RHIZOME DIGEST: 4.09.04

discussion

Posted April 8 2004 20:00

RHIZOME DIGEST: 4.09.04

RHIZOME DIGEST: April 9, 2004 Content: +note+ 1. Francis Hwang: D. of T. report, March 2004 +announcement+ 2. Noel Kelly: NKS (Neue Slowenische Kunst) to open Dublin Passport Office - Project Arts Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland - April 29th 2004 3. Lev Manovich: Data-mining the subject 4. Scott Berry: Images Festival Toronto +opportunity+ 5. Terry Towery: 6 POSITIONS IN DIGITAL MEDIA 6. Johannes Birringer: Interaktionslabor 2: interactive architecture - movement - adoptive systems +feature+ 7. Alexander Galloway: "Protocol"–Excerpt from Chapter 7 "Internet Art" + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 1. Date: 04.01.04 From: Francis Hwang (francis@rhizome.org) Subject: D. of T. report, March 2004 Hi everyone, My March involved a lot of small, boring little housekeeping-type tasks, and a few interesting ones. Some of the interesting ones include: DONE IN MARCH: + Commission Voting This got underway in March and other than a dumb error in the very beginning, I have not heard any reports of technical problems with the system. Whether voting is successful in a social/aesthetic sense is a much more important question, and I think that remains to be seen. Since we're still in the process of voting it wouldn't be appropriate for me to say much now, but when this is all done I'll be writing up a report for perusal & discussion, which will help us refine, change, or scrap the experiment for the next time Rhizome does commissions. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/commissions/">http://rhizome.org/commissions/</a> + Browse artworks by keyword You can browse artworks in the ArtBase by keywords now! This is the first (and easiest) step in the ongoing process to make searching the website easier. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/fresh/artworks_by_keyword.rhiz">http://rhizome.org/fresh/artworks_by_keyword.rhiz</a> + Minor gender corrector This is barely worth mentioning, but I switched the order of "female" and "male" in the dropdown on the user demographics page. Mostly I was taking a cue from Danah Boyd's off-hand comment about how interaction designers almost always put "male" first without a good reason. ( <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.misbehaving.net/2003/10/social_construc.html">http://www.misbehaving.net/2003/10/social_construc.html</a> ) Of course, now that I look at the page again I notice how "in progress" slips out of order and that I'm not really certain how to treat that since I suspect that most people who chose that option are joking. Or the fact that gender is largely a social construct and that even the basic designation of "in progress" would seem to imply that any state of in-betweenness–whether you're talking about hermaphroditism, drag, metrosexuality, or just dykes on bikes–is inherently unstable and that the only genuine options are those proscribed by heteronormative binarism. Yes, I know that the field's optional, and that I'm thinking too much about it. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/preferences/user.rhiz">http://rhizome.org/preferences/user.rhiz</a> IN PROGRESS: + ArtBase revamp The ArtBase revamping is getting started slowly. My general plan is to introduce this in small stages from end of the process to the front, so that artists who are going through the process will move forward out of the old system into the new system without any interruption. Currently I'm working on a user-friendly central control panel that tells you "These are the artworks you have in the system; you have to take actions on these pieces, but not these pieces." I'm also building a message-tracking system (inspired by various tech-support systems) that will centralize all correspondence about a given artwork. ( There's also a process-phase abstraction that would only really interest a hardcore object-oriented domain modeling geek. ) + Hiring I've also been interviewing for a part-time, short-term consultant to help me with the programming, mostly for ArtBase and search. More on this is it develops. Francis + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 2. Date: 4.03.04 From: Noel Kelley (art.info@artprojectsnetwork.net) Subject: NKS (Neue Slowenische Kunst) to open Dublin Passport Office - Project Arts Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland - April 29th 2004 NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst) is the world's first universal state. It is larger than the European Union, more powerful than NATO, more populous than the Vatican. NSK has established a territory without geographical, national or cultural borders. The NSK State is installed in a real social and political space as a sculpture comprising the body warmth, spirit and work of its members. NSK confers