RHIZOME DIGEST: 7.02.04

discussion

Posted July 1 2004 20:00

RHIZOME DIGEST: 7.02.04

RHIZOME DIGEST: July 2, 2004 Content: +note+ 1. Francis Hwang: Director of Technology report, June 2004 2. Rachel Greene: Rhizome.org blogging survey (please participate) +announcement+ 3. Pall Thayer: Trans-Cultural mapping: Iceland inside and out 4. ryan griffis: FWD: Memefest 2004 up 5. Rachel Greene: Banyan Project - Newsletter +opportunity+ 6. Kevin McGarry: FW (crumb_)job posting: MANW COORDINATOR POST 7. George Scheer: Elsewhere Artist Collaborative 8. Christian Schult: Call for Participation/ Halle School of Common property 9. David Goldschmidt: San Francisco Mediatrips Competition - Summer 2004 +work+ 10. Kevin McGarry: FW: shout-out line to steve kurtz +book reviewt+ 11. Curt Cloninger: even better than the [ethe]real thing: a response to Alex Galloway's "Protocol" + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 1. Date: 7/01/04 From: Francis Hwang <francis@rhizome.org> Subject: Director of Technology report, June 2004 A few interesting things got accomplished this month: 1. Advanced search features The search engine now has new features, including: + Search results tell you if they're a Person, a Text, an Artwork or a Net Art News Story. + You can also filter searches, so you can say: "I want to see only Net Art News stories with the word 'Nintendo'." + We also fixed a bug in which Net Art News stories weren't being indexed at all. This is the start of a long process of trying to up the usability of a very large site; more improvements are coming. And if you ever have problems finding anything on the site, feel free to email me, since knowing what people can't find helps me figure out how to improve the search engine next time 'round. 2. Commission voting debrief Poli-sci geeks might want to read my commission voting debrief at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=13425&text=25703">http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=13425&text=25703</a>, in which I discuss how the commission voting worked in practice, and how we plan on improving it in the future. Comments are welcome. F. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 2. Date: 7/01/04 From: Rachel Greene <rachel@rhizome.org> Subject: Rhizome.org blogging survey (please participate) We are conducting a simple, 4-question survey regarding blogs to collect data for a possible forthcoming addition to Rhizome.org. We value your opinions about arts writing and your support for online publication, so who better to take our questions on blogging to but you? Please, if you have a moment, visit the URL below and complete the survey - it should only take about 10 seconds - <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/survey/">http://rhizome.org/survey/</a> Thanks and all the best from Rhizome.org Staff Kevin McGarry + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome is now offering organizational subscriptions, memberships purchased at the institutional level. These subscriptions allow participants of an institution to access Rhizome's services without having to purchase individual memberships. (Rhizome is also offering subsidized memberships to qualifying institutions in poor or excluded communities.) Please visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/org.php">http://rhizome.org/info/org.php</a> for more information or contact Rachel Greene at Rachel@Rhizome.org. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 3. Date: 6/28/04 From: Pall Thayer <palli@pallit.lhi.is> Subject: Trans-Cultural mapping: Iceland inside and out <a rel="nofollow" href="http://pallit.lhi.is/insideout">http://pallit.lhi.is/insideout</a> Iceland inside and out is a 10 day workshop that will take place in Iceland from June 30 till July 9, 2004. The workshop is one of a series of 6 workshops taking place in several countries throughout Europe as the Trans-Cultural Mapping project (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://locative.rixc.lv/workshop/index.cgi?Home">http://locative.rixc.lv/workshop/index.cgi?Home</a>) organized by RIXC in Riga, Latvia (<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rixc.lv">http://www.rixc.lv</a>). As the workshop title suggests, this workshop will, on one hand, map out inner regions of Iceland and on the other, outer regions (fishing waters). Due to the remoteness of these two locations, the workshop will also have to address several technical issues. Thus the primary focus of the workshop will be to create and develope open software and tools for artistic/cultural, collaborative, interactive mapping. The main purpose of the workshops website will be to allow the public to literally follow along with what is going on throughout the workshop. An interactive, realtime map will constantly display where we are and where we have been, complete with links to media-files related to various points on the map. The site also has a "blog" element where workshop participants will constantly be posting information on what is going on and things we may be thinking about or working on. <a rel="nofollow" href="http://pallit.lhi.is/insideout">http://pallit.lhi.is/insideout</a> Partners: RIXC - LV | Ellipse - FR | Trondheim Electronic Arts Center - NO | Piknik Frequency