Dispatch from ICA Singapore 2010: Different Terrains, Same Chatters

From the jungle of Malang to the malls of Suntec, new media users argue how to get messages across in the era of push technology. In a fortnight in June, EngageMedia went from talking with video activists from the archipelago in Camp Sambel, to taking part in the International Communication Association (ICA) conference in Singapore.

Camp Sambel was organized by EngageMedia from June 16 to 20 in Malang’s Camp Baung, located in Mount Baung’s conservation area. The camp was attended by 43 video activists from Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor Leste and Australia. For a few days, the video activists made sambal together, chatted about video distribution, reporting in repressive regimes, screened films, sang, danced and stayed in Wi-Fi tents.

But the technology induced jungle adventure was not meant to last too long. On June 22, EM sent its Southeast Asia Editor to the ICA conference in Singapore as the organization has been invited by the conference’s Open Space Exhibition, initiated by Prof. Patricia Zimmerman. Sleeping bags were replaced by bed sheets, but the chatters remain the same.

Among the 1000 plus ICA participants, there were also EM partners and friends like Pitra Hutomo and Fara Wardani from the Yogyakarta group IVAA, and also Gustaff Iskandarfrom the Bandung group Common Room. The ICA 2010 in Singapore was the first time in seven years that the annual conference will be held in Asia since its establishment in 1950. It is regarded as the largest international academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching, and application of all aspects of communications. The Singapore event was hosted by the Nanyang Technological University, and supported by the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information and the Shaw Foundation Singapore.

There were hundreds of sessions in the four-day conference. The Open Space Exhibition itself organized a number of discussion sessions with topics like “The Flexible Space of Interface and New Media Machines”; “The Collaborative Knowledge Spaces of Human Rights and New Media”; “The Contingent Spaces of Performance /Performativity/ Soundscapes”; and “The Permeable Spaces of New Media Installations”.

There were also seven works being displayed at the Open Space Exhibition Gallery, including the digital print “Pasar” by Grieve Perspective, the multiple video exhibition “Jurong West Street 81” by Shannon Lee Castleman, and an Indonesian-style meeting place with mats, computers, recording technologies and internet streaming set up by the Common Room bunch Gustaff Iskandar, his wife Reina Wulansari and Addy Handy.

There were numerous intriguing groups at the ICA, one of them is the Documentation Center of Cambodia or DC-Cam. Since it was established in 1994, it has been at the forefront of documenting the crimes and atrocities of the Khmer Rouge era. DC-Cam is independent and nonpartisan. It disseminates information on the Khmer Rouge regime based on impartial inquiry into facts and history. The Center serves as a major source of information about this tragic period of human history for academics, lawyers, activists and the general public. An interview with DC-Cam’s director Kok Thay Eng can be found in the Open Spaces Blog.

There was also the innovative group called the Keio/ NUS CUTE Center (Singapore/Japan) New Technology. The two-university research center deals with themes such as lifestyle media in the ubiquitous society and global computing, while utilizing leading edge network and trends in digital content and Asian pop culture. Using a creative centric approach, CUTE focuses on inventing children and family communication that will engage all the senses on the network.

The Indonesian groups were represented by the Indonesian Visual Arts Archive (IVAA) and Common Room. IVAA is EngageMedia’s archive project partner. It is based in Yogyakarta, and established in 1995 under its original name Yayasan Seni Cemeti (until April 2007). IVAA’s focus include documentation, research, library and organizing visual art education and exploration programs. EngageMedia partnered with IVAA in its Camp Archive project. The other group is Common Room which is a platform for various activities that are organized by Bandung Center for New Media Arts and anyone who are interested to initiate their own activities in this particular place. It was established in 2003. It began physically as the residential house of Gustaff and Reina, but as it became the place for people to transit but later transformed into a place to facilitate public interests in developing creative knowledge and collaboration. It is a melting pot for many events and enables the growth of new ideas that accommodate the needs of dialogue, conventions and multidisciplinary collaborations that liberating a discourse from its limitations. An interview with Gustaff can be found in the Open Spaces blog.

EngageMedia itself shared “The Collaborative Knowledge Spaces of Human Rights and New Media” panel with IVAA and DC-Camp, and moderated by filmographer Nikki Draper. The topics raised by EngageMedia included its projects like the Videochronic, the climate project, archive, Camp Sambel, Transmission and the current dilemmas of trying to reach less technological advanced marginalized groups in the digital age.  

But it was not all serious chats during the conference. Prof Z (the name Prof Zimmerman was called by her Singaporean students) also organized the Image and Music Fusion Show & Party, where live DJs and VJs collaborated with the Human Studies Film Archive of the Smithsonian Institution with original chill-out music and archival and contemporary images reprocessed from laptops on the theme of Open Space in Southeast Asia.

All in all, both Camp Sambel and the ICA’s Open Spaces produced a lot of new ideas and vast network of video and new media activists in the quest to express ideas and voice the voiceless. Next year’s ICA will be held in Boston, while the next Camp Sambel is still undetermined. In the meantime, video and new media activists can continue to use the Open Spaces’ discussion panel on www.ica2010.sg/openspace/view.html, Camp Sambel’s mailing list sambel@lists.engagemedia.org, or, simply our humble engine www.engagemedia.org.