Re: [-empyre-] hi from EFW

[Simon Biggs <simon@littlepig.org.uk>]

Eric Kluitenberg, Pat Lichty and a few others are putting together a letter
with significant institutional backing. Details are being worked out on the
CRUMB list. The idea is to tackle the authorities in their own language and
on their terms - thus the institutional approach. I would say that is a well
judged way to do it. Any other would just look like a bunch of artists and
activists whinging, which would possibly be counter-productive in the
situation.

If people wish to be involved in the drafting perhaps they should visit the
CRUMB site and look at the archive of postings and contemplate joining the
list.

Best

Simon



On 03.06.04 13:12, "Jim Andrews" <jim@vispo.com> wrote:

>> 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.
> 
> All I know about the Critical Art Ensemble is the little I've read in the
> recent posts on the net concerning Steven Kurtz and the USA government
> suspicion that his mobile DNA extraction lab is being used as a weapon of
> bioterrorism. It sounds like a nightmarish situation for Steven Kurtz. So
> I'm very curious to hear about them and how you feel they are at odds with
> your take on things.
> 
> Also, I wonder if any of the guests are interested in commenting on
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1226951,00.html . It
> talks about the, er, I was going to say 'political function of art' but it
> is mostly about political dysfunction.
> 
> ja
> 
>>> 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
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Simon Biggs
simon@littlepig.org.uk
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/

Research Professor
Art and Design Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
http://www.shu.ac.uk/schools/cs/cri/adrc/research2/

Senior Research Fellow
Computer Laboratory
University of Cambridge