Abstract- ""Approximate Art Manifesto" and "Acoustic Space". On Disrupting Art Borders."

On disrupting art borders.// Presentation will refer to the ideas on interdisciplinary expression, technology and creative environment that were introduced in Eastern Europe by the experimental artists practice in the 80's and their legacy in concepts developed since the mid 90's by new media practitioners. Main examples of the survey will be respectively strategies of Riga, Latvia based artists collective NSRD (1982-1991) and New Media initiatives (E-lab/ RIXC), and Collective Actions group (1976 -1989) and Radek movement in Moscow. Detailed research in these practices reveal the similarities in the concepts used by artists and differences in the environment and strategies, caused by the social changes and developments of the media technologies. Both generation search for the alternative fields for the artistic expression and often define alternative - ambient, sound or non-visual field of action. They tend to employ new technological means to break from the existing tradition, their work is marked by strong textuality and they engage in process based, performative action. The differences emerge in the shift from the rural environment in the 80's to urban explorations in the end of the 90's. If the 80's are marked by influences from avant-garde and contemporary music structures then 90's rely on the flow and distribution of information and the new means of broadcast of the sound and image.