RHIZOME DIGEST: 02.20.04

discussion

Posted Feb. 19 2004 19:00

RHIZOME DIGEST: 02.20.04

RHIZOME DIGEST: February 20, 2004 Content: +announcement+ 1. Jessica Ivins: org. subscription announcement 2. Jim Andrews: Alexandre Venera (Brazil) on empyre 3. Randall Packer: E.A.T. on the Net 4. Peter Ride: conference: 'Impact and Legacy' 6th March 2004 +opportunity+ 5. VIPER Basel: VIPER Basel | Competition 2004 - Call for entries +feature+ 6. Nathaniel Stern: Near-Digital SA: Interventionist Influence (an e-interview with Carine Zaayman) – nathaniel stern 7. Gloria Sutton: Cyber_Reader: Critical Writings for the Digital Era + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 1. Date: 2.20.04 From: Jessica Ivins (jessica@rhizome.org) Subject: org. subscription announcement To the Rhizome Community: My name is Jessica Ivins, and I am currently working with Rachel Greene as an intern for Rhizome.org. I am assisting Rachel with the new outreach program for Organizational Subscriptions. Organizational Subscriptions to Rhizome are bulk memberships purchased at the institutional level. Members/Participants of subscribing institutions have access to Rhizome's services through email subscriptions or IP addresses, without having to purchase individual memberships. The aim of this program is to expand the ranks of who uses Rhizome and to earn money, relieving our organization's dependence on foundations in the United States. I am writing seeking any information on institutions (both in the United States and international) that could benefit from an organizational subscription to Rhizome.org. If you are affiliated with any colleges/universities, libraries, or centers that may be interested in purchasing, please send me a name and contact information and I will be in touch with them. Also, please let me know whether or not I can mention your name to the contact person at that institution so that they will know that they have colleagues who use and value Rhizome. In addition, we are offering discounted or free memberships to institutions in disadvantaged and poor communities. Email me for more information if your institution is in a poor or excluded community. Please feel free to contact me at Jessica@rhizome.org with any information or questions you may have. You can also contact Rachel Greene, Executive Director, at Rachel@rhizome.org. Further information about organizational subscriptions is also available on our website at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/org.php">http://rhizome.org/info/org.php</a>. Thank you for your help. I look forward to hearing from you. Jessica Ivins Intern, Rhizome.org New Museum of Contemporary Art 583 Broadway, NYC, NY 10012 tel. 212.219.1288 X 208 fax. 212.431.5328 ema. jessica@rhizome.org + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 2. Date: 2.16.04 From: Jim Andrews (jim@vispo.com) Subject: Alexandre Venera (Brazil) on empyre Alexandre Venera has some fine work at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.eale.hpg.ig.com.br">http://www.eale.hpg.ig.com.br</a> , his site. The sound in MANTRASH <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.eale.hpg.ig.com.br/2002/mantrash/sw_mantrash.htm">http://www.eale.hpg.ig.com.br/2002/mantrash/sw_mantrash.htm</a> is important, as it is in much of his work. This is an international piece. Venera is from Brazil and worked with Clemente Padin on PAN PAZ imagine at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.eale.hpg.ig.com.br/swf/sw_0abre.htm">http://www.eale.hpg.ig.com.br/swf/sw_0abre.htm</a> . This is another international piece in which the sound and interface is important. This one is far more interactive. And the piece reachable from <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.eale.hpg.ig.com.br">http://www.eale.hpg.ig.com.br</a> called 8/80 PIXELS is interesting also. Alexandre apparently made this one after his computer crashed; it is something of a data or art reclamation project, though you wouldn't necessarily know that to look at it. Highly interactive and enjoyably so. There are other interesting works more oriented to written poetry on his site that you may also enjoy (via clicking the aLe signature characters from the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.eale.hpg.ig.com.br">http://www.eale.hpg.ig.com.br</a> homepage). In fact all the urls of his i've sited are thereby reachable, except 8/80 PIXELS, perhaps, which also is reachable from the home page. Keep an eye out for the literary dimensions. Concrete, in the late fifties, became one of the first international forms of poetry in part from South America to achieve widespread influence in English and other languages. And its influence in Brazilian letters has been strong. This is, for the most part, a benificent influence, though it is of course up to the artists to move beyond it in their own ways. Venera, I feel, has done this beautifully without renouncing concrete, but by moving in some ways parallel with its aims and, in other ways, his work bears little resemblence to concrete. The work has a multiplicity and complexity