At 11:30 CET the last day of the festival opened with a look behind the scenes of the Elevate Mediachannel. Visitors got information about the needed technology and were able to see how products like that can be realized with small resources.

Hans G. Zeger and Gerald Bäck didn’t talk about the new possibilities but the risks that come with the Web 2.0. Under the catchword Datenkrake Web 2.0 they discussed topics like automatically scanned E-Mails and services like Facebook, Google and Twitter, which pretend to be free but make money with personal data.

After this emphasis on technology the next topics dealt with journalistic aspects. At the panel discussion Alternative Media & Activism Anjali Kamat (Democracy Now!) and Iara Lee (Cultures of Resistance) spoke about different forms of reporting and explanatory work in the areas of journalism and activism.

At 18:00 CET Robert Misik, Mercedes Bunz, Daniela Kraus and Klaus Unterberger talked about Civil society and the media regarding the possibilities of NGOs and other initiatives to use mass media in a meaningful way without oversimplifying and repeating their massages.

This year’s discourse programme ended with a live broadcast of the Big Brother Awards in Vienna. This “negative award” is given to agencies, companies and organisations, which compromise private sphere or give away personal data.

Interviews with guests of the discourse programme are available here.

At 20:30 CET the music programme started with a curiosity. Animal Collective and visual artist Danny Perez created a new synthesis of film and music with their project Oddsac. Noise pioneer Merzbow walked away from musical conventions, too and filled the Dom im Berg with swirling clouds of creative noise.

Up until 12:00 CET Armin Schmelz, Simon Riegler & Bernhard Tobola played at the Parkhouse-Afterhour and concluded the Elevate Festival 2010.

Photos of the last festival day are available here.

An article in Kleine Zeitung and an audio interview with one of the organizers of the festival is available here.

On the third day of this year’s Elevate Festival representatives of about 20 initiatives and organisations like Attac, Global 2000 and Spektral convened in the Forum Stadtpark. Under the motto Get Active! visitors were able to gather information about the possibilities of getting active on a personal level. Many people used this opportunity to get in contact with the activists and organisations.

The next topic For Environment and Health made clear how important those initiatives are in our everyday live. In recent years, two inspiring protest movements have grown in Graz and its vicinity. Both fight against ecological destructive and health-endangering power plant projects. Without resistance the health of thousands of people and the implementation of sensible climate and environmental politics, which emphasizes really renewable energy sources, are at risk.

At 15:00 CET Klaus Schönberger and Ove Sutter looked back at more then 150 years of creative forms of protest. Afterwards Clemens Apprich was talking about present and future possibilities of social networks in the World Wide Web. An audio download of the talks and presentations is available here.

In the following panel discussion Ways out of the crisis Fritz Pichelmann, Michaela Moser and others were talking about alternative ways to overcome the worst post-war economic crisis. They showed that there indeed are models to consolidate budgets and simultaneously start the urgent change towards a more just and sustainable society. An audio download of the discussion is available here.

The Austrian premiere of the documentary film Cultures of Resistance rounded off yesterday’s discourse programme and showed how different art forms still can be weapons of piece. Afterwards director Iara Lee was answering questions from the audience.

From 20:15 to 23:00 CET the literature programme offered performances of elffriede.interdisziplinäre.aufzeichnensysteme, Jörg Piringer, Lisa Spalt, Otto von Schirach and others.

At 22:00 CET DJ Dizzi & Dorian Pearce und Dub Coretette were opening the music programme, which took place in Dom im Berg and the Uhrturm-Kasematte. Artists like Robert Hood, Actress, Altered Natives and many more were following.

Photos of the third festival day are available here.

Sunday's focus is a basic examination of the role of protest movements, social movements and other progressive actors of civil society in local, regional as well as global processes of change.

First, the documentary film “Widerstand in Haiderland - Masse ohne Macht?" deals with the diverse protest movements against the FPÖVP government under Schüssel/Haider. Following the screening, director Frederick Baker will answer questions concerning the movie.

The two subsequent, distinguished panels put their discussion focus on various historical and current important movements and initiatives. Which role and which influence do civil society initiatives and movements have in Austria? „Protest movements and civil society initiatives in Austria – Yesterday, today and tomorrow“ will shine a light on the local prostest culture. This first discussion round is with Béatrice Achaleke, Robert Foltin, Frederick Baker, Rahel Sophia Süß and Wolfgang Rehm.

The second discussion continues this topic within the global context: „It´s All About The Movement“ focuses on the countless local and global initiatives and movements, which are fighting for more democratic, socially just and ecologically sustainable conditions worldwide. How can power relations be shifted, so that a good life is possible for everyone? Which role can progressive civil society initiatives and social movements play? Which common strategies could they develop? These questions, amongst others, will be addressed by Anjali Kamat, Mike Bonanno, Iara Lee, Wenonah Hauter and Irmi Salzer.

At 14:00 CET the British documentary film In Transition opened yesterday’s discourse programme Change! and showed examples of the worldwide Transition Movement, which is still quite unknown in Austria. Instead of waiting for a change coming from national politics, the inhabitants are working on their own to reorganize their cities and communities. Their goal is to fight the climate change and the danger of peak oil with creative, positive ideas, which work on a local level.

The following workshop Transition Austria tried to clarify in what way this concept could be implemented in Austria.

In order to delve even further into this topic, Rob Hopkins was talking about the urgently needed change of energy production and explained the concept behind the 250 Transition Towns worldwide. An audio download of the talk is available here.

Thereafter the panel discussion Good food for everyone? raised the question, if it is even possible to buy the right things in a world with a wrong economical system. Many companies stress their responsibility for environment, but use this image in order to sell eco-lifestyle-products, which damage just that environment. Among others Kathrin Hartmann, Irmi Salzer and Franziskus Forster were discussing this paradox. An audio download is available here.

In contrast to eco-illusions evoked by major corporations the concluding documentary film The 4^th Revolution – Energy Autonomy showed real solutions for a sustainable change.

At 20:00 CET the new format Elevate Music Talks started. De Babalon, Pursuit Grooves and Oneohtrix Point Never discussed about their individual approaches to music production and their adoption of ideas.

At the same time the music and literature programme began and offered artists like Oswald Egger, Christof Dienz, Mount Kimbie, Claro Intelecto, Joy Orbison and many more.

Here are photos of the second festival day.

A video roundup of the opening event is available, too.

Here the newspaper Kleine Zeitung is covering the second day of the festival.