Re: [-empyre-] September on -empyre- : Sites in Translation

["ricardo miranda zuniga" <ricardo@ambriente.com>]

September's empyre discussion topic "Sites in Translation" initially
stemmed from the opening of inSite05.  Christina has asked me to briefly
describe the exhibition.  

inSite05 is the fifth staging of a binational exhibition that explores
the border culture between San Diego and Tijuana, as the description of
the exhibition reads:
"inSite is dedicated to the realization of binational collaborative arts
partnerships among nonprofit and public institutions in the San
Diego-Tijuana region. Operating through a unique collaborative structure
that is based on the active participation of cultural and educational
institutions in the US and Mexico, inSite  is focused on promoting
artistic investigation and activation of urban space."
more at: http://www.insite05.org/internal.php?pid=2-49

Last weekend I attended the opening of the exhibition - a four day long
series of events involving private receptions, the staging of a man shot
across the border from Tijuana to San Diego, the inception of other
public "Interventions," a panel discussion by artists who created
projects for the Interventions aspect of the exhibition.  

inSite05 is ambitious in scope and includes various elements - museum
exhibitions at the San Diego Museum and the Tijuana Cultural Center,
public interventions on the streets of San Diego and Tijuana, panel
discussions, online projects and more.  I documented the projects that I
caught through the opening weekend (the final weekend of August) and
have posted the documentation at:
http://www.dentimundo.com/exhibition/

For inSite05, the organizers decided to include an online component for
the first time - "Tijuana Calling" and invited Mark Tribe as curator. 
Two of this month's empyre guests are participating in the online
exhibition - Angel Nevarez and myself.  Links to Tijuana Calling are at:
http://www.insite05.org/auxillary/tjcalling2.htm

The Interventions' artists were given two years and four residencies to
develop their projects along with substantial budgets.  The online
artists were invited onto the exhibition with less than a year before
the opening, were brought to San Diego once for a three day weekend as
an introduction.  Needless to say, it felt as if I had entered the New
Media ghetto - a side show or after-thought for a large-scale exhibition
in which the organizers thought "hmmm, there's this Internet Art thing
going on, perhaps we should include it this time around, it may
eventually be of consequence..."

This seemed apparent at first, however once I began my investigation and
spent time in Tijuana and requested help from the inSite crew, they were
incredibly helpful and even gave me an apartment to stay for a two week
period in Tijuana.  However, this only happened, because I requested
help that they had not thought necessary for online projects.

Exhibitions such as inSite05 are riddled with questions and problems
that have been in discussion for quite a while now - such as what is the
responsibility of artists when invited to a site specific exhibition
that s/he may have no relation to...  This same question may be further
complicated by the use of the Internet as a creative medium when
associated to site specificity and the online translation of culture -
as posed in the introduction for this month's discussion.  The guests
gathered this month have concerned themselves with translation and
issues surrounding the shrinkage of our world through technology and
communication.  inSite05 is merely one instance.
ricardo