RHIZOME DIGEST: 11.12.04

discussion

Posted Nov. 11 2004 19:00

RHIZOME DIGEST: 11.12.04

RHIZOME DIGEST: November 12, 2004 Content: +note+ 1. Kevin McGarry: ArtBase Quarterly - Summer 2004 2. Kevin McGarry: Call for Rhizome SuperUsers +announcement+ 3. Francis Hwang: "Blogging and the Arts" panel: Tue, Nov 23 6:30pm - 8:00pm 4. Rachel Greene: Fwd: Database Imaginary / Thomson & Craighead +opportunity+ 5. Mechthild Schmidt: opportunity: part-time faculty 6. Julie Andreyev: INTERACTIVE FUTURES: Technology in the Life World panels 7. Carrie Heeter: Professor of Digital Media Arts (3D graphics and games) 8. ryan griffis: EFF Webmaster Position +work+ 9. Rhizome.org: Just added to the Rhizome ArtBase: E PLURIBUS UNUM by mark cooley 10. Rhizome.org: Just added to the Rhizome ArtBase: Site:Nonsite:Quartzsite Website by AUDC +comment+ 11. eidolon: Dataspace: Agency and Determinacy +feature+ 12. Gloria Sutton: Exhibiting New Media Art (Part 2 of 2) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 1. Date: 11.08.04 From: Kevin McGarry <kevin@rhizome.org> Subject: ArtBase Quarterly - Summer 2004 Hi to all - The first ArtBase Quarterly, Summer 2004, is available for download here: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/report/ABQuarterly-summer2004.pdf">http://rhizome.org/report/ABQuarterly-summer2004.pdf</a> This and future reports will be published on the ArtBase frontpage (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/art">http://rhizome.org/art</a>) and on the Reports page (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/report/">http://rhizome.org/report/</a>). The ArtBase Quarterly is a guide to help artists, students, collectors, teachers, curators, and critics navigate the stream of new works added to the Rhizome ArtBase, and to observe the evolution of Rhizome¹s engagement with emerging technologies and art practices. Any feedback is appreciated! Kevin McGarry ArtBase Coordinator Rhizome.org + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 2. Date: 11.11.04 From: Kevin McGarry <kevin@rhizome.org> Subject: Call for Rhizome SuperUsers SuperUsers are Rhizome members who act as volunteer editors by selecting posts from Rhizome RAW and publishing them to Rhizome RARE and the front page of Rhizome.org. Publication involves tagging posts with metadata and creating representative gifs to supplement their texts. Simply publishing two posts a week greatly helps preserve and distribute discourse on Rhizome lists, and if you can manage more than that, even better. If you are interested in becoming a SuperUser or have more questions, send me an email at kevin@rhizome.org. Thanks a lot! Kevin McGarry Content Coordinator Rhizome.org + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 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 Rachel Greene at Rachel@Rhizome.org. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 3. Date: 11.12.04 From: Francis Hwang <francis@rhizome.org> Subject: Rhizome.org "Blogging and the Arts" panel: Tue, Nov 23 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Please pardon the press-releasey tone of the text to follow; today's just sort of hectic, you know. Feel free to ask questions about this to me or to the list or both. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/events/blogging_and_the_arts/">http://rhizome.org/events/blogging_and_the_arts/</a> —- Media contact For more info contact: Francis Hwang, Director of Technology 212.219.1288x202 francis@rhizome.org Listing?November 10, 2004 For immediate release Rhizome.org to host Blogging and the Arts panel Public Program: Blogging and the Arts Tuesday, November 23, 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Location: New Museum of Contemporary Art / Chelsea 556 West 22nd Street *** Rhizome.org Director of Technology Francis Hwang will lead a panel discussion entitled Blogging and the Arts. The panel includes artist Kabir Carter, photoblogger and journalist David Gallagher, artist and critic Tom Moody, and artist T.Whid. The discussion will address questions such as whether blogs will change the nature of discourse in the fine arts field, and ways that artists and critics are integrating this new form of communications into their own work. *** About Rhizome.org Founded in 1996, Rhizome.org is an internet-based platform for the global new media arts community. Through programs such as publications, online discussion, art commissions, and archiving, it supports the creation, presentation, discussion, and preservation of contemporary art using new technologies. Since 2003, Rhizome.org has been affiliated with the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Blogging and the Arts is presented with the sponsorship of PubSub Concepts Inc., a free, real-time search subscription service spanning weblogs, newsgroups, wire services, and other information sources. Francis Hwang Director of Technology Rhizome.org phone: 212-219-1288x202 AIM: francisrhizome + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 4. Date: 11.12.04 From: Rachel Greene <rachel@rhizome.org? Subject: Fwd: Database Imaginary / Thomson & Craighead Begin forwarded message: From: Jon Thomson <j.thomson@ucl.ac.uk> Date: November 12, 2004 2:41:09 PM EST To: look@templatecinema.com Subject: Database Imaginary / Thomson & Craighead You're invited. We will be showing our installation, 'Short Films about Flying' as part of: "Database Imaginary" which opens Saturday, November 13 at the Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Center, Canada <a rel="nofollow" href="http://databaseimaginary.banff.org">http://databaseimaginary.banff.org</a> - website <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.banffcentre.ca/WPG/exhibits/2004/2004-10-14_database_imaginary/de">http://www.banffcentre.ca/WPG/exhibits/2004/2004-10-14_database_imaginary/de</a> fault.htm - press release <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A1=ind0411&L=new-media-curating">http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A1=ind0411&L=new-media-curating</a> -crumb discussion list "data art" Artists: Cory Arcangel, Julian Bleecker, Natalie Bookchin, Kayle Brandon, Heath Bunting, Alan Currall, Beatriz da Costa, Hans Haacke, Harwood/Mongrel, Agnes Hegedus, Axel Heide, Pablo Helguera, Lisa Jevbratt/C5, George Legrady, Lev Manovich, Jennifer + Kevin McCoy, Muntadas, onesandzeros, Scott Paterson, Philip Pocock, Edward Poitras, David Rokeby, Warren Sack, Jamie Schulte, Thomson&Craighead, Brooke Singer, Gregor Stehle, University of Openess, Angie Waller, Cheryl L'Hirondelle Waynohtew, Marina Zurkow Database Imaginary Curated by Sarah Cook, Steve Dietz, Anthony Kiendl best wishes, Jon & Alison –> Thomson & Craighead <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.thomson-craighead.net">http://www.thomson-craighead.net</a> / ****ALSO CURRENTLY SHOWING IN GERMANY: 'Decorative Newsfeeds' as part of Algorithmic Revolution, ZKM, Karlsruhe. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.zkm.de:81/algorithmische-revolution/">http://www.zkm.de:81/algorithmische-revolution/</a> Documentation of Decorative Newsfeeds can be found at: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/decnewsf.html">http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/decnewsf.html</a> ****OPENING NEXT WEEK IN LONDON, UK: 'Telephony' as part of Pass the time of Day, Gasworks, London <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.gasworks.org.uk/shows/pau_roo/index.htm">http://www.gasworks.org.uk/shows/pau_roo/index.htm</a> Documentation of, 'Telephony' can be found at: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/telf.html">http://www.thomson-craighead.net/docs/telf.html</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 5. Date: 11.08.04 From: Mechthild Schmidt <mschmidt@nyc.rr.com> Subject: opportunity: part-time faculty NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PART TIME FACULTY Paul McGhee Division SCHOOL OF CONTINUING AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES The McGhee Division is seeking faculty with a Master¹s degree and professional experience plus three years teaching experience in the following areas: 3D Animation, Game Design, Sound Design, Web Design, Special Effects/Compositing. Positions in 3D Animation require an advanced knowledge of MAYA. Positions in Special Effects/Compositing require an advanced knowledge of Shake and Combustion. Positions in Web Design require an advanced knowledge of Macromedia products. Familiarity with the Adobe package is necessary for all positions. Please e-mail curriculum vitae and cover letter indicating area of interest to: Scps.hr@nyu.edu (please indicate Box 5-05F in the ³Subject² line); or mail to NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies, 25 West Fourth Street, Box 5-05, New York, NY 10012-1119, Attention: Human Resources. NYU appreciates all applications but can only respond to qualified applicants. Applications are being considered for the Spring 2005 semester. NYU is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer Mechthild Schmidt Digital Communications and Media SCPS McGhee Division, NYU 726 Broadway, #669 New York, NY 10003 ms1831@nyu.edu + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 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 Rachel Greene at Rachel@Rhizome.org. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 6. Date: 11.09.04 From: Julie Andreyev <lic@telus.net> Subject: INTERACTIVE FUTURES: Technology in the Life World INTERACTIVE FUTURES: Technology in the Life World Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival - <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.vifvf.com/">http://www.vifvf.com/</a> Co-sponsored by Open Space Artist-Run Centre - <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.openspace.ca/">http://www.openspace.ca/</a> Conference hotel - Laurel Point Inn - <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.laurelpoint.com/">http://www.laurelpoint.com/</a> Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Feb. 4-6, 2005. CALL FOR PAPERS, PERFORMANCES, & INSTALLATIONS INTERACTIVE FUTURES is a forum for showing recent tendencies in new media art as well as a conference for exploring issues related to technology. The theme of this year's event is Technology in the Life World. With digital media becoming more mobile, many artists and theorists are exploring ideas of nomadism and telepresence. Nomadic computing, mobile devices used to augment reality, and more publicly distributed technologies, are being considered by artists and theorists for their ethical and social impact. Technology in the Life World will be presented in two streams: Digital Nomadism and Technology and Ethics. Artists working in new media are encouraged to submit proposals for installations, performances, and screenings. In their proposals, artists should relate their work to one of the above themes. All art work will be presented at Open Space artist-run centre. Installations should be compact and self-contained. Please see the list of technologies available toward the end of this document before applying. Scholars and artists working in new media arts, theory, and criticism are encouraged to submit proposals for presentations at the conference. Presentations should be, in part, demonstrative, incorporating digital technologies, interactive or digital video, sound, or network-based elements. In their proposals, presenters should relate their work to one of the above themes. We encourage proposals that push the boundaries of the traditional conference paper. Most presentations will take place at the