[-empyre-] Tactical media - university research - rhetorics
Marc Böhlen
marcbohlen at acm.org
Sat May 1 01:08:56 EST 2010
The emergence of engineering based research agendas that appear to deal
with 'social issues', as the 'Computing for Good' initiative, is a
telling phenomenon. We will probably see more of this, and it is obvious
why. Funding agencies are putting out calls for investigation that
include the term 'social'.
Of course this 'social' is not the 'social' of humanities disciplines.
The meaning of words is given by the way they are used, and in the
engineering disciplines, the term is used very differently. It is a
cropped down, down-watered version of social. More yet, this 'social' is
more interested in making use of people than making something for them.
The telling 'user' concept of a human being is inscribed to the social
model in engineering. It is devoid of the political, by definition. In
turn, 'research' in the arts is not 'research' in the engineering /
science sense. In the arts, 'research' has a subjective component ('I
did my research') that is absent in the other fields.
Any field that borrows from another, places the borrowed good into its
own context. (Astronomers make sloppy use of advanced mathematics, but
it serves their field well.) Every art project that engages in
environmental issues, health concerns bastardizes the field as seen from
the source, even though the artwork can be effective in its own
context. Now mix the trend to cross-disciplinarity together with the
well worn approach of the spectacle, and you get the fertilizer that
fuels the ongoing 'art+science' thrust, as well as (part of the reason)
why no one, other than artists, seem to care much about it.
Artists in research universities, tactical media part of the curriculum,
sounds like dynamite for change. Maybe there was just too much
expectation. We need to retool and devise alternatives.
marc bohlen
www.realtechsupport.org
> 3. Re: Tactical Media - university research and funding
> (Carl DiSalvo)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:06:01 -0400
> From: Green Jo-Anne<jo at turbulence.org>
> To: soft_skinned_space<empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> Subject: [-empyre-] Future Tense: Alternative Arts and Economies in
> the University
> Message-ID:<ECA5113D-AC0E-4585-AEB9-202725275D36 at turbulence.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; Format="flowed";
> DelSp="yes"
>
> Hi All,
>
> For those of you participating in this month's conversation who are
> not at UCSD, this conference has just been announced and ought to be
> of interest. From the website:
>
> "The last two years have witnessed an unprecedented crisis on college
> campuses around the world, as the social compact that governed higher
> education in the United States and Europe for the past half century
> has begun to collapse. Universities from London to Sussex, from
> Athens to Vienna, and from Berkeley to Santa Cruz, have experienced
> protests, occupations, walkouts and other actions directed against
> the encroaching privatization of public education. This crisis has
> been particularly acute at the University of California, the flagship
> public university system in the United States. Dramatic funding
> cutbacks, layoffs, furloughs, and fee hikes have been combined with
> an upsurge in the sort of racist and sexist attacks that often
> accompany periods of economic turmoil, as the perception of dwindling
> resources leads to the predictable search for scapegoats. This
> complex mix of economic, cultural and social forces places
> particular pressure on the status of the arts within research
> universities, and the very notion of the university itself as a haven
> for liberal arts education. New tensions have opened up, between the
> arts and humanities and engineering and science, and between public
> and private funding sources and priorities, even as new solidarities
> have emerged, among and between staff and faculty, graduates and
> undergraduates, disciplines and departments."
>
> More here http://www.ucira.ucsb.edu/2010SDCallforProposals.html
>
> Warm Regards,
>
> Jo
>
> 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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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:21:12 -0500
> From: christopher sullivan<csulli at saic.edu>
> To: soft_skinned_space<empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>, Green Jo-Anne
> <jo at turbulence.org>
> Cc: soft_skinned_space<empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Future Tense: Alternative Arts and Economies
> in the University
> Message-ID:<1272550872.4bd995d804361 at webmail.artic.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hello I have been silent for a while, but I will chime in,
> that as intelligent people , we have to look at what is really happening.
> as opposed to what we wish was happening so that is fits into our academic
> notions of institutional critic, and censorship.
>
>
> In Jo-Anne's passage, I feel that the political situation, is greatly placed out
> of proportion to the economic.
> one might say " a break down in the global economy, has lead to less expendable
> income, and thus pressures on schools to provide a more pragmatic educational
> "product" This challenges Art schools, Liberal arts colleges, to address whether
> there fields of study are luxuries."
>
> In these social and political situations, we are not going to be able to make
> any strides unless we remain seriously critical of the pitfalls and overt
> nature of things like tactical media, and find ways to take the focus away from
> the professors, and back to the quality of education we provide our students,
> meaning there vision, their growth, their work..
> There should be a clear line I believe, between ones study, scholarship, art,
> and what happens in your classroom. otherwise, we are just trying to create
> safe clones of our attitudes, politics, agendas.
>
> I have always been amazed at the boring sense of agreement in Art education, and
> political oriented scholarship in particular. by this I mean the notion that
> though we come from different places, we should all have read the same
> materials, and agree on all major topics, primary to this, is the notion that
> everything is about representation, and everything is an illusion created by
> prejudices, the government, the media..Ignoring the more interesting
> conversation that some serious shit is actually happening.
> I.E. people sneaking across any border in droves, is a problem.
>
> I unfortunately have been as disappointed in my fellow faculty in these times,
> as I have been with administration, probably more.
>
> to diversity of thought. Chris.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Green Jo-Anne<jo at turbulence.org>:
>
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> For those of you participating in this month's conversation who are
>> not at UCSD, this conference has just been announced and ought to be
>> of interest. From the website: "Universities from London to Sussex, from
>> Athens to Vienna, and from Berkeley to Santa Cruz, have experienced
>> protests, occupations, walkouts and other actions directed against
>> the encroaching privatization of public education."
>>
>> "The last two years have witnessed an unprecedented crisis on college
>> campuses around the world, as the social compact that governed higher
>> education in the United States and Europe for the past half century
>> has begun to collapse. Universities from London to Sussex, from
>> Athens to Vienna, and from Berkeley to Santa Cruz, have experienced
>> protests, occupations, walkouts and other actions directed against
>> the encroaching privatization of public education. This crisis has
>> been particularly acute at the University of California, the flagship
>> public university system in the United States. Dramatic funding
>> cutbacks, layoffs, furloughs, and fee hikes have been combined with
>> an upsurge in the sort of racist and sexist attacks that often
>> accompany periods of economic turmoil, as the perception of dwindling
>> resources leads to the predictable search for scapegoats. This
>> complex mix of economic, cultural and social forces places
>> particular pressure on the status of the arts within research
>> universities, and the very notion of the university itself as a haven
>> for liberal arts education. New tensions have opened up, between the
>> arts and humanities and engineering and science, and between public
>> and private funding sources and priorities, even as new solidarities
>> have emerged, among and between staff and faculty, graduates and
>> undergraduates, disciplines and departments."
>>
>> More here http://www.ucira.ucsb.edu/2010SDCallforProposals.html
>>
>> Warm Regards,
>>
>> Jo
>>
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> Christopher Sullivan
> Dept. of Film/Video/New Media
> School of the Art Institute of Chicago
> 112 so michigan
> Chicago Ill 60603
> csulli at saic.edu
> 312-345-3802
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:59:07 -0400
> From: Carl DiSalvo<carl.disalvo at lcc.gatech.edu>
> To: soft_skinned_space<empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Tactical Media - university research and
> funding
> Message-ID:<470517D7-A484-41F9-89DC-F555ECB8096E at lcc.gatech.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"; Format="flowed";
> DelSp="yes"
>
> Hi, thanks for the invitation to join in this important discussion.
>
> Regarding tactical media and the university, one of the reasons why I
> believe its imperative to have such work in universities, and not to
> try to subsume it as some other kind of research, or event as
> "research" at all, it because it provides an important political check
> against the work done in engineering and computer science programs.
> Moreover, increasingly, engineering and computer science programs, and
> more broadly programs in related fields such as Informatics and Human-
> Computer Interaction are attempting to develop research programs with
> a social agenda. For example, the institution I am at has an
> initiative entitled "Computing for Good." While some might argue that
> such as shift in engineering and computer science is encouraging, I
> maintain it is, usually, simply a reinforcement of standard neo-
> liberal agendas, with with a "feel-good" attitude. Usually the work
> in such programs simply reinforces existing political mechanisms and
> norms, under some guise of "democracy," for example, improving voting
> machines. The problem with such work is that it invariably negates the
> political, that is, any sense of contestation that characterizes the
> contemporary condition.
>
> What tactical media (or whatever we want to call it) in the university
> can provide is a) an opportunity for contestational political work,
> and b) an opportunity to call-out the inherent fraudulence in most
> (certainly, there are exceptions) seemingly "socially-engaged" or
> "socially-committed" research being conducted in engineering and
> computer science programs.
>
> Whether or not we want to call it research is unclear to me.
>
> That it is important, is without question.
>
> Carl
>
> Carl DiSalvo
> Assistant Professor
> School of Literature, Communication, and Culture
> Georgia Institute of Technology
>
> On Apr 28, 2010, at 7:10 PM, Marc B?hlen wrote:
>
>
>> Thanks again all for interesting posts. Back to the ?research at
>> universities? question....
>>
>> It is true, once a project is categorized as ?research? within the
>> university, the boundary conditions of the work changes, the
>> expectations on the work change; in short, the work can change. When
>> such change is undesirable, then any change is nothing less than an
>> obstacle to a potentially powerful artwork that is best expressed
>> outside of institutional constraints.
>> But if the work engages territory that is shared across disciplines,
>> the change in expectation can be an opportunity, and the change to
>> the work can give it agency it would otherwise not have. The work
>> may receive a new audience, an audience that otherwise would not
>> care for the work or the questions it raises (because it would not
>> be perceived in the isolated ?art? context). This audience shift is
>> potentially powerful.
>>
>> If one discusses research, funding can?t be relegated to the
>> background. As mentioned in earlier posts, funding defines the
>> university structure to a large part, dividing the system into
>> ?haves?, ?have-somes?, and ?have-nots?. Many public (American)
>> universities fund their graduate art programs and faculty salaries
>> to a good part with undergraduate tuition. How many soul-searching
>> undergrads get milked annually such that art departments can
>> maintain their tenured faculty? From that perspective, it might not
>> be such a bad idea to soften the dependency of current funding
>> models away from relying on middle class families (who deliver the
>> tuition) and instead try to get cash from other sources....
>>
>> I have no final answers to these challenges. I am subject to these
>> forces as many of you are as well.
>>
>> All the best,
>> marc bohlen
>> www.realtechsupport.org
>>
>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> Message: 4
>>> Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:31:05 -0700
>>> From: Beatriz da Costa<beatrizdacosta at earthlink.net>
>>> To: soft_skinned_space<empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
>>> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Tactical Media; this week's guests
>>> Message-ID:<56CE84EB-01E5-46FF-B1FF-8B4EE790C92C at earthlink.net>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed";
>>> DelSp="yes"
>>>
>>> Thanks for the thoughtful post Sara. It really brings up a few
>>> interesting points and I think goes back to understanding the roles
>>> of
>>> the different type of institutions involved here. Museums, while
>>> often
>>> conservative or simply careful when it comes to pushing legal
>>> boundaries, or even just the perception of a legal boundary (I have
>>> been there many times), are still spaces that are in principle
>>> dedicated to supporting and showing artworks. This is not the case
>>> for
>>> American universities. Art schools/departments are often the
>>> necessary
>>> evil to complete either the "arts and humanities" or the "arts&
>>> science" colleges/schools at US universities. We are at the absolute
>>> bottom of the hierarchy. We don't bring in any money, are quite
>>> useless overall and should count ourselves lucky to be allowed to
>>> exist of the dimes brought in from the more affluent parts of
>>> campus.... or so the common narrative goes. Now with the emergence of
>>> the so called "new media" arts things shifted a little. Suddenly that
>>> hybrid existence was seen as an avenue to bring money into the
>>> system... and it took a decade to realize that a lot these attempts
>>> failed, and that many new media artists, have absolutely no interest
>>> to be in bed with the entertainment and/or ICT industries. So we are
>>> being downgraded again :). But what happened in that time period is
>>> that a loft of artists indeed merged/played/built alliances with the
>>> sci and tech areas around the campuses, often resulting in very
>>> interesting work. The "problem" that arises is that suddenly all the
>>> work has to be presented as "research" and once something is called
>>> "research" the outside expectations as to what that is, what function
>>> it should fulfill and within which boundaries it should operate
>>> really
>>> change. I am pretty sure that I am preaching to choir here, so please
>>> forgive, but since this list is not US centric, which is wonderful, I
>>> thought I'd bring it up. Art education and its associated
>>> institutions
>>> seem to vary a lot from country to country and in my experience art
>>> education at American universities ranks pretty low in the eyes of
>>> the
>>> public and the university itself.
>>> all best,
>>> Beatriz
>>>
>>>
>>> On Apr 27, 2010, at 7:17 AM, Sarah Cook wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Dear empyre readers
>>>>
>>>> My apologies for my delay in catching up with the great discussion
>>>> and posting. I have just landed in Ottawa (where it is hovering
>>>> around zero degrees and lightly snowing this morning!) for a writing
>>>> residency with SAW Video. As a full time research academic within a
>>>> UK university, and freelance curator whose practice takes place
>>>> outside of the university physically but within the remit of my job,
>>>> I am lucky to be able to leave my desk at CRUMB and come sit at
>>>> someone else's desk at SAW Video studying and writing about the work
>>>> of other artists for a stretch of time this spring.
>>>> This kind of transborder curatorial working, where I find myself a
>>>> guest in someone else's organisation but often with the role of
>>>> hosting artists of my choosing there, has some link to the
>>>> discussion at hand. (Perhaps it is the 'borrowed uniform' model).
>>>> The university shares in (or owns in part or at least takes credit
>>>> in return for funding) all new research I generate (about curating,
>>>> about media art, such as through the books I've authored/edited).
>>>> But the host organisation (this spring it is SAW Video, last year
>>>> the list included xcult.org, Eyebeam, and others) trusts in me to
>>>> generate new ideas and international connections of relevance to
>>>> them and supports those outcomes financially and intellectually as
>>>> well. In a decade of curating in this freelance manner rarely have I
>>>> ever had to sign an agreement with the host organisation about what
>>>> I will and will not put on their letterhead and how I will or will
>>>> not use their name and brand and support of me beyond the project we
>>>> are agreed to work on. I deeply appreciate that this trust exists,
>>>> to know my work is valued and seen as adding value, without having
>>>> to negotiate at every stage from brief to realisation.
>>>> Now I suspect that were I to be working predominantly with artists
>>>> whose work borders on the edges of legality or employs deliberately
>>>> questioning or questionable strategies to make a point -- from
>>>> copyright infringement to importing biological components, let's say
>>>> -- perhaps the host organisations (the museums, galleries, artist-
>>>> run centres, publishers) would be more wary in trusting in me, but I
>>>> actually don't know if that would be the case. As a middle-person /
>>>> mediator-curator I can propose (indeed I am expected) to work with
>>>> any artists or ideas I see fit (and see fit in relation to that host
>>>> organisation). But what would happen if a higher authority called in
>>>> to question what we were doing? Would the organisation let the
>>>> freelancer take the blame, or would they fight it together? Would
>>>> stronger contractual agreements about whose idea it was be put in
>>>> place the next time?
>>>> In these discussions I think of the work of my former colleague at
>>>> CRUMB, Ele Carpenter, who curated an exhibition at the CCA Glasgow
>>>> as part of her PhD research with us - Risk: Creative Action in
>>>> Political Culture http://crumb.sunderland.ac.uk/~ele/risk/riskwebsitenov06/risk.htm
>>>> . She might be better placed to discuss this kind of guest-hosting
>>>> arrangement than I, where the work on show challenges political
>>>> authority and the host organisation covers for it. The exhibition
>>>> was a case study her PhD was based upon, but the University didn't
>>>> particularly take ownership of the content of the show so much as
>>>> the knowledge she gained in the process of curating it. On the other
>>>> hand one could ask curator Steve Dietz about the Open Source Art
>>>> Hack show at the New Museum in 2002 in which a work was withdrawn
>>>> from the show over concerns the museum had about infringing its
>>>> agreement with its service provider. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2002/05/52546
>>>> or ask Scott Burnham about his withdrawl from organising the
>>>> Montreal Biennial after his proposed 'open source' audience-as-
>>>> artist-collaborator curatorial platform was seen as too public and
>>>> too risky and not 'Art' enough by the board and other directors (you
>>>> can watch my interview with him here: http://eyebeam.org/press/media/videos/eyebeam-summer-school-curatorial-masterclass-day-1)
>>>> . One could also ask the Tate how they negotiated with Heath Bunting
>>>> over his online commission of the BorderXing project, where they got
>>>> around the sticky question of actually 'distributing' information
>>>> which could be used to break laws (cross borders illegally) by
>>>> suggesting what they commissioned was research and documentation,
>>>> not the work itself.