Organisation - FI | Project Atol - SL | K@2 - LV – _________________________________ Pall Thayer artist/teacher <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.this.is/pallit">http://www.this.is/pallit</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://130.208.220.190">http://130.208.220.190</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://130.208.220.190/nuharm">http://130.208.220.190/nuharm</a> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://130.208.220.190/panse">http://130.208.220.190/panse</a> —————————– + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 4. Date: 6/29/04 From: ryan griffis <grifray@yahoo.com> Subject: FWD: Memefest 2004 up More than 350 entries poured in and for the first time in Memefest's history, we had submissions from every continent on the planet. This year's jury has sifted through this mass of creative subversion and chosen the top entries from a damn impressive lot. Go to the Memefest website ( <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.memefest.org">http://www.memefest.org</a> ) to find their picks for the Best of Memefest 2004 in Visual Arts, Communications Studies, Sociology, and the enigmatic Beyond… category. This year's competition guidelines and seed texts were very difficult, and we're pleased that so many people rose to the challenge + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 5. Date: 7/01/04 From: Rachel Greene <rachel@rhizome.org> Subject: Banyan Project - Newsletter From: abanze <abanze@web.de> Date: July 1, 2004 1:54:50 PM EDT To: abanze@web.de Subject: Banyan Project - Newsletter Reply-To: abanze@web.de BANYAN PROJECT - NEWSLETTER 1th of July 2004 ——————————————- Hello, this newsletter will be sended regulary. (If you donÂ´t like it, send me an email with the titel: unsubscribe) The BANYAN PROJECT is a traveling festival, visiting Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Mynamar and India in december 2004 to march 2005. The Banyan website has a lot of new stuff, have a look! <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.banyan-project.de">http://www.banyan-project.de</a> New Banyan artists forum <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.banyan-project.de/forum.html">http://www.banyan-project.de/forum.html</a> New Banyan art works browser <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.banyan-project.de/demo-frame.html">http://www.banyan-project.de/demo-frame.html</a> New Banyan tree of pictures - made by children during Banyan workshops in schools <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.banyan-project.de/kids.html">http://www.banyan-project.de/kids.html</a> Project news Banyan presentation at the KÃ¼nstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Germany, 7th of September 2004, 8pm. All Banyan artists in the area are invited to present their contributions. More presentations in preparation… Banyan workshop at the HunsrÃ¼ck Primary School in Berlin, Germany, 2h weekly from aug 2004 for 1 year. Banyan workshop at the Art Academy in MÃ¼nster, Germany, 2 weeks in oct/nov 2004 Banyan workshop at the Silpakorn University in Bangkok, Thailand in dec 2004 ————————- BANYAN PROJECT <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.banyan-project.de">http://www.banyan-project.de</a> Alfred Banze KÃ¶penicker Str 46 10179 Berlin ++49 (0)30 27590784 <a rel="nofollow" href="mailto:abanze@web.de">mailto:abanze@web.de</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome is now offering organizational subscriptions, memberships purchased at the institutional level. These subscriptions allow participants of an institution to access Rhizome's services without having to purchase individual memberships. (Rhizome is also offering subsidized memberships to qualifying institutions in poor or excluded communities.) Please visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/info/org.php">http://rhizome.org/info/org.php</a> for more information or contact Rachel Greene at Rachel@Rhizome.org. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 6. Date: 6/25/04 From: Kevin McGarry <Kevin@rhizome.org> Subject: FW (crumb_)job posting: MANW COORDINATOR POST posted from Kathy Rae Huffman at Cornerhouse > MANW (Media Arts North West) > Coordinator > Fee: Â£16,000 > > MANW (Media Arts North West) is a newly constituted group of > organisations > active in the curation and practice of media arts regionally, > nationally and > internationally, who are committed to developing the fieldâ??s profile > in the > region through advocacy, marketing, education, networking and new > activity. > > MANW wishes to appoint an experienced freelance arts worker to deliver > MANWâ??s objectives over a two year period. MANW memberships includes > representatives from venues, academic institutions, charities, and > small > businesses, each with existing demands on their time and resources. To > this > end, there is a need for a dynamic, independent, coordinator who will > not > only facilitate the group administratively but will provide input and > fresh > thinking on how to address its stated objectives. > > It is anticipated that the successful applicant will have considerable > knowledge of media arts practice and practitioners across the North > West > region, and be based