----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- Having the technicians teaching the technical side of things isn't only instrumentalising the technology but also saving money. I think the latter concern will be driving such a proposal.
best Simon > On 26 Feb 2015, at 08:11, Renate Terese Ferro <[email protected]> wrote: > > ----------empyre- soft-skinned space---------------------- > Dear Melinda, > Your voice is an important one to me and to many of our -empyre- > subscribers and thanks for sharing your recent interests and projects. It > is ironic that you write this generous post just as I return from a > two-hour faculty meeting where our discussion centered around a proposal > to separate digital tool learning from the context of art studios just as > we do with our shop technology requiring all of our first year students to > attend bootcamp taught by technicians. Yikes. My colleague and I (both > women by the way) who are broad cross-disciplinary artists but teach > digital media were horrified at this proposal for the reasons that both > Anne and you cite: > WHO you earn with is as important as what you learn. > > I do not want my young artists to think of digital tools in terms of use > value only but to think through them no differently than any other tool > they use in a studio setting, that is critically with implied social, > political, and cultural implications. Learning which for me includes > stumbling, researching, problem-solving, a messy venture and one that > technicians do not find very efficient. Sorry, I acknowledge my biases. > > You also wrote: So tools and technologies don't need to be new, > specialised, expensive or complex, and often the more straight fwd the > longer lasting and more far reaching their outcomes. Thats why I used the > rather daggy list serv format for -empyre- with plain text messages. It > was, and still is, easy to use, easy to contain, easy to search, and has > no distractions. In 2002 I was hoping > ---empyre- would a space were it was safe to make propositions which left > one a little giddy or vulnerable - but I guess the reality is text based > interaction becomes performative in a knowledge based economy and status > anxiety precludes these sorts of risks. Maybe I’m wrong? > > Our current moderating team has discussed the possibility of transitioning > -empyre- over to a blog based site. We have collectively decided thus far > to keep it as a list serve for the many reasons you list but safety was > not one of them. Many of our subscribers are avid readers but choose to be > lurkers and do not post because they fear being judged or perhaps they > feel that more responsive writing and discussion may be held against them > at some point in the future. Our mission remains though as often as > possible to curate a wide-variety of viewpoints and topics and to be as > inclusive as is possible. We encourage all of our guests not to post > previously published papers or long written conference papers so that > discussion is welcomed and anyone who feels up to it will join in the > discussion. The hope for a space that can and will work out new > potentials is a utopia but I think most of us do not want to let go of > that ideal. Our own list-serve acknowledges that the tension between > writing as a performative gesture and one that is conversational, probing, > vulnerable or giddy provides an interesting interstitial space. A space > that can be informative but also one that is inquisitive and questioning. > To manage -empyre- is a tremendous amount of work and we really do hope > that younger empyreans will step up to take over some of the logistics of > running the list-serv. Melinda is -empyre- the longest-running list-serve > on new media and networked culture? > > Thanks also for the historical background on its conception. > Renate > > > > Renate Ferro > Visiting Assistant Professor of Art,Cornell University > Department of Art, Tjaden Hall Office: 306 > Ithaca, NY 14853 > Email: <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > URL: http://www.renateferro.net <http://www.renateferro.net/> > http://www.privatesecretspubliclies.net > <http://www.privatesecretspubliclies.net/> > Lab: http://www.tinkerfactory.net <http://www.tinkerfactory.net/> > > Managing Co-moderator of -empyre- soft skinned space > http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/ > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > empyre forum > [email protected] > http://empyre.library.cornell.edu Simon Biggs [email protected] @_simonbiggs_ http://www.littlepig.org.uk http://amazon.com/author/simonbiggs [email protected] Professor of Art, University of South Australia http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?name=simon.biggs [email protected] Honorary Professor, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/edinburgh-college-art/school-of-art/staff/staff?person_id=182&cw_xml=profile.php _______________________________________________ empyre forum [email protected] http://empyre.library.cornell.edu
