[-empyre-] Tactical Media; this week's guests

Wed Apr 28 04:42:40 EST 2010

While wrought with its own difficulties, radical transparency is also  
a model that I think we should fight for. It has (so far) functioned  
well for EDT, usually by the end of the day. To clarify a few things,  
CALIT2 has actually been one of Ricardo's biggest supporters, right up  
the the line where the police arrive. (Which happened.) They have  
funded the software development in the past by hiring Jason Najarro,  
who developed the innovative dousing interface for the tool. So I do  
want to make sure that the list understands that CALIT2 administration  
is not the problem here at UCSD. In fact, CALIT2 will host a panel on  
TBT in the near future. (I understand that the situation at Irvine is  
quite different, btw.) The issue here, really back to Kroker, is the  
atavistic right and its administrative influence within the main core  
of UC administration, not so much various research cores. UCOP, Drake,  
and others have been carrying water for three right wing  
congresspeople by supporting their preferred narratives regarding ECD  
and TBT. In the end, I think outspending the project itself on the  
investigation of the project is not going to look very good to the  
general public.

On Apr 26, 2010, at 4:53 PM, Timothy Murray wrote:

>> Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:48:30 -0400
>> From: Marc Böhlen <marcbohlen at acm.org>
>> Reply-To: marcbohlen at acm.org
>> To: Timothy Murray <tcm1 at cornell.edu>
>> Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: [-empyre-] Tactical Media; this week's guests
>> X-PM-EL-Spam-Prob: : 8%
>>
>>
>> -------------------------
>> Dear -empyre-
>> Thanks to Tim and Renate for inviting me to
>> participate. Thanks also to the other
>> participants who have posted thoughtful
>> commentary on the situation.
>>
>> While I am also angry with UC administrators for
>> making BANG lab's life hell, I think it might be
>> worthwhile to consider some of the broader
>> issues this fiasco makes apparent.
>>
>> Beatriz da Costa's post from Apr15 2010 really
>> lays out the problem well. Can one really expect
>> academia to support tactical media? Not if the
>> university recognizes it as such. Passing the
>> development of tactical media as bona fide
>> research is probably over (da Costa). And seen
>> from that vantage point, BANG bit the hand that
>> feeds it, signing off on email correspondence
>> with CALIT research credentials.
>>
>> Are there alternatives?
>>
>> If one is going to operate in broad daylight,
>> there are two choices (I see). Wear a wig (so no
>> one knows who you are) or wear a uniform (so you
>> look like the others).
>>
>> In the wig model, the artist works a day job at
>> a university and keeps his/her critical practice
>> separate from the research at the university.
>>
>> In the uniform model, the artist works a day job
>> at the university and selectively melts his/her
>> practice into research recognized by the
>> university.
>>
>> I use a variation of the uniform model. I make
>> use of the fact that my work in alternate
>> information design (in the widest sense) is of
>> interest to the engineering community. I sit on
>> panels that I am not interested in, in order to
>> try to move the ensuing discussion along lines
>> it would otherwise not travel. I review
>> amazingly boring high end research papers in
>> order to be to make the authors consider the
>> social ramifications of their elaborate
>> experiments. Yes, they must revise their work
>> accordingly.
>>
>> This uniform model is not for everyone. But it
>> seems, on occasion, to help create diversity
>> where it is really needed.
>>
>> The point I would like to make is that research
>> in/from the arts at universities, on most basic
>> levels, needs to be re-evaluated.
>>
>>
>> Greetings,
>> marc bohlen
>> www.realtechsupport.org
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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>>
>>
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>>
>>
>> Timothy Murray wrote:
>>>> Dear Marc,
>>>
>>> I am hope you received your introduction, which
>>> I sent out to the list on Monday. We had severe
>>> server problems over the weekend so I'm worried
>>> that this entire list might not have received
>>> this. I'm going to resend just in case.
>>>
>>> We're still hoping that you'll be able/willing
>>> to post a comment and join in conversation this
>>> week (today and through the weekend or even all
>>> through next week would be great).
>>>
>>> As for us, we were supposed to be Berlin at a
>>> conference right now but got volcanoed and are
>>> in Ithaca. Renate still launched her project
>>> virtually (which was going to be accompanied in
>>> Berlin by an analogue collective performance):
>>> www.privatesecretspubliclies.net
>>>
>>> Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on
>>> -empyre- and so sorry for any confusion.
>>>
>>> tim
>>>
>>>> X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true
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>>>> X-Original-To: empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>> Delivered-To: empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>> Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:02:50 -0400
>>>> To: soft_skinned_space <empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
>>>> From: Timothy Murray <tcm1 at cornell.edu>
>>>> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Tactical Media; this week's guests
>>>> X-BeenThere: empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>> Reply-To: soft_skinned_space <empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
>>>> List-Id: soft_skinned_space <empyre.lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
>>>> List-Unsubscribe: <https://mail.cofa.unsw.edu.au/mailman/options/empyre 
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>>>> >,
>>>> <mailto:empyre-request at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au?subject=subscribe>
>>>> Sender: empyre-bounces at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>>
>>>> Hi, all. You might have noticed a quiet period
