Re: [-empyre-] The Collaborator

["geert lovink" <geert@xs4all.nl>]

Marius wrote:

> I've been in this position myself, and it is not very comfortable. As the
> outsider with connections to the "underground culture" (the ultimate hip)

That might be the problem. There are vast parts of the underground
that are not hip at all. The fear of appropriation is general state of
paranoia. However, in my experience, it is only applicable to very
particular, timely activities, gestures and 'memes'.

One way to circumvent this problem (which exists, of course) is to
engage in useless projects, untimely events, nonsensical forms of
media and ineffective rituals of resistance.

> This transfer of knowledge from the underground to the dominant culture is
> a time-honored tradition, and is only possible due to the "collaboration"
> of actors close to the underground. An underground they're ultimately
> selling, piece by piece. But then again, is there still such a thing as a
> mythical "underground"?

Perhaps not. But once you forget about the self-importance of
avant-garde, underground and subcultures, there is a whole
universe out there, ready to discovered (and extended).

Best, Geert