RHIZOME DIGEST: 5.26.02

discussion

Posted May 25 2002 20:00

RHIZOME DIGEST: 5.26.02

RHIZOME DIGEST: May 26, 2002 Content: +editor's note+ 1. Mark Tribe: Rachel Greene Returns & Site Renovation +query+ 2. US Department of Art & Technology: Request for Acts of Mediation +opportunity+ 3. Curt Cloninger: the 5k 4. Steve Dietz: Emerging Artists/Emergent Medium 3–Call For Proposals 5. Lars Gustav Midboe: Electrohype 2002–Deadline May 31st +report+ 6. Jonah Brucker-Cohen: the 6th International Browserday + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 1. Date: 5.23.02 From: Mark Tribe (mark@rhizome.org) Subject: Rachel Greene Returns & Site Renovation Dear Rhizomers: I'm writing to let you all know that Rachel Greene will be our new Editorial Coordinator, starting June 3. We had 36 applicants for this position, many of them very qualified, and it was an extremely difficult decision. In the end, experience became the deciding factor: as many of you know, Rachel was Rhizome's editor from 1997 through 1999. Hard to beat that. She has also written about contemporary art for several magazines, including Artforum, Frieze and Bomb, and is now working on a book on new media art for Thames & Hudson's world of art series. Her Artforum feature, "Web Work: A History of Internet Art" (a 7.8 Meg PDF file) is available online at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/artforum.pdf">http://rhizome.org/info/artforum.pdf</a>. I want to say a sincere word of thanks to all of the applicants. Rhizome.org would have been lucky to have any of you. + + + Also this week, we will start launching a bunch of new features and services at Rhizome.org. It all started last year when we sent out a member survey to figure out what you like most and least about the site and what you would most like to see. Twelve months and a zillion keystrokes later, we're ready to launch. The rollout will take place gradually over several weeks. We want to warn you in advance that some features, like Rhizome Rare, will be temporarily unavailable, and that there are sure to be lots of bugs. We want your feedback and need your help discovering bugs, so we have set up an email address for this purpose: feedback@rhizome.org. Here's an outline of the changes to come: This week: + Redesign: new interface, new site structure (hopefully easier to navigate and less confusing for newcomers). + Post: members can post texts via the web site, respond to other posts. Threaded discussion. Next week: + Calendar: a global new media art calendar for exhibitions, performances, panels, festivals, etc. + Opportunity Listings: jobs, grants, commissions, residencies, calls for work, etc. + Member Directory: create your own directory page with contact info, bio, statement, etc. Search for other members. + Slashdot-style filtering system: members rate content, post something people like and you get good karma, members with good karma become superusers, superusers decide what goes on the home page and what goes to the Rare email lists. + Web Hosting: sign up as a beta tester for our new web hosting service offered in partnership with a commercial web host. This fee-based service will hopefully generate much-needed revenue for Rhizome.org. Mid-July: + Shareware Membership System: making a gift to support Rhizome.org will become part of the membership process. If you decide not to make a contribution, you'll still have full access, but, like shareware, we'll ask you again from time to time. August: + Online Education: sign up for online courses on things like Java, Information Architecture and Media Theory through a partnership with an online university. As with web hosting, this is a fee-based service that will help support the organization. These last three initiatives (Web Hosting, Shareware Membership System and Online Education) are part of our strategy to become more financially independent. As you probably know, Rhizome.org is a New York- based nonprofit organization. Because we are based in the US, we don't have access to the kind of generous government funding that most European nonprofits take for granted. The foundations and government agencies that have funded Rhizome to date have sent us a clear message: Rhizome needs to find a way to become more financially self-sufficient, or it will not survive. Our goal, over the next four years, is to cover at least 50% of our costs with community-based revenue. Rhizome.org exists to support the global new media art community. By making a gift, signing up for a web hosting account or taking an online course, you can help ensure Rhizome's survival. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/artforum.pdf">http://rhizome.org/info/artforum.pdf</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org">http://rhizome.org</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 2. Date: 5.24.02 From: US Department of Art & Technology (press@usdept-arttech.net) Subject: Request for Acts of Mediation Dear Rhizome Community: I have a very special request to ask of you as part of your commitment to advancing cultural dialogue worldwide. On June 19th, 7pm, at the Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes in Washington, DC, the US Department of Art & Technology is organizing the World Mediation Summit, which is convening under the theme, "The Artist as Mediator on the World Stage." The scheduling of the event has been timed to honor the opening of Documenta 11 in Kassel, Germany, which this year is concerned with socially engaged "platforms" that explore the public communicative process. It is in this spirit that the World Mediation Summit has been conceived as a "ceremonial cultural exchange" in