Hi Renee, I found the post from Curt very interesting, as well as your own post mentioning your own experience about being part of The Next 5 Minutes in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. I went to the Next 5 minutes in 96 - http://www.n5m.org/n5m2/ and even though there were a couple of issues I had at that time which are perhaps not worth mentiong here right now, I found on the whole thing pretty amazing and inspiring.
"The term 'tactical media' arose in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall as a renaissance of media activism, blending old school political work and artists' engagement with new technologies. The early nineties saw a growing awareness of gender issues, exponential growth of media industries and the increasing availability of cheap do-it-yourself equipment creating a new sense of self-awareness amongst activists, programmers, theorists, curators and artists. Media were no longer seen as merely tools for the Struggle, but experienced as virtual environments whose parameters were permanently 'under construction'. This was the golden age of tactical media, open to issues of aesthetics and experimentation with alternative forms of story telling. However, these liberating techno practices did not immediately translate into visible social movements. Rather, they symbolized the celebration of media freedom, in itself a great political goal. The media used - from video, CD-ROM, cassettes, zines and flyers to music styles such as rap and techno - varied widely, as did the content. A commonly shared feeling was that politically motivated activities, be they art or research or advocacy work, were no longer part of a politically correct ghetto and could intervene in 'pop culture' without necessarily having to compromise with the 'system.' With everything up for negotiation, new coalitions could be formed. The current movements worldwide cannot be understood outside of the diverse and often very personal for digital freedom of expression." http://www.n5m4.org/journald8be.html?118+575+2372 There were a few things happening at the same time then in the UK which, seemed to fit well with the context of what was also being explored at The Next 5 Minutes also. There were disturbing situations in the artworld, stemming from the "early 80s, and well into the 90s, when UK art culture was hijacked by the marketing strategies of Saatchi and Saatchi, a formidable force in the advertising world. The same company had been responsible for the successful promotion of the Conservative party (and conservative culture) that had led to the election of the Thatcher government in 1979. Saatchi and Saatchi promoted art products from their own gallery under the populist brand of BritArt. Applying their marketing techniques and corporate power, the company accomplished a parallel coup within the British art scene, creating an elite of artists who embraced the commodification of their personalities alongside depoliticized artworks. BritArt’s dominance of the 90s UK art world-its galleries, markets and press-with a small number of high profile artists, delighted nouveau toffs but disempowered the majority of artists. It degraded and smothered artistic discourse by fueling a competitive and divisive attitude towards a shrinking public platform for their practice and the representation of their work." http://www.a-n.co.uk/publications/article/422251 Many of us in the UK had been working with art and technology from the late eighties in various ways, and in the mid-nineties. a lot of net art was around at the time - but there were groups, collectives forming togeher. For instance, Backspace (1996-99), an informal production space, sited on the Thames at London Bridge. The Backspace cyberlounge was open to people at all levels of technical experience and encouraged the sharing of ideas and technical resources, both in the physical space and across the globe via the Internet. It also acted as a venue for events and mini-conferences advocating a DIY consciousness and encouraging users to get their hands dirty with technology and its culture. The unspoken challenge to its members was that they should create something alternative to the dominant commercial culture on the Internet. It drew on the experience and involvement of its members (including the authors’) in pirate radio and pirate television, digital bulletin boards and use of the streets as a canvas and art platform. It connected with the work of groups like I/O/D, Irational, Mongrel and Mute magazine to hack around everyday culture using public communication platforms to create independent art works and publications. Most of the UK groups I have mentioned above were at The Next 5 Minutes festival (of course many more I have no time to mention). I was not actually invited to the festival, due to not having the correct credentials at that time, as in not being featured by the likes of Lovink, Stalibras and Manovich, even though I had been involved with various projects with irational.org before furtherfield was founded actually in 96-97. I complained to Heath Bunting that there was an insitutional form of elitism at play - so, together we made false passes for yself and others who for whatever reason did not possess one themselves. Which was great, because I stayed in Hotels for free and gained access to whole festival. Because of this, I met excellent individuals and also formed many partnerships with other artists, thinkers, activists (it all blurs of course). Even though there was an international shift towards tactical media around then, due to the rise of networked culture generally. Each country and region had its own reasons and contexts in being involved with the The Next 5 Minutes festival. One individual who I met, who left an impression on me was Josephine Bosma, who interviewed various speakers at the conference on a radio station - either the