[-empyre-] hi from EFW
and hi from me.
I'm from the mob at http://www.escapefromwoomera.org
I'm glad Sam raised the spectre of tactical media, because it's a term
that has on occasion been applied to our project.
My perspective on the this subject is that of someone who's been out of
established art circles and academia, and spent all my adult life
hanging out with old left activist hacks (which i guess i classify as
now).
>From the outside, it seems to me that not so long ago art that was
unapologetically political was considered rather naive and decidely
uncool, and would attract no small amount of po-mo sneering. But now,
radical political art seems to be considered hip in the art world
again. It's been rebranded with a new name, and not only that - it even
makes the bold claim to function as a form of political
action: "tactical media activism". I think this turn is generally a
positive sign, and very heartening. But one has to ask (again, from the
outside)- how long will this last? How much of this is based on
curatorial trends and how much on genuine political commitment? More of
the latter, I hope.
When I started to hear the phrase about the place it reminded me of a
similar sounding term that has also been used with great
enthusiasm: "Non-Violent Direct Action Tactician". This term seemed to
become extremely fasionable for a time in some of the campaigns i was
involved in a while ago (it probably always was, and probably still is
in some narrower circles). "NVDA Tactician" for short. I remember that
leading up to s11 (the blockade of the World Economic Forum in
Melbourne) everyone seemed to be running around either trying to find
one, claiming to be one, or arguing over just exactly what *is* one.
Regardless, everybody seemed convinced that it was inadvisable to be
seen in public without one.
I'm probably in danger of exaggerating here, but Tactical Media
Activism seems to me to be a phrase that's applied to almost all
political "new media" projects these days. However, from what i've read
(which is by no means a comprehensive survey of what's been written)
the original meaning behind the term is actually quite specific.
We were invited to present at the Next Five Minutes festival of
tactical media in Amsterdam last year - which was a very rewarding and
heartening experience for us. But based on what I understand to be the
original definition of TMA, I would imagine Escape From Woomera would
be classified by TMA theorists as a piece of what they call old-
fashioned "strategic media", based on the context and intent of its
development. We as game developers are concerned with the development
of a form of independent media, rather than creating a rapid response
style reaction. We choose the game medium strategically (ie as game
developers, game development for most of the team is our means of
expression in the long term) rather than tactically (ie choosing the
medium for conjunctural reasons).
Well anyway, there's a very pragmatic evaluation of how I think EFW
sits in relation to tactical media activism.
But from a more personal perspective, there are some underlying
political premises motivating some threads of the media activist
movement (if it's not oppressive of me to lump everyone in together
like that ;) ) - in particular the Critical Art Ensemble - that are at
odds with my particular take on the world.
k
> hi also,
>
> i too am honoured to be invited :-) though i am not sure what
contribution i
> can make here.
>
> maybe the following:
>
> * tactical media is the cry/hype that occurs between the clicking and
> releasing of a mouse click
>
> * tactical media gets you invited to conferences around world
>
> * tactical media gets you guest lecturer spots
>
> * tactical media helps your career path
>
> * tactical media helps sell books
>
> * clap for tactical media. cluck for activism. clop for boredom.
>
> see ya, sam :-)
>
> ps. i started up and continue to run the myspinach server (which is
very very
> different to the spinach7 magazine) ... click for background:
> http://www.myspinach.org/sam/spinhistory.html
>
>
>
> On Thursday 03 June 2004 17:20, Boat People wrote:
> > greetings to the Empyre list.
> > Boat-people.org are honoured to be invited.
> >
> > I thought I'd start by saying that our bio statement originally said
> > that our work has encompassed sending online instructions for
> > 'subversive, er, origami'.
> >
> > That 'er' is critical to our understanding of ourselves: we wish we
> > could claim with zero irony to be deadset subversive, but we can't.
> >
> > The boat-people crew rack our collective brains for ways to talk
> > back to the miasma of mendacity characterising public life here in
> > australia; how to be antidotes to amnesia, how to illuminate the
> > lies & what they obscure, how to mobilise wit, passion & creativity
> > to undermine the empires' rule over us... and everything we come
> > up with is gestural, symbolic, frail at best. It blows away.
> >
> > We wish it were possible to 'click for activism'.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > empyre forum
> > empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> > http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>
> --
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>
>
--
"I am in command - obey me and be free! You are free to go!"
- The Prisoner
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