What we call the suburb is the initial version of Ars.Polis. It is accessible to all visitors of the pages, both art-lovers and casual passers-by.
The city, as opposed to the suburb, represents an advanced version of Ars.Polis which is accessible only to visitors having a citizen or guest status: artists, theorists, representatives of art groups, cultural and art associations and other related institutions, media, sponsors, and similar.
The concept of Ars.Polis in itself strives to surpass the topographic connotations implied by the usage of terms such as the suburb and the city; it strives to penetrate the entire web space, the World Wide Web.
Judging from the surface, the city contains the same contents as the suburb, but these contents are further developed in the city, and expanded by additional functionalities, different degrees of visibility of particular data, the access to specific program-information systems for the administration of particular program modules (such systems will, for example, be available for the following modules: Museum of Today/Presentation Folders, Agora, Sponsorship Fair, Solidarity Network, Art Sale etc.).
The suburb and the city differ from each other in the visual presentation (basic visual identity), the degree of visibility of certain contents, the level of accessibility needed to pass from one to the another (basic identification of users when passing through the City Door) or to access the administration interfaces related to specific responsibilities that a user performs if he/she is an active member.
The basic visual identity of Ars.Polis is based on several simple semantic oppositions.
The first opposition is SQUARE as opposed to ROUND including the following secondary meanings: ANGULAR as opposed to ROUNDED, SHARP as opposed to BLUNT, HARD as opposed to SOFT, and similar.
Most of the consistent elements such as the menus, buttons, other components of user interfaces, tool bars, floating windows, squares that materialize into a spiral at the entrance to the Museum of Today etc. are in the form of a SQUARE or a RECTANGLE. All movements are in the form of a ROUND – movements of buttons, floating windows, squares within the spiral…
By visually reflecting the program visibility of individual contents, the second bipolarity separates those contents that all visitors can see from the OUTSIDE (the suburb), from the contents that are visible only to citizens and guests from the INSIDE (the city), putting in opposition the POLYCHROMATIC colorfulness of day and night and the distanced, yet not cold, monumentality of the ACHROMATIC walls that symbolically surround Ars.Polis.
HARMONY as opposed to CONTRAST.
The appearance of Ars.Polis and the related Flash or Shockwave animations will be varied depending on the time of day or night (on the 16th Meridian server).
If we presume that day or night are on the OUTSIDE, and that the castle-house-room of Ars.Polis is on the INSIDE, then BEING OUTSIDE or BEING INSIDE can be identified with BEING IN THE SUBURB or BEING IN THE CITY.
the suburb
v The BASIC COLOR (it is mostly manifested as the color of the background, round buttons, icons on the standard buttons, and similar) and the COMPLEMENTARY COLOR (we find it on the borders of floating squares, square buttons, icons of the main menu, additional elements, and similar) reflect the TIME OF DAY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOMEONE WHO IS OUTSIDE (e.g. violet background and yellow characters, the night and the stars, the night and the lights of a megapolis…).
the city
v The pages (walls) are DARK GRAY, and the additional elements are LIGHT GRAY. The Sun and the Moon and the greenness of the morning or the redness of the afternoon shine through the windows of Ars.Polis (the main menu, the floating squares, the inside part of the presentation folders and similar). So, the TIME OF DAY is seen FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOMEONE WHO IS INSIDE.
the suburb
v Additional rule: ONE CAN SEE THE INSIDE (THE CITY) THROUGH THE WINDOWS = the basic color in the city – dark gray, which is not variable (see the city – Rule 1)
the city
v Additional rule: ONE CAN SEE THE OUTSIDE (THE SUBURB) THROUGH THE WINDOWS = the basic color of the suburb, which is variable (see the suburb – Rule 1).
Considering their visibility, the contents within the particular quarters of Ars.Polis are divided as follows:
Ars.Polis is a virtual city-state of art and art-lovers.
All artists, theorists, representatives of art groups or, in exceptional cases, representatives of third persons who register in the Museum of Today and become holders of presentation folders, can acquire the status of a member of the Ars.Polis Association i.e. the status of a citizen of Ars.Polis.
Except on the basis of the principle of creative activity, the membership is granted on the basis of the registration in the Solidarity Network. In this way, the activists (active members who need not necessarily be artists, theorists, representatives of art groups or third persons i.e. need not necessarily publicize artistic or scientific works in the framework of the Museum of Today) and representatives of associations and institutions can apply for membership. The activists become holders of their own presentation cards in the framework of the Solidarity Network module, and the representatives of associations or institutions become holders of presentation cards for their native organizations.
We consider all unregistered visitors to our pages as passers-by. The unregistered visitors have the right of access to the contents of level 0. They have a special visual presentation of the pages (the suburb).