Laurel Point Inn. INTERACTIVE FUTURES is part of the Independent Film and Video Festival and applicants are encouraged to check the Festival website for more information on the broader program. CONFIRMED SPEAKERS / ARTISTS + Arthur and Marilouise Kroker are internationally known writers and lecturers on the future of technology. Arthur Kroker, Canada Research Chair at the University of Victoria, is the author of numerous book on technology and postmodernism as well as Director of UVic's Pacific Centre for Technology and Culture. Marilouise Kroker is Senior Research Scholar at the University of Victoria as well as co-editor of a trilogy of books on feminism and technology. Together, the Krokers edit the electronic journal, CTheory (www.ctheory.net) and co-curate CTheory Multimedia. + Char Davies has achieved international recognition for her work in virtual reality. Integrating real-time stereoscopic 3-D computer graphics, 3-D localized sound and user interaction based on breath & balance, the immersive environments Osmose (1995) and EphÃ©mÃ¨re (1998) are world-renowned for their artistic sensibility, technical innovation, and powerful effect on participants. Davies has dealt with the themes of nature, psyche, and perception in her work for more than 25 years. Davies was a founding director of Softimage, building it into the world's leading developer of 3-D animation software, used for special effects in many Hollywood films including Jurassic Park and The Matrix. She left Softimage at the end of 1997 to found her own art & technology research company, Immersence Inc. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES INTERACTIVE FUTURES is interested in artistic and theoretical work that relates to role of new media technologies in the life world. + Areas of exploration include: nomadism, mobility, augmented reality, telepresence, bio-technology, ecology, and ethics. + Presentations can be in the form of DVDs, video tapes, games, web-sites, etc.. and should be 45-minutes in length. + Proposed artwork for exhibition may take the form of installations, performances, or screenings. + Applications should not exceed 500 words and should indicate whether a presentation or an art piece is being proposed. Please include a 200 max. word bio. + If your presentation requires specific technologies please describe your needs in detail. Proposals should be submitted electronically to: Digital Nomadism Julie Andreyev <lic@telus.net> Technology and Ethics Steve Gibson <sgibson@finearts.uvic.ca> All proposals *must* be submitted in text only format either as an attachment or within the body of the email message. Please present examples of your work as a URL to a web-site. FUNDING INTERACTIVE FUTURES does not have funding for travel or accommodation. Presenters and artists are expected to apply for travel funding from their home institutions and/or granting bodies. Presenters and artists will be given a pass to all INTERACTIVE FUTURES events and will have access to the "Hospitality Suite" at the Festival hotel (food and drinks). All presenters and artists will be eligible for the conference rate at Festival Hotels (between $40-90 Canadian per night). DEADLINE FOR ALL PROPOSALS: Friday, December 3, 2004. Notification of acceptance of proposals will be sent out by December 17, 2004. EQUIPMENT ACCESS Laurel Point Inn - Presentations The following equipment will be made available for all presenters: - Mac computer with Monitor, keyboard, DVD/CD-ROM drive. - Data/Video Projector. - VHS Player. - Sound system with amp and two speakers. - Wireless high-speed internet access with DHCP. Open Space - Art pieces The following equipment is available for artists at Open Space. Artists should be aware that equipment will have to shared and therefore should not propose to use all of the below devices simultaneously. Art pieces should be easy to set-up and take down. Wherever possible artists should apply their own technology. - 2 Data/Video Projectors. - VHS Player. - DVD Player. - 3-4 Macintosh computers. - Sound system with amp, 16-channel mixing board, mics, and four speakers. Eight speakers may be possible by special arrangement. - Internet connection (shaw.ca). INTERACTIVE FUTURES Co-Curators:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â  Steve Gibson sgibson@finearts.uvic.ca Julie Andreyev lic@telus.net festival@vifvf.com + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 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: 11.10.04 From: Julie Harrison <jharriso@stevens.edu> Subject: Professor of Digital Media Arts (3D graphics and games) The Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media is pleased to announce two open rank positions in the tenure system at Michigan State University. Candidates are sought at the assistant, associate or full professor level, with the ability to contribute to a department that provides teaching, outreach, research, and creative/design activities in a broad range of media and information technology areas. Such areas include economics, policy, management and strategy, international/comparative telecommunications, social and business aspects of new media, and traditional and new media design and production. Within these areas, the contexts for study and design among department faculty include entertainment, social interaction, group collaboration, e-business, healthcare, human computer interaction, online behavior, presence in virtual environments, game design, 3D graphics, animation, and interactivity. Candidates whose interests cross two or more of these and related areas are especially encouraged to apply. Candidates are expected to develop a substantial program of research and/or design work, emphasizing contribution to peer-reviewed outlets. Teaching opportunities will be in both