themselves within the North West. They will be an > experienced researcher with critical writing skills and have > demonstrated > strong leadership in developing and implementing new strategies. It is > expected that the successful applicant will instigate a programme of > further > initiatives such as artistâ?? projects, commissions or events. These may > be in > collaboration with MANW or other organisations and may require further > fundraising and support. > > Interested individuals please contact Helen Wewiora for details of the > brief > and application process. > > Closing date for the submission of applications: 5pm Monday 5 July 2004 > > This position is funded by Arts Council England, North West and is an > Equal > Opportunities post. > > > Telephone: 0151 707 4438 > Email: wewiora@fact.co.uk + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + For $65 annually, Rhizome members can put their sites on a Linux server, with a whopping 350MB disk storage space, 1GB data transfer per month, catch-all email forwarding, daily web traffic stats, 1 FTP account, and the capability to host your own domain name (or use <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.net/your_account_name">http://rhizome.net/your_account_name</a>). Details at: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/services/1.php">http://rhizome.org/services/1.php</a> + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 7. Date: 6/29/04 From: George Scheer <wanderingzoo@mac.com> Subject: Elsewhere Artist Collaborative ELSEWHERE, art processes re-invent Art contexts. (interpret THE SPLACE speaking TO ITSELF) Dear eyes right at origin, Elsewhere Artist Collaborative, a conceptual artists space in Greensboro, NC, is seeking journeypeople to pursue artistic creations and criticism in a contextually interpreted and designed environment. Participating in a residency-like program, Journeypeople will be provided access to a 12,000 sq. ft. converted thrift store and haunted mansion (stuck in a locational palindrome). Artists are expected to integrate the plethora of 70 years of thrift resources: toys, furniture, books, clothing, fabric, etc. or their experience at Elsewhere into the content (subject or object) of their work. Elsewhere artists explore traditional and emerging media and media fusion, representational possibilities, and community/communication models. ElsewhereÃ¢â?¢Ë?s non-commercial space is a constantly reflexive environment where artwork becomes the medium of expression between other members of the living installation. Located in Greensboro, NCÃ¢â?¢Ë?s small town, historical district, the experience of southern America offers a backdrop to ElsewhereÃ¢â?¢Ë?s conceptual, artistic and intellectual realm, which houses a gallery, orientation center, press office, studio, kitchen, performance venue, library, closet, lounge. Artists are encouraged to redesign space and its accompaniments (objects) for a contextual artistic experiment that can be as powerful as the works created within. Elsewhere seeks writers, musicians, painters, designers, and others to make-up the living art installation piece. Toys are people too. Journeypeople are needed to engage projects: spatial development and construction, documentation via still and video photography, fashion design, interior design, graphic design, magazine and newspaper publishing run via the press office, archiving, research, educational programming and design, and artistic pursuits in traditional and emerging art forms. After participating in the community for a week, Journeypeople will submit proposals for independent or collaborative projects. With a project underway, you will be given free rent (some utilities are requested), inexpensive meal options with the food co-operative, access to the seemingly infinite resources, customizable space within which to work, and involvement in a community of artists all speaking to and interacting in a post-modern thematic of Americana and re-application. Journeypeople will also be involved in the larger conceptual project which includes a functioning performance venue in addition to other community interfacing programs. Gallery and performance space will also be made available to journeypeople free of cost. Work becomes property of ElsewhereÃ¢â?¢Ë?s concept and contextual environment for a negotiated period of time. Nothing of the space leaves the space (objects function like a number set), however possibility exists for works to become part of a national collaborative show. Those interested in the residency program or in booking a performance or art show should contact George Scheer and/or Stephanie Sherman at wanderingzoo@mac.com or 336.549.5555. We will respond with a brief application to gauge interest and experience. Elsewhere, a 501©3 organization, is funded in part by a grant from GreensboroÃ¢â?¢Ë?s United Arts Council. For more information, check out www.homepage.mac.com/wanderingzoo. Signed, the understated. