Podiumsdiskussion
Inke Arns - Syndicate - <www.v2.nl/syndicate>
Vali Djordjevic - Faces - <www.thing.at/face>
David Hudson - Rewired - <www.rewired.com>
Pit Schultz -  Nettime - <www.nettime.org>

Video
Art Servers Unlimited London, London 1998, documentation (30 min) by Armin Medosch & Manu Luksch <asu.sil.at>

Audio
Xchange net-radio event supported by Radio Internationale Stadt
<www.re-lab.net> (Riga), <orang.orang.org> (Berlin)
 

Büchertisch
b_books berlin
<www.txt.de/b_books> 

with NEW releases:

Nettime: README! Ascii Culture and the Revenge of Knowledge, Autonomedia Press New York, 112 authors, 556 pages, special preview price <www.autonomedia.org>

Junction Skopje, selected texts from the Syndicate mailing list 1997 - 98, Syndicate Publication Series 002, Skopje, October 1998, 196 pages, DM 15,- <www.v2.nl/syndicate>

Crash Media, druckfrisch issue # 4 <www.yourserver.co.uk/
crashmedia>

mute magazine - the latest issue from London <www.metamute.com>

OBN: cyberfeminism reader
first cyberfeminist international sept. 1997 Kassel <www.obn.org>

WZB: Abschlussbericht Kulturraum Internet incl. CD-ROM, u. Usenetmap
<duplox.wz-berlin.de/endbericht/>
 
 

9 December 1998, 20:00 Uhr
WMF, Johannisstr. 19, Berlin-Mitte 
 

The 30 minute video documentary "Art Servers Unlimited London" (1998) by Armin Medosch and Manu Luksch opened this mikro.lounge. Art Servers Unlimited was an international workspace that took place in London in July 1998 and brought together approximately 50 representatives from institutions in nine European countries who support cultural activities on the Internet and who wish to be more closely networked. "The real goal (...) of this carefully designed situation is to prepare and maintain a human network - through forgetting conventional media efficiency and replacing it with a sort of unmediated human attention." (Janos Sugar) The complete transcript of the conference can be found at <http://asu.sil.at>.

After the video, a group of Berlin-based moderators of five influential online communities discussed their experiences in public for the first time. Inke Arns (Syndicate), Vali Djordjevic (Faces), David Hudson (Rewired) and Pit Schultz (Nettime) dealt with such critical questions as: Is it time to rethink tried and true group strategies? Will the "Web masses" take over the Net or will the digital gift economy spread to wider areas? Is there a maximal life span for a text-based network of discourse? And in view of the increasing global commercialization, does the concept of an "international Net culture" need to be reviewed? The question of the commercial viability and exploitation of "online communities" was discussed with a particular view to Amazon.com. By offering a space for exchanges among customers (e.g., reviews and opinions on books and the means to react to them), this virtual Internet bookstore tries to establish a bond with its customers. "Real" networks, as opposed to these "unreal" pseudo-communities, are built on certain themes or mutual interests such as, for example, Net criticism (Nettime), cyberfeminism (Faces), European media culture (Syndicate) and politics, technology and culture with a focus on Europe and the US (Rewired).

There was also the opportunity this evening to view and take home the latest productions that had sprung from these mailing lists and their enviroments. Hot off the presses: The Nettime book README! Ascii Culture and the Revenge of Knowledge, New York 1998; the Syndicate reader Junction Skopje, selected texts from the Syndicate mailing list 1997 - 98, Skopje 1998; Crash Media, London; mute magazine, London; OBN: cyberfeminism reader from the first cyberfeminist international, Kassel 1998; as well as the final report on the cultural space of the Internet from the Center for Science in Berlin, Berlin 1998.

[I.A.]