which I will present to the US Department of State an artist-generated, collectively-authored proclamation consisting of imaginative methodologies and acts of mediation for intensifying intercultural dialogue in these troubling times of crisis. This ceremonial presentation of the proclamation to a representative of the State Department will be conducted in the presence of US Department of Art & Technology staff, as well as a consortium of cultural officials from Washington embassies representing at least six nations. It is our intent that this document, a critique of the Administration's handling of the "war on terror" since 9-11, be transmitted within the State Department to Secretary Powell, who will in turn submit it for final transmission to President Bush. I am asking the Rhizome Community to contribute to the collective authorship of the proclamation by submitting a brief statement to be included in the document. Think of this as a manifesto for reforming the Administration's ignorance and lack of appreciation for cultural concerns! This is an important opportunity for all of you who are deeply entrenched in artistic expression, cultural issues, and the general state of humanity, to offer new methodologies based on your artistic and critical practice for confronting the violence and turmoil that is rapidly spreading throughout the world. We intend to provide the State Department with effective and creative tools for strengthening the hand of its cultural officers. Unfortunately, President Bush, along with the Department of State and the Security Council, are clueless - they desperately need the help of the arts community, which is why I am turning to you now. The US Department of Art & Technology strongly believes that in our society, the artist and cultural critic is a largely untapped, yet powerful force for understanding and resolving differences that have lead to recent acts of aggression and violence. To guide the writing of your statements, the following is a list of key recommendations to the Administration's approach and policy that our proclamation seeks to state: (1) to deepen its attentiveness to the richness and complexity of the world's many distinct cultures, particularly in areas of conflict; (2) to avoid what is being perceived in the world as a tone of aggression; (3) to adopt and project a nuanced view of the world's social conditions beyond a misleading division into "good and evil;" (4) to reiterate the value and power of meaningful cultural dialogue in its overall foreign policy. I am deeply concerned with the Administration's lack of interest and ability in bringing about a meaningful cultural exchange to solve international conflicts, and it is my hope, through your input, to expand upon the hope and possibility of a peaceful, more culturally- engaged world, and to redefine the role of the artist (and cultural critic) as a mediator on the world stage. Each of you who submit a statement (keep them short, approximately 1 to 3 sentences) will be appropriately credited (unless you wish to remain anonymous) and will receive a copy of the completed proclamation prior to the World Mediation Summit. Please return your statement in a timely manner (within one week), and please don't hesitate to write if you have questions. For more information on the World Meditation Summit visit the Department Website: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.usdept-arttech.net">http://www.usdept-arttech.net</a> As André Breton said, "perhaps the imagination is on the verge of recovering its rights!" <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.usdept-arttech.net">http://www.usdept-arttech.net</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +ad+ IT IS necessary to buy "Not Necessarily 'English Music,'" Leonardo Music Journal Volume 11. Not only is it curated by David Toop, but it includes a double CD. Tune in and turn on to the LMJ website at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mitpress2.mit.edu/Leonardo/lmj/">http://mitpress2.mit.edu/Leonardo/lmj/</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 3. Date: 5.24.02 From: Curt Cloninger (curt@lab404.com) Subject: the 5k <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.the5k.org">http://www.the5k.org</a> For the third year running, we are having a competition. The deal is, you have 5 kilobytes to make the best web page or site you can. We'll organize the entries and make them public so people can admire and learn from them. And then people will rate them, and discuss them. And then special judges will judge them, and we'll calculate the score and award some lucky winner 5k cents (US): $51.20. Finally, about six months later, we will do it all over again. From right now until 5:00pm pacific time (GMT-8), June 16, 2002, you can enter the "anything goes" competition, which allows anything you can fit in a 5k download (no server-side processing allowed). For more information, visit: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.the5k.org">http://www.the5k.org</a> + + + JUDGES: vicki wong <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.meomi.com">http://www.meomi.com</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ndroid.com">http://www.ndroid.com</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.beetleblue.com">http://www.beetleblue.com</a> bruce sterling <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.infinitematrix.net/columns/sterling/">http://www.infinitematrix.net/columns/sterling/</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://lonestar.texas.net/~dub/sterling.html">http://lonestar.texas.net/~dub/sterling.html</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.viridiandesign.org">http://www.viridiandesign.org</a> clement