ecopolis

This high level panel looks at what the broadcast industry is doing to help raise awareness about environmental issues and particularly about global warming. Programming experts talk about what it really means to commission or distribute “Green” programming and use examples from different genres such as documentaries, kids programming or reality television.

Speakers:

Jo Fox, Head of Media, Environment Agency (UK)
Lynne Kirby, SVP Original Programming & Development, Sundance Green (USA)
Phil Dolling, Executive Producer, British Broadcasting Corporation (UK)
Ade Thomas, Managing Director, Green.tv (UK)
Johan Tuyaerts, Managing Director, Sultan Sushi (Belgium)
Barrie Osborne, Producer, Oceans: Engine of our Planet, Octtane pty (Singapore)
Robby London, Executive Vice President, Creative Affairs, DIC Entertainment (USA)

http://www.miptv.com

The first India-China-Russia Trilateral Conference held in New Delhi- organized by FICCI and CII in partnership the Ministry of External Affairs, government of India – saw V.I. Trubnikov, Ambassador, Russian Federation, Nalin Surie, Secretary (West) Ministry of External Affairs, Bu Jian Guo, Charge d’Affaires, Chinese Embassy and G.G. Petrov, vice-president, Chambers of Commerce engage on strengthening economic cooperation in a range of sectors.

Nalin Surie, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs, pointed out that the Conference was aimed at giving an economic, trade and business content to the ongoing process of strengthening the political relations amongst the three countries, with sectoral focus on energy, infrastructure, biotechnology, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and nanotechnology.

It was agreed that the conference should be an annual event and the next meeting would be held in China in 2009.

The meeting was a follow-up to the deliberations of the Foreign Ministers of India, China and the Russia, most recently in China, where Lavrov said Russia has no plans to enter into a military alliance with China and India. He added: “We advance cooperation in the bilateral format, in the trilateral format, within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization framework and in other structures. We also seek to resolve key security issues through multilateral discussions by politicians,” reported Chinadaily.

India, China and Russia constituted 40% of the world’s population and therefore was one of the largest markets in the world.

Researching the Future: aspects of Art and Technoetics 2007
Prato, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci
December 7-8-9, 2007

Topics-Themes:
Media Art, Syncreticism, Technoetic, Moist Media, Phenomenology, Media Studies, Psycotechnologies, Transmodalities, Interactive Media Design, Virtual Reality, Enhanced Reality, Freud and Dream Science, Radical Thought, Semilife, Cultural Studies, Cognitive Architectures and Consciousness, Enteogenesis …

Now more than ever artists work through cultural interfaces, the ways and means, turning to evocations of both science and mythology, technology and tradition.

The legacy of postmodernism has transformed itself in this “technoetic” variation. Today man is molded by hyperlinks, processors and networks and by bio and wet methodologies. Our senses are redefined, or rather, re-oriented from a collision with emerging realities, generated by new models of our world and of our subjectivity.

New art is linked to means that introduce it to a new praxis of production that is instantly pragmatic and philosophical. It (What? Art or the praxis?) generates interactivity and the transformation of common sense, both socially and aesthetically, while reflecting on the changing nature of perception, of connectivity and of conscience.

The man is not more into the center of the realm.

Works produced, both concretely and mentally, are made of a stratum of conscious associations, of unconscious sensitivity, of historic scientific data, of multiform unity and gripping discourse, fully interwoven in new telematic environments. These environments can be digital or natural and biological, furnishing us with new experiences and original creative visions.

Full program here.

Angel_F @ DFIR Internet Governance Forum Rome 27th Sept 2007

On September 27th, in Rome, the Dialogue Forum on Internet Rights took place at the Protomoteca hall in the Campidoglio. This was an important meeting in preparation of the Internet Governance Forum, that will take place in Rio de Janeiro this November : the forum is an organization created inside the United Nations , born to continue the work begun at the World Summit on Information Society, and it adopted a form of multi-stakeholder collaborative dialogue suitable for the inclusion of governaments, civil society and enterprises to the dialogue.