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 8. Date: 6/30/04 From: Christian Schult <project@werkleitz.de> Subject: Call for Participation/ Halle School of Common property To view this entire thread, click here: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=13730&text=26170#26170">http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=13730&text=26170#26170</a> + + + Halle School of Common Property, Halle (Saale) August 2004 ::::::CALL FOR PARTICIPATION:::::: Within the context of the 6th Werkleitz Biennale's debates on knowledge as common property, the Werkleitz Gesellschaft will organise a 5-day series of workshops and seminars under the title Halle School of Common Property from 27 to 31 August 2004, directly preceding the festival. (6th Werkleitz Biennale Common Property/ Allgemeingut, 1 to 5 September 2004) In a number of workshops international cultural producers and artist groups working within the frame of informal (that is deliberately alternative, self-organised, non-institutional) knowledge production will invite participants to develop new forms of artistic and cultural production within and outside academic structures. The following artists, producers and groups have been invited: AGENCY (Belgium) Craig Baldwin (US) Critical Studies (Sweden) Dennis Kaspori (The Netherlands) Mute Magazine (International) School of Missing Studies/SMS (International) UniversitÃ?Â© Tangente (France) The Halle School of Common Property addresses a national and international audience. Some first results of the workshops will be presented at the 6th Werkleitz Biennale. In addition, the event is intended to serve as a condensation point for a continuing exchange between the individual groups and participants. All workshops will be held in English. We recommend you to register early as the number of participants is restricted - the deadline for registrations is 15 July 2004. Participation in the workshops depends on the date of arrival of the filled application form at the office of Werkleitz Gesellschaft. Application forms and more detailed information on the several workshops can be found on our website at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.werkleitz.de/common_property">http://www.werkleitz.de/common_property</a>. For all inquiries please contact Christian Schult. Please forward this to people who might be interested in participating. ::: The 6th Werkleitz Biennale is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Stiftung Kulturfonds, Lotto-Toto GmbH of Saxony-Anhalt, the City of Halle (Saale), Mitteldeutsche MedienfÃ?Â¶rderung GmbH and Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle Werkleitz Gesellschaft e.V. Zentrum fÃ?Ï?r kuenstlerische Bildmedien Sachsen-Anhalt Christian Schult Coordinator Halle School of Common Property T: +49 345 68246 15 F: +49 345 68246 29 project@werkleitz.de <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.werkleitz.de">http://www.werkleitz.de</a> :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Halle School of Common Property, Halle (Saale) August 2004 ::::::CALL FOR PARTICIPATION:::::: Im Zusammenhang mit der in der 6. Werkleitz Biennale gefÃ?Ï?hrten Auseinandersetzung um Wissen als Allgemeingut veranstaltet die Werkleitz Gesellschaft unmittelbar vor den Festivaltagen vom 27. bis 31. August 2004 eine Reihe von fÃ?Ï?nftÃ?â?¬gigen Workshops und Seminaren unter dem Titel Halle School of Common Property. In mehreren Workshops werden internationale KÃ?Ï?nstlerInnengruppen und ProduzentInnen, die im Rahmen informeller (also bewusst alternativer, selbstorganisierter, ausserinstitutioneller) Wissensproduktion arbeiten, gemeinsam mit den TeilnehmerInnen neue Formen der Kunst- und Kulturproduktion in und auÃ?Æ?erhalb akademischer Strukturen entwickeln. Eingeladen wurden: AGENCY (Belgien) Craig Baldwin (USA) Critical Studies (Schweden) Dennis Kaspori (Niederlande) Mute Magazine (International) School of Missing Studies/SMS (International) UniversitÃ?Â© Tangente (Frankreich) Die Halle School of Common Property wendet sich an alle Interessierten aus dem In- und Ausland. Erste Ergebnisse der Arbeitsgruppen werden auf der 6. Werkleitz Biennale prÃ?â?¬sentiert. DarÃ?Ï?ber hinaus soll die Veranstaltung als Kondensationspunkt fÃ?Ï?r weitergehende Projekte dienen - angestrebt wird ein nachhaltiger Austausch zwischen den einzelnen Gruppen und TeilnehmerInnen. Die Arbeitssprache in allen Workshops ist Englisch. Da die Zahl der PlÃ?â?¬tze begrenzt ist, empfiehlt sich eine frÃ?Ï?hzeitige Anmeldung - der Anmeldeschluss ist der 15. Juli 2004. Der Zeitpunkt des Eingangs vom ausgefÃ?Ï?llten Anmeldeformular im BÃ?Ï?ro der Werkleitz Gesellschaft entscheidet Ã?Ï?ber die Teilnahme am Workshop. Detaillierte Informationen zu den einzelnen Workshops und Anmeldeformulare finden Sie auf unserer Website unter <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.werkleitz.de/common_property">http://www.werkleitz.de/common_property</a>. FÃ?Ï?r weitere Informationen kontaktieren Sie bitte Christian Schult. Bitte leiten Sie diese Informationen an all jene weiter, die an einer Teilnahme interessiert sein kÃ?Â¶nnten. ::: Die 6. Werkleitz Biennale wird gefÃ?Â¶rdert durch die Kulturstiftung des Bundes, das Land Sachsen-Anhalt, die Stiftung Kulturfonds, die Lotto-Toto GmbH Sachsen-Anhalt, die Stadt Halle (Saale), die Mitteldeutsche MedienfÃ?Â¶rderung GmbH und die Burg Giebichenstein Hochschule fÃ?Ï?r Kunst und Design Halle Werkleitz Gesellschaft e.V. Zentrum fÃ?Ï?r kÃ?