Video makers, media activists, software developers and artists from 15 countries across the Asia-Pacific will be gathering in Sukabumi, West Java from May 19-25 for an online video skills camp. The goal of the camp is to bring together open source software programmers, video makers and media activists to develop the strategic use of online video distribution for social justice and media democracy.TX-AP is a joint initiative between media activists in Australia and Indonesia. It is organised collaboratively by EngageMedia (Australia), a video sharing website and free software development, training and networking project and Ruangrupa (Indonesia) a non-profit artist initiative supporting the development of art in the cultural context through events, exhibitions, research and documentation. 50 specially invited media activists and artists will be coming to Indonesia to attend the workshop and share their skills and ideas.
The camp will provide a unique opportunity for artists, video makers, software developers and activists to collaborate and share skills in a global context where on-line video communication skills have become an increasingly important strategy for activists.
Read more for details or visit http://transmission.cc/txap ]]>
Video makers, media activists, software developers and artists from 15 countries across the Asia-Pacific will be gathering in Sukabumi, West Java from May 19-25 for an online video skills camp. The goal of the camp is to bring together open source software programmers, video makers and media activists to develop the strategic use of online video distribution for social justice and media democracy.
TX-AP is a joint initiative between media activists in Australia and Indonesia. It is organised collaboratively by EngageMedia (Australia), a video sharing website and free software development, training and networking project and Ruangrupa (Indonesia) a non-profit artist initiative supporting the development of art in the cultural context through events, exhibitions, research and documentation. 50 specially invited media activists and artists will be coming to Indonesia to attend the workshop and share their skills and ideas.
The camp will provide a unique opportunity for artists, video makers, software developers and activists to collaborate and share skills in a global context where on-line video communication skills have become an increasingly important strategy for activists.
Read more for details or visit http://transmission.cc/txap
Andrew Lowenthal of EngageMedia explained "Transmission Asia-Pacific will be a unique face to face meeting between video makers and open source software developers to shape open source online video sharing applications and their strategic use for social aims". He went on to explain "free and open source makes sense for organisations with limited means, both from a strictly economic point of view and also as part of their overall strategic aims, as the system of open collaboration and sharing that free software is based on has a natural philosophical fit with organisations working on environmental or social justice issues".
Participants will attend from around the region, for example participants from from Hong Kong making videos about communities resisting gentrification and over development of urban areas in Hong Kong and China. This group puts video cameras into the hands of those most affected by these policies and then helps them edit and share their work on-line. Projects such as these increase the communication rights of marginalized and displaced peoples allowing them to articulate their concerns to a wider public.
Another media activist from India has been using on-line media distribution to raise awareness of censorship of diverse sexualities in mainstream Indian media outlets. They have produced a satirical and humorous look at queer moments from Bollywood films to draw attention to the marginalisation of these voices within Indian society.
Transmission Asia-Pacific is the 4th in a series of events bringing together video activists and web developers. Previous events have occurred in Rome, London and Amsterdam.
For media access to the camp, stories of individual participants and topics of discussion at the event please contact:
Andrew Lowenthal (EngageMedia): +61 439 093 779 (Australia)
+6281319339823 (Indonesia) http://engagemedia.org
Mirwan Andan (Ruangrupa): +62 813 1924 2965 http://ruangrupa.org
For more information on the workshop: http://transmission.cc/txap
Transmission Asia-Pacific is supported by Hivos and the Open Society Institute
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Tehelka is a weekly independent newspaper in India which covers social and cultural in-depth articles which are not seen in the major newspapers. The paper's motto is "The People's Paper - Free - Fair - Fearless". ]]>
Tehelka is a weekly independent newspaper in India which covers social and cultural in-depth articles which are not seen in the major newspapers. The paper's motto is "The People's Paper - Free - Fair - Fearless".
Brink City an article in August 2006 Issue is a great insight into the plight of some of Mumbai's inhabitants and raises the issue of unrecognised malnutrition and the plight of some women & children living in the city slums.
visit http://www.tehelka.com/ for more details
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This article is about MSF (Medecins Sans Frontiers aka Doctors Without Borders) claim that American drug manufacturer Abbott Laboratories are allegedly denying patients in Asia access to an improved version of the AIDS drugs lopinavir and ritonavir. These are apparently "important second-line drugs for people who have been on treatement for several years. The new version of the drug has advantages over the old version, including lower pill count, storage without refrigeration, and no dietary restrictions."
