Just some notes on what this makes me think about...
Aren't we also talking about the prevalence of commercialism and capitalism within the confines of New Media and Art, which seem to me to be becoming much more saturated. When you add into the equation the fact you're talking about commercial gain for the CCA through providing space and time for private military conferences, you have to account for the deeper ethical implications, especially in the context of the potential military action being considered at present. Which makes me wonder if it is down to the present political climate, that this is such a major issue. Would it be otherwise? There are aspects of technology developed with Military or educational establishments that have been beneficial - the development of communication systems, the Internet, www and pharmaceuticals to name a few. (Beneficial, profitable and with political and ethical implications). The reason I find the saturation of commercialism within new media and art, such a hard pill to swallow, is that I always aimed to develop my skills and outcomes to the core principals of art and design that I care about such as creativity, truth in design, open source, discussion, etc, and often the primary commercialist aim of making a profit can overcome completely all I was taught to respect, hold onto through my creative principals and develop throughout my work. Then there's the fact that everyone is out to make a profit. And why shouldn't they (this is the point I find hard to balance out)? Is it only when contemporary art is adversely affected by commercialism and capitalism, that the commercialism of art and new media should become an issue? What are the acceptable boundaries where we should stand creatively with situations like these? I don't quite see the power that will be invoked by artist's boycotting the CCA. And if this is a possible tactic surely it would only work if it was a total boycott, which seems a difficult thing to enforce or encourage on mass. It just makes me feel that it would be the artists that would lose out the most by taking such action. If the CCA is indeed a Centre for Contemporary Arts, then isn't this something that can be discussed, isn't that part of what being designers and artists is all about? What level of commercialism and capitalism is acceptable when compromising creative principals? Hasn't there always been commercialism and profit involved in art, when you consider some of the vast sums of money spent by individuals for various artworks in the past? I'm not sure about the whole situation of commercialism with new media and art. After leaving my job a New Media Designer I felt incredibly disillusioned by my experiences commercially and have been thinking about creative compromises for a while now. Enough to question my vacation. But I couldn't stop creating things and my original inspiration was always there, just overpowered by commercial aims forced upon me through the role. The situation and the time of reflection made me realise I had to put my creative head back where it should have been in the first place. Somewhere where it wasn't able to get to within the confines of my prior employment. But I still don't know the answer. My creative heart is anti-commercialist and feels sick to my stomach with the way things seem to be going, but my head says what's wrong with making a profit and am I just kidding myself holding onto the ideals I have creatively? Perhaps it also has to do with selling out creatively (something I resent doing), the balance of power associated with the privatisation of creative resources for various ethical, capitalist, commercial or political aims. To what extent is the CCA infringing on and selling out creative principals and ethics, by hosting such events. What do the profits from events such as these go towards? It would be good to find out more information about this, to see the level of creative compromise we are in fact talking about. Beth ------------------------------------------------- a m b i t : networking media arts in scotland post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] info: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and write "info ambit" in the message body -------------------------------------------------
