The link below takes you to an "event' that I posted on Facebook. The event is purely conceptual, and I am sharing it with this list because to me the "event' represents a new kind of writing. The sense in which the writing is new hinges on the Google Search Box and the sorts of texts that can be entered there, as opposed to or contrasted with the sorts of texts that can be written into a word processor for example. Phrases searched through Google have structure and meaning and often times narrative all contained/distilled in just a few words. We have all learned, since the advent of the internet, to write correctly for the search box. "Spectral Line Cesium" is an attempt to engage with that sort of writing.
What follows is a copy of the explanation of the event on its Facebook page. (The link below takes you to that page.) Please sign up for the event and encourage others to do so as well... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spectral Line Cesium is virtual flash mob scheduled for May 15th, 2010 at Noon (Central Standard Time), the goal of which is to make the phrase "Spectral Line Cesium" the most searched term on Google for that hour. To participate in the event one searches the term "Spectral Line Cesium" at Noon (CST) on May 15th, 2010 using the Google search engine. In short, this project is virtual flash mob the location of which is Google's Search Box on any computer in any browser. As an event, Spectral Line Cesium is intended to explore notions of inclusion and exclusion. On the one hand, access to the internet is completely inclusive: anyone who can open a browser and navigate to Google's search page can participate. Indeed, the project requires the participation of as many people as possible to succeed. Hence, the concept itself imposes very few barriers to accessibility. On the other hand, the very idea of searching a bizarre phrase like "Spectral Line Cesium" for no other reason than to participate in an web-based conceptual art event will no doubt appeal to few. Because the Spectral Line Cesium event requires participation on a mass scale to succeed, it is situated in an unusual dynamic compared to other works of conceptual art, most of which is fated to be seen by at most a handful of people because it is shown nowhere other than at art galleries. No work of contemporary or conceptual art has ever been more searched online than, for example, the name "Jessica Simpson." I take this strange fact to be evidence that there is something about the making and practice of art excludes the art objects in general and conceptual art in particular from mass culture, a kind of built-in albeit unintentional exclusivity. Spectral Line Cesium is a sort of primitive groan in the space created by the technology of mass communications, an assertion that we are aware of what is happening to our ways of talking to each other: the only thoughts that have relevance are those that generate a sufficient level of interest on the mass scale and that the only meaningful words are those that are spoken to millions. Our ability to command the attention of the millions gives us legitimacy in another sort of conversation, one that cannot be engaged in but by people who know how to speak to each other from the platform of mass communications. Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:21:32 -0800 To: [email protected] From: [email protected]<notification%[email protected]> Subject: Thomas Garman invited you to the event "Spectral Line Cesium"... Thomas invited you to "Spectral Line Cesium" on Saturday, May 15 at 12:00pm. Event: Spectral Line Cesium "The Google Search box is the object of aesthetic contemplation." What: Performance Start Time: Saturday, May 15 at 12:00pm End Time: Saturday, May 15 at 1:00pm Where: Google Search Box To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below: http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1449962977&k=Z2AUPXURRYTF6BD1QG33TUVWS4IB42Y1TPFXA&oid=314561222056 -- www.pythagoreanmetronome.com
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