Hi Max, Thanks for the really interesting insights! Lots of things to think about :)
Very best regards, Joana On 30.09.21 19:09, Max Herman via NetBehaviour wrote: > > Hi Joana, > > This project sounds really interesting! There is something missing > from or overlooked in the now-standard model of a building in which > special objects exist that are visited by viewers in a kind of > circulatory way. Clearly there were and still are obvious reasons for > such a quasi-Newtonian idea of aesthetic space, time, energy, and > matter, so to speak. Yet there can also be unfortunate error and > omission when the conventional model is overtaxed during times of > crisis or urgent adaptation. > > I like the idea of "liquid authorship" mentioned at the Centre's site > and the practice of guilds or artistic groups collaborating to create > activity in four-month increments. These practices would seem to slow > down to a perceptible scale what races so rapidly in electronic > culture without proclaiming an unhelpful and counterfactual state of > stasis. Combining diverse disciplines also makes reality somehow more > manifest. > > As to reducing energy use in order to make its usage visible, felt, > and conscious, I think that is also a great way to call attention to > the very fundamental flows (resources, emissions, costs, customs, > habit) that merge into what we think of as /de rigeur/ indoor > climate. The Centre itself seems to thus operate something like a > weathervane perhaps, the old-fashioned (and often artistic) measuring > instrument placed atop buildings in former times and still very much > in use. The concept seems to draw what is so easily ignored or > invisible into the "frame" of activity so to speak, very tangibly, and > in so doing also project the "internal" aesthetic activity into the > outer and external environment. Both of these changes to the > perception of place and structure in artistic creation seem to suspend > strict control or engineered determinacy in favor of awareness -- the > precondition of any kind of choice at all, aesthetic or otherwise. > There is a balanced, minimal tension and subtle sense of stillness > within motion, almost like bodily proprioception, in this which is > often the main stratum of art. > > My own recent emphasis on a single painting might seem very divergent > from such themes, but I see the /Mona Lisa/ actually quite closely > parallel in many ways. Of course due to the physical fragility and > unreproducible character of the painting as an object it has to be > kept indoors, out of the elements, in a relatively fixed location > nonetheless large enough for millions of people to move past it almost > continuously. Yet I do not believe that its content means to > unquestioningly praise such a state of affairs, or shows or advocates > a static or Newtonian kind of aesthetic space, especially seen in the > flow of historical time -- i.e. relative to what it was surrounded by, > what informed its production, and what followed after it (both by > designed intent and unforeseeable chance). It almost seeks by its > strangeness to rather articulate convention as a choice, a thing in > motion, almost as iodine or barium sulfate accentuate structures in an > X-ray. Many of the beliefs and "structures" which Leonardo saw as > incorrectly defined as fixed are arguably portrayed in the ML as in > motion, and the phenomena thought in his time to be static or > essential are portrayed as in flux, change, and metamorphosis. Also, > the individual viewer's perception and physical embodiment as viewer > is brought in or mirrored, in a continuous "moving stillness," due in > part to the visceral link imposed by the direct eye contact which is > still a bit disconcerting after five centuries. > > It is standard interpretation nowadays to interpret the sitter as > "part of nature," with human hair and veins, lungs and skeleton, > mirroring rivers, geology, seas and atmosphere. This is the ancient > microcosm/macrocosm template, but Leonardo went an order of magnitude > beyond such a staid equivalency which sadly even modern commentary > often reiterates. He did this by introducing the element of Art > (which includes all of the arts and all of the sciences, all > technology, engineering, etc.) as an equal third element into the > duality of Humanity and Nature. In doing this he added a dimension > that we now take for granted, but we forget its interwovenness with > the other two in our headlong quest for more and ever more "powerful" > tech. This is why I think it is so important to see Art in the > largest sense as also portrayed, as at least an equal and fully > interconnected sphere, in the portrait by way of not just the fact of > its artifice as a painted, "built" object but in the flowing and > naturalized, yet clearly technological phenomena of the bridge and the > garment. The sitter, /Esperienza/, becomes