the status of a state not upon territory but upon the mind, whose borders are in a state of flux, in accordance with the movements and changes of its symbolic and physical collective body. The project comments on political developments in ex-Yugoslavia in a specific way, representing an alternative to the political fixations on territories, ethnic groups and borders that gained strength since the beginning of the 1990's. On April 29th 2004 NSK will establish a passport office for the issue of NSK State Passports. As well as issuing NSK State Passports, the office will display and provide of information concerning NSK and the individual groups that constitute the NSK state. This will take place in Project Arts Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin 1, Ireland The opening event will take place on April 29th 2004 @ 6pm The Passport Office will remain open until May 3rd 2004 Further information can be found at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.artprojectsnetwork.net">http://www.artprojectsnetwork.net</a> or by phoning Noel Kelly on +353 (0)86 2471114 email: noel.kelly@artprojectsnetwork.net Funded by the Slovenian Ministry of Culture, and the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with support from The Project Arts Centre. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 3. Date: 4.04.04 From: Lev Manovich (manovich@jupiter.ucsd.edu) Subject: Data-mining the subject To view this entire thread, click here: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=12684&text=24405#24405">http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=12684&text=24405#24405</a> + + + Schoenerwissen FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Office for Computational Design Thursday, April 1, 2004 www.sw.ofcd.com ________________________________________________________________________ txtkit - Visual Text Mining Tool 1.1.0 txtkit is an Open Source visual text mining tool for exploring large amounts of multilingual texts. This multiuser-application mainly focuses on the process of reading and reasoning as a series of decisions and events. To expand this single perspective activity txtkit creates content recommendations through collaborative filtering. The software requires Mac OS X 10.3 and Internet access. Technologies used: Objective-C, OpenGL, Java, MySQL Free download at <<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.txtkit.sw.ofcd.com">http://www.txtkit.sw.ofcd.com</a>> ________________________________________________________________________ Background txtkit was commissioned by Prof. Hans Ulrich Reck, co-author of the concept and project director with Prof. Georg Trogemann of KIT (Kunst. Informatik. Theorie. / Art. Computer Science. Theory.), a research project based at the Art and Media Studies department at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. KIT is a part of the KUBIM programme, financed by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMB+F) and Länder Ministries for Education or Science and Culture. ________________________________________________________________________ Currently available text sources There are three sources at the moment: - HUReck_ArtMediaTheory.en.txtkit ( Hans Ulrich Reck / english ) - HUReck_Collection.de.txtkit ( Hans Ulrich Reck / german ) - LManovich_NewMediaResearch.en.txtkit ( Lev Manovich / english ) Any suggestions for other free text sources are welcome! ________________________________________________________________________ About Schoenerwissen/OfCD Berlin based Schoenerwissen/OfCD (Anne Pascual & Marcus Hauer) specializes in the design and development of information architectures and interfaces. Our design strategies integrate the use of new technology, theory and experimentation. We seek for advanced information infrastructures that provide spatial and temporal contexts serving as frameworks for exploration and dynamic decision making. In 2002 the project Minitasking - a visual gnutella client has been recognized by an Award of Distinction of the Prix Ars Electronica and received the transmediale Software Award in 2003. More information at <<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.sw.ofcd.com">http://www.sw.ofcd.com</a>> or contact us at <<a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:stdio@sw.ofcd.com?subject=information">mailto:stdio@sw.ofcd.com?subject=information</a>> ________________________________________________________________________ Newsletter If you want to receive the txtkit newsletter you should send a message to <<a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:announce@sw.ofcd.com?subject=newsletter">mailto:announce@sw.ofcd.com?subject=newsletter</a>> with your name and e-mail address. It's pretty easy. ________________________________________________________________________ Project Related Links - <<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.kubim.de">http://www.kubim.de</a>> - <<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.khm.de/kmw/kit">http://www.khm.de/kmw/kit</a>> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome is now offering organizational subscriptions, memberships purchased at the institutional level. These subscriptions allow participants of an institution to access Rhizome's services without having to purchase individual memberships. (Rhizome is also offering subsidized memberships to qualifying institutions in poor or excluded communities.) Please visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/org.php">http://rhizome.org/info/org.php</a> for more information or contact Jessica Ivins at Jessica@Rhizome.org. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 4. Date: 4.09.04 From: Scott Berry (scott@imagesfestival.com) Subject: Images Festival Toronto Images Festival (Toronto): OFF-SCREEN exhibition of media art Installations <PAUSE> web.art exhibition w/MobileGaze.org launches 7 pm Wednesday 21 April @ InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre 401 Richmond St West, ste #444 w/curators Valérie Lamontagne, Brad Todd & artists: I8U, Yan Breleux and Peter Horvath. Visit the audio & video exhibition @ www.mobilegaze.org/pause – Toronto, April 1, 2004 - For ten meteoric days, from April 15-24, the organizing team of Images Off-Screen focuses a new media lens on 16 installations by 17 artists at 13 venues in downtown Toronto. Audiences are invited to experience the moving image through media art installations, web-based and interactive projects, sound & video works, performances, artists' talks, receptions and the launch party on Friday, April 16 at the Gladstone Hotel. Since 1995, the Images Festival has presented media art installations in addition to its on-screen program in an ongoing dialogue between the traditional cinematic approach to exhibition and the many innovative and experimental off-screen formats for digital media. This year many of the installation and new media projects investigate time, duration, stasis, urban landscapes, travel and our lived environments. On Friday, April 16 from 10pm - 2am, the Festival will launch Images Off-Screen with a free party at the Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. W, featuring outdoor video projections by Oliver Hockenhull & DJ Will Munro. For information on additional openings, artist's talks, web launches & events please visit the Images website or pick up a program catalogue. Collaborating partners are: A Space, Art Gallery of Ontario, Gallery 44, Gallery TPW, InterAccess, Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Trinity Square Video, Vtape, VMAC, Women's Art Resource Centre and Wynick/Tuck Gallery. Admission to all exhibitions is free (except the AGO, which is free on Wednesdays from 6:00 to 8:30) and all galleries are open Tuesday - Sunday 12-5 during the festival. The Images Festival of Independent Film and Video, Canada's largest annual event devoted exclusively to independent and experimental film, video and new media, opens April 15 and runs through April 24 at two theatres and thirteen gallery and performance venues in downtown Toronto. From hand-tinted celluloid to digital video, performances and interactive media, the Images Festival celebrates its 17th year with a 10-day line-up featuring this year's best independent and experimental images. Audiences are given the unmissable opportunity to take in more than 100 independent films and videos, sixteen new media art installations, two web-based exhibitions and five live events. IMAGES OFF-SCREEN INFORMATION: www.imagesfestival.com Images Festival Ticket and Information Line: (416) 971-6236 – + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 5. Date: 4.02.04 From: Terry Towery (terryt@mac.com) Subject: 6 POSITIONS IN DIGITAL MEDIA 6 POSITIONS IN DIGITAL MEDIA Colleagues, We are beginning the search process a little late so it would be helpful if you could pass this along to potential candidates. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me Salary Ranges: Assistant Professor $45,163 - $65,388 Associate Professor $53,455 - $77,529 Full Professor  $56,664 - $93,507 POSITIONS IN DIGITAL MEDIA The City University of New York, the nation's largest public urban university, is pleased to announce six tenure-track faculty positions in various areas of digital media that will be filled as soon as September 2004. CUNY has identified digital media as a Flagship Program within its nineteen campus system that it intends to enhance and expand over the next three years. Candidates for this first round of positions must demonstrate broad experience in using and creating digital media in artistic and/or academic settings, a strong research agenda in various aspects of digital media production and use, and a commitment to