sorry for dropping one and running
duty called..........
i Wouldnt want to be percieved as knocking ambit - i didnt actually say the word
but early this morning woke up and thought of a synthesis for what made the Syndicate (my first proper list) good - why and when - and maybe what ive wrote will be of some use to illys attempt to chart the past...and for us all to move beyond netiquette
in brief (before baby saskia wakes...)
in the beginning (95ish):
It was novel-and mind blowingin the middle:
Immediate exchange of views seemed possible
Access to totally new views and opinions re: countries id never heard of could not place on the map (ie: moldovia)
The pleasure in knowing someone is there (still sleeping saskia reaches out to make sure Im still here) - not dissimilar to the 'phatic' - as eric put it
Conitinuation of discussions started face to face (in liverpool at meeting illyanana initiated)
Opportunity to meet lots of interesting people
Information exchangeat the end:
Knowledge of new artists projects (useful to me in my role at htba)
A space for promoting events and schemes (be they inidividual or institutuional)
A place to be known and stake claim
A place to feel included for a change )privilidge
Hear personal diverse opinions
Less intimacypost partum:
Overload with information
Less sense of knowing everyone
Overcrowding/shouting
Initial fascination with netotshka nezvanova phenonema
Perception of those in the know looking down
Dissapointment in polarisation of those fascinated and those considering there time to be Wasted (lets not forget the bataille quote from eric - "only experience that is not useful can be supremely important to us")
Traffic overload
the desire to stick with it - and finally resign
Minor grief at losing contact with friends and adversaries
As yet not joined spectre
Joined (been joined) ambit
Used netochka test on new film
Less time reading lest email - more time with saskia
what i think i can draw from this and did not get the chance to express yesterday that i want ambit to work by this i mean for it to:
I suspect the authoritarian stand the moderators expressed quite early inflamed those operating netochka into making the transition between free generative poetry and spam - i watched closely ,
Have function and need-info/knowledge/skill share/discussion/trade
A place to investigate specialisms of practices
And like all social spaces to be accomodate disagreement and jokes (its interesting to Compare media art list seriousness with general office playfullness) - lets not be too dour eh ?
Somwhere to set up meetings and events
Maintain cultural contact across an inhospitable land
Make travel safer
language and the moderation of language is initself political - despite utopian rhetorics of freedom
who gets to speak on behalf of who - who has the loudest voice / biggest vocabulary
Finally i would like to thank chris and illy for getting it this far and also for those who put the conference together - at some point i hope to repay the hospitaltiy in dundee - maybe an informal show and tell event and new year drink late january at our (gina czarnecki and saskia's) house in newport on tay over the river from dundee?
best
mike
For those unfamiliar with syndicate or didnt attend yesterday -
syndicate was a list dedicated to discussions between artists/activists sharing an interest in east/west relationships
spectre is a pheonix of that list operating with further netiquette controls (as i understand it)
htba =hull time based arts
netochka nezvananova was something between individuals intervention into the list and a generative software programme that re - wrote emails off the list and returned to/spammed the list
