[-empyre-] Re:race, net-art

[Danny Butt <db@dannybutt.net>]

Hi all

Sorry, lost in the day job there. I should mention I've had some
back-channel with Tobias, and I mischaracterised his comments about the
"universalisation" of the "problem". He wasn't talking about Damali's work,
but about sarcasm generally. I'm not sure that's just what we was talking
about, given that it was in response to a comment about whites gettting back
some of what they have been given for centuries.

Anyway, Tobias seemed to me to be saying that it's the "they" that's the
problem - and along those lines my initial comments stand: critiquing those
in a subordinate political position for their use of "tools of power" , on
the basis that they are somehow methodologically tainted by their
association with power, is fairly troublesome from my pov. Tobias is
apparently up next on empyre so perhaps some of these discussions will flow
through in different forms.

Anyway, Tobias also made the reasonable point that my own position in making
the post could be seen as a holier-than-thou move in itself, and I don't
think there's too much to respond to there as it's one of those "when did
you stop beating your spouse?" situations. Even if I take a patronising
attitude, I hope that at least I'm not trying to exclude or hide myself from
the dynamics under critique.

I guess I'd just say that my role in a conversation like this is to critique
and extend my/our understanding of white culture, because that's what I
inhabit. What I know about black culture is knowledge that I try not to use
to discuss black experience, because that's not my place to represent.
Nevertheless, it's through blackness that we comprehend whiteness, so there
is a challenge for white culture to engage with black culture, black art,
and black people to understand what white culture is. The result is,
hopefully, that we stop seeing art as non-political, and see the whiteness
of what is just accepted as "art" rather than "identity politics".

So I assess the *work* from my POV on the basis that it extends my/our
awareness of what it means to be white, rather than whether the strategies
employed are politically problematic or not "in themselves". That's a place
from which white people can talk about racial issues in art, and there's a
hell of a lot to say about it that doesn't get discussed, because of
people's fear that they'll be branded racist.  Even if there's not a strong
language around it yet, the work of this month's guests is notable for
beginning to open up those spaces. I think, in response to the works, that
the ball lies in the court of white culture. To pick up a bit on fanon, it's
perhaps to suggest that white art has been picturing black culture for
centuries, but now white culture has to start seeing itself in others' eyes
- and artists are going to be the ones asking the hard questions that
result.  I, for one, am looking forward to the future of these dialogues...

Best,

Danny


-- 
http://www.dannybutt.net