RHIZOME DIGEST: 11.28.03

discussion

Posted Nov. 27 2003 19:00

RHIZOME DIGEST: 11.28.03

RHIZOME DIGEST: November 28, 2003 Content: +announcement+ 1. Rachel Greene: DISTRIBUTED CREATIVITY FORUM ON RHIZOME +opportunity+ 2. Rachel Greene: CALL FOR PAPERS - CIBER@RT BILBAO 2004 3. Taylor Nuttall: exhibition opportunity +work+ 4. Ruth Catlow: Rethinking Wargames Low-fi Commission +comment+ 5. Sean Capone: Sociology of the Fading Signal–Can You Hear Me Now? +thread+ 6. Eryk Salvaggio, Curt Cloninger, Jim Andrews, Joy Garnett, Ryan Griffis, JM Haefner, Ivan Pope, Ruth Catlow: Thom Yorke / Howard Zinn +feature+ 7. Jonah Brucker-Cohen: Interview with Angie Waller + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 1. Date: 11.26.03 From: Rachel Greene (rachel@rhizome.org) Subject: DISTRIBUTED CREATIVITY FORUM ON RHIZOME DISTRIBUTED CREATIVITY, an Online Forum hosted by Eyebeam and Still Water for Network & Culture will spend a week cross-pollinating on the Rhizome list. This forum investigates new paradigms for artmaking that take advantage of nobile and distributed technologies such as WiFi, Weblogs, Wikis, rich Internet applications, voice over IP and social software. Forum co-hosts from around the world –week 3 at RHIZOME!!–will continue the discussion on issues related to the artistic, legal, technical and social dynamics of creative networks small and large. All rhizomers are invited to participate with special guest moderators for the week–Rachel Greene, Patrick Lichty and Perry Garvin. To see archived threads from week one and two discussions with Creative Commons and DATA go to www.eyebeam.org/distributedcreativity + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 2. Date: 11.24.03 From: Rachel Greene (rachel@rhizome.org) Subject: CALL FOR PAPERS - CIBER@RT BILBAO 2004 CALL FOR PAPERS - CIBER@RT BILBAO 2004 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Submission Deadline for Conference "Challenges for a Ubiquitous Identity" Extended until January 7th 2004 The International Conference will be held within the International Festival of New Technologies Ciberart Bilbao 2004 which will take place from April 26th to 29th 2004 (Bilbao - Spain). We are inviting you to present your papers for the key themes of the Conference which include: Computational Sociology, Televirtuality and Telepresence, Body and Nets, Synaptic Cartography, Planetary Art, The Museum of the Ubiquitous Art. The Scientific Committee that will select the submitted papers is formed by the following theorists: Roy Ascott (UK), Victoria Vesna (USA), =C1ngel Kalenberg (Uruguay), Elisenda Ardevol (Spain), Guilia Colaizzi (Italy), Peter Andres (USA), Alex Galloway (USA), Josu Rekalde (Spain), Lourdes Cilleruelo (Spain), Ramon Lopez de Manteras Badia (Spain), Javier Echevarra (Spain) y Pierre Bongiovanni (France ). April 29th, last day of the Conference, will be dedicated to the Planetary Collegium presentations, group of theorists directed by Roy Ascott. A list of the speakers is available at the Festival's web page. We invite you to visit our web page for further information about the Conference and Festival: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ciberart-bilbao.net/congreso_en.htm">http://www.ciberart-bilbao.net/congreso_en.htm</a> We would also like to remind you that deadline for Artwork submission is December 15th 2003. Contact: congres@ciberart-bilbao.net programacion@ciberart-bilbao.net www.ciberart-bilbao.net Tel: +34 96 373 01 81 Fax: +34 96 373 05 45 _________________________________________ Direccion de Produccion - Production Management Ciber@RT Bilbao 2004 Av. Reino de Valencia, 58 - 8 46005 Valencia Espana - Spain Tel.: 00 34 96 373 10 82 Fax: 00 34 96 373 05 45 www.ciberart-bilbao.net produccion@ciberart-bilbao.net + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 3. Date: 11.25.03 From: Taylor Nuttall (taylor@greenquarter.co.uk) Subject: exhibition opportunity Call for entries: You are invited to take part in the 2004 Folly Members Exhibition to take place 12th March - 12th April 2004 Curated by Folly, this exhibition will give Full members of Folly the chance to have their work displayed as part of the programme for 2004. Full membership is available for £25 and will give you the opportunity: * to hire equipment such as digital video cameras, Apple Laptops, data projectors * use facilities at Folly such as the Darkroom, Digital Video Editing, Web Streaming * receive a discount of 20% on courses and events * take part in special events and opportunities for members * have access to Folly's server services for developing your own online content * take part in Folly's Think Tank to actively contribute to the development of Folly and opportunities for artists within the Lancashire / Cumbria region * 15% discount on goods from Folly cafe Group membership is available at £12.50 each Couples or 2 at the same address membership for £40 There is no geographical