switch media chiang mai is a non-profit organization run by a team of art and new media professionals, with the support of an international advisory board, which seeks to promote awareness about new media art in Thai contemporary society. switch media will establish the area of new media art through the following activities: a library, a salon (for lectures, workshops, etc.), a production lab, and special projects. As an unprecedented introductory platform, switch media will organize a new media art festival called Pathiharn Electron [Supernatural] in Chiang Mai, Thailand on April 6th - 30th, 2004.
Thailand and its neighbors in the Southeast Asian region share some common traditional threads and face similar challenges regarding the impact of Informations Communication Technology (ICT) and new media on contemporary culture and society at large. Therefore, the new media art festival will primarily, but not exclusively, focus on the Southeast Asian region. Thailand is well positioned on the political, economic, and technological front to act as a hub for inter-regional and international dialogue. Historically, the northern Chiang Mai region was the rich intersection of various regional cultures. Today, the city of Chiang Mai is the main focus of governmental, commercial and academic ICT development. This development seeks to establish Chiang Mai as not only the “Rose” but the “IT Capital of the North.” Chiang Mai’s calm but evolving cultural climate makes it an ideal place for this dynamic new media art festival.
This festival Pathiharn Electron [Supernatural] will provide a unique opportunity for all involved parties to engage the Thai people and extend awareness to the surrounding Southeast Asian and international communities. switch media seeks the cooperation of organizations and institutions from the artistic, academic, governmental and commercial fields on the local, national and international levels. The art works at the festival will consist of: 40 percent from the Thai art community, 30 percent from the other Southeast Asian communities, and 30 percent from the international sphere. Special support will be given to the artists from Laos, Burma, Vietnam and Cambodia by inviting them to new media workshops that are not as accessible in their own countries. To establish logistical support and cultural understanding on the local level, Switch Media has the support of Chiang Mai University Art Museum and the Media Art Design Center, Chiang Mai. It has also started a dialogue with the Chiang Mai Information Technology Development project and the Chiang Mai Chamber of Commerce.
An explosion of new media is currently saturating Thai everyday life: from digital media entertainment (i.e. mp3, vcd) to karaoke bars to on-line game and internet cafes. The government of Prime-Minister Thaksin is engaged on many levels in transforming and developing Thailand into a “knowledge society,” encompassing education and technology, among other fields. Simultaneously, major economic players in the Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector are gaining momentum in the commercial realm through their business strategies. The ICT sector is, thereby, impacting the economic and cultural progression of Thai society. Aware of the importance of these governmental and commercial developments, the Thai academic community has increasingly incorporated new media and ICT elements in university curriculums (from the sciences to the humanities) such as on-line research access, open-source-software development and software product training, etc.
At this crucial juncture when the field of new media is accelerating Thai society and the rest of the Southeast Asian region into the 21st Century, the festival Pathiharn Electron [Supernatural] offers these communities a creative outlet to reflect on new media’s influence on their current condition and explore the field’s limitations and possibilities. The festival will address critical questions generated by new media and ICT regarding issues such as: the homogenizing influence of satellite TV on different countries, the similarities and differences in audiovisual expression across cultures, and the significance of the internet and online-gaming in social transformation. This festival will enrich the cooperation of various communities in the following ways: by educating artists more fully about the technological and economic systems necessary to create new media art; by encouraging the commercial ICT sector to see the value of artists’ impact on public awareness and, by extension, market developments; and by engaging the academic community beyond the theoretical field in favor of a more practical and tangible connection to artistic, popular, economic, and technological forces in society. Pathiharn Electron [Supernatural] seeks to establish awareness, dialogue and cooperation among these communities through the language of new media art.
The concepts for the new media art festival Pathiharn
Electron [Supernatural] were developed from discussions regarding
the impact of new media on the contemporary cultures of Thailand, the
rest of Southeast Asia, and other countries in the world. The Thai term
pathiharn literally means “miracle.” In incorporating
this term, the festival delves into ideas beyond nature, into the realm
of the “supernatural.” Although the festival will examine
how practical, technological aspects of new media contribute to various
levels of human survival, it will also extend beyond the material and
address the humanizing and spiritual perspectives of the field. In relation
to how new media affects contemporary reality, the festival will discuss
levels of physical space as opposed to or in juxtaposition with virtual
space. By engaging artists from the Southeast Asian region as well as
the rest of the world, the festival will explore the fluid exchange among
cultures regarding the use of technology and new media. Through new media
art, it will address the similarities, differences, and the points of
hybridization among cultures.
For example, the Thai culture’s deep spiritual tradition is manifested in contemporary culture by the fact that local people try to use technology to affirm their superstitious and spiritual beliefs. In contrast to the rational approach of Europe and America in gathering empirical data to search for truth in nature and the outside world for the sake of progress, some countries in Asia use technology to support their inner, supernatural strengths and to validate spiritual tradition. Yet at the same time, all these cultures look to technology as a sort of hope for perfection which may never be realized: in Europe and America, the search for utopia and in Asia, the search for inner peace and harmony. Pathiharn Electron [Supernatural] will provide the participating media artists, the supporters, and the audience a unique chance to address new media’s position in our daily lives, ask questions about all its different facets, and nurture thoughtful discussions about the present and the future of new media in our societies.
The goals of Pathiharn Electron [Supernatural]
are:
to present new media art work mainly, but not exclusively, from the Southeast Asian region that evaluates the contemporary situation in terms of artistic process and expression, theoretical and practical concerns, and options for future development.
2) to present the efforts of the parties involved in the development of the Chiang Mai region as a new media and ICT center.
3) to develop an internationally sustainable network of people from the artistic, technological, academic, governmental, and commercial fields.
4) to create a meeting point for interested parties in the Southeast Asian region and the international realm to enjoy a festival and cultivate dialogue about new media.
The Chiang Mai New Media Art Festival 2004, Pathiharn
Electron [Supernatural] – will celebrate and inspire creative
ways of thinking about our changing technological world. The festival
will consist of the following activities:
exhibitions, installations and screenings of new media art
related special events: a video festival, experimental sound works, public happenings
related educational events: workshops, lectures, and an international conference
The festival’s main location will be the Chiang Mai University Art Museum, but some activities will be held throughout the city of Chiang Mai. These extended activities will be a way to acknowledge and explore Chiang Mai’s rich social spaces such as its night markets, food stalls, restaurants, bars, internet cafes, and video arcades.
The festival’s target audiences:
the artistic community (i. e. individuals interested in digital media, sound, web-based work, 2D and 3D design)
the new media and ICT community (i.e. software developers, engineers, and IT support systems)
the academic community (i.e. scholars, students, and institutions)
the general public (i.e. local families, foreign visitors)
For further information on switch media chiang mai and The New Media Art Festival 2004, Pathiharn Electron [Supernatural], or the unique opportunites it offers for partners, supporters, donators please contact:
switch media chiang mai
Email: switchmedia@inter.net
Phone: +66-53-907169
Fax: +66-53-907169, +66-53-218280
Ratchanok “Nok” Kateboonruang
Management Assistant
Email: nok@culturebase.org
Phone: +66-1-7062305
Gridthiya “Jeab” Gaweewong
Project Management
Email: project304@yahoo.com
Rudolf Stoert
Project Management
Email: r_stoert@gmx.net
Phone: +66-7-1810367
October 2003
For switch media chiang mai: Karen Demavivas (email: demadiva@yahoo.com)
& Rudolf Stoert
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