(cross-posted from nettime by permission; apologies for all the
broken special characters...)
From: "Klaudio Stefancic" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:51:28 +0200
Subject: <nettime> [nettime] New Media Art in Croatia
dear nettimers,
here i would like to contribute with my text 'new media new networks'.
it is about new media art and culture in croatia from the late 1980's
till 2005. the text is written last year and it was meant to be
published in a reader dedicated to history of croatian art from 1940's
to the 1990's and aimed to international audience. it was one of the
reasons why i've decided to use a sociocentric approach in attempt to
represent this period of media art in croatia and to combine it with
the art theory of modernism and avantgarde. on the basis of my
research i also made a small homonymous exhibtion in galzenica gallery
in zagreb/velika gorica this year. the text is also available for
download here http://www.galerijagalzenica.info/english.html)
greetings
---
New Media - New Networks [1]
If you mention the term new media in the presence of one of the most
prominent artists of the extremely popular virtual world of Second
Life, Gazira Barbelli, you will automatically activate a programme
script, which will blow away your avatar to a completely different,
unwanted location. The script entitled Don't Say Tornado is her
artwork, created to draw attention to inappropriate use of some terms
of traditional new media theory in the context of a completely
artificial world in which the artist herself (avatar) is nothing but a
set of binary data.
Although the Croatian new media art is far from being thoroughly
virtual, the example of Second Life indicates the current process of
redefining the new media culture in relation to the increase in the
number of the Internet users, changes in the ways it is used, faster
introduction of new media theory in traditional scientific fields etc.
In a somewhat modified version of his early new media theory (The
Language of New Media), Lev Manovich has raised a question whether
there is any sense in talking about new media in the culture that has
adopted digital production, processing and distribution of
information. Therefore, he has developed eight theses for
distinguishing new media from old ones, claiming that the list itself
is a work in progress [2]. On the other hand, Geert Lovink has pointed
out that new media are at a critical juncture. According to him, new
media are facing the mass adoption of new technologies, fast
Internetisation of a non-Western world, the increase in capacity of
the Internet and its new uses known as Web 2.0. They are also caught
in a dilemma about whether they will be used in art institutions or
they will continue consolidation of their relatively independent
cultural sector based on exhibitions, festivals and conferences [3].
Discursive instability has marked the new media art and culture in
Croatia from its very beginnings. So far, they have been a
heterogeneous cultural area where political, social and artistic
clashes intertwine with coexistence and cooperation. In other words,
governmental bodies for public communication have been corrected by
the work of NGOs while the system of art institutions has alternated
with flexible networks of individuals, projects and initiatives. This
parallel opposition and negotiation among the dominant,
unwilling-to-change culture and marginalized cultures based on
promises of creative communication, citizens' participation in social
processes and a particular form of freedom typical of cyber culture,
have characterized new media in Croatia throughout 1990's [4].
The history of art is usually no more than the history of artists.
Such method is applied even when it comes to a selection of the new
media art [5]. However, new media art and culture in Croatia cannot be
properly presented without a description of the institutions that have
participated in the implementation of new technologies in society.
Those institutions can be described as networks that, in case of need
and depending on circumstances, mutually integrate, connect or
disintegrate, thus forming dynamic and flexible cultural space
suitable for various, not only artistic activities. In that sense, the
history of new media in Croatia during 1990's should include the work
of governmental and non-governmental institutions that were more less
directly involved in political and cultural clashes of post-socialist
society.
Since the break-up of Yugoslavia, national independence and beginning
of the Patriot war, several distinguishing social networks have marked
the new media art and culture in Croatia.
Anti-war Campaign, Zamir, Arkzin
Chronologically speaking, the citizens' initiative "Anti-War Campaign"
(1991-1995) came first. The efforts for reconstruction of disconnected
phone lines among Croatia, Serbia and later Bosnia and Herzegovina
developed into BBS (Bulletin Board System). BBS is computer software
that enables users to connect by telephoning, to download or upload
files to BBS network, read the news and exchange messages. After that,
"Zamir Transnational Net" (abbr. "Zamir") was launched in Zagreb in
1992, with the initial help of the Dutch and German hackers, in order
to connect citizens and peace activists across the war-thorn former
Yugoslavia. The realization that public media have a political aspect
as well was quite a shock in Croatia, unlike in other post-socialist
countries [6]. In the state of war, the mass media and means of
communication were tightly controlled in the newly founded country.