rarely seen in concrete. Yet the sense of language, and the joy in playing with the material of language in various media is fully present. Also, concrete went for a kind of simplicity that is sometimes unremarkable (simple mimesis between the meaning and look of the words/letters), but the underlying goals ranged from international comprehension to political statement that all could understand and find a range of emotions and positions in. Venera's work is explicable internationally and it has both a strong political and poetical content to it. Related but different is the spiritual aspect of aLe's work, which is humourously presented in MANTRASH but is resoundingly real. If you know concrete, you see this work has as much (perhaps more) in common with contemporary digital art from around the world as with concrete. 8/80 PIXELS, for instance, has more relation with the rectilinearities of data art than with concrete. But, of course, the rectilinearities of data art share with concrete a focus on the constituents and materials of the art, or the ability to zoom in and out of the micro and macro. I admire the sort of culture in Brazil where visual poetry is strong in the weave. It is part of where aLe comes from, but he has worked through it into his own work admirably. And, again, these are international pieces, for the most part, so the language must be simple but rich and explicable among different tongues. aLe is one of four featured guests on empyre in March. The others are Regina Célia Pinto, Ana Maria Uribe, and Jorge Luiz Antonio. More about each of them as February proceeds. The title of March on empyre is The Phenomenological and Fantastic in South American New Media. It should be a lot of fun. I hope you'll join us for discussion of the work of these four exciting artists/critics. ja <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.subtle.net/empyre/">http://www.subtle.net/empyre/</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 3. Date: 2.19.04 From: Randall Packer (rpacker@zakros.com) Subject: E.A.T. on the Net Announcing E.A.T. NET <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.eatnet.org">http://www.eatnet.org</a> We are announcing the launch of E.A.T. NET, designed to reach everyone interested in the activities of E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology). E.A.T. was formed in the 1960s by Billy Kluver, Robert Rauschenberg, Fred Waldhauer, and Robert Whitman, out of the collaborative effort between artists, engineers and sponsors. Today, E.A.T. NET contains information about the purpose and function of E.A.T., a portal to online resources about E.A.T., and current news on E.A.T. related events, projects and exhibitions. A project of E.A.T. and Zakros InterArts E.A.T. NET <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.eatnet.org">http://www.eatnet.org</a> Zakros InterArts <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.zakros.com">http://www.zakros.com</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 4. Date: 2.20.04 From: Peter Ride (peter@da2.org.uk) Subject: conference: 'Impact and Legacy' 6th March 2004 ))apologies for any duplications - also, this is not an automated ))list, please reply to me if you wish to be removed from any future ))mailings(( Impact & Legacy - a one day conference addressing collaborations in arts, science and technology Saturday 6th March 2004 Organised by The Centre for Arts Research, Technology and Education (CARTE), University of Westminster, in conjunction with 'Wonderful' Theme: After several decades of high-profile collaborations between artists, technologists and scientists how are their impact and influence measured? Have they really lived up to expectations and demonstrated new and unique areas of practice? And how approaches to science, technology and information changed? 'Impact & Legacy' addresses issues of collaboration in art from the breakthrough experiments that took place with arts and technology in the 60s to the arts and science collaborations of recent years. The speakers include pioneers from the field who will assess their early work in the field, evaluating its impact at the time it was first made, and its legacy. Plus a new generation artists will consider their work and ask if it responds to the legacy of previous practitioners. Speakers: Steina & Woody Vasulka. (Keynote presentation) Pioneering artists & co-founders of The Kitchen, New York experimenting with the electronic nature of video and sound. In 1974 Woody turned his attention to the Rutt/Etra Scan Processor, and the Digital Image Articulator while Steina experimented with the camera as an autonomous imaging instrument. Chaired by Malcolm Le Grice. Robert Whitman A leading exponent of performance art in the 60s and 70s, in 1966 he co-founded Experiments in Art & Technology (E.A.T.) with scientists Fred Waldhauer and Billy Kl=FCver and artist Robert Rauschenberg, E.A.T. was a loose-knit association that organised collaborations between artists and scientists. His work has been described as "correspondence between nature and technology, connecting