>>>> These are tangential to the case of the BANG lab at CALIT, but could
>>>> present lessons for how to be tactical in placing university-
>>>> supported research into other public contexts.
>>>> Apologies again if this posting seems out of kilter with the
>>>> discussion thus far, as I read threads backwards and try to catch
>>>> up.
>>>> from an unseasonably chilly morning,
>>>> Sarah
>>>>
>>>> www.crumbweb.org
>>>> www.sarahcook.info
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:48:30 -0400
>>>>>> From: Marc B?hlen<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
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> empyre forum
>>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Beatriz da Costa
>>>
>>> www.beatrizdacosta.net
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> Message: 5
>>> Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:42:40 -0700
>>> From: Brett Stalbaum<stalbaum at ucsd.edu>
>>> To: soft_skinned_space<empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
>>> Cc: soft_skinned_space<empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
>>> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Tactical Media; this week's guests
>>> Message-ID:<28C877BB-242A-42F4-A0A3-B262AF7C11D0 at ucsd.edu>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed;
>>> delsp=yes
>>>
>>> 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 B?hlen<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
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> 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
>>>>>>> X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result:
>>>>>>> AmsBAKqZzEuVqxQebmdsb2JhbACTb4gPFT8dtG+IXYUOBINPgnyIJw
>>>>>>> X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="4.52,238,1270389600";
>>>>>>> d="scan'208";a="65941058"
>>>>>>> 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
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> <mailto:empyre-request at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au?
>>>>>>> subject=unsubscribe>
>>>>>>> List-Archive:<https://mail.cofa.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre>
>>>>>>> List-Post:<mailto:empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
>>>>>>> List-Help:<mailto:empyre-request at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au?subject=help
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> List-Subscribe:<https://mail.cofa.unsw.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/empyre
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> <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 B?hlen 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
>>>>
>>>>
>>> --
>>> Brett Stalbaum, Lecturer, LSOE
>>> Coordinator, Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts Major (ICAM)
>>> UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
>>> Department of Visual Arts
>>> 9500 GILMAN DR. # 0084
>>> La Jolla CA 92093-0084
>>> http://www.walkingtools.net
>>>
>>> OFFICE HOURS (Note: these change every quarter)
>>>
>>> FALL 2009: Wednesdays, 1-3PM, Mandeville 221 (Near Vis Arts Advising)
>>>
>>> WINTER 2009: Tuesdays, 1-3PM, Mandeville 221 !!!*Moving to VAF, TBA,
>>> sometime during Winter Quarter*!!!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> Message: 6
>>> Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:29:16 +0200
>>> From: geert lovink<geert at desk.nl>
>>> To: soft_skinned_space<empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
>>> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Tactical Media; this week's guests
>>> Message-ID:<7EA4F72F-011D-44AB-A65D-029591409324 at desk.nl>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> interesting debates. Sorry to come back to the activist approaches of
>>> my previous mail.
>>>
>>> Here a link to a blog posting by one of our MA students at new media/
>>> mediastudies of the University of Amsterdam. The blog of our one year
>>> masters program is called Masters of Media.
>>>
>>> The topic is carthography of migration.
>>>
>>> http://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/2010/04/27/cartography-of-migration-flows/
>>>
>>> Best, Geert
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> empyre mailing list
>>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>>
>>> End of empyre Digest, Vol 65, Issue 21
>>> **************************************
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> empyre forum
>> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>>
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