[-empyre-] Re: empyre digest, Vol 1 #168 -

[newradio <new.radio@verizon.net>]

hello Valerie, Sylvie. Melinda et.al. Having read the empyre list on a more
or less regular basis, I'd like to suggest that it -- and particularly the
blogs/vogs stuff --  suggests a possible way of looking at one of Valerie's
concerns: As the director of the turbulence website  (we commission and
present artistic work for the Internet) and an early if somewhat reluctant
participant in the presentation of net art in physical spaces, I too have
been aware that the public is not particularly drawn to viewing net art.
What it is drawn to and what many of the empyre group have  demonstrated
they are drawn to is participation. They want to do something: blog or vog,
not necessarily view the work of someone calling herself an artist. EXCEPT
-- and this has been true for as long as I can remember on the net -- to
learn from her (or him) how to do something -- to grab a piece of
programming, an idea..

I don't honestly know that museum or gallery presentation is going to
increase viewership. What they do is put an old-timey seal of approval on
the field, and a pressure on artists to create more object-like work.
Festivals strike me as something else, perhaps because they're more fun,
usually show more work, and one can participate in them: check out a few
things, talk to people you know etc.

So my question in return to Valerie is: isn't expecting viewership from the
public a concern related to all forms of art? And wouldn't this kind of
"art" be better promoted by encouraging online viewing? I frankly prefer to
view from my home. The idea of schlepping across NYC  to see one or two
works I could easily see at home is pretty appalling .. I do think there's a
big difference between home viewing and the impersonal gallery or museum
viewing. And that the general public may in fact be intimidated by the
gallery/museum setting .. I may be wrong, but send me some URLs for
home-viewing and you have a viewer. Expect me to travel across town to the
gallery or museum and you may not.

-- Helen Thorington
http://turbulence.org
http://new-radio.org/helen/



Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2002 16:25:36 -0400
To: empyre@imap.cofa.unsw.edu.au
From: valerie <valerie@mobilegaze.com>
Subject: [-empyre-] Intro
Reply-To: empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au

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 Montr=E9al) 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 Mus=E9e du Qu=E9bec (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 Val=E9rie Lamontagne a=
nd
>Sylvie Parent, both form Montr=E9al, Canada who will discuss different aspe=
cts
>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, Val=E9rie hosting -empyre- forum the first two weeks of the month=
 ,
>with Sylvie becoming the guest host from 15 July.
>
>---> Val=E9rie Lamontagne - a Montr=E9al artist, freelance art critic, and
>curator, will present the collectively produced online zine MobileGaze whic=
h
>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 Qu=E9bec =E0 New York at the New
>Museum of Contemporary Art.Val=E9rie will also discuss the current show onl=
ine
>at MobileGaze "Matter + Memory".
>
>---> Sylvie Parent is a free lance curator and art critic. She was editor o=
f
>the CIAC Electronic Magazine (Centre international d'art contemporain de
>Montr=E9al) 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
>Montr=E9al in 2000. Last year she co-curated Location/Dislocation with Val=
=E9rie
>Lamontagne, and is currently engaged in investigating the history of web ar=
t
>in Qu=E9bec, 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.
>
>+++++
>
>Val=E9rie  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 Montr=E9al in 2000   http://www.ciac.ca/biennale2000
>
>