LabforCulture Blog

How do European Capitals of Culture affect you?

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:52:36 GMT

Ever wondered what European Capitals of Culture really attain? Why all the competition to get the title and what is the lasting impact? LabforCulture and Trans Europe Halles have been thinking through these questions and as a result bring to you a collection of resources exploring the European Capitals of Culture and the communities around the cities.

Our specific interest was to discover what impact is made on the local community: the artist, the shopper and the man walking his dog. The results are available in the new Research in focus, “Capitalising on Culture: The impact of the European Capitals of Culture on the local independent cultural sector.

The Research in focus comprises of a series of interviews with Trans Europe Halles members who have often been directly involved in the process of application or producing European Capitals of Culture. Additionally alongside the interviews, research mapping has been carried out on existing resources and revealing key information on European Capitals of Culture.

Adriatic Region in Focus: Part I online now

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:19:19 GMT

The Adriatic Euroregion is the focal point for the next two editions of LabforCulture’s Region in focus. The Adriatic Euroregion Part I starts with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. Part II will cover Albania, Italy and Montenegro and will be posted early next year on LabforCulture.

The region has a stunning collection of histories, languages, geography and cultural achievements. LabforCulture undertakes to explore and map the various independent cultural and artistic organisations and projects operating in the region. In this process an extremely vibrant picture of energy and diversity in the arts and cultural sector emerges, as well as the common values and concrete interactions across the region, the whole Europe and beyond.

The Region in focus, Adriatic Euroregion Part I uses various personal viewpoints with videos, texts and images contributed by a wide ranging group including: artists, cultural managers, intellectuals, writers, poets, social activists and young people. The first viewpoint presents video interviews carried out by Manja Ristić in various locations across Croatia.

Adriatic Euroregion Part I of the mapping undertakes to highlight organisations working across borders in Bosnia-Herzegovina (by Aida Kalender), Croatia (by UIII/Sonja Lebos) and Slovenia (by Marko Brumen). The Region in focus, Adriatic Euroregion is co-ordinated by Ruggero Lala.

Ciao Italia!

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:00:37 GMT

LabforCulture has gone Italian! Two years after launching LabforCulture we are now adding a Italian language version to the site. This will make the site more accessible to a wider part of the Italian community and expands the site to 6 languages.

To celebrate the Italian launch, we will be launching the site at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin kindly hosted by Compagnia di San Paolo, coinciding with T2 Turin Triennial, showcasing over 50 international young artists and Artissimia, the international fair of contemporary art in Turin, today.

So have a look at the new Italian version of the site and send us a comment on the LabforCulture blog. Got any Italian friends, well let them know!

The Rainbow Paper: what did you say and do you agree?

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:35:07 GMT

Following the online consultation earlier this year, organised by Culture Action Europe (EFAH) and the European Cultural Foundation, and facilitated by LabforCulture, the results are now out on what you had to say about how Europe should tackle diversity.

The main recommendations that came from hundreds of views from varying sectors centre on: educating and building institutional capacity for Intercultural Dialogue, monitoring for sustained policies, mobilising across boundaries and the resourcing of Intercultural Dialogue.

Now you can endorse the results of the process by visiting http://rainbowplatform.labforculture.org and sign up to the recommendations. By giving the Rainbow Platform your support, you will increase the impact of the recommendations and you or your organisation will become eligible for formal membership of the Platform.

LabforCulture has designed an easy endorsement process so give it a go!

Do you like the new LabforCulture.org interface!?

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:24:39 GMT

We have been working away to create a new and improved platform and here it is! The new design improves the display of edited information on the site, making it easier for you navigate through the thousands of resources on the site in 5 languages.

The community section also is easier to use, improving how to upload information about yourself, your event or a subject you want to blog about. The editors of the site will regularly be updating their sections of the site, and bringing you what’s hot and what’s not in the cultural scene across Europe.

So use the site, and let us know what you think: hopefully you are as happy as we are!

