NOW. Meetings in the Present Continuous

NOW. Meetings in the Present Continuous

Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona (CCCB)
From 22 to 24 March 2007

NOW is a reflection on the present based on the scientific, technological, artistic, social and spiritual transformations that are taking place at the start of the 21st century. It is a process of research, creation and dissemination that aims to bring together different local and international agents involved in the actions that are promoting a change of paradigm in the information and knowledge society and in globalised cultures.

NOW does not adhere to a specific format, although it may be made manifest in different genres and formats. It has been conceived as a work platform with different objectives in the following thematic areas: OPEN SCIENCE, CYBERSPHERE, THE ECO FACTOR, ART NOW, THE PSI PARTICLE, NEW ACTIVISM AND EMERGING CULTURE.


Free admission to all activities
Prior registration for workshop: On tel. +34.933.064.133 or [email protected].


http://www.cccb.org/now/ang

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PROGRAMME
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| NEW ACTIVISM|

A world without copyright? The abolition of copyright and a level playing field for the production and distribution of the arts
Joost Smiers

Presented by Daniel Garcia Andujar
Thursday 22 March, 7 p.m.

The most spectacular aspect of Un mundo sin copyright (A World without Copyright) by Joost Smiers, is maybe in its title. However, there is a broader social, economic and cultural framework within which this eye-catcher should be understood. Do we like living in a world in which the main tools of our cultural communication are controlled by only a few conglomerates (by copyright, and by the ownership of the means of production, distribution and promotion), and where the real existing diversity has been pushed out of our awareness, and where most of the artists cannot make a living from their work? A fundamental change is necessary, and possible.

DR. JOOST SMIERS, PROFESSOR (EM.) OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AT THE UTRECHT SCHOOL OF THE ARTS (THE NETHERLANDS), PUTS FORWARD THE STRATEGIES OF THAT CHANGE IN A DIALOGUE WITH AUDIENCE.




| EMERGENT CULTURE |

Speciesism and the moral consideration of animals
Peter Singer and Jesus Mosterin

Presented by Marta Tafalla
Friday 23 March, 7.30 p.m.

The mafia principle demands absolute solidarity and devotion and even willingness for sacrifice by the group itself, combined with a total disdain and lack of consideration towards other groups. The mafia principle, applied to race, leads to racism; applied to the nation, leads to nationalism; and applied to the species, leads to speciesism. Moral anthropocentrism is the speciesism of the human race, which combines noble sentiments towards our peers with an abject lack of respect and moral consideration towards other creatures.

PETER SINGER, ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL AUTHORS IN THE BIOETHICS FIELD, TALKS VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE WITH JESUS MOSTERIN, CHAIR PROFESSOR OF LOGIC AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND HONORARY PRESIDENT OF PROYECTO GRAN SIMIO (GREAT APE PROJECT).




| OPEN SCIENCE|

(in)tangibles: nanoperception and quantum world
David Peat and Victoria Vesna

Coordinated by Raquel Paricio
Saturday 24 March, 7.30 p.m.

Making what happens on a nanometric scale tangible with our senses makes us more aware of an implied order unknown in everyday life. In the art and science sphere, it is perception on different levels that can respond to the controversies between the material and the metaphysical which currently have both cultures trapped. An approach from the most subtle perception in artistic work to the precepts of quantum physics could replace reductionist materialism with a vision that allows a new focus on the art/science binomial, and also spirituality without dogmas for the contemporary world.

DAVID PEAT, ONE OF THE PIONEERS IN CONNECTING QUANTUM PHYSICS AND PSYCHOLOGY, TALKS WITH ARTIST VICTORIA VESNA, WHO IS CONCERNED BY THE INFLUENCE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION ON THE PERCEPTION OF REALITY.




| THE ECO FACTOR |

Darwin’s nightmare
Hubert Sauper, France, Austria and Belgium, 2004, 107’, ENGLISH WITH SPANISH SUBTITLES.

Saturday 24 March, 5 p.m. > Auditorium

Darwin’s Nightmare denounces the devastating effects that may be caused by the artificial alteration of trophic chains and their influence on the most tragic aspects of globalisation. The clandestine introduction of a predatory fish (Nile perch) into Lake Victoria, the largest tropical lake in the world, caused the extinction of more than 200 species and at the same time allowed the flowering of a private fishing industry created exclusively for foreign markets. Hubert Sauper explains the heartrending situation of 25 million people who live near the lake, most of whom have ended up exposed to conditions of extreme poverty, malnutrition, prostitution and violence.

Considered one of the best European documentaries of recent years, Darwin’s Nightmare is not only the horrific tale of a brutal spoliation, but also directly tackles First World responsibility for Africa’s bleak present.


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SPACES
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| QUERIES AND DOWNLOADS |

Transmit - Distribute - Share
Platoniq Open Office
22, 23 and 24 March, from 5.00 p.m .to 9.30 p.m.

Platoniq is an international collective of cultural producers and software developers. Its work focuses on possible social uses of technology and networking, seeking to develop strategies that generate new forms of communication, training and citizen’s organisation. Since 2003 it has been one of the groups collaborating with the Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona and in the last year has obtained two prizes for its project Burn Station at the Transitio Electronic Arts Festival in Mexico City and at the Transmediale digital culture festival in Berlin.

Currently it is running three lines of research and development in the field of culture applied to new media and experimental public formats that relate training, production and dissemination.

1. Open Server: online audio transmission tool and media archive: www.openserver.cccb.org

2. Burn Station: distribution system for music and radio programmes under copyleft licences in public spaces: www.platoniq.net/burnstation

3. Common Knowledge Bank: dynamics of exchange and collective production involving the free transmission of knowledge and mutual education: www.openserver.cccb.org/bcc

DURING NOW, PLATONIQ WILL BE INSTALLING A TEMPORARY OFFICE WHERE VISITORS CAN GET TO KNOW THESE THREE LINES OF WORK IN DEPTH AND JOIN IN ANY OF THE TRAINING AND ORGANISATION ACTIVITIES THAT ARE CARRIED OUT.

http://www.platoniq.net



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WORKSHOPS
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| WORKSHOP ON COPYLEFT |

Run by publishers Traficantes de suenos

Thursday 22 March, 5 p.m. > Free entrance with prior registration
Registration: Courses Office Tel. 933.064.133 e-mail: [email protected]

Traficantes de suenos was born with the aim of becoming a meeting point and forum for debate on the different realities of social movements. For this they have created an associative bookstore, a publishing company and they cooperate with alternative distribution networks. The company’s texts are published under a Creative Commons licence and with copyleft.

AT NOW, BASED ON THEIR PUBLICATION COPYLEFT. MANUAL DE USO, THEY WILL BE RUNNING A WORKSHOP FOR CREATORS FROM DIFFERENT SPHERES INTERESTED IN APPLYING THIS LICENCE.

http://www.manualcopyleft.net/

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Place: Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona (CCCB)
Montalegre, 5. 08001 Barcelona (SPAIN). Ph. +34.933.064.100. http://www.cccb.org/now/ang

Date: From 22 to 24 March 2007

Opening times of the space:
22 March, opened from 5.00 p.m .to 9.30 p.m.
23 and 24 March, opened from 11 a.m. to 9.30 p.m.

Free admission to all activities
Prior registration for workshop: On tel. +34.933.064.133 or [email protected].

The CCCB reserves the right to modify the programme for reasons beyond its control.