Floater #01 - Micro-organisations

#01 on Floatation / Floater Magazine suggests an inventory of floatation mechanisms within architecture; Without Stability, Without Foundation / Flip is an ocean research platform that capsizes in order to maintain its stability. Yannikos Vassiloulis presents the mechanism of this paradoxical stability / Armin Linke’s images of astronauts and divers project the realities of a utopian body equipped with prosthetics that provide the ability to exist in conditions of No Gravitation / Wave Garden by Yusuke Obuchi and Meduseabloo by b. are performative, highly intelligent environments capable of collecting and administrating data / In 1968, Takis invented Oscillation of the Sea; a device that translates the motion of the sea surface into kinetic energy / Dimitris Antonakakis describes the chronicle of an unusual project commissioned to Atelier66; redesigning the cruiser Libra Y the parameters of instability and non foundation demarcate a new territory for the architect / Louisa Adam explores architectural strategies and practices within contemporary cultural concerns, commenting on OMA’s Harbour of Ideas / Nikos Navridis cooperated with floater magazine for the production of a digital representation of his recent show Tomorrow will be a Wonderful Day... / Evi Sougara's interactive animation is based on J. Swift's Laputa; a mythical island from the novel Gulliver's Travels / Takis Zenetos’ Electronic Urban Planning Utopia is negotiated in juxtaposition with Maurizio Cattelan’s installation Mise-en-Scene. Nikos Tsimas declares floatation experiences as parameters that can provoke feelings of Pleasure and Awe / Micro-organisations, by Elysa Lozano, reflects the socio-political realities of Sealand's micronation, where the artist explores the potential of registering and developing a not for profit organization / in Floating and Sinking in Psychoanalysis Nikos Sideris analyses the mechanisms of floating and sinking in relation to both psychic structure and spatiality / Giorgos Lagoudakis suggests legal aspects of Floating Territories presenting specific archival cases along with the relative legal texts.

Floater #01 edited by Yannis Arvanitis, Elina Axioti, Yannis Papayannakis, Evi Sougara, Eleni Spiridaki, Yannikos Vassiloulis / Fall 2008.

Redsave

Get yourself an official Noble Title from the Principality of Sealand and become a Lord, Lady, Baron or Baroness.
'This Individual Noble Title Award is approved and granted by our Sovereign, the Head of State and the Royal Family of Sealand, and is based upon the constitutional laws of our government, established in 1967. This award is given in recognition of your financial support towards the welfare and development of Sealand and the desire to become part of our independent Sovereign State'.

Redsave is one of the UK's leading gadget shops offering a huge selection of gifts and gadgets. To purchase, visit: http://www.redsave.com/index

Church and East Ltd

About two years ago I approached the Principality with a view to leasing space in Sealand territorial waters. This led to a number of meetings with various representatives until finally I managed to negotiate an exclusive building contract. I also found backers, many of them willing to invest a stake in Sealand's future. At the end of July Church and East will be sending in a further work crew to ensure that essentials are fully functional and I expect commerce to fully resume from November. As always Church and East have room for further sponsors and investors with sensible ideas.

Church and East Ltd also run an online Sealand souvenir shop where a visitor can purchase commemo-
rative mugs, t-shirts, bolts and poker chips to use in the Church and East-run onboard casino.

To purchase, visit: http://www.churchandeast.co
.uk/shop/index.html

MetaHaven Sealand Identity Project

Since November, 2003, a Dutch research think tank has been working on a series of symbols, coins, stamps and logos for the Principality of Sealand, a mini-state on a man-made island near the British coast. The aim of these propositions, brought together now in an exclusive online pre-release, is to open up a set of associative meanings to Sealand. Meta Haven, as the design project is called, aims to deliver a strategic proposal about community and branding for Sealand later this spring. The initial collection of symbols, entitled the 'Jewel Box', consists of found imagery weaved together to achieve a narrative relation to the history and meaning of Sealand as a territorial state, a virtual state and a publicity phenomenon. The different designs go into such notions as islands and utopias, scandals in the network economy, piracy, search engines, fraudulent representations of the Principality of Sealand and their alleged connections, and a mathematical figure resembling Sealand's host platform.

http://gadgetopia.com/post/689

Autonomous Organization is an art practice as a Not For Profit Charitable Company, whose projects are subject to the oversight of a Board of Directors. It is a device for fragmenting the authoritarian program of the artist, and opening it up to other agendas.
While the purpose of the Organization is to produce projects and works, I publicly exhibit its structure and internal communications. The Organization strives to create the ultimate bureaucracy, where the means become the ends in themselves, and where the method of organization and manner of processing

Our Organisation offers products and services which search for expanded territories using bureaucratic vehicles. We serve the public and exhibition spaces, creating projects which are models for increased autonomy through the negotiation of social or legal contracts.
Our services for organizations result in still life performances, displaying the relationships and politics of the exhibition space. Rather than limiting operations, regulatory vocabularies become devices for multiplying possibilities.