Ï?nstlerische Bildmedien Sachsen-Anhalt Christian Schult Coordinator Halle School of Common Property T: +49 345 68246 15 F: +49 345 68246 29 project@werkleitz.de <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.werkleitz.de">http://www.werkleitz.de</a> :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 9. Date: 7/01/04 From: David Goldschmidt <david@personify.tv> Subject: San Francisco Mediatrips Competition - Summer 2004 Hi- I am hosting a quick media arts competition and all the prize money is to be donated (on behalf of the Winner) to either Creative Commons or the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Please forward this Call for Submissions to anyone you think may be interested. Competition info can be found at www.mediatrips.com <<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.mediatrips.com">http://www.mediatrips.com</a>> Thanks, david goldschmidt san francisco, ca www.mediatrips.com <<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.mediatrips.com">http://www.mediatrips.com</a>> +++sampling popculture is not a crime + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 10. Date: 7/01/04 From: Kevin McGarry <Kevin@rhizome.org> Subject: FW: shout-out line to steve kurtz >>>>>> for immediate release: >>>>>> >>>>>> Public outcry at Grand Jury indictment of Steve Kurtz and Robert >>>>>> Ferrell collected and archived at >>>>>> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bureauit.org/uphone/kurtz/">http://www.bureauit.org/uphone/kurtz/</a> >>>>>> >>>>>> Bureau set ups Kurtz Shout Out Line to capture the public out cry >>>>>> at >>>>>> the persecution of this man, the >>>>>> criminalization of dissent and the intimidation of academic >>>>>> inquiry >>>>>> that this action effects. >>>>>> >>>>>> Voice your opinion: >>>>>> dial 212 998 3394 >>>>>> press *911 (make sure to press the * first and then dial 911, the >>>>>> number that Kurtz dialed for police support >>>>>> but triggered instead the condition of emergency he is now facing) >>>>>> make your voice heard >>>>>> >>>>>> All calls will be uploaded to an online database >>>>>> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.bureauit.org/uphone/kurtz">http://www.bureauit.org/uphone/kurtz</a> for public listening, >>>>>> syndication, >>>>>> annotation and response. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> uphone - a phone-to-net utility to capture direct specific events >>>>>> audio recordings to the public domain, applications for witness >>>>>> outcry >>>>>> or >>>>>> evidence >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Natalie Jeremijenko >> >> > > and related: > > <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.artcenter.edu/supersonic/">http://www.artcenter.edu/supersonic/</a> > <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.matthope.org/">http://www.matthope.org/</a> > we are going to play them (live probably) into the SUPERSONIC show in > LA, through Matt Hope's Horn Massive. all summer. > + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 11. Date: 7/02/04 From: Curt Cloninger <curt@lab404.com> Subject: even better than the [ethe]real thing: a response to Alex Galloway's "Protocol" even better than the [ethe]real thing: a response to Alex Galloway's "Protocol" "All of us were slowly losing that intellectual light that allows you always to tell the similar from the identical, the metaphorical from the real. We were losing that mysterious and bright and most beautiful ability to say that Signor A has grown bestial – without thinking for a moment that he now has fur and fangs." - Casaubon from Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" ALEX GALLOWAY IS A GEEK. IT'S A GOOD THING. When reading a text on media theory, my underlying skeptical question is always, "How much do the nuances which are foregrounded and analyzed here practically relate to human experience and human society?" If they barely do, the book winds up being one more exercise in scatological academia and/or cyber-utopian fluff-urism. Refreshingly, Alex Galloway's "Protocol" succeeds in avoiding what Geert Lovink calls "vapor theory." This is due in no small part to the fact that Alex Galloway is a geek (or at least a wanna-be geek). Not "geek" in the pejorative sense, but "geek" in the "down with the root workings of technology" sense. For example, Galloway's research led him to read hundreds of RFC (Requests for Comments) documents, the technical documents that establish Internet protocol (among other things). Galloway writes, ""Far more than mere technical documentation, however, the RFCs are a discursive treasure trove for the critical theorist." I wonder how many other critical theorists would think so. Observation, interpretation, and application are the three steps of inductive textual criticism. Not a few technological pundits breeze through the initial observation step, acquiring only a superficial understanding of the tech, and then rush off to boldly interpret and apply. This leads to elaborate, inventive conclusions that are frequently misguided if not altogether wrong. But Galloway has looked long and hard at the network and its protocol, and his interpretations (even though I disagree with some of them) are more intricate and less cliche as a result of his having looked. As such, "Protocol" lays the groundwork for anyone to riff off of Galloway's insightful