This Saturday, artist/educator/author Curt Cloninger will give a brief lecture on the banks of the French Broad River in Asheville, NC about psychogeography, the Situationist practice of dérive, and Henri Bergson's understanding of time, memory, and the mind. After Cloninger instructs participants in the finer points of subjectively drifting through time in order to reclaim it, participants will drift downriver in floating tubes. The last person to reach the destination (a bar) will be crowned the winner.
Without further ado, here is a roundup of this week's events and deadlines, culled as always from Rhizome Announce.
London, UK
27 & 28 July: Join Sam Ashby, Jesse Darling, Fabienne Hess and Jon Rafman for a special two-day open studio exhibition at The White Building. An Afterparty will be held on the 28th at 8.30pm.
Asheville, NC
27 July, 10.30am: The Media Arts Project presents "Off the MAP - DRIFT unRACE."
Berlin
26 July, 7.00pm: Opening of "TALES °F TOMORROW," which proposes futuristic alternatives to sexual reproduction, at team titanic.
NYC AREA
23 July, 7.00pm: Brooklyn Futurist Society and the Volumetric Society present "Jonathan D. Moreno, Author of Mind Wars." (Full info).
24 July, 11.00am: Symposium on "Surveillance, Cybersecurity, and the Future of the Internet."
San Jose, CA
24 July, 2.00pm and 26 July, 6.00pm: "A series of innovative, creative and collaborative workshops combining art, community, design, technology, and science." ZERO1 Garage, 439 S. 1st Street.
San Francisco, CA
26 July, 7.00pm: Opening of "AN EXHIBITION WHICH COMES AND GOES AS IT PLEASES" at Et al Gallery.
Jobs
23 July: "Art and Art History Department at The College of New Jersey seeks Adjunct Faculty to teach AAV-255/Web 1 for the fall 2013 semester."
29 July: "Rhizome seeks a highly capable, communicative and organized internet native to care for and cultivate our community."
Deadlines
26 July: "ArtUP! invites artists from Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey to submit their work for the exhibition 'Home/s' that will take place in Athens and will be curated by Daphne Dragona and Katerina Gkoutziouli...Home/s' will aim to explore the notion of 'home' in times of constant connectivity"
31 July: "VIDA 15.0, Art and Artificial Life International Awards...will be looking for artistic projects that offer innovative perspectives on life by using the latest technology and cutting-edge scientific knowledge."
This seems to be reaching conceptually, and grabs little.
I love tubing, and I love Situationism, but this seems rather exploitative of both.
Hey Rhizome, thanks so much for featuring us, but just to let you know, the link yo our open studio doesn't seem to be working. Hope all is well :)
http://rhizome.org/announce/events/59771/view/
Fixed, thanks!!
Hi all,
Here are my notes to myself for the drift talk thing tomorrow.
Best,
Curt
///////////////////////
DRIFT unRACE NOTES:
explain DEBORD's derive (drift through city via attraction/repulsion). a metaphorical drift.
river sets tires and humans horizontal. what was moving you forward is now spinning you round. the river has most of the locutionary agency now.
so… with the river taking care of space, humans can focus less on space and more on time. might there be a way to derive/drift through time, attracted to certain memories and repulsed by others? (Can't we already do this without drifting on a river? how does a river help?)
BERGSON on matter/memory >> memory not stored any "where." we have total recall. present tense matter acts as a filter. (the kitten experiment >> bodies in space give meaning to vision). Dreaming: everything comes up and connects, because there is no matter filter.
so on a river, there are fewer things to demand our immediate attention. More like dreaming.
——————–
A bit about the artificiality of the nature/culture divide:
Traffic sounds, the smell of sourwood. the river is a way to experience western north carolina that is not exclusively "rural" or "urban," "natural" or "manmade." the idea of nature apart from humans is a manmade idea from romanticism. humans are always a part of nature, and the things we build are "natural." (maybe not ethically beneficial or sustainable, but not merely because they are "un-natural.")
——————–
actualizing the virtual. WHITEHEAD's process of ingression. an egyptian pyramid as a particularly long and related series of micro-events (bergson would say a single enduring event) rather than a discrete object. everything (and humans) constantly becoming.
What agency do we have to navigate/drift through memories? PROUST suggests not a lot. The sound of a spoon on a plate throws him backwards in time, the taste of a madeleine cake. involuntary experiences. So maybe this drift is just a futile experiment.
Anyway, some suggestions…
1) passively drift as much as possible (although you will have to purposefully navigate some). [Don't fear waves/troubled waters >> that's the riverbed dropping in steps. river's so high now, it's well over most rocks.]
2) Don't be bothered by the mix of man-made/natural. try to enjoy it for what it is – our world, right now.
3) don't wear a watch, don't worry about winning/losing.
4) enjoy time with friends, but let yourself go solo for at least a while.
5) be attentive to your own memories. don't strain (drifting is not forcing), but maybe something will arise, having been primed but unbidden.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
announce about bridge landmarks and Bywater Bar sign. Bywater is closed. beer at Wedge.
share your email, get people to send you >>
1) their name
2) how much time they felt like they spent
3) how much time they actually spent (discovered once they got out)
4) any past memories, thoughts, critiques, or anything else they want to share.