Work in Progress
"Work in Progress" was the cultural event day of the "Practice to Policy" conference.
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It presented the vitality and diversity of the new media culture in Europe. 22 organisations working in the field of culture and new media-technology presented their 'work in progress' at five locations in the historical heart of Amsterdam, by means of performances, presentations, exhibitions, concerts and live events in physical space and the media. These five locations were interconnected as a cultural walking route. Work in Progress was organised by the Virtual Platform as a conclusion of the conference Towards A European Media Culture - From Practice to Policy, which brought together a unique group of large and small cultural organisations.
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The encounter of culture with new media is a particularly interdisciplinary terrain. The organisations who participated in Work in Progress came from highly diverse backgrounds, such as design, visual arts, music, radio, television, or culture and politics. The scope ranged from the innovative research on interface design by Art+Com from Berlin, or the Ars Electronica festival from Linz, the largest festival for electronic art in Europe, to the revolutionary Radio B92 from Belgrade that managed to mobilise the outside world with its presence in the Internet when it was threatened to be closed down by the Yugoslav authorities, or the tiny E-Lab artist organisation from Riga (Latvia), who were quickly developing into pioneers of Internet broadcast.
What these organisations share is the recognition that the rapid proliferation of digital media and computer networks will have a growing impact on culture and society. Cultural initiatives are also taking an increasingly prominent role in the innovation and application of this by origin technical terrain.
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