The Version>04 invisibleNetworks Convergence
April 16th - May 1st, 2004 Chicago

The full VERSION>04 program is downloadable as a PDF here: <||||>
Looking at Version>04 via a day dy day grid is downloadable as a PDF here: <||||>

The Version>04: invisibleNetworks convergence is an opportunity for creating connections between programmers, artists, scientists, musicians, filmmakers, activists, tactical media provocateurs, designers, architects, critical thinkers and culture workers of all kinds. The third annual convergence brings diverse groups together to share, communicate and organize while also asking participants to discuss these processes. Creating a tangible network of associations between participants, Version>04: invisibleNetworks fosters conversations, creative resistance and cultural action.

Version>04 is a hybrid form of festival, conference, arts fair and online project. The third annual Version convergence is an experimental approach at navigating the activities of emerging cultures that combine visual arts, activism, social practices, creative use of new technologies as well as tactics and strategies of intervention.

From April 16 - May 1, 2004 young artists, programmers, musicians, filmmakers, activists, indy media makers, designers, critical thinkers and culture workers of all kinds will converge in Chicago. Over 250 artists and cultural producers from over ten countries will participate in a series of exhibitions, public art interventions, screenings, performances, demonstrations, and actions.

The works and projects featured tackle issues relating to daily life to future trajectories of social, and cultural economies. Participants will ask and reveal: What is anti-corporate globalization? What is the movement of movements that is resisting corporate globalization? How does the public counter the corporate monopolization of information dissemination? How do artists map cartographies of power and creativity? What kind of music is emerging from the bedrooms of laptop-armed musicians? How do we explore urban geographies? How do artists develop tools for protest and direct action? How do programmers create social messages to share with the public via internet technologies? Can these technologies foster social change? How do we locate spaces that are open cultural nodes? How do artists use technologies to create new genres of documentation and narrative? How do we communicate to the public if public space is off limits? Can posters, stencils and posters and graffiti kick start public communication? How do we confront the surveillance society? In what ways do we share our parallel cultures to the public?

Featured during Version>04 invisibleNetworks:
- More than 250 artists from ten countries bring exhibitions, public art interventions, screenings, and performances to Chicago.

- 100 Selected video works and documentaries including The Corporation, The Fourth World War, Ice and other works in the Version_Screen festival portion of the convergence.

- Over 50 bands and performances of new and experimental music will be featured during the Version_Sound festival portion of the convergence.

- Sixteen days of 24/7 low-power radio transmissions featuring works and programs form over 30 international audio artists, a dozen curators and local sound artists.

- Ten thematic cultural TV shows of experimental and short works on public television, Chicago Cable Access CAN-TV channel 21.

- Twenty-three workshops and presentations, panel discussions with 35 speakers in the fields of media and media arts, activism and new media to address the issues of invisibility and trajectories of art and intervention.

- Over twenty net based projects and works representing the theme of this years convergence.
Version>04: invisibleNetworks seeks to uncover and open channels of discussion, hidden orders, unseen hands, blackboxes, backdoors, wormholes and access points. Participants in Version>04: invisibleNetworks will function as nodes and hubs in this amorphous system and construct this years' decentralized convergence.

This program is incomplete. All updated information and expanded descriptions of events and activities can be found on the festival website www.versionfest.org

NAVIGATION
The convergence has several components or Nodes. The program is subdivided to follow the Nodes of activity on a day by day basis.

The Art of Cultural Interference
What is the art of rebellion and guerilla communication? How do we interfere with monoculture and communicate in public space? Public interventions, site specific installations, stickers, posters, stencils, murals, graffiti, cut-outs, and other graphic havoc will be presented and created during the convergence. DOWNLOAD as PDF the Art of Cultural Interference program.

VERSION_EXCHANGE
Panels discussions, workshops and exchanges. It includes a special project called NFO XPO> Through the simple presentation format of a booth, based on a science fair model, the NFO XPO will facilitate straight forward exchanges about what is going on locally in various communities, from different disparate neighborhoods, to other American cities and friends from far away visiting Chicago for Version>04. DOWNLOAD as PDF the VERSION_EXCHANGE program.

VERSION_SOUND
Performance, live music and audio/visual programs will examine the cultures that are advancing the musical genres and sound environments that are the soundtracks to our everyday lives. DOWNLOAD as PDF the VERSION_SOUND program.

VERSION_SCREEN
Microcinema programs from around the world and selected documentary works that reveal hidden histories, dissections of power and cultural counterintelliegence will be screened in theaters, rooftops, parks and gallery cinemas throughout the city of Chicago. DOWNLOAD as PDF the VERSION_SCREEN program.

VERSION_TRANSMIT
Version_Transmit is the broadcast element of the Convergence with three main components: Radio, TV and Internet.
We will be streaming audio works 24/7 from April 16 to May 1 on the versionfest.org website.

An audio broadcast component of the VERSION_TRANSMIT is the WPBR radio project. For 16 days 24/7 a network of low power radio stations will transmit samples of creative/progressive radio/audio programming from around the world. The online streaming node simulcasts the WPBR transmissions. WPBR is located at 88.9fm and Redline is located at 99.1 fm.

An adjunct broadcast project, TLVSN will also share works on Cable access television during the dates of the festival. TLVSN features documentary, new media, experimental and socially relevant work by artists and makers from around the world. By using the mass media outlet of cable tv, TLVSN is creating new cultural TV options.

TLVSN features documentary, new media, experimental and socially relevant work by artists and makers from around the world. By using the mass media outlet of cable tv, TLVSN is creating new cultural TV options.
DOWNLOAD as PDF the VERSION_TRANSMIT program.

VERSION_NET
Web based art projects, works and systems open ports to networks of meaning and connections to distributed, collaborative and anonymous activities. The Net_version explores these intricate webs through the online presentation of digital arts and activism. A diverse selection of projects, works and systems that engage cell phones, mobile technologies, constellations of friends and forms of protest will be available via the Version>04 website during Version>04: invisibleNetworks. DOWNLOAD as PDF the VERSION_NET program.