<br />RHIZOME DIGEST: May 28, 2004<br /><br />Content:<br /><br />+announcement+<br />1. Dana: Convergence: The Collision Of Physical & Virtual Space In Digital<br />Art<br />2. Rachel Greene: Fwd: FBI Abducts Artist, Seizes Art - Help Urgently Needed<br />3. Kevin McGarry: Fw: -empyre- in June: 2004 Australian Culture Now<br /><br />+opportunity+<br />4. Chris Starkey: 2004 Interactive Media Forum: Creative Space|Digital Space<br />5. erika fraenkel: Fraenkelstein Art Projects â Second art salon Laisle.com<br />6. Rachel Greene: Fwd: MUTEK Artists To Join ISEA2004<br /><br />+interview+<br />7. Jemima Rellie: Tate in Space [with Susan Collins - part 2]<br /><br />+thread+<br />8. Patrick Simons (patricksimons@gloriousninth.com), Michael Szpakowski<br />(szpako@yahoo.com), atomic elroy (atomic@pcisys.net), Kate Southworth<br />(katesouthworth@gloriousninth.com), Rob Myers (robmyers@mac.com), Christina<br />McPhee (christina112@earthlink.net):new work: gloriousninth flaming<br />9. ryan griffis (grifray@yahoo.com), t.whid (twhid@twhid.com), [ l o u s u S<br />i ] (loususi@bijaxous.com), Ann Tomoko Yamamoto (yamamoto_ann@yahoo.co.jp),<br />Rachel Greene (rachel@rhizome.org): rhizome needs to drop its membership fee<br />and free its content [cont.]<br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />1.<br /><br />Date: 5.23.04 <br />From: Dana (dkarwas@studioimc.com)<br />Subject: CONVERGENCE: THE COLLISION OF PHYSICAL & VIRTUAL SPACE IN DIGITAL<br />ART<br /><br />Chelsea Art Museum is pleased to announce the opening of<br /><br />CONVERGENCE: THE COLLISION OF PHYSICAL & VIRTUAL SPACE IN DIGITAL ART<br /><br />AN EXHIBITION CURATED BY JAMES TUNICK, STUDIO IMC PRESENTING ARTISTS FROM<br />STUDIO IMC, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY'S INTERACTIVE TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM<br />(ITP), AND YALE UNIVERSITY<br />JUNE 3 - JUNE 19, 2004 IN THE PROJECT ROOM at CHELSEA ART MUSEUM<br /><br />EXHIBITION INCLUDES TWO EVENTS:<br /><br />THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 6:00 - 9:00 PM- OPENING PUBLIC RECEPTION, FEATURING<br />ELECTRONIC MUSIC PERFORMANCES & REFRESHMENTS.<br /><br />SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 1-2PM "INTRODUCTIONS" WORKSHOP PRESENTING EXHIBITING<br />ARTISTS FROM STUDIO IMC, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY'S ITP, AND YALE UNIVERSITY WHO<br />WILL DISCUSS THEIR WORK AND MEET MUSEUM VISITORS.<br /><br />"This group of artists uses the power of media and computing technology to<br />enhance the human need for communication and expression."<br /> -Red Burns, Chair of the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) in<br />the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.<br /><br />New York, NY - Convergence: The Collision of Physical and Virtual Space in<br />Digital Art, is a pioneering collaborative exhibition of cutting-edge<br />artists curated by Studio IMC, a new media design and artist management<br />studio. The show opens Thursday, June 3 with a reception from 6-9pm and<br />runs through June 19. Museum visitors can "meet the artists" in an informal<br />discussion of their work on Saturday, June 5, 1-2pm.<br /><br />Convergence is an exhibition where new media art and communications<br />technology challenge traditional concepts of portraiture, art, and gallery<br />space. Convergence tells of a new role for technology in contemporary art,<br />one where the boundaries are blurred between old and new media and between<br />digital and physical realms.<br /><br />In the traditional museum and gallery setting the visitor is an observer who<br />is physically separated from the artworks. Convergence invites Museum<br />visitors to touch and manipulate the works which brings them to life. In<br />this way, the artworks foretell a future in which more democratic and<br />powerful modes of communication will allow a greater multiplicity of people<br />to express themselves and share ideas freely.<br /><br />The exhibition features the innovations of nine visionary artists,<br />designers, engineers, programmers, and musicians from the U.S. and Europe,<br />reflecting a rich diversity of cultural perspectives, and representing a new<br />breed of international artist who is skilled in wide variety of disciplines.<br />Many of these artists are also teachers and researchers at NYU Tisch<br />Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), Yale University, and Eyebeam.<br />Among those exhibiting are Jean-Marc Gauthier, a professor in the NYU ITP,<br />and Daniel Shiffman artist, mathematician, programmer, and ITP researcher.<br />Mr. Shiffman will be showing his well-known interactive work, Swarm,<br />recently featured in the New York Times. Other new media designers include<br />Liubo Borisov, James Clar, Konrad Kaczmarek, Dana Karwas, Miro Kirov, James<br />Tunick, and Gabriel Winer.<br /><br />Convergence is being produced in conjunction with the current exhibition at<br />the Chelsea Art Museum, Surface Tension, curated by Manon Slome, which<br />addresses the influence of technology on contemporary painting. Slome, Chief<br />Curator of the museum, states that "the power of much of contemporary<br />painting is that it has absorbed the technological into its vocabulary and<br />extended the range of painting, creating a transparent space where images<br />accumulate, distort, overlap and intersect." As an extension, the works in<br />Convergence further reflect the symbiosis between traditional artistic<br />mediums and the emerging vocabulary of new media art.<br /><br />The exhibition is part of the Project Room program series and<br />"Introductions" workshops in the arts and technology produced by Nina Colosi<br />with Electronic Music Foundation. These programs are made possible by a<br />grant from the Roland Corporation and public funds from the New York State<br />Council on the Arts.<br /><br />WHERE: <br /><br />Chelsea Art Museum is at 556 West 22nd Street, at the corner of 11th Avenue.<br />Take the E or 1,9 or 6 to 23rd Street. Cross town bus to 11th Ave. Walk<br />south one block. <br /><br />Chelsea Art Museum is open Tues.-Sat., Noon - 6 PM. Thurs until 8pm<br /><br />TICKETS: <br /><br />Museum admission: $5 for adults/ $2 students and seniors; Thursdays,<br />6-8pm FREE. <br /> <br />Reception Thursday June 3, 6-9pm FREE.<br /> <br />"Introductions: Workshops in arts and Technology", Saturday, June 3, FREE<br />with museum admission.<br />CONTACT: For information on Chelsea Art Museum:<br />www.chelseaartmuseum.org.<br /> 212-255-0719<br /><br />For further information or to arrange a private press tour please contact<br />James Tunick at JTunick@StudioIMC.com or 203-645-0695<br /><br />www.Studio IMC.com<br /><br />Artworks:<br />Infinite City: 2004, James Tunick, Jean-Marc Gauthier, and Miro Kirov.<br />Infinite City is an immersive audio visual environment where audience<br />members establish control of their surroundings through ultrasonic sensors,<br />live video feeds, and lasers,making the immersive environment a malleable,<br />dynamic space that can be altered in real-time. The futuristic environment<br />is influenced by the pop-cultural iconography of the gesture interface<br />imagined in the Stephen Spielberg film, Minority Report, engaging the<br />audience with all-surrounding hyper-realistic 3D graphics and spatialized<br />multi-channel sound which they can control by simply waving their hands in<br />the air. Intelligent Sensor Nets interface as the bridge between the<br />physical and digital worlds, allowing audience members to control the<br />artworks and gallery space with their bodies.<br /><br />See-Through Wall: 2004, Gabe Winer and Dana Karwas,<br />See-Through Wall is an interactive video art work that redefines of space by<br />blending the real architecture of the gallery space with virtual<br />architecture, giving viewers "x-ray" vision to see through the walls of the<br />gallery and out into a virtual urban landscape.<br /><br />3D Cube: 2003, James Clar<br />The 3D Display Cube is a low resolution three-dimensional television. Just<br />as users can address pixels on a monitor screen to create images, they can<br />also address any pixel within the display region of the 3D Cube to create<br />spatial imagery.Unique in its design, the current embodiment of the Cube was<br />hand made and consists of a free-standing array of 1000 LEDs in a cube<br />display with a lower base that houses the microcontroller.<br /><br />Swarm: 2003, Daniel Shiffman<br />Swarm is an interactive video installation that implements the pattern of<br />flocking birds (using Craig Reynold's "Boids" model) as a constantly moving<br />brush stroke. Taking inspiration from Jackson Pollack's "drip and splash"<br />technique of pouring a continuous stream of paint onto a canvas, Swarm<br />smears colors captured from live video input, producing an organic<br />painterly effect in real-time.<br /><br />Multi-Channel Sound Installation: 2004, Konrad Kaczmarek<br />This sound installation subtly transforms fragments of the participant's<br />conversations and mixes them in real time into a pre-composed ambient<br />backdrop. The participants' voices are captured as they approach and<br />interact with each other in the space defined by the eight surrounding<br />speakers. These recordings are then spliced, transformed in various ways,<br />and then diffused throughout the space to create a coherent counterpoint to<br />the existing texture. The piece plays on the concept of sonic intimacy and<br />space by reversing the roles of commonly intimate or location-specific<br />sounds and sounds that are often more distant or ambiophonic.