observations, even if her preconceived biases differ from his. Furthermore, Galloway's range of sources is so diverse, it feels like an academic compilation tape. His research is intimidatingly broad – from usability expert Jeff Veen to generative software artist Adrian Ward, from open source evangelist Richard Stallman to cult lawyer Lawrence Lessig. Marx, Baudrillard, Barthes, Foucault, and Deleuze make expected appearances. But also appearing are Marxist media theorist Hans Magnus Enzensberger, cyberfeminist Doll Yoko, and phone phreaker Knight Lightning. The list goes on (and on and on). Furthermore, "Protocol"'s tangential anecdotes about the formation of the internet and the history of hacking and virii read like a scattershot compendium of geek folklore. HEAVY INSIGHTS, WELL CODIFIED Galloway's prose, although not exactly McLuhan-esque, is inordinately sound-bytable. Below are just a few "spoilers," nuggets of particularly acute and concise insight: On the nature of protocol: "From a formal perspective, protocol is a type of object. It is a very special kind of object. Protocol is a universal description language for objects… Protocol does not produce or causally effect objects, but rather is a structuring agent that appears as the result of a set of object dispositions. Protocol is the reason that the internet works and performs work… It is etiquette for autonomous agents. It is the chivalry of the object." [Note the rare combination of precise description and poetic flair. "The chivalry of the object" is a definite keeper.] On protocol's inherent imperviousness to Modern criticism: "Only the participants [of protocol] can connect, and therefore, by definition, there can be no resistance to protocol… Opposing protocol is like opposing gravity – there is nothing that says it can't be done, but such a pursuit is surely misguided and in the end hasn't hurt gravity very much." Along the same lines: "The internet can survive [nuclear] attacks not because it is stronger than the opposition, but precisely because it is weaker. The Internet has a different diagram than a nuclear attack does; it is in a different shape. And that new shape happens to be immune to the older." Galloway rightly insists that just as code is more than a mere semantic language (it causes machines to actually do something), the network is more than just a metaphor for connectivity (it actually behaves according to protocol). He instructively traces of the cultural perception of computer viruses – from a form of intellectual exploration to a form of machinic contagion (akin to AIDS) to a form of terrorist weapon. He makes the important distinction between protocol and proprietary market dominance (Windows XP is not a form of protocol because its source code is opaque). And he offers these inspirationally punk rock samples regarding tactical media: "Everyone interested in an emancipated media should be a manipulator." "Fear of being swallowed up by the system is a sign of weakness." "The best tactical response to protocol is not resistance but hypertrophy." All culminating in this rousing definition: "The goal is not to destroy technology in some neo-Luddite delusion, but to push it into a state of hypertrophy, further than it is meant to go. Then, in its injured, sore, and unguarded condition, technology may be sculpted anew into something better, something in closer agreement with the real wants and desires of its users. This is the goal of tactical media." Right on! Where do I sign? EPISTEMOLOGY IS AS EPISTEMOLOGY DOES Having sufficiently praised "Protocol," I'd like to enter into critical dialogue with it. My first problem with the text is that it oversteps its stated scope. Galloway makes epistemological assertions without offering epistemological defenses. He says in the introduction, "I draw a critical distinction between [the] body of work [that deals with artificial intelligence], which is concerned largely with epistemology and cognitive science, and the critical media theory that inspires this book. Where the former are concerned with minds and questions epistemological, I am largely concerned with bodies and the material stratum of computer technology." Unfortunately, "bodies" and "matter" to Galloway take on markedly metaphysical meanings, meanings that delineate a fairly explicit view of reality which he feels no obligation to defend. He asserts a kind of "aesthetic materialism" (his term). In short, he seeks to recast the spiritual and soulish in terms of the "virtual," the "second nature," the cultural/sociopolitical, the "artificial," a "patina," the essence or sheen that derives from matter but is not "other than" matter. (More on this later.) "Protocol" eschews epistemological questions as not pertinent to its scope, but by deeming such questions irrelevant, Galloway has already entered into implicit dialogue on "the matter" (pun intended). If I wish to discuss human origins without talking about evolution, I'm a creationist. If I wish to discuss life without talking about soul or spirit, I'm a materialist. In the book's foreword, Eugene Thacker calls "Protocol" a type of "materialist media studies." He goes on to observe, quite accurately: "'Protocol' consistently makes a case for a material understanding of technology. 