The guests can be home or foreign artists, theorists, representatives of art groups, associations or institutions who, on the basis of their ideological or status-related reasons, do not wish to live in our city, but have decided to join us on a short-term basis to show support or offer sponsorship. EXTERNAL associates i.e. experts from the world of culture and art or from the world of media, who are interested in the project or the particular artists (mostly for the reason of publishing a one-time article, making a radio or TV reportage, calling particular artists to participate in a special exhibition or project…) can also be guests in the city.
Each individual who is granted the status of a guest by the Council gets a temporary access to levels 0-1.
Guest categories:
Guests from this category get a temporary presentation folder in the Museum of Today and a temporary access to levels o-1.
The category is intended in the first place for artists and art-groups who, for this or that reason, cannot or will not become permanent members of the Ars.Polis Association (e.g. guests from other countries, some “well-known” artists and groups that we manage to motivate to agree on a one-time exhibition of their work or performance in Ars.Polis, but who do not wish their works to be permanently stored in the Ars.Polis database…).
Guests from this category do not get a presentation folder in the Museum of Today or the Solidarity Network; however they do get temporary access to levels 0-1.
The category is intended for theorists, critics, curators, publishers, and all other representatives of institutions that follow the activities of Ars.Polis in order to discover new talents, to write a one-time article or make a reportage for their native magazine, portal, radio or TV station (these guests are members of the media and the institutions that do not participate in the activities of Ars.Polis directly).
Guests from this category get a temporary or permanent presentation folder in the framework of the Sponsorship Fair, and a temporary or permanent access to levels 0-1, but they cannot be considered citizens of Ars.Polis for conceptual and ideological reasons.
All individuals who are granted membership by the Council are considered citizens of Ars.Polis. The membership is granted on the basis of creative activity or on the basis of the activist approach.
ALL THOSE WHO CREATE: home or foreign artists, theorists or members of art groups who wish to live in Ars.Polis on a long-term basis (passive members, according to the Statute) or live and work in Ars.Polis on a long-term basis (active members, according to the Statute) may become citizens of Ars.Polis.
ALL WHO WORK (for the benefit of mankind and in accordance with the goals and resources stated in the Statute): the associations and institutions i.e. their representatives and activists, the individuals who do not have their own artistic or scientific works to publicize within the presentation folder in the Museum of Today (or who simply do not wish to do so), but are ready to contribute actively to the work of the Association as INTERNAL associates (active members, according to the Statute) may become citizens of Ars.Polis. Active members include theorists, critics, language editors, translators, and other more or less specialized people who participate in the activities of the Editorial team or contribute to some other segments important for the development and maintenance of Ars.Polis on a long-term basis.
Each individual who was granted a citizen status by the Council gets permanent access to levels 0-1. A passive citizen has the right to access levels 0-1, and an active citizen to levels 0-2, as well as all other additional administration interfaces related to specific responsibilities that he/she performs in the framework of Ars.Polis and on a wider scale.
Citizen categories:
Citizens from this category have their own presentation folder in the Museum of Today and access to levels 0-1 or 0-2 depending on the degree of their engagement.
Citizens – artists and theorists can be passive or active members of the Association.
Citizens from this category arrange, design and maintain presentation folders of art groups or third persons, for which they have the authorization (the folder is located in the Museum of Today), and have access to levels 0-1 or 0-2 depending on the degree of their engagement.
Citizens – representatives of art-groups or third persons can be passive and active members of the Association.
Citizens from this category have their own presentation card in the framework of the Solidarity Network and access to levels 0-1 or 0-2 depending on the degree of their engagement.
Citizens – activists must be active members of the Association.
Citizens from this category design and maintain presentation folders of associations or institutions, for which they have the authorization (the folder is located in the framework of the Solidarity Network), and have access to levels 0-1 or 0-2- depending on the degree of their engagement.
Citizens – representatives of member associations or institutions must be active members of the Association.
After he/she passes the identification process, every citizen may access his/her user data and the program-information system for administration of their own presentation folder (or the folder of the person that he/she has the authorization for).
An active citizen may access the program-information systems for administration of particular town quarters (modules), depending on the responsibilities that he/she performs in the framework of Ars.Polis.
All active members of the Ars.Polis Association, including the members of the Council, are considered active citizens and must take on and conscientiously and diligently carry out one or more responsibilities in the framework of Ars.Polis.
Depending on the responsibilities, active citizens have the right to access particular parts of level 2. The members of the Council and administrators have access to all parts of level 2.