<br /><br />Studio IMC<br />Founded in 2000 by its current President, James A. Tunick, Studio IMC is a<br />new media design studio and artist management agency that specializes in the<br />development of interactive visual displays for the arts, entertainment,<br />education, fashion, and retail. Tunick and other Studio IMC executives and<br />designers have worked on projects with Vogue Magazine, The Museum of Modern<br />Art PS1, MTV, Playboy, Hennessy, Diesel, Guess, Prada, Armani Exchange,<br />French Connection UK, Banana Republic, Kenneth Cole, Bebe, and other<br />institutions, companies, and individuals.<br />Visit StudioIMC.com for more information about the Chelsea Art Museum show<br />and about the design studio.<br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />2.<br /><br />Date: 5.26.04 <br />From: Rachel Greene (rachel@rhizome.org)<br />Subject: Fwd: FBI ABDUCTS ARTIST, SEIZES ART - HELP URGENTLY NEEDED<br /><br />Begin forwarded message:<br /><br />From: CAE Legal Defense Fund <CAEdefense@rtmark.com><br />Date: May 26, 2004 3:58:47 AM EDT<br />To: "rachel-rhizome.org" <rachel@rhizome.org><br />Subject: FBI ADBDUCTS ARTIST, SEIZES ART - HELP URGENTLY NEEDED<br /> <br />May 25, 2004 <br />FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br /><br />FBI ABDUCTS ARTIST, SEIZES ART<br />Feds Unable to Distinguish Art from Bioterrorism<br />Grieving Artist Denied Access to Deceased Wife's Body<br /><br /> DEFENSE FUND ESTABLISHED - HELP URGENTLY NEEDED<br /><br />Steve Kurtz was already suffering from one tragedy when he called 911<br />early in the morning to tell them his wife had suffered a cardiac arrest<br />and died in her sleep. The police arrived and, cranked up on the rhetoric<br />of the "War on Terror," decided Kurtz's art supplies were actually<br />bioterrorism weapons.<br /><br />Thus began an Orwellian stream of events in which FBI agents abducted<br />Kurtz without charges, sealed off his entire block, and confiscated his<br />computers, manuscripts, art supplies… and even his wife's body.<br /><br />Like the case of Brandon Mayfield, the Muslim lawyer from Portland<br />imprisoned for two weeks on the flimsiest of false evidence, Kurtz's case<br />amply demonstrates the dangers posed by the USA PATRIOT Act coupled with<br />government-nurtured terrorism hysteria.<br /><br />Kurtz's case is ongoing, and, on top of everything else, Kurtz is facing a<br />mountain of legal fees. Donations to his legal defense can be made at<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/">http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/</a><br /><br />FEAR RUN AMOK <br /><br />Steve Kurtz is Associate Professor in the Department of Art at the State<br />University of New York's University at Buffalo, and a member of the<br />internationally-acclaimed Critical Art Ensemble.<br /><br />Kurtz's wife, Hope Kurtz, died in her sleep of cardiac arrest in the early<br />morning hours of May 11. Police arrived, became suspicious of Kurtz's art<br />supplies and called the FBI.<br /><br />Within hours, FBI agents had "detained" Kurtz as a suspected bioterrorist<br />and cordoned off the entire block around his house. (Kurtz walked away the<br />next day on the advice of a lawyer, his "detention" having proved to be<br />illegal.) Over the next few days, dozens of agents in hazmat suits, from a<br />number of law enforcement agencies, sifted through Kurtz's work, analyzing<br />it on-site and impounding computers, manuscripts, books, equipment, and<br />even his wife's body for further analysis. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Health<br />Department condemned his house as a health risk.<br /><br />Kurtz, a member of the Critical Art Ensemble, makes art which addresses<br />the politics of biotechnology. "Free Range Grains," CAE's latest project,<br />included a mobile DNA extraction laboratory for testing food products for<br />possible transgenic contamination. It was this equipment which triggered<br />the Kafkaesque chain of events.<br /><br />FBI field and laboratory tests have shown that Kurtz's equipment was not<br />used for any illegal purpose. In fact, it is not even _possible_ to use<br />this equipment for the production or weaponization of dangerous germs.<br />Furthermore, any person in the US may legally obtain and possess such<br />equipment. <br /><br />"Today, there is no legal way to stop huge corporations from putting<br />genetically altered material in our food," said Defense Fund spokeswoman<br />Carla Mendes. "Yet owning the equipment required to test for the presence<br />of 'Frankenfood' will get you accused of 'terrorism.' You can be illegally<br />detained by shadowy government agents, lose access to your home, work, and<br />belongings, and find that your recently deceased spouse's body has been<br />taken away for 'analysis.'"<br /><br />Though Kurtz has finally been able to return to his home and recover his<br />wife's body, the FBI has still not returned any of his equipment,<br />computers or manuscripts, nor given any indication of when they will. The<br />case remains open. <br /><br />HELP URGENTLY NEEDED<br /><br />A small fortune has already been spent on lawyers for Kurtz and other<br />Critical Art Ensemble members. A defense fund has been established at<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/">http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/</a> to help defray the legal costs which<br />will continue to mount so long as the investigation continues. Donations<br />go directly to the legal defense of Kurtz and other Critical Art Ensemble<br />members. Should the funds raised exceed the cost of the legal defense, any<br />remaining money will be used to help other artists in need.<br /><br />To make a donation, please visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/">http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/</a><br /><br />For more information on the Critical Art Ensemble, please visit<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.critical-art.net/">http://www.critical-art.net/</a><br /><br />Articles about the case:<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/news-WKBW-2.html">http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/news-WKBW-2.html</a><br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/news-WKBW.html">http://www.rtmark.com/CAEdefense/news-WKBW.html</a><br /><br />On advice of counsel, Steve Kurtz is unable to answer questions regarding<br />his case. Please direct questions or comments to Carla Mendes<br /><CAEdefense@rtmark.com>.<br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />Rhizome is now offering organizational subscriptions, memberships<br />purchased at the institutional level. These subscriptions allow<br />participants of an institution to access Rhizome's services without<br />having to purchase individual memberships. (Rhizome is also offering<br />subsidized memberships to qualifying institutions in poor or excluded<br />communities.) Please visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/org.php">http://rhizome.org/info/org.php</a> for more<br />information or contact Rachel Greene at Rachel@Rhizome.org.<br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />3.<br /><br />Date: 5.26.04 <br />From: Kevin McGarry (kevin@rhizome.org)<br />Subject: FW: -empyre- in June: 2004 Australian Culture Now<br />—— Forwarded Message<br />From: "Melinda Rackham" <melindar@acmi.net.au><br />Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 11:35:52 +1000<br />To: <kevin@rhizome.org><br />Subject: -empyre- in June: 2004 Australian Culture Now<br /><br />2004 - Australian Culture Now<br />issues in contemporary practice<br /><br />-empyre- [<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.subtle.net/empyre">http://www.subtle.net/empyre</a>] often collaborates with institutions<br />and festivals to produce dynamic online forums for physically located events<br />Throughout the month of June, to coincide with the opening of the 2004<br />exhibition at the Australian Center for the Moving Image and the National<br />Gallery of Victoria, we invite you to join online discussions with 25<br />invited guests - artists, collectives, curators, theorists, and information<br />professionals. Over four distinctly themed weeks dialogue will focus on the<br />form, content and context of the diverse artforms which we are producing<br />today, inclusive of networked art, painting, performance, television and<br />print media, data capture, software art, tactical media, game modification,<br />net.radio, machinima, mobile GPRS work, and video.<br /><br />June 3 - 9 "click for activism"<br />Tactical media and political art engages with issues of social change, as<br />artists as activists utilise their online, gallery, print and performance<br />and video<br />practices to highlight current issues. Facilitated by curator Melinda<br />Rackham, with artists Scott Redford and Sue Dodd, producer Sam de Silva, and<br />artist teams Escape from Woomera, and boat-people.org.<br /><br />June 10 -16 "in situ"<br />As place dissolves in an increasingly connected world what becomes of<br />situated practice? Artists and curators from multiple disciplines on and<br />offline discuss site aesthetics the transportability and specificities of<br />installation. Facilitated by curator Alexie Glass, with artists Nat and<br />Ali, Adam Nash, Chris Caines, Zina Kaye and qnoors.