>>>> over the weekend, which appears to have been
>>>> the result of problems with our server at COFA
>>>> in Sydney. We know that one of our posts never
>>>> went through, so Tim posted it again this
>>>> morning. If you lost posts, please feel free
>>>> to resend. We apologize for the disruption,
>>>> but, hey, it seems not to have been the result
>>>> of volcanic ash (say two travelers currently
>>>> waiting to see whether we'll be flying to
>>>> Berlin on Wednesday...).
>>>>
>>>> We want to extend our warmest thanks to our
>>>> guests who so provocatively opened our first
>>>> week's discussion of Tactical Media, Research,
>>>> and the University. We have beenpondering all
>>>> the week the insightful posts by Horit Herman
>>>> Peled, Arthur Kroker, Geert Lovink, Nick
>>>> Knouf, and Rita Raley. We hope to hear more
>>>> from you all over the course of the next two
>>>> weeks.
>>>>
>>>> This week, we are pleased to be joined by
>>>> Patricia Zimmermann, Marc Boehlen, Claudia
>>>> Costa Pederson, and Sarah Cook.
>>>>
>>>> Marc Böhlen is Associate Professor and
>>>> Director of Graduate Studies in the Department
>>>> of Media Study at University of Buffalo.
>>>> Co-Founder of the Emergent Practices MFA
>>>> concentration and of the
>>>> Media-Architecture-Computing Program.
>>>> Practicing under the moniker REAL TECH
>>>> SUPPORT, he designs and builds information
>>>> processing systems that critically reflect on
>>>> information as a cultural value. Marc's work
>>>> is informed by a long apprenticeship in the
>>>> crafts (stone masonry), humanities (art
>>>> history) and the engineering sciences
>>>> (electrical engineering and robotics).
>>>> Upcoming and recent shows and presentations
>>>> include events at the National University of
>>>> Singapore (Singapore 2010), the Beall Center
>>>> for Art and Technology (Irvine, USA 2010), and
>>>> Jiao Tong University (Shanghai, China 2009).
>>>> Recent publications include Micro Public
>>>> Places (Architectural League, New York 2010)
>>>> and Ambient Intelligence in the City
>>>> (Springer, Berlin 2010).
>>>>
>>>> Sarah Cook is a curator and writer based in
>>>> Newcastle upon Tyne, UK and co-author with
>>>> Beryl Graham of the book Rethinking Curating:
>>>> Art After New Media (MIT Press). She is
>>>> currently a research fellow at the University
>>>> of Sunderland where she co-founded and
>>>> co-edits CRUMB, the online resource for
>>>> curators of new media art and teaches on the
>>>> MA Curating course. In 2011 she will co-chair
>>>> Rewire, the Fourth International Conference on
>>>> the histories of media, science and technology
>>>> in art with FACT in Liverpool. Having grown up
>>>> in Canada, Sarah has a longstanding
>>>> association with The Banff Center where she
>>>> has worked as a guest curator and researcher
>>>> in residence for the Walter Phillips Gallery,
>>>> the International Curatorial Institute and the
>>>> New Media Institute, developing exhibitions,
>>>> summits, residencies and publications. After
>>>> completing her PhD in 2004, Sarah worked as
>>>> adjunct curator of new media at BALTIC funded
>>>> by the AHRC. In 2008 Sarah was the inaugural
>>>> curatorial fellow at Eyebeam Art and
>>>> Technology Center in New York, where she
>>>> worked with the artists in the labs to develop
>>>> exhibitions of their work. For over ten years
>>>> Sarah has curated and co-curated international
>>>> exhibitions including Database Imaginary
>>>> (2004), The Art Formerly Known As New Media
>>>> (2005), Package Holiday (2005), Broadcast
>>>> Yourself (2008) and Untethered (2008).
>>>>
>>>> Claudia Costa Pederson is a HASTAC Fellow and
>>>> PhD candidate in the History of Art and Visual
>>>> Studies Department at Cornell University. Her
>>>> interests center on exploring the
>>>> intersections between play, creativity,
>>>> critical theory, and social activism, with an
>>>> emphasis on digital games as devices for
>>>> artistic and critical inquiry. She is now
>>>> teaching a lab course with Nick Knouf for the
>>>> Finger Lakes Enviornmental Film Festival on
>>>> the theme of Open Space. She has presented her
>>>> work widely at international new media forums
>>>> from ISEA to DAC, most recently on "Towards an
>>>> Ecology of Excess," DAC 2010.
>>>>
>>>> Patricia R. Zimmermann is Shaw Foundation
>>>> Professor at the Wee Kim Wee School of
>>>> Communications at Nanyang Technological
>>>> University, Singapore; Co-Director of the
>>>> Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival
>>>> (FLEFF) and Professor in the Department of
>>>> Cinema, Photography and Media Arts at Ithaca
>>>> College, Ithaca, New York, USA. She is the
>>>> author of REEL FAMILIES: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF
>>>> AMATEUR FILM (Indiana, 1995) STATES OF
>>>> EMERGENCY: DOCUMENTARIES, WARS, DEMOCRACIES
>>>> (Minnesota, 2000), and coeditor of MINING THE
>>>> HOME MOVIE: EXCAVATIONS IN HISTORIES AND
>>>> MEMORIES (California, 2008). She was coeditor
>>>> with Erik Barnouw of THE FLAHERTY: FOUR
>>>> DECADES IN THE CAUSE OF INDEPENDENT CINEMA
>>>> (Wide Angle, 1996). Her book on digital arts,
>>>> PUBLIC DOMAINS: CINEMAS, HISTORIES,
>>>> VISUALITIES (Temple University Press,
>>>> forthcoming), explores the relationship
>>>> between historiography, political engagements
>>>> and digital art practices.
>>>>
>>>> We look forward to the contributions of our
>>>> new guests and to a lively week of commentary
>>>> from the -empyre- community.
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>>
>>>> Renate and Tim
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Renate Ferro and Tim Murray
>>>> Managing Moderators, -empyre- soft_skinned_space
>>>> Department of Art/ Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell  
>>>> University
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> empyre forum
>>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>
>
> --
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre

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Coordinator, Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts Major (ICAM)
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
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