Re: [-empyre-] encounter and extension

[Trudy Lane <tlane@volja.net>]

hi all --
thanks for some thoughtful posts --

as a nzer myself, but settling back into the country, i am processing 
all of this and matching it up to my existing nz-cultural databanks and 
checking for additions, anomalies & updates. The databanks would get a 
bit of an update every two years with a visit home, but only through 
the fairly recent creation of ADA has my picture become clearer of who 
and what there might be to 'encounter'. Some places to start, in 
digital media arts in NZ.

After living in croatia/slovenia and the US for many years, I am 
thinking alot about what does it mean to be a 'resident' here now 
again, to be a living and working from within NZ. Comparing situations 
and circumstances, and how the different combinations of parameters can 
play out -

For instance I do also see a freedom from the peripheries - in works 
such as darko fritz's "time=money=time=" performance where he had a 
zagreb tram going around and around a main city square, as I do in the 
spirit of douglas bagnall's film-making robot installed on wellington 
city buses. Both in small, peripheral countries. Though Darko's piece 
was somewhat enabled by the chaos of an overly bureaucratic system in 
Croatia, and I imagine Douglas's helped by a comparative lack of 
red-tape in NZ. (Douglas, are you on here?)

The difficulties of dealing at once with the concept of a nation-state 
- "New Zealand culture" - and individual practices has already been 
sensitively articulated by su & danny. I am not sure quite how to 
respond fully yet, especially this issue of seeking 'authenticity'. But 
it does at least highlight some other ongoing social paradigms of NZ, 
such as the increasing variety of cultures that are now a part of NZ, 
and the remaining factor of how so many citizens spend long periods of 
time or immigrating 'overseas'.

The latter may also relate back to adam's question about 'international 
recognition' and funding, residencies, etc. How outward-looking are we 
/ do we want to be? What kind of relationships would be of the most 
profound benefit for the various practises within NZ? How much do we 
intentionally or unintentionally separate those NZ artists living 
overseas and those residing here, and to what benefit/detriment? 
Encountering/hearing of so many of the NZ artists active in digital 
media arts in the .us and .eu - and then coming home & getting a better 
picture of the active work going on here - these two growing networks 
still seem highly separated and I wonder if there could not be a better 
bridge formed between 'periphery' residents and carriers (those 
overseas), to create a spectrally rich, roaring feedback loop.


best from the 2nd day in my new flat in auckland, aotearoa/nz, :)
 //trudy



On 14/01/2005, at 9:34 PM, su b wrote:

> Hi all,
> danny ended with a brief comment about discomfort with nation-states, 
> and something clicked for me.
> As a 'group' (even that word is problematic) we are here to discuss 
> ........new media.....our practice.....something specific about 
> aotearoa/nz......I'm not sure...but whatever it is, this is a very 
> difficult thing to do.  I have been wondering why, is this a 
> particularly nz discomfort with putting yourself out there, and 
> speaking? I don't think so. The discomfort also connects across a 
> number of the posts over the last few days.
> Adam asks how important is international recognition - and i wondered 
> what is international anyway? does it mean across nations? between 
> nations? nations other than our own? places where we haven't lived? or 
> is it simply somewhere where what we do might be recognised as somehow 
> different to what has been done before - Whale Rider a complex case in 
> point! So we introduce questions of trust, of 'authenticity' (actually 
> i'm not sure any of us have used this word but it seems implied) and  
> negotiation. And the topic circles around back to location and of 
> residence. This discussion becomes an encounter, rather than a 
> reflection of the local, or of our particular nation-state. We 
> encounter each other, and each other's habits, obsessions, tastes, 
> politics.
> Maybe its because I'm in Golden Bay, but I can't stop thinking about 
> empyre as a b&b (bed and breakfast) welcoming us in, giving us a warm 
> room with a beautiful view over the eastury, serving us extravagant 
> breakfast that we can't possibly consume, remaining polite, and waving 
> goodbye from the letterbox at the end of our stay. Can we do more than 
> this? write on the walls....
> .
> su
>
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