[-empyre-] citizens and conflict in flux

Thu Feb 10 11:52:36 EST 2011

Undermining the homogeneity of news coverage is certainly a big incentive for media based work. It is, of course, easier for an artist to film and record a reality on the ground to expose it in sharp contrast to what is being reported ,than, say, paint a picture. Finding ways to address this topic is always problematic. I am always tempted to expose the discrepancy between reality on the ground to news footage in a stark direct and literal manner, but somehow always end up having a more quirky approach to it. In my work, I tend to present these alternative takes by accentuating everything that is completely missing in news coverage, such as actual Palestinian towns rather than the non-descript wilderness-like spaces Palestininas usually get depicted in or ordinary people in contrast to, say, the select number of vaguely disturbing militant personas that news cameras tend to love so much.In relation to recent events in Egypt, it is interesting to note the polarisation of concerns and perspectives on something like Facebook. It was surprising to see curators, artists and others from or related to the Middle East in their practice engage with the recent events in Egypt very differently from my colleagues whose main practice unfolds exclusively in a Western context, even though both groups are following the news from the region incessantly. 
Larissa

Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 09:21:01 -0800
From: isakberbic at yahoo.com
To: empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] citizens and conflict in flux

In respect to Tim's assessment that one of the benefits of "overlapping platforms and networks of new media" is the availability of multitudes of distinct perspectives which in turn undermine homogeneity: I agree that this is a most significant aspect that is also the driving force behind much contemporary new media art today, including my own practice. It is what facilitates an awareness and criticality of the complexities in media coverage and contemporary representation as we navigate through the
 mass. 

What was compelling about the Balkan wars in the 1990's is that they were one of the first wars mediated LIVE; in the sense that information on conflict and war was available through mass media right from the street to television sets across the world - instantly. This is in context of technological developments, satellite up-links, internet and digital information, portable equipment and rapid output, the rise in popularity and commercialization of news channels. In the case of Bosnia, the presence of the UN and
 other foreign organizations made available an unprecedented flow of images. Where the only true media blockade was happening in Serbia in fact. The Serbian general population did not have access to what the world was watching their military engage in. Perhaps, to the contrary is the 2008/2009, 21 day bombing of Gaza where the cameras are confined to the exterior, and the media is coming mostly from authorized and controlled sources, thus limiting “the world’s” access to the site of the event. In the case of Egypt (which is now proving to be a failed attempt of asserting control on coverage) social media and web based tools such as video over IP played a major role in media dissemination. Then, it is certain that governments and militaries can no longer work behind the veil of information control. Even if information is fractured, unorganized, unedited, contradictory; a multitudes of singularities; it is still permeating and allowing us an insight into the particular.

Isak Berbic
From: Timothy Murray <tcm1 at cornell.edu>
To: soft_skinned_space <empyre at gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
Cc: 
Sent: Monday, February 7, 2011 7:04 PM
Subject: [-empyre-] citizens and conflict in flux

 > Dear Larissa and Isak,

Given the limited news reporting coming out of the Middle East in the past couple of weeks, and that most of what we in the US can access via the television derives from CNN/ABC through the lens of a only a handful of reporters and camera views, I'm hoping the list will weigh in on your accounts of the power shifts of conflict and how they manifest themselves (or not!)  in the visual sound bites of the media.

One of the benefits of the
 overlapping platforms and networks of new media, as I understand them, has been the ability to make evident, through media overlaps, simultaneous texting and tweeting, not to mention video and cinematic grabs and recyclings, the "conflicting" images and accounts that disturb and undermine the homogenous news coverage flooding the televisual airwaves whenever, it seems, the Middle East is concerned (although why limit news homogeneity to the Middle East).

Of tremendous importance is how frequently the complex interfaces of new media art and installation make manifest the very deep sense of 'conflict' and 'citizenry in flux', of which Larissa speaks so forcefully and which Isak notes becomes washed out by the homogeneity of commodified news footage.

It would be fantastic to hear more about how particular pieces you've created or admired address these dynamics of conflict and flux and perhaps how you understand their temporal and political
 relation to current events in the Middle East.

Perhaps other members of -empyre- would be interested in weighing in here as well.

Looking forward to the dialogue.

Best,

Tim

-- Timothy Murray
Director, Society for the Humanities
http://www.arts.cornell.edu/sochum/
Curator, The Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell Library
http://goldsen.library.cornell.edu
Professor of Comparative Literature and English
A. D. White House
27 East Avenue
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853
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