Questions about CUE

There is, first of all, the necessity of finding a place and counting with some money to provide it with all the necessary equipment (basically sound, projections and lighting). After having set up the space, it needs to be promoted. The best promotion comes for sure from the “word passing” of the ones who have already been at a CUE event, but one very first promotion is always needed (and to keep on promoting is for sure no harm at all…). For this purpose, it’s necessary to search for people or groups concerned in free expression, spontaneous arts, interdisciplinarity, music, videoart, performing, dance, etc… Rather than a high number of collaborators, what is much more important is that the selected people are very well informed about the functioning of CUE: all the necessary information can be found in this website, but further information can be provided by mail as well. The organizers of CUE will constantly keep attentive to their means of communication (mail and phone), in order to help promptly with any kind of doubt or question that could arise.

In order to maintain the singularity of every CUE (which is already granted by the variable participants and contributions), every time the organizers will mould the space with a different scenography, as if everytime it was a different game-board. For this purpose, the organizers can search for people or groups interested in this activity (scenography, architecture, interior design, installations…) and establish with them some collaboration. CUE is open to all sorts of proposals, that will be judeged by the organizers in accordance with the “principles of CUE”. The most important point is that the scenographies or installations are consistent with the practical needs of CUE: because of this, the organizers could feel the need of helping with their design. It could be that, in order to carry out their contribution, the collaborators of CUE could need to bring some tools or machinery that needs to be installed or assembled. There is no problem in carrying out all of it during the event, but there is also the possibility of contacting the organizers in order to carry out the installation before the event, integrating it with the scenography. For this purpose, the organizers will be ready in any moment to open their doors to whoever needs it.

Given the spontaneity of the project, the activities that will be carried out during the CUE event cannot be defined a priori, because any outcome will be dependant on the collaborators, the spatial design, and the available means. In general, CUE hopes to host the overlapping of improvised music sessions, dance or other scenic arts, performances, videoart projections… It’s also possible to exhibit already prepared artworks, without forgetting that this exhibition will have to interact with all the other artistic activities taking place during CUE. During the event, the organizers will be ready to provide informations to the participants whenever needed, in order to help their intervention and interaction between each other. There should be no need to say that the organizers will be responsible of taking care for the overall integrity: people, equipment, place.

As it has been conceived, CUE should be carried on by all the people who participate in it. CUE is designed in order “to be used”. That means: “come, make use of what is here, express yourself spontaneously and interact with all you want”. CUE is done for the enjoyment of its participants, and directed by people or groups concerned with free expression, improvisation arts, interdisciplinarity, music, videoart, performance, dance or just play… Because of this, the organizers do simply provide the space, the audio channels and the sound amplification machinery, the projectors and the video reading devices, but not any other specific instrument (in some case just maybe a microphone and a videocamera). It is thus expected that the participants will be the ones “giving life” to the event with whatever instrument they want to use, as much as bringing all cables and equipment needed for their functioning.

It could be that, in order to carry out their contribution, the participants of CUE need to bring some tools or machinery that have to be installed or assembled (maybe because of their weight, size, or complexity). There is no problem in carrying it out during the event, but, to avoid any kind of accident or unexpected problem, there is also the possibility of contacting the organizers to carry out the installation before the event, integrating it with the scenography (So if you want to participate but you need to install something with such carachteristics, just put in touch with us and we will find out a proper solution together).

CUE wants every edition to be unique: for this purpose, before every opening the organizers work to the scenography, the interior design, and the distribution of the equipment within the space… Thus the organizers are always available to welcome any new proposal: they will judge all of them, and then realize the ones considered more consistent with the aims of CUE. The criteria of this selection are in accordance with “the practice of CUE”: the main principle is that the scenography and the installations must not interfere with the practical needs, and for this reason the organizers could need to make some intervention into the design process. Moreover, as far as CUE is concerned with issues of interaction and cohabitation of multiple artists, it’s possible to put together different people in order to carry out the scenographic work, joining different ideas into one whole project.

For sure anyone willingful can collaborate with us in the organization of CUE. For example: promoting it with your own communication channels, writing commentaries or articles that can be published on this website, as much as establishing a CUE in your own city (apart from Berlin and Madrid, where it already exists). For any concerning issue, the organizers are ready to help through their contacts.

Yes, it will be recorded, through both video and audio devices. The recordings will be made public under a Creative Commons licence (CC-sa-by) as soon as they are ready, in order to receive a feedback of what happened after every edition of CUE.

All the material recorded during CUE will be published under a free licence of the Copyleft type. This means that any person or organization is allowed to copy, distribute, publicly broadcast and even sell these recordings without need to ask any sort of permission. It’s also possible to modify these recordings and produce new works out of them, as long as the final outcome (the “derived work”) holds the same kind of licence, that is, it can as well be copied, distributed, publicly broadcasted or sold without any sort of permission. The organizers of CUE deem, along with the ideals of free culture, that any barrier to artistic creation should be avoided: for this reason they have decided to use such a CC-sa-by licence, which implies that all the CUE participants have to used exclusively original or unprotected material.

CUE is mainly anonymous. Even if the participants of CUE are not anonymous, and any sort of relationship can develop between them inside or outside the CUE events, there is no point at all for CUE in knowing its participants’name, nor the name of the involved art works. CUE is focused on the event itself, on the interactions and games that happen to arise during its development. Thus CUE will not collect the name of its participants, nor it will publicize them, before or after the event. The authorship of the recordings taken by CUE will be published under a free licence (CC-sa-by) that allows their free use under the collective authorship of CUE and un unknown group of anonymous authors. For this reason, it’s very important that all participants make exclusive use of original or non-protected by copyright material. The participants, in taking part in CUE, accept to grant CUE the permision of publishing under a CC-sa-by licence all the work developed during CUE. For sure CUE holds no claim on the right of the artists to licence, publish, use or sell their work out of CUE in the form they consider more proper.