On September 26th, one day before the conference, Angel_f, a young artificial intelligence, decided to offer his contribution to the international debate, registering on the online forum that was created to allow for the collection of all the points of view and to truly transform the decisional process of the conference into an open, accessible practice.

His message – the point of view of a young digital being, not really different in structure from the ones we interact with in our everyday life (search engines, google, banks, post offices, multinationals… ) – addressed ecological issues that are constantly excluded in the dialogues about innovation, perspectives on the public identity of human beings and on its materialization on the network, showing the multiple idiosyncrasies appearing in the social, political, anthropological and cultural systems of the human beings.

Furthermore, Angel_f noticed how technology enabled the viable alterntives, but that these are obfuscated from the perception of the members of the mass society, and they hardly can be integrated to it, because society doesn’t yet seem prepared to accept the changes brought on by the evolution/revolution that the information society represents.

Angel_f’s message was never published on the DFIR forum, just like the conference’s live audience was not allowed to autonomously videotape and document the event, but the complete text can be read online here:

A short report from the september 27th conference can be found at this address:

Angel_f’s message contained insights that were too important to leave unpublished: the text has been placed on hundreds of forums, mailing lists and blogs, obtaining a good media coverage, thanks to the tools offered by the collaborative web. Even more: the spontaneous interest of Guido Vetere allowed the whole story to arrive on the main webpage of the italian newspaper “il Sole 24 Ore“.

The DFIR conference organizers know about the existence of this young digital being, and of his message: they denied that Angel_f was ever registered on the forum, claiming that his message was merely sent to their own mailing list.

Luckily, we were able to contradict them, as we held proof of little Angel_f’s registration (and of the 2 sent messages) through this screenshot:

The DFIR’s responsibles know it, too, but Angel_f’s message still doesn’t show up.

Sign to have it published!

[W]e[W]ant[W]it!
[W]e[W]ant[W]ays!

Andres Monroy Hernandez talks about the impacts of user created content. He was a speaker at the OECD-Canada Forum on the Participative Web: Strategies and Policies for the Future.
He’s member of the Life Long Kindegarten Group, that develops new technologies that, in the spirit of the blocks and fingerpaint of kindergarten, expand the range of what people can design, create, and learn.

In 5960 B.C. and 3580 B.C., Vesuvius had two eruptions that rate among the largest known in Europe. But the italian stratovolcano
is famous for the catastrophic eruption in 79 A.D. that buried the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii. It is estimated that at times during the eruption the column of ash was 20 miles tall.

Image: courtesy of Crew Creative.

It was also the first volcanic eruption ever to be described in detail by Pliny the Younger, who witnessed the eruption and later recorded his observations in two letters. He described the earthquakes before the eruption, the eruption column, air fall, the effects of the eruption on people, pyroclastic flows and distruction.

Praeterea mare in se resorberi et tremore terrae quasi repelli videbamus

That’s why volcanologists use the term “plinian” to refer to sustained explosive eruptions which generate high-altitude eruption columns and blanket large areas with ash.

The Pompeians who died trying to escape were buried in layers of moist ash, which as it fell was packed gently about the victims, precisely in the manner of plaster molds, preserving in detail their very features, the musculature of their bodies, the folds of their garments. And of their animals.

Beware the volcano!
Volcanoes provide resources for energy extraction, also called geothermal resources. Natural heat from the earth’s crust is being converted to steam therefore energy. The big advantages to this type of energy are that it is very clean and the resources are nearly inexhaustible.

The history of geothermal use prior to the industrial revolution. Also to the ancient greek and roman baths… It centers itself mainly in the volcanic region of western North America. The use of the geothermal resources during this period was by Paleo-Indians and Indians going back at least 10,000 years. Many of these hot springs, geysers, and fumaroles were sacred places for these Native Americans, who had a special respect and sacred understanding of the environment.

