Wanted: Artists (m/f) Springtij 1995 festival in Utrecht, Holland. The organisation of the Springtij 1995 event is looking for artists who want to contribute to our festival which takes place in Utrecht, The Netherlands, from 4 till 17 december 1995. Last year the Centre for Culture EKKO in Utrecht organised the festival Springtij@info.ekko for the first time. The subtitle of the event was "Art and Culture in Digital Ages". The upcoming developments in the 'information society' and new media were the main points of this event. The program was diverse and the items were presented by creative art, music, performances, lectures, discussion, video/film and workshops. As a result of the ongoing developments and the enthousiastic reactions of the audience, we decided to make Springtij to a yearly returning event. This year the emphasis will be at the role of new technology in the field of creative art and media. In this setup we have chosen a theme for the event: Travelling. Travelling is a phenomenon that appeals to almost everyone and which is experienced by every person in their own individual way: physically, mentally, in time (science fiction), in literature, telematically, audiovisually. Travelling gives contact with other cultures and teaches how to live with them. This subject should start up and feed the discussion about the culture of collecting and offering information. A question for instance is whether there will be large shiftings in the field of communication and if that is so what the consequences will be for our society. Springtij has to raise questions, answer them and activate the observer. Therefore EKKO is looking for: - artists who work with or about the new media, and/or include the theme travelling in their work. - anyone who can/will contribute to our 'virtual gallery' (images, movies, sounds, text or combinations of these). How can you join in? - with a contribution to the program (real life) in the field of creative art, film/video, music, literature. In that case you will have to send us a concept on one page (A4, without possible scetches) with an estimation of costs before the 20th of june 1995. - in our virtual gallery, which can be visited (by computer) during the event. Artistic contributions can be offered via the Internet (Gopher, Ftp, WWW) until the end of november 1995. If you've got an interesting idea and want to join in with Springtij, or you just want a little more information about the festival, just write/phone/mail us: Cultuurcentrum EKKO t.a.v. Springtij Bemuurde Weerd WZ 3 3513 BH Utrecht The Netherlands vox: (00) 31.30.317457 (after 10-10-95: (00) 31.30.2317457) fax: (00) 31.30.310402 (after 10-10-95: (00) 31.30.2310402) E-mail: ekko@dru.knoware.nl (Ernst Houdkamp) or .M.E.P.deHaan@stud.let.ruu.nl (Anne de Haan) URL: http://dru.knoware.nl/maatschappij/organisaties/ekko/s_oproep.htm. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Springtij 1995 Again there will be a Springtij-festival in december 1995 in the centre for culture EKKO, Utrecht, The Netherlands. The festival covers the field of art and culture in which the role of technological developments in our society is discussed. In 1994 the festival Springtij@info.ekko was organised for the first time. The subtitle of this event was 'Art and Culture in Digital Ages'. The motive for this event was that the fast development of todays information-technology results in the fact that the non-insider looses survey on the role of technology in modern society. We have chosen for a combination of offering information and initiating a discussion about the role and use of information-technology. Besides readings and discussions this was illustrated with film, video, music and creative art. The festival was succesfull and as a result of the enthousiastic reactions we decided to make Springtij a returning event. This year we will work with a theme: travelling (in digital ages). From this base we ask artist to contribute in the festival. The field of art will be broad: creative art, mixed-media, audio-visual, music, theatre, film/video, performance, literature. Springtij has to raise questions, answer them and activate the observer. Motive. The role of new media in modern society is growing. The resulting changes seem to have a great effect on culture. An increasing number of people seem to loose survey because they are crushed by information and constant renewing of the possibilities. Decreasing the gap between these people and the ever growing supply of digital applications is the motive for the organisation of Springtij. Theme. A phenomenon in almost every culture is the interest in travelling. Hereby we see as one of the positive aspects of traveling the call of attention to other cultures. The question that rises is whether the new developments in this digital age will change the attitude towards traveling or maybe change the way of traveling. We think that the subject will give a good motive for bringing the new information- and communication-possibilities under the attention of people. All this in the context of art and culture. These aspects are not yet discussed within a platform as Springtij offers. Travelling. Travelling is a theme that appeals to almost everyone in their own individual way. You can travel (physically), dream (mental travelling), communicate with the rest of the world (telematic travelling) or view/read/hear (audio-visual travelling). All these ways will be experienced in many different individual ways. Travelling offers contact with other cultures and learns how to deal with them. At this moment it is not clear where the new stream of information and information-possibilities will lead to. As a result of the nature of new media, the way of travelling might be more individual in the future. This in contradiction of todays mass-tourism. Perhaps a great number of people will not leave their home in the future because they survey a country or continent via Internet (World Wide Web). Travelling offers adventure and yet this can be found in many different ways. Setup. During the Springtij-festival we will offer the visitors the possibility to use the Internet. We are striving for the use of existing networks and thus creating the possibility to 'travel' to other cities/countries. We are looking for organisations, artists, institutes etc. with whom we make contact during the festival. We hope to get 'live' contact via WWW with contributors. Also our aim is to set up a virtual gallery in our centre with contributions in word, image, movies, sounds, music and combinations of them. At this moment we are thinking of downloading all contributions to a computer in our centre. This is to prevent long waiting when people want to download images etc. Maybe new developments will lead to another setup, but this is just speculation at this time. Some of the ideas are: - videoletters (newsletters) - videoconference (or refreshing pictures every hour) - creating something during festivalweeks - diaries - compositions - performances - installations - interactive programs (CD-ROM) - poetry on the net (collaboration) - visit digital cities/regions - telematical cooperation with other organisations/artists Springtij has to offer a absorbing mix of information, art and discussion. The treshold should be low for all activities. Therefor we strive for a free enterance of the festival. Contributions. We will ask artists to contribute to the festival. We have a preference for contributions which are about the themes 'travelling' and 'art and culture in digital ages'. We also strive for original contributions, made special for Springtij. We think of installations, compositions, literary work, film/video, performances and other art work. Descriptions, ideas of contributions or announcements can be send to Cultuurcentrum EKKO t.a.v. Springtij 1995 Bemuurde Weerd WZ 3 3513 BH Utrecht Holland E-mail: Springty@dru.knoware.nl Fax: 00-31-30310402 (31=countrynumber NL) URL: http:\dru.knoware.nl/maatschappij/organisaties/ekko/springt.htm