Re: [-empyre-] meta view / vitalism vs culture

Mitchell Whitelaw <mitchell.whitelaw@canberra.edu.au> · Wed, 17 Nov 2004 22:23:24 +1100

Sorry, I'm lagging...
On 17/11/2004, at 9:22 AM, daniel mafe wrote:
In your book, Mitchell you give an interesting historical account of 
a-life's vitalist "origins".  This is a problem for its mainstream 
acceptance now as the dominant paradigm for art now is as a purely 
cultural and even linguistic construct or by-product (or maybe 
symptom!).  How does a-life fit in or become visible within that kind 
of frame?  I am sure it can after all how separate is science from the 
language it uses to describe things and the culture within which it is 
embedded.

This is a good point and it's certainly a tension that persists within 
a-life art. Ken Rinaldo, who will be joining us soon, would have an 
interesting view on this. There is a range of perspectives within the 
field. Artists such as Natalie Jeremijenko deploy a-life reflexively, 
and with a very clear cultural grounding; others such as Sommerer and 
Mignonneau, align with Roy Ascott in proposing a-life as a paradigm for 
post-postmodern art and science - a methodology which re-synthesises 
the fragmented relativism of the pomo subject. There's an element of 
radical constructivism here... breed your own reality, in a way. Still 
others are closer to Klee and Malevich, with an organicist / vitalist 
impulse... just wanting to make something that manifests that spark of 
emergence. In general I think there is a blending of impulses and 
discourses... and artists are good of course at generating discourses 
which work for them in various ways (so are theorists!). Jon McCormack 
is another example of someone with a very strong engagement with the 
techniques, and an interest in their generative potential, who 
simultaneously has a very reflective and philosophical perspective on 
a-life and its relation to contemporary culture. (Jon are you out 
there?)
Ultimately I don't think a-life art needs or wants "mainstream" 
art-world acceptance... that world is a game unto itself.
Mitchell