[-empyre-] Happy New Year to all of our empyre subscribers and a bit of history

[Renate Ferro]

Happy New Year to all of our ­empyre- subscribers as we prepare to launch
our ninth year as a list-serve hosting approximately 1400 subscribers. Since
2002 Melinda Rackham has launched the website f from subtle.net. We thank
her for all of the energy and support that she has provided in ­empyre¹s-
initial inception and many years of nurturance. Cornell University has
agreed to host the site on their library server so you will notice that our
URL has changed.  Stay tuned to our new URL at
http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/ and watch our new site evolve over the
next few months. 

We are incredibly proud to launch into our 2011 line up of discussions and
welcome Simon Biggs to moderate the first discussion of the year.  While
Simon will be introducing the next topic , we thought it might be
appropriate to send along a recap of the history and activities of ­empyre-
over the last several years.

-empyre- soft-skinned space is a global community of new media artists,
curators, theorists, producers, and others who participate in monthly
thematic discussions via an email list serve. The online discussions
facilitate critical perspectives on contemporary cross-disciplinary issues,
practices and events in networked media. Anyone interested can register to
receive posts and participate following the link for joining at
http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/. The list is currently co-managed by
Renate Ferro (USA) and Tim Murray (USA) with the help of Gabriel Menotti
(UK), Nicholas Ruiz III (USA), and Simon Biggs (UK).  ­empyre- also welcomes
guest moderators who organize discussions for one month.As it enters its
ninth year, empyre- soft-skinned space continues to be a platform dedicated
to the plurality of global perspectives reaching out beyond the Northern
Hemisphere to Asia and Latin America.
 
The past nine years of archived monthly discussions can be accessed at
https://lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/ .  These -empyre- archives
are currently archived by Pandora  http://pandora.nla.gov.au/ , a project of
the National Library of Australia, dedicated to preserving online
publications of national significance for future generations and by the Rose
Goldsen Archive http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/collections/goldsen.html/ ,
as a repository of emergent ideas amongst those working at the leading edge
of contemporary practice.

In January 2002, -empyre- soft-skinned space was launched by network artist,
critic, and curator, Melinda Rackham (AU). -empyre- was conceived as
research forum for Rackham's PhD research at the College of Fine Arts, UNSW,
Australia. Structured as an experimental peer arena, the community grew
exponentially and within the first year Adrian Miles (AU) and Rebecca Cannon
(AU) joined briefly as facilitators. Long-term facilitators Christina McPhee
USA) and Michael Arnold Mages (USA) were invited to the -empyre- curatorium
soon after, and during the next years they were joined by Jim Andrews (CA)
and Felix Sattler (AU/GER). In 2005 Tracey Meziane  (AU) and Marcus Bastos
(BR) joined the team, and in 2006 and 2007 it was extended with Sérgio
Basbaum (BR),(USA) Renate  Ferro (USA) and Tim Murray (USA)  Ferro and
Murray now serve as the list's managing moderators with the team of
Nicholas Ruiz III USA), Gabriel Menotti (UK), (BR), and Simon Biggs (UK).
 
The -empyre- global community has supported several special projects over
its nine-year history.  It was featured as part of documenta 12's Magazine
Project conducting three moderated conversations in 2006 and 2007. In 2008,
-empyre- collaborated with the Anderson Art Ranch, in Snowmass, Colorado, to
offer two Presidential Full Merit Scholarships to members of the -empyre-
community. -empyre- also has collaborated with institutions and festivals to
produce dynamic online forums for physically located events. Some of those
events have included the Cornerhouse in Manchester, Marcos Weskamp's Social
Circles visualization
http://marumushi.com/apps/socialcircles/socialcircles.cfm?list=empyre&m=1&s=
0/  time slice of the list dynamics, in 2008 in San Francisco a special
conference with City Light Books on Paul Virilio, in 2009, a special panel
on "viral marketing" at Exit Art, New York City, and in 2010 a discussion
held in conjunction with The Making Sense Colloquium at the Centre Pompidou,
Paris.

The moderating team looks forward to a new year of discussions in 2011 and
wishes all of its subscribers a Happy New Year.

Renate Ferro and Tim Murray,
Managing Co-Moderators
 
 
 
 

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