2003 Festival der Regionen
Ein interdisziplinäres Spektakel
7 Tage zwischen Politik und Kunst
v.o.n. karawane
Karawanen und Fahrendes Volk waren für Herrschende von jeher eine Quelle der Unsicherheit und des Argwohns. Verfügten sie doch häufig über Informationen, die man den eigenen Untertanen gerne vorenthalten hätte. Mit ihrem Wissen um Zustände und Verhältnisse in anderen Regionen und Reichen säten sie oftmals Unruhe und Unzufriedenheit unter die bis dahin gehorsamen Untertanen. Vor allem aber brachten sie so manche Lügengebäude und Mythen, auf die sich viele Herrschaften stützten, zum Wanken und manchmal gar zum Einsturz. So wurden sie immer wieder verfolgt, vertrieben, und es wurden schauerliche Geschichten über sie verbreitet. Methoden, die im übrigen auch heute noch aufrechterhalten werden. Ob durch fremdenfeindliche Gesetze, mörderische Grenzsicherungen oder die Diffamierung von MigrantInnen als Jobkiller, Sozialschmarotzer oder DrogendealerInnen.
Die Karawane, die von 29. Juni bis 4. Juli von Kohlgrube nach Linz zieht, wird auf ihrem Weg jeden Abend Station machen und in Veranstaltungen Aspekte der neoliberalen Globalisierung thematisieren. Und das mit einem Erscheinungsbild, als sei sie direkt einem wüsten Albtraum von W. Bush entstiegen.
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Caravans and travelling people have always been a source of unease and distrust to those in power, since they had access to information that one had rather kept safely away from the rest of the people. With their knowledge about the state of affairs in other regions and reigns, they tended to cause unrest and discontent amongst usually obedient subjects. They could even seriously damage or destroy some of the myths and constructed lies that many ruling power systems rested upon. Over and over again they ended up being chased, and chased away, and the most horrifying stories were spread about them. These same methods, by the way, are still very much in use today; be it in xenophobic legislation, in the deadly safeguarding of borders, or in defaming immigrants as job killers, drug dealers or for generally taking advantage of the welfare system.
… with a look of George W. Bush‚s worst nightmare come true. The caravan crossing Upper Austria, consisting of eight camels and about 20 people, will keep up this tradition and adress dominant power constructs and modern myths. Such as the myth that “There‚s no alternative” (Margaret Thatcher) to capitalism and neo-liberalism. But also the omnipresent disinformation and oppression by mass media under the influence, as most recently seen during the war on Iraq, will be a target.
On its way from Kohlgrube to Linz, the caravan starting June 29th and running through July 3rd will stop every evening to set up camp and cook, inviting everyone (locals, caravan participants, curious bystanders) to deal with different aspects of neo-liberal globalisation in a series of events: film projections, discussion groups or panels about issues such as the construction of animosity, world rule, fit for fun, power of the media, xenophobia, resistance, or affirmative pop culture. The caravan will also meet other travellers, such as the Volxtheaterkarawane (Wels) or Kanak Attak (Linz) for specific evening programmes.
Projekt: karawane.servus.at
DVD order: dagmar@servus.at
technisches Setup/technical setup:
Us(c)hi Reiter studied graphic and design at the Kunstuniverstät Linz. As artist and project developer with a special interesst in net.activism and audio-visual communication she has been collaborating with different groups and artists since 1998. From 2005 till 2017 Reiter run the non-profit cultural backbone organisation servus.at/Kunst & Kultur im Netz. She continues to research Free/Libre/Open Source Software in the frame of cultural production and art as well as work on conceptual and performative setups. She is one of the main founder of Art Meets Radical Openness and since 2018 still active at the board of the association. Currently she works for the architekturforum oberösterreich.
For the virtual minds exhibition and congress at Bremen we decided to focus on the hybrid idea of the congress with every participant being defined as a virtual mind — congress speakers and bots being approached on the same level.