[-empyre-] some thoughts on complicity

[Green Jo-Anne]

Really interesting Virginia, hits the spot (for me anyway). Only,  
whereas you say "if life is commoditized and art is collapsed into  
life then art is commoditized" I wonder about the reverse:  "if art  
is un-commoditized and life is collapsed into art then life is un- 
commoditized." I see great potential for new media art and life to  
fold together ... "Life", though commoditized, is also networked/ 
connected, augmented, hybrid, etc.

You say "then complicity becomes a non-issue because everything is  
complicit." I agree. The separation/elevation of art from/above life,  
in my opinion, is a synthetic construct manufactured by the powerful  
(Church, landowners, politicians, corporations... art market) for  
ideology and profit. I was a painter involved in the anti-apartheid  
movement in the 1980s, and I considered my work to be "political." A  
radio interviewer asked me whether artists SHOULD "be political"; I  
answered, "no more or less than anyone else." In my view, people/ 
artists who are disengaged from life -- who choose not to pay  
attention to the lives of others beyond their immediate circles, who  
choose not to vote, who choose not examine their own inaction or the  
"bad" actions of others -- are absolutely complicit.

Jo

On Jan 7, 2010, at 10:39 PM, virginia solomon wrote:


Jo-Anne Green
Co-Director
New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.
917.548.7780 or 617.522.3856
Turbulence: http://turbulence.org
Networked_Performance: http://turbulence.org/blog
Networked_Music_Review: http://turbulence.org/networked_music_review
Networked: http://networkedbook.org
New American Radio: http://somewhere.org
Upgrade! Boston: http://turbulence.org/upgrade_boston



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