e-AGORA

In July 2005 a two-year project was concluded and reached its public introduction in Prague at the festival ENTERmultimediale on 2 May 2005. A DVD on this project was released as well.

As a gallery, we have been working on the international level and participated in various programmes and projects since the very beginning. But in the last few years we have managed to find the most suitable and at the same time the most eminent partners, whose contents and conceptual orientation can be paralleled to Kibla. First of all, it is about intermedia projects e-Agora (2004-05), TRG (2004-05), VCM Net (2002–04) and TROIA (2005-06), where the real time environments are linked with virtual and extended to Internet. At the same time these are very exacting projects in real time installations and they demand development of high quality tools and search for new, pioneer solutions as a result of linking the real, virtual and Internet, a pure newness in artistic creation.

The main aim of project e-AGORA was to develop a virtual multimedia platform for innovative production and presentation of performances. This 3D platform will be designed with latest communication technologies (multi-user Internet environments), with the aim to link European cultural centres and theatres and strengthen their cooperation.

Exceptional Slovene artists were invited to collaborate at this project: film director Dragan Živadinov, Dunja Zupančič and Miha Turšič (3D visualisation), Miha Horvat and Metka Golec (intermedia performance...) and Miha Ciglar (sound creation). Final performance took place in Prague, Czech republic, at the multimedia festival, between 9 and 12 May 2005.

The role of Kibla and gallery KiBela is to offer all included artists necessary technological knowledge, development of new possibilities of using Internet and virtual world, elaboration and programme tool applications, designing web pages, helping with press materials etc. Kibla is also in charge of the artistic part of the project, conceptual idea of final performance in Prague and coordination between the artists.

The products made on platform e-AGORA will be authentic and creative, since the platform is interactive and adaptable. Our aim is to stimulate the real sphere in a way to create virtual societies, which would become active in stage art. This way we would introduce the way of preparing, producing, presenting, exchanging and spreading their performances.

As a part of the project, several workshops took place in a year: October 2004 in Prague, in January 2005 in Czech Krumlov in Aix-en Provence and in March 2005 in Maribor. The participants of the workshops - mostly students - gained technological and computer knowledge related to virtual reality, modifying movements with sensors, computer programming etc.

In its final stage, the project will offer a freely accessible space on the Internet, where the visitors will be able to exchange information, video materials and tools and besides that they will be able to participate in a creative process in virtual / mixed reality. Our unique three-dimensional space will enable us to see remote cooperating artists, as computer designed actors, able to communicate between them.

Between 6 and 13 March 2005 Kibla organised international workshop e-Agora - virtual stage, which took place on a stage in Narodni dom. Project E-Agora also involves Czech and French partners and is funded by Culture 2000 programme and Slovene Ministry of Culture.

During the week between 6 and 13 May Kibla and Narodni dom hosted approximately 35 top creators and artists from nearly all European states and one artist from Canada. Prague studio CIANT made a performance V.I.R.U.S - VIRTUAL INTELIGENCE ROBOTIC UNBREAKABLE SPACE, in co-production of famous French Ballets PRELJOCAJ, KIBLA, Paris studio LIBAT and Ecole Superieure d'Art de Metz in Ecole Supérieure d'Art d’Aix en Provence. The premiere took place on 10 May 2005 at 16.30 and 19.30 at monument Vitkov in Prague, as a part of international festival of electronic art ENTERmultimediale (9 - 12 may 2005). It represented a completion of e-AGORA project. KID KIBLA also made a DVD for e-Agora with the most important information on the project, photo materials, videos and interviews with its creators.

Partners:
Centre of Independent Culture – PALAC AKROPOLIS (Prague)
CIANT - International center for art and new technologies (Prague)
CICV Pierre Schaeffer – Centre International de Création Vidéo (Paris)
LIBAT – Laboratorie d'Hybridation des Arts et des Nouvelles (Paris)
KIBLA – Association for Culture and Education / Multimedia centre (Maribor)