About the ElectroSmog Festival
International Festival for Sustainable Immobility
March 18 – 20, 2010
Concept
ElectroSmog is a new festival that revolves around the concept Sustainable Immobility. The festival will introduce and explore this concept in theory and practice. With Sustainable Immobility we refer to a critique of current systems of hyper mobility of people and products in travel and transport, and their ecological unsustainability.
The exploration of Sustainable Immobility is a quest for a more sustainable life style, which is less determined by speed and constant mobility. A lifestyle that celebrates stronger links to local cultures, while at the same time deepening our connections to others across any geographical divide, using new communication technologies instead of physical travel .
What we propose may sound a bit like a paradox: The proposition of the festival is that the unfolding crisis of mobility can only be effectively addressed by deepening our connections across geographical divides through new communication technologies. The festival wants to engage the fundamental promise of the information age that communication technologies can replace the need for physical mobility, and thus both contribute to ecological stability as well as a more rewarding both deep-local and translocal life-style. While this promise has existed since the dawn of the information age, it was never realised. New material realties, however, force us to critically re-examine these promises and seriously start to turn them into viable choices.
Nothing is self-evident for us. We will also critically question the underlying premise that reliance on electronic connections and local roots is self-evidently more energy efficient and more ecologically sustainable than current systems of globalised mobility of people and goods.
What are the true energy costs and environmental and health hazards of using even more electronic technologies (increased levels of electrosmog)?
How can remote connections become a truly rewarding experience in and of themselves?
Is ‘going local’ the only solution?
We believe that only by answering such questions a viable alternative to the current unsustainable systems of hyper-mobility can be found.
Bringing together a broad coalition
The ElectroSmog festival brings together a broad coalition of designers, environmentalists, urban and spatial planners, technologists, artists, theorists, and engaged and concerned citizens, to explore and ‘design’ sustainable immobility. The festival stakes its claim for a radical break with the current systems of hyper-mobility not simply by discussing the issue, but by actually implementing it. To achieve this the very concept of an international festival and its traditional conventions need to be rethought and redesigned from the ground up.
Connecting the local off-line local with the international on-line
ElectroSmog is a truly international festival, with everything you might expect of such a festival: international debates and discussions, performances, art projects, exhibits, site specific projects, screenings, and much more. However, no presenter will travel beyond their local or regional boundaries to participate in this event.
To achieve this we will work together in a network of accomplished cultural and new media centres, labs, theatres and other public venues to create the local ‘hubs’ that will inter-connect for this unique festival.
A crucial dimension of the festival will be its on-line presence, where audiences from basically anywhere with an internet connection can follow events on-line, join in discussions and debates, and contribute to the program.
Beyond the broadband enclaves
ElectroSmog acknowledges from the start that bandwidth is not equally distributed across and within societies. Therefore remote connection to lower bandwidth spaces, do-it-yourself telematics, and information technologies for the majority world will be one the central concerns the festival wishes to address, again both in theory and in practice.
Thematic discussions, presentations and connected debates
The ElectroSmog festival-program is organised around a series of interlocking thematic programs, connected discussions and debates all transmitted live over the internet. Themes covered by these events include:
• Global perspectives on hyper-mobility
• Witnessed Presence
• Hyper-mobility and the urban condition
• City & country branding debate
• Deep local and remote technologies
• Designing for (im)mobility
• e-mobility versus immobility
• Public media art projects and sustainability
• Energy and information
• ElectroSmog is Good for You!
• Food and global mobility
Satellite events
Around the main program a host of satellite events is organised locally and translocally.
These include:
• Art projects and local interventions, including original works by Bureau des Etudes, Karen Lancel & Hermen Maat, John Cohrs, Sean Kerr, Kevin McCourt & Bartolo Luque, Esther Polak and others.
• Special events, screenings, book launches, and more.
• A program of connected and localised workshops
• On-line projects and environments designed specifically for the festival.
Further enquiries can be directed at: info@electrosmogfestival.net
Where is the festival taking place?
Hi Greg,
The festival will take place in many locations at the same time (see the partner network for a first indication), and of course also predominantly on-line. All locations will be interconnected via internet and other means, but you can always follow the actual events in March (2010) via our website, which we will launch later this Spring. Till that time this blog will be the news channel about preparations.
Locations so far confirmed are: Amsterdam, Riga, New York, Madrid, Helsinki, London, Banff, Aotearoa New Zealand, Muncih and various second life locations.
We expect this to grow a bit further still.
Eric
(festival editors)
RL Berlin and SL newBERLIN would be happy to join!
greetings!
[...] of course Electrosmog Festival is not about the eradication of internet and connectivity. In fact, it is about a conscious use of [...]
It seems an original point of view on new media and ecolife.
Interesting
I will follow it.
Lorenzo
Is it possible to submit work to this initiative? I’ve recently finished a series of paintings on the environmental unsustainablity of the American Food Machine which can be found here: http://www.lee-lee.com/release/reap.shtml
Thank you for putting this very important topic together -
Lee Lee
Hi Lee Lee,
Just saw this – you cannot submit physical works as we don’t want to ship physical art works, just like presenters are not allowed to travel for this festival.
You can submit a description of the work, and you already have a website. You could consider entering this for the design competition (all info is on this blog) – then there would be an opportunity to present this work live on-line using skype as part of the festival (if the work is selected for the show). Intellectual Property remains in all cases entirely with the author, we will not claim anything in the competition – we just want to stimulate debate.
Submissions can go to info [ a t ] electrosmgofestival.net
best wishes,
Eric
march 18-20 are those the dates of the event?
our theatre, Teatro Maria Matos in Lisbon, is co-producing with the Portuguese theatre company Mundo Perfeito an international theatre performance, made by 6 theatre artists from 5 different countries, exclusively through the use of electronic communication. Only the performances itself will take place at the end of July in Lisbon. The makers will make the whole piece online and only appear in Lisbon on the day of the first performance to play it. As far as theatre goes, I see no way out. If it isn’t live, it isn’t theatre… The whole process will be documented.
We are a growing community of Dutch professionals who work on sustainability as a whole through the STIR Foundation. We use the name “City of Tomorrow” for our think tanks (over 15 now) and our complex co-creative, multi-disciplinary local for local city and countryside projects. We support large multinationals in their transformation from hierchies to dynamic communities and all related sustainability issues s.a. (im)mobility, energy, living green spaces, internal vitality, etc.
We work together with live streaming local City TV and triplepmedia and wonder how we can hook up with this event both with a speakers panel as with an audience and broadcasting means? Look forward to hearing from you.
Jean-Paul (founder of the STIR foundation)
Hi there electrosmog!
High Tide would love to get involved in the festival! We could (unofficially) represent the city of Liverpool, UK. Does this sound good to you?
Currently we have a major eco-art exhibition going on at the Art & Design Academy, Liverpool John Moores University. If you check-out our website you’ll see all details including a great programme of events http://www.hightideuk.org
We would very much like to share the ‘visual’ element of our activities with you during the festival. Initially we have lots of images of the exhibition and events to show. In addition, all who are involved with High Tide (artists, scientists, educators etc.) will have the opportunity to go on-line and contribute to the festival ‘dialogue’.
Very best wishes!
James & Janette
High Tide
[...] International Festival for Sustainable Immobility [...]