[-empyre-] to Melinda: Digital Gardens

[Renate Ferro]

Melinda it is always such a joy to read your postings on -empyre.  This
month's  discussions are indeed lateral and sparse  perhaps related to the
way we constructed the discussions. No weekly guests but instead postings
by the selected authors and other randomly inspired subscribers. What has
been interesting to watch on the moderation site is the unusually high
number of new subscriptions this month. Must be joining the lurkers.

It is interesting for me to hear stories particularly of friends who have
chosen to retreat from media/technology in their work and their
livelihoods. Your insights resonate with theirs or so it seems.
>
> It could be seen as a privileged withdrawal... the Duchampian retreat,
> or it could be seen as a form of situated resistance...  living local.

I am gearing up for my own "situated resistance..." as we have just
finished the end of our academic year.  I need time to center my head and
soul.  Digging in my garden and planting an array of vegetables and flowers
is not only a way to sustain my vegan diet but indulge in the delights of
connecting with the solid earth.  Recently at Cornell our museum hosted a
rather popular exhibition "Beyond Earth Art"
http://museum.cornell.edu/exhibitions/beyond-earth-art-contemporary-artists-and-the-environment.html
The related Atkinson Symposium brought together many artist's whose work
merges the issues of art, sustainability, the environment but also the
communication devices of the internet and social media to document their
work. It occurred to me that this work would remain in local oblivion if it
were not for the connected powers of technology.  This exhibition included
performance, sculpture, installation, and conceptual art all moving  beyond
the physical simplicity that the age of earth art so suitably hosted in
1969.   In seeking to find ways to make sense of the location of the local
within the networked I turned to the writings of Verena Andermatt Conley
and others (Louise Dompierre) in *Digital Gardens: A World In Mutation*.
 The catalog written in conjunction with the 1998 Power Plant exhibition
has provided intriguing  and I think still rather relevant ways to think
about the murky resonances between the physically situated spaces of our
physical environment and our networked lives.

Thank you Melinda for sharing your poetics and for reminding us again how
geographically hinged we all are despite the network.
Best,  Renate


-- 

Renate Ferro
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art,
(contracted since 2004)
Cornell University
Department of Art, Tjaden Hall Office:  306
Ithaca, NY  14853
Email:   <rferro at cornell.edu <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/
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