MULTIMEDIA CENTER KIBLA COLLABORATION WITH SABAW THIS JULY

Below is comprehensive info on MULTIMEDIA CENTER KIBLA (MMC KIBLA), one of the most successful cultural organisation within the European collaborations in Europe (and also with projects emphasising intercultural dialogue with non-European countries.)

In cooperation with SABAW MEDIA ART KITCHEN, we're organizing ASEUM, the country's first ever Asia-Europe New Media Art Symposium this JULY 2009 in Manila, Philippines.

As part of the agenda of SABAW to initialize media art practice in the Philippines, we also support and organize independent community media projects that explore alternative approaches to the production, dissemination, research on media art and science, locality and technology in the Philippines and beyond.

"The main result would be continuation of our collaboration with strengthening of exchanges between Slovene, European and Filipino and (Asian) (new media) artists, through a common on-line platform revealing case studies and realized projects and sharing of ideas that would help our environments, organisations and institutions to grow in the parallel, but connected societies either on- or off-line." [Peter Tomaz-Dobrilla]

Famous Australian artist Stelarc has said for KIBLA »this is the best cyber space in the world,

« the great Eduardo Kac, who works at the Art Institute of Chicago, »something like this doesn't exist in United States

« and Joseph Tabby, university professor and writer, »I came to visit Slovenia, because I've heard about KIBLA.

« A title in Slovenian magazine Mladina: »To Maribor, because of KIBLA!

« and in NeDelo (the biggest Slovenian newspaper, Sunday issue) Eda Čufer wrote: »Maribor Kibla is by its space possibilities and its conceptual structure, that combines gallery, spaces for performance, specialised bookshop and cyber café undoubtedly the most exemplary project of a kind.

« In Romanian newspaper Clujenaui was written »KIBLA is the most important and the biggest multimedia centre in Eastern Europe.

« Dr. Janez Strehovec, the leading Slovenian new media theoretician, stated, »Kibla is the main Slovenian centre for new media art (and theory).

« Artist, scientist, researcher and professor on the University Caxias do Sul, Brazil, dr. Diana Domingues noted: »Kibla is a very impressive environment and you are the soul of this paradise in Slovenia.

« Guru of the world advertising Dragan Sakan pointed out, »KIBLA stimulates reality, which is no longer traditional but multimedial. Also ideas are not local anymore, but global. The world needs fresh ideas. The world needs global institutions like KIBLA!

« Franci Pivec, master of information sciences, claims, »KIBLA is big phenomena. For me it's one of the central institutions, which Maribor gained.

«President and curator of ACE KIBLA Aleksandra Kostič was invited to be a judge for The Webby Awards 2000 (Internet Oscars) in San Francisco and she became a member of The International Academy for Arts and Technology joining David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola, Matt Groening, Tina Brown etc.

ACE KIBLA vice-president Dejan Pestotnik is a member of the Europrix Top Talent Award Jury, Europe’s contest for students and young professionals who work on innovative projects in the field of e-contents and design - using whatever multimedia channel or platform.

Adviser of ACE KIBLA Peter Tomaž Dobrila was a member of Europrix jury – the leading European Contest in e-Content creation and is a fellow member European Academy for Digital Media (EADIM) in the year 2005 he became adviser of the Ars electronica festival, the biggest and most eminent intermedia event in the world.

Our ex-collaborator Manja Klemenčič was the director of ESIB-The National Unions of Students in Europe in Brussels.

KIBLA was invited to join the European Multimedia Forum (EMF), based in Brussels and we are active members of the European Multimedia Associations Convention (EMMAC) and we are regular participants of the world multimedia summit Milia in Cannes. We are members of the International Federation of Multimedia Associations / La Fédération internationale des associations de multimédia (IFMA-FIAM), based in Montreal and we actively participated on the World Summit on Internet and Multimedia 2002 in Montreux. 

KIBLA is a partner in the The World Summit Award for e-content and creativity, which is a global contest for multimedia products and applications. The Award is organized in the framework of the WSIS – The United Nations first ever World Summit on the Information Society, which takes place in December 2003 in Geneva, Swiss, and in 2005 in Tunis.

In 2003 we worked with Harald Szeemann, the most well known curator in the world on the exhibition Blood and Honey – the Future is on the Balkans, which was displayed for in the famous Essl Collection (Sammlung Essl) in Vienna.

