Re: URGENT belgrade->budapest meeting / APEX news

[honor <honor@va.com.au>]

dearest friends,

i'm running out of words.  the logorrhea that sally spoke of in her recent poignant post to syndicate, seems also to be infecting my flow of words.

having just returned from a brief enforced exile from online space (so apologies for the slow response), to an avalanche of emailed anecdotes, reports, exchanges, quarrels and the inevitable and distinctive signs of growing weariness, its difficult to know where to begin ...

perhaps just with addressing a pragmatic point.

>3. Budapest 22-24 (internal meeting, possibly sth public, depends)

i will be flying into budapest during this period anyway, and it would be wonderful to meet with some of you, should you decide to gather there.

i have been thinking a lot about dejan sretenovic's wonderful and yet fateful post about the 'other serbia', and also about sally jane norman's meditations on the syndicate community:

>But conversations with a number of Syndicate friends over the  past days have convinced
>me, rightly or wrongly no doubt depending on how you  look at it, that our community needs 
>to be able to air and hear its own voices,  to confront sentiments and ideas that are
>ensuing from this singular context,  even if they're not fraught with the ultimate mortal
>urgency of other  messages being sent at present.

my feeling is that, despite the fact there may be little we can do directly to impact on the horror in .yu, touching base with one another (in budapest) can only be a positive thing.  the idea of possibly initiating some thinking about ways of addressing the re-purposing of the syndicate network, and discussing potential strategies for assisting our friends in the coming months, seems important.  to me at least.

i have just returned from the comparative sanctuary of tasmania, where curators from across australia met to discuss curatorial practice, cultural networks and new media.  tapio makela was one of the keynote presenters at the two week long school, and over this period he outlined in detail the value of cultural networks such as syndicate.  having this precious opportunity to reflect on the nature of this community, speaking to people about the very real human networks which have arisen out of this project, and having the chance to present outcomes of the community's practice, such as the 'skopje junction' reader, and the website, reminded me of the historical importance placed on physical meetings - of being able to share experiences face to face.

despite the logistical enormity of the present situation, i can't help thinking that meeting in budapest may be a way of reaffirming the community at such a dreadfully precarious time.  it would seem that allowing ourselves the opportunity to reflect on the relationship between the syndicate "community" and the present context of the syndicate mailing list could be valuable.

these are just my thoughts of course, and as a comparatively "remote" participant of syndicate, i inevitably do not have the same senses of dire perspective that many of you "there" will have.  i guess this should merely serve as an indication that i am looking forward to visiting budapest, and do sincerely hope that at least some of us can meet in some way later this month.

with warmth

kia kaha

x

honor





<in australian transit>

honor@va.com.au
http://www.radioqualia.va.com.au/

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