Syndicate: Manifesto of the survivors

[Aleksandar Gubas <gutwine@netscape.net>]

Here is the latest Belgrade contribution to the discussion on the cultural
renewal of the Balkans region and the initiatives launched by the artists
themselves.
I believe it deserves attention.
Aleksandar Gubas

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

ZADRUGA (CO-OP) group

ZADRUGA group was formed in October 1999. It aims to assemble young people
from various creative guilds, chiefly audio-visual ones.

Notorious catastrophic situation in Serbia affected the field of culture too.
Young creative minds find it almost impossible to create and present their
work in any normal way. This resulted in a need to unify various young talents
with the sole aim of sustaining and popularizing alternative culture.  

********  *  ********
******  PROUD  ******
*****  ZADRUGA  *****
****  MANIFESTO  ****
          *


ZADRUGA (CO-OP)

* What is Zadruga?

Art. 1
Zadruga is a group of authors and activists in various audio-visual media
unified by the stubborn wish to survive in the wastelands of Serbian cultural
scene and by a sense of unique cultural mission in broader terms. 

* What does Zadruga want? 

Art. 2
Zadruga is fascinated by democratic nature of new technologies and
audio-visual media and it aims to explain it to common people. Zadruga is a
Prometheus of technology in the Balkans, conceptualizing its utilization,
investing it with a human touch and uprooting technophobia.

* Whom is Zadruga addressing? 

Art. 3
Zadruga is addressing the young and the flexibly-spirited; consequently, its
important aims include promotion, affirmation and gathering of young authors
as well as invigorating their influence. 

Art. 4
One of the particularly important aims of Zadruga is decentralization of
culture and de-provincilization of "the country". Therefore Zadruga pays
special attention to organize and host its programs in various places outside
Belgrade and to widely promote authors working outside Belgrade. 
 
Art. 5
Believing that its work is not and should not be elitist, the programs of
Zadruga insist on live communication with the audience. Desisting from being a
hermetic, esotheric group of untouchable authors and self-satisfied activists,
Zadruga insists on openness towards a bipartizan communication.  
Art. 6
Being aware of living in an era of communication, Zadruga exchanges ideas with
its geocultural environment and makes a part of a global community. 

* How does Zadruga function?

Art. 7
Zadruga functions by offering various projects which are in tune with
fundamental ideas of Zadruga and committed to a new cultural practice allowing
Zadruga to prove that opposites can be constructively linked: technology and
soul, avantgarde and populism, computers and taverns, dedication and
hedonism....  

* What does Zadruga think?

Art. 8
At the threshold of a new millennium, the civilization developed sophisticated
technological tools. At the same time, it is faced with a need to answer
important questions about itself. Zadruga sprang in a country at the
technological rear of civilization where civilizational dilemmas are in their
full blast. Utilizing domestic human and conceptual resources and a unique
geopolitical experience, Zadruga was established to employ technology so as
provide answers to those questions.   

Art. 9
Zadruga is saucy and impudent because instead of repeating platitudes, it
seeks its own answers.


********************

ZADRUGA INFO

The founding members of the Zadruga group - quite successful in their
activities in the last couple of years - are:

- LOW-FI VIDEO project, Belgrade
- STRIPER, Belgrade
- CORROSION group, Belgrade
- OUR Pictures, Belgrade

*LOW-FI VIDEO project was launched in July 1997 with the idea to promote and
affirm domestic low-budget short film. Its mission is to build the aesthetic
of unpretentious cinema and undermine elitism in cinematography. LOW-FI VIDEO
programs screened almost 300 films by more than 100 young Serbian authors, and
at 40 organized screenings attracted the audience of some 6000.

*STRIPER exists since 1996. It managed to invigorate and refresh Yugoslav
authorial comics scene by organizing exhibitions, workshops and web
presentations. It published comic books that featured some 50 young mostly
domestic authors. 

*CORROSION is a computer group established in 1992. It deals with music (all
kinds of electronic as well as ambiental music), graphics, web design,
programming, creation of INTROs, DEMOs and concerts. CORROSION actively
cooperates with some 150 young computer-creative persons from the country and
abroad. 

*OUR Pictures is the newest of all labels inside ZADRUGA (started in May
1999), but its members are the most experienced individuals. OUR Pictures
makes soundscape and musical pieces, as well as primitive 2D computer
animations (sillymations).

                  **********

The first in the sequence of official activities of ZADRUGA is the program
titled RECYCLING. We shall run it in all towns of Serbia where it's
technically feasible. 

RECYCLING is an evening show presenting all ZADRUGA founding members. It lasts
3-6 hours and is divided into several blocks that succeed one another by
turns. 
The program opens a comics exhibition and Video-Strip-Show (duration: 30 min.)
and is followed by successive LOW-FI VIDEO film screenings (up to 60 min.),
intermezzo audio segments of COMMUNICATION NOISES (15 min.) and computer
UPDATE (presentation of DEMOs, up to 60 min.) It ends with the audio-video
concert of the CORROSION group. 
The content of each segment of the program titled RECYCLING is subject to
change during the tour as it commands plenty of films, comics, computer DEMOs,
animation, music and sounds.

                  **********

ZADRUGA intends to go on with its activities both by joint action and
individual projects of its members. Any individual or organization is free to
become a member of ZADRUGA!

The representatives of Zadruga:

Milos Kukuric (LOW-FI VIDEO)
Radovan Popovic (STRIPER)
Igor Djordjevic (CORROSION)
Aleksandar Vasiljevic (OUR pictures)

e-mail: zadruga@email.com


____________________________________________________________________
Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com.
------Syndicate mailinglist--------------------
 Syndicate network for media culture and media art
 information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/syndicate
 to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at>
 in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress