[-empyre-] Creativity as a social ontology

[Johannes Birringer]

dear all:

in the heatwave we have here (in my region), to think about ontologies of creativity or creation is not the easiest warm up task for trusting. 
(in theatrical terms, as mentioned here by helen varley jamieson, i trusted she refered to the physical performance studio, not the internet  [how do you
warm up together with a trust exercise in front of your screen? with other avatars -- i am interested in this and have not seen the
UpStage festivals, so need to expore how you make work together]}.  

I wanted to ask, initially, whether the opening moderation sought to avoid the notion of art or artmaking (and the completion of an art object or
performance recognized as / in its artistic medium-ness, its form, which has already been addressed beautifully by Kevin's allusions to regularities
of the material & and the judgement of it ...... lest I misunderstood this) and, instead, proposed to open debate on "social
interaction in reflexive mediation" (Simon)? 

 I had assumed this proposal meant to examine discursive or mediated/performed activities of exchange
by so-called communities (so-called social networks).

The notion (or ontology) of creative exchange thus seemed to be concerned with what social ensembles do (on the internet, or in mallists like this one,
or in "cyberperformances" or online gaming etc) and how we think of such social ensembles  (and whether they warm up together or agree on
a creatve form),  is the notion of (art) form or media form necessary?  and if not, why not, and how did religion enter into this discussion?

I suppose the religious dimension of platonic/metaphysical dimension is needed since  many of you addressed ritual processes of some sort,
but I wonder, being sceptical about dispersed network communities not obliged to cultural knowledge transmission or physical transmission of forms (in the creative sense
of art, which keeps being mentioned,  and I believe Helen refered to artists making performances on UpStage, rather than speaking of creative social ensembles 
experimenting with processes of working together, inventing together, "writing" or conversing together ), whether Simon did not initially propose a very different
topic, something that has to do with social assemblages?

Now, if i can ask a second question, why do we look at social assemblages or interaction in terms of an ontology of creativity, rather than under
a different, say, poltical or social lens of modes of leisure, consumption, spectacle, sport, fashion, or other nodes of capitalism, or self-euphorization,  and how does
a poltical (or was it national? ethical, religious?) notion of community creep in, in these euphoric days of the world cup where 22 soccer players must stand there before the game
for 2 minutes and hold up a banner  togehter : "stop racism"? 

why are social networks, or facebooks or twitters considered community building in a creative/artistic sense, after babel or not?  is the creative here always
associated with the artistic, and then what "artistic" terms are meant? 

Simon quoting Kevin
> 
>> So how do we attend to creativity's ontology as a condition of being social,
>> without ending up with just another form of instrumentalized "freedom?"


indeed. 


with regards

Johannes Birringer
Interaktionslabor
http://interaktionslabor.de


Simon quoting Kevin
> 
>> So how do we attend to creativity's ontology as a condition of being social,
>> without ending up with just another form of instrumentalized "freedom?"


>Taking this idea of individual sublimation and considering how this dynamic
might work in heterogeneous social contexts between people we can ask how we
learn to use our languages, our means of expression, across human languages,
media forms, scripts and materialities, and learn to be ourselves
(pluriliteracy as an ontology)? Perhaps the manner in which we sublimate
difference is as much about fear as desire?

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