Approach to Medialab-Prado: Verina Gfader

I encountered Medialab-Prado when they initiated Interactivos? at Eyebeam NY in summer 2008. CRUMB (Beryl Graham, Sarah Cook, and myself), being a research partner of Eyebeam at that time, became involved in this project in various ways. In its structure of delegating roles to all the participants of the workshop, and through this process, I negotiated and was offered both a marginal and central position in Interactivos? NY. Mainly my role was to document daily happenings, events, thinking processes, all kinds of activities in the space and outside, possibly work as advisor on a specific project – this was the more marginal position to me. Writing/maintaining the blog together with Patrick Grizzard, although it started more as a random tool, became the more central point in my practice and research. Writing, filtering, editing, publishing. During these approx. two weeks I felt this non-order or dis-order that Interactivos? takes as a starting point, was successful on the level of allowing micro-communities to form and for “total experimentation” (almost unlimited). On the other hand it seemed to me  that time was not considered or calculated so well (in order to create an exhibition/working space at the end).

I think, in 2008, this kind of research and setting up a context for sharing, technologies, ideas, belief and trust in open source economies, had quite some potential, but I am not sure to what degree this continues to work when following the same structure. Other issues, such as ethics, tele-communications, the politicisation of art, emerged so rapidly and possibly affects the way Medialab-Prado moves... I consider this platform important especially as a project that has been established in Spain – there don’t seem to be a lot of media labs active there. Maybe it can find new collaborations in the mediterranean sphere and neighbourhood countries, that might be interesting, as a position other than US, and Asia (China, Korea, etc.). Although there seems to be this desire to work in different countries/cities (Lima, NY) – I would think to “return” to re-think localities, geographies, territories – when working with open source mentality and tools. I don’t know the new building, the Old Belgium Sawmill, but architecture, the environment one is surrounded def. plays a fundamental role. I would hope – linking to “Sawmill” – Medialab-Prado integrates issues of work, labour, local, etc. carefully.