ritual and the rational, seeing computers that look like stars" Peter Fend Fend addresses large-scale problems, and works to spark discussion and action among policy-makers, corporations and individuals. Founder, in 1980, of the Ocean Earth Construction and Development Corporation, Fend works with other artists, architects and scientists to research, develop and promote alternative energy sources, using satellite imaging to monitor and analyze global ecological and geopolitical hot-spots Annik Bureaud Director of the Leonardo Observatory for the Arts & the Techno-Sciences. New media art critic and Co-organiser of events such as Artmedia VIII: )From Aesthetics of Communication to Net art and Visibility - Legibility of Space Art. Art and Zero Gravity. Bureaud lives and works in Paris, France. Francis Wells Leading Cardiothoracic surgeon, Wells is also known for proposing Leonardo da Vinci as a paradigm for modern clinical research. He believes that "taking the time to reflect upon this great mans' work may allow us to think again about our own approach to science and research". Jordan Baseman This UK artist will discuss his experiences of making Under The Blood: a project which arose out of a residency at Papworth Hospital's Heart and Lung Transplant Unit. Described as a scary and intense film, this piece investigates belief, faith, trust, religion, god, power, responsibility, authority, love, life, death and open heart surgery. Intimate footage of the surgery is overlaid with a soundtrack based on an adapted sermon from the evangelical minister Billy Graham. Details: Saturday 6th March 2004 9am to 5pm Venue: University of Westminster Old Cinema, 309 Regent St. Bookings 020 7911 5000 Ext 2675 =A380 institutional =A340 individual =A325 concessions <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.carte.org.uk">http://www.carte.org.uk</a> info@carte.org.uk Held in conjunction with Wonderful (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.wonderfulwebsite.net/">http://www.wonderfulwebsite.net/</a>) Organised by The Centre for Arts Research, Technology and Education (CARTE) and DA2. Supported by the Quintin Hogg Trust, NESTA, WELLCOME and ACE – ******************************************************************** Peter Ride Co-Director & Senior Research Fellow Centre for Arts Research Technology and Education (CARTE) University of Westminster <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.wmin.ac.uk">http://www.wmin.ac.uk</a> and Artistic Director DA2 Digital Arts Development Agency <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.da2.org.uk">http://www.da2.org.uk</a> ******************************************************************** (m-r) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 5. Date: 2.16.04 From: VIPER Basel (competition@viper.ch) Subject: VIPER Basel | Competition 2004 - Call for entries Please distribute to anyone who might be interested - Thank you. ……………………………………….. VIPER Basel | Competition 2004 ……………………………………….. Call for entries ……………………………………….. VIPER Basel | International Festival for Film Video and New Media 18 - 22 November 2004 ……………………………………….. IMPORTANT DATES Submission: April 15, 2004 (date of the official postal stamp) Works and projects which are not ready by the closing date for entries can be entered in the form of indicative documentation material or as a concept description. Acceptance decision: July 2004 Master Setting due: October 1, 2004 Festival dates: November 18 - 22, 2004 SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Entry is free of charge. Regulations, registration form, and further information can be downloaded from <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.viper.ch/">http://www.viper.ch/</a> ……………………………………….. VIPER Basel is one of the major European film, video and new media festivals. It offers a highly-regarded platform for presenting innovative works and projects, attracting Swiss and international filmmakers and producers, artists, curators, critics and purveyors of ideas from the media, research and politics. In addition, VIPER Basel's International Forum provides annually an up-to-date podium for presenting and discussing forward-looking positions, models and scenarios - a Think-and-Do-Tank for 21st century media, culture and society. ……………………………………….. VIPER Basel | Competition 2004 The VIPER Basel | Competition 2004 is an international competition. An independent jury will nominate and award the works and projects submitted in the categories [imagination | processing | transposition]. [Imagination] This category is open to works and projects dealing with traditional and future forms of the moving image. Possible submissions include analogue and digital films/videos, experimental films (including sound/video), 2D and 3D animations, extended forms of traditional cinema, linear and non-linear narrative image sequences, mobile and innovative screen formats, split- and/or multiple-screen arrangements. They may be complemented by modes of individual and collective interaction if wished. [Processing] This category is open to works