Today @ 12:25h viennas academy of fine arts was occupied by by students and lecturers. The strike will last until thursday oct. 21st.

The reason for the protest is the adaptation of the us bachelor / master degree system(see the bologna process), In the opinion of many students and lecturers, this system encourages equation in the sense of standardization which leeds to unnecessary competition among educational institutions on a global scale.

Further the so called "automation" of the education system demands an adaptation of neo-liberal economic ideas and profit oriented thinking which often conflicts with the logic and philosophy of artistis. Many Academies and Universities are concerned about the new degree system, because they see their established and legitimate democratic rights replaced with a top-down-hierachy.(roughly translated and shortened from the german press-text)

more info (german only)
petition

Many of you might remember an album called The Grey Album by producer Dangermouse that came out a couple of years ago, many of you might remember the hard time it had, many might remember "Grey Tuesday" and the aftermath. Now, five years later, once again Dangermouse is held from releasing his OWN album by record label major EMI due to what they call "legal issues". Therefore, for the sake of protest, the album called Dark Night of the Soul is now released as a 100+ page book with artwork by David Lynch and a blank CD-R to be filled with mp3's downloaded via p2p networks. Here's the official statement taken from the release site, www.dnots.com

Danger Mouse's new project Dark Night Of The Soul consists of an album length piece of music by Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse and a host of guest vocalists, along with a collection of original David Lynch photography inspired by and based on the music.

The photographs, which provide a visual narrative for the music, are compiled in a limited edition, hand numbered 100+ page book which will now come with a blank, recordable CD-R. All copies will be clearly labeled: 'For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.'

Due to an ongoing dispute with EMI, Danger Mouse is unable to release the recorded music for Dark Night Of The Soul without fear of being sued by EMI.

Danger Mouse remains hugely proud of Dark Night Of The Soul and hopes that people lucky enough to hear the music, by whatever means, are as excited by it as he is.

By the way, there already is a possibility to listen to the album, head over here to listen to the stream.

... a lot, so this post is supposed to sum it all up. let's take it from the top:

Tuesday Nov 4 '08 (= Today!) Kompact will be spinning records alongside Francoforte at Café Leopold, Vienna. more...

Friday Nov 7 '08 fresh out the box Rotaug member Simonaggio will be hosting EROBIQUE LIVE (International Pony) together with Bernhard Tobola at Brut, Vienna.

Saturday Nov 8 '08 Lens G. Jadepfahl will be teaming up with the First Lady of Bad Taste to blend genres into eternity at Rote Bar Volkstheater, Vienna. more...

Nov 5 - Nov 9 '08 - this is a Rotaug recommendation for all of those interested in styles off the beaten track. They should join the ELEVATE festival in Graz this week - lots of concerts, live-performances, discussions and the like. My personal recommendation would be this Thursday: DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid a.k.a. Paul D. Miller discussing "Commons of the Mind", starting at 19:30 @ Dom im Berg with a Live Performance right after...

Don't sleep this week! Peace.

i'm sorry for you english speaking folks out there, but i dont think that there is an english translation of the books of Daniel Goeudevert. actually i read his second book "mit träumen beginnt die realität" (with dreams reality begins) back in 2000 and i must say - it already changed my view on a lot of things back then. anyhow; why i write this post: he just recently published his 6th book called "DAS SEEROSENPRINZIP - wie die gier uns ruiniert" (the water-lillies principle - how greed ruines us). its about economy, capitalism, ... ; how it works and where it will end. water-lillies take so much nutriens from their environment, that everything around them dies - until they die themselves. a very beautiful metaphoric to what he's talking about in the book. the economic world. before he started writing books daniel goeudevert was a manager and executive in some big automobile companies like Ford, VW, Citroen, ... and he was - already back then at the beginning of the 90ties - a very innovative man concerning the developement of eco-friendly vehicles and so on. that's why he had to leave VW in 1993 because of his conservative thinking collegues in the company and because what he wanted could not be turned over. among writing interesting books and giving interesting lectures, he is vice president of the EFI (Europe Finance et Industrie) and a mentor of the UNESCO. i love this guy. read his books. i dont want to link to amazon; decide by yourself, why you wanna buy this book. go to your local dealer!

I just got word from our dear friend Ilford who currently resides in Turkey, that the Government there has blocked their blog: http://fordbrothers.blogspot.com/ . Since Rotaug also supports free expression of opinion by all means, I had to post this to declare solidarity. What an outrage.

recently i´ve read an article about the impact of the surveillance system in the UK. the amazing fact presented, was that when it comes to efficiency, the CCTV system, to put it in the words of Chief Inspector Mick Neville of the London Metropolitan police, is a total fiasco and a waste of public monies.

read the article (german)
read the article (french)