restriction on membership or on participation in the 2004 Folly Members Exhibition Photography and new media work will be accepted. Please submit up to 5 images (12? x 16?) or other relevant work on slide, disc, email or print to: Members Exhibition, Folly, 26 Castle Park, Lancaster LA1 1YQ or email Kate Connolly on admin@folly.co.uk The closing date for submission is Wednesday 7 January. Please send a SAE if you would like work returning. Please also note Folly admin will be unavailable due to Christmas closure between Saturday 20th December and Sunday 4th January. Reagrds Taylor Nuttall Director Folly 26 Castle Park Lancaster LA1 1YQ 01524 388550 director@folly.co.uk www.folly.co.uk ==================== + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 4. Date: 11.24.03 From: Ruth Catlow (ruth.catlow@furtherfield.org) Subject: Rethinking Wargames Low-fi Commission Rethinking Wargames commissioned by Low-fi <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.low-fi.org.uk/rethinkingwargames/">http://www.low-fi.org.uk/rethinkingwargames/</a> This participatory net art project initiated by Ruth Catlow, uses the game of chess to find strategies that challenge existing power structures and their concomitant war machineries. Activate:3 player chess is a new online game in which the pawns join forces, subverting the usual hierarchical structure of the game. It was made in collaboration with computer programmer, Adrian Eaton, with rules that reflect the humour and blue-sky-thinking of early contributors to the project: chess players, artists, activists and philosophers. Those with a talent for strategic thinking, are invited to contribute to the ongoing reevaluation of the game by playing the new game and posting to the 'Pawns Unite' online journal- <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.journalscape.com/pawns_unite">http://www.journalscape.com/pawns_unite</a> Please come along to the live events or take part in the online tournament. Live Events: BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art Gateshead November 27th, 2003, 7pm Limehouse Town Hall London November 29th, 2003, 7pm ++++++++++++++ <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.low-fi.org.uk/rethinkingwargames/">http://www.low-fi.org.uk/rethinkingwargames/</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.furtherfield.org">http://www.furtherfield.org</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 5. Date: 11.08.03 From: Sean Capone (sean@mvmt.us) Subject: Sociology of the Fading Signal–Can You Hear Me Now? Hi all. While chatting with a friend in SF from my location in Chicago, his signal suddenly died. While the implications of mobility and nomadic enabling telecommunications has been written about quite a bit, I am interested if anyone has conducted any artistic or anthropological research on the telecommunications reality of the Faded Signal. There seem to be some implications here on the way in which theses technologies have sculpted new social landscapes, but in which the glitches inherent in the technology are taken for granted by the users, whose navigational instincts then guide them through the anxieties of Sudden Potential or Actual Communication Loss. I mean it seems obvious, but I think that's only because we have so seamlessly adopted (adapted) our habits around the inevitability of the Glitch. Some quick scattered thoughts: 1) Can Total Information Loss provide comfort in a paranoid age of Total Information Awareness? 2) Episode of Friends: Phoebe fakes her way out of a phone conversation by pretending that she was on a mobile and 'just about to go into a tunnel—(makes static noise with mouth)–OK bye now!'. A good comic bit, but also a riff on the social phenomena (batteries dying, signal cutout, needing two hands to do something) of deceit which is enabled by taking the Glitch for granted. 3) Is anyone else struck by the sadness of the "Can You Hear Me Now" guy–a rootless lonely cell-phone ronin endlessly repeating his mantra to the electronic void… 4) Business etiquette as practiced by international executives has the severity and rigidity of bushido. I wonder what mannerisms and professional attitudes of conducting business have emerged as a result of having a potential signal loss wiping out a delicate deal-in-progress. What ethnic and cultural biases come into play as different countries' incompatible cell networks and methods of social protocol compete? 5) STD-ISD: You will never get lost in India no matter what–it is THE most wired nation in the world. I was impressed that literally everywhere, on practically every street corner, were booths that allowed one to make cheap, clear, and fast phone calls to anywhere in the world. To say nothing of the frenzy of the (now increasingly regulated) cell industry out there. A sane response to an otherwise glitchy and congested society. 