l!f4rm@cicv.fr ekr!t

hi This mail to inform you that a new tech-art festival is born: it's called 'nuits savoureuses' and will take place in the east of france, a city called Belfort from 17 to 26 dec.1999. check this: www.nuits-savoureuses.net online the 11-16-99 ( we hope so)

it owns a 'net-art' section where you are linked, because your work moves us. let me know if informations concerning you are incomplete, or false. let me know if you want fewer details to appear upon your linkz let others know, if you got their directions, that they are linked here. we plan to use that server for an online reference upon net-art after the festival, so please submit Urls you would like to be presented, that way helps us a lot, and spares time

By the way, we will do live broadcast of all events during the festival, and we would like you to participate online. We offer you direct access to the audience (by public giant screen) for your acts, or wired-performances online. let us know!

you can check this: www.cicv.fr, this is our introduction CICV Pierre Schaeffer

1 - The CICV is a centre for art and creation with an international vocation, placing questions of image, sound, media and networks at the heart of its activity. It is too vast for us to pretend, by ourselves, to be able to explain fully... but at the same time, it is very precise and induces a terrain on which artists, scientists and philosophers have a critical role to play, if we do not wish for them to be forced to weather (as is already largely the case) market and fashion fluctuations.

2 The founding role in artistic and cultural creation and experimentation.

    - The Residences of Creation

The residences allow artists to experiment, produce or learn. Artists, utilising New Technologies for Information and Communication (NTIC), discover at the CICV a wide range of facilities, from which they are able to obtain an idea of technical potentialities, and to grasp the training required for further development of one or other field. The residence of creation is a privileged moment (quality of welcome and surroundings, performance of technical facilities, and availability of the team of professionals), allowing artists to hone their points of view and to marry their competencies with other creative teams.

The Residence of Creation fits into a global dynamic which implies a "before", a "during" and an "after". The "before" corresponds to preliminary contacts centred on the nature of the artistic project, the manner in which it fits into the general movement of ideas and works, the expertise of human means, and techniques to be adopted for its completion. The "during" applies to the residence itself. Cut into several stays or punctual, from a few days to several weeks, it takes the form in all cases of a close working relationship with the team (administrative, technical or artistic) as well as with the other artistic projects in the development stage. The residence is, at the same time, a moment of intense concentration on the project and of confrontation with other artists present. The "after" implies a follow-up in terms of diffusion (festivals and diverse events allowing the work to be seen by the public).

    - Experimentation

It is now understood that in the realms of NTIC, artists take the form of experimenters. They must be given a chance (through liberties, financing and perspectives) to exercise their talent, to deploy their critical spirit, to confront their visions and to participate in social debate. Whether it be through the choice of technical tools (in which they contribute to a continued progress beyond the applications conceived by the designers, developers and manufacturers) or their utilisation (which they explore independently of the "protocols" generally allowed), the artists represent a powerful factor of innovation and creativity. Their role goes way beyond that of "dressing" or "wrapping", of decorating or "soul supplementing": it is considered as a critical viewpoint that they have on the media, thus encouraging a clear approval (or rejection) of these technologies by the citizens.

Facilitating access by artists to the potentialities of NTIC thus represents an essential stake.

    - The fields of operation of the CICV:

The technical base of the CICV, while neither being perfect, nor complete, allows one to work on an ensemble of procedures concerning the treatment of images, sound and networks. The difficulty that remains lies in the reduction of artificial barriers between the different platforms and to privilege projects implying a broader integration of the different tools for the purpose of joint projects.

    - Audiovisual creation:

The boom in digital technologies has profoundly shaken the procedures of recording, editing and broadcasting. Artists are able to proceed with styles of visual exploration never possible until now. The range of expression has been considerably enriched, even though the results, in aesthetic terms, and the "senses" often remain problematical.

    - The plastic arts:

The domains of painting and sculpture were first shuddered by the arrival of photography, and following this, by moving images. The arrival of electronic images, computers and networks has accelerated the explosion of these traditional artistic practices. The current lack of critical intellectual productions on these developments and on the works themselves deprives us of having points of reference which would allow us to better understand the stakes of current developments with regard to the entire history of art and civilisations. A radical change of paradigms for some, simple effects of fashion for others. For other still, a natural and logical evolution. This massive shake-up of the Contemporary Art world, under the effect of NTIC will no doubt have major repercussions on the art market, already "in a spin", as well as on the nature of what is taught in art schools.

    - Live performance:

Artists who "perform live" integrate an increasing quantity of new technologies into their "scenic machinery". This is a logical step forward for arts which are essentially based on scenic, magical, illusory and "trompe l'oeil" effects. Somewhat fouled by cinema, television and multi-media, the stage finds itself confronted with new challenges with the arrival of virtual actors, dancers and musicians blended into the dramatist's play alongside "real" actors, dancers and musicians. Theatre, dance and opera have become the natural settings for experimentation and new writings.

Moreover, it could in fact be that the settings of live performances, being the only places conserving the requirement of an assembled group in one place, and at one given time, to share an "unparalleled sensitive experience" become the centre of artistic experimentation with NTIC's.

    - Music:

Alongside the classic range of instruments, a set of new tools is constantly expanding. Ahead of times in comparison to other artistic domains, musicians have integrated and experimented with digital technologies, going as far as imagining the programmes and machines they needed to explore new worlds of sound. In these domains, co-operation between composers and computer scientists are already well established and have allowed the perfection of tools that are now used in all realms of artistic creation.