independent station Radio Patapoe or VPRO radio, forget whether it was one of these. And then, there was Critical Art Ensemble. "This is not the first time that the promise of electronic utopia has been offered. One need only look back at Brecht's critique of radio to find reason for concern when such promises are resurrected. While Brecht recognized radio's potential for distributing information for humanitarian and cultural purposes, he was not surprised to see radio being used for the very opposite. Nor should we be surprised that his calls for a more democratic interactive medium went unheeded." http://www.n5m.org/n5m2/content/cae.htm - I watched a performance by the Critical Art Ensemble, which blew my mind and also read the text above at that time 'Utopian Promises-Net Realities', which is well worth a read. I also remember sitting on a coach going to Rotterdam as part of the various activities of the Next 5 Minutes and watching a video with others of Annie Sprinkle - http://www.anniesprinkle.org, which was fun. Now why would I only remember this video from that journey? marc > Hi Curt, > > You're course sounds fascinating. I wish I could enroll! > >> "It is my fervent wish that this book will become obsolete becaues >> the world will have changed so dramatically that this study of >> art-activism could only appar as a quaint historical artifact, its >> latent pessimism misguided, its failure to imagine otherwise >> indicative of the author's poverty of imagination. Until such a >> point, I will continue to look to tactical media artists for >> inspiration and guidance." (xii) >> > > Good to read the Raley quote... Although I know her writing from other > contexts, I didn't realize she'd written a book on tactical media. > >> Not that I myself look to "tactical media artists" for much >> inspiration or guidance, and probably by the end of the course we >> will have critiqued their approaches from contradictory perspectives >> -- the work is too didactic/hamfisted/pragmatic; the work is too >> disengaged/esoteric/impotent. (Throw a critical stone in the air and >> you will hit a tactical media artist.) >> > > Since the mid nineties, I was involved in one way or another with the > Next 5 Minutes, a tactical media conference which happened every few > years Amsterdam. Through that event which was a convergence of art > and activism, I met some pretty amazing artists/activists/tactical > media practitioners (some known and others more obscure). While I > understand your cynicism, it feels strange to generalize about these > practices in that they are quite diverse. So can you talk a little > more about the kind of work you're referring to? I'm thinking here of > the difference between let's say the sanctioned practices of Superflex > or maybe N55 versus the more "grass roots work" (not sure if this is > right word) of RepoHistory, Paper Tiger or Deep Dish Television. Btw: > I'm asking this out of curiosity, not in an adversarial "you-gotta- > defend-yourself-way"... it's more that I think about these issues > myself :-) > > >> It is always amusing to me when artists and/or educators try to >> out-ethicalize each other, as if any of us are all that directly, >> pragmatically, quantitatively, measurably changing anything. For me, >> art and teaching are a gamble -- a gamble that some kind of abstract >> affective agency will eventually modulate actual aspects of the world >> in some way that will "matter." Consequently, I admire others who are >> making similar wagers. >> > > I agree with you that art and teaching are a gamble.... also it's a > "slow cooking" process, the impact is often difficult to see, measure > or register. > > >> But I don't ever fool myself into believing >> that I'm on the street feeding the poor. Because I've done that kind >> of work as well, and it's quite a different thing. >> > > I wonder if you're trying to make a distinction between direct and > indirect action. Feeding the poor on the street is immediate; give > someone food, and their belly is full. Education is very indirect; > educate someone, and they will make of it what they will (or not). In > other words, these are two types of digestion with different rates of > ingestion. (btw: as I'm writing this, it strikes me that somewhere > buried in here is that quote about teaching a man to fish ;-) > > all the best, > > Renee > www.geuzen.org > www.fudgethefacts.com > >> Rock & Roll Ain't No Pollution, >> Curt >> >> >> >> >>> There's more irony to be had in the quotes, that's why I posted them. >>> That and, as Michael points out, they are funny. >>> >>> Art & Language are anti-academic but started and have often ended >>> up in >>> academia. They are politically committed but show at a gentrifying, >>> market-leading gallery. Despite protests to the contrary they are >>> radical artists who have artworld careers. I like them. >>> >>> It's very easy to criticise academia, artistic careerism, the art >>> market, politically/socially committed art etc. from the security of >>> one's own, virtuous, position outside of them. But there's no point >>> outside the world where we can stand and point and laugh at it. >>> >>> We all need to be careful about glass houses, or at least work on >>> smashing our own windows, whether our teaching means we are >>> objectively >>> in academia or our radical socially committed artistic practice >>> means we >>> are objectively part of gentrification. >>> >>> The most important criticism is self-criticism, although this may >>> sometimes mean that we have to admit we are not criticising others >>> enough. ;-) I've taught, I've wired up abandoned warehouses, I've >>> attended private views, I write reviews for a techno-art-and- >>> society web >>> community. We are all guilty... >>> >>> - Rob. >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >> > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
