The Israeli Center for Digital Art - Call for proposals

[mosc]

Call for proposals
Deadline 31 August 2003
The Israeli Center for Digital Art
Digital ArtLab
info@digitalartlab.org.il
16 Yirmiyahu st,
Holon 58373, Israel.
www.digitalartlab.org.il
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The Israeli Center for Digital Art in Holon was formed in 2001 with the objective of
advancing and promoting New-Media art in Israel, as well as to act as a
clearinghouse for communications between artists and between artists and the
public. The Center is committed both to a dynamic view of the contemporary art and
culture spheres, and to publicizing the influence of new technologies on todayís
society. To that end, the Center hosts both Israeli and foreign artistsí video art,
net.art, sound and interactive video exhibits. A special emphasis is put on
Cooperative projects between Israeli and foreign artists, and between artists and the
community, to bringing digital art works to outlying areas, developing training
programs and workshops for school-age children and artists using digital media,
artist workshops and more.

Out of a desire to catalyze the discourse on the influences of digital technologies on
contemporary culture in general and Israeli society in particular, and out of a
recognition of the need to create a platform for communications between artists,
activists, media people, film makers, and the general public, during the coming year,
the center will oversee three projects under the them ì Hilchot Shcheinimì (Halachot
for neighbors) [a reference to the laws of division of property and boundaries codified
by the Rambam in his Mishna Torah, a commentary on the Torah].
Hilchot Shcheinim is comprised of three main exhibits, each accompanied by video
screenings, lectures, performances and workshops. The exhibits will act as a
laboratory for ideas about art and media and the marketplace and exchange, and will
examine the manner in which social, cultural and technological changes, influence art
and artists.

The Hilchot Shcheinim events should be apprehended as an up-to-date source of
information that offers a panoramic view of our lives via the combination of the
language of art and the tools of contemporary culture, the various media, politics, and
the economy.

Project I: November 2003 ñ January, 2004
- will focus on the mapping of independent organizations of artists who have found
for themselves a place where they can create without relocating to the center, or
without being ìdirected from aboveî by the main art hubs. The exhibit features
projects run jointly by art centers in outlying areas and projects by artists in adjoining
areas that reflect the changes taking place in the art scene as a result of the
globalization movement. Preference will be given to artists working in the Middle
East.

Project II: March- May, 2004
- will focus on tactics and strategies used by artists, groups of artists, activists, and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to create cultural networks and cooperation.
The emphasis will be on the ways in which capitalism and the globalization
movement shape the media and the use that artists make of media technologies in
their work.

Project III: September - November, 2004
we will attempt to diagram life in the world of the Empire - Globalization, proposing
the Internet as a positive model for globalization. Not only is the Internet a model
wherein the countries of the world, giant corporations, political and social
organizations, and individuals are equal, but it is a model of a decentralized network
without centralized control or enforcement that cannot monitor either the flow of
information or number of its ìcitizensî. Moreover, it is a virtual, apolitical structure with
a weak capacity for control that is vulnerable to disruptions, ìstreet actionî, and
revolts, yet it does not collapse as a result. At Hilchot Schcheinim III, we will attempt
to examine how a vision of such a world is conceived of by artists, and what the
effects are of such a world on the art realm.
Visual artists, media artists, musicians, activists, and collectors are invited to propose
projects. Preference will be given to artists working in the Middle East and the
Mediterranean.

Proposals for projects for project I must be sent by August 31, 2003 along with
the accompanying form.
Submit to:

The Israeli Center for Digital Art
Digital ArtLab
info@digitalartlab.org.il
16 Yirmiyahu st,
Holon 58373, Israel.
www.digitalartlab.org.il

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Hilchot Shcheinim
Israeli society, most critics agree, is represented by a rich and occasionally
contradictory world of images concerning its character, its borders (both political and
social), its population makeup, its cultural origins, and its political directions. Thus, for
example, Israel is presented in its political discourse by the following attributes, to
name just a few:"The only democracy in the Middle East", "A country of immigrants",
"A melting pot", "An armed ghetto", "A bi-national state", "A Levantine society", "ìA
Western island in the East", "A little America".

These images, with their double messages, have a significant impact on Israeli
society. They are understood within the context of larger issues that are at the center
of public discourse, running deep within the hidden processes shaping the definition
and the representation of individuals and groups in the society. Under these
conditions, most of the discourse in Israeli society and its cultural sphere deal
intensively (even obsessively) with the attempt to understand, explain, and decode
the cultural environment.