teaching and academic achievement in digital media. A doctorate or a terminal degree in an appropriate and related field is required. The positions are available at the Assistant, Associate, and Professor levels, commensurate with the experience and qualifications of the candidates. * Borough of Manhattan Community College: Multimedia Networking and Design in the A.A.S. program in  Multimedia Programming and Design * Brooklyn College: Assistant or Associate Professor specializing in Radio and Sound Art in the Academic Radio program and Center for Computer Music * The City College of New York: Digital Post Production in the Media Communications Arts M.F.A. program * Hunter College: Digital Media Artist, with emphasis on 3-D modeling and animation, in the M.F.A. Program in Integrated Media Arts * Lehman College: Motion Graphics Expert, with emphasis on integrating video into 3-D modeling and animation, in the Computer Graphics and Imaging B.A., B.F.A., B.S. and M.F.A. programs * NYC College of Technology: Entertainment Technology, emphasis on live performance and broadband broadcasting, with crossover to Computer Engineering Technology for the Bachelor of Technology Degree Additional position information is available at: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://cuny.edu/TBA">http://cuny.edu/TBA</a> Applicants must state which position(s) they are applying for. Send a letter describing qualifications, experience and research agenda with vita and names of three references to: Dr. Stephen Brier, Associate Provost for Instructional Technology and Chair, Digital Media Cluster Hiring Initiative The Graduate Center, CUNY 365 Fifth Ave., Rm. 8111 New York, NY 10016 Applicants for more than one position should include duplicate materials. Applications will be forwarded to the appropriate colleges; review of application will begin immediately. The searches will remain open until the positions are filled. CUNY is an AA/EO employer M/F/D/V D I G I T A L   M E D I A   C L U S T E R   H I R I N G   I N I T I A T I V E ———————————————————————— The City University of New York, the nation's largest public urban university, is pleased to announce six tenure-track faculty positions in various areas of digital media that will be filled as soon as September 2004. CUNY has identified digital media as a Flagship Program within its nineteen campus system that it intends to enhance and expand over the next three years. Candidates for this first round of positions must demonstrate broad experience in using and creating digital media in artistic and/or academic settings, a strong research agenda in various aspects of digital media production and use, and a commitment to teaching and academic achievement in digital media. A doctorate or a terminal degree in an appropriate field is required. The positions are available at the Assistant, Associate, and Professor levels, commensurate with the experience and qualifications of the candidates. Borough of Manhattan Community College Multimedia Networking and Design in the A.A.S. program in Multimedia Programming and Design. This position will incorporate the business side of multimedia production including feasibility, client requirements, pricing and project management, as well as the creation of multimedia products. Skills should include experience in a variety of web technologies, multimedia networking, sound design for multimedia, physical computing, and 3D modeling and virtual reality for specific industries including medicine, manufacturing, aerospace, etc. Brooklyn College Assistant or Associate Professor specializing in Radio and Sound Art in the Academic Radio program and Center for Computer Music Brooklyn College seeks candidates with a strong teaching and production background in innovative radio and/or experimental composition with technology, but would consider strong candidates with non-traditional backgrounds in related disciplines who can show qualifications in teaching or research in two or more of the following fields: sound art, sound installation, sound design, history of sound art, and interactive sound environments. Expertise in additional related fields would be considered. In addition to sound art and radio teaching responsibilities, the individual hired will: *  Be a central participant in development of new interdisciplinary programs, including possible BFA and MFA programs in Sound Arts, and a possible MFA in Performance and Interactive Media Arts; *        Participate in team-teaching courses in the advanced certificate program in Performance and Interactive Media Arts; *    Work individually with music composition students and/or advanced radio students as per the hire's expertise; *  Participate in the coordination and production of on and off campus events, such as the Brooklyn College International Electro-Acoustic Music Festival, the Radio