and projects that are characterised by processes and live elements. Installations or systems can be submitted that are devised to involve a local situation and/or an audience actively, thus emphasising the ability to interact and improvise when handling digital information systems. This includes performances, immersive and hybrid (real/virtual) environments, 'play- and social software' applications, 'smart objects', intelligent and ambient systems as well as interface and interaction design. [Transposition] This category is open to works and projects emphasising acting and communicating within technologically defined networks. Applications, prototypes and concepts can be submitted that use or specifically apply network architecture that functions independently of time and place. This includes for example location-related and distributed systems (LAN/WAN/WIFI etc.), mobile computing, GPS applications, infra-red and Bluetooth connections. The key feature in each case is an unusual and/or experimental use of technologically defined network topographies. ……………………………………….. VIPER Basel | International Festival for Film Video and New Media PO Box, CH - 4002 Basel competition@viper.ch, www.viper.ch ……………………………………….. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + For $65 annually, Rhizome members can put their sites on a Linux server, with a whopping 350MB disk storage space, 1GB data transfer per month, catch-all email forwarding, daily web traffic stats, 1 FTP account, and the capability to host your own domain name (or use <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.net/your_account_name">http://rhizome.net/your_account_name</a>). Details at: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/services/1.php">http://rhizome.org/services/1.php</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 6. Date: 2.12.04 From: Nathaniel Stern (nathaniel@hektor.net) Subject: Near-Digital SA: Interventionist Influence (an e-interview with Carine Zaayman) – nathaniel stern Near-Digital SA: Interventionist Influence (an e-interview with Carine Zaayman) nathaniel stern My arrival in, and move to, South Africa was marked by a meeting with Marcus Neustetter of The Trinity Session (see later Rhizome interview - <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=7630&text=15643">http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=7630&text=15643</a> ). At the time, he was curating a show called 'online | offline,' an attempt to "display digital works on and off the screen in order to illustrate the relationship of more traditional art-making processes with contemporary creative uses of new technology." I was most interested not only in his exhibition of work, but also in his creation of a space where South African viewers were asked to challenge their notions of 'how to look at' art. In a place where access to technology and the comfort level around it is still fairly limited, we now have artist-curators using new media and new media influenced strategies to provoke explorations of identity, translocality, globalization, historicity, public dialogue, and art in general. This month, ArtThrob ( <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.artthrob.co.za/">http://www.artthrob.co.za/</a> ) - a webzine dedicated to contemporary art in South Africa - formally announced their newly appointed new media editor, Carine Zaayman. The site was founded by SA artist Sue Williamson in 1997, and has been growing with contributors and recognition ever since. Sean O'Toole, who took over as editor-in-chief in 2002, is working towards more diverse coverage, using the existing ArtThrob template. His hope is that Carine will "facilitate debate and steer critical thought on new media in South Africa." Carine and I emailed about the state of digital art in South Africa (SA). NS: I think of this inclusion as a signifier of potentially big changes in the art scene in SA. First, we saw the biggest art awards here (the Brett Kebble Art Awards - BKAA @ <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bkaa.co.za/">http://www.bkaa.co.za/</a> ) start its new media category; now, we have one of the biggest/best publications creating a job around the coverage of new media. What are your thoughts? CZ: I think you are right. There seems to be some major shifts under way. This is evident in the move towards less object-based art, more non-gallery art etc., a strong sense of events-as-art (ala YDEsire - <a rel="nofollow" href="http://spo0ky.net/ydesire/ydesire.html">http://spo0ky.net/ydesire/ydesire.html</a> ), audio art and so on. I would like to see new media as part of this move, as being not so much only a set of "media," but that its relatively recent rise in the art world suggests an "opening up" of our notions of the kinds of roles that art can play. Here I am thinking of more socio-culturally-engaged art. Some of the work The Trinity Session ( <a rel="nofollow" href="http://onair.co.za/thetrinitysession/">http://onair.co.za/thetrinitysession/</a> ) has done, in which new media plays a role, is an example. What is at issue is the fact