LEAF'97

CALL for LEAF'97 PAPERS and PARTICIPANTS

What is LEAF'97:
Liverpool East European Electronic Arts Forum'97 /LEAF'97/
with a working theme:
Virtually Transformed Europe
Recent East European Revolutions in Society, Culture, Technology, Art

When is LEAF'97:
Sunday, April 13 & Monday, April 14, 1997
Suggested Liverpool stay of LEAF participants - April 11-20, 1997

Where is LEAF'97:
Liverpool, UK
LEAF'97 location further to be confirmed

Who is LEAF'97 organiser:
Foundation for Art & Creative Technology (FACT),
Liverpool, UK
Iliyana NEDKOVA, LEAF'97 Coordinator at FACT

Deadline for submissions of LEAF'97 papers and proposals to FACT:
January 10, 1997

Dear LEAF'97 participant,

I would like to approach you with an invitation to join a meeting of
East-European media artists, thinkers and practitioners as a productive
debate on the Recent East European Revolutions in Society, Culture,
Technology, Art. LEAF'97 is initiated by FACT - the UK's leading
development agency for artists and exhibitors working with creative
technology. LEAF'97 is set to fit within the framework of both Video
Positive 1997 (VP 97) and the International Symposium on Electronic Arts
1998 (ISEA 98) - the two major media arts events, organised by FACT in
Liverpool and Manchester, UK.

The initial LEAF'97 invitation is a call for papers and proposals about
any new or developing media art projects - CD-ROMs, networked projects,
performance/live events that could address the issue of REVOLUTION with
a particular East-European emphasis.

LEAF'97 would like to take as a starting point the ISEA98 broad topic of
Revolution and introduce an ISEA context well in advance for ongoing
discussions and debates that could be further explored off- and on-line.
Moreover LEAF'97 would eventually aspire to bring the East European
Electronic Arts awareness to ISEA98 agenda.

LEAF'97 could elaborate on the metaphor of Revolution and reconsider the
implication of Revolution and technology from a particular East-European
perspective: from the industrial to the technological, from the shifting
political and information territories of the last ten years, to the
failure of the 'information revolution' to address the great divide
between the first and the third world. Thus LEAF'97 will provide an
opportunity for artists, writers, scientists, musicians and philosophers
to relate to the current crucial re-investigation of the histories and
philosophies of both visual and information culture.

LEAF'97 could be perceived as a pertinent continuation of the V2_East
Meeting initiative which aims to foster the understanding of the process
of cultural transformation specific to Eastern Europe and the role of
the media art and artists.

Some of the rewarding benefits for the LEAF participants that will
perhaps result in enhancing the local mediascape in the East-European
countries of origin could be:

- exploring the variety of VP 97 events which include more than 20
installations and networked projects at 8 galleries around Liverpool and
Manchester, as well as loads of public screenings, performances, symposia
- developing further the V2_East network;
- promoting East European media art activities to a wider international
audience during VP97
- initiating new contacts and new media art projects