'Material' can be taken in all sense of the term, as an ontological category as well as a political and economic one." Galloway gladly owns up to politics and economics, but his ventures into ontology, although apparent, are less disclosed. MARX SAID IT, I DECONSTRUCT IT, THAT SETTLES IT My next critique of "Protocol" is that it awkwardly uses Marx's "Capital" to justify a contemporary materialist understanding of artificial life. After 14 pages of foregrounding Marx's vitalistic language, Galloway concludes, "'Capital' is an aesthetic object. The confluence of different discourses in 'Capital,' both vitalistic and economic, proves this. The use of vitalistic imagery, no matter how marginalized within the text, quite literally aestheticizes capitalism." That poetic language can transform a theoretical text into an aesthetic object seems perfectly plausible. That poetic language can "literally aestheticize" capitalism itself is a more vague and suspect assertion. Even if Marx does attribute a kind of "will" to objects within capitalism, he's not exactly celebrating reification or commodity fetishism. Galloway asserts, "[The] vitalism in Marx heralds the dawning age of protocol, I argue, by transforming life itself into an aesthetic object." Aside from the fact that "life itself" was understood as an aesthetic object in the soulish realm long before Marx, likening commodity fetishism to machinic artificial life seems an awkward stretch. Galloway himself points out that Foucault's theories of control date Marx's, and Deleuze's date Foucault's. Is Marx so canonical that he's worth 14 pages of deconstruction in order to claim him as the historical genesis of one's contemporary assertion? DUMBING DOWN LIFE Continuing on the "artificial life" critique (and invariably stepping on dozens of cyber-toes), there are two ways to make "computers" seem more than what they are. You can discern life where there is none, or you can redefine "life" until it matches what you discern in computers. Galloway subtly snubs futurist Ray Kurzweil and the Wired "gee whiz" crowd for doing the former, and then proceeds to do the latter. Building on Foucault and Deleuze, Galloway asserts that "life, hitherto considered an effuse, immaterial essence, has become matter, due to its increased imbrication with protocol forces." He assents to Crary and Winter's definition of "protocological" life as "the forces – aesthetic, technical, political, sexual – with which things combine in order to form novel aggregates of pattern and behavior." After an explication of Norbert Weiner's ideas on cybernetics, Galloway concludes, "If one views the world in terms of information…, then there is little instrumental difference between man and machine since both are able to affect dynamic systems via feedback loops." Would Weiner himself have agreed to such a sweeping generalization? So matter is life and life is matter. Not metaphorically, but actually. This is achieved by defining "life" very loosely. I'm reminded of a passage in "The Language of New Media" where Lev Manovich comes very close to defining "narrative" as any action that constitutes a change of state. Walking from room to room thus becomes a narrative. At which point I would simply choose a different word. AESTHETIC MATERIALISM AND THE CYBORGS FROM MARS Why is Galloway so keen to show that a "second nature" of aesthetic materialism exists in both social and machinic systems? Because such a "second nature" affords the exploration of an aesthetic realm without the abandonment of a materialist world view. Such a "second nature" also admits the possibility of man/machine hybridization. If reality is all just matter, and matter may be abstracted into organized information, artificial life and biological life are "virtually" kissing cousins. Galloway actually defines the information age as "that moment in history when matter itself is understood in terms of information or code. At this historical moment, protocol becomes a controlling force in social life." At the end of his chapter on "control," Galloway goes on to predict a historical period "after distribution" – a future where computers are replaced by bioinformatics, information is replaced by life, protocol is replaced by physics, and containment is replaced by peace. A similar "gee whiz" passage occurs earlier in the "control" chapter: "When Watson and Crick discovered DNA…, they prove not simply that life is an informatic object…, but rather that life is an aesthetic object; it is a double helix, an elegant, hyper-Platonic form that rises like a ladder into the heights of aesthetic purity. Life was no longer a 'pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas' (Eliot), it was a code borne from pure mathematics, an object of aesthetic beauty, a double helix! This historical moment – when life is defined no longer as essence, but as code – is the moment when life becomes a medium." I agree that DNA is fascinating stuff, but to attribute the mystery and wonder of existence to the aesthetic beauty of a DNA strand seems more like cyber-utopian poetry and less like scholarship aloof from ontological concerns. Elsewhere, Galloway waxes eloquent about biometrics: "Biometrics [the science of measuring the human body and