Take your arts projects further: resources and tips to find support

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:20:57 GMT

We recommend you to have a look at our refreshed funding section - 14 new references might help you expand the horizons of your cultural or artistic project.
In many cases a good contact, a non-conventional idea, an inspiring partnership could be more valuable than cash. In the Alternative financing section of LabforCulture website, we stress on the non-monetary support, looking at asset transfer and “in-kind” help, from the Finance Hub and other resources. A model organization, investing on arts to promote social awareness, is Mamacash foundation - contributing to improve women rights worldwide and supporting taboo-breaking art projects. In our popular Tips section you can consult the Festival Toolkit, a practical guide from Arts Derbyshire. As for the international culture and training programmes: Fundaçao Oriente and the Japan Foundation make bridges of understanding between cultures by exchange and learning. An approach to the Swiss philanthropy is given through the network of Swiss foundations. And, if your professional field is in the Arts and Humanities you should not miss the Gerda Henkel Stiftung in Germany.

Focusing on France

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:44:35 GMT

The new Region in focus online today, looks at France's independent cultural sector through the viewpoint of the two cities, Nantes and Lille. Banlieues d'Europe collected different perspectives through interviews, images and reflections by various cultural individuals. Added to this, l'Observatoire des Politiques Culturelles undertook a mapping of key French organisations that facilitate cultural cooperation. Both contributions make up an interesting commentary on intercultural delivery in France.

The two cities, Nantes and Lille both share a similar industrial past and have in recent years linked to cultural regeneration as a mechanism to improve and raise profile. Read about the dynamic communities from the two cities and the steps taken to create great events, cultural facilities for the metropolitan areas and thriving networks. There is also an insight into approximately seventy artistic and cultural facilities involved in European, international cross-border exchanges and intercultural projects in France.

Nominated!

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:17:43 GMT

LabforCulture is delighted to congratulate Pieter van Kemenade (aka Pike) for his nomination for the “Contribution of the Year Award" by the eZ Awards/ Nordic Open.

The awards are a major part of the Nordic Open in Skien, Norway. In 2007 it was the largest open source conference in Europe and they hope it will continue in 2008.

Pike has been working with LabforCulture as our technical developer for the last two years and his work has largely centred on development using the Ez open software.
Pike will be visiting the conference in Skien this week and we wish him luck on Thursday the 19th!

The conference is looking at the fast developing scene of open source software and mobile phone technologies, which was also the focus of the LabforCulture Assembly in November 2007. For further information on the conference go here and to see all the nominations go here.

Contribute to the diversity consultation – extended date!

Sun, 25 May 2008 09:41:52 GMT

The on-line consultation on Rainbow Paper II with its recommendations on Intercultural Dialogue has been extended until 13th June. You can rewrite how Europe should tackle cultural diversity.

Help shape the future by going online and responding to a paper produced by the 'Rainbow Platform' - Civil Society Platform for Intercultural Dialogue, an initiative of the ECF and Culture Action Europe (EFAH) - facilitated by LabforCulture.

Thanks to all of you who have posted comments or edited the text so far. We are sure that there are many more of you with thoughts to share. Just go to the site http://rainbowplatform.labforculture.org read Rainbow Paper II and contribute your comments/changes.

One participant wrote: “If (as policy-makers believe), a good part of Europe’s economic future lies in its creative industries, then growth will be driven by a multi-lingual, multi-cultural workforce interacting with our centuries-old cannon of culture – and changing it.”

Do you agree? Comment here: http://rainbowplatform.labforculture.org

Join the last days of the Victims' Symptom live online debate

Tue, 20 May 2008 20:00:24 GMT

Join the curator, artists and theorists from the Victims' Symptom project online May 21-23 for the last sessions of the Victims' Symptom online debate.

Next sessions will address topics such as Victims' Roles, Witnessing and Feeling the Pain of the Other, and Remote Controlling and Disasters.

