<html><head><style>body{font-family:Helvetica,Arial;font-size:13px}</style></head><body style="word-wrap:break-word;line-break:after-white-space"><div id="bloop_customfont" style="margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12px">Sometime a long long time ago — the mid-, to late-, 1980s, in a galaxy far far away I attended a dual-presentation by the Krokers (in political science by the way — not art, not comparative literature, not cultural studies). My encounter was, like Ricardo Rene Dominguez’s (RRD), in Florida … and they were very likely brought to town (Gainesville) by Greg Ulmer. It might have been near the time of the Forget Foucault show in Miami, and although I’m fuzzy on the geographical and temporal, the encounter was so profound psychogeographically for two reasons — the Krokers were doing the sort of decentering of the singular author that we were interested in and also mixing the best critical theoretical illuminations with something like the work I had seen by Peter Rose (who film The Pressures of the Text and his performance with it; and around that time I also studied with </span></font><span style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;"><font face="Helvetica"><font color="#2c2c2c"><span style="font-size:12px;letter-spacing:0.7px">Diane S. Rubenstein </span><span style="font-size:12px;letter-spacing:0.699999988079071px">—</span><span style="font-size:12px;letter-spacing:0.7px"> another fascinating political scientist</span></font></font></span><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12px">) — I can’t remember the order I saw them all (it is a blur), but I saw Rose in mid-, to late-, 1980s, and studied with Rubenstein the next year. Watch the video that R. R. Dominguez posted below — the sound sometimes fails, but overall it is amazing — and for me was like a potion to take me back — Marilouise was wearing a black jacket and the whole performance was like a concert with the talk going back and forth like a haromonizing duet. </span></font></div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12px"><br></span></font></div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12px">The Krokers though had/have another important effect on emerging knowledge (as the video demonstrates — R. R. Dominguez posted the link below) on a critical approach to the neurological reduction of everything to metrics and measurements via the e-media data-mining of eyeballs and minds (the video and their work is difficult to summarize in a paragraph or in a tweet), but it was that also because they were from far Western Canada that also left a lasting impression on me for we all knew (or at least I knew) that we were both marginalized (Florida/Victoria are on opposite ends of the continent … and neither place is Paris, New York, or LA). The idea of a Florida School could have been a U Vic School — or a Panic School (which might speak also to our contemporary situation) — but in my mind it meant that you didn’t need to live near the Yale School or the home of diacritics … if the Krokers were doing it than I wanted to be there (wherever). The folded the mapping.</span></font></div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12px"><br></span></font></div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12px">Thank you Marilouise. And, condolences to Arthur. </span></font></div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12px"><br></span></font></div><div id="bloop_customfont" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);margin:0px"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12px"><br></span></font></div> <font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12px"><br></span></font><p class="airmail_on"><font face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:12px">On May 27, 2018 at 6:55:43 PM, Ricardo Rene Dominguez (<a href="mailto:rrd54@cornell.edu">rrd54@cornell.edu</a>) wrote:</span></font></p> <blockquote type="cite" class="clean_bq"><span style="font-size:12px"><div dir="ltr"><font face="Helvetica"><div></div><div>----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
<title></title>
<div id="divtagdefaultwrapper" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)" dir="ltr">
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span>All my deepest love to Arthur
for his loss.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span><br></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span>Marilouise will always be
dancing all night long with Critical Art Ensemble in Miami in
the late 80's after our show "Forget Foucault."</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span>She was a brilliant shining star
and along with Arthur offered us deep support even if we were young
and bumbling.<br></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span><br></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span>(I have an endless tales of her
support of all the work I have been involved
in).<br></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span><br></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span>I first encountered the
hyper-research on excremental cultures while taking a lunch break
from Rubyfruit Books, an independent lesbian bookstore, I worked at
in Tallahassee, Fl in the 80's. I would get high and go across the
street to Florida State University Lib. journal stacks floor and do
my own version of psychogeographics by closing my eyes and randomly
drifting, then stopping and just pulling out whatever journal my
fingers happen to be touching. I pulled out something entitled
The Canadian Journal of Theory and Politics. It was CRITICAL
CRACK!! Exactly what I needed, what my crew Critical Art Ensemble
needed and we sniffed it up and didn't
stop.<br></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span><br></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span>A couple of months after
discovering the Krokers I had set up my book table to sell my wares
(by then I had <span class="bookTitle">Feminism Now: Theory and
Practice</span> and <span class="bookTitle"><a href="http://www.ctheory.net/book2.asp?bookid=15" id="LPlnk934206" class="OWAAutoLink">Technology and the
Canadian Mind: Innis/McLuhan/Grant</a></span> and issues of the
journal that would later be published as the Postmodern
Scene. The first day of the conference had started and then
(remember this was before you could instantly stalk peoples visages
on-line), I saw to fingers dressed in deep black with neon yellow
backpacks with a segments of a poem in French tracing across them.