The responsibilities are divided in the following categories (fields of activism):
All active citizens have a responsibility to occasionally participate in field activities such as the distribution of leaflets, placing posters, carrying out of informative actions, and similar.
Activists of the Solidarity Network responsible for field assistance take photographs of the works of art, shoot stage, music and music-stage performances and in doing so help the artists who lack the relevant technical knowledge or financial resources to prepare quality presentational material.
Activists of the Solidarity Network responsible for technical assistance digitalize and process materials (texts, photographs, audio and video recordings) received from members of the team for field assistance or artists themselves.
Technical editors offer technical assistance to the Council and the Administration team (priority no.1), members of the Editorial team (priority no. 2), but also to all other citizens, guests and visitors (priority no. 3). In accordance with the decisions of the Council, they grant or modify the levels of access of particular members or guests, and, in exceptional cases, they intervene by removing the inappropriate contents from advertisement boards in the framework of the Agora, Sponsorship Fair, Solidarity Network, and Museum of Today modules.
The administrators run the program-information system (priority no. 1) and administer the server (priority no.1).
All actions performed by technical editors and administrators are transparent and recorded in the system so that the members of the Council and other members of the Computer team could supervise them.
Under the responsibilities of the members of the Computer team we also include the preparation of scripts for entering of data in the database.
The members of the editorial team create news and other textual contents in the framework of the Agora, Sponsorship Fair, Solidarity Network and other modules, other parts of Ars.Polis and wider. They are responsible for writing specialized (theory and criticism) or unofficial texts (interesting news), language editing, translating, and similar.
The members of the Visual team prepare visual contents in the framework of Ars.Polis (the online city-state) and the wider scope of the Association. They are responsible for web design and animation, creation of multi-media materials (e.g. DVD version of Museum of Today) and graphic design (e.g. leaflets, posters, informative brochures).
The members of the organizational team are responsible for the organization of events and manifestations that take place outside the territory of the online city-state. That includes organization of public meetings, discussions, exhibitions, literary promotions, concerts, performances, film productions, and other happenings related to the specific needs of particular categories of artists.
The members of the administration team offer operational support to the Council; they are responsible for public relations, fund raising, administration, and coordination of the Solidarity Network and the Sponsorship Fair.
The council supervises all activities, it creates and adopts the Statute, all Rules and Regulations, and all decisions related to the construction and development of Ars.Polis, approves new registrations, grants the citizen or guest status, decides on the “expulsion” of citizens who do not adhere to the Statute, and similar.
City Door
Identification of users
Registration of new users
Registration of artists, art groups and theorists
Registration of activists, associations and institutions
Registration of sponsors
Administration
User data
Museum of Today
Presentation folders of artists, art groups and theorists
Gallery
2D (Flash)
3D (Shockwave)
Administration
Presentation folders of artists, art groups and theorists
Agora
Culture news
Theory and criticism
Advertisement board
Interesting news
Questionnaires
Administration
Culture news
Theory and criticism
Advertisement board
Interesting news
Questionnaires
Sponsorship Fair
Project presentation cards
Presentation folders of sponsors
Advertisement board
Administration
Project presentation cards
Presentation folders of sponsors
Advertisement Board
Solidarity Network
Presentation cards of activists
Presentation folders of associations and institutions
Field support for artists
Field support folder
Fields of activism
Contacts
Technical support for artists
Questions and answers
Contacts
Administration
Presentation cards of activists
Presentation cards of associations and institutions
Advertisement Board
Communication
Chat
Chat (group)
Chat (private)
Forum
City mail
Web mail
Art Sale
Shop Window
Auctions
Identification of Buyers
Registration of new Buyers
Administration
Shop Window
Auctions
Buyers’ user data
Artwork presentation cards
Passing through the City Door symbolically means passing from the suburbs to the city. Technically speaking, you need to enter the user name and password in the module field intended for the identification of the user. The authorization for access to the city is granted only to users – citizens and guests of Ars.Polis (specially authorized persons by the Council).
In the framework of the City Door module there will also be all the forms for the registration of new candidates for membership or the guest status: the forms for the registration of artists, art groups and theorists, forms for the registration of activists, associations and institutions, and forms for the registration of sponsors.
After the identification process, the citizens will be able to access their user data with a purpose to modify them and add new information. We envisaged the interfaces for the modification of user information in the similar way as those for the registration.
The Museum of Today will include the presentation folders of artists, art groups and theorists, and a virtual gallery in two versions – 2D (Flash) and 3D (Shockwave).
The database will be in XML. Every artist, art group or theorist will get their own space on the server disc inside of which all information (texts, images, audio, video and multimedia recordings) will be stored. User interfaces and texts of general importance will be available in Croatian and English languages. The artists will be able to publicize all other literary and authorial texts in their native language, and in the translations they secure.