6) Why is the loss of email and TV reception met with frustration and near-hysteria, but cell phone signal loss is met with, at best, mild aggravation and more often than not, if you think about it, mild relief at the outside interruption of what was a (good but) banal conversation? What are the statistics on resuming conversations following a signal loss? What does this say about the flexibility of our habituations? 7) Everyone experiences 'dead zone' areas in cities–certain places that are clearly delineated– where one's cell simply will not get a signal. These electromagnetic topographical black holes create anxieties once encountered and perhaps permanently alter one's desire to return to the area or skirt the virtual perimeter. But at the same time they offer zones of retreat and reflection, a telecommunication Zen garden deep within the city's canyons. 7a) In other words, these 'Dead zones' produce yet another psychogeography overlaid on the several we carry already navigating our urban habitations, but rather than a social or technological map, it is one of neuroses. The ability to be gotten ahold of at all times creates a neurotic condition about being out of touch, even if it's just for minutes at a time. 8) Why do we apologize when our signals fade or are crappy? I believe this is leftover cultural collateral anxiety along the lines of, say, choosing a crappy car or buying a cheap TV set. Picking an inferior wireless provider or a cheap phone is, by nature, indicative of a careless or insuficient identity/personality as manifested through its consumer choices. 9) The potential Loss of the Signal is the perimeter around any new works or social acts. The new activist phenomena of spontaneous, cell-phone motivated organizations and happenings is undermined should there be a sudden relay power loss, or should the targets of protest engage in the counter-practice of picking-or creating- 'dead zones' in which to house their activities. Or, in terms of art practice, Golan Levin conducted a cellphone symphony by casting his own frequencies at the audience (is this correct?), eliminating the need to stage the event in a universally receptible location.. 10) The Matrix, among other things, creates a world where survival depends upon clear signals and defined 'exit points' via the Operators. These 'real people' diving into the Matrix are the metaphorical Initiates embodying present-day cool 'Wired' individuals– Infonauts spelunking into consumer-zombie society along the lines of privileged demands for free and instantaneous access to technological communication. Is Neo the equivelant of the cell-phone yapping, SUV driving Silicon Valley millionaire, creating the need for science-fiction-like access to technology for a society he secretly holds in contempt? Feel free to add to this list of observations. Again, while the implications of mobile empowerment is interesting, I'm even more compelled to explore what's happening on the ragged edges and empty spaces– Look around and see how you and others around you seamlessly absorb signal loss into your daily existence. :sean + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 6. Date: 11.25.03-11.28.03 From: Eryk Salvaggio (eryk@maine.rr.com), Curt Cloninger (curt@lab404.com), Jim Andrews (jim@vispo.com), Joy Garnett (joyeria@walrus.com), Ryan Griffis (grifray@yahoo.com), JM Haefner (webgrrrl@mac.com), Ivan Pope (ivan@ivanpope.com), Ruth Catlow (ruth.catlow@furtherfield.org) Subject: Thom Yorke / Howard Zinn Eryk Salvaggio (eryk@maine.rr.com) posted: A discussion between Thom Yorke of Radiohead and Howard Zinn: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17242">http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17242</a> So would you say that there's a place for both directly political and non-political artists? What importance do you think each have? Zinn: There are all sorts of artists. There are artists who really don't have a social consciousness, who don't see that there's a connection between art and life in a way that compels the artist to look around the world and see what is wrong and try to use his or her art to change that. There are artists who just entertain. You can look upon entertainment as something useful, as we don't want to eliminate art which is only entertaining, and insist that all art must be political, must be revolutionary, must be transforming. But there's a place for comedy and music and the circus and things that don't really have an awful effect on society except to entertain people - to make people feel good, and to act as a kind of religion. That is what Marx called the "opium of the people," something that people need. They need distraction. So it does serve a purpose, but if that's all that artists do, the entertainment that you seek will become permanent. The misery that people live under and the wars that people have to go through, that will become permanent. There are huge numbers of people in the world whose lives are bound, limited. Lives