E.C.A.S. – Networking Tomorrow's Art For An Unknown Future
A. VISION / AIM
Our aim is to build a strong and integrated European framework for new cultural forms related to sound and new technologies. A unity that is inherently inclusive and empowering for the vibrant cultural forms which are redefining European cultural identity. It is a quest for a cohesive view of what currently exists and a questioning of the state of things as they are; an examination of how to cope with an unknown future using the tools that have been developed so far. In times with no illusions of utopia, the urge to find methods of self-empowerment – a backing-up for the unknown – is more urgently needed than ever before. Advanced sound and its strongly linked new cultural forms and technologies are the very perceptible examples for our society of how the human condition is changing and they deliver a low-threshold access for all generations to get acquainted with questions and needs and the possible societal changes beyond the impact of the harsh economic changes.
The vision encapsulated in this proposal is for an integrated framework and a series of activities, which will enable a significant stride toward unity for the co-applicants and the art forms they represent.
B. Objectives
* To commission world class inter-cultural artworks and present them in different trans-national settings
* To support 'bottom up' or 'citizen' creativity and innovation, and provide pathways from 'prosumer' to professional
* To test different engagement methods and engage large numbers of people (hundreds of thousands or millions) by staging a series of events that are themselves experimental and involved in nurturing new cultural forms and technologies.
* To increase the mobility of artists, audiences and professionals
* To explore new methods of artistic collaboration, with a focus on advanced sound and related arts
* To build stronger trans-EU connections by consolidating the ECAS network
* To explore new methods of collaboration for people working in the cultural sector.
* Cross-cultural – to support musics that have grown within migrant communities; to open marginal sounds up to a bigger audience
C. BACKGROUND
The co-applicants exist to support emerging digital and electronic art forms and advance innovative methodologies for public engagement. Their work in these art forms broadens inclusion and empowerment in the arts and positively contributes to redefining European cultural identity. Over the past two years they have engaged with over 2000 artists and reached a ‘direct’ audience of more than 300.000 across 18 European nations.
Over the past 15 years new art forms and new forms of cultural event have emerged which are crucibles for an emerging and ever changing European cultural identity. These are characterised by their innovative and early adoption of digital technologies, placing them at the forefront of the digital revolution. These art forms and events developed in a 'bottom up' manner, rather than through the patronage of established educational and cultural institutions, and have, as a result, focussed on inclusion and empowerment. They are both hyper local and inherently international, involving specific sub-cultural groups that are globally dispersed.
Europe today is in the midst of a major cultural shift driven by the proliferation of digital technology. Only in the last few years has this grown from a specialist interest to something that is having a truly transformational impact across Europe. Aspects of this include a shift away from established cultural hierarchies towards a more pluralistic and horizontal cultural field, a movement towards a ‘glocal and lobal’ world where traditional distinctions between 'local' and 'global' break down. This is characterised by the rise of user-generated content and the ability to share information instantly and globally, a dizzying number of connections between trans-national collaborators, and by going beyond national identity, making the geo-political provenance of music and art less and less relevant.
The co-applicants in this project have been at the forefront of this shift through over 15 years of pioneering work in areas of electronic and digital experimentation. They have long traditions of experimenting in advanced sound and related arts, and exert an influence on how we produce, present, experience and understand art and music today.
Advanced Sound – an exemplary case of such an emerging art form – is a specific focus for these organisations. Music has historically been a highly accessible medium and a driving force for wider change in media and technology. Advanced sound in this context is a broad term used to define post war experimental music that has developed into a common culture of electronic experimentation. It’s a strong under current in Europe and is a common element in the development of interdisciplinary arts, something that is reflected in many of our organisation partners’ programs.
The easy access to personal computers starting in the late 1980s made it possible for the first time not only to create sounds electronically but also to rework them without huge studios, to develop programmes that did not need any knowledge of composition or harmonic rules and made it possible to link sound and image in an easy way. The structure of closed compositions was opened up, the song became track, the orchestra was replaced by the ‘universal machine’ computer. New forms appeared like the loop, field recording, sampling and inter-conversions of sound and image.
This mainly first European current incorporated also traditional regional approaches and is nowadays trying to re-link to elements of other currents, e.g. the ghetto tech movements in around the world, trying to merge these new techniques and characteristics with the traditional, local music productions, whether in European metropolises as in London, Paris or Berlin or others like Sao Paolo, Mexico-City, Johannesburg or New Delhi.
The problem is still to define this new realm that is mainly based on the invention of the new instrument Computer and that has a bigger impact on artistic creations than the invention of the piano. It did not only change the ways of production but also the ways of collaboration and communication between artists, organisers and the general public.
