Book presentation Language of Sharing

Book presentation
VJ9: The Language of Sharing / Deeltaal / Protocoles d’échanges

Location: Constant office: Fortstraat 5,
1060 st. Gillis, Brussels, +32 (0)2 5392467

Time: Friday 17 November 2006, between 17.00 – 20.00

Constant proudly presents the publication:
VJ9 The language of sharing.
We invite you to join us in our office on November 17, between 17.00 and 20.00. Copies of the book will be freely available, a drink and a snack will be served. If you can’t be present to obtain your copy of the book, but would like to receive one, please leave your post address in our mailbox.
info**at**constant.com
Looking forward to seeing you!

With contributions by: Simon Pope, elpueblodechina, Ronald Patterson, An Mertens, Claudia Borges, Julia Lee Barclay, AGF, Vincent Vandeghinste, Mario Campanella, tatibrazil, Jacques Jouet, Harrisson, Sarah Infanger, Filiep Tacq, Richard Vijgen, Femke Snelting, Wendy van Wynsberghe, Stephane Quertimont, Lucas Catherine, Jamal Boukhriss, Patricia Niedzwicki, Bambi Cueppens, Peter Westenberg, Graham Harwood, Marijs Boulogne, Kris Rutten

Pocket size, 193 pages, B/W print
Design: Roger Teeuwen
Editing: Femke Snelting + Peter Westenberg

(…) Verbindingen/Jonctions 9 took place from 24 until 28 November 2005 between Brussels, Liège and Antwerp. To contribute to a critical reading of language, memory and exchange as underlying structures and applications of digital media, V/J9 considered language and memory as instruments for sharing contents and free exchange of information, instead of accepting them as unchangeable entities. We were curious about language and code as means to express multiplicity; we wanted to find out how dialects, pidgin and slang could act as cultural bridges. We took the words ‘jonctions’ and ‘verbindingen’ literally, and made connections between places and languages in our own country. If we are crossing linguistic borders between fellow citizens speaking Bruxellois, Walloon, English, French, Dutch, West-Vlaams or Moroccan, we are also crossing borders between fiction and a surrealist practice of language; as surrealist as an exquisite corpse; Are our languages like walking dead or cyborgs? (…) Are our languages reflecting a queer deal or are they expressions of patriarchal dictatorship? Can we learn from certain computer languages the ability to evolve according to uses and mistakes? (…)

The program of Verbindingen/Jonctions(VJ), the annual multidisciplinary festival organised by Constant combines high-, low- and no-tech strategies from utopian, contemporary, traditional and tribal cultures with open standards, free licenses, feminism and queer theories. The festival offers radio makers, artists, software programmers, academics, linux users, interface designers, urban explorers, performance artists, technicians and others an occasion to experience each other’s practices, and to share their activities and interests with a broad public of visitors interested.