of sheer misery, of sickness and violence. In order to change that you need to have artists who will be conscious of that, who will use their art in such a way that it helps to transform society. It may not be a blunt instrument, but it will have a kind of poetic effect. Yorke: Yeah, I don't think we are political at all, I think I'm hyper aware of the soapbox thing. It is difficult to make political art work. If all it does is exist in the realms of political discussion, it's using that language, and generally, it's an ugly language. It is very dead, definitely not a thing of beauty. The only reason, I think, that we go anywhere near it is because, like any reason that we buy music, these things get absorbed. These are the things surrounding your life. If you sit down and try to do it purposefully, and try to change this with this, and do this with that, it never works. + + + Curt Cloninger (curt@lab404.com) replied: My sister-in-law and I were talking last night, and the topic of conceptual art somehow came up. She asked, "what is conceptual art?" I said it was art in which the art object was largely incidental or a prop for the concept, and that the para-texts and the contexts were the main vehicles through which the art spoke. She asked, "but isn't that just like philosophy or psychology? Why call it art?" I answered that you can get away with more stuff socially and politically if you call it art. My brother added, "plus, they probably can't draw." The assertion that the circus is marginally useful Marxian opiate entertainment and that overt, socially conscious art is the only way to *really* change the world – that sounds just like something a political scientist would say. Sadly, many artists on this list would quickly step up and agree. Artists used to know intuitively what Thom Yorke stumblingly describes – that if art is really plugged into life, it won't have to try to be in intentional moral dialogue with life issues, it just will be (and in a way much more natural/valuable/persuasive/subtle/transformatory/ARTISTIC than something like nikeplatz). These days it takes a pop musician to point this out, and it comes across as some sort of relevatory challenge to "serious" artists. Which is why I much prefer reading Lester Bangs to Lev Manovich, and why I prefer writing for Paste magazine to writing for Mute magazine. Maybe one day I will drop out of new media altogether and succumb to the lure of pure, unadulterated rock music journalism. until then, curt — + + + Jim Andrews (jim@vispo.com) replied: I'll bet you'd like really strong conceptual art, Curt. If you get a chance, pick up Joseph Kosuth's book 'Art After Philosophy and After'. It's a pretty exciting read. He's a strong writer and thinker about art. Whether you agree with him or not is something else. He's sufficiently brainy, passionate, knowlegeable and articulate that the writing is exciting. Which would seem to be crucial to successful conceptual art. But that's part of what is missing from so much of the contemporary type, particularly of the digital variety. Too often calling it 'conceptual art' is a way of justifying posturing vacuity, pompous moralizing, and technical incompetence. There's a terrific tradition, though, in your country of 'poetry of ideas', say, or 'art of ideas' involving characters like Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman, Melville, Wallace Stevens, etc, and I admire it deeply. Conceptual art isn't unrelated to that sort of very strong brainy passion, at its best. ja <a rel="nofollow" href="http://vispo.com">http://vispo.com</a> + + + Joy Garnett (joyeria@walrus.com) replied: rock on, curt. I got the same feeling off that exchange (except I doubt I will end up ditching painting for pure rock/writing) – the problem of 'political art' is so thorny; I happen to be reading a tiny book of essays by Howard Zinn at the moment (hot off the press: Artists in Times of War, Univ. of Wisconsin Press), who I respect, but who, like a lot of folks–artists included–doesn't understand or want to understand the first thing about 'art' – and that there is a problem the minute you try to make art with a message… moralizing just plain defeats the function of art BECAUSE it attempts to steer or limit interpretation. which would be the job of propaganda, agitprop, sloganeering, campaigning or whatever counts as political speech. the function of art–or one of them–is a more complex one. if your content includes or focuses on the political, the social, the Big Issues, you end up having to find ways to avoid moralizing–there all kinds of ways to do this, but sometimes it isn't so easy. people fall into the trap. one might say that the language of (any) art is by necessity amorphous, open-ended, and in fact, risky. one risks interpretations one didn't intend. which is an important factor to consider: you put something out in the world that resonates with something larger than