Not only there was a problem of regulation of the Internet use, which
was officially introduced by connecting university academic and
research network (CARnet) to foreign servers in 1992, but the use of
"old" media (TV, radio, newspapers) was also reduced. Under such
circumstances, the non-governmental organization "Anti-War Campaign"
with initial funds of "Open Society" launched two media: fanzine/
newspapers "Arkzin" in 1991 and BBS system in 1992 [7].
At first, "Arkzin" was a strictly political fanzine but after a while,
editorial board widened the interest and included international
members and topics [8]. It gradually changed from the political
fanzine and political fortnightly to a hybrid magazine in which
politics, culture, theory and art met, crossed and overlapped in a way
that Croatian media scene had not been used to. Its hybrid quality was
especially manifested in the field of new media, which has been
continually recorded since 1995 [9]. It is important to say that
"Arkzin" was for a long time the only magazine that systematically
recorded events on the international scene of new media by their
extensive definition, later adopted by Australian Cultural Council,
which included the culture of DJ's, VJ's, electronic music created and
distributed via computers, urban club culture etc [10].
In the art world context, "Arkzin" was connected with the
international new media art scene on one hand and with the avant-garde
art tradition on the other. In the first case, one of the editorial
board members, Igor Markovi_ participated in the meeting that took
place in Trieste in 1996, where the "net art" pioneers drew op
principles of their activities and started a closer cooperation with
new media festival "Next 5 Minutes" and other events on the Dutch
culture scene [11]. Following the example of De Certeau's definition
of citizens' tactics as opposed to state's strategy, the Dutch
theoreticians Geert Lovink and David Garcia formulated a peculiar
media theory, known as "tactical media" in 1997. Promoting this theory
in the conditions of new media being implemented into Croatian
society, affected by war, economic transition and deficit of
democratic institutions, "Arkzin" constantly pointed out the public
and art media's political dimension [12].
As said above, "Arkzin" also referred to avant-garde art tradition
that always questioned the dominant social, political and art climate
in Central and Eastern Europe [13]. When it came to "Arkzin", it
challenged the establishment in several fields: in the field of
politics (state of war, autocrat regime, economic privatization), in
the field of culture (new ways of communication, new lifestyles,
subculture etc.) and in the field of arts (art institutions'
bureaucratic system as opposed to the freedom of the Internet etc.).
In many aspects, "Arkzin" was a successor of "Zenit" [14]. It accepted
new technologies based on digital data processing (computer, the
Internet); made space for new media as alternative productional and
distributive tools (web pages, net art); re-introduced the neglected
media objects in the context of art and culture practices (fanzine,
posters, leaflets); treated artistic and discursive practices of
theory, philosophy, sociology on equal terms; reinterpreted high
culture - pop culture relations (rave subculture, pornography);
promoted team work (journalists published texts under collective or
individual pseudonyms); worked hard on internationalisation of art and
culture (on-line and off-line networking, new media festivals reports,
interviews with foreign artists, theoreticians, activists); opposed
and even Dadaistically made fun of dominant culture.
In the 1992-1995 period, there were two ways of accessing the
Internet: either with the help of academic and research network for
those who actively participated in scientific institutes and faculties
or with the help of Zamir's BBS network that, based on fragile
telephone lines, was insufficient even for activists [15] . For these
reasons, the basic activities of "Arkzin" were criticism of state's
attitude towards new media and fight for free access to the Internet.
However, the government did not have any media politics, only
restrictions caused by war so that media activism of "Arkzin", similar
to avant-garde art, sometimes reminded of Cervantes's Don Quixote
tilting at windmills [16].
The concept of "tactical media", promoted by "Arkzin" throughout the
1990's, reveals a considerable influence of the Dutch culture on new
media culture in Croatia. There are several reasons for this: a
constant interest of the Dutch activists, artists and theoreticians in
Croatia, residence and education of Croatian journalists, artists and
theoreticians in the Netherlands and interpretation of media theory,
made by the Dutch theoreticians gathered around "Adilkno" project,
which Croatian intellectuals gladly accepted [17].