"According to MSF, high temperatures and regular power failures are making storage and use of the older drug - the only one available - unreliable. And although the UN recently identified India as the country with the highest number of people liviing with HIV/AIDS in the world, the new version of the drug is not for sale."
According to the article, apparently, it's not for sale as it wasn't registered in 'developing countries' and without being registered, it cannot be sold here. The old version of the drug is not even available in China (or the new version) because the drug company has not marketed to this country. Countries such as Thailand which also has high temperatures (30C most of the year) would also benefit from the new version of the drug. The old version of the drug is no longer available to the US market - MSF Thailand rep calls it a "second-best product" and I can understand his point. The drug company IS distributing the new version of the drug in Africa, but it seems that this only happened after a time consuming set of procedures were followed.
I took a look on the MSF website for more info and found a few articles here, here and here but I couldn't find specific information about it's release in India but there was an article about the drugs not being released in Thailand anytime soon so that's bad enough in itself. most of the MSF articles were about African countries. so perhaps India isn't counted as one of the 'developing countries'. still I think if the drugs were not available here and they obviously need to be, then they should be!
Over the last week there have been a couple of articles speaking about AIDS in India - one said that India has the largest population of people outside of Africa infected with HIV/AIDS. I read in one of the Sarai Readers that many people here have not even heard of AIDS so they are trying to educate more people. on the tv the other night was an ad for the Heroes Project in Delhi / India. from their media campaign page :
Media Campaign
The Mass Media Campaign seeks to create widespread awareness on HIV/AIDS, promote positive attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS, and influence groups to change high risk behavior that make them vulnerable to the infection. It will use a series of public service announcements (PSA), online and print content, television and radio programming as well as several educational events to do this. In order to best address HIV/AIDS through the various mass media, Heroes Project has developed a strategic communications approach to address diverse groups such as sexually active men, married women and youth across all levels of society.
One of the main objectives during the course of the mass media initiative is to expand and coordinate the campaign with a range of media partners. Areas of association and activities within these partnerships include amongst others:
* Pledging airtime/space for release of PSAs, which will be available rights-free to all.
* Developing original programming formats.
* Incorporation of HIV/AIDS storylines into existing programs such as serials, reality shows and documentaries.
* Support for journalist programs and enhanced news and editorial coverage - employee sensitization.
* Orientation workshops for creative content development.
the UN AIDS website released a report - here's a media summary listing some numbers - http://www.unaids.org has the full report and more info.
from http://www.unaids.org/en/Regions_Countries/default.asp
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10% of the world’s population, but is home to more than 60% of all people living with HIV—25.8 million.
In 2005, an estimated 3.2 million people in the region became newly infected, while 2.4 million adults and children died of AIDS.
Asia
In 2005, some 8.3 million people were living with HIV in Asia, including 1.1 million people who became newly infected in the past year. AIDS claimed some 520,000 lives in 2005
---
update 10/07/2006
ok, I don't feel as bad now about the decision making policy of the Times newspaper editors on what should be front page news. the front page of the Times International this morning had the article "Latest AIDS treatment is a daily pill" and spoke of the new drug being available in India shortly. I don't think it's the same as the one MSF are referring to, but hopefully it'll be of some help to the people here.
This article is about MSF (Medecins Sans Frontiers aka Doctors Without Borders) claim that American drug manufacturer Abbott Laboratories are allegedly denying patients in Asia access to an improved version of the AIDS drugs lopinavir and ritonavir. These are apparently "important second-line drugs for people who have been on treatement for several years. The new version of the drug has advantages over the old version, including lower pill count, storage without refrigeration, and no dietary restrictions."
"According to MSF, high temperatures and regular power failures are making storage and use of the older drug - the only one available - unreliable. And although the UN recently identified India as the country with the highest number of people liviing with HIV/AIDS in the world, the new version of the drug is not for sale."
According to the article, apparently, it's not for sale as it wasn't registered in 'developing countries' and without being registered, it cannot be sold here. The old version of the drug is not even available in China (or the new version) because the drug company has not marketed to this country. Countries such as Thailand which also has high temperatures (30C most of the year) would also benefit from the new version of the drug. The old version of the drug is no longer available to the US market - MSF Thailand rep calls it a "second-best product" and I can understand his point. The drug company IS distributing the new version of the drug in Africa, but it seems that this only happened after a time consuming set of procedures were followed.