No. Given the current laws of intellectual property and copyright, it’s not possible to use protected material, sometimes even if you are the author yourself (because in many cases artists end up assigning all rights of exploitation to some company). For this reason, CUE participants must avoid using any kind of protected material. CUE has to respect the law and thus stick to the current regulations, even if, given its spontaneity, CUE would rather avoid putting any limit to the creativity of its participants.

Not necessarily. The used material must be under a licence compatible with CUE, both for the purpose of the event (it has to allow its public exhibition) and of the recording (CUE recordings will be published under a CC-sa-by). In simple words, it’s possible to use all kinds of original material, material within the public domain, or material licenced under a compatible free licence (for example CC-sa, CC-sa-by, GNU, GPL/GDFL, etc…).

CUE cannot be responsible for the material used by the participants of CUE. It’s impossible for CUE both to control all the used material or to know which material is protected or not. Thus CUE is not to be considered responsible of the works used by the participants of CUE.

No. A free licence is assigned solely to the CUE recordings, that will obviously include within them all the artistic expressions developed during CUE. For sure, any original work keeps on belonging to the artist, who keeps the possibility of licencing it in whatever way he or she likes. In other words, if a participants decides to project some original work of his/her, CUE holds the right to publish under a free licence a recording of the event, that can include some sections of that original material. But CUE does not take possession of the authorship itself, it simply receives the permission of using it in its recordings. The authors of any original material will still be able to make use of it in all possible ways; moreover keeping in mind that CUE will not keep a whole copy of it, but just a partial recording taken by the media used by CUE for its documentation (mostly audiovisual).

Both yes and no. As a principle yes, but each participant’s activities will have to respect the other participants and the place itself. Without any need of a mutual agreement or a universal model of “good behaviour”, CUE expects that the participants will adopt the basic principles of Autonomy (I can do what I want) and Tolerance (I have to respect the others), which we deem are the basis of any peaceful cohabitation. Everything can be done during CUE, but everyone’s participation must be respected, and the integrity of the technical equipment and the place must be preserved. CUE wants to be a space of “free expression”, but this does not mean you are “completyely free”, as if in CUE there were no conditions at all. In CUE there are no aesthetic conditions (no one has to censor any work nor any mean of expression), but the basic conditions of cohabitation have to be satisfied. In order to make CUE exist, everyone has to take care of CUE.

No. Because CUE wants to be a place of interdisciplinary improvisation, interaction must be a basic condition for participation. For sure you can come with your own prepared pieces of work (for example some music or dance), but you will have to improvise or look for the way to integrate it with the rest of the interacting activities (although for sure you can, if you want, find a personal agreement with other participants, as part of a normal cohabitation experience). CUE does not want to be a sort of museum or exhibiting gallery. CUE wants to be a space for creation and spontaneous expression, and there is no better way to integrate than being sensitive to what is going on, ready with things to say or things to do, but without too specific or concrete expectations. Uncertainty and surprise is what CUE likes more.

The participation to CUE implies the acceptance of the following conditions, which are necessary to the taking place and normal development of CUE. 1- To respect the integrity and the activities of the other participants and of the CUE equipment, that is, to respect the basic conditions of cohabitation. 2- To accept that what happens in CUE will be recorded, that means to authorize the publishing of the work developed during CUE under a CC-sa-by licence, and the assignment of the rights of image treatment necessary to carry out the documentation material of CUE.

No, although freaks are, for sure, warmly welcomed. CUE is not a “reserve”, but a space for spontaneous expression. Because every edition needs to last for several hours (4, 5, 6…), the place has to count with all the necessary sanitary equipment, and, if possible, with some food and drink supplying (if not within the place itself, in some nearby store), in order to satisfy the participants’ hunger and thirst. Anyway, CUE is not conceived as a place where to have a drink, but as a place where to play and interact with other people. Nor it’s a place where to come to see a show, but to be part of it.

CUE is not a business, as long as there is no fee required for entry or participation. CUE wants to deal with art (and with the more general theme of expression) from outside the market rules, dealing only with its more playful carachteristics. (art and spontaneous expression as an “enjoyment therapy”). This is the reason why the activities of CUE need to be supported by some other institutions or grants. Since its beginning (in March 2007) until April 2008, CUE-Berlin has existed thanks to the personal economic effort of Diego Agulló and Luis Miguel Rodriguez, and the personal support of other collaborators, as Holm am See, who granted CUE its gallery space in Berlin. In February 2008, the Madrid municipality, through Intermediæ, has allowed a grant for helping the activities of CUE-Madrid, which implies a place, the necessary equipment, and the communication channels for its promotion. Currently, we are working in order to support properly CUE-Berlin, as much as trying to open new CUEs in other cities (Paris, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, El Cairo and Tokyo are some possible spots).

Yes, for sure! If you’d like to open a CUE in your city and you deem the project feasible, put in touch with us to start its development (just keep in mind that all CUEs need to be organized in a coordinate way, making them simultaneous and connected through video-conference). If you don’t have access to financial means, you can still contact us, and we can try to find some help.

If you still have some doubt, just contact us through this website contact form and we will try to solve it (don’t forget to leave your contact details). You can also send a message to this mail: info@cue-ifyouneed.org.