In 2005 KIBLA was as a first Slovenian art institution in charge for organising and producing the official Slovenian participation in the project European Capital of Culture – Cork 2005, Ireland since Slovenia joined European Union as its member, since 1st of May 2004. The team of more than 20 artists participated from various fields of creativity (painters, sculpturors, architects, photographers, theatre and film directors, musicians, performers, actors, multimedia producers) in the programme Enlargement in the Cork Vision Centre, based in the medieval church of St. Peter, from 13th century. More on http://cork2005.kibla.org/

Multimedia Centre CyberSRCeLab – MMC KIBLA was founded on the 4th of July 1996 as a project of Narodni dom Maribor and Open Society Institute Slovenia with the aim of training computer users from Maribor area, with free Internet access, information and advisory services on usage and data bases, and education consultations. From the 16th of June 1998 MMC KIBLA staff has legal status as an Association for Culture and Education (ACE KIBLA). 

Through our concept we focus on the new (contemporary) educational, informational, advisory, cultural and artistic praxis, and scientific and, technological aspects connecting culture and technology, arts and sciences, education and research emancipating and demystifying new media as a creative tool. At the end of last century we wanted to draw a parallel between the reading-room tradition in Slovenia and Europe at the end of the 19th Century as a generator of education and culture, and the cyber reading-room at the end of the 20th Century and at the beginning of the 21st Century within the global village.

KIBLA programmes:

SRCe (Student Resource Center) – Info center for students about universities, studies, tests, grants, scholarships supported by a reference data base - the biggest on the Internet.

Cyber Lab – computer workshop, communication and information center with free access to the Internet.
Both constitutional programmes, from 4th of July 1996, are supplied with 12 free of charge public domain computers and became in 1999 officially a part of Maribor information and advisory network, which is a part of the Youth information and advisory centre Slovenia (MISSS), which is a part of the European Eryica network. 

Graphical Studio KIBLA.TIF for paper and electronic publishing with workshops and training people who are interested, from 5th of July 1997.

Bookshop ZA:MISEL (FOR:THOUGHT) deals with humanistic and social sciences and arts (books, CD-ROMs...) with lots of reading matter available in the KIBLA cafe, from 6th of November 1998;

Space for art KiBela – exhibitions, performances, concerts, theatre, lectures, symposiums, fairs, workshops, adapted and reopened from 22nd of January 1999.

TOX magazine – time-table through 3000, magazine (from 1995) that grew into the KIBLA publishing edition (from 1998), made several catalogues and books, e.g. Eduardo Kac: Telepresence, Biotelematics, Transgenic Art, Vili Ravnjak: The Amber way, Aleksandra Kostič’s edited essays on Levitation, catalogues for Marko Jakše, Marko Črtanec, Mitjja Ficko, Theo Botscuijver, Shuzo Azuchi Gulliver, several CDs (Nino Mureškič, Vasko Atanasovski, Siti hlapci and CD-ROMs (for EU project European Multimedia Accelerator- EMMA) and DVDs (for EU project txoOm).

Mimogrede (By the way) – monthly newspaper with information about studying.
Reading room, from 1996;Audio room and Projection room, from 4th of July 1996;

Information and advice centre about various topics from events to soft and hardware. It's included in Slovenian information and advisory network (MISSS), from 1st of January 1999.
Entrance hall – an extra programme space for concerts, exhibitions, projections, performances, information, from 7th of January 2000, with the electronic LED display for all information about KIBLA and programmes;

Sophy's lovers – independent initiative with humanistic vision, regular humanistic and social sciences lectures Evenings with Sophy, from 1998.

Videla – digital video editing and workshops, from 2002;

Days of Curiosity – How to become, yearly Festival of Edutainment (education and entertainment), from 1997, gathers schools, pupils, students, teachers, professors and professionals to teach and learn through direct conversation, how to become something that I’d want to be.

Hidden Notes (Skrite note) – music cycle, electro acoustic music, concerts, projections, lectures, workshops; 

Iz(z)ven – international festival of contemporary music, which includes also international collaborations;

Kiblix – IT Linux Festival about Open Source consists of topics as mobile technologies, open source, security on the Internet, Linux;

KIT – communication and information point in the old Maribor Town Hall (Rotovž), Glavni trg 14.

Committee for Wine Service – degustations, education, information service, excursions.

Ladle – food preparing, tasting, inventing, creating, education, information service, excursions.

INSIDE KIBLA

In KIBLA there is the possibility of connecting approx. 50 computers to the Internet (visitors can bring their own computers and have free access to the Internet or for other events). All premises and spaces are public-free-access Wi-Fi equipped and you may bring your own computer and connect to the Internet and there are also charge-your-phone supplies. Yearly we have more than 300 events with more than 50.000 visitors.