that new media gives us alternative avenues of presentation, i.e. the web and other technological public spaces. But this is why I am not really happy with the glib positioning of new media as another "category" in competitions such as the BKAA. Having the category does not mean that the medium is really recognised. With painting and the like, having objects/images made by one person and exhibiting those in a specific location is not uncommon. The dissemination of information and discussion around these objects is also relatively well established. The problem with new media is that it does not fit into the category of object/exhibition easily, and though some works might, new media as such is much more fluid, and competitions cannot really provide adequate space for the collaborative and ephemeral aspects of new media. I also believe that once you say that there might be big changes under way in the SA art scene, you also have to accept that the people working at these changes will be young "trailblazers". The new media scene is very much a nascent one. I remember that when I was studying most of the more established artists around saw the web as simply a new means of promoting their "real" work. I also remember the furore in some circles when Kathryn Smith won the new signatures competition with a video work. Seeing that video art is hardly really new media, I think we have come a long way, but this has not happened because the establishment changed their collective mind. No, it is through the consistent work of the younger generation in the utilising of new media, and pushing the notions of collective art making, the importance of curators, creating alternative spaces for work and so on that the potential of new media is starting to become realised here. My "vision" for my contribution to ArtThrob includes creating awareness of the ways in which new media is reshaping our sense of artistic practice, and our understanding of the notion of locale globally. I want to focus on the ability of new media to enable exchange and public forums. An angle that I try to take is to give a short analysis of the contents of certain projects, and place them in contexts that address issues within new media discussion. In other words, if new media is able to facilitate dialogue between any number of people dispersed around the globe, where is the work that shows us how this is done? Then, I try to draw a relation to a South African example as well, to give voice to those kinds of projects that can easily be overlooked by the established channels of dissemination. Hopefully, artists can then embark on such projects more confidently in the knowledge that there is an audience, and some reflection on their work, and they do not need to compromise. NS: Who are some of the predominant SA artists working in new media? What about collectives, institutions or schools working with/in new media? As I said above, these are young ones. Internationally established artist, Minnette Vari, works in video, and it is evident that she works with the technology of video to some extent…. The point for me is not so much artists working only in new media, but artists who employ the potential of new media for public and social engagement in their practice. From this perspective I think that the work of The Trinity Session and Marcus Neustetter are examples. Your own contribution is already felt. Abrie Fourie's new space in Pretoria (Outlet) is not exclusively for new media, but he is willing to assist artists who use technology. His own practice also includes some new media work. Matthew Hindley, who has worked with new media related things for a while, was recently awarded the Cape Town public sculpture commission. For this sculpture he proposes to have microphones placed in strategic places around Government Avenue. These microphones will then pick up pieces of conversation and send the information of these sounds to the LED screen on the front of the National Gallery where they will be displayed. I also think that projects are starting to be shaped around new media. '52weeks52works' is a great example of this. Organised by James Webb and Thomas Cartwright, this project involves artists making one work every week - not necessarily new media - in a public space and sending in the documentation, which is then published on the [pending] website. Again, it is clearly not a "let's - get - together - and - see - what - flashy - digital - stuff - we - can - make" exercise. A crucial point here is that we are not only talking about artists making work when we want to understand the impact of new media. Many musicians, curators, designers etc. are also becoming agents in the new media field. The conference held at WITS in 2000, entitled "Urban Futures", made this very clear, especially in the curatorial contributions of James Sey and Kathryn Smith, and Rory Bester. The kind of work done by Andries Odendaal from Wireframe studios in Cape Town ( <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.wireframe.co.za/">http://www.wireframe.co.za/</a> ) can also not be