16/8/2000
hEXPO
MKC, Ljubljana
International Festival of Self-Organised Cultural Forms. A large segment of active culture in the region of Central and South-Eastern Europe, especially the independent production, has a constant need for fresh influx of information and knowledge. The existing sources - mostly the traditional models of festivals, symposia and public events - cannot provide it on a regular basis. A festival of a different concept, in the form of summer free university, can accelerate processes of self-organisation, highlight new issues and provide new activities.
International Festival of Self-Organised Cultural Forms
The Why's
A large segment of active culture in the region of
Central and South-Eastern Europe, especially the
independent production, has a constant need for fresh
influx of information and knowledge. The existing
sources - mostly the traditional models of festivals,
symposia and public events - cannot provide it on a
regular basis. A festival of a different concept, in
the form of summer free university, can accelerate
processes of self-organisation, highlight new issues
and provide new activities.
The concept of hEXPO, developed by Marko Kosnik,
derives from the critical observation of the existing
models of festivals in Central Europe. Those festivals
have mostly a representational character: they
(re)present art and knowledge rather than spreading
it.
Instead of representational form, compressed and
reduced to the period of a couple of days (what is the
usual duration of stay of one "item" on the festival
program), hEXPO presents events in their natural
duration. The participants have an opportunity to get
to know each other and establish collaborations, all
of that within the frame of a particular local space.
The schedule allows them to integrate in the local
environment and intensively take part in workshops,
lectures and symposia.
Another trait of international festivals is that they
usually present practices that are less compatible or
incompatible with the particular local situation. Thus
large amounts of resources are spent on specific
technical infrastructure that local environments have
no use of and which get dismantled immediately after
the festival.
hEXPO provides its participants with basically
standardised platforms which are established prior to
the festival's beginning. They are based on the
criteria which will enable their permanent functioning
in the local environment. The participants will
provide as well as improve their knowledge on the best
use of the platforms under the given conditions by
adapting and translating their artistic practices and
work. The combined knowledge of competent individuals
will bring new perspectives for the cultural
development of local areas. As the festival activities
are multiplied in several parallel locations, there
will be opportunities for comparison, adaptation and
especially the co-ordination of exchange,
collaboration and expansion of activities.
The What's
hEXPO is a festival and an on-going workshop which
aims to develop methods for a whole spectrum of
activities necessary for a successful production and
sustaining of public, civic and cultural life. The
festival will provide the training for the so-called
"self-producers", offering the essential exchange of
knowledge among the participating individuals. The
desired result should be that those individuals will
be able to organise and realise cultural events and
create networks for cultural exchange. This is the
social and technological platform that has already
been developed within the Ministry of Experiment - an
interdisciplinary research lab located at Radio
Student in Ljubljana - which combines the knowledge
and practices of journalists, organisers, producers,
performers, historians, archivists, political
activists, artists, system administrators, radio
engineers, managers... All these profiles illustrate
the vast scope of interests that hEXPO encompasses.
Every segment of culture has its margin where
research, experimentation and innovation take place,
as well as the quest for new social and organisational
forms that might prove more in tune with future
demands and strategies of survival.
hEXPO is dedicated to the wholesome education and
self-education of individuals confronted with such new
circumstances and requirements for functioning. Apart
from the production of arts & culture, those
individuals will have to take care of their own
technical means and infrastructure, archive, promote
and distribute their work...
hEXPO is transgressing genres as much as it is
transgressing existing practices, having in mind that
nowadays both the margin and the mainstream use the
same technology. The more marginal the cultural
activities are the more they depend on those rare
individuals whose knowledge and approach should be all
the more complete and transgressing.
In other words: hEXPO is getting together those
creative individuals who - in order to function
successfully in their surrounding - have to create a
complete cultural environment.
The long-term projection of hEXPO is to take place
every year in a different country in the region.
The How's
The core of hEXPO will be the three weeks of
interlinked activities in the following venues:
- Maribor: MKC (Youth Cultural Centre)
Kibla (Media Lab)
Pekarna (cultural and artistic
venue with long tradition and a
wide range of activities)
Radio MARS (independent radio
station)
- Ljubljana: Kapelica Gallery (venue known for its
support to extreme
performing arts practices and
projects that interweave art and
new technologies)
Metelkova (former military
compound on the edge of downtown
Ljubljana, today a cultural,
artistic and civic activities venue)
Kinoteka (Slovenian
Cinematheque, a venue surpassing its basic
function; a disseminator of
interest in unorthodox synergies
of images and sounds)
Ljudmila (Ljubljana Digital
Media Lab)
Radio Student (first student
radio station in Slovenia; a place of
long history of independent
thought and, at the time, an active
participant in the creation of
civil society in Slovenia)
Ministry of Experiment (social
and technological platform for
public access projects and a
research lab for new forms of radio
expression)
-Koper: MKC (Youth Cultural Centre; the heart
of independent
production and various civic
activities in the region)
Pina (Digital Media Lab)
There will be the extended participation of these
neighbouring locations:
-Graz: ESC (artistic gallery, cultural
centre and an open space for
public debates)
Radio Helsinki (the first
independent radio station in Austria,
deprived of its frequency in
1997; now, as of March 26, with a
renewed licence)
-Klagenfurt: Radio Agora (independent radio station in
Carynthia that joins
radio experimenting with active
involvement in political and civil
issues, especially important in
this region with a Slovenian
minority and Joerg Haider as
its governor)
-Trieste: Posto delle Fragole (cultural centre)
Radio Fragola (independent
radio station)
Additionally, the international network will include
Uni-TV and CanalWeb (Paris), Garage (Hamburg),
Interflugs-hdk (Berlin), Re-lab (Riga), and more
remote collaborators.
Every venue in Slovenia listed above is an equal
co-producer of the festival, supporting hEXPO with its
infrastructure of staff and logistics. The structure
is organised horizontally. All these places have their
regular activities and infrastructure which will be
integrated in the festival program. Thus the local
input is merged with the overall hEXPO program.
hEXPO's approach to the relation between the global
(universal) and the local (regional) is extremely
active. The Internet will therefore be particularly
used as a tool for enhancing local cultural life but
also as an amplifier and synchroniser that will launch
local events into the world and link them to similar
activities in neighbouring regions.
hEXPO will establish the essential media platform for
visual and audio transmission of performances,
concerts and public debates. It will also establish an
audio-visual conferencing system between Graz,
Maribor, Ljubljana, Koper and Trieste. The key
performing spaces will be linked together by way of
electronic announcement board which will enable the
synchronisation of events and a better productivity of
visiting projects. Among the benefits of such
co-ordination of events will be the effective
increasing of the number of visitors in the region and
a possibility for local projects to enter
international distribution networks.
The working groups consist of:
- 18 international guests/tutors
- 18 local tutors (local comprising Croatian, Serbian,
Bosnian... )
- 36 mobile students (international as well as local)
- 36 local students
The mobile students and tutors will be divided in
three groups and they will be inter-changing between
the cities each week. Thus during the three-week
period there will be three sets of complete events in
Maribor, Ljubljana and Koper. The events from one
location will be synchronised and broadcasted to the
other two locations by means of audio-visual
communication via the Internet. The extended
broadcasting will include the already mentioned
locations. Naturally, not everybody will be able to
attend hEXPO integrally, so some of the participants
will stay for a shorter time.
The fourth week will be the summary and the
culmination: the all-together meeting in an Istrian
village.
Sabina Salamon is an art historian engaged in contemporary art activities based in Ljubljana, Slovenia.