<br /><br />June 17 - 23 "game to game"<br />How do multi-user games, game mods and machinima fit into a gallery<br />context? Join this discussion of the art and theory of games and game<br />technologies. Facilitated by curator Helen Stuckey, with artists Anita<br />Johnson, Escape from Woomera, Troy Innocent, Rebecca Cannon, and theorist Dr<br />Melanie Swalwell.<br /><br />June 24 - 30 "media, mutation, migration and decay"<br />Should we preserve paintings, performance work, screen media and online<br />work, or let them fade away? Questions of stability, ephemerality, and<br />archiving are addressed by those working in the field. Facilitated by<br />curator Clare Stewart, with artists Damien Frost, Tom Nicholson and David<br />Wadelton, software artist Tim Plaisted and information professionals<br />Margaret Phillips and Paul Koerbin from the PANDORA archive.<br />To read or join in the discussion, go to -empyre- at<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.subtle.net/empyre">http://www.subtle.net/empyre</a><br /><br />____________________________________<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.acmi.net.au/2004">http://www.acmi.net.au/2004</a> 2004<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au">http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au</a> National Gallery of Victoria<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.acmi.net.au">http://www.acmi.net.au</a> Australian Centre for the Moving Image<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.spinach7.com">http://www.spinach7.com</a> Sam de Silva<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.escapefromwommera.org">http://www.escapefromwommera.org</a> Escape from Woomera<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.boat-people.org">http://www.boat-people.org</a> boat-people.org<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://yamanakanash.net">http://yamanakanash.net</a> Adam Nash<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.madeupstuff.com">http://www.madeupstuff.com</a> Chris Caines<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://thelineahead.net">http://thelineahead.net</a> Zina Kaye<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://fluidtransmissions.va.com.au">http://fluidtransmissions.va.com.au</a> qnoors<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.acmi.net.au/lifeSigns">http://www.acmi.net.au/lifeSigns</a> Troy Innocent<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.objectnotfound.net">http://www.objectnotfound.net</a> Damien Frost<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://pandora.nla.gov.au">http://pandora.nla.gov.au</a> PANDORA<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.boxc.net/">http://www.boxc.net/</a> Tim Plaisted<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.sikofshadows.com">http://www.sikofshadows.com</a> Anita Johnson<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.selectparks.net">http://www.selectparks.net</a> Rebecca Cannon<br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />SPECIAL FOR MAY 15 - JUNE 15: All those who sign on to Copper or higher<br />hosting plans during these dates will receive three months of full service<br />for only $1.00! That's (Copper) starting you out with 400MB disk storage<br />space, 2GB of data transfer, 5 POP accounts, and 5 email forwarding<br />accounts.<br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />4.<br /><br />Date: 5.24.04<br />From: Chris Starkey (starkecr@muohio.edu)<br />Subject: 2004 Interactive Media Forum: Creative Space| Digital Space<br /><br />a conference, a concert & contemporary art<br /><br />2004 Interactive Media Forum: Creative Space|Digital Space<br />October 11-12, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio<br />and<br />an evening with Laurie Anderson<br />October 11, Hall Auditorium, Oxford, Ohio<br /><br />Our fifth annual conference focuses on the intersection of digital<br />technology and the artsâ??an exploration of cutting edge, digital media<br />technology in creative spaces. How and why is interactive technology being<br />applied in artistic endeavors? How are digital technologies changing the<br />arts experience and creative culture? Our featured presenters will explore<br />and exhibit all aspects of the digital arts, including visual, aural,<br />tactile, and multimedia presentations. The conference includes a concert by<br />multimedia performance artist Laurie Anderson.<br /><br />For more information and to register:<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://student.sba.muohio.edu/ims/conference/index.html">http://student.sba.muohio.edu/ims/conference/index.html</a><br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />5.<br /><br />Date: 5/24/04<br />From: erika fraenkel (eddiefraenkel@yahoo.com.br)<br />Subject: Fraenkelstein Art Projects â Second art salon Laisle.com<br /><br />Fraenkelstein Art Projects' Second art salon Laisle.com.<br />Organized and curated by Erika Fraenkel and Carlo Sansolo.<br /><br />This art salon is dedicated to a few themes and some specific forms.<br />The themes are:<br />A- Hibrid forms <br />B- Strange utopies.<br />C- unrealizable and unlikely projects.<br />D- Propositions. <br /><br />We accept works as text, image, diagrams, instalations, audio and video. The<br />exhibitions will happen from the 31st of October of 2004.<br /><br />We have some places which are interested in exhibiting the projects, but we<br />hope that more collaborators will turn up and these collaborations will be<br />in various points of the planet. These short exhibitions could happen in<br />cultural centers, galleries, museums, clubs, garages, bakeries, playgrounds,<br />flats, studios and others, places run by people who want to take part in the<br />project.<br /><br />To any specific theme we intend to prepare a web site, our intention is to<br />have a cluster of web sites, these web sites will be interconnected to host<br />the artistic propositions that people may send us.<br />We are not only looking for artisitic projects, but also places and artists<br />who wish to exhibit artistic projects that they might feel as relevant and<br />interesting. <br /><br />The salon do not have a definitive deadline, but we would appreciate that<br />the projects being sent as briefly as possible.<br />We also do not have idea as how the salon will develop or end as it has an<br />open format, thus we have a clue as how it starts but nor really how it will<br />end.<br /><br />More info at: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.laisle.com/eventsenglfraenkelstein.html">http://www.laisle.com/eventsenglfraenkelstein.html</a><br /><br />To participate, email:<br />csansolo@hotmail.com , eddiefraenkel@yahoo.com.br e gritoemoff@yahoo.com.br<br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />6.<br /><br />Date: 5.27.04 <br />From: Rachel Greene (rachel@rhizome.org)<br />Subject: Fwd: MUTEK ARTISTS TO JOIN ISEA2004<br /> <br /><br />Begin forwarded message:<br /><br />From: mika.minetti@lume.fi<br />Date: May 27, 2004 9:02:26 AM EDT<br />To: rachel@rhizome.org<br />Subject: MUTEK ARTISTS TO JOIN ISEA2004<br /> <br />ISEA2004, August 14th-22nd<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.isea2004.net">http://www.isea2004.net</a><br /><br />MUTEK JOINS ISEA2004 THIS AUGUST<br /><br />The biggest ever new media culture event ISEA2004 will bring a team of MUTEK<br />(Canada) artists to Helsinki, Tallinn and aboard the amazing cruiser ferry<br />connecting these two harbour cities this August. MUTEK (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.mutek.ca">http://www.mutek.ca</a>)<br />celebrates its fifth edition in the beginning of June; the Montreal-based<br />organisation and festival dedicated to digital culture and audio/visual<br />creation was launched in 2000 as a yearly festival.<br /><br />The MUTEK/ISEA2004 collaboration begins at the Koneisto festival for<br />electronic music and arts (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.koneisto.com">http://www.koneisto.com</a>), also organised for the<br />fifth time in Helsinki, Finland. On August 14th, live performances by MUTEK<br />artists Crackhaus and Akufen will definitely crack the house!<br /><br />The collaboration continues during the ISEA2004 cruise (August 15th-17th)<br />from Helsinki to Stockholm, and on to Tallinn. On the Silja Opera ferry<br />AKUFEN, DEADBEAT, DR P(R)AXIL, DJ NEUROM and DJ MUTEK take over the club<br />venues for astonishing gigs. For instance Akufen, found worldwide on DJ top<br />ten charts with releases by TRAPEZ, BACKGROUND, TRAUM and FORCE INC. etc.,<br />has been described as the missing link between reinventions of new techno<br />and house. On the ferry, Akufen will play 'Music for Pregnancy'- a work<br />inspired by several of his female friends becoming pregnant roughly the<br />same time! Selections of this music were played some time ago at Tate<br />Modern, London. <br /><br />On August 17th the ISEA2004 cruise participants arrive in Tallinn, where<br />MUTEK presents Skoltz_Kolgen duo with their highly successful audiovisual<br />Flüux :/Terminal performance (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.skoltzkolgen.com">http://www.skoltzkolgen.com</a>).<br /><br />ISEA2004 continues in Helsinki from August 19th to 22nd with exhibitions,<br />major conferences, live performances and concerts.<br /><br />For more information, contact Mika Minetti, mika@isea2004.net, tel. +358 40<br />719 2280. <br /><br />For tickets and pricing information go to <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.isea2004.net/tickets">http://www.isea2004.net/tickets</a><br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />7.