undergraduate and graduate courses, with the typical teaching load set at two courses per semester. Summer teaching appointments are often available. An interest in obtaining external funding for research and creative/design work is expected. Released time is available based on grant productivity. Requirements: A relevant terminal degree is required. Those completing their degree also will be considered. Evidence of scholarship (including portfolio for creative/design applicants) and teaching ability is required. The Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media at Michigan State University is a thriving place of scholarship, teaching, and public service. Its faculty has a national and international reputation and is actively involved in research projects funded by the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and other major organizations. Founded in 1855, Michigan State University is situated in East Lansing, a pleasant university town just on the border of Lansing, the capital of Michigan. Our vast campus is known as one of the most beautiful in the nation and is home to over 40,000 students from 85 nations and about 4000 faculty and staff. MSU is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution. Female and minority applicants are especially encouraged to apply. Handicappers have the right to request and receive reasonable accommodation. Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae, names and addresses of three references, and a cover letter describing research and/or design interests and relevant experiences. Applications will be reviewed as they are received. Search closes when suitable candidates are hired. Positions are to begin in August 2005. Please mail the application to the search committee chair, Dr. Charles Steinfield, 409 CCAS, Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. 48824-1212. On the web: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.msu.edu">http://www.msu.edu</a>, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://tc.msu.edu">http://tc.msu.edu</a>, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://dmat.msu.edu">http://dmat.msu.edu</a>, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://commtechlab.msu.edu">http://commtechlab.msu.edu</a>, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mind.msu.edu">http://mind.msu.edu</a>, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://quello.msu.edu">http://quello.msu.edu</a>, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://ebusiness.tc.msu.edu">http://ebusiness.tc.msu.edu</a>; <a rel="nofollow" href="http://dmat.msu.edu/new/game_specialization.pdf">http://dmat.msu.edu/new/game_specialization.pdf</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 8. Date: 11.11.04 From: ryan griffis <grifray@yahoo.com> Subject: Just added to the Rhizome EFF webmaster position * EFF Seeks Webmaster Who Wants to Make a Difference EFF is seeking a full-time webmaster to start immediately. Environment is fast-paced, work is cutting edge, staff is very cool. This person will be responsible for keeping our "face to the world" up-to-date, fun and exciting. Must work well with very busy staff. The ideal candidate will have expertise in PHP, X/HTML, CSS, MySQL, Perl, JavaScript, Apache, BSD/Linux; Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash experience also necessary. Applicants should also be excited about standards compliance, not proprietary extensions. Someone with work experience in graphic design and an appreciation for clean presentation especially welcome. Familiarity with Internet civil liberties issues required. Salary at nonprofit scale (i.e., low) and includes benefits package. To apply, send a cover letter and your resume with links to some samples of your work to webjob@eff.org We request that you send these materials in a non-proprietary format, such as an ASCII text file. No phone calls please! + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 9. Date: 11.09.04 From: "Rhizome.org" <artbase@rhizome.org> Subject: Just added to the Rhizome ArtBase: E PLURIBUS UNUM by mark cooley Just added to the Rhizome ArtBase … <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/object.rhiz?28855">http://rhizome.org/object.rhiz?28855</a> + E PLURIBUS UNUM + + mark cooley + E PLURIBUS UNUM is an online version of an installation produced for The Presidency @ Exit Art, NY, an exhibition that ran from October 2 to November 21, 2004. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.exitart.org/">http://www.exitart.org/</a> "If the Nuremberg laws were applied, then every post-war American president would have been hanged." - Noam Chomsky. Following the Second World War, a US Army Commission sentenced Japanese General Tomayuki Yamashita to be hung for atrocities committed by troops under his command in the Philippines. Yamashita had not ordered the atrocities, but it was held by the Commission that the senior commander was responsible for not stopping the actions of his troops, and Yamashita was hung. In 1971, Telford Taylor, the chief US prosecutor at the Nuremberg Tribunal, cited the "Yamashita" case as grounds for indicting General Westmoreland, senior commander in Vietnam, for war crimes committed by US soldiers under his command. General Yamashita had argued quite convincingly, in his defense, that he had been cut off from his troops and was unaware of their actions, but as Taylor pointed out, given the capabilities of modern communications technologies, Westmoreland would not have had this problem. One may wonder why Taylor stopped at Westmoreland and had not logically moved up the chain of command, but accompanied with the facts of 60 years of US foreign policy, while using the case of General Yamashita as precedence, we can speculate on how our presidents may have faired if accused of war crimes before an impartial jury (or at least the kind of impartiality that Yamashita faced). But perhaps even more importantly, it should be noted that insofar as our "commander-in-chief," is indeed a representative of the public (and one could certainly argue to the contrary) then perhaps so to should the public, or at least the enfranchised political classes, be viewed as accomplices in the crimes of elected officials. + + + Biography Mark Cooley is a new genre artist interested in exploring visual rhetorics and the intersections of art and activism. Mark's work has been shown internationally in online and offline venues such as Exit Art, Postmasters Gallery, Furtherfield.org and Rhizome.org. