EXHIBITION 1997

Alt. Use. Media
from 1997-04-12 to 1997-06-22

opening date: 1997-04-12

A sampler an a countercurren public sphere, production conditions and modes of distribution

With the rise of the New Communications Tecnologies and the monopolization of the entertainment industry over the last twenty years, the necessity to think over the possibilities and tasks of alternative media has gained momentum. The question of who controls speech, who broadcasts and who receives is a valid issue not only in the internet debate but also for those media producers who are active in grassroot organizations and local brodcast stations.

With Alt.Use.Media we intended to engage in a long term reflection on the impact of the increasing mediatisation on the political and cultural perception of information and identity and what possibilities and problematics ensue in terms of our own program.

As the first event of this cycle, together with Radio LoRa, Klipp and Klang and the Rote Fabrik, we organized the congress Net.Node.Media - Perspectives of independent radio, which reexamined the concept of a conter-cultural public sphere. In the following filmscreenings, presentations and discussions at the Shedhalle, we first turned to the historical roots of alternative media practice in film and video and presented also a number of contemporary groups. In the second part, we took a close look at strategies of printed matters and their consciousness-raising tradition on which later strategies of a communications guerrilla are based. The installation of a digital production studio offering introductory training workshops meant to confront the reflections arising from the critical and theoretical discourse, with the reality of practice.

artists: ak-kraak (Berlin), Claudia v. Alemann (Hamburg), Autonome A.F.R.I.K.A. Gruppe (Köln u.a.), Sabeth Buchmann (Berlin), Jörg Burger (Köln), Corazôn (München), Katja Diefenbach (München), Martin Ebner (Berlin), Jesko Fezer (Berlin), Filmkollektiv Zprich, Reto Friedmann (Zürich), Coco Fusco (New York), Urs Graf (Zürich), Yola Grimm (München), ...Hilfe (München/Zürich), Silvana Ianetta (Zürich), Innenstadt Ag Zürich, Klipp + Klang (Zürich), Armin Kölli (Zürich), LokalTV (Wien), Pia Lanzinger (München), Susanne Lummerding (Wien), Marcus Maeder (Zürich), Bianca Miglioretto (Zürich), Ariane Müller (Wien), Delia Negri (Zürich), Heinz Nigg (Zürich), Carole Roussopoulos (Paris/Sion), Bernd Schurer (Zürich), Sex&Space revisited (Bern, Genf, Zprich), Hans Stürm (Zürich), Videoladen Zürich, Vor der Information (Wien), Brian Wallis (New York), Daniel Weiss (Zürich)