<br /><br />Date: 5.28.04 <br />From: Jemima Rellie<br />Subject: Tate in Space<br /><br />[note: this is part two of a two part interview - part one was published in<br />last week's digest]<br /><br />Tate in Space © Susan Collins 2002<br /><br />JR How many people were on that list at the end? Well roughly?<br />SC The list is still growing. I¹ve added two more people this morning ?there<br />are well over a hundred?I haven¹t checked the numbers for ages. They are<br />from all over the world from Venezuela to Cuba to Russia..<br />JR And constitute an extraordinary cross-section of people and interests<br />from scientists, space scientists, to academics to artists and architects<br />SC The full range.<br />JR Did they share a common language? I¹m very interested in what happens<br />when you bring that kind of group of people into a list. Did it work the way<br />you anticipated it would?<br />SC I think some people were part of the list because they were very excited<br />about the fiction and the satirical nature of the work, whereas others were<br />seriously advocating Space Art as the new frontier, and then there was quite<br />a serious element which was that space so far has been explored by<br />governments and it¹s so far been quite militaristic in it¹s uses - like Star<br />Wars etc - and that there was a serious imperative for culture to be in<br />there and colonise that space as well. So you know, it was really quite<br />serious and what I did for the discussion list was that I had a list of<br />questions that I thought was quite useful to put out as a series of<br />provocative statements that were to do with the nature of cultural ambition<br />and to question it. Like whether it could be seen as Space Art or space<br />pollution? I think there are probably many camps, you know some people are<br />very excited about putting this kind of stuff out there and other people who<br />question whether we should be messing up beyond our own planet.<br />JR And do you think this could be used as a metaphor for Tate as an<br />organisation as well? In terms of whether we should acknowledge and check<br />our cultural, colonial ambitions?<br />SC No, but I think it¹s interesting in terms of audience. Everybody seemed<br />to assume that we were really talking to ourselves - that we were talking<br />back to earth. And without sounding too hippy trippy, how can we assume<br />that? I mean that¹s quite an arrogant assumption. It immediately begged the<br />question: what happens to a piece of work when it¹s put out there? Why would<br />you be looking inwards to a gallery when you can be looking outwards to the<br />stars. Perhaps the whole idea of what cultural intervention might be would<br />be questioned by that. What was interesting is that one of the sets of<br />architects - involved in writing an article recently - sent me some of their<br />text. In it they asked would the need for art be negated by the views out of<br />the window? I emailed them to say well actually I have a problem with that<br />sentence because you are assuming that the need for art is decorative, or<br />purely to do with visual rather than to do with a fundamental human<br />imperative to create, so I think that depends very much on what one<br />considers the role of art to be, and if the role of art is to mirror or<br />question one¹s context and ones environment or?<br />JR But you¹re right, and the three architectural approaches do suggest that<br />the architects involved have very different visions for what exactly it<br />would mean and the role the gallery would play and the experience the<br />audience would have in a Tate in Space.<br />SC Well, I was very clear that in creating Tate in Space it was really only<br />going to work as another Tate. I was actually following the idea of what<br />happened before Tate Modern was built, so the whole construct was around the<br />development programme for the new Tate - Tate in Space<br />JR With pre-opening programmes to build up consensus and enthusiasm?<br />SC Absolutely, and you also invite proposals from architects to get a sense<br />of what the space would or could be like. The website needed to make sense<br />in terms of its architecture and with a very modest budget – what could I<br />ask for? What is fair given that it was highly unlikely that a genuine<br />commission would come out of it, (which is usually why architects pitch<br />their work for no or low fees). So I kept it very simple and asked them for<br />a visualisation and a very basic concept? I asked them all to produce a<br />model, that could be downloaded as a PDF file that people could then make at<br />home. I really like the idea of using Tate in Space as an opportunity to<br />actually distribute these architectural models that could be made at home so<br />that people could have their own little Tate in Space model. Sort of putting<br />something back out into the real world?<br />JR Again a kind of blur between the fiction and the real…very interesting?<br />SC Something tangible, something intangible?<br />JR Yes.<br />SC Initially I invited three architects [ETALAB, Softroom and Sarah<br />Wigglesworth Architects] for the launch of the website and then later on I<br />launched the student competition, which was fantastic because we had people<br />contributing from all over the world and that was really exciting and we¹ve<br />included quite a few on the site even the ones that didn¹t win.<br />JR And most were of an extraordinarily high standard as well actually.<br />SC Yes? I think it was very exciting, that people responded and jumped in?<br />To some extent the architecture really captured the imagination.<br />JR It¹s very visual. That¹s where the design and the visual aesthetics of<br />the piece come in, isn¹t it?<br />SC Very much so and in some respects this was very difficult as when people<br />ask for an image to represent the project some architects seemed to get more<br />exposure than others. Just a picture of the website is not very sexy so the<br />architecture tends to be the flagship for the website. What has been really<br />exciting is that the architects¹ designs have generated so much publicity<br />and interest around the whole Tate in Space project. The architecture to<br />some extent has driven it into a utopian vision?or almost a desire to build<br />a Tate in Space. The project isn¹t necessarily advocating that that is what<br />we should be doing, but is asking why we might wish to do it and actually<br />questioning that ambition. I¹m not saying that we shouldn¹t be doing it<br />either, I¹m just mirroring back.<br />JR Well, and to be fictional and idealistic, it could happen one day, with<br />all this talk in the press at the moment about space travel?<br />SC It¹s possible!<br />JR Yes. But it¹s interesting that you say that perhaps that isn¹t the right<br />thing for us to be doing at this point and you¹re enticing Tate to question,<br />and I guess the audience as well, why is it that we want to push all these<br />boundaries to extend?<br />SC Yes it¹s that human urge and competitive instinct - that bigger better,<br />further, broader kind of thing - it¹s opening up a window on what it is that<br />we can¹t almost help about ourselves. And it is meant to be a satirical<br />site. I don¹t see the site as a spoof, I see it as a satire. A satire is<br />more critical than a spoof, and as I said there¹s a lot of fact in it as<br />well.<br />JR Well all your [satellite] sightings: they were properly mapped weren¹t<br />they?<br />SC And what was quite interesting about that is that it became about using<br />our low expectations of certain kinds of web technologies. So my web cam<br />(the image was made up in fact of a bouncy ball on my table at home) was<br />constructed through flash animation in such a way as to reflect our<br />expectation that webcam images are jerky and unreliable (I even had to slow<br />the whole thing down to make it more authentic and deliberately put in fuzz<br />every so often so that people would really feel that it¹s having difficulty<br />connecting). For people to believe it, it had to be authentically low res?..<br />JR I love the idea of people going outside and looking up to see the<br />satellite passing when actually you could never see anything. You can¹t see<br />satellites and yet for some reason they thought that because it¹s the Tate<br />one maybe they would.<br />SC Well I deliberately put the sightings data [online tables showing the<br />times of day where the satellite could be seen in various cities] on the<br />site because I really wanted people to have this idea that at certain times<br />of the day from which ever city they were in they could look up and see it.<br />I commissioned a space scientist [Caitriona Jackman] to actually come up<br />with very accurate figures so that if any space scientists were actually<br />looking at that sightings data they would surmise that this notional Tate<br />Satellite was really out there?in the orbit that we said it was, and that it<br />had been launched when we said it was, those figures are absolutely<br />accurate?<br />JR Sufficiently convincing that the British space agency did actually phone<br />up Tate Modern and enquire, whether we had permission to launch this<br />satellite!