Re: [-empyre-] second posting from teddy cruz

[Timothy Murray <tcm1@cornell.edu>]

Hi, Teddy,

I very much appreciate your call to attend to the redefinition of 
institutional structures just as we contemplate contestational 
exhibitions and structures.  From within the academy, I've always 
maintained that the development of new progressive programs and 
curricula over the years matters not enough if they don't come with 
the revision of the deadening hierarchical principles governing most 
departmental structure.   This is one of the reasons that Renate and 
I are so committed to -empyre-, which we believe provides all users 
with an open forum for the development of progressive approaches to 
new media and culture.

How to do so is a tricky, but crucial issue.  I think we've heard 
very significant accounts of Critical Spatial Practice this month, so 
it's nice to end the month with clear articulations of its importance.

We're now in Montreal for the celebration of the 10th Anniversary of 
the Daniel Langlois Foundation, which has funded some very 
significant interventions in Critical Spatial Practices by 
progressive artists such as Muntadas.  But, curiously, the large 
exhibition of work by some of the funded artists doesn't seem to 
include that many artists with explicit political articulations, such 
as Muntadas;  the clearest exception is Lynn Hershman's A Room of 
One's Own, which is a critical interactive performance of male 
voyeurism created in the nineties.  So as we celebrate the aesthetic 
lure of new media, we agree that we need to maintain the edge of 
criticality in social as well as aesthetic contexts.

Thanks, we're looking forward to reading how your dialogue with 
Markus develops over the weekend.

Best,

Tim


--
Timothy Murray
Professor of Comparative Literature and English
Director of Graduate Studies in Film and Video Studies
Curator, The Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell Library
285 Goldwin Smith Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853