This proposal is the product of an international network of cultural organisations, ECAS (European Cities Of Advanced Sound), which strives to create collaborative partnership between the co-applicants. Beginning in 2006, the ECAS network has brought together a large number of cultural events from different EU countries with a commitment to supporting and nurturing cultural connections through advanced sound. The focus is upon cultural festivals and events that support emerging cultural forms and new forms of audience participation. ECAS is the first organisation to focus on promoting advanced sound as having a common European cultural heritage.
D. OUTLINE OF ACTIVITY AND DELIVERABLES
A programme organised into four overlapping 18 month work packages/periods. The first two are focused on deepening the impact of their current cultural value, the third on extending and bridging into adjacent domains, and the last on sustainability and legacy.
Each work packages consists of four aspects:
1. Artistic co-commissions and curatorial projects
2. Audience development and engagement initiatives
3. Contextualising dialogue and engagement with wider society
4. Impact assessment.
I. Working Period I: * "Cultural Festivals and Events as Living Laboratories:
Experimenting in new forms and models of presenting artworks, of new working methods and engaging audiences."
II. Working Period II
* Networks of Advanced Sound and Related Arts:
Bridging cultural sectors and different media, and enabling citizen innovation
III. Working Period III: * Ubiquitous Art and Music:
Art and the everyday
IV. Working Period IV: * Tools For An Unknown Future:
What did we achieve, what will we keep, how will we proceed?
Details under
ECAS Working Periods
E) Working Methods, Meetings and Publications
a) METHODS
i.i. * Co-commissions
i.ii. * Residencies
i.iii. * Touring packages – European work
i.iv. * workshops, lectures
i.i.Co- commissions
Each year two substantial and unique ECAS commissioned works or performances will be drawn from a public trans-European call for submissions. Calls for submissions will be publicised across the networks websites, publications and mailing lists, giving ECAS unprecedented reach. The call for submissions will also act as a positive marketing exercise. The Programming Group is responsible for establishing the criteria for these commissions during the first planning meeting in June 2010. The four calls for proposals will be linked to the theme of the actual working period. An independent panel of leading arts and industry figures drawn from the ECAS network will be enlisted to judge a final short-list of proposals.
i.ii. Residencies
In cooperation with our associated partners within each Working Period a residency will be made possible for artistic production at Trans-Media-Academy Hellerau, Dresden, at MOTA in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at Dis-patch, Belgrade and at Mediaruimte Labau, Brussels.
i.iii. Touring packages - European work
In each working period a number of relevant artistic works and performances will be gathered in a touring package of artists and shown at each of the co-applicants cities that are not mainly involved in coordination of a periods Working Period. The package will be shaped by the Programming Team.
i.iv. Symposium including workshops and special lectures
During each Working Period one symposium on the theme is organised at the main coordinators site, to deepen the theoretical work and to prepare the upcoming theme.
ii. Trainees and Internships - Cultural Worker in Residence (Knowledge Transfer of organisations)
In each Working Period all core applicants will send out a trainee from his/her organisation to one of the co-applicants organisations to support working on the ECAS-project for two months. Nine internships will be offered for the ECAS-project in each Working Period by co-applicants, providing opportunities for international exchange.
b) Partner Meetings
Partner meetings in the format of workshops and special public lectures are scheduled to take place.
These meetings help the exchange, dissemination and evaluation of the project:
December 2011: SOCOFestival, Montevideo, Uruguay.
May 2012: Mutek Festival, Montréal, Canada.
April 2013: Nexsound Festival, Kiev, Ukraine
April 2014: CMKY Festival, Boulder, Colorado, USA
A last word: The ECAS network: Conclusion
The ECAS network currently consists of nine co-organisers and 18 EU and 11 non-EU affiliated partners from 14 European and eight non-European countries. Each of these network members currently produces and maintains an annual not-for-profit music and related arts organisation and festival. As a collective network, this group has access to an immense amount of experience, knowledge and contacts in East and Western Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.
A wealth of artists, creative business initiatives, ideas, projects, funding know-how and administrative experience exists in this network, that when combined will create a formidable cultural resource for ECAS members, partners, institutions and cultural workers alike.
The formation of the network will provide access to solutions and ideas for many of the problems faced by these often idealistic not-for-profit organizations during their continued development. Projects and productions being developed both by the ECAS project and independently by partners would be ‘pooled’ and shared by the group. Trans European sponsor networks and related creative business initiatives will be established, opening up a much larger arena for potential partnerships, both financial and creative, and without threatening the profile of individual events or compromising quality.
By formalizing this network and through a commitment to sharing our experiences and knowledge, we will create a sustainable organisation that can offer support to all members and partners in an atmosphere of unity that also celebrates innovation and European diversity.
This network became ICAS - International Cities of Advanced Sound and Arts Network. www.icasnetwork.org
Source:
http://ecasnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/ECAS_DESCRIPTION.pdf
