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Video as Urban Condition
a project exploring how video shapes urban experience
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Video as urban condition is about the ways in
which video has become part of the urban fabric: the omnipresent
screen and the watchful eye that inhabits private and
public space. Video is the ubiquitous equipment of the home, the
street and the work place: the tube, the box, the telly, CCTV, info-screen,
electronic billboard, in-store advertising, mobile, terrestrial,
cable, satellite, pay-per-view, downloadable, for sale, to rent.
Video as urban condition is about how our knowledge,
perception and fantasy of urban environments are mediated by video.
Video is the mass medium of innumerable fragments, multi-channel,
remote control, camcorder, games console, webcam, public service
broadcasting, peer-to-peer, MTV, 24-hour news, reality TV, soap
opera, family entertainment, pornography, home video.
The project examines a medium whose most distinctive characteristics
are multiplicity and diversity, a form which is not contained by
the norms of art institutions or the exclusive domains of professionals.
Video is a medium of mass production — that is, mass participation
— as well as of mass consumption. The accessibility of video
technology has encouraged not only the private interests of home
video and independent artistic activity, but has also prompted community
and educational initiatives putting the medium in the hands of underprivileged
or excluded groups in society. Video technology has moreover become
established among the tools of communication and witness at the
disposal of activists and campaigners who maintain a position beyond
the mainstream. At the same time, the power of video as a means
of controlling desire and space continues to grow.
The project recognises the diversity of activity in the field and
challenges us to reflect on how the relations of representation
in society are mediated by video.
back to top Video-pool Archive
The Video-pool is a collection of collections put together by individuals,
each suggesting an interpretation of video as urban condition based
on particular areas of interest, experience and expertise. The Video-pool
collections represent a variety of approaches and methods, forming
a constellation of points of reference.
more about the Video-pool
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Symposium
The project was launched in 2004 with and interdisciplinary symposium
which took place at the Austrian Cultural Forum, London (with: Juha
Huuskonen (Katastro.fi), Manu Luksch (AmbientTV.net),
Anna McCarthy (New York University), Paul
O’Connor (Undercurrents News Network), Ole
Scheeren (Office of Metropolitan Architecture), chaired
by Anthony Auerbach). The aim of the symposium
was to open the field of enquiry by examining the implications and
applications of video against the background of the myriad forms
in which it appears in urban spaces. Both aspects of the topic —
video and the city — are understood as interdisciplinary and
public. The invited speakers draw on experiences — from architecture
to activism — touching on a wide range of practices, interests
and locations within the field. What they have in common is what
we all share in modern urban life. They do not regard video as an
art-specialism, media-sector or single-purpose tool.
people
transcripts
back to top Exhibition and Intervention
The Video-pool archive forms the principal curatorial resouce for
a series of exhibitions now in preparation. Informed by discussions
such as the Video as ... symposium and the researches of Anthony
Auerbach and other contributors, the exhibition proposals explore
innovative models of curating and displaying video-content within
art institutions as well as the challenge of 'public space'.
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Support
Video as Urban Condition was funded in 2004 by the Austrian Cultural
Forum London and the Arts Council of England with additional
assistance from the Embasssy of Finland, London, and the Royal
Netherlands Embassy, London. In 2005, the visit to Bratislava
was was hosted by Burundi media art organisation, supported
by the British Council. In 2005–06, the project was supported
by a research and development grant from the Arts Council of
England, with additional assistance from the Austrian Cultural
Forum London. The visit to Yerevan in 2006 was supported by
the British Council. The exhibition at the Lentos Museum, Linz,
2007 has been carried out within the framework of ‘translate’ Beyond
Culture: The Politics of Translation and with the support of
the Culture 2000 programme of the European Union.
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