In my dazed and confused mind I automatically knew that what was
sauntering down the hall were the Krokers (it is amazing what a
critically high mind can do :-). I hailed them over and presented
my self and their books. They were so happy to see them present in
the cultural frontier of Tallahassee, Fl. I tolled them to the
ditch the conference and come party with CAE. Without hesitation
that followed me down the yellow brick road and they never left our
side.<br></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span> <br></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span>Marilouise via the multiple
gestures she co-produced with Arthur established a critical
aesthetics and algo-rhythms at the edges of what could be thought
and felt. She worked with me on getting the very first gesture that
I published under my own name in the 90's in Ctheory on Digital
Zapatismo. It with deepest love that remember her kindness, her
support and most importantly the depth and fearlessness of her
critical investigations.<br></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span><br></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span>The last time I saw her was in a
show I co-curated at Gallery@CALIT2 at UCSD entitled <span class="text">"Drones at Home" in 2012. Arthur and Marilouise came down
and did a series of lectures and performances. In the video you
will get a sense of her voice and also about an hour into the video
you can see and hear their experimental videos as
well:</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span><span class="text"><br></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span><span class="text"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2sq4YO9hYE" class="OWAAutoLink" id="LPlnk389893">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2sq4YO9hYE</a></span></span></span></p>
<div id="LPBorder_BVTaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g:dj1tMnNxNFlPOWhZRQ.._15274194357930.4061698041169791" style="margin-bottom:20px;overflow:auto;width:100%;text-indent:0px">
<table id="LPContainer_15274194357870.07916560665736017" style="width:90%;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);overflow:auto;padding-top:20px;padding-bottom:20px;margin-top:20px;border-top:1px dotted rgb(200,200,200);border-bottom:1px dotted rgb(200,200,200)" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr style="border-spacing:0px" valign="top">
<td id="ImageCell_15274194357880.4306266466444193" style="width:250px;display:table-cell;padding-right:20px" colspan="1">
<div id="LPImageContainer_15274194357880.087527142209185" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);height:140px;margin:auto;width:250px">
<a id="LPImageAnchor_15274194357880.7835892452993549" style="display:table-cell;text-align:center" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2sq4YO9hYE" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline-block; max-width: 250px; max-height: 250px; height: 140px; width: 250px; border-width: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" id="LPThumbnailImageID_15274194357880.7967886706823345" width="250" height="140" src="https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVP.9qj8N1MJY5xXTIMN7r6kUgEsCo&pid=Api"></a></div>
</td>
<td id="TextCell_15274194357900.11852284659884793" style="vertical-align:top;padding:0px;display:table-cell" colspan="2">
<div id="LPRemovePreviewContainer_15274194357910.5177761917194368">
</div>
<div id="LPTitle_15274194357910.09779525901168584" style="color:rgb(179,27,27);line-height:21px">
<a id="LPUrlAnchor_15274194357920.06391510164512548" style="text-decoration:none" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2sq4YO9hYE" target="_blank">Exits
to the Post Human Future + After the Drones</a></div>
<div id="LPMetadata_15274194357920.7485015841467941" style="margin:10px 0px 16px;color:rgb(102,102,102);line-height:14px">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com">www.youtube.com</a></div>
<div id="LPDescription_15274194357920.4579861427162413" style="display:block;color:rgb(102,102,102);line-height:20px;max-height:100px;overflow:hidden">
This lecture by theorists Arthur and Marilouise Kroker and
reception will mark the closing of Phase 3 of Drones at Home, a
three-part exhibition in the gallery@calit2 ...</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<span>Con Amor Infinito,</span>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><span><span><span class="text">Ricardo<br></span></span></span></p>
<br>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><br></p>
</div>
