Re: [-empyre-] intersection of place and technology

["James Barrett" <jim.barrett@humlab.umu.se>]

Reading Christina's late night moon message I thought of the conversation
I had this week with Sharon Traweek (http://www.history.ucla.edu/traweek/)
about place/digital representation and dynamic media forms or as it
commonly known "Virtual Reality" ("Intimate Presence" it translates back
from Japanese: quite a difference in nuance). We spoke of the Digital Silk
Road project (see http://www.newsfinder.org/more.php?id=861_0_1_0_M9), and
the place of the Milky Way (strange, domesticated name in English: in
Swedish: The Winter Way, Vintergatan) in mythology, culture and travel.
The Digital Silk Road is well under way, as Professor Kinji Ono says
"Building the museum will continue forever". The Winter Way is hanging
there above our heads waiting to have digital stories activated
around/upon/through it (perhaps this is also under way??), brought to life
as something other than a flat feature of the sky. The focus of a
planetarium?s claiming gaze. I believe this is "the intersection of place
and technology in the discourse of environmental restoration"; to make the
stories alive and as a determinate part of our culture. The "Places" need
to be bought to life and not viewed as simply topography.

also wonder-ing
/jim

> dear Helen, and Stella, Danny,...
>
>
> Late night, the moon occluded by thick clouds and a steady mist,
> winter=emerald coastal hills  mirror reversals to your summer browns, here
> along the north Pacific/    how poignant the sense of place across such
> massive distances, across a single ocean.  A night flight over the endless
> water: "unable to concentrate while you wait for your soul to arrive."
> Technology arrives too early or too late, while
> place waits.  What thoughts among kiwis present regarding this musing of
> Stella's------
>
>
>
>
> but what i was really wanting to talk about is the intersection of place
> and technology in the discourse of environmental restoration
>
>
> ?
>
> perhaps here in this intersection is a practice that moves across pakeha /
> maori/ euro/ american/ oz boundaries.
>
> wondering,
>
> Christina
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Helen Varley Jamieson <helen@creative-catalyst.com>
> Sent: Jan 27, 2005 9:08 PM
> To: soft_skinned_space <empyre@gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> Subject: [-empyre-] summ(er)ing up
>
> i've been trying to shape some intelligent summing-up comments but
> the fact is that summer is what's up in wellington & i just want to
> go outside & lie in the sun ...
>
> & it's difficult to sum up a 'discussion' which has been a series of
> divergent views & opinions, peering into some corners of aotearoa/nz,
> shying away from others, some false starts & stops & back-ups &
> moments of brilliance & moments of irritation & random musings &
> interesting links ... maybe the whole is not so different from the
> reality of being an artist in/from nz/aotearoa.
>
> when thinking about place & home & distance, i keep coming back to
> the simple fact of how geographically isolated new zealand is. the
> internet allows us to bridge that distance - but close the connection
> & the distance is back again. i've met many people in the northern
> hemisphere who were astonished to learn that it's at least a 3 hour
> flight to get *anywhere* from nz. think london to istanbul, or paris
> to moscow - that's how close we are to australia; it's the tasman sea
> not the english channel. if you're in europe & someone at home gets
> sick or dies, you feel like you're on mars. anyone who's endured the
> whole journey in one go (involving 2-3 flights & up to 40 hours in
> travel-limbo) then spent 3 days falling asleep at inconvenient times
> & unable to concentrate while you wait for your soul to arrive, knows
> that distance.
>
> whether it's the whiff of the moss or the sight of the harbour cone,
> the first (em)bracing gust of wind or the fine white sand between
> your toes, we all recognise the emotional/sensory umbilical cord that
> ties us to the land of our birth - and to other significant places (i
> also feel it when the old JAT bus rolls me into the dusty streets of
> belgrade). we're all from *somewhere* & that fact can be irrelevant
> even as it permeates everything.
>
> what does all this have to do with art? everything & nothing, imho
> ... it's been a pleasure to have contributed, albeit sporadically, to
> aotearoa month on empyre & i hope you've found some small insight(s)
> into this corner of the globe amongst it all.
>
> ka kite ano,
> h : )
> --
> ____________________________________________________________
>
> helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst
> helen@creative-catalyst.com
> http://www.creative-catalyst.com
> http://www.avatarbodycollision.org
> http://www.writerfind.com/hjamieson.htm
> ____________________________________________________________
>
>
>
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-- 
Doctoral Student, Umeå University
Department of Modern Languages/English
+46 (0)90 786 6584
HUMlab.Umeå University.SE-901 87.Umeå.Sweden
Blog: http://www.soulsphincter.blogspot.com
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