[-empyre-] Week 3:Welcome back Melinda Rackham.

[Melinda Rackham]

Kath - yes propose a month on something networked you want to talk about!!

I wanted to pull out some texts on vulnerability and giddiness

Renate..
>>  The hope for a space that can and will work out new
>> potentials is a utopia but I think most of us do not want to let go of
>> that ideal. Our own list-serve acknowledges that the tension between
>> writing as a performative gesture and one that is conversational, probing,
>> vulnerable or giddy provides an interesting interstitial space. A space
>> that can be informative but also one that is inquisitive and questioning.

and Ben.. 
>> In the spirit of vulnerability I admit I've been quite intimidated by the list, largely
>> because of the academic language and references I have not read. I was
>> at ISEA 2011 but did not have the guts to come out to the empyre
>> get-together in person. I can't quite explain my recent and consistent
>> burst of activity on here, perhaps my own language has changed and I've
>> become that which had intimated me so. This certainly involves an
>> interesting question of access, not just in terms of tools and technical
>> requirements, but also in terms of knowledge and language.

In the early days of -empyre- I  created two subscribers who were aliases for me to use to guide the conversations and to create that soft space. They spoke in plain language, they asked for clarification, questions that I believe others were afraid to ask.., they were giddy, they were excited, they were vulnerable. I really enjoyed creating them, their unique writing and spelling style - and trying to keep them congruent over time. As you say Renate -empyre- is a LOT of work to manage, and eventually the community itself took over as the holder of the common space and my virtual colleagues retired.  I'm sure that this intervention, manipulation even, accelerated the terraforming of -empyre- into an environment were poets, performers, technicians, scholars and just plain interested people could feel safe to venture without fear of not speaking the right language, then having it appear in a search engine forever.

But -empyre- was always archived - centrally at UNSW where I did my Phd and I also kept an offline archive plus off site back up. Later it was archived extensively by Cornell.  But perhaps it was when we started print publishing outcomes from the online discussions that the community became more self conscious in what they posted. The first was the Lab3D and Web3D Art Reader produced in conjunction with Kathy Rae Huffman @ Cornerhouse in Manchester which I co-edited with Taylor Nuttall in 2003. Then especially the three moderated conversations on the three documenta 12 leitmotifs for the documenta 12 Magazine Project, superbly edited by long term -empyre -facilitator Christina McPhee in 2006 - 2007, and printed and presented by documenta at Kassel. Links to those publications in .pdf format : http://www.subtle.net/empyre.html

In late 2005 three hefty 3cm books with no title or author arrived in my post office box.  I was bit shocked when I opened the first page and saw my intro post to the -empyre- February 2005 discussion I had facilitated, titled "To Save or not to Save". The book was a word for word reprint of the whole months conversation, including every quote and requote in the plain text email format. I had no prior knowledge of the project which originated from an archiving exhibition at the Art Gallery of Knoxville in November 2005. Theres great circularity there and its pretty funny.  It became obvious that -empyre- was an exploratory forum, but articles, Phds and entire books were also being researched and published from here. It wasn't a casual neighbourhood conversation anymore. -empyre- had evolved into a differently effective tool for the artist, philosopher, scholar, curator, creative technologist and cultural producer. 

Renate I have no idea about the longevity of list serves - Charlotte Frost probably knows about that if she is reading..? 
Also I wanted to say something about generalism, but it fell out of the conversational flow.
maybe tomorrow
Melinda



> On 26 Feb 2015, at 10:03 am, Renate Terese Ferro <rferro at cornell.edu> wrote:
> 
> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
> Kath Melinda was the innovator of our present day -empyre-soft-skinned
> space.  We welcome ³less academic² topics at any time by any person
> interested in organizing a topic around networked culture.  Sure hope you
> will consider hosting one soon on a topic of your choice. Renate
> 
> 
> Renate Ferro
> Visiting Assistant Professor of Art,Cornell University
> Department of Art, Tjaden Hall Office:  306
> Ithaca, NY  14853
> Email:   <rferro at cornell.edu <mailto:rtf9 at cornell.edu>>
> URL:  http://www.renateferro.net <http://www.renateferro.net/>
>      http://www.privatesecretspubliclies.net
> <http://www.privatesecretspubliclies.net/>
> Lab:  http://www.tinkerfactory.net <http://www.tinkerfactory.net/>
> 
> Managing Co-moderator of -empyre- soft skinned space
> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
> On 2/25/15, 5:39 PM, "Kath O'Donnell" <aliak77 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
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