[Nettime-bold] Visual Culture @ De Balie, 6 & 7 April, 2001

[De Balie <epk@xs4all.nl>]

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
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Visual Culture


De Balie, Amsterdam
Friday 6th & Saturday 7th of April 2001


Visual Culture in De Balie

An important theme for De Balie in coming months is Visual Culture. This
new interdisciplinary terrain is typical for current times: it focuses on
different disciplines simultaneously while searching for connections. Film,
television as well as visual art, advertising, the urban environment and
new digital and electronic presentation forms are part of Visual Culture,
but also dress codes and the manner in which magazines and shops present
themselves in our experience economy that is strongly based on visual
stimuli. Visual Culture looks at the totality of visual messages, icons and
codes that confront us on a daily basis.

Two days, two themes

The program kicks off on the 6th and 7th of April with a two-day research
conference in the Balie in Amsterdam in which the subject Visual Culture
will be explored. Our wish is to further reflection beyond establishing
that so-called `high-' and `low' culture are increasingly less easy to
distinguish from each other, that art, culture and commerce are currently
developing ever more hand in hand and that our notions on art and culture
are changing - among other things because contemporary image culture is a
multiculture.
Two main themes will be broached: the increasing interrelation of art,
culture and economy and the mix of different image cultures in
multicultural society.
What does the convergence of all these cultural and social fields - that
were hitherto separate - mean? What consequences will this all have? How,
as an image producer caught up in that network of interests can one still
take a critical stance and put it into practice? What then does such a
critical stance look like? These questions among others will be dealt with.

Who's attending?

Nicholas Mirzoeff, an American authority and advocate of Visual Culture as
a new perspective. Olu Oguibe, visual artist and art-critic, expert on
critical issues on contemporary (African) art and cinema. Together with
Okwui Enwezor editor of Nka, journal of contemporary African art. Cathérine
David, artistic director of the last Documenta. John Akomfrah, a black film
maker and critic who unlike anyone else is able to analyze and depict value
judgements on the basis of ethnic and/or cultural differences. Jeff Rian,
editor in chief of the magazine Purple.