CODEX
Art and free knowledge
workshop for responsible transformation of the society
November 14th-19th 2005, Orestiadi Foundation,
Dar Bach Hamba Palace, Tunis.
Parallel event of the World Summit of Information Society (WSIS)
Workshop curated by Love Difference with the collaboration of Fondazione
Orestiadi, Hipatia, Zerynthia and the Department of Digital Policies of
the Brazilian Ministry of Culture
The WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) 2005 is an important
occasion for confrontation on the Information Society, a subject strongly
felt in the world of politics and institutions.Over recent years new information
and communications technology has expanded at a rate never before seen in
the traditional mass communication media. Its diffusion has privileged the
richer parts of the world, excluding the poor from the opportunities offered
by the digital era, while its modes of use have remained profoundly closed,
reducing the possibility of adapting the new IT tools to the needs of different
cultures and communities.
CoDex was established with the aim of involving civil society in the theme
of shared and democratic access to culture through the diffusion of free
software.
The workshop brings together cultural operators, theoreticians, free knowledge
activists and artists in Tunis in parallel with the WSIS. Both art for social
transformation, and free knowledge are founded on the values of sharing,
participation, transformation and sustainability. Both seek for common languages
trough which to communicate with the contexts they are relating to. Through
the exchange of experience and methodologies, CoDex establishes a platform
of dialogue to reach a shared and alternative view on the means of maintaining
a network of intercommunication and to promote new forms of collaboration
in the Mediterranean area.
http://c-o-d-e-x.info
Taking part in CoDex:
Andrea Segre - Associazione Prodigi, Italy
International organisations, governments and the ONG have elaborated new
development plans to permit a more equal and open diffusion of ICTs. The
Prodigi group arose on the wake of this international commitment, with the
aim of creating an organisation in Italy capable of developing effective
broad scale strategies to combat digital exclusion and open new pathways
of autonomous and respectful development of cultural diversities. The first
intervention of the Prodigi team in the field was in 2003, in collaboration
with the ONG Italiana Alisei and the Union Tunisienne de Solidarieté
Sociale (UTSS), involving the installation of two IT workshops in the city
of Gabès and at the Kerchaou oasis in South-East Tunisia, that transmitted
a number of skillsrelated to the use of information technology to a group
of 30 people. The project involved 11 volunteers from different fields,
assisted by two Tunisian volunteers, experts in free software.
www.pro-digi.org
Hariklia Hari - Post Programmed City_Territory, Athens
Post Programmed City_Territory is a project concerning the transformation
and reconstruction of urban space in sociogeographic contexts. Realised
in Farkadona Trikalon, in collaboration with the Greco-Pontiani re-patriots
community, which lives in conditions of ostracism and segregation. The project
is configured as a collective process to search for ways of reintegrating
the community into the economic, social and cultural activities of society.
www.city-territory.gr
Mouhssine Tizaf e Abdellatif Tizaf - Fnaïre, Marrakech
Mouhsin, Achraf, Khalifa et DJ Van are the members of the Moroccan musical
group Fnaïre. Bringing together Arabic sounds and rap, XXI century
look and local costume, the group fuses tradition and modernity with a highly
personal touch.
Aliaa Ahmed e Moustafa El Gready - Gundran for Art and Development,
Cairo
The Gudran Association for Art and Development consists of a group of painters,
musicians and actors from both cinema and theatre motivated by the commitment
of art in terms of social responsibility. The group leaves aside the gallery
circuit and takes art onto the streets to confront it with the reality of
everyday life, utilising the concrete and extensive effects that art has
on individuals and on society. Gudran promotes and sustains the development
of the fishing community of El Max, the social and cultural structure of
which has deteriorated due to the decline in the traditional practise of
fishing.
www.gudran.com
Stéphane Couture - Koumbit, Montreal
Koumbit is a non-profit organisation that promotes the diffusion o f free
software, by developing a collective software platform and offering assistance
to users. The name Koumbit derives from the Creole-Haitian word “konbit”
that indicates an association of people sharing common aims. The fundamental
principles of its activities are participated management, the activation
of didactic spaces, transparency, copyleft, self-sufficiency, solidarity,
equity and equality and participated economy.
www.koumbit.org
Eden Morfaux - atelier a, Paris
In 2002, artist Eden Morfaux, in collaboration with the Cortex Association,
opened the atelier a artistic space, directly connected with reality, to
create an open group comprising people from different cultural and social
realities, and with different interests, to work in direct contact with
the local communities. The space is destined for meetings, exchange and
creation. The artistic space is not specialised, but hosts a wide range
of activities and proposals from the people of the place who are invited
every week to share their passions, desires, expectations, and to develop
new ideas. Through the atelier, the inhabitants of the area can organise
all kinds of different events, like debates, concerts, dinners and exhibitions.
Each new project or event defines and animates the space it is inserted
into. Atelier a is in building 5 of the Salvador Allende area at Saint Denis-Paris.
Hassan Darsi - La Source du Lion, Casablanca
The experience in the Parco dell’Hermitage foresees recovery of the
park through collective realisations to contrast the abandon and consequent
disappearance of public spaces. The inhabitants of the quarter in effect
don’t have the means to confront the public administration and to
intervene to decide on the city’s development. Public spaces like
the park itself are indeed losing their original social function, that of
aggregation. The recovery project, started in 2002, envisages activities
that include the architectural rehabilitation of the area and the implementation
of a number of workshops for volunteers, students and others interested
in handicrafts. The products realised this way are sold to finance the park
maintenance works. Communications and new technology have played a significant
role in diffusing awareness of the project.
www.lasourcedulion.org
Otavio Savietto - Pontos de Cultura Digital, Brazil
The Pontos de Cultura Digital forms part of the broader Cultural Program
realised by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture. Through meetings, debates
and workshops over the free networks, sharing of knowledge and the Internet,
the project aims to bring the population of Brazil closer to digital culture.
One example of the proposed activities is meta-recycling, which involves
dismantling disused computers to recover the hardware for reassembly into
functional machines and embellished with decorations, not to mention installation
of free software.
www.cultura.gov.br
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