PROJECT "exStream"
http://www.ex-stream.net

MISSION STATEMENT
exStream is a two-year collaborative project in which five media art organisations will work together through the exchange of organisational, artistic and technological resources to create a common platform for the creation and distribution of new media art projects, presented in real public locations (galleries, public squares) and virtually in Internet. Also to develop common open source software tools, based on research and analysis of new media technologies and to teach the artists in their use.
The project is funded under the European Community’s Culture 2000 programme.
The Partners involvet in the project are:
InterSpace /Sofia, Bulgaria/ in the collaboration with Hull Time Based Arts/ Hull, England/, V2 /Rotterdam, Netherlands/, Bootlab /Berlin, Germany/ and Ubermorgen /Vienna, Austria/

VISION
· To facilitate art production and encourage collaborative art practice in the field of new media art
· To improve the skills and understanding of artists and technicians in the use of new technologies for artistic production.
· To demonstrate the privileges of using open source artistic tools with a focus on streaming and data base development
· To increase the quality and popularity of art production in the area of new media

AIMS
i. social
The open sourse solutions developed in the frame of the project will help independence of the cultural sector as well as will bring more rentabile work of the organizations from the third sector.
ii. cultural
Public presentation of the artistic products whose aim is to achieve wide popularity and demonstrate the advantages of the new media arts.
iii. artistic
Collaborative artistic production between theorists, artists, software and technical specialists of all the partners
iv. organizational
The sharing of practice, skills and intelligence through staff and artist exchanges between and among the partners. Skills and knowledge development workshops in each city aimed at locally-based practitioners
v. financial
Software applications and research activities that will create marketing products

GOALS
· A series of new digital artworks, produced and presented collaboratively in five city locations and virtually on the Web
· An exportable model for the development of common trans-European intelligence, skills, protocols and ways of working in areas of complex technology and innovation
· Use of open-source solutions for artists working on cross discipline Internet-based cultural production
· A set of innovative applications that can be used and exported throughout Europe

PROJECT SUMMARY

i. Needs of the project:
Streaming technologies can be used to document and distribute live performances and other artistic events. They can also be used as an environment for the projects themselves and as a flexible platform for the creation of ideas, which can be realised only collaboration as streaming involves target receivers.

The benefits of such a working model are the opportunity to work in real-time, that is a number of parties to take part simultaneously online in the creation and development of the art product. Another positive aspect is that many viewers are able to see and take part in the creation and evaluation of the end result.

With streaming via Open Source solutions the opportunities for artistic work are much wider and their product can find its concrete expression in a lot more countries and communities of interest without the need to access expensive infrastructure.
The existence and availability of art projects and archives using video and audio streaming at the moment is not proportional to the viewers’ interest in these projects and documentation. The reasons are various, but the first one is the presence of different standards and the low quality of images they provide to the viewers. The attempts to establish a unified standard by the big commercial software producers have been unsuccessful. The lack of a common standard brings difficulties to the artists using streaming in art projects and to the viewers of such projects.

Complete independence from commercial considerations, with the ever-present threat of upgrades and consequent redundancy of technologies, is one practical way of development and establishing of art projects based on open source streaming technologies. That should be based on open source software and free Internet solutions, which can be easily developed further and applied in the concrete art projects.

ii. Organizational Structure and Staffing Situation
Each of the project partners brings its experience and practice in the project program - this includes research, software development, artistic production, international exhibitions, conferences, workshops, publications, etc. Each of the project partners is specialized in at least one of the technical areas relating to the project, like computer programming, video art production, artistic software development, systems operation and artistic practice on the Internet.

The project has been developed from the past collaborations between the group members, through a series of small meetings and full project coordination meeting of all the partners to devise an agreed project framework, followed by Internet-based revisions and fine-tuning of the project details.
The working model is based on:
· Collaborative artistic production between artists, programmers and technicians from the five partners
· Sharing of practices, skills and intelligence through staff and artist exchanges between the partners
· Software applications and research activities
· Skills and knowledge development workshops in each city aimed at locally-based practitioners
· Public presentation of the artistic products
· Symposium for sharing the results of the exchanges, workshops and research.

iii. Detailed project Description an Timetable:

Stage 1 Project Development
One week residential workshop and symposium with introductory presentations from each partner organisation about their work and methodologies to provide a common basis of understanding. Structured discussions will follow to develop a model for training for artists and cultural workers. This will include an overview of the existing technologies, related software especially focussing on multi-media and current art practices, based on streaming and Open Source. The event will also include a conference and workshop during which the practical problems and solutions will be worked upon and tested.
Indicative timetable - September 2002 - October 2002
The anticipated results:
· Information database of the skills, resources and specification of each partner organisation
· Agreed training framework
· Practical delivery programme for the rest of the project

Stage 2 Training Implementation
A training workshop and seminar programme will be run in each of the partner cities, consisting of practical and theoretical sessions presented by local experts and guest lecturers. Artists, curators and others interested in the use of technologies for artwork creation and distribution will be invited. Two guest lecturers from different partners will be invited to speak at each venue as part of this programme, alongside local experts.
Indicative timetable - November 2002 - March 2003
The anticipated results:
· A cohort of 100-125 artists with a good knowledge of the use and potential of new technologies for supporting creation and dissemination of their digital artwork.
· A group of well-informed curators and administrators.
· A pilot-tested methodology for delivering special technical skills in the field with an evaluation report on the effectiveness of the process.

Stage 3 Software Development & Production Residences
In this phase, each centre will organise an intensive residency lasting between 4 and 6 weeks. This will enable groups of artists and programmers to work together to develop software and applications that will assist the artist’s plans for artistic production, for example streaming software. These residencies will also enable the collaborators to test, research and resolve creative issues relating to the use of these applications and then to apply this knowledge to develop their full artistic work for presentation in Stage 4.
Indicative timetable - April 2003 - December 2003
The anticipated results:
The participants in the residencies will work for a month to six-eight weeks at one of the other partners centre. This will result in the development of different but compatible production and creation models, software developments and applications across the five organisations. The exchange element will enhance the trans-European networking benefits and also establish the basis for long-term collaborative relationships.

Stage 4 Public Presentations
The presentation phase will consist of various on-line and real space exhibitions, presentations, and live events organized in each of the project partner’s locations.
Besides Internet-based presentations, live streaming, and broadcast media, the works will be presented as public projections and performances in a wide range of venues - galleries, public squares, clubs, etc.
Indicative timetable - January 2004 - May 2004
The anticipated results:
Between 10 and 15 completed collaborative art presentations.

Stage 5 Dissemination & Data base
This stage intended to produce a web-based database of all the documentation and project materials of exStream, which will be available, together with a final project report, which includes recommendations relating to the training of artists in the use of exStream tools.
Indicative timetable - June 2004 – September 2004
The anticipated results:
Web site with database for a project’s tools also materials and documentations of the events and presentations.

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