[-empyre-] Process as paradigm - systems theory and pieces

[b gottlieb]

Dear All,


Referring to Johannes' reflections on Raquel's question,  I interpreted the
word 'piece' to be a manifestation of the process, i.e. something (an
output)  extracted or abstratcted from the process or an analogue , or a
precipitate of the process, which makes manifest the fact that the process
exists, so that we may encounter/assess/contemplate it aesthetically or as
theory.  This may be contrasted, if I interpret correctly, in Raquel's
question to exhibiting an coherent working process, whereby the
transformation of inputs into outputs can be observed.

Here I will try to clarify (sorry, it was not so understandable in my first
message on this) what I meant with intrinsic and extrinsic coherence. First
of all I wanted to suggest these terms as a way to help clarify the role of
the institution/context in the way a procesual work is perceived, whether as
art, design, scientific or social or political experiement or something
in-between.  If we want to take the processual nature of creative works to
be the subject of consideration we first need to distinguish a few
terms/Begriffe, this is why I suggested intrinsic and extrinsic coherence.

Most of the works shown in the exhibition Process as Paradigm' are
intrinsically coherent because the visitor can see the process at work ( a
good example is the 'Sandbox') .  It may be possible to theorize here about
the time relations of the process in the work to that of the observer.  In
the works I consider having 'intrinsic coherence' we have a so-called
real-time correspondence between work and observer temporality. The work
proceeds at the same pace, in the same time as does the observer's
observation.

In works such as Hello! Process and and the works of Conditional Design and
Ambient Information Systems, we have only precipitates, abstracted elements
of the process which must be unified and rendered readable by information
provided by contextual elements such as the institution, curatorial
statements, artist's provided information, etc.   Of course, in the case pf
extrinsic coherence, coherence of a process may be produced by simple
invocation.  Here what we may have an indication of what Johannes was
referring to as 'ritual', if I understand him.  But this leads us to a
discussion of the ritual value of the exhibition, or the conference, or the
institutional context of the processual work.

Also we have the question of whether the (intrinsically coherent) processual
work is itself an automatic ritual which produces and reinforces beliefs,
and what beliefs these may be.   This leads me to Johannes question about
the criteria for the selection of which processes should be deemed worth of
being presented in such a way that people can experience them gradually over
time as Susanne Jaschko suggested.   This becomes a political one because of
the scarcity of resources needed to show the process work with the necessary
infrastructure, space and time.   Here we can also get into the question of
the responsibility of the contextual organization to support the public's
appreciation of the processes displayed inorder to cultivate an appetite for
process-oriented events and thus open up funding resources for these.

I remember a conversation with Susanne about arranging that the public would
be able to visit the exhibitions repeatedly without having to pay again, did
that happen? One central question emerges here, certainly with regard to
enhancing the status of processual work as a legitimate subject of funding,
in and of itself, regardless of whether it is defined as art (or is the
definition as art essential?). Also emerging is the possibility that
processual work needs a new institutional contexts especially engendered  to
present processes.

Was Fluxus ever 'natively anti-art?'  Certainly many of Fluxus members
(artists?) advocated a challenge to the institutional framework by which art
is presented and appreciated by the public.  But many Fluxus artists played
both sides of the battle and in the end, Fluxus became what I think it
always intended to be, a way to open up the museum to new forms of creative
work.

best

Baruch

http://gratfortech.blogspot.com
http://g4t.info
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