If you missed any of the lively online debates over the last days, transcripts can be found on the Victims' Symptom website at: http://victims.labforculture.org/site/debate/schedule

We invite you to login to the debate at: http://victims.labforculture.org/site/debate/debate

Good News, No News! Online debate today at 18:00 (GMT+2)

Tue, 20 May 2008 11:01:59 GMT

Join participants from the Victims' Symptom project online today at 18:00 (GMT+2) for a debate around the theme "Good News, No News!" This afternoon's session features the participation of Ana Peraica, Mauricio Arango, Tina Peraica, Peter Fuchs and others.

If you missed any of the last online sessions, transcripts can be found on the Victims' Symptom website at: http://victims.labforculture.org/site/debate/schedule

The Victims' Symptom online debate runs every day until May 23, 2008. We invite you to login to the debate at: http://victims.labforculture.org/site/debate/debate

Join the Victims' Symptom live online debate today at 18:00 (GMT+2)

Mon, 19 May 2008 11:36:42 GMT

Join participants from the Victims' Symptom project online today at 18:00 (GMT+2) for a debate around the theme of reconciliation. This afternoon's session features the participation of Sezgin Boynik, Stevan Vukovic, Adila Laidi-Hanieh, and Tina Peraica, and is moderated by Peter Fuchs.

If you missed this weekend's sessions, transcripts can be found on the Victims' Symptom website at: http://victims.labforculture.org/site/debate/schedule

The Victims' Symptom online debate runs every day until May 23, 2008. We invite you to login to the debate at: http://victims.labforculture.org/site/debate/debate

Victims' Symptom debate May 17-23: join the curator, artists and theorists online

Fri, 16 May 2008 12:56:41 GMT

Victims’ Symptom, commissioned by LabforCulture and curated by Ana Peraica (Croatia/The Netherlands), invites you to participate in an online debate from May 17-23, 2008 at http://victims.labforculture.org. This open, public debate, conceptualised and moderated by Ana Peraica and co-moderated by art theorist, critic and performance artist Peter Fuchs (Hungary), brings together participating artists and theorists in a series of online discussions around the concept and image of 'the victim' as it is used in contemporary society.

Join the debate via a special online chat interface accessible from May 17-23 at http://victims.labforculture.org/site/debate/debate and read the full debate schedule at http://victims.labforculture.org/site/debate/schedule

In preparation for the discussions, visit the Victims’ Symptom website, which features texts by: Sezgin Boynik (Kosovo), Adila Laidi-Hanieh (Palestine), Geert Lovink (The Netherlands) and Stevan Vukovic (Serbia). Victims’ Symptom also presents a series of online artworks specifically commissioned for this project by: Mauricio Arango (Colombia/USA), Alejandro Duque (Colombia/Switzerland), Andreja Kuluncic (Croatia), Marko Peljhan (Slovenia) and Martha Rosler (USA). A number of interviews, an online glossary, and links to a number of related texts and projects selected through an open call, round off the project.

You are also invited to leave your comments and impressions on all of the texts, interviews and artworks on the Victims’ Symptom website throughout the duration of the project.

Victims’ Symptom was commissioned in the summer of 2007 to mark LabforCulture’s first anniversary. The convergence of ideas, artistic perspectives and technologies is a key element of the work of LabforCulture in stimulating cultural collaboration and facilitating intercultural dialogue across Europe.

Contribute to your Europe

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:16:25 GMT

From now until 16 May you can rewrite how Europe should tackle cultural diversity. Help shape the future by going online and responding to a paper produced by the 'Rainbow Platform' (Civil Society Platform for Intercultural Dialogue, an initiative of the ECF and Culture Action Europe (EFAH), facilitated by LabforCulture.

You can comment on the recommendations in the paper and even add your own submissions! Just go to the site http://rainbowplatform.labforculture.org, read Rainbow Paper II and contribute your comments/changes.

