A good time to discuss these issues would have been before a tender was concocted, rather than it being merely opportune now.
The framework of the Tactical Media conference would have been an interesting one to pursue, as it is essential that we retain access to alternative possibilities and particularities if we are to avoid the marshalling in of a mono-culture -- as in Blunket�s oxymoron that we can have �Cultural Diversity� but only as contained within a dominant culture. And if we are to discuss the role and support of publications (plural) now, we should at least disclose what stake we hold. Variant ran an editorial piece a couple of issues ago precisely on the issue of ScotInform's consultancy and the concerns raised by (the few) artists who were 'invited' to attend. We still don't know if their concerns have been addressed. I can't see how we�re 'throwing stones at all and sundry' (which, maybe I'm wrong, but take as a stereotyping of Variant) when I'm explicitly advocating a pluralism of funding: that is a funding body which 'funds' at arms length, and the funding of an actual diversity of publications/forums/whatevers -- and I would include looking at funding Film Video Workshops, an International Film Festival, IndiMedia Scotland, community radio projects, new media resources... rather than consultants, a communications department, �enterprise� officers, et al. Re: �...a good thing for the sector and for the framework of publications that already exist, adding more support rather than undermining it...� What and whose framework -- the dole? The myth is that there is a process in motion that we not only advocate but equally have access to and are able to influence. On past experience we can see just how well that works -- otherwise would we still need to (even rhetorically) ask the question: What do �we lack here to make things a bit more happening�? There needs to be something beyond a simple reshuffling of titles, personnel and funding �within� institutions -- everybody can see through that. Given recent discussion of the role of independent media as a result of the last Gulf War, just what would an �embedded� magazine look like? Are these discussions on the importance of independent, critical voices distasteful in the art world today, when clearly much of what seems to constitute the domain of the �Visual Arts� is in fact an effect of other kinds of forces and relations of power? Without going into the issue of transparency, disclosing the �60,000 figure ScotInform received for their part in this is what Variant -- any critical, dare I say it, Visual Arts magazine -- does. Leigh ------------------------------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------------------