Speakers Series, Brooklyn College Radio Festival, and Performance and Interactive Media Arts events; * Help supervise the student radio station; Candidates' proficiency or teaching experience with the SAW digital audio editors and/or the Max/MSP programming environment will be considered. Candidates' must show a significant record of all or some: original radio work, original music, sound design, sound installation, interactive sound environments, publication and scholarship in sound or radio theory, innovative or traditional broadcast writing. Possible departments for appointment are Television and Radio, or the Conservatory of Music. For more information see www.interactivearts.org /soundarts/ The City College of New York Digital Post Production in the Media Communications Arts M.F.A. program Specialist in the technique of digital post-production and motion picture editing theory applied in the digital mode. Instruct digital post in a full complement of production and post-production courses from introductory level to advanced undergraduate and thesis-level graduate.  Artist/Practitioner with a strong grounding in traditional and non-traditional visual narrative technique. Required additional experience in digital effects, text applications, graphics and color correction. MCA has made the transition in graduate and undergraduate studies to a fully digital post-production facility. Position will expand on existing facilities and guide development of new direction in digital post. Hunter College Digital Media Artist with emphasis on 3D modeling and animation, in the M.F.A. Program in Integrated Media Arts offering Advanced Studies in Nonfiction Media Making Applicants for this position should have experience in three-dimensional modeling and/or animation, with a strong track record using new media technologies for communicating ideas, knowledge and information. This hire will be involved in the development of a number of essential courses, undergraduate and graduate, including classes in 3D modeling, animation and compositing for video, film and interactive media. Lehman College Motion Graphics Expert with emphasis on integrating video into 3D modeling and animation, in the Computer Graphics and Imaging B.A., B.F.A., B.S. and M.F.A. programs Lehman College of the City University of New York's Art Department is offering a full-time tenure track position in digital media. The candidate should have strong skills in motion graphics, video and animation, and would be responsible for integrating video into our 3D modeling and animation program. The position will help build on our already strong area of modeling and animation for scientific, fine art and entertainment purposes. The skill set should include Maya, video editing and video effects. Preference will be given to those candidates who are versed in Game Design, Physical Computing or interactive installation. Experience with Macintosh computers, OS X operating system and a familiarity with Photoshop,Final Cut Pro, After Effects and related software concerning digital video is desired. Qualified applicant must be a working artist, possess an M.F.A., and have two years teaching experience or equivalent (beyond Graduate Assistantship). Applied/commercial experience is a plus. In addition to letter of application, resume, and vita, applicants should include VHS/DVD samples of personal work as well as samples of student work. NYC College of Technology Entertainment Technology, emphasis on live performance and broadband broadcasting, with crossover to Computer Engineering Technology for the Bachelor of Technology Degree This hire will be responsible for the development and implementation of research and curriculum in new technologies for live performance production, digital moviemaking, television and broadband broadcasting. Candidate will be a practicing artist/scientist experienced in college teaching who is an expert in audio and/or visual areas of live performance production, interactive/enhanced TV computer controlled systems, interactive digital video, mobile and wireless devices, and/or embedded systems, wearables, telerobotics, robots and robotic devices. Applicants must state which position(s) they are applying for. Send a letter describing qualifications, experience and research agenda with vita and names of three references to: Dr. Stephen Brier, Associate Provost for Instructional Technology and Chair, Digital Media Cluster Hiring Initiative The Graduate Center, CUNY 365Fifth Ave., Rm. 8111 New York, NY 10016 Applicants for more than one position should include duplicate materials. Applications will be forwarded to the appropriate colleges; review of application will begin immediately. The searches will remain until the positions are filled. CUNY is an AA/EO employer M/F/D/V + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 6. Date: 4.02.04 From: Johannes Birringer (orpheus@rice.edu) Subject: Interaktionslabor 2: interactive architecture - movement - adoptive systems Interaktionslabor 2: interactive architecture - movement - adoptive systems Göttelborn Coal Mine - Saarland, Germany July 5th-18th, 2004. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net">http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net</a> directed by Johannes Birringer Interaktionslabor Göttelborn is currently accepting applications for its second international summer workshop in the former coalmine intended to encourage and facilitate transdisciplinary creative practice. A laboratory for new media arts, performance and interactive design is created within the changing landscape of industrial culture. The former coal mine becomes an emergent space for integrative projects in artistic and scientific research. Cost: Full intensive: EUR400 / Single day: EUR 50,- * This cost does not include travel to Göttelborn and lodging. Those arrangements should be made by the participant. The Lab is happy to offer suggestions and/or facilitate room/ride sharing. Send your application with résumé before May 31 to Magalie.Trognon@iks-saar.de or orpheus@rice.edu Magalie Trognon, IndustrieKultur Saar GmbH, Zum Schacht, 66287 Quierschied-Göttelborn Tel. +49 6825-94277-50 Fax. +49 6825-94277-99 ******************************************** Interaktions-Labor 2: Interaktive Räume - adoptive Systeme Göttelborner Bergwerk (Saarland) 5.-18. Juli 2004 <a rel="nofollow" href="http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net">http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net</a> Leitung: Johannes Birringer Die Werkstatt für Interaktionsdesign, Kunst und Technologien nimmt ihre Arbeit zum zweiten Mal auf und lädt ein zum experimentellen Prozess in der transformierten Industrielandschaft. Das ehemalige Bergwerk Göttelborn wird auch in diesem Sommer zum Raum für Integrationsprojekte in Medien-Kunst, Performance, Technik und Design. Werkstattgebühr für 14 Tag: EUR 400,- / EUR50 pro Tag Anmeldung mit Résumé (begrenzte Teilnehmerzahl) bitte an: Magalie.Trognon@iks-saar.de oder orpheus@rice.edu Magalie Trognon, IndustrieKultur Saar GmbH, Zum Schacht, 66287 Quierschied-Göttelborn Tel. +49 6825-94277-50 Fax. +49 6825-94277-99 Die Werkstattgebühr ist unabhängig von Anreise- und Unterbringungskosten. Das Labor berät Sie gerne bei Fragen zur Unterkunft am Ort. **************************************************************************** ******************* Laboratorio Göttelborn: Laboratorio de Interacción inicia su segundo taller experimental en arte interactivo, tecnología en medios de comunicación y ambientes virtuales. Göttelborn, la antigua mina de carbón–Saarland, Alemania. 5 de julio al 18 de julio de 2004 <a rel="nofollow" href="http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net">http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net</a> Director del proyecto:Johannes Birringer Cuota de inscripción para artistas y técnicos: E400.00 (taller completo) o E50.00 por día. Fecha límite de inscripción: el 31 de mayo. orpheus@rice.edu o Magalie.Trognon@iks-saar.de Magalie Trognon, IndustrieKultur Saar GmbH, Zum Schacht, 66287 Quierschied-Göttelborn, Alemania Tel. +49 6825-94277-50 Fax. +49 6825-94277-99 **************************************************************************** *********** Atelier Interactif 2 TECHNOLOGIES DE COMMUNICATION, ARTS INTERACTIFS, ESPACES VIRTUELS Mine de Göttelborn - Sarre, Allemagne 5 - 18 Juillet, 2004 Direction: Johannes Birringer <a rel="nofollow" href="http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net">http://interaktionslabor.iks-saar.net</a> Un laboratoire expérimental de recherche sera organisé pour la deuxième année sur le site de l'ancienne mine de Göttelborn. Ce site fait partie du projet de restructuration d'anciens sites industriels mené par la société IKS - IndustrieKultur Saar GmbH. Göttelborn deviendra un espace évolutionnaire pour des projets intégratifs dans les domaines de l'art et de la recherche. Coûts : 400 EUR pour els 2 semaines / 50 EUR par jour Ces coûts ne comprennent pas le transport ni l'hébergement, que le participant doit lui-même organiser. Les organisateurs se tiennent à votre disposition pour vous conseiller dans ces domaines. Informations: Magalie.Trognon@iks-saar.de ou orpheus@rice.edu Magalie Trognon, IndustrieKultur Saar GmbH, Zum Schacht, 66287 Quierschied-Göttelborn Tel. +49 6825-94277-50 Fax. +49 6825-94277-99 Le site: Göttelborn se trouve dans le Land de la Sarre, à proximité de la frontière française et à environ 20 min au nord de Sarrebruck. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 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> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 7. Date: 4.05.04 From: Alexander Galloway (galloway@nyu.edu) Subject: "Protocol"–Excerpt from Chapter 7 "Internet Art" "Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization" Excerpt from Chapter 7 "Internet Art": Let me now take a closer look at Internet art by examining some of its specific aesthetic qualities. The Internet's early autonomous communities were the first space where pure network aesthetics (Web site specificity) emerged–email lists like 7-11, Nettime, recode, Rhizome, and Syndicate. Primitive signs were seen in early net.art projects, such as Alexei Shulgin's Refresh, an art project consisting of nothing but links between Web pages. Refresh involves many different organizations working together, using many different computers all around the world. In Refresh a chain of Web pages is created. Each page is programmed to link automatically (on a 10-second delay) to the next Web page in the chain. Shulgin describes the project as "A Multi-Nodal Web-Surf-Create-Session for an Unspecified Number of Players." Anyone can collaborate in the project by slipping his or her own page into the link of refreshes. The user may load any Web page in the chain, and then watch as a new Web site appears every several seconds like a slide show. In this way, Refresh was one of the first works to render the network in an artistic way–as a painter renders a landscape or a sculptor renders a physical form. The art exists "out there" in the network, not on any individual Web page in the chain. Refresh made visible a virtual network of collaboration that was not based on individual content. Shulgin's work spatializes the Web. It turns the Internet, and protocol with it, into a sculpture. […] While Shulgin's work is highly conceptual, more formal work was also produced in this period. Perhaps the best example of formal work is from the European duo Jodi. For several years Jodi has refined a formal style by making computers both the subject and content of their art making. Focusing specifically on those places where computers break down, Jodi derives a positive computer aesthetic by examining its negative, its point of collapse. For example, in Jodi's work 404, which alludes to the Web's ubiquitous "file not found" 404 error code (which is built into Berners-Lee's HTTP protocol), the artists use the default fonts and simple colors available to primitive Web browsers. 404 is a collection of pages where users can post text messages and see what other users have written. But this simple bulletin board system becomes confused as the input text is pushed through various distorting filters before being added to the Web page for general viewing. The result is a rather curious collection of bathroom-wall scrawl that foregrounds the protocols of the Web page itself, rather than trying to cover over the technology with pleasing graphics or a deliberate design. The 404 error code has also been used by other artists. Lisa Jevbratt's "Non-Site Gallery" opens up the dead end of the 404 error page. She transforms the 404 message into a generative doorway, where the requested page is generated on the fly, as if it had always existed for the user and was not the result of a mistake. The 404 error code was also used in a more conceptual sense by the EDT. As part of its virtual sit-ins the EDT have created software that sends out Web requests for nonexistent Web pages on remote servers embedded with special messages–addresses in the form of www.server.com/__special_ message__. Since the Web pages do not exist on the remote server (and were never intended to exist), an error message is immediately generated by the server and returned to the EDT software. However–and this is the trick–since Web servers record all traffic to their Web site including errors, the error acts like a Trojan horse and the "special message" is recorded in the remote server's log book along with the rest of its Web traffic. This accomplishes the difficult task of actually uploading a certain specified piece of information to the server of one's choice (albeit in a rather obscure, unthreatening location). As the messages pass from the protester to the protested site, a relationship is created between the local user and the remote server, like a type of virtual sculpture. While the artwork may offer little aesthetic gratification, it has importance as a conceptual artwork. It moves the moment of art making outside the aesthetic realm and into the invisible space of protocols: Web addresses and server error messages. As work from the EDT suggests, Internet conceptualism is often achieved through a spatialization of the Web. It turns protocol into a sculpture. As the Internet changes, expanding its complex digital mass, one sees that the Web itself is a type of art object–a basis for myriad artistic projects. It is a space in which the distinction between art and not art becomes harder and harder to see. It is a