Dorkbotbj Meeting3
Interview Record with Stephen Kovats
This is just a record of what Stephen had said in the interview, not his original words. He is so nice and actually talked much more than what I recorded here. Thanks, Stephen.
In the beginning of dorkbotbj meeting3, Stephen explained that the reason for V2 to choose "Unstable Media" other than "New Media" is that it is hard to define "New" and "Media". That's true.
Why does V2 keep paying attention to China?
Every country is special, so actually V2 pays attention to every country in this world. However, from economy to culture, dramatic changes are happening in every aspect of China's society, which makes China especially unusual.
Besides, the large population makes things more interesting. Take Blog as an example, there are several millions bloggers in China, but in Europe, the whole population of the Netherlands is just that number. So this makes the phenomenon in China different.
What does V2 expect from China?
Good art, of course. But it's always difficult to define "Good". We, V2, have our own standards, which can hardly be described specifically.
What does V2 know about the situation of electronic art in China?
Compare to Europe, the whole atmosphere in China is still not so open, however, the response from China's electronic art seems not as strong as it should.
Some relatively traditional artists have already expressed their recognition and realization of this society in strong but traditional art ways, for example, paintings. However, I still now find out work with similar spirit in China’s electronic art field.
How does V2 maintain itself?
V2 itself is a foundation; we also get financial support from government. But all of these can only maintain the basic requirement. For specific projects, we still need to get help or cooperate with other foundations and institutions. That’s why we are always writing proposals to apply for sponsors and cooperation.
Could you introduce the new media art exhibition held by V2 in the April, 2007?
The name of the festival is DEAF, Dutch Electronic Art Festival, which is held in every odd year. Works, discussions and creative ideas will be represented in several days; there will be exhibitions, conferences, lectures, workshop and all kinds of activities. Media/Digital art always more or less focus on interactivity, web, experimental media and practice. Our idea is to better understand the world around us by artistic representation.
What’s your plan for choosing art works from China for DEAF?
I have to mention that territorial location have great influence on digital arts. We are all using the same technology and device to make digital art piece, then what makes the works different?
This is determined by individual background experience, the so-called Chinese elements are not important at all, what really count is artist’s idea. Western art history has obvious stages, such as Renaissance, impressionism and Pop Art, but in China, the situation is totally different. What will happen when these two art development modes meet? This is also a question for China’s electronic artists.
There are many similar or even identical electronic art works, what do you think about this phenomenon?
Nobody comes from nothing. We are always affected by all kinds of elements, your background, your environment, your grown-up experience, etc; all of these have potential influence on your works. Similar art form is normal and acceptable, but it must have distinguished meanings and thoughts.
What do you know about Chinese electronic artists in Europe?
As far as I know, there are still not too much such artists in Europe, and it is also very complicated to define locations.
What do you think about this visit to China?
I went from Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and arrived in Beijing today, and felt more and more about the dramatic change of China. I have been here two times and this is the third visit.
Besides, I also collected some pretty good art works already.
To see more about meeting 3: Gallery 3
地点：中央音乐学院 电子音乐中心 5号工作室 （琴房楼）
主题：V2讲V2 (V2_Institute for the Harmonious Media)
演讲人：著名荷兰艺术组织V2的成员Stephen Kovats先生
V2计划于明年在欧洲举办自己的电子艺术节，也有意征集一些中国的新媒体作品，这次聚会将是个当面交流的好机会。
Stephen说V2回避New Media Art这个词的原因是“New”和“Media”都是很难定义的概念，因此他们觉得选择用“Unstable Media”更恰当。
V2为什么持续的关注中国的原因？
任何一个国家都是特殊的，而V2对世界上每个国家都很关注。但整个中国社会都在发生剧烈变化，从经济变革到文化变革，这一切都让中国显得很特殊。再者，中国的人口也是让事情变有趣的一个原因，比如Blog，中国有几百万的blogger，但欧洲，比如荷兰，总共才有几百万人，这使得中国的blog现象显得 格外有趣。
V2希望在中国得到什么？
当然是好的艺术作品。但如何定义“好”永远是个很难说清的问题，V2有自己的标准，这很难用具体的指标来描述。
V2了解的中国new media art的现状？
我想说的是中国的整体社会气氛跟欧洲相比还是比较受限的，但在电子媒体艺术方面似乎还未对此作出相应强度的反应。一些相对传统的艺术家们已经用绘画等艺术手段表达了他们对社会现状的强烈认知，但在新兴的中国电子媒体艺术界我还没看到这类作品。
V2是如何维持运作的？
V2本身就是一个基金组织，政府也会拨款支持我们，但这笔款项往往只够维持机构的正常运转，要开展某个项目，还需要寻求其他基金或机构的帮助或合作，因此我们常常要写项目提案去申请资金或合作。我们倾向于跟较小的机构或个人合作，因为跟大机构合作往往会受到很多限制，比如跟清华大学的合作，我们就不得不承受出于商业或政治目的的一些附加安排。明年4月份在欧洲的new media art展览的简要介绍我们举办的电子艺术节叫DEAF，Dutch Electronic Art Festival，每逢奇数年举办，这个活动把作品，研讨和创意想法浓缩在几天之中呈现出来。届时将有展览，研讨会，讲座，workshop等各种活动。媒体艺术和数字艺术总是或多或少的对交互，网络，实验性媒体实践等方面有 所关注，我们想让人们通过艺术表达来更好地理解我们所处的世界。
计划选择一些什么类型的中国作品？
说到这里就要提一下地域对数字艺术作品的影响，由于媒体艺术作品往往跟技术有很大关联，但现在大家用到的技术和设备都是一样的，那究竟是什么让作品有所不同呢？这种不同就是由每个人的背景和经验决定的，所谓的中国元素并不重要，重要的是艺术家的个人经历。西方的艺术发展一直有较为明确的阶段划分，比如文艺复兴，印象主义，波普艺术等等，但中国不是这样，这两者发展到现在的交叉融合 会带来怎样的变化呢？这也是中国的电子媒体艺术家应该考虑的问题。
现在有许多艺术作品是类似，甚至雷同的，您如何看待这种现象？
没有人是从虚无中来的，我们总会受到这样那样的影响，你的背景，社会环境，成长经历都在潜移默化地改变你的作品。因此，有相似的形式是很正常的，也是可接受的，但必须要有与众不同的内涵。
中国new media art艺术家在欧洲的现状?
就我所知，中国这类艺术家在欧洲的并不是很多，而且如何界定地域是件很复杂的事情。
前面中国几站有什么收获?
我从香港，广州，上海，今天到达北京，越往后越感受到中国的变化之大，而且也收集了一些好的艺术作品。
更多关于dorkbotbj三次聚会：Gallery 3