<hr style="display:inline-block;width:98%" tabindex="-1">
<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font color="#000000">From:
<a href="mailto:empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a>
<<a href="mailto:empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a>> on behalf of
Renate Terese Ferro <<a href="mailto:rferro@cornell.edu">rferro@cornell.edu</a>><br>
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2018 10:37:20 PM<br>
To: soft_skinned_space<br>
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] In memory of Marilouise Kroker
1943-2018</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="BodyFragment">
<div class="PlainText">----------empyre- soft-skinned
space----------------------<br>
Thanks Tim and Ana, If there are others of you who have thoughts or
memories about Marilouise Kroker please post. We will keep
this thread open until the 31st of May.<br>
Renate<br>
<br>
Renate Ferro<br>
Visiting Associate Professor<br>
Director of Undergraduate Studies<br>
Department of Art<br>
Tjaden Hall 306<br>
<a href="mailto:rferro@cornell.edu">rferro@cornell.edu</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 5/26/18, 2:04 PM, "<a href="mailto:empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a> on
behalf of Timothy Conway Murray"
<<a href="mailto:empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a> on behalf of
<a href="mailto:tcm1@cornell.edu">tcm1@cornell.edu</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
----------empyre- soft-skinned
space----------------------<br>
What a shock it was to learn of Marilouise
Kroker’s death on Tuesday after an extremely short illness.
Renate and I have so valued our years of friendship and
collaboration with Marilouise. As Renate mentioned, it was
very much the influence of Arthur and Marilouise that urged us to
join in collaboration for –empyre- and other writing and curatorial
projects after firmly keeping our work separate for the first
period of our professional lives together, when Renate would work
separately in her studio and I would write my stuff across the
house in my study, only to meet in the middle of house at the end
of the day to share our creations. Marilouise and Arthur
helped us to understand that it could be exciting and creative to
share our voices in public. Strangely the other couple
similarly influencing us were Helen and Newton Harrison, with Helen
also leaving us in April (at 90, with a good fifteen years of more
production than Marilouise would be granted).<br>
<br>
Marilouise joined with Arthur to usher in the
first wave of “critical digital studies” with their tireless work
on CTHEORY – the first online journal – and their many publishing
projects. So many –empyre- subscribers will remember the
verve and edge of their infamous public critical performances when,
clad in cool black and amplified by body mics, they would alternate
reading their experimental prose with their characteristic flat and
edgy voices as if cyborgs clad in human bodies. Marilouise
was one of the early critical figures to insist on the fractious
rub of the feminist voice on the culture of the big daddy
mainframe. Her 1993 collection with Arthur, The Last Sex:
Feminism and Outlaw Bodies, provided a cyberfeminist stage
for the likes of Kathy Acker and provided an added echo chamber for
the growing and loud resonance of global cyberfeminist voices of
those pioneering figures and collectives such as Donna Haraway,
Sadie Plant, VNS Matrix, Old Boys Network, and subRosa.<br>
<br>
Renate and I enjoyed a magical semester with
Marilouise in Ithaca when she and Arthur were in residence at
Cornell’s Society for the Humanities for the 1998-99 theme year,
“The Virtual.” Even when Marilouise was struggling with
severe back pain at the time, she was always laughing and
mischievous in planning the next critical disruption of the utopic
digital scene or when sending me and Arthur off to the ice rink for
what she would call our “philosophical skates.” And I so well
recall her infectious glee when Reggie Woolery and Srinivas
Aravamudan cooked up the idea to launch a pirate internet radio
program of music and critical interviews in which she and Arthur
starred (perhaps one of the very first such online radio shows,
which Cornell soon shut down over copyright paranoia). Just
before they came to Ithaca, Marilouise and Arthur seized upon the
emergent multimedia capacities of the internet to launch their
first multimedia version of CTHEORY: “Digital Dirt” (<a href="http://ctheorymultimedia.cornell.edu">http://ctheorymultimedia.cornell.edu</a>).
