>4. Consider whether your reply should go to the whole list or only to >the originator of the message (replies automatically go to the whole >list).
thank you chris i'll endeavour to be more attentive in future apologies to all for any offence or boredom on to matters of worth... very pleased to see such a healthy hoo haar in the list on my return to aberdeen and i hope it keeps momentum and bears some actual fruit i'm really sorry that i won't be able to join the gathering on wednesday eve but i hope it is useful and look forward to reading of it thereafter but there is another gathering in glasgow a few days later that's slightly related that i shall be attending 'Scotland says DON'T ATTACK IRAQ' Peace March & Rally SATURDAY 19th OCTOBER 11.30pm George Square, Glasgow not sure how much fine art there will be at it but the latest products of the absurdly named defence industries will certainly be on the agenda so maybe this would be a good time to encourage some audience development and guide people to go see some contemporary art too, just to round off the day like .... as for the role of art or artists at such moments ... well which moments do you care to choose as they are never-ending and not only relevant when american or australian or british citizens are butchered for instance, weeks after saddam hussein gassed thousands in and around halabjah in march 1988, various captains of our numerous defence industries were falling over themselves to lay out their wares for his approval and cheque book. the Defence Diversification Agency is certainly not about swords into ploughshares and of the wonderfully balanced list of links provided by chris i personally found the following the most informative and probably most accurate as to the true nature of this very dodgy outfit Campaign Against Arms Trade lobbying statement http://www.caat.org.uk/lobbying/employment.html of course some of us in the west benefit from the trickle-down effect of the massive sums of public money pumped into warmongering research each year, but just because i utilise some of them doesn't mean i can't object to the insanity of it all at root. nor does it negate the reality that the same sums could be put to use in peaceful research that would actually benefit more peoples lives without thousands having to be slaughtered in a faraway land as a consequence - could, that is, if enough people were better informed and chose to do something about it. new labour rhetoric flows thick and fast about opening the arts up to a wider public, about social inclusion and such the like but i still don't see people coming from the estates and schemes into these shiny new cultural palaces to slurp expensive coffee and munch happily through over-priced sun-dried foods as they discuss the aesthetic merits of the rising damp stains in their crumbling homes instead of truly broadening the scope and ownership of the arts, there is a headlong rush to sell sell sell the kudos of association with Art to the highest bidder - regardless of how dirty or blood soaked their money might be and artists are increasingly relegated to the role of decorators of yet more retail opportunities this is the crux of the matter to me, which has been given an incredible focus and poignancy by virtue of the industry of death being the subject in this instance. if a few more people question the general drift of the new creative industries (sic) then the dda/cca event will have served a good purpose after all and if it galvanises some long overdue action by the artistic community then i think the management of cca will have actually done us all a big favour. but only if... good luck wednesday - hope to see you saturday after the march ?? peace mark ------------------------------------------------- a m b i t : networking media arts in scotland post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] archive: http://www.mediascot.org/ambit info: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and write "info ambit" in the message body -------------------------------------------------