Services

Services for galleries, project spaces, and exhibition spaces:

Gallery Rebranding Service: We rebrand the gallery, giving it a corporate identity which functions as an invitation to the public to participate in the institution and/or allows for flexibility with its identity.

Artist Vehicles for Spatial Expansion: We install a temporary artist residence in the gallery and work with the curator, gallery employees or assistants to temporarily redefine the 'artwork'.

Fantasy Architecture: Construct architectural additions, functional passageways, for new modes and means for navigating the gallery

Contractual Reinventions: Works with the gallery and artists to develop legal contracts that rather than narrow the space of operation for either side, opens up a larger operating field or more possibilities.

Historical info.
SEALAND STATE CORPORATION was formed some years ago under a Charter that gave the Corporation total authority under its Board of elected Senators to administer and to govern the island. It was established before the Principality extended its territorial limits to 12 miles and during that time:
- The Corporation passed all the Laws and statutes and owned the land and resources of Sealand.
- The Corporation assisted in the development of all Sealand potential and assets in such manner as it decided.
- Within the territory of Sealand and the three miles of territorial waters bounding the island, the Corporation ensured that Sealand law was absolute and Sealand was accountable to nobody for the enforcement of its laws within this area.
- Sealand was declared a Free Trade zone and no Customs duties or Gaming restrictions were to be imposed.

Historical info.
By late 1968, the British navy had become aware of the new situation off the coast of England. They were interested in terminating the state of affairs...
Units of the navy entered the territorial waters claimed by Roy of Sealand...Roy of Sealand threatened the navy by undertaking defensive activity. Shots were fired from Sealand in warning.
Since Roy of Sealand was still an English citizen, he was thus accused of extensive crimes in Britain and was summoned to an English court. The result of this lawsuit in Chelmsford, Essex was a spectacular success for Sealand's claim to sovereignty. In its judgment of 25 November 1968, the court declared that it was not competent in Roy of Sealand's case as it could not exert any jurisdiction outside of British national territory. This is the first de facto recognition of the Principality of Sealand.

Historical info.
In August of 1978, a number of Dutch men came to Sealand in the employ of a German businessman. They were there to discuss business dealings with Sealand. While Roy was away in Britain, these men kidnapped Prince Roy's son Michael, and took Sealand by force. Soon after, Roy recaptured the island with a group of his own men and held the attackers as prisoners of war.
During the time that he held the prisoners, the Governments of the Netherlands and Germany petitioned for their release. Germany sent a diplomat directly to Sealand to negotiate for the release of their citizen.
Roy first released the Dutch citizens, as the war was over, and the Geneva Convention requires the release of all prisoners. The German was held longer, as he had accepted a Sealand Passport and therefore was guilty of treason. Prince Roy eventually released him as well.

Historical info.
The Royal Family has struck a deal with HavenCo Limited, and that company now leases exclusively its offices and operations centres in Sealand, where it offers, and is able to offer, unparalleled security and independence to users who wish to take advantage of its Internet collocation services.
The presence of an active and rapidly growing high-tech internet industry in Sealand has changed the character of the Principality; once more, Sealand rings with the sound of voices, boasts regular support ferry services, and is host to a growing and dynamic population.

Micro-organisations
Elysa Lozano

----- Original Message -----
From: "elysa lozano"
<elysalozano@yahoo.com>
To: <contact@sealandgov.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 10:28 AM
Subject: Application to Register a Not For Profit Organization

Dear Prince Michael Bates:
I am an artist working with ideas of how to create autonomous regions, exploring how this may be done and sustained. Within my field and to the extent possible in an art context, I have been working towards developing such spaces, hoping to produce metaphor for how autonomous regions may exist in the real world. Given my engagement with this particular topic, I have been drawn to the success of the Principality of Sealand.
I am particularly interested in how groups can organize themselves around such a goal. I am currently working on a project to create a Not For Profit Organization, whose purpose will be to develop projects and artworks. I have engaged the structure of a Not For Profit Organization, both because its emphasis on public good and because it insists that as an artist I will not be attempting to glean a profit from my projects.
Due to the correlation between the ideological foundation of Sealand and the projects I am working on, I wanted to contact you to find out if there is a possibility to register our Not For Profit Organization with Sealand. I realize that currently residing between the United States and the United Kingdom, I am in a grey area in terms of my country of residence. Given this opportunity, I would very much like to base the foundation of this project with Sealand.