overlooked. Odendaal is a designer/programmer who has received many accolades for his work in flash, but at the same time he has also helped to establish the freefall network in Cape Town ( <a rel="nofollow" href="http://freefall.za.net/">http://freefall.za.net/</a> ), which is an informal group of artists / designers / musos / teachers, that work digitally and in new media, who meet and exchange ideas etc. Then, of course, there are a number of other art fields also using new media, especially theatre. I am not an expert in these as such, but I can mention the work of Mark Fleishman and Magnet Theatre ( <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.magnettheatre.co.za/">http://www.magnettheatre.co.za/</a> ). My point is that because new media is a physical reality in many people's lives, it cannot be considered only as the domain of art. This forces artists to be more open to public dynamics, other art forms and the challenges these put to their practices. A (very) recent new media highlight for me was James Webb and James Sey's radio broadcast 'A Compendium of Imaginary Wavelengths' (2 February 2004 Bush Radio). This was a half-hour radio piece, with audio (sounds, interviews etc.) mixed live on Webb's laptop during the broadcast. Webb and Sey "invented" an imaginary author, and provided a kind of "sound-scape" synopsis of 15 of this author's books. Quite a bit of the audio was created digitally, and obviously everything captured digitally. All of the major art departments in the country have recently shifted some of their focus onto new media. Sections in art schools that attempt to teach new media as a stream, just like painting or sculpture, have sprung up in the last three years or so…. The shift from using the computer as a tool for design to a medium/space for art-making, is an enormous signifier of things to come. This shift is not easy, and many new media teachers find themselves coming up against age-old systems and prejudices. As a teacher, I am often astounded at the inability of some very good, long-standing professors to understand the nature of new media. When one is dealing with students who are not consummate practitioners, this becomes an issue. Still, it is the role of the teachers and the students to change the situation and create an audience for themselves. This will happen. The creation of postgraduate degrees in new media is a good step towards it. The Institute for Film and New Media or IFNM (where I work) at UCT ( <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ifnm.uct.ac.za/">http://www.ifnm.uct.ac.za/</a> ), and the WITS School of Arts MA programmes in digital art ( <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.wits.ac.za/artworks/postgrad/digimedia.htm">http://www.wits.ac.za/artworks/postgrad/digimedia.htm</a> ) are the primary movers in this regard. Perhaps it is important to say at this point that I am emphasising 'the positive' by pointing out all that is being done. I believe that this is a more productive position than lamenting the small size and minute history of new media art in South Africa. It has not been going on for very long, and it is still small and humble. But things are changing, as I hope I have indicated. NS: What are you hoping to see more of in the new media art scene here? CZ: I think more of the kinds of things I have mentioned above. Obviously there are other kinds of work being done in the field, but I have chosen to highlight the ones I think are most pertinent or interesting. Aside from that, I would just like to see the reception of new media work change. I would like to see more variety - thus not only websites or video, but some more of the kinds of things that happen at places like ITP (Interactive Telecommunications Program - <a rel="nofollow" href="http://itp.nyu.edu/">http://itp.nyu.edu/</a> ). I would like to see artists utilising public space and addressing political issues more directly. I'd also like to see more serious theoretical writing on new media that is actually in touch with what is happening on the ground, rather than carrying on about virtual realities and space-time continuums in a hackneyed fashion. NS: How are you seeing new media influence the more traditional art scene here? CZ: … just as digital technology has become indispensable in our daily lives, so it has become indispensable for many artists who do not consider themselves new media artists. In this way, digital technology makes many things easier for artists working in a more traditional mode…. What I think is more important though, is the fact that a general shift (as you suggested earlier) is taking place across disciplines. New media is one player in this shift; it vastly contributes to the direction and developments. This is, perhaps, more where I would like to locate the influence, as it is far more radical and positive. NS: What are some current goings-on that may shift the art scene in different directions in the near future? CZ: New media in South Africa is very young and still under-developed, and the projects that I have listed here signify some great strides