I took a look on the MSF website for more info and found a few articles here, here and here but I couldn't find specific information about it's release in India but there was an article about the drugs not being released in Thailand anytime soon so that's bad enough in itself. most of the MSF articles were about African countries. so perhaps India isn't counted as one of the 'developing countries'. still I think if the drugs were not available here and they obviously need to be, then they should be!
Over the last week there have been a couple of articles speaking about AIDS in India - one said that India has the largest population of people outside of Africa infected with HIV/AIDS. I read in one of the Sarai Readers that many people here have not even heard of AIDS so they are trying to educate more people. on the tv the other night was an ad for the Heroes Project in Delhi / India. from their media campaign page :
Media Campaign
The Mass Media Campaign seeks to create widespread awareness on HIV/AIDS, promote positive attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS, and influence groups to change high risk behavior that make them vulnerable to the infection. It will use a series of public service announcements (PSA), online and print content, television and radio programming as well as several educational events to do this. In order to best address HIV/AIDS through the various mass media, Heroes Project has developed a strategic communications approach to address diverse groups such as sexually active men, married women and youth across all levels of society.
One of the main objectives during the course of the mass media initiative is to expand and coordinate the campaign with a range of media partners. Areas of association and activities within these partnerships include amongst others:
* Pledging airtime/space for release of PSAs, which will be available rights-free to all.
* Developing original programming formats.
* Incorporation of HIV/AIDS storylines into existing programs such as serials, reality shows and documentaries.
* Support for journalist programs and enhanced news and editorial coverage - employee sensitization.
* Orientation workshops for creative content development.
the UN AIDS website released a report - here's a media summary listing some numbers - http://www.unaids.org has the full report and more info.
from http://www.unaids.org/en/Regions_Countries/default.asp
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10% of the world’s population, but is home to more than 60% of all people living with HIV—25.8 million.
In 2005, an estimated 3.2 million people in the region became newly infected, while 2.4 million adults and children died of AIDS.
Asia
In 2005, some 8.3 million people were living with HIV in Asia, including 1.1 million people who became newly infected in the past year. AIDS claimed some 520,000 lives in 2005
---
update 10/07/2006
ok, I don't feel as bad now about the decision making policy of the Times newspaper editors on what should be front page news. the front page of the Times International this morning had the article "Latest AIDS treatment is a daily pill" and spoke of the new drug being available in India shortly. I don't think it's the same as the one MSF are referring to, but hopefully it'll be of some help to the people here.
2003 The first Weather in My Brain happens at the 284 Substitude Space, with a group of Taiwanese artists spontaneously taking part.
2004 The second Weather in My Brain at Huashan Arts District happens over five successive days, a banquet of avant-garde sound and visual art featuring Zbigniew Karkowski (Poland), Takagi Masakatsu (Japan), Dickson Dee (Hong Kong), Otomo Yoshihid (Japan), guitarist SXM (Czech), Keiji Haino (Japan), and several Taiwanese performers, including Weathermen and KbN.
2005 The third Weather in My Brain Sound-Visual Art Festival is set for December.The event will include four sections: Weather in My Brain Sound – Visual Art Festival Performance Series, Weather in My Brain Music Video Festival, Weather in My Brain International Sound – Visual Art Forum, and Weather in My Brain Taiwanese Open Exhibition/Performances. For the long term, it is also planned to establish a Taiwan Sound – Visual Artist's Community.
Performance applications for Weather in My Brain Sound - Visual Art Festival:
Applicants must submit at least one video or sound work. Those submitting three or more will receive preference.
Those accepted will perform in a lineup of Taiwanese and international participants, be included in the festival catalogue, receive a pass to the festival, an invitation to the International Exchange Forum, a festival DVD, and other Weather in My Brain commemorative stuff.
Music video applications for Weather in My Brain Music Video Festival:
There is no limit to the number of music videos that may be submitted. Accepted works will be shown as part of the Weather in My Brain Music Video Festival and be included in the festival catalogue. Directors will receive a pass to the festival, an invitation to the International Exchange Forum, a festival DVD, and other Weather in My Brain commemorative stuff.
Application notes:
※ To apply by post, please use the form below and mail it to us along with optical discs containing your sound or video files. Audio-visual file formats are limited to: DVD, VCD, .mpeg, .avi, and .mov.