yourself, that perhaps you fail to comprehend entirely. the thing then has a life of its own. [Yorke]: These are the things surrounding your life. If you sit down and try to do it purposefully, and try to change this with this, and do this with that, it never works. yep. best, joy ::: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thebombproject.org">http://thebombproject.org</a> + + + Ryan griffis (grifray@yahoo.com) added: i have to say that for an argument that seems in opposition to the over-simplistic practice of political/conceptual art, it seems a simplistic response itself. it's also strange that "political" and "conceptual" art keep getting collapsed. certianly there are examples of "political art" going back to Goya through the Mexican and California Muralists that i don't think is being criticized here (because it involves manual craft, hence "Art"?). It also seems to have something to do with a valuation of ambiguity? Certianly, the roots of much political-conceptual art, dada/surrealism and situationism, embraced and employed ambiguity as a political tactic. the politics included pleasure. but much celebrated conceptual art was as apolitical as it gets (in overt terms) On Kawara, LeWit, Bochner, even a lot of Kosuth's work. so i guess i'm not sure what's being critized here. is it feeling like one's being "preached" at with no formal outlet to distract from the "sermon?" or is it a desire for manual craft? i don't have problems with these positions, i'm just trying to figure out exactly what the critique is, because i think some art perceived as cut-and-dry or overly "didactic" can be read with much more ambiguity and sensitivity. but to say that "it figures that a political scientist would expect this from art" as a dismissive is, well, not very useful. it overlooks other forms of knowledge that might have something useful to add to a critique fo visual culture. i'm not saying that it should be given priority by any means (that might be scary), but it shouldn't be dismissed. unless this is all about taste, in which case, whoever has the most cultural power wins ;) it's also strange to insist that artists don't have to try to communicate, they "just do" by being part of the environment. what? take care, ryan + + + JM Haefner (webgrrrl@mac.com) replied: To say it never works is a perhaps a bit extreme. I would agree that it is reactionary. Though the artist is recording -in a way- what is around him or her, it's a snapshot of sorts, of a political moment. Often, the approach is as graphic as the deed that created the reaction, but who said art has to be pretty? To say that it is dead because it is ugly is like saying Rap is then dead, because it can be ugly too. I don't think it's about absorbing that type of art but an affirmation -that we were thinking that too, but lacked the means to "show" it. In certain political climates, it is dangerous or is perceived as such -to make art that is negative/political. Art can still be the harbinger or the "pulse of the people," and this type of art often makes our thoughts real. As far as the risk of interpretation… "pretty" art risks the same. Did those O'Keefe flowers have a sexual connotation? Moralizing is often a function of art, as is historical and political commentary. I for one prefer to take the risk, and like it when someone arrives at my intended interpretation. Otherwise I'd be designing toilet paper. -j + + + Ivan Pope (ivan@ivanpope.com) replied: "Moralizing is often a function of art, as is historical and political commentary. I for one prefer to take the risk, and like it when someone arrives at my intended interpretation. Otherwise I'd be designing toilet paper." Surely the very point of toilet paper is that people arrive at the intended interpretation. Otherwise they wouldn't get to wipe their arses. Surely it is for designers to desire an arrival at the 'intended interpretation'. Isn't the phrase 'intended interpretation' an oxymoron? If something has an obvious intent, then it is not interpreted. Ivan + + + Ryan Griffis added: "Surely the very point of toilet paper is that people arrive at the intended interpretation." damn, that's a great observation… but i think the point was one of meaning as different from function? which is certainly a question that has implications for "politically engaged" art (via McLuhan) or those interested in reappropriating function… <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.interactivetoiletpaper.com/main.html">http://www.interactivetoiletpaper.com/main.html</a> + + + JM Haefner replied: intended 1. aimed at or designed for 2. planned for the future 3. said or done deliberately interpretation 1. an explanation or establishment of the meaning or significance of something 2. an ascription of a particular meaning or significance to something 3. the way in which an artistic work, for example, a play or piece of music, is performed so as to convey a