that have been taken to establish viable channels of production, discussion and recognition. These developments will continue, I believe. From The Trinity Session to the IFNM, we have a stage set now. I think the coming five years will probably see youngsters taking over more of the field. NS: What are some projects you, yourself, are working on now? I am currently trying to raise funding for a collaborative project between artists in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The project will focus on finding ways of translating the private lived experience of their cities into digital material. I see this project as involving an online exchange between artists, public interventions, and a catalogue of some sort. There are two aspects here: the one is to investigate the specificities of the different cities, the second is the notion that one's life in, and in connection with, the city is impossible to fully communicate to anyone else. The metaphor of encoding and translating is crucial. I am also taking part in the 52weeks project, and making a couple of pieces here and there for other venues. I am writing a number of articles about artists working with digital media in South Africa for academic journals, and a chapter on the ways in which digital media is shaping sub-cultural expression. Then, I see my teaching as a project as well. As a new media lecturer at Michaelis and the IFNM, I think that stimulating discussion and production of work in the field is essential. Also involved here is developing the role of new media within an institutional context. This means articulating some of the inherent concerns and possible directions of new media as an artistic practice, and setting up links with other departments such as computer science, music, drama, education, African studies and the school of languages. Look for more from Carine at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.artthrob.co.za/">http://www.artthrob.co.za/</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://nathanielstern.com">http://nathanielstern.com</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 7. Date: 2.18.04 From: Gloria Sutton (suttong@humnet.ucla.edu) Subject: Cyber_Reader: Critical Writings for the Digital Era Cyber_Reader: Critical Writings for the Digital Era Edited by Neil Spiller Fall 2002 Phaidon Press Prefiguring Cyberculture: An Intellectual History Edited by Darren Tofts, Annemarie Jonson and Alessio Cavallaro March 2003 MIT Press When the Culture Industry Goes Cyber-A Look at Two Anthologies The growing number of anthologies-issued by academic and art publishers alike-documenting the emergence of new media is yet another indication that new media-related art practices have become fully integrated within the culture industry. Many of these anthologies are derived from the fluid discussions that transpire via online digests (such as this one) or conferences which are periodically frozen and reprinted in hardcover, becoming required reading for the recently minted new media art courses cropping up nationwide. While interesting reads such as Interaction: Artistic Practice in the Network (2001) published by Eyebeam Atelier/D.A.P. and the BALTIC's Curating New Media (2002) capture the essence of real-time conversations, they do very little in the way of framing new media art debates within the wider intellectual history of media technology, communication theory and art history. Two noteworthy additions, Phaidon's Cyber_Reader and Prefiguring Cyberculture published by MIT Press set out to establish the textual foundation for this much needed framework. For both books, the nebulous term "cyberspace" functions as a unifying force drawing in a wide range of articles and essays touching on everything from philosophy and metaphysics to sexual politics, art and architecture all under one cover. Within this context, the hollow ring of the prefix "cyber" allows unrelated texts like Norbert Wiener's pivotal thesis on feedback, ("Organization of the Message,"1950) and Mark Dery's lamentation of the future in "Robocopulation: Sex Times Technology Equals the Future" (1996) to be packaged together. Overall, the essays published in each book attempt to analyze the vast social apparatus of the computer network. And more specifically, the collected works reflect the various ways digital networks have transformed almost every aspect of contemporary western culture in the past fifty years. While these two books cover similar historical ground and favor many of the same voices in the field, they offer radically different methodologies for scripting the genealogy of new media. Neil Spiller, editor of Phaidon's Cyber_Reader, takes a chronological approach to organizing the 43 selected essays and offers a preface to each selection that contextualizes the author and as well as the argument advanced by the essay. Spiller's introductions are well honed and manage to encapsulate complex ideas in direct, engaging terms. A clear sign that the texts are packaged for quick consumption is that they are unapologetically abridged without explaining