KIBLA is non-profit making organisation and institution, located in Maribor on two locations, in Narodni dom Maribor, Ul. Kneza Koclja 9, and in the old Town Hall Rotovž, Glavni trg 14. Our visitors include students, high-school kids, the deaf and dumb (who visit the Internet for the first time through us), unemployed (who search the Internet for job possibilities), refugees, Small People Association, Handicapped People Association (certified handicapped friendly institution), Institute for rehabilitation, groups of teachers have workshops, whole classes of pupils use our infrastructure – from computers to lectures and art programs – as an extra learning opportunity. We’ve hosted Walfdorf teachers, Student Cultural Association, faculties, universities, The American College of Management and Technology and we are partners in long-life learning projects with several organisations.

Our space is open to a wide range of interests; our team willingly helps all, who are stepping into the world of electronic communications. Our philosophy is growing step-by-step, relying on a multimedia centre concept – media emancipation and integration, people responsibilities, connecting art and science, culture and technology, education and (new) media, information and communication technologies with society and humanistics – ecology of thinking.
We were covered by Leonardo (MIT Press) and Flash Art and on numerous web-zines, i.e. California On-Line and in all-important Slovenian media, from newspapers and magazines to radio and TV and web.

KIBLA is based on the openness and collaboration with other institutions and individuals. We've (co)organised and (co)produced several events and festivals, e.g. International Festival of Computer Arts (with Art Gallery Maribor and MKC), Days of Curiosity – How to beome, festival of edutainment (in collaboration with or with support from Land Museum, Land Archive, Cinema Maribor, Pekarna, First, Second and Third High School, High School for Tourism etc.) Internet radio MARŠ (with Maribor Student Radio), Festival of visual communications Magdalena (with Pekarna), Linux Install Fest (with Linux User Group of Slovenia), International Peace School (with OSI, Pekarna, MARŠ, Maribor High school association, University student association, International Peace organisations), World congress of cyclist Velo-City (with Maribor, Slovene and European cyclist association), Festival Lent (with Narodni dom Maribor). Frequently we collaborate with the Association of Architects and host their exhibitions, lectures, debates, and workshops. We prepared the artistic programme for the Hermes SoftLab Company New Year’s reception, and for the opening ceremonies of fairs, e.g. Electronics, Informatics. We collaborated on the Virtual museum project on the Ljubljana Castle, first Slovenian virtual environment, together with the City of Ljubljana, Festival Ljubljana, City Museum Ljubljana, Tobačna Ljubljana and Pristop. 

In 2003, for the 7th anniversary of the MMC KIBLA and 5th anniversary of the ACE KIBLA we accomplished KIPNIK, the first time ever cyber picnic in Slovenia. On the mountain Pohorje we connected computers to the Internet with wireless (radio) link and we performed multimedia programme with the real-time live transmission from Lent Festival. The event became traditional and it’s happening every year on different locations around Slovenia.

We are connected on inter-city and inter-state levels with Ljubljana, Celje, Slovenj Gradec, Koper, Murska Sobota, Tolmin, Graz, Vienna, Linz, Laafeld, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Skoplje, Prague, Usti nad Labem, Bratislava, Trnava, Athens, Budapest, Gyor, Brussels, Rome, London, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Avignon, Sao Paulo… In cooperation with Ljubljana and Koper we carried out international project hEXPO – festival of self-organised cultural forms, which crossed whole Slovenia in a month and planted a seed for the Slovenian digital communication and information platform with the ambition to raise into the Slovene civil society network, that would join European and global network(s).

We were invited to join the Medi@terra 2001 International Art and Technology Festival in Athens, Greece, which is included in the Cultural Olympiad 2001 – 2004 and is among the cultural events, which are organised in the context of the Olympic games of 2004 in Athens. 

KIBLA gathers professionals in their fields. From 30 regular workers, half have graduated, from technical sciences to social sciences, humanities and the arts – which puts us amongst the more educated institutions around. We are successful on the EC-Culture 2000 (txOom, TransArtDislocated, Soziale Geraeusche, TROIA, Virtual Centre Media Net, e-Agora, TRG – Transient reality generators) and FP5-IST / Framework Programme 5-Information Society Technologies (EMMA – European Multimedia Accelerator) and FP6 / Framework Programme 6 (PATENT – Partnership for Telecommunication New Technologies) funded programmes and projects. We are also a part of the eContec umbrella, which is a joint result of EUREKA multimedia and eLearn umbrella and we finished Leonardo da Vinci supported project Name multimedia (http://www.namemultimedia.com/), the Multimedia Tasks & Skills Database, researching and evaluating 26 different jobs and 96 operational multimedia tasks. NAME is presented in 9 languages, with a database of more than 650 companies from 11 countries. 

