[spectre] Walker Art closes Media dept. and sacks Steve Dietz

[stephen kovats]

Re:honor

agreed - and I found the following passage particularly chilling, if not
somewhat odd at the least:

"The department will survive, Bitter said, but its five remaining employees
will focus more on the Walker's Web site and educational and
audience-service programs instead of the ambitious curatorial initiatives
that Dietz led."

-sk!

on 12.05.2003 10:13 Uhr, honor at honor at va.com.au wrote:

> Hi Spectres,
> 
>> As a cost saving measure, the Walker Art Center has decided to
>> terminate its new media programming initiatives, including Steve
>> Dietz's position.
>> 
>> Dietz's latest project, How Latitudes Become Form, just closed a week ago:
>> http://latitudes.walkerart.org/
>> 
>> http://www.startribune.com/stories/389/3870414.html
>> Walker Art Center lays off 7 employees, freezes wages
> 
> I just wanted to say how utterly shocked and appalled I was to learn of the
> Walker Art Center's decision to close one of the most significant new media
> art programmes operating within a museum internationally.  As I'm sure many
> of you will agree, the Walker's support of artists using technology over
> the past 5 - 10 years has been highly significant in raising the profile of
> new media art within cultural institutions around the world.  It is hard to
> imagine the new media art landscape without Gallery 9.
> 
> On a more personal note, Steve Dietz has been an intelligent and ebuillient
> force not only within the Walker's programmes, but within the more global
> context of new media curation.  I feel very sory that his work has been
> devalued in this way by the management of the Walker.
> 
> It is now worth asking some questions about what this decision signifies in
> terms's of art institutions overall committment, or lack thereof, to
> artists who use new media.  It will be interesting to observe what evolves
> within the new media art programmes at the Whitney and SFMOMA over the next
> twelve months.
> If an institution of the Walker's size and reputation can no longer afford,
> or prioritise, their new media initiatives, it is worth wondering whether
> other US museums of their size will also ultimately consider these
> programmes surplus to requirements.
> 
> I think this poses some questions for the role of new media art within a
> larger visual arts framework.  I've been reflecting on this over the
> weekend, as we  staged a large symposium at Tate Modern in London, which
> tried to analyse some of the issues current within interactive art and
> design practices.  user_mode <http://www.usermode.net> provided some kind
> of sign that, at least within the UK, there is still evidently a diverse
> and growing audience interested in new media art practices, who consider a
> museum like Tate Modern has an active role to play in the development and
> support of the field.
> 
> It is a sad day, that this is no longer thought to be the case at the Walker.
> 
> Best wishes
> 
> 
> Honor
> 
> 
> _______________.hh
> 
> _______________.play
> ph: 44 (0)20 78641859
> <honor at va.com.au>
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> 
> 
> _______________.work
> ph: 44 (0)20 74015066
> <honor.harger at tate.org.uk>
> http://www.tate.org.uk/audiovideo
> http://www.usermode.net
> 
> 
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