HACK.Fem.EAST: Women and Technology in Networks - Exhibition, workshops, conference :: curated by Tatiana Bazzichelli and Gaia Novati :: May 9 - June 22, 2008 :: Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien Berlin.

The exhibition project in Berlin, HACK.Fem.EAST, seeks to present experimental and artistic practices of artists and activists working in digital networks in Eastern Europe. The focus of the exhibition is on presenting a use of media located somewhere between hacking, art and activism which is driven forward by an international counterculture and avant-garde: the main protagonists are women or projects in which women play an important role. The aim of the project is to provide and to develop a network platform. This will be achieved through five elements: the exhibition, the workshops (Free Space), a conference, a publication in newspaper format, and a website bringing the aspects of the project together.

Existing networks from 11 countries are at the heart of the project and form the basis of the exhibition. A total of 11 networks will be invited to the various rooms of the Kunstraumes Kreuzberg / Bethanien to introduce their work, their strategies and their aims in the form of installations, documentations and presentations. The result is a “network of networks”, visualized in the form of video screenings, installations, computer presentations and documents.

The activists will be offering a weekly workshop (Free Space) throughout the duration of the exhibition. The workshops will be based on the respective presentations in the exhibition as well as on and aims and activities that have been developed further in the context of the project.

A conference held at the outset of the project is intended to bring the lines and networks together and discuss on women perspective in the Eastern cultural scenario. Its aim is to provide a forum for a form of politics based on radical invention - media and internet art projects, performances, network platforms, software development, artistic coding, organisation of media festivals, etc. As part of the publicity for the exhibition, a Berlin daily newspaper (taz) will be publishing a so-called NGO-supplement in an edition of 30.000 copies to coincide with the opening. It will include articles that provide an introduction to the subject and give details regarding the programme.

An integral component of the project is of course the website, with an up-to-date and open presentation of the project’s processes and developments, summarizing them and putting them up for discussion.

Contacts: Tatiana Bazzichelli t.bazzzichelli [at] mclink.it Gaia Novati gaianovaz [at] gmail.com