※ To apply by email, please fill out the form below and attach it along with your sound or video files, then send to : info@weatherinmybrain.org.
※ All music genres are allowed. All types of performances – bands, DJs, solo sets, etc. – are allowed. ※Are you a musician, sound artist, or video artist that can’t find a collaborator? Would you like to find a collaborator with whom to apply for Weather in My Brain? To help out, we’ve established the Taiwan Image Music Creative Exchange Forum. If you’re interested, feel free to log in to our site and do a search: http://www.weatherinmybrain.org/. (At present, in Chinese only)
Web site/ download application form: http://www.weatherinmybrain.org/
Application deadline: Deadline information will be posted on the web site.
Mailing address: #8-2, Alley 5, Lane 153, Sec. 2, Xinglong Rd, Taipei 11689
Telephone: +886-2-2933-3431
Fax: +886-2-2933-9377
Email info@weatherinmybrain.org
Supervisory agencies: National Culture and Arts Foundation,Taipei City Culture Bureau
Organizer: Meteorology Studio Silent Agreement
Affiliate organizers: Happy Happy Promotion
Anyway, I've set up a new website where you can check out a back-catalogue of interviews I've done, both new and old, with the likes of Coldcut, Luke Vibert, Andrew Weatherall, Si Begg, Reinhard Voigt, Goldie, Jeff Mills, Claude Young, and Mamoru Oshii (the director of Ghost in the Shell 2)... if you can be bothered!!
;)
It's at: http://andrezbergen.tripod.com
Cheers,
Andrez
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raqs_Media_Collective
Sarai
In 1999, the members of Raqs Media Collective were invited to participate in the development of a strategy for the public broadcasting of documentary films in India, a discussion which led to the foundation of the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, still the main engine of documentary film production and viewership in India. More significantly for Raqs's own work, this thinking took them into the new debates about knowledge, culture and technology that had become prominent with the rise of the Internet, and led to a search for new forms of production and dissemination of knowledge and cultural material.
In 2001 Raqs co-founded Sarai at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. The word sarai, or caravansarai, common to many Central Asian and Indian languages, refers to the shelters for travellers, sometimes large and extravagant, that traditionally dotted the cities and highways of that part of the world, facilitating travel and commerce but also enabling the exchange of stories and ideas. Serving the function, variously, of research centre, publishing house, cafe, conference centre, cinema, software laboratory and studio for digital art and design, Sarai is striking for its networked structure. Through its institutional partnerships, the research fellowships it provides each year, its residencies for visiting artists, researchers and programmers, multiple email lists, and many informal collaborations, Sarai has developed a large network that allows it to accumulate a vast range of knowledge and opinion from across the world and to make it available in many forms, places and languages. "Cybermohalla", the network of media laboratories established by Sarai in slum areas of Delhi, has led to a particularly impressive collaboration between members of Sarai and groups of young writers, artists and thinkers from these areas; while collaborations with programmers have led to "OPUS", an online experiment in artistic production inspired by the working practices of the free software movement.
]]>This guidebook was compiled for readers who may want to visit Asian cities to see the local contemporary art scene, those who are looking for partners and collaborators for an exchange program with arts professionals, those who are carrying out research, and many others who are interested in Asia and would like to access local information.
We hope that this book will be a useful guide that enables readers to become familiar with the diverse arts activities, and encourage further exchange and collaboration in Asia.