space that offers itself up as art. […] The Web Stalker is also a good example of the conceptual nature of Internet art. It is an alternate browser that offers a completely different interface for moving through pages on the Web. The Web Stalker takes the idea of the visual browser (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer) and turns it on its head. Instead of showing the art on the Web through interpreting HTML and displaying in-line images, it exhibits the Web itself as art through a making-visible of its latent structure. The user opens a Web address, then watches as the Stalker spits back the HTML source for that address. In a parallel window the Web Stalker exhaustively maps each page linked from that URL, exponentially enlarging the group of scanned pages and finally pushing an entire set of interlinked pages to the user. The pages are mapped in a deep, complex hypertextual relation. The Web Stalker doesn't produce art but, in Matthew Fuller's words, "produces a relationship to art." The Stalker slips into a new category, the "not-just-art" that exists when revolutionary thinking is supplemented by aesthetic production. Let me now propose a simple periodization that will help readers understand Internet art practice from 1995 to the present. Early Internet art–the highly conceptual phase known as "net.art"–is concerned primarily with the network, while later Internet art–what can be called the corporate or commercial phase–has been concerned primarily with software. This is the consequence of a rather dramatic change in the nature of art making concurrent with the control societies and protocological media discussed throughout this book. The first phase, net.art, is a dirty aesthetic deeply limited, but also facilitated, by the network. The network's primary limitation is the limitation on bandwidth (the speed at which data can travel), but other limitations also exist such as the primitive nature of simple network protocols like HTML. Because of this, one sees a type of art making that is a mapping of the network's technological limitations and failures–as the wasp is a map of the orchid on which it alights, to use Deleuze and Guattari's expression. Examples include Jodi, Olia Lialina, Heath Bunting, Alexei Shulgin, Vuk Cosic, and many others. Net.art is a very exciting aesthetic, full of creativity and interesting conceptual moves. Yet this first phase may already be coming to an end. Baumgärtel recently observed that it is "the end of an era. The first formative period of net culture seems to be over." He is referring to a series of years from 1995 to 1999 when the genre of net.art was first developed. In this period, due to prominent technical constraints such as bandwidth and computer speed, many artists were forced to turn toward conceptual uses of the Internet that were not hindered by these technical constraints, or, in fact, made these constrains the subject of the work. All art media involve constraints, and through these constraints creativity is born. Net.art is low bandwidth through and through. This is visible in ASCII art, form art, HTML conceptualism–anything that can fit quickly and easily through a modem. But this primary limitation has now begun to disappear. Today Internet art is much more influenced by the limitations of certain commercial contexts. These contexts can take many different forms, from commercial animation suites such as Flash, to the genre of video gaming (a fundamentally commercial genre), to the corporate aesthetic seen in the work of RTMark, Etoy, and others. My argument is aesthetic, not economic. Thus, it is not a question of "selling out" but rather of moving to a new artistic playing field. As computers and network bandwidth improved during the late 1990s, the primary physical reality that governed the aesthetic space of net.art began to fall away. Taking its place is the more commercial context of software, what may be seen as a new phase in Internet art. [Excerpt reprinted with the permission of The MIT Press.] —- "Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization" by Alexander R. Galloway The MIT Press (March, 2004), 248 pages, ISBN 0262072475 book homepage: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mitpress.mit.edu/protocol">http://mitpress.mit.edu/protocol</a> table of contents: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://homepages.nyu.edu/~ag111/Protocol-contents.doc">http://homepages.nyu.edu/~ag111/Protocol-contents.doc</a> amazon page: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262072475">http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262072475</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 Kevin McGarry (kevin@rhizome.org). ISSN: 1525-9110. Volume 9, number 15. 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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