[-empyre-] Closing down the month of May on Empyre

Fri Jun 1 11:23:47 EST 2012

Thanks Scott.  I'm working on a sound archive right now collecting
narratives of people who have been under suspicion themselves or had
personal belongings under suspicion.  The project is called "Suspicious
Packages" of course.  Let me know how to contact your friend I'd love for
him to contribute his narrative to the project.

Today is the last day of our May discussion. Thanks to those of you who
contributed to Anne Balsamo's month long discussion on Digital Culture:
 The Technological Imagination at Work.  Anne your book was inspiring to
read and we appreciate your efforts this month.  Thanks to Johannes, Dale,
Mark  Scott, Julian, Andrew, Ana, Cara, Jon David and others for posting.
 The archives for this month and every month for the past ten years is at

http://lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/2012-May/author.html

Best Wishes to all of you.  Renate

On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 10:24 PM, Scott L. Minneman <minneman at onomy.com>wrote:

> I missed Tim’s not first time through/past.  Much as I’m a fan of culture
> jamming and thought-provoking interventions in the public sphere, can we
> really express any surprise any longer when things like this NYC plastic
> bag (bomb!) incident happen?****
>
> ** **
>
> A friend of ours here in San Francisco installed a suspicious-looking art
> piece in a bus stop on Van Ness.  They closed the street, they cancelled
> the opera – they tracked the item back to him by finding the store he
> bought a key component in, and then got his name from his credit card
> info.  He got roped into many hours of public service, but he’s lucky it
> wasn’t much worse, given the financial fallout and such.****
>
> ** **
>
> I’m not sure how anybody can make a piece like this and not realize that
> there’s a significant risk that some overzealous local law enforcement or
> possibly a “homeland security” type is going to throw the book at them
> if/when somebody freaks out.  I agree that it’s more than a little
> sad…especially when charges appear to have escalated (like…how is it that
> something so non-bomb can trigger such charges (like those benign blinky
> figurines in Boston a few years ago)).****
>
> ** **
>
> People are dumb…*really* dumb.  Not spending some thought thinking about
> how to insulate yourself from the stupidity of others is silly.  As a
> designer of public interactives, I’ve spent countless hours musing about
> (and usually addressing) the myriad ways that things I’ve designed and/or
> built could cause harm to people who use them wrong (unintentionally and
> even intentionally).  I wish I could count on people having some common
> sense, but I think it’s become common sense not to put ourselves into
> situations where the common sense of others is being counted on.****
>
> ** **
>
> Let’s talk about something important, like people eating other people’s
> faces and not responding to being hit with rounds from a firearm.  Can you
> say Zombie Apocalypse?  …sure you can.****
>
> ** **
>
> slm ****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* empyre-bounces at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au [mailto:
> empyre-bounces at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au] *On Behalf Of *Renate Ferro
> *Sent:* Monday, May 28, 2012 10:21 AM
> *To:* soft_skinned_space
> *Subject:* [-empyre-] empyre for May closing down on Thursday: anyone
> else out there care to comment?****
>
> ** **
>
> Hello to all empyre subscribers and the guests of this month's discussion.
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> I would like to ask any of this months invited guests to take the next few
> days to comment further on any of the past weeks discussions.  I will be
> closing down the discussion on Thursday the 31st.  Particularly Anne's
> guests from this fourth week of the discussion.  It would be great if you
> could post and tell us about your own work and projects in relation to the
> topic. ****
>
> ** **
>
> Many thanks.  Renate****
>
> ** **
>
> On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 4:13 AM, Timothy Conway Murray <tcm1 at cornell.edu>
> wrote:****
>
> Hi, all,
>
> I just came across a news item that the upscale furniture designer,
> Takeshi Miyakawa, has been arrested in New York for installing "fake bombs"
> around New York City.  The 'bombs' were hung in trees and lightposts in
> celebration of Design Week and consisted of plastic bags with the I Love NY
> logo, which were illuminated from within by LEDs mounted on a little
> plastic box.
>
> One panicked phone call to the police resulted in Miyakawa's being charge
> with "reckless endangerment and placing false bombs and criminal nuisance."
> The judge ordered him sequestered for 30 days of mental evaluation!
>
> What more can be said about this designerly installation being literalized
> as 'revolutionary technology."  Given the tabloid nature of this, I share
> with you the link from the NY Post:
> http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/artist-takeshi-miyakawa-charged-art-installation-draws-panic-article-1.1081674
>
> Tim
>
> Read more:
> http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/artist-takeshi-miyakawa-charged-art-installation-draws-panic-article-1.1081674#ixzz1vUQgBwbM
> Director, Society for the Humanities
> Curator, Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art
> Professor of Comparative Literature and English
> A. D. White House
> Cornell University
> Ithaca, New York. 14853
> ________________________________________
> From: empyre-bounces at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au [
> empyre-bounces at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au] on behalf of Anne Balsamo [
