Here is all of last week's invigorating conversation threaded as one-

Date: 10/05/04-10/08/04
From: Liza Sabater <blogdiva@culturekitchen.com>, bensyverson
<rhizome@bensyverson.com>, curt cloninger <curt@lab404.com>, Rob Myers
<robmyers@mac.com>, ryan griffis <grifray@yahoo.com>, Pall Thayer
<palli@pallit.lhi.is>, Steve Kudlak <steve.kudlak@cruzrights.org>, Jess
Loseby <jess@rssgallery.com>, Francis Hwang <francis@rhizome.org>, t.whid
<twhid@twhid.com>, jm Haefner <j.haefner@sbcglobal.net>, Eric Dymond
<e.dymond@sympatico.ca>, Alexander Galloway <galloway@nyu.edu>, Jim Andrews
<jim@vispo.com>, "~~~~|//////|~~~~" <llacook@yahoo.com>
Subject: Thinking of art, transparency and social technology

Liza Sabater <blogdiva@culturekitchen.com> posted:

Should we consider Bill Gates the Bin Laden of net art?

The problem with Java –at least in some of the Head Potato's work– is that
because it works at the hardware level, it presents a whole 'nother level of
problems. So the clocking will be fine on a Dell but fucked up on a HP.
There will be flicker –and a horrid, ugly flicker– one screen, but not the
other. And all of this varies from one version of Windows to another. Of
course, some artworks will look and even work completely different in a Mac.

The Johns (Simon and Klima) have it right when they decided to control both
the hardware and software. The time wasted banging heads on a keyboard and
cursing at Gates could probably be used optimizing or even building
"signature" hardware. I personally believe if you are going to sell software
art at a gallery, that's the way to go. BTW, even JODI are shlepping their
own hardware these days.

But let me bring another issue to the table, one I think other net creatives
have brought to light pretty well. It's the issue of TRANSPARENCY.

Artists have always kept notes, some way or another, for their ideas and
process. But it is not until they are dead (or made an offer they cannot
refuse) that people can take a peek at them. If ever. But not just artist as
in Art makers. Most people involved in creative work will keep some kind of
record of their discoveries and obstacles. The problem, again, is that these
are mostly kept tucked away in private libraries or bedroom drawers.

I believe it is time for net artists to stop pretending anybody beyond their
immediate peers understand what they are doing. Seriously. Not even the
people in most arts organizations (I'm thinking granting institutions and
the like) understand the difference between creating your own metasoftware
in Java so you can create software art versus a person who gets their hands
on Flash and makes an animation. To this day I find myself saying at art
openings, "No, that Levin/Simon/Napier is not an animation. It's software
creating the art." To which they most inevitably get the "deer in the
headlights" look on their faces. Ugh.

MTAA was interviewed for Petit Mort and it's worth the reading (great pics
of the sexy beasts and a fantabulous one of EndNode AKA Printer Tree). This
is the part that mostly caught my attention:

I