Multiplace

Multiplace is a network culture festival organised annually since 2002. It lacks central organisation, being rather a collective effort by various organisers and associations responsible for the projects in different locations in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, Hungary, and other places.

The festival started as a coordinated event organised by people who had common interest in presenting new forms of creativity. In April 2002 Buryzone, Jan Koniarek Gallery, Space Gallery, Atrakt Art association, Rokast, Subterra, Czech Centre, Austrian Cultural Forum joint efforts and during five days organised at 7 locations (in Bratislava, Trnava, Nitra) presentations and performances by software engineers, media artists, digital filmmakers, video artists and musicians from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria and Finland.

The aim of Multiplace is to create a platform for the support of media art, to work in an open and collaborative environment and to encourage critical reflection on the life in a culture shaped by technologies. Multiplace emphasises experimentation with the possibilities of collaboration and networking among particular nodes in the network. The festival's primary focus on new media culture has been evolving since 2002 and recently, besides the technological aspect of digital media in art, the focus has shifted also to questions related to its aesthetical, social, cultural, legal and political issues. The Multiplace programme includes workshops, installations, discussions, concerts, performances, exhibitions, presentations, screenings and especially new forms of creativity.

Since January 2008 the network runs the free culture server Sanchez hosting over 50 websites of artistic and cultural projects primarily in Central Europe.

Open organisation

From 2007 to 2009 the network was an open organisation consisting of working groups (for more details see concept and charter of the organisation). The mailing list communication of each group has been publicly accessible.

• Coordination group, [1]
• Program group, [2]
• Theory group, [3]

Editions

• Multiplace Festival for Digital Survivors, 16-28 May 2014, Bratislava - Brno - Cieszyn - Mons - Praha - Topoľčany - Trenčín - Žilina, [4].
• Multiplace Network & New Media Culture Festival, 8-26 May 2013, Brno - Bratislava - Žilina - Prague, [5].
• Multiplace Network 2012, 10 April - 31 May 2012, Brno - Bratislava - Zlín - Cluj - Pécs, [6]
• Multiplace 10: culture and creativity after the digital, 2-8 May 2011, Brno - Praha - Nantes - Budapest - Reykjavík - Cluj - Bratislava - Košice - Trnava, [7]
• Multiplace 9: new media culture festival, 21 April - 25 May 2010, Bratislava - Brno - Prešov - Trnava, [8]
• Multiplace 8: network culture festival, 14-18 April 2009, Brno - Praha - Ústí nad Labem - Zlín - Krakow - Bratislava - Nitra - Trnava - Žilina, [9]
• Multiplace 7: network culture festival, 26 April - 3 May 2008, Brno - Ostrava - Prague - Berlin - Budapest - Reykjavík - Báhoň - Banská Bystrica - Bratislava - Košice - Nitra - Trnava - Žilina - Glasgow, [10]
• Multiplace 6: network culture festival, 13-22 April 2007 [11]
• Multiplace 5: new media culture festival, 21-30 April 2006 [12]
• Multiplace 4: new media culture festival, 17-24 April 2005 [13]
• Multiplace 3: new media culture festival, 29 March - 8 April 2004 [14]
• Multiplace 2: new media event, 27-31 May 2003 [15]
• Multiplace 1: new media event, part of New Media Nation programme, 16-20 April 2002 [16]

Articles

• Palo Fabuš, "Multiplace – otevřenost v kultuře otevřenosti", Flash Art CZ/SK 11-12 (March-May) 2009. (Czech)
• Ivana Madariová, "Festival ako sociálny experiment", Flash Art 9, July-October 2008. (Slovak)

External links

• Home page
• Photo and video documentation of the festival
• Sanchez, the Multiplace free art server
• Multiplace on Slovak Wikipedia
• Multiplace on Czech Wikipedia
• Multiplace on Slovak Cultural Profiles