The contradiction and the multiplicity of views in Israeli society and its culture derive
their origins from the dichotomy between East and West, between "Ashkenazi" and
"Sepharadi". This dichotomy manifests itself on the Israeli art scene in the tension
between the "local" and the "universal". Israel exists in the Middle East, a space
wherein nationalism and religion play central roles, on the one hand holding onto its
national and religious identity, viewing itself from the outside in, and at the same time
trying to preserve its acceptance to the worldís ìWestern clubî by building a freemarket
economy, implementing widespread privatization, a near-total adoption of
Western cultural symbols, and so forth.

In her article "Eyes Wide Shut: On the Acquired Albino Syndrome on the Israeli Art
Scene" ( Theory and Critique, vol. 20, 2002), Sarah Hinsky describes the place of the
West in Israeli art and culture.

From its earliest days until now, the concept of "the West" was
firmly rooted in the
Israeli art scene as a guiding principle and shaping it on the European art scene
model. In this sense, the Israeli art scene exists in a tension of two opposing
categories: art that tries to be at the same time universal and local, when the
ìuniversalî model is actually European.

This affinity is a fundamental force in the Israeli art world, and its origins are identical
to Western - Europeans origins of the Zionist movement. The establishment of a
Jewish state in the Middle East was perceived by many in the Zionist movement as
creating a European ìannexî in the Middle East wherein nationalist and colonialist
aspirations could be realized.

It is from this perception that the closed attitude of Israeli culture toward the
surrounding Arabic culture stems (as well as from the grappling with the culture of
Jewish immigrants from Arab lands), resulting in the perception of the latter as
inferior. This closed-mindedness has only begun to disperse in the past two decades,
allowing the inflow of Eastern-Arab influences, mainly felt in Israeli music, upon which
there has been a conspicuous influence, and in which there is much collaboration
between musicians from the neighboring countries.

Against this backdrop, the Israeli visual arts are preoccupied with conducting a dialog
with Western ìpower centersî of art, which is perhaps the main reason why an effort
is not made today to create a network of exhibits and artist exchange projects with
the neighboring countries such as Turkey, Greece, or even Egypt or Jordan.

The cultural conflicts described herein can be viewed in a wider context as part of
global processes taking place in other regions of the world involving societies,
countries, organizations, and individuals undergoing redefinition and creating new
paths and meanings for their activities.

Two main events (up until now) of the new millenniumóor the fact of their being
defined as main eventsóhave been the destruction of the Twin Towers on
September 11, 2001 and the war in Iraq, both having sharpened the differences
between expectations of a post-nationalist world wherein global power is given
priority the Nation State, and the reality of a nation-oriented world in which national
rule within conventional borders remains, and in which ethnicity and religion still have
a central place in determining the internal and external ìrules of the gameî of the
individual country.

The process of change will slowly affect the familiar world division of East and West,
of the free world and the enslaved world, of free-market economy versus a controlled
economy, of superpowers, and of a world order that will be rebuilt anew, including a
change in relations and agreements between countries, citizens, communities, and
neighbors: social, professional, and cultural divisions will alter themselves and be
refashioned.

Technology has a central role to play in these processes: As it becomes more
accessible, it seeps into more and more spheres, influencing more and more aspects
of our lives as individuals and as a society. It is superfluous to say that this process is
not progressing linearly, but rather is developing at different paces in various places
in the world.

The process of redefinition in which we find ourselves affects almost every aspect of
our lives, demanding reexamination of fundamental concepts and assumptions that
up until now were perceived as unassailable. In addition, we must investigate how
these changes manifest themselves in art, and in the relationship between art and
society. What is the place of art in the globalization process and the world that it is
creating? Which strategies have artists chosen for coping with these changes?
These issues have emerged in the local-Israeli context, and stemming from a desire
to create a link with other outlying areas in which similar conflicts are taking place,
The Israeli Center for Digital Art, through Hilchot Shcheinim, will examine them in the
coming year.
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The Israeli Center for Digital Art
Digital ArtLab
16 Yirmiyahu st,
Holon 58373, Israel.
www.digitalartlab.org.il
T. + 972 3 5568792
F. + 972 3 5580003

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