mok <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.sapient.com/about/bio.htm?leader=mok">http://www.sapient.com/about/bio.htm?leader=mok</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://aiga.org/content.cfm?ContentID=539">http://aiga.org/content.cfm?ContentID=539</a> susan kare <a rel="nofollow" href="http://kare.com">http://kare.com</a> lee feldman <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.blastradius.com">http://www.blastradius.com</a> steve champeon <a rel="nofollow" href="http://a.jaundicedeye.com">http://a.jaundicedeye.com</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.hesketh.com">http://www.hesketh.com</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.WebDesign-L.com">http://www.WebDesign-L.com</a> dean allen <a rel="nofollow" href="http://textism.com">http://textism.com</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://cardigan.com">http://cardigan.com</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +ad+ **MUTE MAGAZINE NEW ISSUE** Coco Fusco/Ricardo Dominguez on activism and art; JJ King on the US military's response to asymmetry and Gregor Claude on the digital commons. Matthew Hyland on David Blunkett, Flint Michigan and Brandon Labelle on musique concrete and 'Very Cyberfeminist International'. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.metamute.com/mutemagazine/issue23/index.htm">http://www.metamute.com/mutemagazine/issue23/index.htm</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 4. Date: 5.24.02 From: Steve Dietz (sub@yproductions.com) Subject: Emerging Artists/Emergent Medium 3–Call For Proposals EMERGING ARTISTS/EMERGENT MEDIUM 3: CALL FOR PROPOSALS <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.walkerart.org/gallery9/jerome/">http://www.walkerart.org/gallery9/jerome/</a> Deadline for proposals: July 19, 2002 Gallery9/Walker Art Center (WAC) announces a third round of net art commissions: "Emerging Artists/Emergent Medium: Translocation" (EAEM3). With support from The Jerome Foundation, WAC will commission three new net art projects. The fee for each commission will be $5,000 plus a budget of up to $4,000 for technical support. A writer will also be commissioned to write a critical essay in relation to the project, and completed commissioned works will be presented as part of a global (translocal?), online exhibition to be presented in February 2003. The Walker Art Center's Gallery 9 (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://gallery9.walkerart.org">http://gallery9.walkerart.org</a>) is an online platform for project-driven exploration, through digitally-based media, of all things "cyber." Past commissions in the Emerging Artists/Emergent Medium series have gone to: 0100101110101101.org, Natalie Bookchin and Alexei Shulgin, Auriea Harvey, Ochen K, Diane Ludin, Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, r a d i o q u a l i a, and Vivian Selbo. EMERGING ARTISTS/EMERGENT MEDIUM: TRANSLOCATION The theme of EAEM3 is the "translocal." There is, potentially, an important difference between what has been termed McGlobalization and the translocal. If one version of globalization is the transnational ubiquity of global brands and the dominance of global capital, can the translocal be a counter-example, specifying an individual, local environment yet situating it in a global context? If the topology of the network is one of connected nodes, every node is global. Is any node local? No node is the center. Is every node is a center? These and many other questions are raised by the notion of the translocal. In the spirit of project-driven exploration, EAEM3 encourages proposals that broadly explore and interpret translocal, particularly in relation to issues of situatedness, embodiment, and agency in a connective, global context. Projects must be able to be experienced compellingly online. RELATED READINGS Interview with Arjun Appadurai Anette Baldauf and Christian Hoeller <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.translocation.at/d/appadurai.htm">http://www.translocation.at/d/appadurai.htm</a> Andreas Broeckman Networked Agencies <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.v2.nl/~andreas/texts/1998/networkedagency-en.html">http://www.v2.nl/~andreas/texts/1998/networkedagency-en.html</a> Tetsuo Kogawa Two or Three Things I Know About the Streaming Media <a rel="nofollow" href="http://anarchy.k2.tku.ac.jp/non-japanese/20000926netcongestion.html">http://anarchy.k2.tku.ac.jp/non-japanese/20000926netcongestion.html</a> ELIGIBILITY EAEM3 is specifically aimed at emerging artists. At least two of the three commissions will be awarded to artists or artist groups based in New York City or Minnesota (USA). JURY Proposals will be reviewed by a jury consisting of Steve Dietz, Walker Art Center; Douglas Fogle, Walker Art Center; Gunalan Nadarajan, Dean, Lasalle College, Singapore; and Yukiko Shikata, Independent Curator, Tokyo. Selected artists will be contacted on or after August 5, 2002. Each artist will be asked to sign an agreement with Walker Art Center governing the terms of the commission. HOW TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL* Notification to the Walker of a proposal for an Emerging Artists/Emergent Medium commission is accepted via email only. Email notification will be accepted until 5:00 pm CST on Friday, July 19, 2002. Proposals must take the form of a web site that includes the following key elements: + Project description (500 words maximum) that discusses your project's core concept, how you will realize your project and your project's feasibility. If you plan to