Re: [-empyre-] Farewell to Kate, Patrick, Raul and Eduardo for "Border Crossings"

["l. c." <cippitel@gmail.com>]

Dear all,
I'm one of the "silencer" of InteractivA but I would like to write few
words about this project befor the end of the mounth.

I've been involved in the InteractivA project by Raul with his unique
openness: I started to ask him some questions about InteractivA - at
the moment my academic investigation project is a map of all these
cultural activities and experiences that are born and developed in
that areas of the world that us europeans call "peripheral" - and I
was invited as curator.
All follows exactly as Raul described: I worked with him at the same
level, calling artists, trying to involve italian institutions for his
participation, and trying to involve directly the artists as
participants of an open-project where interactivity does not reside
only on the new media and his use, but also in the share of knowledge,
ideas, responsabilities.

I'm curator, researcher and assistant professor on a italian
university, and I spent last years tryng to involve these work with my
principal attitude: the participation as "media activist" in some
cultural experiences that cold be defined as Stewart Home's *Assault
on culture* and that involve politic and cultural activism. As
theorist  I'm sure that Art Vanguardias of the III Millenium does
involve this political attitude, as activist I'm sure that all the
researches on new media underlines problems (access to media, share of
knowledge) that artists and cultural operators could not ignore.

InteractivA looks to me like something that could merge these
schizofrenic attitudes (theorical and paractical): as an "open
project", similar to these net-based project where investigators,
hackers (the "hacker attitude" as is described by Pekka Himanen in
"The Hacker Ethic"), media activists and cultural jammers co-works in
a rhyzomatic and horizontaly way - constructing a community where
people with the same interests and the same attitude cooperate - and
at the same time as an international biennal with all the posibilities
of interactions and connections that a biennale involve without the
academical and official approach that always destroy any kind of
experimentation.

Is also important to me (born in Italy from an argentina's mother)
that InteractivA move from Mexico, an area where the europeans think
are mixed tango, salsa, under-developement, beaches and mountains,
mariachi and indios (Latin America is a kind of entity without
geographical distinctions from here). I always remember as example
what Simon Njami - the Swiss/Camerun critic and curator that I met
during the Dakar Biennal past may 2004 - told me: "Some people use to
ask me if I speak *african*".

There in Mexico an interdisciplinary project propose to the occidental
world a lecture of new media experimental practices and there,
occidental world is invited to move and participate (is exactly
opposite that normaly happen with the biennals centered in Europe).
I had to activate myself and move me and also I had the opportunity to
found how my institution's are closed: no financial aid for all that
involve experimental and un-oficial arts (painting painting and
painting), no financial aid if my participation is moving to the
"south of the world".
In the country of Renaissance and the Pope I could not pretende nothing more. 

I'm really sorry for my long silence (and I make my excuse to
Christina and Raul first).
I had to choose between an internet connection and a project with 
others activists for an occupation of an abandoned building with some
sudanese, ivory coast en ethiopian families without Visa.
I choose the occupation. 
After spending some time trying to find an opportunity to participate
to all the theoretical discussions with the list I found that the work
don't let me any brain faculty.

Best regards to all
Lucrezia Cippitelli