A global networking project by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne. An experimental New Media art project, which is organised completely online. It started one year ago as a global networking which includes a variety of online and offline components. The basic subject is 'Memory and Identity', the basic operating aspect is 'networking as artworking'.
A global networking project by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne
[R][R][F] 2005 ---> Remembering, Repressing, Forgetting: is an experimental New Media art project by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne, which is organised completely online. It started one year ago as a global networking which includes a variety of online and offline components. The basic subject is “Memory and Identityâ€, the basic operating aspect is â€networking as artworkingâ€. Although anything connected to the project is transmitted online, the basic installation aspect is the exchange/combination of virtual and physical space in a physical installation.
The general project theme “Memory and Identity†is a theme with several complicated discussions. We, as beings, build our identity on our own achieved experiences combined with a collective one – the history. Everything we experience forms our identity and the surroundings - our culture, our country, city, and neighbourhood are formed from what is going on at the moment and what has been going on in the past.
Focusing on our private memories; how do they look like? Are they fragments or larger views? Are they static and objective or do our memories change according to when they are merged together with other memories and experiences?
http://www.nmartproject.net
http://rrf2005.newmediafest.org
This ongoing project is a long term experiment starting in March 2004 simultaneously in Internet and at National Museum of Contemporary Art Bucharest/Romania, Bergen Electronic Arts Centre Bergen/Norway and New Media Art Festival Bangkok to be developed further until the end of 2006 and beyond. Many networking instances as artists, curators, institutions, organisations from all parts on the globe will join the project and will form as an ongoing process a unique collection of collected memory of mankind manifested in advanced technological forms of contemporary art, i.e. net based art, an Internet specific form of digital art. The project is a hybrid form of a research, New Media event and an art project.
[R][R][F] 2005Ã XP - includes three basic components:
1. The basic subject à “Memory and Identityâ€
2. The basic operating aspect à â€networking as artworkingâ€.
3. The basic presentation aspect à physical installation - the exchange/combination of virtual and physical space and consists of a low-tech administrative body which contains all relevant project related information in a textual form, and an high-tech artistic body based on an interface developed in Flash, which includes all art related components coming from most different online sources. The highly interactive environment interface refers to the complex networking structures the human brain and reduces the essential nodes of connection to some basic sections , named: “Memory Channelsâ€. Currently, eight of these “Memory Channels are installed , each of them is focussing on different aspects of “memory and identity†Ã
1. RRF Channel, contains versions 1.0 & 2.0 of RRF Festival featuring contributions of these curators: Winston Yang (China), Calin Man/Stefan Tiron/Romania, Raul Ferrera-Balanquet (Cuba), Gita Hashemi (Iran/Canada), Raquel Partnoy (Argentina), Björn Norberg (Sweden), Eva Sjuve (Norway), Stephanie Bensaquen, (Israel), Faten Nasdas (Palestine), Agricola deCologne (Germany) and others to be nominated later on.
2. “Violence Channelâ€Ã XP version of Violence Online Festival, Memorial for the Victims of Terror and IRAQ – the war and post-war period
3. “Globalization Channelâ€, containing the modules: “Globalizationâ€, Memorial for the victims of AIDS; and RainForest Memorial
4. “Identity Channel†includes the modules : {self}_representation, Identity and Mariam Ghani – Afghanistan
5. “VideoChannelâ€, the place where collective memory can manifest itself also in non-interactive works, contains contributions of video works from many countries on the globe, currently by these curators Raluca Velizar/Florin Tudor (Romania), Antonio Alvarado (Spain), Isabel Aranda Yto (Chile), Roopesh Sitharan (Malaysia), Laura Chiari (Italy) etc.
6. “SoundLab Channelâ€, a new Channel is dedicated to soundart in its various forms and contains curatorial contributions form many countries: Canada, USA, Spain, Norway, Germany, Bulgaria, New Zealand etc.
7. Program Channel, contains several modules as History, Surveillance and Online Streaming, but also a number of individual artists’ project which do not fit in any other “Memory Channelâ€.
8. “InfoChannel†which distributes some basic info of the administrative body.
Cologne a twin city with Bethlehem.
The partnership between Cologne and Bethlehem was built in 1996. Cologne is the first city in Germany to accomplish a relationship with a Palestinian town. Refering to the support of peace activities in Palistine this Partnership is very important to communicate with the Near East.
The activities between Cologne and Bethlehem basically concentrate on personal meetings to get to know each other better and overcome predjudices. There have been visits from youth and schoolgroups, students, teachers and seniorgroups. But there is also an exchange on cultural activities like photography exhibitions, concerts and more. An established event is the Bethlehem week which takes place every year around christmas time in Cologne.
You can find more information at http://www.stadt-koeln.de/. Go to Europa+International, then to Städtepartnerschaften and finally to Bethlehem.
AGRICOLA de Cologne
Agricola de Cologne is a virtual instance, a multidisciplinary media artist and creator and founder of [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||cologne – www.nmartproject.net
As an artist, he had more than 100 solo exhibitions in cooperation with more than 70 museums throughout Europe, as a curator he organised between 1989 and 1994 several cultural projects in Europe and curates since 2001 the net based New Media projects of [NewMediaArtProjectNetwork]:||cologne
He is participating since 2000 in more than 100 media exhibitions and festivals around the globe (Biennale de Montreal 2004, Biennale of Electronic Art Perth/Australia 2004 , Biennale of New Media Art Merida /Mexico 2003, FILE 2001-2004, Videoformes 2001-2002-2003-2005, Art on the Net 2001, 2002, Mediaterra Athens 2002, ISEA 2002 Nagoya/Japan etc) with his online and offline multi-media works, details see on: http://www.agricola-de-cologne.de
His net based works received several prizes.
As an artist's brand, the name Agricola de Cologne points already to the artist's ambitions and intensions, eg his 'program'. Based on the real family name Agricola, which stands for humanism and humanity and the combination of art and humanism, since in Renaissance times there were several humanists, philosophers, painters named "Agricola", it symbolizes also his connection to Greek philosophy ( in school he learned the ancient languages , Greek and Latin) the Renaissance is based on.
The city of Cologne stands for the city of art and culture (based on an history of 2000 years, once founded by the Romans) and above all nowadays, the city of the media; it is that place in Europe where the most television companies are located, and a very important film industry.
So, "Agricola de Cologne" stands for awareness for history, for humanity, for new media and for new ways in (approaching) art as brand of the virtual instance, media artist, New Media curator and founder of the NewMediaArtProjectNetwork who manifests himself physically only a few times a year.
Born 1950 in Black Forest (Southern Germany), died as the artist AGRICOLA on 31 December 1998 as the result of a terrorist attack, reborn as the artist AGRICOLA de Cologne on 1 January 2000
living and working as a free lance artist since 1984 in Cologne (Germany)
Since 1989, the artist realised several collaborative and media related art works
1989-1993 Foundation of ARCHA Society- a temporary non -profit organisation/cultural exchange
between Western and Eastern Europe, as the director of ARCHA, Agricola organised several international conferences and cultural projects in Germany and Poland.
Since 1994 working with New Media
Between 1995 and 1999 realisation of the Memorial project "A Living Memorial" in 43 installations at 43 places in Germany, Poland and Czech Republic, including Krakow, Auschwitz, Terezin, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and others, a multi-media art work, including photography, video, computer and sound installations.
Since 2000 development NewMediaArtProjectNetwork , the experimental artistic environment
CAVE Gallery - The International Center of Bethlehem - Dar Annadwa Addawliya - 109 Paul VI St. - Bethlehem