This paper brings many issues of intercultural dialogue to the fore. Should there be a system of monitoring and reporting on the practice of intercultural dialogue, and if so, who should do this? Is it right that the EU should 'mainstream' diversity policies in its various programmes? Can there be an agreed 'European standard' for supporting culture?

The set of recommendations is very much a work-in-progress. Your constructive feedback is absolutely vital. The results will be discussed at a plenary meeting of the Rainbow Platform in Brussels on June 4th 2008 - the same date on which the Platform becomes an officially recognised discussion partner with the EU institutions.

The Rainbow Paper process started in January 2008 at the launch of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue and the start of the Slovenian EU Presidency.

Let the platform know your thoughts. The Platform intends to present a set of standard-setting recommendations at the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008 closing colloquium.

To read the paper and contribute: http://rainbowplatform.labforculture.org

Victims’ Symptom goes live: join the online debate

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:10:09 GMT

Victims’ Symptom, commissioned by LabforCulture and curated by Ana Peraica (Croatia/The Netherlands), is live at http://victims.labforculture.org. The project explores the concept and image of ‘the victim’ as it is used in contemporary society.

Is the cultural production of victims preventing us from seeing the actual victims? Why does the mass media prefer to talk in terms of numbers? Are we losing our capacity for empathy? These are just some of the questions explored in the Victims’ Symptom project through critical texts, commissioned artworks, interviews and reflections by the curator and a number of renowned theorists and artists.

The new Victims’ Symptom online space features texts by: Sezgin Boynik (Kosovo), Adila Laidi-Hanieh (Palestine), Geert Lovink (The Netherlands) and Stevan Vukovic (Serbia). Victims’ Symptom also presents a series of online artworks specifically commissioned for this project by: Mauricio Arango (Colombia/USA), Alejandro Duque (Colombia/Switzerland), Andreja Kuluncic (Croatia), Marko Peljhan (Slovenia) and Martha Rosler (USA). The texts and artworks provide the framework for an open online debate from 17 - 23 May 2008 in which the public is invited to participate alongside the Victims’ Symptom artists and theorists.

Victims’ Symptom was commissioned in the summer of 2007 to mark LabforCulture’s first anniversary. Katherine Watson (Canada/Finland), Director of LabforCulture said, “it is an online experiment that set out to bring critical thinkers, artists and a wider public together and to encourage reflection, open dialogue and debate on a compelling global issue.”

Open Lines to Intercultural Dialogue: have your say!

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:11:21 GMT

LabforCulture launches an online participatory project which invites people from around the world to share their personal interpretations of intercultural dialogue, Open Lines to Intercultural Dialogue.

The project looks at visualising language and exploring the variations and similarities of people’s interpretations of intercultural dialogue. Everyone is invited to contribute in their original language and in English and even to add an audio interpretation. The site is designed to intuitively navigate through the submissions by following recurring words that appear in the individual submissions.

A Dutch student, living in Utrecht says, “according to me, intercultural dialogue is about being open to and having genuine respect for and interest in an unknown culture.” This submission links to all others that use the words: genuine, respect, culture or unknown.

LabforCulture produced Open Lines to Intercultural Dialogue to contribute to the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue and to experiment with using online tools to encourage debate and discourse across the cultural sector. The convergence of ideas, artistic perspectives and technologies is a key element of the work of LabforCulture in stimulating cultural collaboration and facilitating intercultural dialogue across Europe.

Go to: http://openlines.labforculture.org

To read more about culture and the web see our last newsletter.

Culture and the Web

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:01:48 GMT

The latest LabforCulture newsletter focuses on how cultural institutions and audiences can collaboratively engage with each other with the help of new online practices.

Peter Mechant, a researcher at the Research Group for Media and ICT, Ghent University, recently published a text in the Virtueel Platform's Cultuur 2.0 publication that presents a particular perspective on developing these new relationships. LabforCulture asked two individuals working in the field - Marko Brumen (Pekarna magdalenske mreže cultural centre, Slovenia) and Annet Dekker (Virtueel Platform, NL) - to respond to Mechant's text with their own viewpoints and experiences.