Produced by: The Japan Foundation
Published by: Tankosha Publishing Co., Ltd. (Tel. 81-3-5269-7941)
Price: 1,800 JPY (1,890 JPY after tax) ISBN4-473-03211-6
Details: A5 variant size, total 350 pages, bilingual in Japanese /English
Contents: 170 contemporary art spaces in 16 countries/region in the Asia-Pacific region (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia), with (1) overview text introducing the contemporary art scene in each country, (2) outline of each contemporary art spaces with contact information, and (3) art museum and commercial gallery supplement for selected countries
For Purchase: (Japan) Available at major bookstores
(Outside Japan) Available from mid-December through the following distributor:
Mr. John Simons
Idea Books
Niewe Herengracht 11
1011 RK, Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: +31.20.6226154
E-mail:john@ideabooks.nl
Overview Text Contributors:
Australia Billy Crawford Bangladesh Lala Rukh Selim
China Qiu Zhijie Hong Kong Phoebe Wong
Taiwan Yao Jui-chung India Pooja Sood
Indonesia Agung Hujatnikajennong Japan Hara Hisako
Korea Beck, Jee-sook, Malaysia Beverly Yong
Pakistan Quddus Mirza The Philippines Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez
Singapore Lindy Poh Sri Lanka Sharmini Pereira
Thailand Klaomard Yipintsoi Vietnam Tran Luong
For purchase and inquiries, please contact Furuichi Yasuko, Visual Arts Division, Arts Department (Tel. 81-3-5562-3529)
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Raqs Media Collective - excerpt from Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raqs_Media_Collective
Raqs Media Collective is a group of three media practitioners - Jeebesh Bagchi (New Delhi, 1965), Monica Narula (New Delhi, 1969) and Shuddhabrata Sengupta (New Delhi, 1968) - based in New Delhi. Raqs is best known for its contribution to contemporary art, and has presented work at most of the major international shows, from Documenta to the Venice Biennale; but the collective is active in an unusually wide range of domains, and it is perhaps this breadth that gives their work its originality and scope. ]]>
Raqs Media Collective - excerpt from Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raqs_Media_Collective
Raqs Media Collective is a group of three media practitioners - Jeebesh Bagchi (New Delhi, 1965), Monica Narula (New Delhi, 1969) and Shuddhabrata Sengupta (New Delhi, 1968) - based in New Delhi. Raqs is best known for its contribution to contemporary art, and has presented work at most of the major international shows, from Documenta to the Venice Biennale; but the collective is active in an unusually wide range of domains, and it is perhaps this breadth that gives their work its originality and scope.
Raqs Media Collective was formed in 1992 after its three members graduated together from the prestigious Mass Communications Research Centre at the Jamia Milia Islamia university in Delhi. During the rest of the 1990s, Raqs made a number of strikingly original documentary films, including In the Eye of the Fish (1997), Present Imperfect, Future Tense (1999) and a thirteen-part television series, Growing Up (1995), which display many of the themes that the collective has continued to explore and develop in its subsequent work: the urban landscape and experience, the meaning and uses of media and technology, the nature of knowledge and what it means to learn, and the idea of creativity - which in their work becomes not only an artistic impulse but also a wider human faculty associated with the capacity of individuals and societies for imaginative and ethical innovation. These films show Raqs strenuously avoiding conventional tropes of documentary narrative, whose relationship to sedimented forms of power strikes them keenly, and searching for new kinds of flow and coherence.
visit http://www.raqsmediacollective.net/ for more details
]]>'Cuanto Vale" is a Brisbane compilation CD featuring sounds from dub, jazz and funk to world music, hip hop and reggae.
It features bands Afro Dizzi Act, Hot Rubber Glove, Promiscuous, Plastic Wooden Fruit, Zimbira, 21 Dub Street, Gorgonzola, Kooii, Kafka, Pelusa Funk, Spankinhide, Paul Abad.
The CD launch will benefit the BWCM (Brisbane WTO convergence Mexico). ]]>
"Cuanto Vale" is a Brisbane compilation CD featuring sounds from dub, jazz and funk to world music, hip hop and reggae.
It features bands Afro Dizzi Act, Hot Rubber Glove, Promiscuous, Plastic Wooden Fruit, Zimbira, 21 Dub Street, Gorgonzola, Kooii, Kafka, Pelusa Funk, Spankinhide, Paul
Abad.
The CD launch will benefit the BWCM (Brisbane WTO Convergence Mexico).
BWCM are a group of local activists travelling to Mexico for the World Trade Organisation Meeting in Cancun, Mexico in September.
Whilst in Mexico, the BWMC will join an international convergence, protesting the latest rounds of trade talks at the WTO. Members of the group will work to produce a
documentary on the impacts of trade and globalisation and aid local indigenous group CIPO with community projects in Southern Mexico.
CD is to be launched at ?Number Twelve? McLachlan St The Valley, on this Thursday 10th July. Gig features Gorgonzola, 21 Dub St, Pelusa Funk, Kooii, DJ?s s&m and Paul
Abad plus guest speakers and visuals.
Cuanto Vale (Spanish for ?at what cost?) is available from Gooble Warming, Butter Beats, Rockinghorse and Skinnys.
BWCM can be contacted on BWCM@4worldmail.com or (07) 3257 3210.
:
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