deriving digital signatures from it] considers living human bodies not in their immaterial essences, or souls, or what have you, but in terms of quantifiable, recordable, enumerable, and encodable characteristics. It considers life as an aesthetic object. It is the natural evolution of Marx's theory of second nature." The progression from souls to quantifiable biometric information is presented as an aesthetic advancement? If anything, biometrics seems a neo-techno form of alienation. Another curious assertion: "Computer use could possibly constitute a real immigration of bodies (from the online to the offline)," which seems akin to this cryptic statement by feminist Sadie Plant: "You can't get out of matter, that's the crucial thing. But you can get out of the confining organization of matter which is shaped into things and of course, organisms." I find it difficult to accept such conceptions of the self at face value. IT'S THE PEOPLE, PEOPLE. "Protocol" radically posits that the Internet is successful not just because it is anarchic, but because this "anarchy" coexists with a rigid form of control. I agree, but I think the rigid form of control is not the DNS (Domain Name System) hierarchy (as Galloway proposes), but the core, old-boy geek community of RFC-writing protocol-shapers (which Galloway critiques as an institutional weakness of protocol). Domain names are a mnemonic convenience, but their use is not a prerequisite for entry to the network. One can still access a server using its IP number, it's just inconvenient. Yet protocols, according to Galloway's definition, are not merely meant to make access more convenient, they are meant to either enable it or forbid it altogether. Thus the real control of the Internet derives not primarily from the DNS but from the fact that protocol itself is shaped by an altruistic, but nonetheless human and extra-protocological community. Galloway argues that, "Life forms, both artificial and organic, exist in any space where material forces are actively aestheticized." I agree. But who is doing the aestheticizing? He continues, "The same protocological forces that regulate data flows within contingent environments such as distributed networks are the same forces that regulate matter itself." I'm not so sure. The forces that regulate "non-organic" "life" in network environments are protocols created by humans. The forces that regulate organic life in "natural" environments are material needs like food and shelter that are not created by humans (unless we're talking about a capitalistic environment, where many forces are man-made. But capitalism is not "matter itself.") A reasonable string of questions thus arises: can vitality exist in economic and social systems apart from human life? Is Foucault's desire to "define a method of historical analysis freed from the anthropological theme" really viable? Does vitality exist in machinic systems without initial human input? There may be some minimal form of "vitality" on the network even without any humans actively using it (Eugene Thacker muses, "Is a network a network if it's not being used?"), but would that vitality exist without humans first constructing the network's protocol to begin with? Is individual human soulishness (mind, will, emotions) at the root of such vitality? Even Tom Ray's "Tierra" (software that creates a virtual evolutionary environment in which "artificial lives" autonomously "live") still begins with human input. The "life" initially comes from Tom, and only indirectly from the protocol of the environment. STRANGE IS GOOD "Protocol" concludes on a less speculative, more balanced note. Galloway summarizes the problems inherent in protocol, and recognizes that its ethical use will ultimately depend on what we humans make of it. The fact that I'm able even able to dialogue with "Protocol" from a non-materialist, soulish perspective is testament to the solid, methodical, observational foundation Galloway has laid. Personally, the chapters in "Protocol" on hacking, tactical media, and internet art made me excited to be making internet art in 2004. Not because "Protocol" extols the virtues of some futuristic AI utopia that's just around the bend (and has been just around the bend for the last 30 years without ever quite materializing), but because it exposes and delineates the very actual, sexy, dangerous shifts in media and culture currently underway. The truth is always stranger than fiction, and strange is good. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome.org is a 501©(3) nonprofit organization and an affiliate of the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Rhizome Digest is supported by grants from The Charles Engelhard Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rhizome Digest is filtered by Kevin McGarry (kevin@rhizome.org). ISSN: 1525-9110. Volume 9, number 27. Article submissions to list@rhizome.org are encouraged. Submissions should relate to the theme of new media art and be less than 1500 words. For information on advertising in Rhizome Digest, please contact info@rhizome.org. To unsubscribe from this list, visit <a rel="nofollow" href="http://rhizome.org/subscribe">http://rhizome.org/subscribe</a>. 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