Suzanne Meszoly - TART~Bride Nr.1
pop~FEATURE
Suzanne Meszoly directs C3 - the new Soros Center for Culture and Communication, opening June 26, 1966. A Silicon Lab for artists, Internet access and dial-up accounts for organizations and artists, exhibition space, a research library, and residency program. C3, Center for Culture and Communication opened on June 26, 1996 in Budapest.
C3 - Center for Culture and Communication
Directed by Suzanne Meszoly, C3 - Center for Culture and Communication, the new program of the Soros Foundation Hungary has established a new precedent in the former East, by bringing together commercial sponsorship (by Silicon Graphics Hungary) and MATAV (the Hungarian Telecommunications Company) with the Foundation's philanthropic interests.
C3 is the first open artists Lab in the former East It offers state of the art SGI Indy's (eight of them) for public Internet access, various computer resources, and an Onyx Infinate Reality Engine, which will be the centerpiece of the Silicon Lab. Applications will be accepted for artists projects, and for the first time in the SCCA Budapest, will be open to international project proposals that merit artistic credibility and involve Hungarian programmers, experts and resources.
C3 was conceptualized and developed by Suzy Meszoly, the former director of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art Network, and the current director of the SCCA Budapest. C3 has the total support and encouragement of George Soros, founder of the Soros Foundation and Open Society Institutes located in 20 Eastern European countries.
Net-STRUCTURES
C3 is a direct result of the successful exhibition The Butterfly Effect (January 20-February 25, 1996) which gathered unprecedented public enthusiasm during its five weeks at Mucsarnok, Budapest's premiere Contemporary Art Center.
The idea for this exciting new center was created when Eva Bakonyi, Executive Director of the Soros Foundation Hungary, called Suzanne and offered her the former offices of the Foundation, located at Orszaghaz utca 9 in Buda, to develop an expanded SCCA Hungary program dedicated to new technology.
Working at breakneck speed, and defying all odds for success, Meszoly -- a powerhouse of energy and enthusiasm, gathered support for C3 from both SGI and MATAV - creating a showcase for new technical achievement in the East. A board of directors has also been formed to maintain the professional status of C3 in the Hungarian political scene, and in the International media art community.
General production possibilities for netculture in Budapest
Five years after SVB VOCE, the first exhibition of media art in Hungary, equipment access and connections to commercial sponsors have hardly developed further. The Intermedia Department of the Academy of Fine Arts, with many active and interested students, still struggles to realize projects and ideas, and equipment access is an ongoing problem. The Butterfly Effect represented, for the first time, free access to WWW in Hungary, not only for artists, but for the general public. C3 will continue this position, and offer free training and home page development to all Hungarians who demonstrate interest and need.