[spectre] (fwd) Call: SELFWARE. politics of identity, Graz/A

[Andreas Broeckmann]

Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2002 00:08:39 +0200
From: Reinhard Braun <braun@mur.at>
Subject: SELFWARE. politics of identity 



 >> SELFWARE. politics of identity
 >> http://www.selfware.at
 >> studio@selfware.at

 >> competition SELFWARE.style - the enfashioned self
 >> entries close November 15, 2002
 >> style@selfware.at

 >> SELFWARE. file 01
 >> program magazine out now


 >> SELFWARE. politics of identity
is a project critiquing contemporary culture and exploring current politics
of identity in the diverse cultural fields of fashion, design, art, media,
computer games and visual cultures. Identity politics as a focus of this
project would seem to be of pre-eminent importance as the related discourses
and practices reflect the altogether un-virtual battles for individuals:
politics, marketing trends, advertising and mass media are constantly
seeking to dictate how we can conceive doing something, creating
meanings and organising social contacts - they fixate us on very specific
products, commodities, images, useabilities, and languages. The desire
to control the meanings of our own lives is examined against the background
of these discourses of control and disciplining.

Identity has been instrumentalised many times, as a phenomenon of media
and consumption, identity came to be a production factor of so-called 
post-industrial
societies, an arrangement of consumable and marketable options of meaning.
Is the self becoming an evanescent, fashionable construction with 
ever-changing
surfaces, a king of "selfware" ranging somewhere between hardware and

software,
a media phantom, an offer of consumption? And do counter-projections of 
identity
politics even have a chance within the framework of these media and consumer
cultures? Is there any room left for testing identities, experimental 
attitudes
and future social relations? What could they be?

By means of projects dealing with fashion, sound, computer games and visual 
media,
SELFWARE will present a wide range of projects and strategies that focus on 
the
problems of identity politics in a critical, ironical or playful way.


 >> competition SELFWARE.style - the enfashioned self
 >> http://www.selfware.at/style

Fashion and design are pivotal and contradictory discourses for the 
stylisation
and enactment of the self: clothes, accessories and utility items are used to
convey certain personality and identity profiles and transport symbolic 
meanings.
Identity appears as an active construction of a selection of signs, 
commodities,
mages and behaviours of a (temporary) style, a social role, a lifestyle 
arrangement.

The international fashion and design competition THE ENFASHIONED SELF
addresses fashion and design as disputed and contested fields of cultural
action that derive their significance in everyday life by means of their
networking and which can be described by their overlaps and intersections
with art, media, urbanity, consumption, music, politics and economy.

the enfashioned self addresses independent designers and fashion/design
groups, students and graduates of fashion and design schools and
universities as well as students and graduates of departments in these
fields at media or architecture schools and universities.

The JURY consists of major international artists, designers and
architects: Bless/Ines Kaag and Desire Heiss (Berlin/ Paris), Karel
Dudesek (London/ Vienna), Silvie Fleury (Switzerland), Joep van Lieshout
(Netherlands), Martí Guixé (Spain), and Dirk van Saene (Belgium).

The MAIN PRIZE, sponsored by Kastner+Oehler, is donated with Euro
15.000,00. Runners-up will be awarded a total of Euro 5.000,00

The complete competition SUBMISSIONS must be entered between
October 14 and November 15, 2002

Please refer closely to the terms and conditions as published at
http://www.selfware.at/style
style@selfware.at


 >> SELFWARE.file 01

The first of two programme magazines presents a number of authors, artists,
producer collectives, publishers and labels that we believe are important
points of reference in current theoretical debates and artistic positions, not
only in he German-speaking world. SELFWARE.file 01 offers critical 
contributions
on commodity cultures, consumer strategies, artistic practices ranging between
music, media art and club cultures, representation politics, autonomy issues,
urban spaces and pop theory. The magazine thus offers a cross-section of
contemporary thought on urban cultural everyday practices.

AUTHORS: Jochen Becker (GER), Reinhard Braun (midihy, A),
Martin Büsser (testcard, GER), Mathias Fuchs (A/FI), Christian Höller 
(springerin, A),
Sascha Kösch (de:bug, GER), Tom Holert (GER), Angela McRobbie (GB),
Yvonne Volkart (CH)

ARTISTS' PAGES: Constantin Luser (A), Beat Streuli (CH), Gregor Zivic (A)

INSERTS by, a. o: de:bug (GER), domus (I), exit magazine (GB),
___fabrics interseason (A), frieze (GB), ohio (GER), saasfee* (GER),
sabotage (A), spex (GER), springerin (A), testcard (GER) und vinyl video™ (A).


SELFWARE. politics of identity
is a project under >Graz 2003 - Cultural Capital of Europe<, conceived
and
implemented by midihy, Graz and mvd, Vienna - New York.
http://midihy.org
http://mvd.org
http://www.graz03.at





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