REVOLTING [temporary media laboratory] Manchester, UK; Aug/Sep '98 REVOLTING will bring together Activism, Art and Theory concerned with media in a social and productive environment. Throughout August and September '98 Manchester will offer more or less informal locations providing a media workspace (at Salford University) and social interfaces (in the Greater Manchester Area) - as well as related events in Manchester. This event/workspace will provide the opportunity of lively exchange and collaboration, both in the privacy of a dedicated environment and the mayhem of the public arena. REVOLTING vs. REVOLUTION Attempts to define 'the' revolution have failed to produce a universal checklist of distinguishing characteristics. Where does that then leave the 'Digital Revolution'? REVOLTING replaces the handset on the master narrative and dials again. Stepping outside the mere potential of 'revolutionary technologies', REVOLTING shifts the focus to groups and individuals within the field of media, who are applying creative, challenging, tactical and innovative ways to make the most of the 'revolting' circumstances we live in. We don't want to define the Digital Revolution, we are interested in knowing who attended! Not understanding art as critical by 'nature', but stressing the fact that it could well be critical by definition, REVOLTING wants to focus on the overlap between cultural production and cultural theory. We 'mind the gap' between wanting to understand and being forced to act. REVOLTING will provide the means of production as well as the social setting within which to present the processes. PUBLIC ACCESS From March 98, we hope to put in place a public access server for the Greater Manchester Area. This server will provide audio and video facilities and be devoted and linked to many local initiatives and activities in the area. This practise will also playfully explore the link-up of old and new media. Currently Manchester has very limited possibilities in terms of public access channels for radio and TV - at the same time, Manchester has a lively scene of pirate radio and video practise, which will be channelled through the public access project. In collaboration with these initiatives, REVOLTING will bring together local activity and global discourse. For the period of August, September 98 there will be a series of co-productions between international guests and local projects, to produce an ongoing archive of material, to test run concepts on the web and to experiment with the interfacing of old and new media. IN-PRINT REVOLTING will also print a bi-monthly newspaper/letter, the first issue to be published in March 98. This publication understands itself as an intermediate balance sheet for the off-line public and features information, opinionated journalism and manifestos which address pressing economic, political and cultural topics. As mentioned above, this publication attempts to extend the possibilities of new media by experimenting ways in which news groups, web pages and mailing lists can alter the impact of print publications - and vice versa... SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS NOW. CONCEPTS & HISTORY UNDER CONSTRUCTION REVOLTING hopes to amplify the close collaboration of the temporary media laboratory with the community within which it is situated. We also want to situate the media lab and the social interfaces at two nearby but separate locations to maintain a focused workspace while encouraging active participation of the public at the other end. The public interface will be equipped with sufficient access points, computers and consumer electronics to produce material in the semi-public environment as well as being a constantly changing archive and social space. The media lab (at Salford University) will be equipped with extensive audio, video and internet facilities - as Universities are. The 'social interface' (in Manchester) will feature essential equipment: workstations, beams, projectors and the obligatory sound system to allow anything from focused presentation, screenings, via semi-public debates, improvised exhibitions, spontaneous interviews, to well earned leisure times. At the same time, REVOLTING can be expanded into the city of Manchester, using locations and facilities to screen movies, celebrate, host presentations and stage demonstrations. Being located in a lively city like Manchester - with its strong profile of popular culture situated amongst the archaeological relics of the industrial revolution - there seems no need to implant an infrastructure which is already available and extensively accepted. In this way we hope to make the most of the city for what it was and is. BIG SOLUTIONS FOR SMALL PLANETS? We want to encourage participation - remote and on-site. We expect that the participants will all have enough social, political and cultural commitment to use this space in a tactical and productive manner. REVOLTING should be more than an editorial office and more than the extension of your working environment at home. REVOLTING wants to be an experimental social interface to the many realities we will bring to Manchester and to the ones already forming and performing in the area. Attention: this is all construction! Watch your usual channels for further information... [REVOLTING is currently in dialogue with Salford University; Hypermedia Research Centre, Westminster University; Mute Magazine; Hybrid WorkSpace; Telepolis; North West Arts Board; Foundation for Art and Creative Technology] Micz Flor (micz@metamute.com) ----------------------------------------------------------------- [t/f]+44.171.7395331 [t]+44.161.2956157 [a]http://www.art-bag.org [b]http://www.icf.de/workspace [c]http://www.metamute.com [q]"There is no administrative production of meaning." -----------------------------------------------------------------