In 2005-06 project INDU.PIK, which generated models for the revitalisation of the industrial heritage structures and was a part of the Community Interreg IIIA 2000-2006 initiative among Austria and Slovenia, was realised with coordinator Municipality of Velenje and partners Scientific and Research Centre Bistra from Ptuj and Telepark Bärnbach Errichtungs- und Betriebs GmbH from Austria.

In 2006 we were again successful as co-organisers of 2 multi-annual Culture 2000 projects, both are for 3 years, gRig – Guild for Reality Integrators and Generators, on visual arts, and TiE – Travel in Europe, on cultural heritage. Multi-annual project LEKTOR – Legal Knowledge Transfer Accelerator for SME cluster and Digital Business Ecosystems, which deals with the legal perspectives of the international Internet business and trade, is supported by the FP6-IST. Since 2005 we are collaborating on a multi-annual project e-Games – Empowering Youth Work supported by the Youth Programme and in 2006 we got support by the Socrates-GRUNDTVIG 2 Programme for the educational project ALDA – Adult Learners in Digital Art, which aim is fostering and support to the development of the learning partnerships among adult learners of the digital art.

KIBLA is a constitutive member of the MBMina – Maribor Information Embasy (www.mbmina.org), which gathers 7 Maribor info and advisory points and of the Slovene Multimedia Centres Network – M3C (www.m3c.si), named The Net, which includes 19 Slovene multimedia centres and it’s the first of a kind in Europe and on the world and it also got the support from the EU Structural Funds – European Regional Development Fund from 2004 until 2006 (3 years).

ACE KIBLA has got since 4th of March 2005 a status Association in public interest on the field of culture by the Ministry of Culture.

With DOBA, European business education centre, and Institute of Republic Slovenia for rehabilitation, PE Maribor, KIBLA is in 2006 collaborating on the project Innovate ascent to teaching and learning for better qualification and competitiveness of unemployed persons, financed by the European Union – donation scheme Phare 2003 and Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs. 

KIBLA is also collaborating on the establishment of partnership and collaboration for improvement of the situation of youth in Podravje region, which is supposed to assure successful mutual collaboration in the field of profession orientation, education and qualification, stimulation of employment and youth enterprise. Partnership appears under the name Youth in the world of work and represents network of 23 development, supporting and executive organisations from Podravje region.

Maribor was in 2007 nominated by the International Committee for the European Capital of Culture 2012. The winning application was made by KIBLA and it was chosen among 4 Slovenian cities (Ljubljana, Celje, Koper & Maribor) by the competition. Slovenia is in tandem with Portugal, where is fixed city Guimarães.

KIBLA is also co-author of the proposal for Local program of Culture of Municipality of Maribor 2007-2011, with which Maribor became fisrt city in Slovenia with such strategic document for the field of culture.

KIBLA is with 2008 the first cultural institution in Slovenia that became a coordinator of the European project of Program Culture, Strand 1.3, Special Actions, Cultural Cooperation with and in third countries. The project is connecting European countries with China through the historical figure of Ferdinand Avguštin Haller von Hallerstein, Chinese name Liu Songling (*Ljubljana 1703 – + Peking 1774), Slovenian Jesuit missionary to China, mathematician, astronomer, cartographer, and diplomat who in the 18th century travelled, worked and made researches in the countries of Slovenia, Portugal, Germany, Austria, France, Hungary, St. Petersburg and China. He was researching fields of astronomy, geography and mathematics. He was the longest living European at the Manchurian imperial court (1739-1774) and emperor honored him by a title Mandarin. Through consortium of European and Chinese partners the project artistically interprets and scientific researches his life and work.

KIBLA is the 1st cultural organisation in Slovenia that took coordinator role in the complex multi-annual project of the EU program Culture. X-OP – eXchange of art Operators and Producers (2008-2011) is gradually growing network of artists, researchers, operators, producers and centers with the aim to establish European platform for creation of art and exchange. Beside interdisciplinary art creation and production the X-OP network will focus its activities in the sustainable mobility around art centers, residencies and other spaces, places and initiatives in Europe. By long-term cooperation the partner centers – now 10 from 9 countries – wish to establish and further develop infrastructural and information supportive environment in relation to information technology, digital culture and art creation in wide aspect from art production and presentation to research and education. X-OP goal is to grow into European network of media centers.

We are looking forward to the future international collaborations, projects and programmes!