Newsletter- February 2002

Table of Contents:
Reader Launch @Sarai
Talks @Sarai: Media Theorists Series
Workshops @Sarai: Media Publics & Practices Series
Films @Sarai
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I.  Reader Launch @Sarai
February 27, Wednesday, 6:00 pm

February is an important month in Sarai's Calendar... this February
marks the first anniversary of Sarai.

A constant woe voiced by potential & regular visitors to Sarai is that
it is located in one corner of Delhi - a corner rarely frequented by
the non-Delhi University public.
Yet, despite its seeming inaccessibility, Sarai has grown into a place
where academics, artists, media practitioners, students, film buffs,
geeks & anyone seeking an intellectually creative environment seek
out.

For those at Sarai the past year has been an exciting journey marked
by new experiences and meaningful relationships that were  formed with
individuals & organisations worldwide. This Newsletter already reaches
almost 1300 people and the membership is increasing everyday...

To coincide with its first anniversary Sarai will launch its second
publication

'Sarai Reader 02: The Cities of Everyday Life'*

This year's Reader brings together a diversity of engagements with
urban spaces and mediascapes across the globe. Scholars, media
practitioners, critics, researchers and activists use a flow of
images, data, memories and realities to create a  fascinating array of
original interventions in thinking about cities today.

With essays, images, analyses, and manifestoes "The Cities of Everyday
Life" reflects on the contemporary urban condition, detours into the
back alleys of the global city, takes on media representations of
terror and war, examines the politics of information, anticipates the
futures of digital urbanism, registers the details of media flows,
 explores representations of the city, and looks at globalisation from
below.

The Reader consists of essays on Urban Morphologies, 9/11 - Media
City, Representation & Performance, Politics of Information & Digital
Urbanism. A separate section is devoted to writings from, and on,
cities spanning from Mexico City to Calcutta, Beirut to Sarajevo to
 LNJP basti in Delhi.

For more information on 'Sarai Reader 02: The Cities of Everyday Life'
log onto www.sarai.net/journal/reader2.html

Ashis Nandy launches the book with a Public Lecture. February 27th
will also be an Open Day at Sarai to facilitate interaction between us
and the Public.




II.  Talks @Sarai

     Media Theorists Series*
     Both talks will take place at 4:00 pm,  in the Seminar Room, Centre
     for the Study of Developing Societies, 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi - 110054.

1.  February 8, Friday
     Cinema & New Media
     Thomas Elsaesser
     Professor of Cinema Studies, University of Amsterdam
     Thomas Elsaesser is a well-known scholar of cinema. His essays on film
     theory, film genre, film history and television have appeared in over seventy
    collections and anthologies. His publications as author and editor include
    New German Cinema: A History (1989), Medium: Television in Transition
    (1994)and Weimar Cinema and After: Germany's Historical Imaginary (2000).


   

2.  February 14, Thursday
     Cultural Citizenship & Global Immigration
     Toby Miller
     Professor of Cinema Studies, New York University
     Toby Miller's writings have reflected on cultural policy and the state, the
     cultures of film, television and sport, as well as the new international
     cultural division of labour. His books include 'The Well Tempered Self'
     (1993) and 'Technologies of Truth' (1998). He has also co-authored
     'Contemporary Australian Television' (1994) and 'Global Hollywood' (2001).



III.  Workshops @Sarai

      Media Publics & Practices Series
      All workshops will take place in the Seminar Room, CSDS.

1. January 31 - February 1
    10:00 am - 4:00 pm

    Introduction to Cyberculture
    with Patrice Riemens

He will discuss the following issues:
    i.Digital Divide and how to address it
    ii.Hackers & 'Hackerism'
    iii.From Proprietary Knowledge to Intellectual Property
    iv.Networked Communities

    Patrice Riemens is an independent theorist and cyber activist, and a
    geographer at the University of Amsterdam. He is visiting as a part of
    the exchange programme between Sarai and the Society for Old and New
    Media, Amsterdam - www.waag.org


2.  February 11
     10:00 am - 1:00 pm

    Contemporary Cinema: The Transformation of Cultures and Disciplines
     with Thomas Elsaesser & Toby Miller

    This workshop will look at how new technologies, and systems of
    production, distribution and delivery have altered the place of film
    in contemporary culture. 