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://art-design.smsu.edu/cooley">http://art-design.smsu.edu/cooley</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 10. Date: 11.12.04 From: Rhizome.org <artbase@rhizome.org> Subject: Just added to the Rhizome ArtBase: Site:Nonsite:Quartzsite Website by AUDC Just added to the Rhizome ArtBase … <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/object.rhiz?29160">http://rhizome.org/object.rhiz?29160</a> + Site:Nonsite:Quartzsite Website + + AUDC + Quartzsite, Arizona is a town of 5,000 residents in the summer, located 180 miles from this site. Situated along I-10 some fifteen miles from the California border, every winter Quartzsite swells with an influx of snowbirds, campers from across North America, generally escaping the cold northern climate in search of sunshine, the solitude of the desert, and the company of like-minded individuals. According to the Bureau of Land Management and the Quartzsite Chamber of Commerce, up to 1.5 million inhabitants settle in town every winter, bringing their lodgings with them in the form of recreational vehicles or RVs. At any one time in January and February, hundreds of thousands of residents make this remote desert town into a substantial urban center. + + + Biography Begun as a research unit within the Southern California Institute of Architecture, SCI-ARC [<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.sciarc.edu">http://www.sciarc.edu</a>] by Kazys Varnelis and Robert Sumrell [<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.audc.org">http://www.audc.org</a>] Architecture Urbanism Design Collaborative is a nonprofit collective dedicated to using the tools of the architect, the designer, and the historian to research the individual and the community in the contemporary urban environment. AUDC blurs traditional divisions between media by working simultaneously in print, web, video, photography, drawings, models, dioramas, and installations while addressing the particularities of each medium. Likewise, AUDC breaks down the boundaries between theory and practice by uniting both scholarship and creative work. "We erect our structures in our imaginations before we erect them in reality." –Karl Marx + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 11. Date: 11.10.04 From: eidolon <paul@paultulipana.net> Subject: Dataspace: Agency and Determinacy Dear friends at rhizome, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://art.paultulipana.net/essay/Dataspace.pdf">http://art.paultulipana.net/essay/Dataspace.pdf</a> is a link to new document by Paul Tulipana, "Dataspace: Agency and Determinacy." It is slated to be published in early 2005 by New York Studies in Media Philosophy. For those readers interested in discussing new ways that the ontology of language can be explicated through the digital computer: Dataspace is a glance at the space presented by the digital machine and an investigation into the possibility for constituted agency in a supposedly determinate language. I would welcome your comments/criticism to paul at paultulipana.net, or on this mailing list. Thank you. An graft from this document follows: ————————————————- "The sign is originally wrought by fiction." Jacques Derrida, Speech and Phenomena "Someone asked: "In phenomena what is true?" The Master said: "The very phenomena are themselves truth." "Then how should it be revealed?" he asked. The Master lifted the tea tray." Zen Koan Language is a system of data, a way of communication between agents. Data itself is an extremely robust set, and includes a wide variety of sensory input that it inclusive beyond that of language: the sets of visual, audio, touch-sensory, and olfactory images are themselves only wrapped or communicated by language, never contained by it. Data can be singularly experienced (as much as anything can be singularly experienced), language is always experienced or understood-with - it communicates. Data is the inclusive way of signifying the world, not only as _people_ but as _a person_ (me) - it is the discretely singular and singularly plural relationships of (an) agent(s) to the world. Language is the communication of data - it is the pluralization of the singular, the conjunction of the disjunctive. There can be a sharing of the world before language, but only as a disjunctive sharing of being, a sharing of the sharing. Language is the origin of communicating data. It is the allowance for disjunctive sets of data - disjunctive origins of the world - to be interpreted and cast into usable social relations: laws, truths, science. [1] Data is the name of the interrelationship of the world and us here (all of us, each in turn), language is a technique for us relating to each other as regards all forms of data in the world, concrete and abstract. The problem at hand is to develop the space of that relationship â?? the spaces of data, language, and language-data, and to trace out the particular agency of this relationship … The digital computer (like its mechanical predecessors) is a model for a way in which we can understand