Re: [-empyre-] point of reference

["Melinda Rackham" <melinda@subtle.net>]

hi Chris..
thanx for the reply. i was offline yesterday too swimming in the beautiful ocean
pools near where i live - even tho its winter here  the water was 19 degrees..
chilly but nice..
http://www.randwick.nsw.gov.au/council_services/recreation/beaches_&_ocean_pools/oceanPools.php

 at  -empyre- as a list facilitator my role is to start conversation..  my post
was probably a bit of a troll  - designed to evoke responses..  however  the
blogging explosion is often criticised for some of the issues i touched on  and
i think its really productive to speak about them in this forum as it provides a
space for otherwise unthought of or un familiar perspectives to emerge....

 melinda

Melinda Rackham
artist | curator
www.subtle.net


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Ashley" <chrisashley@yahoo.com>
To: "soft_skinned_space" <empyre@gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 4:02 PM
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] point of reference


> Melinda,
>
> I had to mull over your post this weekend.  That, and
> the weather in the SF Bay Area turned into glorious
> spring a few days ago- not a great time for
> keyboarding.
>
> But the reason I had to mull over a post that's really
> quite brief is because I don't know this list and I
> don't know you.  Maybe I should've done my homework by
> going back through a couple of month's posts, but
> frankly haven't had time for that.  So here I am an
> invited guest looking for cues to tell me how this
> list works, what the tone is, who is here, what
> expectations there are, and how a guest should behave.
>  And I was trying to understand why you were pointing
> out what you did in your post.  Let me just reply:
>
> > have enjoyed the posts so far but im noticing that
> > the tendency this month to
> > carry on the discussion or post in the guests  own
> > domains rather than within
> > the empyre area.
>
> I don't think there is a tendency yet.  We've just
> started and there's been little discussion so far.  We
> all made our introductory remarks and perhaps are
> waiting for questions and comments (well, I am).
>
> Yes, I expect we will post on our weblogs and direct
> empyre to that because that is where our work takes
> place on a regular basis- that is what I will do.
>
> Firstly, and I know I risk sounding obtuse or
> condescending (and I don't mean to sound that way), I
> think the true nature and possiblity of a weblog- the
> meeting of a regular deadline, coming up with content,
> shaping a thought, honing a vision, working in public-
> is difficult for a non-weblogger to appreciate.  And
> after that, I don't think a viewer can really
> understand the project, sensibility, aesthetic,
> intention, etc. of an artist weblogger- or any serious
> weblogger, for that matter- unless one follows that
> weblog on a regular basis.  They aren't websites you
> visit occasionally- don't follow along and you'll be
> left behind.
>
> We were invited as webloggers to discuss weblogging.
> Why would we leave our weblogs behind?  I'd think
> they'd be central to at least the early discussions.
>
> > or maybe ist talking the empyre
> > arena into your domains
>
> I think it goes both ways- discussion takes place in
> empyre, but the weblog is a vital point of reference,
> example, interaction, demonstration.
>
> > however i'm wondering if  the blogging paradigm is
> > consequential of, or perhaps
> > creates, this constant referral to self as a the
> > central point of connection  in
> > a wider network.
>
> Yes.  It's my home.  That's where I work.  I'm a guest
> at empyre, but my home is my weblog.  I can discuss
> for June, but I will return to the work I do for my
> weblog.  But I got hung up on, "constant referral to
> self as a the central point of connection," because as
> an artist for me it really is, "constant referral to
> one's work as a the central point of connection."
>
> > does this mark a shift to  distributing the self
> > from a node so to speak rather
> > than free ranging.
>
> You're talking location, right?  By free-ranging you
> mean being in other places.  Speaking for myself, yes,
> I distribute from two personal points- my weblog and
> email.  I'm very studio focused.  I've been on
> discussion groups before for various topics.  It can
> be a great experience, but personally- and this is not
> a comment on empyre- after awhile I feel like I'm at a
> party I can't leave.  I want to escape.
>
> Liza wrote, "Are you inferring an e-list is
> free-ranging but blogging is not?"  That take hadn't
> occurred to me until I read her email; maybe I'm not
> reading Liza correctly either, but I don't think
> that's what you're saying, that weblogging is somehow
> self-centered and interested in others.  If you look
> at the work of all four panelists you'll see it comes
> out of encounters with lots of other contexts, topics,
> meanings.
>
> Chris
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