    Presentations include
    Thomas Elsaesser: `Can Cinema History Save Postmodernism'
    &
    Toby Miller: 'Global Hollywood: Uncle Jack's Friends, Foes and Flows'

    Discussants will include members of the Sarai research programme, the
    faculty of the Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia
    Islamia & independent film and new media scholars.


3.  February 28 - March 1,
     10:00 am - 4:00 pm

    Information Politics

   Participants include Radhika Singha, Reader, Modern India History,
   JNU;  Ravi Srinivas, Independent Researcher; Vijay Nagraj, Amnesty
   International & Mazdoor Kissan Shakti Sangathan.

   The workshop explores perspectives of information within the Law,
   State, Media & Social Advocacy. It also focuses on issues relevant to
   Intellectual Property Rights & arising from the Free Software
   Movement.




IV. Films @Sarai
All screenings are on Fridays, at 4:30 pm, in the Seminar Room.
Screenings will be followed by discussions at the Interface Zone. The
films are listed in the order of screening.


1.  February 1
     The Matrix (1999), 130 min
     Dir. Andy and Larry Wachowski

A wildly cinematic futuristic thriller, "The Matrix" combines
traditional science-fiction premises with spanking new visual
technology. It toys with the boundaries between reality and fantasy in
unique and interesting ways.

The central figure of the hacker, Neo, leading a double life, is
suddenly confronted with a frightening prospect : what he thinks is
the real world is no more than a computer-generated dreamscape, a
virtual reality created by the artificial intelligence that really
controls things to distract our human minds, while our bodies are
systematically plundered as an energy source to keep those nefarious
machines up and running.

There's a great deal that's familiar about "The Matrix" starting with
its sturdy themes of alternate realities, the deadly rivalry between
men and machines, the resilient power of the human mind and the
creeping dangers of conformity. The special effects, which are not as
numerous as those in many science fiction pieces, are flawless.


2.  February 15
     King of Dreams (2001), 30 min
     Dir. Amar Kanwar

"King of Dreams" is a film about men and sexuality in India. The film
travels through territories that are in a way different from the
familiar. It's about many identities wrapped around a single
search...How many fantasies does a man have in his lifetime about
sexual union? How important is it for him to physically penetrate
another human being, how often do dreams about penetration substitute
for the act itself?

And what does this have to do with power and its perpetuation, with
culture and clothes, jobs, trucks, football and festivals? Do all men
become the same when they approach union with the object of lust.
Where does love fit into the scheme of things?

"King of Dreams" was made as part of the MacArthur Foundation
Fellowship Program, India. Directed by Amar Kanwar, an independent
documentary film maker based in Delhi, it received the Jury Award in
Film South Asia, 2001, Festival of South Asian Documentaries,
Kathmandu, Nepal. It was also part of the Yamagata International
Documentary Film Festival 2001 and International Short & Independent
Film Festival Dhaka, 2001.


3.  February 22
     How to Live in the FRG (1990),  83 min
     Dir. Harun Farocki

"How to Live in the FRG" is Farocki's amazing dissection of modern
life in Germany- a country he calls "a training camp in which
techniques for living are practiced by the professionally living."
Composed entirely of 32 short scenes taken from instructional and
training classes, these films, sometimes hilarious, and at times
ominous, show rehearsals of real life situations acted out in practice
sessions for dealing with life in modern day Germany where each
citizen has a specific role to play. Says the director, "Social
reality is driven to the level of absolute clarity."

Harun Farocki, is regarded as one of the foremost exponents of the
'essay' film genre. Most of Farocki's films examine an almost always
socio-political theme from a decidedly subjective point of view. They
are films which, as Farocki himself once said, are directed against
television, against non-committal and easy consumption. His unique
style joins formal and political concerns and closely links image and
text.

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* These are in collaboration with the Society for Old & New Media,
Amsterdam

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That's the calendar of events for February. We hope to see at least
some of you here soon. And we look forward to your comments and
suggestions.

Cheers,

Ranita.
The Sarai Programme
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi - 110054.
email: dak at sarai.net
www.sarai.net