> annebalsamo at gmail.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2012 6:43 PM
> To: soft_skinned_space
> Subject: Re: [-empyre-] [-empyre-} Consumer Technology as Revolutionary
> Technology?****
>
>
> To push the topic thread in a slightly different direction, I'd like to go
> back to a point that Margaret raised about "consumer technologies becoming
> revolutionary technology."
>
> Directs attention away from the level of innovation that we've been
> commenting on, i.e., innovation by embedded institutional participants, to
> a consideration of innovation EVERYWHERE: on the street, in the garage, as
> a way of making do.  This opens up the issue of the cultural implications
> and possible impact of what in the US is referred to as DIY, Maker or
> Hacker culture.
>
> "The street finds its own use for things," as Gibson wrote 20 years ago.
>  What's different now?  I'd be interested in pointers to critical analyses
> that seek to make sense of the cultural shifts--these moments of
> disassembly and reassembly--that don't privilege a technology or medium.
>
>
> > As I reflect on my years-long collaboration with Jon, Scott and Dale,
> this is what I think of: first we (by “we” I mean the culture at the time)
> muddled along designing new technologies—originating social media. Then,
> last year, consumer technology became revolutionary technology. The actions
> of the Arab Spring, propelled by social media, transformed a region of the
> globe. Activists deployed available technology and created a collaborative
> space for organizing dissent.  At this time, the outcome of these
> revolutions is uncertain, but the utility of their methods of communication
> is unquestionable.  And this powerful shift in the media landscape, allows
> me to think of the work we did together as a miniscule part of an enormous
> cultural shift.  And from the standpoint of design, provides a vital and
> renewable form to go with the function of our technological devices.<
>
>
>
>
>
> On May 7, 2012, at 4:03 PM, Jon Winet wrote:
>
> > Cherry-picking Anne's comments and dark observations with some of my own
> ...
> >
> > On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 3:02 PM, Anne Balsamo <annebalsamo at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >> Thanks Mark for kicking up the dust!
> >>
> >> Some comments and dark observations follow:
> >>
> >> On 5/5/12 1:14 PM, "Mark Stephen Meadows" <mark at markmeadows.com> wrote:
> >>
> > [snip]
> >
> >>> you are what you search, right?
> >>
> >> Yes and no.  What gets reflected back (based on the gleanings of my
> digital
> >> wanderings) is a reflection in a cracked mirror.  I still believe it to
> be a
> >> case of garbage in = garbage out.  Do I feel important, understood or
> >> recognized when the sidebars on my search or FB page reflect back to me
> my
> >> recent digital preoccupations: horses, dating sites for women over 50,
> >> non-prescription sleeping aids?  Does anyone even pay attention to that
> >> slice of digital wall paper?  Image saturation and obsessive repetition
> >> makes me inured to the message.
> >>
> >> I built a prototype of a reverse oracle:  When you enter a
> technology-based
> >> search term, what gets "returned" is not results & instances of usage in
> >> random contexts, but rather questions.
> >>
> >> I am my questions, not my search terms. SIRI notwithstanding, this may
> be my
> >> last defense against the singularity.
> >>
> >
> > Apparently I'm quote-happy in this convo. Zeroing in on your final
> > statement, quoting the February 14, 2011 NYTimes article* quoting John
> > Seely Brown, brought front and center into the mainstream conversation
> > during the Jeopardy match of the millennium, regarding Watson, a form
> > of UI far more transparent than Google's quasi-mystical search
> > logarithm:
> >
> > "Indeed, for the computer scientist John Seely Brown, machines that
> > are facile at answering questions only serve to obscure what remains
> > fundamentally human.
> >
> > 'The essence of being human involves asking questions, not answering
> > them,' he said."
> >
> > I'm pretty sure I can hold onto that ray of hiope as well, as it
> > certainly also identifies the heart and soul of avant garde creative
> > practice, to operate and experiment working outside of the narrow
> > angle of too much of quotidian experience.
> >
> > * "A Fight to Win the Future: Computers vs. Humans"
> > By John Markoff
> >
> > [major snip]
> >
> >> Repression is a pain-management technique.
> >>
> >
> > Amen to that, sister! - And a tried and true technique as old as
> > civilization itself if Dr. Freud had it right ...
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> >> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre****
>
>
>
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> --
>
> Renate Ferro
> Visiting Assistant Professor of Art
> Cornell University
> Department of Art, Tjaden Hall Office #420
> Ithaca, NY  14853
> Email:   <rtf9 at cornell.edu>
> URL:  http://www.renateferro.net
>       http://www.privatesecretspubliclies.net
> Lab:  http://www.tinkerfactory.net
>
> Managing Co-moderator of -empyre- soft skinned space
> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyre
>
> ****
>
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
>

-- 

Renate Ferro
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art
Cornell University
Department of Art, Tjaden Hall Office #420
Ithaca, NY  14853
Email:   <rtf9 at cornell.edu>
URL:  http://www.renateferro.net
      http://www.privatesecretspubliclies.net
Lab:  http://www.tinkerfactory.net

Managing Co-moderator of -empyre- soft skinned space
http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empyre
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