[-empyre-] scalable relations-- how does this matter? (orde-materialize?)

[Anna Munster]

Hi Christiane,
I've had a brief look at the website but won't be able to experience  
the exhibition - stuck in Australia I'm afraid! What  a pity - looks  
great!

I am wondering how you see the relation - at a curatorial and  
conceptual level rather than purely technical - between the idea of  
'scalable' and the commonly used notion of 'scale-free' which abounds  
particularly in contemporary network science?

I think your idea of scalable within the aesthetic context perhaps in  
fact includes both the concept of 'scale free' especially as you put  
it in terms of the continuing functionality of a database for example  
in spite of changes in context or transaction quantity. But perhaps  
scalability also includes the  opposite of this - ie that relations  
cannot be simply topologically deformed without very real consequences  
for their relationality. If something can be scaled, then there will  
be relational aesthetic changes although this may still allow  
functionality...

Just wondering about your thoughts on this

Best
Anna
>

A/Prof. Anna Munster
Assistant Dean, Grant Support
Acting Director Centre for Contemporary Art and Politics
School of Art History and Art Education
College of Fine Arts
UNSW
P.O. Box 259
Paddington
NSW 2021
612 9385 0741 (tel)
612 9385 0615(fax)
a.munster at unsw.edu.au