[-empyre-] Layers of ISEA2011: Corporate/Financial

[Simon Biggs]

Great. I'm flying in tomorrow. I think I'll cancel.

best

Simon


On 16 Sep 2011, at 16:04, Nicholas Knouf wrote:

> Hello -empyre-,
> 
> I'd like to add another layer to the list: the corporate/financial one.
> 
> I want to write about the experience of entering into the main location
> for the conference, Sabanci Towers.  This requires being checked off of
> a list and then traveling through a metal detector with your belongings
> x-rayed.  You find yourself in front of two gleaming towers of uncountable
> numbers of floors that reflect
> the blue sky.  You realize that this is
> not the university, but rather the headquarters for Sabanci Holding
> (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Sabanci_Group), which
> appears to be the largest industrial and financial conglomerate in
> Turkey, while also the organization behind the founding of Sabanci
> University.  Once you make your way through men and women in perfectly
> tailored business suits and executives being escorted into Mercedes to be
> driven to power lunches, you find yourself in front of another metal
> detector and x-ray machine which may or may not be used (I didn't have
> to go through it when I entered).  Inside is bland corporate decor not
> unlike anything else in the globalized world.  Hacker or DIY space this
> certainly is not, and the internet seems to block anything that doesn't
> travel on ports 80 or 443 (meaning any local e-mail clients on computers
> or smartphones won't work; Blackberries won't work; and seemingly only web traffic will go through).  For your
> 400EURO fee you are still required to pay for pastries.
> 
> I find the totality of this environment rather problematic for an ostensibly academic
> and artistic conference and could write much more about it, but will
> refrain for the moment.  But I did want to describe this for those of
> you who are not in Istanbul.
> 
> Best,
> 
> nick knouf
> 
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Simon Biggs
simon at littlepig.org.uk www.littlepig.org.uk @SimonBiggsUK skype: simonbiggsuk

s.biggs at ed.ac.uk Edinburgh College of Art University of Edinburgh
www.eca.ac.uk/circle www.elmcip.net www.movingtargets.co.uk