[-empyre-] Intro

[valerie <valerie@mobilegaze.com>]

Dear Melinda / [empyre] -

Thank you for the introduction. As you mentioned - I am a
multi-tasker par excellence - involved in performance, technology,
curating Web art and running an online magazine/ dissemination
project (MobileGaze). I hope to be able to cover a number of
questions / subjects around these various disciplines and interest in
the coming weeks with the [empyre] community which I have avidly been
listening in on over the course of the last few months.

So here goes...

I want to take this opportunity to start by discussing issues around
Web dissemination and visibility. I've been involved in Web art for a
little over 4 years - and I have come to 2 recent conclusions /
questions which have sparked animated debates in my local artistic
circles.

The first conclusion is that the public at large using the Internet
on a daily basis is not exceptionally involved in viewership of Web
art. This is something which I seek to resolve in actively promoting
Web art works - especially locally. However - I realize that it is
obviously a question that goes beyond "access" and rather touches on
expectations of "form" and "content". So, any thoughts on that would
be welcome.

My second question (which has been postulated in recent museum
exhibitions at Whitney & SFMoma - and locally in Montreal with events
such as the Web section of the Biennale de Montréal) is how to make a
transition of presentation to a wider public through museum contexts
etc. without sabotaging the wonderful fluidity of production and
presentation on the Web? I know that some people have reacted
strongly against "museum" exhibitions - however, I also feel that Web
artists wish to be a part of the establishment. The reason I ask this
question in part is because I am curating an upcoming Web art
exhibition at the Musée du Québec (Canada) and these concerns have
been raised both outside and inside the institution.

However, MobileGaze (http://www.mobilegaze.com) - and art collective
site that I run with net.artist Brad Todd
(http://www.mobilegaze.com/zero) - is probably the other end of the
spectrum of presentation. We do not have a space (other than
cyberspace) or employees or even a strict schedule. Here we've opted
for thematic "issues" (like a magazine) which feature video as well
as written interviews with artists and digital producers. However,
I'm curious of other formats (examples) of Web dissemination that Web
artists feel are successful?

What is the future of Web dissemination?

Best - Valerie

> -empyre- is pleased to introduce our guests for July Valérie Lamontagne and
> Sylvie Parent, both form Montréal, Canada who will discuss different aspects
> of gallery and online curation, web history and factors relating to the
> visibility of web.art. They have collaborated  on projects such as the
> Location / Dislocation show, and they will each discuss their individual
> projects, Valérie hosting -empyre- forum the first two weeks of the month ,
> with Sylvie becoming the guest host from 15 July.
>
> ---> Valérie Lamontagne - a Montréal artist, freelance art critic, and
> curator, will present the collectively produced online zine MobileGaze which
> looks at new media arts, providing in-depth online video interviews with
> media artists, and live Webcast events; and Location / Dislocation, a
> net.art exhibition, curated in collaboration with Sylvie Parent, and
> presented in the context of the Saison du Québec à New York at the New
> Museum of Contemporary Art.Valérie will also discuss the current show online
> at MobileGaze "Matter + Memory".
>
> ---> Sylvie Parent is a free lance curator and art critic. She was editor of
> the CIAC Electronic Magazine (Centre international d'art contemporain de
> Montréal) from 1997 to 2001, an on-line publication dedicated to the
> promotion of net.art, and curated the net.art component of the Biennale de
> Montréal in 2000. Last year she co-curated Location/Dislocation with Valérie
> Lamontagne, and is currently engaged in investigating the history of web art
> in Québec, and artistic content for mobile phones and pda's. Sylvie will
> discuss the importance of an historical point of view on web art, and
> consider projects that had less visibility on the web for reasons of
> geography, networking, language, etc.
>
> +++++
>
> Valérie  Lamontagne
> http://www.mobilegaze.com/valerie/valerielamontagne.html
> MobileGaze                   http://www.mobilegaze.com
> Location  / Dislocation       http://www.deplacement.qc.ca
> CIAC Electronic Magazine    http://www.ciac.ca/magazine/
> Biennale de Montréal in 2000   http://www.ciac.ca/biennale2000
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyrean/empyre


--
MobileGaze: on-line culture.
http://www.mobilegaze.com

Matter + Memory net.art exhibition
http://www.mobilegaze.com/m+m