Workshop Sessions,
scheduled within two weeks - from 11 till 22 November 1996. * General
Concepts in Videoart Production * Pre-production Issues (concept,
outline, casting, story-board, short-list & Production Choices
(including type of camera; sound; lighting) * Choice of Hi-end and
Low-end Technology * Post-production Issues (logging, off- and on-line
editing; digital and special effects; narration) * Production
Proposals from Workshop participants and feasibility studies

CROSSING OVER I Public Screenings and Talks
CROSSING OVER I will  provide a cross-section of a wide range of
artists within video through its screenings and talks. The invited
lecturers have curated a package of video works for the Screenings and
right afterwards will elaborate on the new video art practices during
the Talks at the host venue - the American Center, USIA-Sofia. The
CROSSING OVER I Screenings and Talks are scheduled within 6 nights
from 8 till 19 November 1996.

1] NINA CZEGLEDY, CROSSING OVER I/II Workshops Master and Lecturer
Nina is an independent videomaker, researcher and curator who has
published widely about media art in Eastern Europe and who organises
cultural exchange programmes between North America and Europe. Nina
lives and works in Toronto, Canada & Budapest, Hungary.

2] MARINA GRZINIC, CROSSING OVER I Lecturer
Marina is an award-winning video artist, free-lance critic and curator
who has been working with video since 1982. Marina, who lives and
works in Ljubljana, Slovenia employs outstanding conceptual and
production values and will contribute an intimate knowledge of
regional production possibilities to the workshops.

3] TAPIO MAKELA, CROSSING OVER I Lecturer
Tapio is currently director of artist Association MUU in Helsinki,
Finland. MUU runs a gallery, productions and a medialab. During 1996
he has organised and co-curated an exhibition called Breaking Eyes,
Making Senses of  Nordic Media Art. He is also a researcher and critic
in the field of media theory and arts. Tapio lives and works in
Helsinki, Finland.

4] SUSANNA PAASONEN, CROSSING OVER I Lecturer
Susanna is doing her masters degree on weddings as audio-visual
spectacles at the University of Turku, Department of Cinema and
Television Studies. She is also currently organising a project called
Armadillo, a magazine for cinema and visual culture in the WWW.
Susanna lives and works in Helsinki, Finland.

Please don't hesitate to reach me for any further CROSSING OVER
details while waiting for the latest Festival news,


Yours,

Iliyana NEDKOVA,
CROSSING OVER I/II Curatorx
Iliyana NEDKOVA
Information and Documentation Officer
Soros Center for the Arts
16 A, P.Evtimii Blvd. Sofia 1000, Bulgaria
tel/fax: 00359 2 980 28 61; 89 89 94
e-mail: inedkova@sca.osf.acad.bg

P.S Pls. make sure that in times of troubled
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