[spectre] hack.it.art: panels and workshop topic

[Tatiana Bazzichelli]

Hack.it.art - Hacktivism in the Context of Art and Media in Italy
Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien | Mariannenplatz 2, 1o997 Berlin |
www.kunstraumkreuzberg.de - www.ecn.org/aha
In partnership with Transmediale/Club Transmediale

Panels and Workshop
5th - 6th - 8th February 2005
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1. Panel: Hacking the Body
2.Panel: Hacktivism: Was tun/Che fare?
3. Workshop on 'Hacking TV, How to build a Telestreet'
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Panel: 'Hacking the Body'- 6th february, 4.00 pm
The panel 'Hacking the Body' is an inquiry into the meaning of 
cyberfeminism today after more than ten years since it was coined, 
reflecting artistic and activistic practices which play with the topics 
of body, identity and sexuality. In 1991, along with new gender and 
identity utopias linked to a radical and collective use of technology, 
VNS Matrix, a group of Australian women wrote 'A Cyberfeminist Manifesto 
for the 21st Century' and, influenced by Donna Haraway, playfully 
developed the concept of cyberfeminism. The cyberfeminist virus spread 
to Australia, Europa and America, combining radical use of body, 
enthusiasm for new technological utopias and hopes for subverting 
patriarchy through new hybrid identities, irony and political activism.

After ten years of individual and collective practices, where does 
cyberfeminism stand today? In which way is it possible to radically hack 
concepts like identity, the body and sexuality? Currently, there is a 
new wave of radical body expression through independent pornography 
which, experimenting with the body and identity as well, tries to 
subvert dichotomies like male/female, gay/straight. Is this the new body 
infected by the cyberfeminist virus?

Hacking the Body - 6th february, 4.00 pm:
First  section (4.00-5.30 pm)
- Cornelia Sollfrank, Old Boys Network <www.obn.org> (Hamburg, D)
- Agnese Trocchi, Candida TV <www.candidatv.tv> (Rome, IT)
- public discussion
Video projection (5.30 pm)
- 'Bio Doll's Baby' by Franca Formenti <www.francaformenti3.org> 
(Varese, IT), video introduced by Dahlia Schweitzer 
<www.thisisdahlia.com> (New York, USA/Berlin, D)  with the interaction 
of synusi@ virus by Casaluce - Geiger (Vienna, AU/Italy)
Second section (6.00-7.30 pm)
- Diana McCarty, Bootlab (<www.bootlab.org> Berlin, D)
- Betty, Sexyshock (<www.ecn.org/sexyshock> Bologna, IT)
- public discussion
- Moderator: Tatiana Bazzichelli, AHA (<www.ecn.org/aha> Rome, 
IT/Berlin, D)

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Panel: 'Hacktivism: Was tun/Che fare?' -  8th february 2005, 7.00 pm.
Italy is a country between extreme differences. On the one side, the 
autocratic rule of Berlusconi manipulates both Italian and European 
politics and controls Italian mass media almost completely. On the 
other, there are many intellectuals and activists speaking up against 
this government.
The demonstrations of Genua in 2001, with millions of people protesting 
against the war in Iraq, and several subsequent general strikes are only 
the tip of the iceberg. While the institutionalised politics of Italy 
appear to be a rigid system, in the past ten years an active, very 
heterogeneous and internationally connected network of countercultures 
has developed. It has organised interventions and demonstrations and is 
reknown for its vast variety of media initiatives. The initiatives 
making up this network use various means of spreading their ideas: 
radio, net streaming of videos, mailing lists, local TV stations, 
websites. Often does the content not only deal with political issues, 
but is also concerned with subjects relevant to net and new media 
culture, such as the question of copyright and free  networks.

The panel 'Hacktivism: Was tun/Che fare?' connects theoreticians and 
artists from Italy and Germany, and reflects the concept of hacktivism 
and its future after twenty years of independent activities in this 
field. Which is the status of hacktivism today? Which similarities and 
differences exist between the Italian concept of hacktivism and the 
international understanding of the term? In a time after early net 
cultural utopias, with the net space being dominated by economic giants 
and commercial interests, is hacktivism still possible? Is it still 
feasible to create radical independent information and artistic 
expression on the net? Do net communities  still exist as platforms of 
non-hierarchical relationships?

Hacktivism: Was tun/Che fare? -  8th february 2005, 7.00 pm
- First section (7.00 pm):
- Sebastian Lütgert, Textz.com www.textz.com (Berlin, D)
- Tommaso Tozzi, Hacker Art www.hackerart.org (Florence, IT)
- Second section (8.00 pm):
- Susanne Schmidt, www.informationsfreiheiten.de (Berlin, D)
- Asbesto, Freaknet Medialab, www.freaknet.org (Catania, IT)
- public discussion (9.00 pm)
- Moderator: Alessandro Ludovico, Neural www.neural.it (Bari, IT)

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Hacking TV: How to build a Telestreet -  5th/6th, February 2005
While Berlusconi holds the media monopoly, a network of free TV 
stations, radios and Internet platforms has developed on the fringes of 
the Italian media landscape since many years. They promote, spread and 
provide access to information that is not transmitted elsewhere. They 
document and produce political and media interventions. Orfeo TV, 
Telefabbrica, TeleImmagini, Gli Anelli Mancanti TV, Spegnilatv, NowarTV, 
TeleAUT, IsolaTV, Disco Volante TV, TeleMonteOrlando, TeleRobbinud, 
Telefermento, RosaGhettoTV, InsuTV, Telecitofono, Telecerini,  and many 
others turn communication into an genuinely alternative experience to 
official media communication in Italy. Telestreets create a parallel 
reality to mainstream TV with the mission of spreading bottom-up 
information.
The workshop will teach participants how to build their own TV station 
with cheap and simple technical means and build an Italian-style 
'Telestreet'.

Hacking TV: How to build a Telestreet - 5th/6th, February 2005
5th February, 2.00-6.00 pm/6th February 12.00 am/3.30 pm.
- Agnese Trocchi, Candida TV <www.candidatv.tv> (Rome, IT)
- Federico Bucalossi, Nothuman <www.nothuman.net> (Florence, IT)
- Alexandra Weltz, filmmaker (Berlin, D)

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           8/|\   ---------------------------------------------
          /c_"/   Tatiana Bazzichelli
         //_/\__  web site: http://www.ecn.org/aha
           /  \             http://www.strano.net/bazzichelli
          /____\  e-mail: t.bazzichelli at mclink.it
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