1991

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Operating Systems:
Macintosh System 6.0.8
Nextstep 2.1
Windows 3.0

The first wave of new electronic music called techno hits european clubs. At the same time, metal gets more and more extreme: a new style called Death Metal becomes popular.

I'm listening to Aphex Twin (Analogue Bubblebath), Autechre (Incunabula), Carcass (Necroticism), Tiamat (The Astral Sleep), Coil (Love's Secret Domain)...


At IRCAM, Max is ported to the NeXT to do signal as well as control computations.

Gopher is developed.

Beginning of THE THING, an independent media project which began as a bulletin board system (BBS) and became one of the seminal online and offline forums for new media art and theory.

March 25-28: Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference in San Francisco.

April 1991: the software Max is reviewed in Keyboard Magazine by Carter Scholz.
I somehow manage to get a copy (ca. a year later) and use it with my Powerbook 100 (16MHz 68000, system 7.0.1). It runs reliably at MIDI speeds, next to Performer, Vision, Cubase, UpBeat and Galaxy...

June 25: Croatia and Slovenia proclaim indepedence from Yugoslavia. Fighting over control of border-crossings follows in Slovenia, but federal forces quickly withdraw.

On 26 June, one day after Yugoslavia began to break up with the declaration of independence of Croatia and Slovenia, the residence of Peter Fend in Cologne began to be visited and occupied by an agent working for the German Foreign Ministry.

July 19: Serbian irregulars attack Vinkovci and Vukovar.
July - August: the Croatian government progressively loses control of Eastern Slavonia as paramilitary forces and local Serb militias, often supported by JNA units stationed in the area, expell government officials and set up barricades and minefields. Sporadic mortar attacks on Vukovar begin in July, and long-range artillery attacks begin from early August.

From 25 August, Vukovar is under constant artillery and rocket bombardment. In the rest of Croatia situaton is dramatic too. In many parts of the country the real war has started, and by the start of September 1991 the Croatian government has lost control of nearly a third of the country.

September 14: the Croatian government launches an attack on JNA garrisons and arms depots throughout government-held territory ”“ an offensive dubbed the "Battle of the Barracks". The outcome of the offensive is mixed; some depots are successfully captured, while others are destroyed or evacuated after negotiations.

September-November: Battle of Vukovar

December 19: Rebel Serbs declare independence in Krajina region of Croatia.

I participate in a live analog “vidphone” exchange called “Transcontinental Jam” between the Western Front in Vancouver, and Studio X in Toronto. Hank Bull is explaining the technique of cycling through slowscan stills to create an animated performance." (src)

August: The Yugoslav army ends its neutrality and backs the Serbian fighters in Croatia. Road, train and air traffic between Serbia and Croatia ceases; most telephone lines and all microwave links between Zagreb and Belgrade are cut.

The electronic manifesto "Beyond Cyberpunk!" is published (a 5.5 megabyte HyperCard stack, spread on five floppy disks).
September: First audio/video conference (H.261 hardware codec) at DARTnet (src)

FILMS: Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet), Europa (Lars von Trier), Terminator 2 (James Cameron), Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (Leos Carax)...

Next: 1992

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