Read their contributions here.

Be sure not to miss the next edition of the newsletter - subscribe now!

Open Call for Contributions

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:34:08 GMT

Victims’ Symptom, curated by Ana Peraica (Croatia/The Netherlands) and specially commissioned by LabforCulture to celebrate its first year anniversary in the summer of 2007, invites the public to join in the preparation for the Victims’ Symptom online debate to take place in April 2008.

Victims’ Symptom focuses on the concept of the victim as it is practically used in politics and journalism, but also as it is explored theoretically in victimology and in psychiatry and psychotherapy, as well as in the field of cultural studies. The project features critical texts, documentation, commissioned artworks and reflections by the curator and a number of other theorists and artists throughout the project.

The project focuses on the following questions:

Why does the mass media prefer to talk in terms of numbers of corpses, calculating them morbidly, with apparent disregard for the victims’ status? Do numbers matter? Or is each loss a single one? Does the number of victims reported by the media’s “truth speaking” make any real difference or is it perpetuating the media myth that cannot report on few?

Who profits from death? Is there a bureaucracy of death? What is the dominant exchange rate between civilians and soldiers, our victims and their victims?

Is the cultural production of victims preventing us from seeing the actual victims? Are we able to see what happened only after a sufficient number of movies, novels and theses published on massacres? Is earning a degree on a massacre ethical? Furthermore, how can denying a massacre lead to no consequences? Are we losing our capacity for empathy? Are we victimised ourselves? Is there a therapy for such a world?

We are inviting the public to send in their responses (artworks, comments, texts and debates) to these questions in the following ways:

1. Links to existing projects to be reviewed

Links should be accompanied by a short description (100 words max) explaining which particular curatorial question or questions they address. This description will subsequently accompany the selected links on the Victims’ Symptom website.

2. Full, published texts or interviews (html, blog, wiki…)

Texts should be summarised in a short description (200 words max) outlining the specific issues and questions they address. Texts that require users to login for access will not be considered.

3. Separate discussions on mailing lists, message boards and forums with public access

Moderators with proposals for discussions should send an email outlining the concept along with the names of the proposed participants. If the discussion is to take place on external mailing lists, message boards or discussion forums, the forums should be open access and, optionally, have an RSS feed. A one-line description of the location of the discussion should be provided, stating the URL, focus of the group / forum, year it was founded, number of members, etc.

Send an e-mail to victims_symptom@yahoo.com with your proposal for participation by 21 March 2008.

All contributions will be reviewed by Victims’ Symptom curator Ana Peraica and assistant Marko Stamenkovic. Selected material will be included in the online space and debate in April 2008.

More information on Victims’ Symptom.

More about the participating artists and theorists in the Victims’ Symptom project.

Victims' Symptom blog

Tools for Culture

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:49:37 GMT

LabforCulture.org's new Research in focus is dedicated to the use of online tools in the cultural sector. How do different cultural organisations collaborate online? Which tools do we use?

LabforCulture commissioned the Digital Methods Initiative to prepare a research mapping of the existing and ongoing research related to the use of tools for collaboration in culture as a first step in identifying what areas could benefit from more in-depth research and analysis. Specifically, LabforCulture also asked the Digital Methods Initiative to map out the actual use of tools in the sector, starting with LabforCulture.org’s online directory containing organisations working in the cultural sector in Europe.

Read the results of the mapping and literature search here.

Two freelance opportunities at LabforCulture: deadline 29 February 2008

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:41:32 GMT

LabforCulture is currently looking for two freelancers: a Freelance Editor and a Freelance Project Manager. Deadline for both applications: February 29, 2008.

1 - LabforCulture is seeking a Freelance Editor to join our Editorial Group and develop and maintain the Funding section of LabforCulture.org

2 - LabforCulture is seeking a Freelance Project Manager for its 2008 Region in focus: Adriatic Euroregion