<br />SC And I also had emails that the European space agency had actually<br />believed it as well. Though there were some amusing emails from people who<br />had really tested it out… they¹d unplugged themselves from the internet<br />and everything, and thought it funny that it still kind of worked. But<br />there were also people like my brother-in-law who really should have known<br />that it wasn¹t real who spent the first day after the launch looking up to<br />the sky at regular intervals.<br />JR Wanting to believe it. Willing it to be there.<br />SC Well he was deluded and was very disappointed when he realised that it<br />wasn¹t actually there. And there were all sorts of other things?like a<br />writer for a big Canadian newspaper who had their editor holding the front<br />page for this major scoop? who I had to tell because really you can¹t let<br />somebody lose their job and reputation over something like that. The whole<br />press interest has been very interesting. Nobody so far has really critiqued<br />it as an artwork, but people have got so excited about it as a possibility,<br />as a construct?<br />JR Weird?<br />SC That it¹s not actually really been reviewed as an artwork?<br />JR Very interesting point?<br />SC The architectural projects have been reviewed in architectural magazines,<br />there have been a lot of excited articles about the possibilities. It¹s been<br />in design and style magazines around the world?<br />JR Again I think that¹s a good point: people - art critics, the public, and<br />other artists, net artists etc. ­ don¹t quite know how to handle it, how to<br />talk about it, what language to use…<br />SC It doesn¹t fit?<br />JR It doesn¹t fit the kind of formalist, you know, technically advanced net<br />art that is technically challenging for artistic purposes. Instead, it¹s<br />fundamentally conceptual, fictionally conceptual?<br />SC It's very interesting, while I was working on it I suddenly realised that<br />I¹d always thought that, actually I think we¹d all believed that interactive<br />fiction would be this tedious thing of branching structures such as 'yes' or<br />'no' and 'this is the ending I want'. Then I suddenly realised that it was<br />in fact a perfect example of how interactive or immersive fiction could be,<br />with people actually fleshing this whole fiction out for themselves. People<br />were coming at it from all different angles bringing their own desires to<br />the project?<br />JR This is interesting in terms of the web experience and ?what is a<br />satisfying web experience?¹ which is of interest now. What you are<br />suggesting is that it isn¹t limited to the screen?<br />SC No, it¹s directed at the imagination. It¹s not purely about me delivering<br />content to viewers so that they can then choose which part of it they<br />explore. It¹s about delivering another kind of architectural space if you<br />like, the architecture of the web delivering a public space that people can<br />then occupy and inhabit and make happen or not as they desire. To choose to<br />believe or not. You asked earlier about the discussion and the range of<br />people that participated. Some were very serious and some thought it was<br />great fun and were actually being quite satirical in their discussions, so<br />it was really a collision of those different things. I like the idea of it<br />as forming almost a model of what an immersive or interactive fiction might<br />look like. It¹s just one model of, of many. But that really occurred to me<br />when I was working on it, and that really excited me, that it was playing<br />with that idea? of constructing a collective fiction, constructed<br />from a collective space?<br />JR Do you think this collective fiction can continue? I mean there are major<br />elements that remain - for instance you can still download the models and<br />create them - but several of the contributory, participatory elements have<br />ceased. Maybe it¹s an impossible question to answer, but what do you<br />anticipate will be the future of the project? My sense is that with distance<br />people will find it much easier to talk about it and actually I¹m really<br />looking forward to that point, when critics feel that they are in a position<br />to understand, discuss and critique it as a work of art. But can people<br />still enjoy and experience it fully now that it¹s past its evolutionary<br />phase?<br />SC Well, I¹ve taken the time sensitive information off it, so, for instance?<br />JR It still has February sightings doesn¹t it though?<br />SC It does, but it was originally February '2003', specifically dated<br />sightings?I did this for the first year. So I just took the year off the<br />dates so the whole thing has lost it¹s time sensitivity.<br />I didn¹t want the site to remain 'active' for more than a year.<br />It always had two routes that people could get to it through, one was the<br />fictional, the unknowing route, which was through the front page that really<br />looked like you know?<br />JR It was real, it was the fifth gallery Liverpool, St Ives, Modern,<br />Britain, Space.<br />SC But if people came to it via the other route, the net art route then it<br />would be much clearer that it was a construct ?with the [Paul Bonaventura's]<br />contextual essay and so forth, so there was always these two, the knowing<br />and unknowing participants if you like. So now it¹s only the knowing route ­<br />although it¹s now linked to from so many sites worldwide that people can<br />still get directly to it and within the Tate site structure<br /><tate.org.uk/space>;, so hopefully it¹s always going to be there. That¹s<br />rather wonderful because every so often I do a search on Tate in Space to<br />see where it¹s got to, and this week I found it as a part of educational<br />lecture for people who are learning about galleries and things like that.<br />It¹s down dead seriously as another Tate and people are encouraged to look<br />at it, so it has actually gone out.<br />JR Which is precisely what we wanted it to do! I mean these commissions are<br />largely intended to take Tate ?beyond the gallery walls¹ and somehow reach<br />new audiences, and it¹s achieved exactly that!<br />SC And the Tate webcam for the Tate satellite is actually listed on webcam<br />sites. As they have different categories for Europe, South America et., now<br />they have a category for space and there¹s only one webcam listed there -<br />and it¹s ours! I think the fact that BT sponsors the Tate website makes it<br />more plausible. You know there is a sort of plausibility and authenticity<br />that one associates with the project, particularly at this moment in time in<br />terms of web technology, webcam technology and also branding and interest in<br />space. It¹s the right time for this Tate in Space to actually make sense?<br />JR And it is so in tune with Tate¹s ambitions - not only, on the kind of<br />micro level in terms of these commissions and what Tate is trying to achieve<br />in reaching new audiences, but also in terms of setting up new outposts. I<br />think there is something in that. That is why it¹s so plausible and people<br />so wish it to be true. Because of that, to critique it is very difficult.<br />SC Well it¹s also operating on so many different levels and in so many<br />different directions, from the kind of distribution access of the tangible<br />Blue Peteresque models to the whole architectural thing, which has taken on<br />a whole life of it¹s own. It has been an umbrella structure for all these<br />kind of sub commissions to emerge through that. It's [a project] that¹s<br />meant to open up and create opportunities within it. The only opportunities<br />we haven¹t created are new jobs, which -<br /><br />JR I love - I love the fact that you had Tate staff asking for transfers?<br />SC This is true. I¹ve also had people asking if there are possibilities for<br />internships and various things like that. There are other things on the site<br />that were also a kind of link between the fiction and the plausible?and the<br />fact that [Tate in Space] is still far away enough for it to be this fantasy<br />that people can get excited about, but its just near enough that it¹s<br />becoming plausible that we could have put a satellite up there. Obviously<br />people have satellites up there, for instance BT satellites?<br />JR And as you point out in the FAQ, that¹s not very expensive. It costs the<br />same amount as it costs to buy a house in parts of London.<br />SC Just to get a little small one up there?and it was the generosity of the<br />space scientist that I met with [Dr Andrew Coates], that gave me some<br />fundamental information about this. This meant that the Tate in Space site,<br />for anybody that even knew a little bit about the subject, kept its<br />plausibility. Which is why, I think, some scientists, who probably ought to<br />have known that it wasn¹t really real, were at a superficial level fooled by<br />it.<br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />8.<br /><br />Date: 5.14.04 - 5.26.04<br />From: Patrick Simons (patricksimons@gloriousninth.com), Michael Szpakowski<br />(szpako@yahoo.com), atomic elroy (atomic@pcisys.net), Kate Southworth<br />(katesouthworth@gloriousninth.com), Rob Myers (robmyers@mac.com), Christina<br />McPhee (christina112@earthlink.net)<br />Subject: new work: gloriousninth flaming<br /><br />Patrick Simons <patricksimons@gloriousninth.com> posted:<br /><br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.gloriousninth.com/flaming.html">http://www.gloriousninth.com/flaming.html</a><br /><br />Glorious Ninth<br />Flaming (our/your/their rage) 2004<br /><br />All debate about ownership and empowerment, democracy and accountability,<br />long term perspectives and global, environmental issues are trodden<br />underfoot and a chilling efficiency in dehumanising whole societies and<br />populations, is allowed to remove any possibility of debate and empathic<br />shared existence with those about to die.