work with assistants, consultants or collaborators, their roles and (if possible) names should be included. + Project thematic (500 words maximum) that discusses the relation of your project to the translocal. + A production timeline and a project budget. These can be modified on acceptance, but projects must be doable with available funding. If you have other funding sources for your project, please indicate this in your budget. + Your resume or Curriculum Vitae. For collaborative groups, provide either a collective CV or the CV's of all participants. + Up to 5 work samples. Note: more is not necessarily better. You should include only work samples that are relevant to your proposal. Please provide contextualizing information (title, date, medium, perhaps a brief description) to help the jury understand what they are looking at. The work sample can take any form, as long as it is accessible via the web. When designing your web-based proposal, please note that the jury will have limited time; so try to make your site clear and concise. When your web-based proposal is ready, complete the submission form above. COMMISSIONS Winners will be announced on or before August 12, 2002. Commissioned projects must be completed by January 13, 2003. QUESTIONS If you have any questions about the Emerging Artists/Emergent Medium: Translocation commissions, please contact Steve Dietz at steve.dietz@walkerart.org. *Thanks and acknowledgment to Rhizome for the excellent example of its commissioning process. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.walkerart.org/gallery9/jerome/">http://www.walkerart.org/gallery9/jerome/</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://gallery9.walkerart.org">http://gallery9.walkerart.org</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 5. Date: 5.21.02 From: Lars Gustav Midboe (lars.midboe@electrohype.org) Subject: Electrohype 2002–Deadline May 31st Last Call for Entries - Electrohype 2002 exhibition Call for Entries Electrohype 2002 Deadline: May 31st 2002 (on-line or post stamped by May 31st) The Electrohype 2002 exhibition will be held in Malmö, Sweden, during ten days in the second half of October 2002. International as well as Nordic artists are welcome to submit their work. Due to the large number of entries, so far, we will ask you to provide as much info as possible according to the online form or the downloadable pdf. Please use one of the above mentioned forms when submitting your work. Your submission should contain, as a minimum, the following information: 1. Short description of your work, abstract or synopsis. 2. Full description of work, including title, year of production and exhibition history. 3. Artists presentation, CV etc. 4. Visual presentation of your work, photo, video, url etc. 5. Technical description, including size, weight, technical and spatial requirements. 6. Financial requirements, including insurance. The exhibition will include a variety of works ranging from net based projects to large installations controlled by computers. Therefore we are seeking works of art that requires a computer (or several) to be experienced. We are not looking for artworks that relate to linear media even if they are produced by computers,- like rendered images and linear video. Both electronic registration form and printable pdf can be found at www.electrohype.org <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.electrohype.org">http://www.electrohype.org</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 6. Date: 5.20.02 From: Jonah Brucker-Cohen (jonah@coin-operated.com) Subject: Report from the 6th International Browserday 6th International Browserday May 17, 2002 Paradiso, Amsterdam <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.browserday.com">http://www.browserday.com</a> The Paradiso, an old church turned nightclub in the heart of Amsterdam, was an unlikely venue to collide with visions of Internet future presented by over 30 participants during the 6th International Browserday. After successful past runs in Amsterdam, New York, and Berlin, Browserday's founder Mieke Gerritzen started the festival on the simple notion that the Internet is far too rich a medium for expression to be siphoned through the existing canon of Netscape and IE. Browserday is an opportunity, challenge, and competition for young designers and artists to destroy the status quo of what it means to "browse" information both online and offline and come up with new alternatives and precedents. This year, Browserday's theme was "Mobile Minded: Rich Air", a testament to our increasingly mobile existence and growing dependencies on cell phones, PDAs, GPS, and wireless networks. A festive "Browser Dinner" designed by media artist Shulea Cheang took place the night before in a large greenhouse outside of the city. The dinner featured waiters dressed as cyborgs and only serving food to hungry guests who made the most audible bleeps with their cell phones. The event itself was hosted by the lively John Thakara of Doors of Perception fame and began with the presentation, "Klima Kontrolle", a funny gag where Roel Wouters and Luna Maurer from Amsterdam's Sandberg Institute plugged in a desk fan and pointed it at a Mac laptop causing the desktop to gradually blow off the screen. Among the themes mentioned throughout the evening included technology's relationship to the body, connections between public and private spaces, data surveillance and customization, control of information flow, and the emotional and social structures of human/computer interfaces. After the presentations concluded, the jury announced a short list of five nominees and the winner of the