Aiming to infect “the antiseptic cleanliness” of “the ruling
illusion of digital reality,” “Digital Dirt” provided a mixed media
platform for interventions in noise, e-art, and text. As we
spent that Virtual period together at Cornell, we hatched the idea
of creating a separate space for critical net.art, “CTHEORY
Multimedia,” which we opened at the Cornell Library with the help
of Associate Librarian, Tom Hickerson. Profiting from library
programmers and designers dedicated to CTHEORY Multimedia, we
produced three additional issues of net.art whose criticality and
artistic breadth were unparalleled on the international scene:
“Tech Flesh: The Promise and Perils of the Human Genome Project,”
“Wired Ruins: Digital Terror and Ethnic Paranoia,” and “NetNoise”
for which we jointly wrote curatorial statements. These
issues are remarkably still accessible. Co-writing with
Marilouise and Arthur was such an intellectual and stylistic thrill
for me. My critical style has never been the same! One
of my favorite memories was joining them on a phone call, when I
dialed them in Montreal as I sat in the parking lot of Arthur and
my favorite Ithaca ice rink, when Marilouise characteristically and
so gently yet firmly always came up with the perfect solution to
the prosaic differences we were struggling over. For
NetNoise, we also recorded our readings of our curatorial
statements. We combined our voices for the introductory
curatorial statement and then each of our voices were featured on
the statements framing the individual net.art pods. On Tuesday
night, after learning the sad news from Arthur, I clicked on the
link to the curatorial note for “Sound Culture” and marveled, as
I’m doing again right now, at the remarkable grain of Marilouise’s
voice. As I conclude this brief homage to Marilouise, I
invite you all to join me in listening to the critical verve and
haunting voice of Marilouise’s contributions to critical digital
culture: <a href="http://ctheorymultimedia.cornell.edu/four.php">http://ctheorymultimedia.cornell.edu/four.php</a>
).<br>
<br>
The grain of your NetNoise lingers on the net,
dear Marilouise.<br>
<br>
Tim<br>
<br>
Timothy Murray<br>
Director, Cornell Council for the Arts and
Curator, CCA Biennial<br>
<a href="http://cca.cornell.edu">http://cca.cornell.edu</a><br>
Curator, Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media
Art<br>
<a href="http://goldsen.library.cornell.edu">http://goldsen.library.cornell.edu</a>
<<a href="http://goldsen.library.cornell.edu/">http://goldsen.library.cornell.edu/</a>><br>
Professor of Comparative Literature and
English<br>
<br>
B-1 West Sibley Hall<br>
Cornell University<br>
Ithaca, New York 14853<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 5/26/18, 11:54 AM,
"<a href="mailto:empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a> on behalf of Renate
Terese Ferro" <<a href="mailto:empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a> on
behalf of <a href="mailto:rferro@cornell.edu">rferro@cornell.edu</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
----------empyre-
soft-skinned space----------------------<br>
Sorry all. Sent
out the unedited version inadvertently. Use this version to pass on
to others please.<br>
<br>
Tim and I are
heartbroken to write to all of you today.<br>
<br>
Marilouise Kroker, died
earlier this week at home on May 22, 2018. She was an author and
Senior Research Scholar at the Pacific Centre for Technology and
Culture, University of Victoria. With her collaborator and husband,
Arthur Kroker, she wrote Hacking the Future (1996). She also
co-edited and introduced numerous anthologies including Critical
Digital Studies A Reader (2008), Digital Delirium (1997), Body
Invaders (1987), The Last Sex (1993). Arthur and Marilouise also
jointly edited the online academic journal Ctheory, an
international journal of theory, technology and culture.
