From: <Christiane_Paul@whitney.org>
Date: Thu Apr 7, 2005 1:22:06 PM US/Pacific
To: <empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
Subject: RE: [-empyre-] new delineations
Hi Patrick,
it's funny how much perceptions can vary ;) From my perspective, it
looks like a lot more is being written about critical artistic
positions in the "brave new media world" then let's say, the
aesthetics of new media art. I don't have the time to put together an
extensive list but a few things that come to mind are the recently
published "Economising Culture" book from the Data Browser series
(http://www.data-browser.net/01/) -- many of the contributors to this
book have also extensively written on the subject; the Sarai Readers
(http://www.sarai.net/journal/reader1.html), particularly No. 1;
numerous conferences and writings on tactical media; continuous
discussions on nettime; and all the activist artists group who are
working in the realm of "social softwares"... I'm not saying that
these critical positions will change the face of the brave new media
world but they at least offer valid strategies of "remediation"
Best,
Christiane
-----Original Message-----
From: empyre-bounces@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au on behalf of Patrick Simons
Sent: Thu 4/7/2005 2:57 PM
To: soft_skinned_space
Subject: [-empyre-] new delineations
As there appears to be a gap in the dialogue (a space perhaps) ....
seems
like a good time to jump in with something.
Going back to Ryan's thoughts on the role of IT and so on, re. media
-based
artists, I couldn't agree more that there does appear to be a dominant
tendency to avoid or ignore the problematic position that technology
driven/referencing work occupies in relation to capital.
It is suprising (to me anyway) that whilst so much is written about the
development and growth of "information societies", "post
capitalist/industrial economic models" and "networked societies"...
that so
little seems to be being written about possible critical artistic
positions
and strategies in response to this brave new media world.
I have been reading around ideas focussed on the "neo dada" and the
extraction of the political from the core of Dada by the neo's (sorry
this
is so crude, bear with me?) recently and in that light, the
contextualisation of media art etc seems increasingly depressing.
(post neo
dada!)
I am wondering if it is in fact almost essential to somehow
contextualise
works on an individual basis, to bring critical thinking and practice
to the
foreground, to somehow sit along side the work, rather than sit
collectively
as a kind of default community.
The danger seems to be that increasingly work produced which is
uncritically
celebratory of the technology will be writing all of our histories,
the real
time overt production of dominant ideology as spectacle.
OR am I just coming across like an old stalinist again?
How this sits with the subtleties and complexity of the discussion so
far Im
not sure, hope this doesn't drive a coach and horses (tank?) through
it.
best wishes
Patrick
I would like to add that firstly, I think that forms of oppression
need to
be recognised and articulated. I think this passage from a recent
lecture
by Jane Flax at AHRB CentreCATH at the University of Leeds is relevant
here.
OOften, however, what is required are ways to delimit
the system, so that it appears as a perspective rather than inexorable
truth. However, only certain practices of subjectivity are likely to
engender a critical skepticism in regard to normalizing processes.1
Secondly, I think that the processes of transgressing those oppressive
boundaries should not (to borrow a phrase from Bracha Ettinger)
Osubmit or
fold into1 the oppressive forms themselves.
These two points from Kate are right on, in my estimation. i've been
thinking about the role of "tactical essentialism" as a form of
resistance, and its dangers and limitations... on another discussion
group ( http://www.walkinginplace.org/ ), there have been a couple of
posts discussing the assimilation/co-optation of notions of "the local"
- how localization is becoming part of the efficiency of capital and
read through models of market valuation. with the role that IT is
playing in this, it seems especially relevant to media-based artists
concerned with such things, but something that seems to be glossed over
fairly easily. in what ways should we be considering media/IT as
functioning within boundaries of oppressive forms? how do we delimit
that terrain with the knowledge and histories we have access to?
ryan
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