particular understanding of the work 4. the oral translation of what is said in one language into another, so that speakers of different languages can communicate I presume you were going for # 4? + + + Ruth Catlow (ruth.catlow@furtherfield.org) replied: If we're talking in the abstract (without specific examples-lots of handy ones provided by ryan) the only problem that I can imagine with conceptual political works is if they are poorly or narrowly informed, inadequately synthesized or badly contextualised- just the same as for any other artwork really. An artwork might then be experienced by viewers as an 'opinion'. This might occur if someone has adopted another's ideas or concerns without properly absorbing the significance of these ideas to their own life and circumstances. This then creates an impression of detachment from a subject and opens up the artist to the accusation of making capital from the oppression and misery of others. I guess it's also possible that works are perceived as political didactic when the viewer does not appreciate the political standpoint of the artist. I've heard Thom Yorke talking on the radio before and my understanding is that he has never felt moved to make 'political' songs. This is fine. One problem is that artists sometimes feel that (for many reasons) they OUGHT to be making political work. One reason might be to be taken seriously- an 'important' subject may lend a piece of artwork a kind of gravity, a raison d'etre. Of course taken superficially, if we are talking about doing something objectively useful and important in the world, creating any kind of artwork might come pretty far down the list on a popular survey- as Heath Bunting said 'Most art means nothing to most people'. One of the great things about life is that one can never tell objectively whether what one is involved in is contributing positively to the continuum of life consciousness. hmm ruth + + + *Editor's Note: To read the full contents of this thread, point your browser to: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=11256&text=21621">http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=11256&text=21621</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 7. Date: 11.19.03 From: Jonah Brucker-Cohen (jonah@coin-operated.com) Subject: Interview with Angie Waller Interview with Angie Waller By Jonah Brucker-Cohen (jonah@coin-operated.com) Introduction A few months ago, I wrote a Net Art News for Rhizome about LA based artist Angie Waller's project: "Data Mining the Amazon". The project (released as a book available from Waller's website) catalogs and graphs relationships between books customers bought on Amazon.com and music CDs purchased by users with similar tastes. Waller's approach adds a political slant by profiling relationships between liberal and conservative titles, popular books among the US military, and profiles on world leaders such as George W. Bush and Margaret Thatcher. Her aim is to repurpose a supposedly helpful customer service into a window of collective reflection on popular culture and values. The project also asks how media and commercial trends disseminate into public opinion through both national and global outlets like Amazon.com. My main interest in Waller's work comes from the focus on subverting networks from one purpose to another by using existing information to draw new types of correlations and reactions. Below is an interview I conducted with Waller about the project and her motivation as an artist, avid consumer, and data cartographer. Name: Angie Waller Age: 27 Location: Los Angeles, CA Occupation / Title(s): Artist URL: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.couchprojects.com">http://www.couchprojects.com</a> JBC: How did you start the "Data Mining the Amazon" project? What was the impetus? AW: I started data mining Amazon.com as a loyal customer. I am a sucker for e-shopping and I never checkout with only one item. As a frequent shopper, I started to develop a very specialized home page on the site. I became more and more interested in the movies and CDs recommended to me based on my purchase history of art theory and computer programming books. One day a friend and I were talking about some band she had never heard of and I described them by saying "if you like band x and band y you might like band z." She knew instantly what I was referring to, and I realized that Amazon.com had become a huge influence on my vocabulary. JBC: Your work seems to pick out cultural memes and play around with them. Is this intentional or do you see it fitting into a larger exploration? If so, what? AW: I think the next morning I woke up with the idea to hit the political memes. Aesthetics and culture used to be of high importance in the political sphere, but these days we are being led by philistines. As an artist, I have a problem with that. Exploring Amazon became an easy way to relieve some of the tension. Popular