the world. It is a concrete example of the felicitous and multifarious nature of language. Even better, it is a window into our mechanical understanding of language and simultaneously a concrete example of the way that language relates to the world. [1] See Nancy (2000): 11. "In the same way, and reciprocally, "we" is always inevitably "us all," where no one of us can be "all" and each one of us is, in turn (where all our turns are simultaneous as well as successive, in every sense), the other origin of the same world." + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 12. Date: 11.12.04 From: Gloria Sutton <suttong@humnet.ucla.edu> Subject: Exhibiting New Media Art (Part 2 of 2) Part II Software: Art as Information Processing Through the exhibition ³Software,² Jack Burnham attempted to redirect the conversation between art and technology away from definitions based on machine output and pictorial devices toward a discussion about information systems and ³two-way communication.² Highly aware of the ground covered by ³The Machine² and ³Cybernetic Serendipity,² Burnham was cautious not to simply repeat or update the terms and definitions of technology based art projects established by these two models. In the catalogue for the show, Burnham maintained: ³¹Software¹ is not specifically a demonstration of engineering know-how, rather in a limited sense, it demonstrates the effects of contemporary control and communication techniques in the hands of artists. Most importantly, it provides the means by which the public can personally respond to programmatic situations structured by artists.² The exhibition was conceived of, and designed as a public experiment and introduced audiences to the idea of interacting with art as a system of information. Initially called ³The Second Age of Machines,² the title of the show was switched to ³Software² to de-emphasize the focus on machines as the origin of communication an interaction and introduce the ³personal and social sensibilities² altered by the recent ³computing revolution.² Based on this rationale, artist Les Levine suggested the title of ³Software² since software itself ³had always meant changeable programs and procedures.² To further explicate the choice in titles and its metaphorical applications, Burnham expounded on the definitions of software by insisting that software itself has equal value, if not more than hardware, and these two terms should not be conceived of as unified terms, although conflating the intrinsic relation between the two was the norm. Software and hardware became synonymous or exchangeable for form and content. Theodore H. Nelson working as the exhibition¹s technical advisor offered more metaphorical examples of how software operated as not to conflate the terms with form and content. Nelson defined software as ³plans and procedures for action, as distinct from the equipment that carries the action out.² And offered the following analogy, ³in a transportation system the hardware consists of cars, highways, traffic lights and policemen, while the software consists of rules, such as drive on the right, stop on a red light, etc.² With regard to applying this conceptual notion of software to a specifically art or aesthetic context, Burnham argued that to do so would lead one to have to reconsider historical notions of art because reading art as software alters the frame in which the work art can be experienced. As a point of clarification, Burnham made the following claim: All works of art function as signs; they signify in some form or other how they are operative within the art context. It is becoming evident that the material presence of frames, or even gallery spaces are no longer necessary for placing signs in the art context. For sophisticated viewers, contexts are implicitly carried over form previous art experiences. Thus many of the exhibits ³Software² deals with conceptual and process relationships, which on the surface seem to be totally devoid of the usual art trappings. This emphasis on process and relationships was keenly in line with other contemporaneous models for thinking about Conceptual art which were all precipitated by the movement away from dealing with objects as finite or discrete entities, toward the recognition of art functioning within larger social and political systems. Moreover, the very notion of a system itself remains as a pure abstraction. In the most basic sense of the term, system is simply an assembly of isolatable properties studied in terms of their transformations, either alone (closed) or in relation to other systems (open). Under this rubric, a type of systems-based art practice could be applied to a variety of contexts including biological, physical, social, and economic systems. More specific to the context of the exhibition in 1970, I want to suggest that the artists included in ³Software² can be thought of as impacting a system rather than simply experimenting with technology. A result is then the artificially induced divide between Conceptual art proper and art and technology-based projects starts to become blurred. What was usually spoken about in two separate conversations could conceivable brought together in the same room. Selected examples to illustrate this aspect of the show would most notably be the contributions made by Hans Haacke, Joseph Kosuth, Vito Acconci, Douglas Huebler, and The Architecture Machine Group. Hans Haacke installed Visitors¹ Profile (1969) and News (1969)?both part of his ³Real Time Systems² series? in the Jewish Museum. He succinctly described his approach to thinking about systems in the following straightforward manner: ³The working premise is to think about the production of system. Such an approach is concerned with the operational structure of organizations in which the transfer of information, energy and/or material occurs.