The Museum of Today can be searched by the following parameters:
v search by authors or groups
· search by field of creative activity
o possibility of choosing one or more categories
o possibility of choosing one or more sub-categories within a particular category
· search by surname and name, pseudonym or name of the group
o “Surname and Name of Author” field
o “Pseudonym of Author” field
o “Name of Group” field
· search by year of birth or year of creation
o possibility of entering the exact year
o possibility of choosing “from-to”
· search by place of creation
o “Country” field
o “Croatia – by Counties” field or “Foreign Country – by Regions” field
o “Croatia – by Cities” field or “Foreign Country – by Cities” field
· advanced search by authors or groups
o possibility of combining the above-mentioned parameters
v search by works or projects
· search by field of creative activity
o possibility of choosing one or more categories
o possibility of choosing one or more sub-categories within a particular category
· search by name of work or project
o possibility of entering key words from the name of the work or project
· search by year of creation
o possibility of entering the exact year
o possibility of choosing “from-to”
· search by key words
o possibility of entering key words from texts found inside the presentation folders
· advanced search by works or projects
o possibility of combining the above-mention parameters
The portal will include a wide range of contents interesting to our citizens and the wider public. The members of the Editorial team will be responsible for the design of the portal i.e. the critics, essayists, writers of chronics, language editors, translators, and other people of the feather and the spirit.
Art-lovers will be able to get information about cultural happenings reading the fields such as the Theory and Criticism, Culture News or Interesting News, filling out questionnaires, finding out the details related to the current competitions, workshops, seminars, and similar.
In the scope of the Advertisement Board field all other members of Ars. Polis, besides the members of the Editorial team, will be able to post short texts or images. Guests (individuals, companies, institutions, and similar) will advertise through the agency of the Editorial team.
The city portal is intended for citizens and guests of Ars.Polis only. Except from the contents of the “outside” portal, it will offer some other contents such as, for example, the reports on the activities of the Council, results of public voting, open letters, and similar.
In the framework of the Sponsorship Fair city quarter presentation folders of sponsors as well as project presentation cards of those registered for sponsoring will be stored.
The Sponsorship Fair will include, among other, internal information about sponsorships, public contests, temporary jobs, and job opportunities. It is ambitiously envisaged as a service for finding associates and “personal sponsors”.
Some parts of the Sponsorship Fair will be accessible (visible) only to the citizens of Ars.Polis.
The Solidarity network is a network of technical and field support the mission of which is to connect volunteer/artists with those artists who lack experience or the material resources needed to digitalize their work and become citizens of Ars.Polis.
The Solidarity Network as such surpasses the concept of virtual city-state of artists and penetrates the domain of the so-called “real”, physical world. It is, in fact, the strongest connecting point between Ars.Polis and the Ars.Polis Association. The coordinating points of the volunteer network are the subsidiaries of the Ars.Polis Association that will eventually branch out across Croatia. The task of the branches is to gather volunteer labor force, coordinate regional actions and manifestations, raise funds from local sponsors and donors, take care of procurement of equipment, and similar.
The presentation folders of members i.e. associations and institutions and presentation cards of activists will be placed in the framework of the Solidarity Network program-information module. The information about the epicenters of the Solidarity Network, the locations on which our activists operate, and the regional availability of particular features of field and technical assistance will be shown in the Technical Support folder (interactive map of Croatia with marked symbols and locations). The symbols and locations marked in the Technical Support folder will be related to the cards of activists and the presentation folders of associations and institutions.
Some of the contents in the framework of the Solidarity Network such as the contact information of activists will be available (visible) to Ars.Polis citizens only.
The Forum and Chat communication modules are available to all visitors of the suburb. They are intended to gather artists, art-lovers and passers-by.
The Agora and Chatting communication modules, the scenes of endless debates, are available (accessible) only to those citizens of Ars.Polis who were authorized to enter the city.
Agora is a public square and, as such, it is the center of political life, a place where questions related to the organization and functioning of Ars.Polis are raised, where voting is carried out or petitions signed…
The neighborhood in which all citizens put their artworks on sale.
The artists get to choose between shop windows, the standard sale, and the auction, the sale by public bidding.
Functionally speaking, the shop window was envisaged as a standard e-shop, whereas the auctions should include some additional parameters such as the possibility of “keeping” the works until the final day of bidding, shifting artworks from one basket to another, and similar.
☼ The right to design and maintain a folder on behalf of another person is granted in exceptional cases only – in the case of deceased artists or theorists, under-age artists or artists who are not capable of opening their own presentation folder. The person who publicizes the work of another person must be authorized to do so…