Collaborating with Tim Murray they created the curatorial online
project, C-theory Multimedia. For more of their work:<br>
<a href="http://krokers.net/">http://krokers.net/</a><br>
<a href="http://ctheory.net/ctheory_wp/author/marilouisekroker/">http://ctheory.net/ctheory_wp/author/marilouisekroker/</a><br>
<a href="http://ctheorymultimedia.cornell.edu/">http://ctheorymultimedia.cornell.edu/</a><br>
<br>
Marilouise and Arthur
Kroker have been vital parts of our personal fiber for the past
twenty years. It has been their courage and trailblazing efforts at
personal collaboration that provided us the beacon of example for
us personally. Tim’s common work and writing for CTHEORY
Multimedia has been one of the personal and artistic highlights of
his career. Marilouise was ripped from Arthur so quickly and
cruelly.<br>
<br>
Over the next week,
until we introduce the next topic hosted by ShuLea Cheang please
feel free to add thoughts and narratives about Marilouise. We
send our heartfelt condolences to Arthur at this time from the
entire –empyre- soft-skinned community.<br>
<br>
Renate Ferro<br>
and Tim Murray<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Renate Ferro<br>
Visiting Associate
Professor<br>
Director of
Undergraduate Studies<br>
Department of Art<br>
Tjaden Hall 306<br>
<a href="mailto:rferro@cornell.edu">rferro@cornell.edu</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 5/26/18, 11:47 AM,
"<a href="mailto:empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a> on behalf of Renate
Terese Ferro" <<a href="mailto:empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre-bounces@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a> on
behalf of <a href="mailto:rferro@cornell.edu">rferro@cornell.edu</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------<br>
Tim and I are heartbroken to write to all of you today.<br>
<br>
Marilouise Kroker, died earlier this week at home on May
22,nd 2018. She was an author and Senior Research Scholar at
the Pacific Centre for Technology and Culture, University of
Victoria. With her collaborator and husband, Arthur Kroker, she
wrote Hacking the Future (1996). She also co-edited and introduced
numerous anthologies including Critical Digital Studies A Reader
(2008), Digital Delrium (1997), Body Invaders (1987), The Last Sex
(1993). Arthur and Marilouise and Arthur also jointly edited the
online academic journal Ctheory, an international journal of
theory, technology and culture. Collaborating with Tim Murray they
created the curatorial online project, C-theory Multimedia. For
further colaborations see the following links:<br>
<a href="http://krokers.net/">http://krokers.net/</a><br>
<a href="http://ctheory.net/ctheory_wp/author/marilouisekroker/">http://ctheory.net/ctheory_wp/author/marilouisekroker/</a><br>
<a href="http://ctheorymultimedia.cornell.edu/">http://ctheorymultimedia.cornell.edu/</a><br>
<br>
Marilouise and Arthur Kroker have been vital parts of our personal
fiber for the past twenty years. It has been their courage and
trailblazing efforts at personal collaboration that provided us the
beacon of example for us personally. Tim’s common work and
writing for CTHEORY Multimedia with the Krokers has been one of the
personal and artistic highlights of his career. Marilouise
was ripped from Arthur so quickly and cruelly.<br>
<br>
Over the next week, until we introduce the next topic hosted by
ShuLea Cheang please feel free to add thoughts and narratives about
Marilouise. We send our heartfelt condolences to Arthur at
this time from the entire –empyre- soft-skinned community.<br>
<br>
Renate Ferro<br>
and Tim Murray<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Renate Ferro<br>
Visiting Associate Professor<br>
Director of Undergraduate Studies<br>
Department of Art<br>
Tjaden Hall 306<br>
<a href="mailto:rferro@cornell.edu">rferro@cornell.edu</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
empyre forum<br>
<a href="mailto:empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a><br>
<a href="http://empyre.library.cornell.edu">http://empyre.library.cornell.edu</a><br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
empyre forum<br>
<a href="mailto:empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a><br>
<a href="http://empyre.library.cornell.edu">http://empyre.library.cornell.edu</a><br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
empyre forum<br>
<a href="mailto:empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a><br>
<a href="http://empyre.library.cornell.edu">http://empyre.library.cornell.edu</a><br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
empyre forum<br>
<a href="mailto:empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a><br>
<a href="http://empyre.library.cornell.edu">http://empyre.library.cornell.edu</a></div>
</div>
_______________________________________________
<br>empyre forum
<br><a href="mailto:empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au">empyre@lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au</a>
<br><a href="http://empyre.library.cornell.edu">http://empyre.library.cornell.edu</a></div></font></div></span></blockquote> <div id="bloop_sign_1527464061526437888" class="bloop_sign"></div></body></html>