a living and lived > phenomenon which integrates Art, Nature, and Humanity in mutually > defined and influenced processes which flow in concrete time and > space; and by our own identification with the sitter the viewer is > also placed in a similar role. Perhaps in a sense Art as such is in > the ML, if I understand the theme sufficiently, in both senses: > "/exposar no exposar-se/ and /exposar-se no exposar/." > > To highlight this model of unaccustomed relation of elements for us > Leonardo declared quite plainly that Experience /(Esperienza) /can be > personified as "the interpreter between formative nature and the human > race", i.e. an observational and perceptual reality, as well as "the > common mother of all the sciences and arts which suggests a more > active, imaginative, and constructing form of method. > > In any case, I think your project sounds excellent and appreciate your > sharing it here! > > Very best regards, > > Max > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > *From:* NetBehaviour <netbehaviour-boun...@lists.netbehaviour.org> on > behalf of Joana Moll via NetBehaviour > <netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> > *Sent:* Thursday, September 30, 2021 4:52 AM > *To:* Netbehaviour NEW <netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> > *Cc:* Joana Moll <freeautomati...@posteo.net> > *Subject:* [NetBehaviour] What would happen if art institutions would > work with energy budgets? > > > Dear all, (apologies for cross-posting) > > I'm happy to announce *16/2017*, a new project that forces "Centre > d’Arts Santa Mònica", a major art center in Barcelona, to cut its > energy use by 50% during 4 months. Or in other words: to radically > limit the use of air conditioning, lights and flights among other > variables. > > 16/2017 is named after a law approved by the government of Catalonia > in 2017, which, among other things, obliges the government to work > with carbon budgets in order to halve its Co2 emissions by 2030, as > stated in the Paris Agreement. Unfortunately, the Catalan government > is substantially delaying the application of these measures, or in > other words, the law is currently not being applied. Therefore, the > artist has proposed to the Centre d’Arts Santa Mònica to reduce its > energy expenditure by 50% during the four months-long exhibition > "Exposar · No exposar-se · Exposar-se · No exposar" . Thus, the museum > will have to define a self-energy regulation mechanism to avoid > exceeding the budget during the length of the exhibition. Or in other > words, all the actors involved in the exhibition project will have to > negotiate new methods of social interaction to stick to the energy > budget. > > > To achieve this goal, we have set up weekly meetings to negotiate and > define the energy budget of the exhibition, and correct its possible > deviations. These meetings are open to the public, the members of the > management team of the museum, and all those agents involved with the > exhibition. The piece is also built around a mural graph that will be > filled in according to the weekly meetings and their agreements. This > graph will indicate the energy expenditure agreed during the weekly > negotiations, such as how many hours the building’s air conditioning > will work or the number of hours that the exhibition lights will be > turned on, among other variables. > > In a context of climate emergency, where the scarcity of resources > will intensify in the coming decades, elaborating proposals capable of > articulating human activities around limited energy resources, is a > necessary exercise to favor new cultural rituals which are more > consistent with our contemporary climatic conditions. > > Full PR here: https://janavirgin.com/PR/16_2017_premsa_en.pdf > <https://janavirgin.com/PR/16_2017_premsa_en.pdf> > > Exhibition site: > https://artssantamonica.gencat.cat/en/detall/Exposar-No-exposar-se-Exposar-se-No-exposar > <https://artssantamonica.gencat.cat/en/detall/Exposar-No-exposar-se-Exposar-se-No-exposar> > > > > Best wishes, > > Joana Moll > > -- > Joana Moll > https://www.janavirgin.com/ <https://www.janavirgin.com/> > > ---------------------------- > Critical Interface Politics > https://crit.hangar.org/ <https://crit.hangar.org/> > > ---------------------------------------------------- > Institute for the Advancement of Popular Automatisms > http://ifapa.me/ <http://ifapa.me/> > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > NetBehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org > https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour -- Joana Moll https://www.janavirgin.com/ ---------------------------- Critical Interface Politics https://crit.hangar.org/ ---------------------------------------------------- Institute for the Advancement of Popular Automatisms http://ifapa.me/
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