A history of micronations

Other art virtual nations
Lizbekistan
Upper Yafa
The Republic of Howland, Baker and Jarvis
KREV Digital Territory

 

the interREPUBLIC OF HYBRIDIA and the DISTRICT OF LEISTAVIA at ISEA 2004

These are the heritage origin pages, the current file is found here.

The interRepublic of Hybridia is a nonlinear, non-geographical entity mediated by digital files: it's cultural boundary is ultimately flexible. The District of Leistavia falls within the interRepublic of Hybridia, and is a hybrid cultural space influenced by cultures worldwide. The creation of the District of Leistavia was a selected project for ISEA 2004, which takes place in Helsinki and Tallinn and on the ferry in between, in August 2004.

The boundaries between cultures are usually distinct, and are often fixed by geography. The internet is fundamentally a non-geographic entity, and given digital media are nonlinear, the boundaries between cultures can be freely breached in this project.

While people of all cultures were invited to take part in this project, a special request was made to people of the cultures of Estonia, Pitcairn Island and Norfolk Island cultures. The project has been a collaboration involving many people (in particular Kylli Mariste of Estonia and Joe Flynn of Norfolk Island), and is strongly influenced by Norfolk Island, Pitcairn Island and Estonian cultures.

The constitution voting form reflects the particular interests of people of these cultures. Following a world wide interaction, important issues of governance arose - who controls/governs the people? Should indigenous cultures have special rights? Should everyone be equal in the law? Resource use was another consideration of importance to the three founding cultures. Voting on the constitution is taking place now.

If a country was started from law making up, what kind of territory would be created, in 2004? That is one question this project sets out to answer. If you have any queries about the project, email hybridia1@yahoo.com.

the DISTRICT OF LEISTAVIA welcomes you

A large part of this project has taken place via email, with contributors around the earth taking part. At the same time, images have been contributed. The image collection consists of combined and manipulated images - adjustments suitable to the aims of the project.

Discussion around the creation of Leistavia is documented on these web pages. The image collection will be projected in an exhibition area in the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Tallinn, part of an installation installed just prior to the conference. During the ferry trip, final constitution voting papers and files will be collected, with the results announced in Tallinn.

Overall, the project aims to locate a hybrid cultural space with diverse roots, though specifically influenced by the cultures of Estonia, Pitcairn Island and Norfolk Island. The capacity of the technology and the internet to mediate a hybrid cultural space is one of the central themes of the project.

1. Native trees of Hybridia - Perpetual blossom

THE NATIVE LANGUAGE OF HYBRIDIA IS KEYBOARD

The native language of Hybridia is Keyboard. Keyboard has many dialects, but emotional degrees are nearly universal. Keyboard is read rather than spoken, and it is the visual appearance as well as exact definition that work together to create meaning.

For example, {+GIVE%=%YOU/ME} means: how much the project reflects you or me, depends on how much you give. Notice that the Keyboard expression is much shorter - brevity is admired by Hybridians. The inclusion of the + sign indicates the general tone is positive. {+weather} is a fine and sunny day, whereas {-weather} is a grey rainy day.

Here are some strings that the reader can translate.

{?inside/outside=%eye.place}

{owl.howl}

{openborder.line/barrier.down:hybridia}

Following are some additional terms and phrases of Keyboard:

Eye*-9.9 = looks really bad
Eye*+/-0.3 = looks so-so.
Eye*+5.4 = looks OK
Eye*+9.9 = looks really great

Similar statements are used for emotion and thoughts.

Heart*-9.9 = feels really bad
Heart*+9.9 = feels really good

Head*-9.9 = really bad idea
Head*+9.9 = excellent idea

[i] = I feel trapped, constrained; also, I am inside.

~i~ = I feel free

These can be combined:

[i]heart*-3.5 = I feel trapped emotionally.

[~i~]heart*+6.5 = I feel emotionally uplifted.

Other singular terms:

[o] = I will trap an other (person, animal)

~o~ = I will free an other (person, animal)

[iu] = you and I are in this together; also a couple, or pair.

[ixu] = a bond between two people.

[iui] = threesome; also any group of three.

[us] = we are all in this together.

~~~ = flock of birds, line of flight.

^^~ = cat.

Any word is negated by .non

Art = is an art work.
Art.non = is not an art work.

.web = a complexity.

undo.web = to collapse a complexity.

undo.web9:1 = to collapse a large complexity into a singularity.
undo.web5:1 = to collapse a medium size complexity into a singularity.
undo.web5:2 = to collapse a medium size complexity into a duality.
undo.web5:3 = to collapse a medium complexity into a refined complexity.

-||- = the same no matter which way you look at it. Similar to the English phrase 'six of one and a half dozen of the other.'

>>>> = a journey.

>>>>>>>> = a long journey.

<---> = backwards and forwards all day; a phrase used for 'getting nowhere;' also there and back.

Degrees of subtlety can be indicated by the amount of numbers to the right of the decimal point. A back handed compliment for example, would be to say Art*8.1. This would be to say the art work is of good quality, but lacks subtlety. Although the following examples use long expressions, as a matter of fact Hybridians revere brevity in expression. Although numbers are frequently used, it is the beauty of the numbers, not their value that is truly most significant. In Keyboard, it is the visual expressivity that is important, above all else.

Art*+7.5749675348976 = Is a work of art that is quite good but not excellent however has a good degree of subtlety.

Art*+7.5749675348976~~~ = Is a work of art that is quite good but not excellent however has a good degree of subtlety and attains moments of flight.

It is usual for strings of discreet phrases to be located in braces. The correct form of the above Keyboard sentence is:

{Art*+7.5749675348976~~~}

Strings of phrases within sentences are separated by using brackets [ ]:

{[i]Art*+7.5749675348976~~~[~i~]} = I got inside this art work, which was quite good but not excellent, however it did attain moments of flight, that set me free.

Emphasis can be indicated by using a multiplier:

{[i]X2Art*+9.874001378962467831056~~~[undo.web9:1]~i~} = I really got inside this art work, which was both excellent and subtle, and attained a moment of flight because it collapsed the complexity of the content into a simplicity, and when I realised this, I was set free.