fri. 03/12/99 14:30 pm CET - sat. 04/12/99 12:00 pm CET

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net.radio day 99 - 2000 years of net.radio

presented and configured by mikro e.V. / convex tv.
for theLounge/ net_condition at zkm karlsruhe


WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR...

A spectre is hunting streaming media. The spectre of off-media.
Media on the brink between broadcast and archive, media between
give-away-commerce and take-it-all-art, media on the run between the early dreams and late adaption, on the verge from audio to video, exploding from the financial peripheries into the media art centres, from convergence to coercion, from armchair criticism to web critique, from the modesty of static plain html to the excesses of interactivity, from boys-with-modems to girls-with-fat-pipes, from soon-to-be-born media archeologists to yet-too-boring media activists. Streaming media of the world unite on one cd-rom! After 2000 years of net.radio it is time to sum up what has happened.

Net.radio has finally left the realms of artistic practice, hobbyist communities and media activism. Today audio on the internet seems to be as *natural* as an ascii picture, a Java Script or a postcard. Commercial net.radio stations are constructed within portals and other gates for a mass audience.

But there are a couple of streaming media projects which are more
different than others. They came first, developed their own formats, userbase, interface, sound colour, and found different ways of exploring the new territory. There are historic transmissions, examplary webcasts, forgotten filez, manic remixes, which might or might not have the potential to represent the early years of net audio. (Or however you like to name it.)

WHAT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE...

Net.radio days 98, organized by mikro and convex tv. in June 1998, was the first international meeting of experimental net.radio projects in Berlin. One and a half year later it has become obvious, that the more experimental strategies to use internet audio either as an artistic practice or as a tool for activism have become niche-products for peripheral curatorial approaches. There almost seems no practical or theoretical act of broadcasting which hasn't been tested by audio net.works or single net.audiologists in the name of art. On the other hand, this development now proves to have been the test bed of webaudio.com's futurity.

NOW...

Reflecting the moment of musealisation when everyone with a harddrive is a potential museum director. Rethinking the desire to leave trails when everyone knows about the brutal force of accumulated attention. Reediting a mix and putting it into a pool means not giving yourself up in a hippiesque potlatch or missing a chance to move up a stair into art heaven. It means that you send in a file and you get back all the files which were selected, plus the fun of being substantial part of a bigger party.

...AND THEN

Net.radio day 99 at zkm will happen as a remote party. 24 h live streaming and online debate, instantly released under the Open Content Licence, with full remote retro charme and no hidden fees attached! Net.radioday thus looks at streaming media through the rearview mirror, examining the weight of open content, collaborative selection, and ad-hoc-musealisation. Net.radio day 99 therefore asks different producers all over the world to send in their favourite files which will be compiled for a dense history of net.radio (deadline: 30/11/99). These files will be streamed in a 24 hour broadcast and also be archived online and on a cd-rom to keep them accessible for the public domain of the future. Brilliant moments in net.radio thus will be saved from oblivion. The files will be compiled according to the principles of the OpenContent License

Furthermore a questionnaire is provided to find out how current models of net.casting are organized - from the artistic to the commercial field. This is the last collection of historic streaming media works before 2000!


QUESTIONNAIRE (credits to Phoebe Ng Mee Hui):

1. Do you think audio webcasting is very important?
2. If yes, why do you think so?
3. what is the benefit of audio webcasting?
4. what do you think of the future usage of audio webcasting?


ABSTRACT:

>>>title:
"net.radio day 99 - 2000 years of netradio"
>>>organized by:
mikro e.V. / convex tv.
>>>hosted by:
zkm / net_condition / theLounge
>>>date:
03/12/99 12 am cet - 04/12/99 12 am cet
>>>duration:
max. 24 hours
length of contributions:
variable
>>>website:
http://www.art-bag.org/2000years
>>>deadline for contributions:
30/11/99
>>>keywords: open, archive, cd-rom, webcast, netcast, live stream,
experimental, commercial.
>>>essentials: a temporary collection of historical internet broadcasts, a pragmatic reflection on the limits of musealisation, a 24 hour webcast.


ORGANIZERS:

1. mikro
Initiative for the Advancement of Media Cultures, Berlin/D
http://www.mikro.org

Founded in March 1998 by fifteen artists, theoreticians, journalists,
organizers and other cultural producers, mikro e.V. is a Berlin-based
initiative for the advancement of media cultures. What brings this
multi-faceted group together is the need for a critical discussion of the
cultural, social and political impact of media in today's society. The
initiative instigates and realizes public discussions, conferences,
exhibitions, publications, and other activities dealing with the artistic,
political and cultural applications of new media. Besides the monthly
mikro.lounges (video screenings, lectures, panel discussions, DJ sets)
which take place at the Berlin WMF club and which deal with specific
questions of media culture, mikro e.V. also (co-)organized events like the
"Wizards of OS"-Conference or the Berlin "net.radio days 98".


2. convex tv.:
http://www.art-bag.org/convextv

Since 1996 the berlin-based convex tv. collective works on different media
territories, their interfaces, conditions and cross-overs. convex tv.
combines radio-broadcasts on air and on line with activities on site, thus
folding the spheres of mediatic and actual presence, of process and
product. convex tv. is regularly streaming live audio on the internet. Its
online archive now covers approximately 70 hours of journalistic,
technocultural and artistic programs. Recently convex tv. has launched a
project which deals with the questions of "formats" on both the practical
and conceptual level.