<br /><br />Flaming (our/your/their rage) is a release of anger and frustration against<br />the powerful. Power and rage smashes a country already suffering. A lack of<br />power to control everything provokes this rage. Artist, activist, freedom<br />fighter, terrorist - where do our liberal values start and stop? Rage of the<br />new yorkers, rage of america as they experienced violation. Rage at our<br />collective lack of insight and our/your/their crouched/couched response.<br />Rage that they/you/we want revenge. Rage at the twittery of politicians,<br />their sell-out, and our stupidity to think they might be something they<br />could be. Rage at our own hypocrisy. Rage at the defeat of the left, and at<br />the utter abandonment of real hope. Rage at the inadequacies of intellectual<br />arguments. Rage that there isn't an easy answer. Rage that itâ??s complex<br />and there's not enough time in a life-time. Rage that there's no serious<br />debate about what we actually want and about how it can be achieved and<br />about how we understand the world.<br /><br />What is dished out from our representatives is simplistic, fundamentalist<br />medieval crap. How can it be that I am either with you or against you? How<br />can the means justify the ends justify the means? How can there be an axis<br />of evil? How can this axis of evil shift so much that it obliterates<br />"allies" who "stood by our side" so recently. How can this be the path of<br />righteousness and the act of a democratic society when carpet bombing,<br />depleted uranium shells and the full might of the very latest technologies -<br />which we spend so much time discussing in terms of the alienating nature of<br />its inherent logic - is used to incapacitate people/countries/societies in<br />the name of progress and future generations?<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />Michael Szpakowski (szpako@yahoo.com) replied:<br /><br />For a cry of rage, Patrick, it's extraordinarily, viscerally beautiful. (<br />and this is true of the sound too, the intensity of which complements the<br />visuals wonderfully)<br /><br />There's a real intentionality problem for me with yours and Kate's work - I<br />just find it gobsmackingly gorgeous.<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />atomic elroy <atomic@pcisys.net> replied:<br /><br />All political manifestations no matter how selfless are based on a basic<br />form of fascism… trying to control other people's behavior, which is<br />impossible. Certain sociological norms are agreed upon in groups. yet, one<br />can't control another's behavior. the futility of this is manifest in<br />reactive rage. this is a physically violent universe, that only stays in<br />existence with the balance of passivity. once one realizes this most<br />emotional extremes become comical.<br /><br />can rage be droll?<br />did I say that out LOUD?<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />Kate Southworth <katesouthworth@gloriousninth.com> replied:<br /><br />Hi Michael<br /><br />Thank you for your interest in our work, and for your comments.<br /><br />I'm really interested in what you're saying, but not quite clear exactly<br />what you mean. Are you saying that because you find the work beautiful then<br />it can't adequately express emotion?<br /><br />And 'beautiful' is quite a complex concept surely - one that changes its<br />meaning through time, just as 'art' and 'creativity', for example, change<br />their meaning. <br /><br />I know you fairly well Michael, so would be surprised if you were advocated<br />a kind of illustrative response to war. I've played the piece a few times<br />since your post, and the more I look at it, the more I understand my own<br />response to the war. It is response that draws on emotion, intuition,<br />analysis, sensations, and relates, like all our work tries to, to the<br />constant changes and interactions, processes and relations that make up our<br />world.<br /><br />Intentionality of the artist is something I am becoming increasingly<br />interested in, and it seems to be quite a contested area amongst art<br />historians. A real understanding of the implications of the different<br />positions regarding intentionality seems to me to be critically important<br />right now, because so many of the processes, tools, methods etc. that<br />artists use are being increasingly incorporated.<br /><br />So, I'm open to any ideas whatsoever regarding intentionality.<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />Michael Szpakowski added:<br /><br />< Are you saying that because you find the work beautiful then it can't<br />adequately express emotion?><br /><br />Absolutely not! The emotion I tend to experience on looking at quite a lot<br />of your work I suppose I could characterize as something near to joy -I find<br />it exhilarating, this piece particularly so. Its to do with both the look<br />and the manner of unfolding of each piece. Maybe its a kind of aesthetic joy<br />in that I'm responding to the enormously satisfying formal attributes of<br />each work first and foremost<br /> <br />< 'beautiful' is quite a complex concept surely -> one that changes its<br />meaning through time,><br /><br />well —yes–ok but for me subjectively I *know* whether something is or<br />isn't beautiful -its a bit Wittgensteininan this isn't it- like I *know*<br />when I'm in pain.<br /><br />< I know you fairly well Michael, so would be surprised if you were<br />advocated a kind of illustrative response to war. ><br /><br />I don't advocate or not advocate. In *my* work my unconscious and my<br />consciencedetermines whether a piece is finished/satisfactory -in the work<br />of others its a combination of my inital affective and subsequent<br />intellectual response to the complex of factors going on in any particular<br />work that leads me to find a work satisfactory, unsatisfactory or<br />problematic. "If This is a Man" is *the* 20th century work about the depths<br />barbarism -& one could say that it is entirely illustrative -there are other<br />works , made in the same period that eschew direct description partially or<br />completely -the surrealists, a little bit earlier, spring to mind.<br />'Guernica' although illustrative is a halfway house. The place for the<br />beautiful for me is as a kind of counter example, it offers us a kind of<br />utopian possibility, plus that hope that human intervention in the world *as<br />art* brings me anyway.<br /><br />I entirely accept that its possible to view your piece as a response to the<br />current sitatuion and hence to war in general and lots of other related<br />topics -I think that what bothers me is your attempt to direct us there in<br />the accompanying atatement -I find these things a closing off of meaning -I<br />think I'm in favour of a division of labour between artist and<br />viewer/critic -artist makes and critic/viewer interprets/responds -I don't<br />feel puritanical about it though -I think its perfectly reasonable, for<br />example, for us to benefit from an interview with an artist about her<br />intentions in a particular work or group of works.( see the interesting<br />discussion on Rhizome initiated by Curt Cloninger a bit back)<br />SO -intentionality.. I'm totally unconvinced that the makers of the most<br />interesting works of art either can or should try and delineate what those<br />works are about, what those works contain -why? because the best art, it<br />seems to me, is a dialogue between the artist's unconscious ( and I don't<br />just mean a freudian unconscious but one that contains all sorts<br />of social/political/historical/cultural debris from the artist's life in the<br />world) and that wider world, mediated thorugh the ability to urgently engage<br />us through the conscious patterning of the raw material by the exercise of a<br />high degree of craft. Ultimately I think we make our boats and set them sail<br />on the water without a fixed itinerary - they might reach ports of call we<br />never dreamed of.<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />Rob Myers <robmyers@mac.com> added:<br /><br />>And 'beautiful' is quite a complex concept surely - one that changes its<br />>meaning through time, just as 'art' and 'creativity', for example, change<br />>their meaning. <br /><br />As are and do all concepts if one examines them. :-)<br /><br />>So, I'm open to any ideas whatsoever regarding intentionality.<br /><br />I'd recommend Adorno's writing on commited art and commitment. I think some<br />is in "Art in Theory", I can't find anything useful with a quick web search.<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />Christina McPhee <christina112@earthlink.net> added:<br /><br />Dear Kate, and Patrick,<br /><br />. . .<br /><br />Re the complex concept of beautiful…<br /><br />Bracha Ettinger recently wrote several posts on trauma, beauty, war and<br />artistic practice for the <underfire> project hosted by Jordan Crandall.<br /><br />I would like to quote her here because I think this issue of what beauty is<br />and does in a time of war is fascinating and certainly points to your work<br />at gloriousninth.