According to Karl Gawell and Griffin Greenberg 2007 Interim Report Update on World Geothermal Development

geothermal development appears to be accelerating. The trends in both the number of new countries developing geothermal energy and the total of new megawatts of power capacity under development appear to reverse slowdowns in international markets seen in the late 1990s, and approximate trends from the more robust 1980s

Chile and Italy have recently come together to plan the drilling of several wells in the southern regions of Chile. The Empresa Nacional de Geotermia S.A., jointly owned by the Italian company Enel and the Chilean company ENAP, is currently exploring the
potential of the lands on which it holds geothermal leases. In Italy Enel geothermal plants are concentrate in the region of Tuscany and they provide 5 billion Kwh per year, avoiding 3.8 millions tonnes of C02 emissions.

It is worth noting that in numerous cases discussed in this report, the success of development in a country is linked to government policies and initiatives. The extent of future geothermal project development would appear to depend more upon adequate funding and sustained policy support than geologic factors.

For example: The 2007-2013 Intelligent Energy – Europe (IEE) Programme is part of the Competitiveness and Innovation framework Programme (CIP). With a budget of €730 million, the IEE programme aims to increase use of renewable energy and reduced energy consumption by supporting energy efficiency, new and renewable energy sources, and technological solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by the transport sector.
European Green paper:
GREEN PAPER. A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy

The Future of Energy

The Future of Energy relies on the policy support: in Italy, at the moment we can mainly mention the art marketing and new media support starting with
Enel Contemporanea: Curated by Francesco Bonami, includes a series of public art installations in the city of Rome, created by three international artists dedicated to the theme of energy. After Angela Bulloch and Jeppe Hein, Patrick Tuttofuoco will close the first edition with an installation in Piazza del Popolo from 18th October to 4th November 2007.

For videomakers there is the Enel Digital Contest. Promoted by Enel and the Future Film Festival the aim is to create an original short film on “The Future of Energy.” Application form by October 31, 2007.

Last but not least EnelPARK, Enel’s island on Second Life.The park aims to inform and reveal by using interactive methods, entertainment and stunning features to attract its audience. Enel Island has been designed to welcome its visitors in maximum comfort. Avatars will accompany residents to the island’s various destinations.

But let’s Not (only) Play to make money: the 60th Annual DPI/NGO Conference will takes place until the 7th of sepetember at United Nations Headquarters in New York. More than 2,000 representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) from over 80 countries are expected to review the scientific evidence on climate change, including its consequences on indigenous peoples, water security, land use and the politics of energy. While on December 2007, the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meets in Bali. Governments will have a unique opportunity to build common ground to fight climate change.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the highest decision-making authority of the Convention. It is an association of all the countries that are Parties to the Convention. The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change supplements and strengthens the Convention and provides a further framework for action.

DEBORAH LIGORIO
VULCANO, 21st September 7 p.m.

Deborah Ligorio presents at Francesca Minini’s gallery a new video that leads the visitor to the discovery of one of the most frightful settings in the world: the Vesuvio. The public is invited to take part in this trip, an almost ascending path that, after overflying the ragged surface of the urban areas, ends up at the top of the volcano.
The sound captures fragments of radio broadcasts, speeches, music and interferences – in a parallel narration that becomes a comment on the flow of images.

Stream is any body of flowing fluid but also a continuous moving procession and line of development. A festive fluid – properly enviromental – which influenced the curatorial process of the first Stream Festival, in creating a three night and days artists residency on local and international levels. (check also Luca’s Streamfest point of review)

Ecopolis among other digital environmental experiences was invited to participate and reflect onto the topics : Emotions, Discovery, Play. So I have been driving from Rome to Galatina, via Taranto, Gallipoli, Martano streaming to the fest.

I have appreciated very much the occasion to meet a network of media activists dedicated at different levels to environmental “connection” : (not only) my Ecopolis partners Luca Barbeni and Antonio Rollo, (also) Paolo Atzori and the interesting 3d3 NABA students, Alessandra Pomarico of Sound Res, Jaromil, performing Carlo Infante, Gianluca Del Gobbo, Giulia Mainenti and great Cecile Landman of streamtime.org. A Fest which has produced a series of conversion of tacit knowledge and has explicited the difficulties related to the understanding of digital environments and social tagging. A paradigmatic meeting which ended up in the peace of nature. I think we all agreed that technology is not simply an extention of our body. More is a matter of (ever changing) environment. Consequently a multimedia and multisensorial experience.

