Abstract:

Do 'new media' and 'new technologies' produce new kinds of institutions or simply require a largescale adjustment of existing structures? What can we learn from the pattern of developments around Europe and beyond in relation to cultural institutions following new media agendas? Is the early adaptation stage - arguably distinguished by emergence of new network based practitices - now being superceded by a series of institutional responses which reinforce separateness and competition for resources rather than peer collaboration and sharing of ideas, issues etc? Is this an inevitable progression and are there ways in which the 'unstable' early practices/practitoners can be housed within institutional boundaries? What are the challenges and opportunities apparent here? Are there new models of support which need to emerge from institutions - including funding agencies, universities etc - to respond to the potential in terms of emergent cultural forms? If there is 'a centring tendency' in terms of response among institutions to new media (epitomised in developments in the built environment, research labs, media centres etc) how might this sit alongside notions of distributed media and networked practice? What are the implications in terms of responses of institutions in the future?


Biography