NY SYMPOSIUM- April 20-21.

[Timothy Druckrey]

Austrian Cultural Forum

For immediate release:

MEDIA CONTACT: Andrea Schwan (212) 873 3284 andrea at andreaschwan.com

Full information: www.acfny.org

INAUGURAL SEASON PROGRAMMING AT AUSTRIAN CULTURAL FORUM TO PRESENT A
MULTI-FACETED VIEW OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS


Throughout the inaugural season of Spring/Summer 2002, programming at
the Austrian Cultural Forum will encompass events in the performing
arts, a series of exhibitions, vanguard film and video programs,
lectures and symposia, and installations in a variety of new media
throughout the public spaces of the institution's new building on
East 52nd Street in New York City. Bringing together more than 100
artists in a variety of disciplines, these activities will be
presented from April through June under the banner Transforming
Modernity. In the words of Forum director Christoph Thun-Hohenstein,
the festival will "illustrate what the guiding principles and
priorities are for the future of the arts in Austria and
internationally: collaboration, interdisciplinary experimentation,
fluidity, and conscience directed toward challenging accepted notions
and exploring possibilities for new ways to communicate."

Transforming Modernity is organized and produced by the Austrian
Cultural Forum in collaboration with leading curators and experts
from international arts institutions and universities. The Austrian
Cultural Forum's programs are made possible by the Federal Ministry
for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Austria. Additional generous
funding for inaugural season programming is provided by the Federal
Chancellery and the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and
Culture of the Republic of Austria as well as by the City of Vienna.
The Forum also thanks Bank Austria, Austrian Airlines,
Oesterreichische Nationalbank, and Zumtobel Staff Lighting, Inc. for
their valuable support.

In the field of the visual arts, the Forum will officially open its
Main Gallery in April with the first of two new commissioned
installations by Kurt Hentschläger and Ulf Langheinrich, collectively
known as Granular Synthesis. The New York/Vienna-based new media duo,
whose work represented Austria in the 2001 Venice Biennale, will
create in April an "immersive environment" that literally envelopes
visitors and suggests new ways to experience one's body in relation
to space and sound.

Describing the duo's work, Hentschläger comments: "For an Austrian
artist, the desire is to actually invade the restrictions of the past
and expand the definition of art, of music, of sensual experience.
Electronica is hot in Europe because it provides the ultimate
opportunity to get beyond the hierarchies and the obsession with
history that defines much of traditional culture there. What's
interesting is that a great deal of inspiration for electronic music
came from America -- from the Detroit sound, from hip-hop, and the
commercial world. But when we bring our work back to the States,
where generally anything new is cultivated and tendered, we find we
are introducing something still not widely familiar."

Concurrent with the first Granular Synthesis installation, the
Austrian Cultural Forum will host an ambitious international
symposium exploring the electronica explosion. Titled Mediations:
Archaeologies and Transformations in the Electronic Sphere, the
program is organized by Timothy Druckrey, an independent curator and
writer acclaimed for his investigations into the history and theory
of media. The event will bring together for the first time a group of
electronic artists and leading media experts from around the globe
for discussion of ways in which representation and communication are
being increasingly transformed everywhere by electronic culture,
shaping the lives and attitudes of a generation willing to embrace
continual transformation as an essential condition.

Key participants in the program will include:

Siegfried Zielinski, founding rector of the Kunsthochschule für
Medien in Cologne, Germany and author of AudioVisions.

Yukiko Shikata, independent curator working in Japan.

Reinhard Braun, media theorist and writer working in Graz.

Peter Rantasas musician and director of MICA (Music Information
Center Austria). Vienna, Austria.

Knowbotic Research (Yvonne Wilhelm, Christian Hübler, Alexander
Tuchacek), based in Cologne and Zurich.

Perry Hoberman, an artist internationally recognized for his
multi-user interactive environments.

Granular Synthesis, (Kurt Hentschläger and Ulf Langheinrich), widely
known for spectacular sound environments.

0100101110101101.org, a working group of self-described as internet
"hacktivists."

Zoe Beloff, an artist working in experimental cinema, CD-ROM and performance.



The symposium will take place on April 20 and 21 from 12 - 9 pm at
the ACF. For more information and registration information (seating
is limited!): www.acfny.org.

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