My installation pick for this first edition is the Ingenium Loci an Interaction System by Giada Totaro, Giorgio Rinolfi, Alessandra Cascione with the sounding by Gilvia, a talented italian young composer.
While the live performance picks are the quite sophisticate Sombrero Party showcase featuring the Cologne duo playing a bubbling brew of mutant jazz, souls, electronics and funk with a baroque bassline;

and the finnish LackLuster, who managed to play – within the torrid heat – some fresh, icy and twitching textures.

Worth to mention the “historical” Sinatti Carillon Chandelier Sessions, a mixedmedia performance consisting of a specially constructed video chandelier and a real time image renderer, along with the presence of an electronic live set.

Kinotek Sound of Complexity, an attempt to make audible and visible the complexity of unheard and invisible waves: The crude sound of brain is translated in an audible frequencies through techniques of pitch shifting; then processed digitally in real time and the corresponding frequencies transformed in a Cartesian space to form visual trajectories projected on four screens that react dynamically.

Last but not leat: Jaromil hasciicam who makes possible to take live video from a capture device (like tv cards or quickcams) and renders it into ascii, formatting the output into an html page.
Valeria Guarcini aka Nikky deliriouniversale was the most fun and very interesting vjset which explored the possibility of infinitive framing and time topology through the use of diapositives. As much as the 2 days flowing PhotoStream of Matteo Barbeni and Alberto Ribotta.

Next day I continued my south pilgrimage to Copertino.

The Franciscan church of Saint Giuseppe is considered to be a Sanctuary. It dates back to 1754. Inside there is the “Stalletta”, a small room where the Saint was born, and a small museum. He became famous for his ecstasies, miracles, and for the gift of levitation, reported by numerous eye-witnesses. He experienced this so often he became known as “the flying Friar.”

Then I moved to Lecce. I was guested at Supersquillo’s home near the curved archway of Lecce’s “Porta Napoli” one of the city’s main thoroughfares that meander through the “Centro Storico”.

Porta Napoli – Also know as Arch of Triumph,was erected in 1548 to pay homepage to Charles V for having fortified the town. Near by you can find the famous Teatro Paisiello, Lecce’s most renowned opera house and named in honor of Giovanni Paisiello. Built in the late 1600’s and originally named the “Teatro Nuovo”, reopened in 1993 is also called by the locals “teatro muto” (mute) because of the last renewal which ruined the acoustic. I also heard of a protest against the elimination of many historical pine trees which badly failed as you can see walking by the viale dell’università. No pine trees are left.

On the contrary “pink park spaces” are politically and correctly placed in the heart of the leccese Baroque of public square S. Oronzo

South park is infact controversial. Big Romanesque central rose windows, the rich frames, the columns, the imaginay creatures, the animals, the mythological and historical characters, the rural landscape, the natural food makes the Salento a perfect site for streaming into an ecstatic time. Felicità maniaca Carmelo Bene would say and play it, wouldn’t he?

Felicità
Felicità maniaca che ne faremo io della mia anima e
lei della gioventù sua cagionevole
lei, che tutto il mio cuore e la mia vita dove sarà a quest’ora …

But there is the emergency to create more Cultural and Environmental international occasion for the local population and more attention from the provincial administration. On preserving and updating these cultural treasures ensures their contribution to tourism and regional economic development is sustained over the long term, so that future generations may also benefit from them. We need old and new Fairs. Updated structure. Renewed festival. An essential pluriliguism, made of cultural vagabondage and more attention to electronic women. Streamfest was a good, yet critical, begin. And we are looking forward to check it next year – In the mean time the stream goes on.

Online Videos by ECOPOLIS

Jonathan Harris, interactive designer, explains, at TED Conferences’s, how he see the data visualization process. He presents three projects: We Feel Fine, a project that search into blogs to collect the planet’s emoticons, the Yahoo! Time Capsule, which records images, quotes and thoughts appeared in 2006, and he premieres Universe, which presents daily events as constellations of words.