event. The finalists included: "Instinct" - a proposal to color-code our cell phone address books according to the real-time mood and physical state of our friends. "Emotional Landscapes" - a future emotional data-layer of an urban space where people could leave traces of the emotions they felt in distinct locations via GPS tracking. "Abbreviated Lifestyles" - five timepieces that attempted to restructure our lives based on time-based systems such as keeping track of our dreams and aspirations over a lifetime. "Browsing the Air" - an enthusiastic trio from Berlin who presented a plan to encrypt SMS messages sent between mobile phones. "My Browser", by Bob Stel and Lauran Ory also of the Sandberg Institute, which ultimately won the event, featured a video presentation of a dying old man describing his personal attachment to his browser. Speaking of the browser as if it was his only companion, the project emphasized the idea that in the future our personal attachments to technology will ultimately become more important than simply using technology. Other honorable mentions included "Body Mnemonics", a comment on how information can be ultimately something stored on our body itself where different locations signify different types of data. For instance, you might keep your enemies information on your neck and give the phrase "pain in the neck" entirely new meaning. Also interesting proposals were "Flesh- Machine", a dynamic tattoo that changes its appearance and stores information as your body changes, and "Tired to Be Wired, No Strings Attached" a video presentation about the rise of Internet telepathy in a not-so-distant future. Following the student presenters were two guest speakers, along with short talks by past winners of Browserday including myself, Joes Koppers, and Victor Vina. Tim Pritlove of Berlin's Chaos Computer Club (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ccc.de">http://www.ccc.de</a>) (the world oldest hackers club founded in 1981), gave an inspiring presentation on the freedom of information and accessible public interfaces. After defending the true meaning of the term "hacker" as philanthropic rather than menacing, Pritlove described CCC's latest coup/project, "Blinkenlights" (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.blinkenlights.de">http://www.blinkenlights.de</a>) as a culmination of the group's 20t year history. The Blinkenlights project, which turned a 12 story building in Germany's Alexanderplatz into a low-res computer monitor using high-powered controllable lights in every window, was the club's attempt at making the first ever dynamic, multi-user public display. He showed examples of passersbys playing Pong on the building with their mobile phones, sending in customized animations created with homemade BlinkenPaint software, and even adding "hacks" to the open-source software running the installation. Between student presentations was also a demo by Jaap de Dulk, the person responsible for porting Japan's wildly successful I-Mode phones to KPN (Dutch Telecom) and the European market. Dulk described ways to implement homemade I-Mode sites and showed some of the features unique to the platform in Europe such as SPS (Short Picture Service), a new sibling to SMS that lets you send graphics and animations to other people. After the presentations and winners ceremony ended, techno and hip-hop beats filled the Paradiso's terraced interior. The advent of Browserday sparked hope that the future of information retrieval, access, and dissemination will escape the control of mega-corporations or governments. The "browser" itself no longer holds the same meaning it did in the early days of the Net. Instead of thinking of a browser as something that displays information, Browserday is challenging us to question how the information itself will dictate and adapt its own delivery mechanisms. Ultimately, the browser is becoming less of a signifier for the web than a way of manipulating and exploring the dynamic of social and personal data flow. The next International Browserday will take place in Montreal, Canada next spring. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.browserday.com">http://www.browserday.com</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ccc.de">http://www.ccc.de</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.blinkenlights.de">http://www.blinkenlights.de</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome.org is a 501©(3) nonprofit organization. If you value this free publication, please consider making a contribution within your means. We accept online credit card contributions at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/support">http://rhizome.org/support</a>. Checks may be sent to Rhizome.org, 115 Mercer Street, New York, NY 10012. Or call us at +1.212.625.3191. Contributors are gratefully acknowledged on our web site at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/10.php3">http://rhizome.org/info/10.php3</a>. 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 Alex Galloway (alex@rhizome.org). ISSN: 1525-9110. Volume 7, number 21. Article submissions to list@rhizome.org are encouraged. Submissions should relate to the theme of new media art and be less than 1500 words. For information on advertising in Rhizome Digest, please contact info@rhizome.org. To unsubscribe from this list, visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/subscribe.rhiz">http://rhizome.org/subscribe.rhiz</a>. Subscribers to Rhizome Digest are subject to the terms set out in the Member Agreement available online at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/29.php3">http://rhizome.org/info/29.php3</a>.