[spectre] Subversive in China - Mainstream in Adelaide Press Release

[jaromil]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Sun, Aug 24, 2008 at 12:54:02PM +0100, marc garrett wrote:
> Hi jaromil,
>
> Yes,  this is all  rather troubling.  Although, correct  me if  I am
> wrong - didn't  Eyebeam write a statement in  support for James when
> all this stuff kicked off?

well i  don't really  know eyebeam, just  some people in  there surely
well concerned but maybe without much agency in these situations:
http://eyebeam.org/labs/people/graffiti-research-lab
but nothing is mentioned on the blog (yet?)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/eyebeam/reblog

it does  sounds a bit strange,  but well i keep  hearing people having
problems with the insititutions they are hosted by.

let me also add that the message from James has no encrypted signature
:) so we aren't 100% sure he  wrote it himself and actually in case he
did i can read stress in his words.



> >   James is  proud to have been  kicked out of  the Synthetic Times
> >   new media  art exhibition in Beijing because  he wouldn't censor
> >   his little art project. James wonders why organizations like the
> >   MoMA, Parsons, Eyebeam, Ars  Electronica and many other arts and
> >   cultural institutions around the world who claim to support free
> >   speech  and expression would  participate in  a show  like this.
> >   But they did!
>
> It would be interesting to  know why such organisations thought it a
> good idea  to be a  part of  this the show.  The Olympics is  such a
> slack,   hegemonic    and   over-culturalized   form    of   eugenic
> indoctrination,  worldwide.

eheh, i place  my bet that they will just ignore  the question.

a very good one indeed.


> Perhaps, what we are witnessing  is a shift from supposed 'critical'
> 'intelligent' media art  organisations, becoming more traditional in
> their  approaches and  outlooks, such  as is  the norm  in  fine art
> fields.  So  much lip service  and not enough real  challenge. Where
> are the socially informed risks here?

i second your sensation very much.   is it like when people slide into
comfort?  loosing interest in criticism when not needed anymore?

but it isn't  just about age time and change, i  believe there is also
quite some "top-down" manipulation going on.

for  example it  is  very  delusive these  days  to see  "philantropic
billionaires" and "new venture capitalists" appropriating the concepts
of open  source and collective creativity,  yuppies promoting creative
commons worldwide weaving their i-phone  to the masses, and stuff like
that,  just   plain  incoherent,  but  still  these   are  the  people
broadcasted in mondovision, why?

there are  multiple dynamics that  converge in the same  phenomenon we
are  talking   about,  which   i  believe  is   not  just   plain  old
"institutionalisation",  but also a  widespread tendency  to represent
success,  optimism,  beautiful figures  rather  than  a  meshy mob  of
different voices.

in  this  regard  i  found  very inspiring  the  Schwartzmarkt  format
@steirischerherbst.at -  very good challenge for the  talking heads :)
this might be  of some interest actually, the  archive is public since
just a few days on http://www.mobileacademy-berlin.com/arc/

BTW i liked your report of ISEA, you really made good points there.

ciao


- -- 
  Jaromil, dyne.org developer, http://jaromil.dyne.org

GPG: 779F E8B5 47C7 3A89 4112  64D0 7B64 3184 [ B534 0B5E ]
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)

iEYEARECAAYFAkixYFsACgkQe2QxhLU0C16GWwCfe141t8i3jCiG+jcFIF9E6sb+
beYAoO5Xeq1RByUfT6Z/jiSSHVvQ51ZA
=yZ0V
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----