Multiplace - Festival-Network
Mária Rišková (SK)
Since 2002, Multiplace festival has presented the joint activities of several organisers focusing on the newest developments in the fields where culture, technologies, society and science meet. The main characteristics of the festival is its everchanging nature, a kind of fluidity – its overall character is defined by the joint work of a number of organisers and by the degree of their participation in the creation of the program and in the production of the festival activities. The projects of different organisers that together form the festival are not dictated or regulated but are defined by flexible boundaries. When a new organiser joins the festival, the others trust that he or she will put all his or her knowledge and energy into the common work created by fragments of reality, a number of emails, phone calls, experiences and feelings, the enthusiasm of creation and the natural joy of meeting others.
Since its beginnings, the festival has had a character of self-organisation – those who wanted to join had to find each other and coordinate their contributions. It is quite an enjoyable form of organisation, indeed, and one of the most natural ones, but also demands a high level of tolerance and flexibility. In addition, the results do not always meet the expectations of those involved. During the last two years of the festival, discussions about its development from the very beginning and the fear of slipping into stereotype and predictability brought about a need to reform the organisation. These debates also trigged new needs and possibilities that were not present before.
As it proved to be of great advantage, the distributed (non-central) model of the organisation remains at the core of the festival, but it needs to be refined in order to function well under present conditions. The aim of the reform was to thematise the network, to make the work of the coordination team more effective and to encourage more intense contact and communication between the individual organisers. It can be seen as an attempt to upgrade Multiplace to yet another level. It can become a new type of institution, so suitable for today – an institution that has several centres, connects people on the basis of their common interests and enthusiasm and at the same time guarantees the quality and accuracy of the information it releases.
What is MULTIPLACE?
The name Multiplace refers to several activities:
1. The Multiplace festival is a yearly international festival organised by several organisers that takes place in April/May in several locations. It is an occasion for intense gathering and presentation activities and it provides the possibility for wide promotion.
2. The Multiplace Network is not a new thing – it has actually operated since the very beginning of the festival as an informal network of contacts and communication between the organisers of the festival activities. Gradually, it became clear that apart from the festival itself, a year-long cooperation between the organisers was needed to work continually on achieving their aims between festival periods as well.
The organisers work individually on different projects related to the general focus of the festival. However, working in a network enriches the program and, apart from practical advantages (common posters, program exchange, coordination…), provides an opportunity to use the network creatively in new artistic projects. Multiplace is thus a platform for creative experimentation with the potential of networks and for exploration of the ways they work. The network is the structure of the festival and its theme as well, and it has to create the conditions for its functioning and define its aims on the basis of interests of its individual nodes.
3. Multiplace NGO is one of the effective tools for coordinating the festival and the network and is its legal representative.
Step into the network
The group of coordinators that decided to put the sketched reforms into practice is now facing the task of defining clearly its principles and discussing them. The first steps have been already taken while coordinating this year's festival. The structure of the new organisation began to form – very carefully still, so that the liberty allowed by the unregulated organisation of the previous years wouldn’t degenerate into a caricature of a corporate model based on functions, control and financial motivation. New documents have been created that could help in the reform and are open to comments – a Multiplace Concept that defines the principles and aims that could be common for the people in the network and a Multiplace manual that summarises the practical aspects of the collaborative work on this project. Links to these documents can be found at www.multiplace.sk throughout the year and we invite you to comment on them.
Jump Into The Network and the program of Multiplace 6
As in previous years, several organisers cooperated to create the program of this year's festival. It does not make sense to try to give exact numbers because they change even during the festival as new events join the program. Each of the events has its place in the program – some are organised by several organisers together, some are more intimate. In comparison with previous years, there are more online events going on this year – games, streams, collaborative performances… See www.multiplace.sk for updates and links. When creating the program, we did not insist on the ”new media character” of the events but let the organisers bring in their own contributions to network culture.
In order to achieve more intense interaction between the organisers of the festival and to support joint activities, we created a separate section of the program called ”Jump Into The Network”. This part of the program consists of open calls from individual organisers (and possibly from the public as well) for participation. For instance, someone can offer space for the realisation of artistic projects; someone has an idea and is looking for a space to realize it in; someone wants people to join an online game or a workshop. Some of the calls can be very practical, because each project depends on many details that can prove to be crucial (e.g. bring your old hardware and we will recycle it, volunteers needed for the Infocentre, etc…). These calls make use of the potential of the network to invite the other organisers and the public to join the program and to open and widen the possibilities of participation in this inspiring network.
Maria Riskova
Program coordinator of Multiplace 6
Founding member of Multiplace NGO |
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