² Haacke¹s computerized version of his Visitors¹ Profile relied on the exhibition¹s central figure: the DEC PDP-8, a large-scale ³mainframe computer² donated to the show by Art and Technology, Inc. of Boston, which was the first computer ever included in an art exhibition. As visitors entered the Jewish Museum they stopped by a ³teletype terminal² connected to the computer, and were asked to type in a code to retain a level of anonymity. The visitor then received a printout asking him or her to respond to a set of factual questions. After visitors keyed in their responses to the questions into the first terminal, they moved over to a second terminal and identifying themselves by their unique code number, proceeded to have a series of more subjective questions posed at them, which they could answer with the terminal. Through this process, a poll of facts and opinions about the visitors who elected to participate was continuously compiled, classified, projected on a screen, stored and printed out in paper form for visitors to take away. This version of Visitors¹ Profile was obviously more technologically sophisticated and contrasted in style and complexity with the survey Haacke conducted a year earlier at the Howard Wise Gallery as well as the one done for the ³Information² exhibition. If Visitors Profile generated a system of information internal to the show, News (1969) was based on the perpetual flow of foreign or external information and news that literally poured into the exhibit space. Ordinary Teletype machines used by newspapers and broadcasters were set up in the museum and received an incessant stream of news from United Press International and other sources. The reports came out of the machine on ribbons of white bond paper, which spilled over the top of the machine onto the floor and gathered in loose piles on the floor. Unlike most of the work in ³The Machine² or ³Cybernetic Serendipity,² Haacke did not alter the function of these particular machines. But by using them in the same manner that they were intended to be used, their use in service to information brokers, e.g. news agencies, and the politics of information is foregrounded, and presented a more complicated read of technology¹s impact on news and communication. Kosuth¹s project for the exhibition, Seventh Investigation (Art as Idea as Idea) Proposition One (1970) also relied on the interpolation of mass media. Kosuth¹s proposition project was conveyed through outdoor billboards, which presented his six-point proposition text in a variety of formats. The fist was a billboard located in Chinatown (lower Manhattan) with the proposition printed in both English and Chinese. There was also an ad in New York¹s The Daily World, and a banner in Turin, Italy in Italian (which was temporarily on display at MoMA¹s ³Information² exhibition). The text for the project was a printed in a plain sans serif font and consisted of a sequence of six points: 1. To assume a mental set voluntarily. 2. To shift voluntarily from one aspect of the situation to another 3. To keep in mind simultaneously various aspects. 4. To grasp the essential of a given whole; to break up a given whole into parts and isolate them voluntarily. 5. To generalize; to abstract common properties; to plan ahead ideationally. 6. To detach our ego from the outer world. Through the text presentation the work was managed to evade being reduced to a mental image and existed as information free from iconography. If Haacke and Kosuth¹s projects interacted with political communication systems, the work included by Acconci, Huebler, and The Architectural Machine Group attempted to make interventions in more pointedly social systems. Within the exhibition space, Acconci devised what he referred to as Room Situation (Proximity), which involved the artist approaching a visitor in the space of the museum and ³standing near the person and intruding on his personal space? until he moves away?² Acconci listed three different ³possible realizations² for the piece including his presence everyday, all day long and when he could not be present, assigning a substitute who would perform the activity. The third option was that whenever he could not completely perform the activity, the published statement would ³continue to present the possibility of the piece². Rather than encroaching on the visitors¹ physical space as a means of disrupting the patterns and habits of interaction that have been normalized in public spaces, Huebler asked the visitors¹ permission to engage in a private interaction by sharing personal information. Huebler¹s contribution came in the form of four of his Variable Pieces (1969) which were reprinted in the catalogue. Variable Piece No. 4 (1969) asked ³anyone who wishes to participate in the transposition of ?information¹ from one location to another to follow the procedure described below.² The three-step procedure asked visitors to write out an ³authentic secret² never before revealed and put the piece of paper into a box marked ³incoming.