geert lovink wrote:
> yes, please focus and let's start something beyond the level of
> the ordinairy conversation. we can do that anyway....
What is this imperative that somehow seeks to locate discussion "beyond... the
ordinary", as though "the ordinary" and the level at which it is located is
perhaps too banal to be worthy of discussion and has to be transcended?! You
could say I'm being flippant, but it's a serious question.
> what is new media arts?
>
> it explores the technological premisses, possibilities and boundaries of
> modern
> communication
> HOW does it explore these premisses, possibilities and boundaries and to
> what end? Software manufacturers, IT professionals and advertising creative
> teams are ostensibly doing this all the time and yet they are working in
> various ways to further a variety of capitalist, market driven
> imperatives... this is very much the norm and located in the realm of the
> ordinary... the exploration of boundaries surely takes second place to other
> imperatives in that context. This is not to devalue or deny the potential
> of exploratory work in those contexts, just that it tends not to
> 'self-identify' as "Media Arts" as such. However this discussion is
> predicated on a notion of "new media arts" and it might just be interesting
> to try to reach some concensus about exactly what that is so that at least
> we know what we are discussing (cos I'm not sure!). I think that we have to
> be a bit more specific. An 'exploration' is a very timid notion and doesn't
> imply any kind of critical relationship. So are we talking about a vague
> idea of dabbling in a broad range of media for the sake of some kind of
> undefined exploration, or is there some sense that this might actually be a
> critical exploration which could suggest a use factor for the on-going
> observations (whatever they might be) derived from these explorations?
Good Night
Steven
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hothouse: media arts discussion and action at the threshold of
technology and the 21st Century
MANIFESTO 2nd - 12th November 1999 Experimenta Media Arts
www.experimenta.org