<br /><br />> War is not this instant event that creates just instant reactions of instant<br />> feeling that of necessity will produce art. War is always<br />> shockingly instant but also traumatizing in the long run and for the<br />> generations to come. It creates vagues and vibrations on many levels and art<br />> is involved with its chords on so many different levels. Instant reactions are<br />> important, but they are not necessarily art, even when they are translated<br />> into images made by artists and signed as art. Paul Celan's poetry was not<br />> born in the same day, nor in the day after the event. So perhaps when you look<br />> in the day after for poetry you see nothing of this order. There, where art<br />> becomes, layer of layers of traces, conscious and unconscious, are working<br />> through. <br /><br />. . .<br /><br />> We are carrying in this second half of the twentieth century enormous<br />> traumatic weight, and wit(h)nessing in/by art brings it to culture¹s surface,<br />> not in the same instant, and not necessarily by direct witnessing. Certain<br />> contemporary art-practices bring into light what I have named matrixial<br />> alliances in confronting the limits of share-ability in the trauma and the<br />> jouissance of the Other. The effects accessed via artworks in our era ? and I<br />> emphasize again our era since we are living through massive effects of<br />> transitive trauma overlapping massive instant-images of war ? carry new<br />> possibilities for affective apprehending and produce new kinds of "beauty",<br />> where esthetics approaches ethics, where ethics penetrates the aesthetic.<br /> <br />And in an earlier comment, Bracha tries to describe that process…<br /><br />> Aesthetical is the trauma's<br />> transformed affectability in wit(h)nessing in/by art, beyond time and in<br />> different sites and spaces, yet it has ethical and even therapeutic<br />> consequences. Ethical is a new healing potential offered by the idea of<br />> wit(h)nessing though it is profoundly aesthetic, or though it is<br />> transferred by aesthetical means. The beautiful today is what submits<br />> whatever will succeed - as object, subject or event - to offer<br />> reaffectation-as-redistribution and absorbency of traumatic traces of<br />> Thing-event, Thing-encounter and wit(h)ness-Thing, diffracted.<br />> <br /><br />Beauty is core to the trauma and to the 'redistribution' in the network.<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />Kate Southworth replied:<br /><br />. . .<br /><br />I'm sorry that its taken a while to respond to your post, but I am largely<br />unfamiliar with Bracha Ettinger's work, and its taken me a few days of<br />reading and re-reading these excerpts to get a sense of her ideas. I'm a<br />bit blown away by them actually. It feels like I've found what I didn't<br />know I was missing. They've provoked in me an extraordinarily strong<br />intuitive and emotional response, and I just want to go and read more.<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />Christina McPhee replied:<br /><br />Wow, its great to discover common ground (even if so shifting, so hard to<br />sort out, so dark).<br /><br />Yes, Bracha is on to something important, that is pretty hard to talk about.<br /><br />Some observations that have meant a lot to me regarding trauma and the<br />function of the work of art come from Hal Foster… specifically, in "This<br />Funeral is for the Wrong Corpse," in Design and Crime, London and New York:<br />Verso, 2003 pp. 130f. He writes on an installation by Robert Gober and the<br />things he says, as well as the work of Gober itself, illuminate the<br />'trauma/beauty' aesthetic that arises from the current horrible mix of<br />amnesia, racism, sexual trauma and violence going on in the Iraqi war.<br /><br />Hal Foster touches on a kind of delay, or lag in the evocation of traumatic<br />experience–"this paradoxical modality – of experience that is not<br />experienced, at least not punctually, that comes too early or too late to be<br />registered consciously, that can only be repeated compulsively or pieced<br />together after the fact…" (p. 131)><br /><br />He reminds us of the novels of Ian McEwan, Toni Morrison, and the films of<br />Atom Egoyan, among others.<br /><br /> I too 've tried to make art about this in installation and in net art on<br /><<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.naxsmash.net">http://www.naxsmash.net</a>>. I have tried to write about this also<br /><<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.naxsmash.net/public_html/texts/McPheeNaxsmash_files.htm">http://www.naxsmash.net/public_html/texts/McPheeNaxsmash_files.htm</a>> I work<br />with the poetry of Paul Celan for noflightzone with similar motives<br />(<<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.naxsmash.net/noflightzone/texthtml/noflightzone.html">http://www.naxsmash.net/noflightzone/texthtml/noflightzone.html</a>>)<br />>From Foster's pov as a critic to Bracha as therapist/artist, I triangulate a<br />another couple of questions or desires about the process of making art in<br />this condition of trauma.<br /> <br />So far as I know Bracha is the only observer who has carried this notion of<br />delay, this 'too early, too late' further into an inquiry into the creative<br />process dynamic between trauma, oblivion, retreat, witness and beauty. I<br />think it's cool to listen to her voice a bit more fully at this moment.<br /> <br />Here again Is Bracha on the underfire list, from March 29, 2004:<br /><br />> it is indeed possible that<br />> some kinds of work need another kind of time to be effective, and that<br />> curators are missing the less-instant NOW in their rush for the INSTANT now.<br />> War is not this instant event that creates just instant reactions of instant<br />> feeling that of necessity will produce art. War is always<br />> shockingly instant but also traumatizing in the long run and for the<br />> generations to come. It creates vagues and vibrations on many levels and art<br />> is involved with its chords on so many different levels. Instant reactions are<br />> important, but they are not necessarily art, even when they are translated<br />> into images made by artists and signed as art. Paul Celan's poetry was not<br />> born in the same day, nor in the day after the event. So perhaps when you look<br />> in the day after for poetry you see nothing of this order. There, where art<br />> becomes, layer of layers of traces, conscious and unconscious, are working<br />> through. <br />> <br />> We are carrying in this second half of the twentieth century enormous<br />> traumatic weight, and wit(h)nessing in/by art brings it to culture¹s surface,<br />> not in the same instant, and not necessarily by direct witnessing. Certain<br />> contemporary art-practices bring into light what I have named matrixial<br />> alliances in confronting the limits of share-ability in the trauma and the<br />> jouissance of the Other. The effects accessed via artworks in our era ? and I<br />> emphasize again our era since we are living through massive effects of<br />> transitive trauma overlapping massive instant-images of war ? carry new<br />> possibilities for affective apprehending and produce new kinds of "beauty",<br />> where esthetics approaches ethics, where ethics penetrates the aesthetic.<br />> <br />> As an artist, you need time for linking with the other, then you need to creat<br />> contitions for this opening for others and yourself, you need both remembering<br />> and oblivion and to work through the working-through that goes between.<br />> <br />> Both the memory of oblivion and the movement of retreat - that involve<br />> engagement with traces of the trauma of the other that are trans-scrypted in<br />> me - are not possible unless aleady a potentiality for transgressing by<br />> borderlinking has arised and is arising in and by the artwork and not at all<br />> at the limit of the whole subject in full self-identity.<br />> <br />> Dwelling in this sphere of transgressive becoming-together, of co-emerging and<br />> co-fading, can hurt too much, and so, most people most of the time leave it<br />> aside. Some kind of art allows precisely this and leads precisely there: into<br />> a retreat inside this matrixial sphere, where you discover that to withdraw<br />> inside, with the artwork, is precisely to allow the immensity of this sphere<br />> to overwhelm you.<br />> <br />> That you (or me) , as a viewer, want to join me (or you), as an artist, at<br />> this precise move of withdrawal, allows me (as artist) to stay there a little<br />> longer and come out of it with some new works of art.<br />> The interlacement of borderlinks coming from the one and the other embraces,<br />> but also allows this fragility to occur. The working-through in<br />> co-habit(u)ating a transgressive "in-betweeness" space exposes each hollow<br />> space of retreat to a potentiality for further linking. Such a work is thus a<br />> continual working-through of transgression itself. Thus, the different facets<br />> of the work are instants of co-emergence at the heart of co-fading, under a<br />> diffracted and shareable gaze. I believe that emphaty is rooted in such<br />> artworks and in this kin kind of transference-relationships.