² The visitor was told that the secret would be photocopied and exchanged with another visitor as a confirmation of the submission. So that in this system of exchange, the visitor was to reveal a secret in order to receive one. Different from these linguistic models of interactive systems, The Architecture Machine Group¹s project SEEK, built an artificial environment to test interaction between mechanisms, built space and gerbils. The group, based out of MIT¹s Department of Architecture, was led by Nicolas Negroponte. SEEK also included a mechanical ³sensing device² controlled by a central computer that sensed the physical effects of a controlled environment and attempted to adjust the variables within the environment to accommodate unexpected changes to its structure and conditions due to the gerbils¹ erratic behavior. SEEK¹s sensing devise was a long robotic arm that attempted to manage and contend with the stacked metal blocks that were scattered over the surface of a large rectangular Plexiglas vitrine, which formed a living habitat for a half dozen live gerbils, their food and wood shavings. The sensing arm tried (in vain) to readjust and reestablish order within the environment and match pace with the gerbils¹ unpredictable actions. Within this context technology was presented, at least metaphorically, as an inadequate responsive system to address chaotic environments. Rather than offering a utopian vision of a future made better through computing, ³Software¹s² premise and its mixed reception by the art world compounded the mythic consistency of technology as a mode of obfuscation, rather than elucidating any clear role for technology in art and vice versa. More significantly though, the project and its related documentation, demonstrate that Conceptual art can be read within a context of ³systems and information.² And in this regard, Conceptual art and technology were never mutually exclusive, at least not during the period between 1968 and 1970. Notes 12 - Burnham believed that ³two-way communication² was inevitable and integral to the development of information systems. See Jack Burnham, ³The Aesthetics of Intelligent Systems,² in On the Future of Art (New York: Viking Press, 1970):119. 13 - Burnham, Software. exh. cat. (New York: The Jewish Museum), 10. 14 - Burnham, ³Notes on Art and Information Processing,² 11. 15 - Ibid. 16 - Ibid. Nelson as quoted by Burnham. 17 - Ibid. 18 - Burnham, Beyond Modern Sculpture, 318. 19 - Haacke, Kosuth, and Huebler are also singled out here because they were simultaneously included in MoMA¹s ³Information² show. The complete list of participants in ³Software² included: John Baldessari, Robert Barry, Donald Burgy, Anges Denes, Carl Fernback-Flarshheim, Giorno Poetry Systems, John Goodyear, Les Levine, Van Schley, Sonia Sheridan, Smith-Kettlewell Institute of Visual Science, Ted Victoria, and Lawrence Weiner. 20 - Hans Haacke, Software, 34. 21 - Burnham points this fact out in his introduction to Software, 11. However, it is unclear how reliable the computer was and if it functioned regularly at all. Reviews mention the fact that it was not operational for the opening of the show. In fact, the whole exhibition was riddled with technical glitches and setbacks that would become synonymous with any exhibition involving electronic devices and computers. Burnham¹s own critique of the project dwelled on the shows numerous conflicts between some of the artists and the Jewish Museum¹s supporters and on many occasions the sponsors threatened to shut down the show in its entirety. One result of this contentious exhibition was that the Jewish Museum¹s Director, Karl Katz was subsequently let go after the conclusion of the exhibition. See Burnham, ³Art and Technology: The Panacea that Failed² in The Myths of Information: Technology and Postindustrial Culture (Wisconsin: Coda Press, 1980), 202. Not only where there technical difficulties, but major creative differences as well. Two of the artists involved in organizing a film projection installation, Bob Fiore and Barbara Jarvis ended up sabotaging the film stock two days prior to the opening to protest their apparent censorship by the museum. See their account of the events in ³Software Battle,² (Artforum, November 1970), 41. 22 - Description of the project based on Haacke¹s statement in the Software catalogue and published reviews including Bitite Vinkler, ³Art and Information:²Software¹ at the Jewish Museum,² Arts Magazine, September 1970, 46-47. 23 - Description based on Kosuth¹s statement in Software, 68. 24 - Copied from photo of the billboard, Software, 69. 25 - Details from Acconci¹s published statement in Software, 44. 26 - Ibid. 27 - Software, 35. 28 - Software, 23. Bibliography Ashton, Dore. ³New York Commentary.² Studio International, November 1970, 200-02. Baker, Kenneth. ³Software, the Jewish Museum.² Artforum, December 1970, 79-81. Burnham, Jack. ³The Aesthetics of Intelligent Systems,² in On the Future of Art. New York: Viking Press, 1970. ???.³Art and Technology: The Panacea that Failed.² The Myths of Information: Technology and Postindustrial Culture, edited by Kathleen Woodward. Madison, Wisconsin: Coda Press, 1980, 200-215. ???. Beyond Modern Sculpture: the Effects of Science and Technology on the Sculpture of this Century. New York: George Braziller, 1968. ???.²Notes on Art and Information Processing.² Software. exh. cat. New York: Jewish Museum, 1970, 10-14. Fiore, Bob and Jarvis Barbara. ³Software Battle.² Artforum, November 1970, 41. Hultén, Karl. The Machine as Seen at the End of the Mechanical Age. exh. cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art and New York Graphic Society, 1968. ICA Bulletin. Institute of Contemporary Art London, no. 177 (1968): 24. McShine, Kynaston. ³Introduction.² Information. exh. cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1970. Rorimer, Anne. New Art in the 60s and 70s: Redefining Reality. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2001. Ratcliff, Carter. ³New York Letter.² Art International, November 1970, 90-96. Reichardt, Jasia. ³Computer Art.² Cybernetic Serendipity. exh. cat. London: Institute of Contemporary Art and W&J Mackay Press, 1968. Vinkler, Bitite. ³Art and Information:¹Software¹ at the Jewish Museum.² Arts Magazine, September 1970, 46-49. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 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 45. 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. 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