[-empyre-] Week 3 on empyre: thoughts about the first two weeks and moving on

[Timothy Conway Murray]

Menotti,

I also might join with you in highlighting for newer members of the list the many, many contributions made by Marcos Bastos who collaborated with us for many years on the -empyre- moderating team prior to your participation.  It's really important that the list acknowledge and understand the deep impact on new media art and studies of the multiple strains of art and theory percolating in Brazil, and which have had important resonances through Latin America. 

Best,

Tim

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 Gabriel Menotti [gabriel.menotti at gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 4:16 PM
To: soft_skinned_space
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] Week 3 on empyre: thoughts about the first two weeks and moving on

----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
Hey!

Some years ago, around 2007, there was a lot of institutions dealing
with media arts in the country, particularly in São Paulo. Looking
back now, it feels like another intoxicating side-effect of the wave
of optimism provoked by what seemed another “Brazilian miracle”. That
is when the Museum of Image and Sound (MIS-SP) reopened under a new
direction, with a strong international residency programme attached to
a media lab. However, the lack of popularity of this programme,
combined with some political disagreements between the museum
management and SP government, took things some steps back. Right now,
most exhibitions are ready-made travelling shows imported from abroad,
repeating the same old topics. Kids love them, though.

Artemov is another interesting case: a festival for locative media
convened by artists and academics who engaged critically with this
area (among whom were Lucas Bambozzi and Marcus Bastos, participants
of the list). Supported by the sponsorship of a local mobile phone
carrier, it managed to have a quite substantial programme, including
very good seminars with international guests. These events resulted in
what I believe to be one of the most updated essay collections on
media arts and locative technology published in Portuguese - a
priceless resource for classes. Sadly, the festival is hibernating.