why certain passages are emphasized over others. For example, why excerpt only the biological definition of the rhizome advanced by Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus and leave out the political implication they argue is inherent in a rhizome's non-hierarchical structure, which is detailed in the same chapter? While Spiller starts with Babbage's 1854 "Analytical Machine," the structuring logic of Cyber_Reader is steeped in the rhetoric of dot com 1990s. Spiller's introduction and the choice in essays proliferate the myth that lower costs in bandwidth and exponentially growing computational power opened the world to free speech and other luxuries. "Cyberspace is opening up the ways for us to see deep, far, close and wide," he exclaims. Spiller never mentions that access always resides with a connection, technical and social, but above all, economic. It is precisely this type of clarity that editors Darren Tofts, Annemarie Jonson and Alessio Cavallaro bring to the discussion of cyberspace in Pre-figuring Cyberculture published by MIT Press. Rather than deploying the term for novelty's sake, they take up the very issue of technological trends in their astute investigation of the term "cyberculture," asserting that this book is preciously about technology and change or what they call "mutability," the very tendency towards change and alteration. The strength of this collection of essays is the strategic and informed way in which they are organized. Instead of being open to any and every definition of the term, the editors argue for a very specific reading of cyberculture and lay their rationale out in transparent terms in the introduction. Even if you disagree with their take, their well-argued stance increases the historical specificity of "cyberspace" and adds a rigorously developed theoretical dimension to the field of new media. The most pressing difference between the two books is each editor's level of self-reflexivity (or lack thereof) concerning the efficacy of adding "cyber" as a prefix to a category of art, literature, or philosophy. Spiller, states that the Cyber_Reader "rejoices in the varied interpretations, ideas, aspirations and contradictions of cyberspace, expressed by the various texts and their authors. To provide a compact and definitive description of the phenomenon that is cyberspace is an impossible task." While I agree with the difficulty of the charge, a sound bite definition of "cyberspace" is not necessarily a desirable goal. But one would think that by 2002 the qualifier "cyber" would have developed a more historically informed meaning. Tacking the term on as a prefix does not provide any formal unity or criteria to help structure our thinking about culture, science or fiction. The essays gathered in Pre-figuring work toward developing a more historically informed definition of cyberspace and are grouped into four well-articulated sections: cyborgs, webworlds, artists' statements, and postmillennial speculations. The book takes as its premise the notion that the end of the 20th century ushered in a new conception of human life referred to as posthuman, cyborg, or infomatic. The choice of N. Katherine Hayles to contribute the forward would seem to favor the "posthuman." Each of the essays explores particular historical traces of technological change from the vantage point of the 21st century. So we get Elizabeth Wilson on Alan Turing's "computing machinery and intelligence," and John Potts on Marinetti's Futurist Manifesto. And rather than letting each essay speak for itself, the editors have penned poignant introductions that delicately complicate the narratives to follow. This approach gives the book a curated feel in that the choice of material was selected to advance a larger argument. And like most exhibitions, the artists usually bristle at having their work read through flimsy themes. However, the section devoted to artists' statements allows the artists' own descriptions and concerns to surface which breaks up the historical tone of the book. For example, Heidegger's warning about the instrumental quality of technology takes a more relevant tone when evoked by Char Davies in her description of her 1995 virtual reality installation, Osmose. I have set these two anthologies up in the very old art historical fashion of the compare and contrast, but ideally these two volumes would be used in tandem. For example, it would be interesting hear the views of William Gibson's protagonist, Case, as reprinted in Cyber_Reader before having it described to us by Scott McQuire in his essay on Neuromancer and architecture in "Space for Rent in the Last Suburb." Or as Deleuze and Guattari would have argued, it would be great to have the "and" rather than the "either or." But of course Spiller left that section out of the excerpt from A Thousand Plateaus. -Gloria Sutton + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 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 9, number 8. 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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