    - Virtual Environments in immersion:

The "Stars" of specialised artistic events of these past years, so-called works of "Virtual Reality" or, by a strange audacity of language "Augmented Reality", appear to be "levelling off" a little... either because the works in question do not have enough inherent potential in order to "re-enchant" people, or perhaps more likely that these prototypes fit more into the category of "transitory experiments". The machinery used remains extremely complex, fragile and expensive. This being said, the new ideas proposed by artists investing their efforts into virtual environments "in immersion" are still rich in promise and development.

    - Interactive environments without immersion:

This appears to be a major growth area. Their interest is in facilitating attempts of synthesis between "installations", classical "environments" of Contemporary Art, and current scientific research on man/machine interactivity. The particularity of this research lies in the new-found "problematical" situation regarding the body of the spectator and the social space at the heart of the artistic process.

    - Artistic performances and on-line actions:

The electronic networks have been rapidly invaded by diverse artistic communities:

• firstly, for their potential for virtual conversations, with

discussion forums, for their capacity to disseminate new ideas and bring together groups of players around centres of common interest;

• secondly, as tools for the promotion of their research and work, in

the form of specialised web sites;

• thirdly, and increasingly, as stamping grounds for experimentation in

the place of "real", "classic" places, such as galleries and museums. The "net", as a gallery, as we know, has become a place where ferocious economic interests clash. Here, as elsewhere, artists have a critical contribution to be made. Artists intervene in the networks, not as simple consumers or spectators, but as veritable operators installing their works in this gallery, where new artistic situations are proposed allowing creators who are geographically very distant to participate in a common work or event.

    - Advertising, communication and design:

The frontiers between "pure" art and the world of advertising, communication and design are becoming more and more hazy as many artists pass without a problem from one to the other. Creativity and innovation are actively deployed, in particular in the different categories of multimedia, as its development is occurring through a blending of technical, creative, legal and financial competencies.

    - Hypertext creations on-line

Far from being threatened by the development of "on-line" communication, writing and language is opening up to new artistic and cultural experimentation concerning, at the same time, the authors and the readers.

3 The international dimension of activities

• Questions concerning the development of innovation and research are

raised on an international level. This reality was taken into account from the outset of the CICV, whether it concern programming or the composition of the new association. It constitutes a decisive factor in terms of networking competencies, energies and projects. In this sense, the animation and valorisation represented by the network of members of the new association constitutes a priority for the team at the Centre.

• The CICV regularly participates in professional meetings and

international conferences in Europe and America (Austria, Canada, the United States, Greece, Finland, etc.), undertakes study and expertise missions at the request of the Foreign Affairs Ministry (the latest were to Peru and China in 1999), the Council of Europe, UNESCO, and is currently also playing host to a number of foreign missions. The CICV has thus made close ties with the artists and institutions of countries visited and delegations received.

• Training and Accompaniment Activities

The CICV is an approved training centre. Our activities in this field take on several forms: - Long and specialised training: the "Nursery" for Young
Entrepreneurs - Accompaniment: training "in the field".

• The Nursery for Young Entrepreneurs

Prefigured with the aid of the ADAPT programme of the Franche Comté regional council, this training programme has already allowed the accompaniment of 12 young people in multimedia careers, and as a result, all have found work heading new projects. The second promotion (6 persons) began in September 1999, and the third promotion (6 persons) begins in January 2000.

This singular training is characterised by added contributions of a technical, management and cultural nature, as well as a heightened awareness of artistic creation.

• Short Training sessions for specific publics. This type of training is

taken-on "on demand". It concerns publics coming from homogeneous sectors (local authorities, professional associations, special cultural events, etc.)

• Accompaniment: Since its inception, the CICV has been accompanying

young people for training of different periods, wishing to receive global, personalised training in all areas: administrative, legal, production, audiovisual editing, 3D simulation and internet. Around ten young people are involved in this way each year.

• The Learning Environment

The debates that accompany the development of digital arts raise a number of questions related to the legal environment, production strategies, the distribution of works, critical accompaniment, particularities of processes and to the "cross-breeding" of competencies. In this maze of questions, we privilege four axes of thought:

• the relationship between digital creation and live performance, which

implies experimenting with new forms of scenography and cinematography;

• "the art of the network", or in other words, the processes of creation

which are not restricted to producing all current art forms on the net, but which experiment with the particularities of the net as a "space", as a "flow", as a "gesture";

• the support for creation and experimentation in the fields of digital

arts, implying a rethinking of the nature of structures to be put into place, the analysis of their objectives, their modes of operation, their involvement in the dynamics of local development, their relationship with the economic world, and finally, the way in which the different structures involved may work in tandem;

• the pursuit, with all the players concerned, of studies on the

evolution of author's rights;

• the participation in group reflection on ethics and ecology of new

media.

• The CICV team

The CICV team (25 persons) essentially composed of management, is centred on three interdependent poles of interest:

• the "administrative" side, bringing together all the competencies

required for the running of the centre, the management of personnel, and the fiscal and legal landscapes;

• the "technical" side, bringing together competencies allowing the

development of the use of video, sound, multimedia, network and software;

• the "relationship" side, bringing together competencies and

facilitating the development of local, national or international partnerships, both in the private and public sectors, to promote the initiatives and productions of the Centre, to conceive and organise external events, both specialised (seminars, conferences, research groups), and general public (festivals, school and association interventions).