<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />Michael Szpakowski replied:<br /><br />I agree that this looks both interesting and pertinent..well.. to a point<br />because I do not understand what <We are carrying in this second half of the<br />twentieth century enormous traumatic weight, and wit(h)nessing in/by art<br /> brings it to culture¹s surface, not in the same instant, and not<br />necessarily by direct witnessing. Certain contemporary art-practices bring<br />into light what I have named matrixial alliances in confronting the limits<br />of share-ability in the trauma and the jouissance of the Other.> means.<br /><br />What the fuck does wit(h)nessing mean?<br /><br />This sort of obscurantism is really a blight on what seems like an<br />interesting set of notions trying to escape! I refuse to believe that what<br />is of worth in there cannot be expressed more directly - it does seem to<br />have a bearing on the intentions and the mechanics of your work & especially<br />the latest, pity its not expressed more clearly.<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />Rob Myers replied:<br /><br />. . .<br /><br />> This sort of obscurantism is really a blight on what<br />> seems like an interesting set of notions trying to<br />> escape!<br /><br />It seems like it is (regarded as) a necessary use of language to express an<br />interesting set of notions.<br /><br />> I refuse to believe that what is of worth in there<br />> cannot be expressed more directly - it does seem to<br />> have a bearing on the intentions and the mechanics of<br />> your work & especially the latest, pity its not<br />> expressed more clearly.<br /><br />I don't think you mean "directly", that would be hard to get in an email,<br />perhaps a scream would be better. I think you mean "clearly and simply".<br />Which is fine for a VCR manual but often useless for art. Paraphrasing<br />meaning can lose meaning. I dislike language games for the sake of it, but<br />this seems to be for the sake of meaning. Give it the<br />benefit of the doubt and see what emerges.<br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />9.<br /><br />Date: 5.24.04 - 5.25.04<br />From: ryan griffis (grifray@yahoo.com), t.whid (twhid@twhid.com), [ l o u s<br />u S i ] (loususi@bijaxous.com), Ann Tomoko Yamamoto<br />(yamamoto_ann@yahoo.co.jp), Rachel Greene (rachel@rhizome.org)<br />Subject: rhizome needs to drop its membership fee and free its content<br />[cont.]<br /><br />[note: this thread is this week's addendum to the much more active<br />discussion of last week, which can be read in full at Fresh Texts under the<br />subject header of the same name]<br /><br />ryan griffis (grifray@yahoo.com) added:<br /><br /> Patrick Simons (patricksimons@gloriousninth.com) said:<br /> > I undestand the push for removing the $5 but I dont think it would<br /> > solve the underlying questions, if the choice is an org which is<br /> > dependent on unaccountable trust funds or membership based, the<br /> > latter is so much more what this whole community is about.<br /><br />certainly, i don't think t.whid's initial question was about "to pay or not<br />to pay." i think the idea is that for those of us who consider ourselves<br />invested in Rhizome as an activity/forum, it would be great if it could be<br />expanded for temporary publics that may not be interested in Rhizome as a<br />long term community or as a participant, but may have short term interests<br />(research, curiosity, etc.). This is not a matter of whether members<br />would/should pay for supporting omething they are part of, but is rather<br />about WHAT members are paying for. hence t.whid's concern about linking and<br />the future posterity of Rhizome as an active resource. Anyway, many<br />arguments about logistics and needs/desires could be made, and i'm not<br />making any at the moment (though those desiring feeds have my ear), but i<br />think it's important to not take the discussion back to the $5 argument, as<br />i don't think anyone is wanting to financially desert Rhizome.<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />t.whid (twhid@twhid.com) replied:<br /><br />Ryan is correct. I don't think the fee is evil or bad, in fact, i think<br />everyone should all donate by a factor of 5x the current fee (at least).<br /><br />What is bad is that it locks down the free-flow of info. By all means have a<br />fee with features attached that don't interfere with free linkage.<br /><br />But, as Curt pointed out, you *can* link to individual articles. I tested<br />this and it seems to be true (Francis please confirm). If you go here<br /><a rel="nofollow" href="http://x-arn.org/artnode/">http://x-arn.org/artnode/</a> you can see a list of fresh texts (click Rhizome<br />Fresh Texts) and you can also link to an RSS feed of these fresh texts.<br /><br />If you click on the links from the web site you go directly to the Rhiz<br />article whether you're logged in or not. (For some reason when following<br />links from my news reader I can't go directly to the article:( i go to the<br />log-in screen )<br /><br />I was wrong, it seems anyone can link to any article and anyone can follow<br />those links to the articles as long as the referrer isn't Rhizome or if the<br />referrer doesn't exist. Is that how it works?<br /><br />The problem then, isn't IF you can link to Rhiz articles, it's that Rhiz<br />doesn't seem to want non-members to link to Rhiz articles because they make<br />it hard to do so by not providing the tools (RSS feeds with<br />subjects/descriptions of articles).<br /><br />For example, if I'm a non-member of Rhizome, how do I decide I would like to<br />link to an article on the home page? I see the headline, I see a short<br />description, but I can't read the entire thing to decide.. unless someone<br />(other than Rhiz) provides me with a link.. or I make it myself..<br /><br />This is just kinda nutty functionality (i understand it was a compromise):<br />only people other than Rhiz can provide access to non-members.<br /><br />…<br /><br />or perhaps this is me just whining because I want a fully functioning<br />Rhizome Raw in my news reader so I can clear out my email box ;-)<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />[ l o u s u S i ] (loususi@bijaxous.com) replied:<br /><br />Hey - if this $ thing is such an issue - why don't the people who are so<br />inclined not to pay a mere $5 found their own community-based new media site<br />of some sort or just converse for free w/ the people they already know in<br />the industry? i don't get the argument really : if you want to join costco<br />to by inexpensive mayonnaise in 5 gallon jugs - you pay like $35 a year and<br />get all these deals in the club > if you don't like that business model, or<br />if you don't want the products they have there, then you usually go to the<br />local grocery store instead<br /><br />it's a nearly-free country<br /><br />+ + +<br /><br />Ann Tomoko Yamamoto added (yamamoto_ann@yahoo.co.jp)<br />[fwd from Rachel Greene (rachel@rhizome.org)]<br /><br />This thread is fascinating. I read through the posts in the digest version,<br />and can I add my 2 cents?<br /><br />This seems like a variation on the classic free rider problem: With every<br />new member, the entire Rhizome becomes richer. But at the same time,<br />communities are expensive to maintain (sewage lines, self-defense, etc.)<br />Impose a tax and you kill the community, but without a tax everyone is a<br />free rider and the community withers away under piles of uncollected<br />garbage. <br /><br />The entire field of urban planning emerged precisely in response to these<br />kinds of problems, and you can see there are no easy answers – gated<br />communities, privatized public spaces, business improvement districts, etc<br />etc. <br /><br />It seems to me that an issue with this kind of significance is fertile<br />ground for media/net/interactive/digital art. The problem of sustaining<br />community involves technology, design, architecture, human behavior,<br />economics, global politics, local culture, public policy. Yes, mobile phones<br />and games are important, but (I think) art cries out first and foremost for<br />relevance; I might be totally naïve, but I think this could be framed as a<br />media art problem, and not an administrative problem. What do you think?<br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />Rhizome.org is a 501©(3) nonprofit organization and an affiliate of<br />the New Museum of Contemporary Art.<br /><br />Rhizome Digest is supported by grants from The Charles Engelhard<br />Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for<br />the Visual Arts, and with public funds from the New York State Council<br />on the Arts, a state agency.<br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />Rhizome Digest is filtered by Kevin McGarry (kevin@rhizome.org). ISSN:<br />1525-9110. Volume 9, number 22. Article submissions to list@rhizome.org<br />are encouraged. Submissions should relate to the theme of new media art<br />and be less than 1500 words. For information on advertising in Rhizome<br />Digest, please contact info@rhizome.org.<br /><br />To unsubscribe from this list, visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/subscribe">http://rhizome.org/subscribe</a>.<br />Subscribers to Rhizome Digest are subject to the terms set out in the<br />Member Agreement available online at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/29.php">http://rhizome.org/info/29.php</a>.<br /><br />Please invite your friends to visit Rhizome.org on Fridays, when the<br />site is open to members and non-members alike.<br /><br />+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +<br /><br />
