HULL TIME BASED ARTS: ROOTX, Friday 25th October – Sunday 3rd November 2002

[Walter van der Cruijsen]

PRESS RELEASE

HULL TIME BASED ARTS
ROOTX
FREE FESTIVAL
Friday 25th October – Sunday 3rd November 2002

On Friday 25th October 2002 at the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, the doors 
are open for the last time for the ROOT Festival.  This is the tenth 
anniversary of ROOT (Run Out Of Time) and this completely free festival 
and extravaganza of live, sound and new media art by artists, is a 
celebration of the seismic changes, the wealth and breadth of time based 
arts and a culmination of the diverse, obscure and ultimately 
challenging themes of the previous nine years work.

ROOTX is the tenth and final Time Based Arts Festival in its current 
format; part featuring an exhibition at the Ferens Art Gallery entitled 
"Where do we go from Here?" it marks a fitting tribute to some of the 
work, artists and themes at the edge of conventional arts festivals.  
"The ROOT artists works for the most part on the periphery of the art 
establishment.  Depending on age, class, gender, cultural identity they 
choose a method of practice, which is questioning and experimental" 
Gillian Dyson, former programme manager, HTBA.  This final ROOT marks 
the end of a groundbreaking format and heralds the future plans develop 
a new, purpose built centre for Hull Time Based Arts proposed for Spring 
2005.

Highlights of this year's ROOTX Festival include nationally and 
internationally acclaimed Desperate Optimists (UK), Eva Usrpung and 
Heimo Ranzanbacher (Austria), The McCoys (USA) Mike Stubbs (UK) 
exhibiting in "Where do we go from Here?" at the Ferens Art Gallery, 
Hull.  This exhibition of new media and installation takes film, video 
and performance as the starting point to build an analysis of the social 
implications of movement, time and space.

The Festival will also incorporate a digital web station for the 
duration, broadcasting from HTBA and will create a platform for numerous 
artists working within the Yorkshire and Humber region.  Under the live 
art banner will be Lee Paterson and the legendary Reverend Lord James 
Gordonvic, Sabine Popp, Helmut Lemke and Jeroen Jongleen.  ROOTX's ever 
expanding reach will also include five new video works every day, for 
the 10-day Festival period, broadcast on KIT, Hull's interactive 
Television Service.

This year's Festival is a landmark event in terms of closure to the 
recent past and heralding the exciting future for this ground-breaking 
organisation.  In a city lacking in cultural diversity and poor arts 
provision, Hull Time Based Arts is set to play a key role in the 
regeneration of the area.  Both HTBA and Hull Truck Theatre are 
proposing new state-of the-art facilities that mark their importance in 
the cultural development of the city of Hull.

Hull recently achieved Urban Regeneration Company status, with an 
anticipated £1billion worth of inward investment destined for the city 
over the next ten years, Hull Time Based Arts hopes to contribute 
significantly to the cultural regeneration of the city.  This programme 
has already begun, most recently through Timebase Cultural Industries, a 
training, business support and personal development programme available 
to artists and creative industries.

Funded by the Arts Council of England (Yorkshire Arts) and Hull City 
Council, HTBA is a secondary co-operative offering artists and creative 
professionals an unparalleled opportunity to take part ownership of a 
high profile media arts organisation.  Its members can take advantage of 
a series of benefits from discounted digital facilities to bursary 
funds, and, through general meetings and an elected Executive Committee 
they can play an active role in determining policy and direction of the 
organisation.

Following the very recent appointment of Walter van der Cruijsen, an 
artist, curator and a network builder.  Walter has worked for the Centre 
of Arts and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, Germany, and founded Flying Desk 
in 1994, a media lab that served as an experimental on-line laboratory 
for artists, coders, performers and activists, based in Amsterdam.

Impressed with the work and reputation of HTBA and keen to roll out the 
process of securing a long term future and development programme for 
Hull Time Based Arts, he said "HTBA is an excellent example of the 
growing importance of Hull as a centre for digital media and a place 
where creativity and innovative artists can feel stimulated and supported".

Since its formation in 1982, Hull Time Based Arts has grown in repute 
and stature as a recognised UK commissioner of live and media art, 
supporting the development of innovative new work through digital 
production facilities, consultancy, commissions, residencies and a 
rolling programme of events and training opportunities.  

Operating as part of an international network of organisations, this 
tenth ROOT Festival is the hiatus of the calendar programme.  Over the 
ten-day period this entirely free festival will encompass site works, 
screenings and talks as well as audience participation in interactive, 
live and club events at Pave and The Lamp.  You are invited to enjoy a 
ten-day feast of debate, chat, argument and pleasure from the gallery, 
to the bar, to the cinema, to the street.

To really celebrate this 10th anniversary and get into the party spirit, 
several pubs and clubs across the city including The Blue Lamp, Pave and 
The Minerva will be serving an exclusively brewed ROOT beer, created by 
Rooster's Brewery, in recognition and celebration of the festivals 
achievements in serving up a smorgasbord of experimental performance, 
digital, film, video and sound arts since 1992.  Happy Birthday ROOTX be 
there or be a totally unquestioning, supplicant part of the establishment!



Editors Note:

ROOTX Information Packs are available from Ray McFee, ROOT X Festival 
Coordinator on 01482 216446, email: ray at htba.demon.co.uk.  Visit the 
ROOT website for venue dates and listings on http://www.root2002.org/

For press and media enquiries contact Tracy Milnes on 07802 891458, 
e-mail:  tracy at htba.demon.co.uk

ROOTX Venues include: Ferens Art Gallery, Hull Screen, Pave, Red 
Gallery, The Lamp, The Boathoase and Hull Time Based Arts on 42 High 
Street, Hull.