culture such as movies and CDs are the strongest cultural arena and I was excited to find associations between pop culture and books that described a specific political ideology. Although we all consume a lot of the same popular culture it is also a way to describe our aesthetic tastes. It is a bit of a teenager mentality when looking over your friend's CD collection. But there is still some truth in what type of person listens to what types of things. JBC: The political angle of the piece is really striking since most people would probably overlook these connections. Why did you focus on political icons vs. any other types of relationships? AW: After the last election between Bush and Gore, it seemed like the party lines were fading together. The Bush and Gore debate became more about their personalities and presentation. During that climate, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to start pin-pointing the differences between democrats and republicans based on the types of music they listen to. I am sure the Amazon database it not the most diverse sampling, but it couldn't be inferior to the election polls we are already accustomed to. JBC: What was surprising or unexpected about the results you found? AW: At first I had a few surprises. I was surprised that books about military battles and corporate takeovers pointed to the soothing CDs of Enya and Sarah Brightman. But, on second thought, it was not so unusual. I also enjoyed the eerie specificity with some of the bigger figures like Hitler and Mao Tse Tung. JBC: Did you find that people who saw your correlations were surprised by the connections? If so why? AW: A lot of people use the charts to see if they fit one profile or the other which can be entertaining. A lot of people look for truth in the information and are defensive when they see what music they are "supposed" to like. Then the charts become about profiling and how none of us really make a perfect fit even though companies place a lot of importance on this information. I have taken a passive attitude towards companies profiling me. Sometimes I buy things because they were recommended to me. Sometimes I fantasize that the schizophrenic profile I created is triggering a flashing red light at some corporate headquarters causing a database shutdown and an internal investigation. I probably suffer a little paranoia. JBC: Why should people be interested in your findings? AW: People should be interested in my book because we would all love to know what George W. has in his CD collection. It creates the opportunity for consumers to profile leaders in a similar way we are profiled as voters. JBC: I know this is an older piece, but what (if any) future directions could this work take? AW: Maybe companies like Amazon will have more fun with the free associations that their database provides. I see an excellent dating service on their horizon. On a grander scale, maybe our current administration will make their tastes public knowledge. I would love to know what they are reading, listening to, watching and if there are any artists they like. Personally, I am only visiting Amazon to shop these days. My art work has a tendency to use tools against their original intentions in search of greater things. I am sure another database project is on the distant horizon. The book will be different things over time. It is my first publication and I like that it will not be outmoded by technological progress. I am certain it will always be interesting to look at, it gives an unmediated look at the political climate of 2001-2002 with a popular music twist. – ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jonah Brucker-Cohen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.simpletext.info">http://www.simpletext.info</a> - performance in UK - Nov 27-29! <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.coin-operated.com/blog">http://www.coin-operated.com/blog</a> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome.org is a 501©(3) nonprofit organization and an affiliate of the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Rhizome Digest is supported by grants from The Charles Engelhard Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome Digest is filtered by Feisal Ahmad (feisal@rhizome.org). ISSN: 1525-9110. Volume 8, number 48. Article submissions to list@rhizome.org are encouraged. Submissions should relate to the theme of new media art and be less than 1500 words. For information on advertising in Rhizome Digest, please contact info@rhizome.org. To unsubscribe from this list, visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/subscribe">http://rhizome.org/subscribe</a>. Subscribers to Rhizome Digest are subject to the terms set out in the Member Agreement available online at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/29.php">http://rhizome.org/info/29.php</a>. 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