At 5:33 pm +0100 12/11/02, Gair wrote:
Less than enthusiastic response to the games theme, no?
probably something to do with an argument raging on another topic thread?
I think the parallel question of why curators are so interested in it isCan we define "the body of artists working with new media"? Does this include the artists present in the show Game On? Are we excluding from the definition those artists who do not work within the field of contemporary art?
quite interesting.
In the case of the national Museum, it's quitre simple.
Paying punters through the door and a pre-packaged show which makes life easier.
But what about new media curators, that shadowy species?
Perhaps the mantra of populism, of reaching new audiences etc etc has
reached into cyberland.
Perhaps they wish that the body of artists working with new media was
different to what it is, and would like to constitute another one.
This perspective reminds me of the arguments theorists engaged in when comparing cinema to television, or television to home video. Each technology creates its own conventions and structures, or alters existing ones. Gaming can be a social activity, but the shared culture is not necessarily about discussion, debate or literary forms of communication.More seriously, i think it might be related to a feeling that art has to relate to a social structure- and that the relevant structure for new media is that of the game in that it constitutes a collective interaction, a shared dream/fantasy. But the problem is that the Game constitutes a collective without a "socius", without a reflexive space...
Isn't that the point of their work? To confuse/refuse/subvert/frustrate 'realist'/hyperreal conventions in interactive media? Claude Closky applied a similar strategy in 'Going for the high score' - http://host.mediascot.org/closkyI've met Jodi, they're nice people. But the response I have to their work is "so what?" what is the use of a tactical refusal in a context where you're either playing or not?
anyway perhaps debate about games is just as uninteresting as gamelife itself...Depends what the definition of 'games' happens to be.
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Chris Byrne [EMAIL PROTECTED]
--------------------------------------------------------
New Media Scotland tel: +44 131 477 3774 P.O. Box 23434, Edinburgh EH7 5SZ fax: +44 131 477 3775
Scotland, UK http://www.mediascot.org
--------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
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
-------------------------------------------------
