Re: [-empyre-] Re: Whispering in the Dark

[Kenneth Newby <knewby@sfu.ca>]

Hi Christina,

Could you clarify your ideas on the  "commodifation of discourse"?  I'm 
unclear as to how and where this is occurring.  Is it the concentration 
of discourse within the university/conference system?  MIT Press? 
Siggraph? The abstraction of "place" into decentered space and time?... 
(but that's a more generic quality of Modernity isn't it?)  There are 
certainly approaches to using electronic and computationally-based 
media that suggest the possibility of a reconstruction of space and 
time into a meaningful articulation of place.  It's not the global 
network, or the telematic embrace, but perhaps new approaches to 
performance and presentation that allow the artwork to respond more 
directly to its place.

I wonder also if there's a critique per se here of the notion of 
interactivity itself?  It seems to have been effectively appropriated 
by the world of management science and is couched more in terms of 
control, efficiency and ease-of-use for the "user".  Artists are not 
users, but rather makers.... what is the nature of the things made?  
Use-value?... or something else?

Kenneth.



On 3-Nov-05, at 10:17 AM, christina ulke wrote:

> thanks Christina for welcoming us to -empyre-.
>
> I guess we don't really see ourselves as a "new media" publication 
> though with our initial statement we wanted to connect to some of "new 
> media"s inherent issues. One issue being something that has been on 
> our mind as well - the commodifation of discourse. As a project that 
> rode alongside the globalization movement whose waves have been 
> slowing down we find ourselves needing to fill the vacuum with new 
> possibilities to build a radical cultural movement. Recently we have 
> been invited by major art institutions to present our work - one 
> question that comes to mind is can there be a positive side to 
> commodifying discursive work? How do we maintain meaningful discourse  
> while operating in a vacuum? To quote Brian Holmes from his interview 
> in our most recent issue, "I think that intellectual critique has to 
> be embodied. Which doesn't mean there isn't a tremendous need for a 
> better analysis of the way society is changing! Or for a better 
> philosophy of how to reorient life on this earth. You just always have 
> to find a way to make the ideas tangible, and effective."   - 
> Christina
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