yes, definitely a frustrating situation! but luckily, it rallied a bunch of people around the festival and hopefully continue much-needed discussion around the use and misuse of closed, privatized, corporate online platforms.
thank for your support ! eliane Eliane Ellbogen Directrice artistique | Artistic Director www.easternbloc.ca [email protected] +1.514.284.2106 7240 rue Clark, Montréal, QC, H2R 2Y3 On Sun, May 11, 2014 at 9:00 AM, ruth catlow <[email protected]>wrote: > Bad and mad! > URKS > > > > > -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Festival Sight & Sound > victim of censorship on Facebook Date: Fri, 9 May 2014 11:42:26 -0400 From: > Comm - Eastern Bloc <[email protected]> <[email protected]> To: Art > - Eastern Bloc <[email protected]> <[email protected]>, Comm - Eastern > Bloc <[email protected]> <[email protected]> > > *Our Facebook account blocked only days from the start of Sight & Sound > festival* > > > We are less than two weeks from the launch of our annual festival (May > 20th) – around the theme “Science Faction” – and our access to social > networks is blocked. An inconceivable situation, that one would never even > dream of – days from the start of an international digital art festival and > prevented from communicating on the Web. > > All the more frustrating of a situation, as we are a non-profit artist-run > centre, and by definition, do not have the kind of budget that would allow > for a major advertising campaign. As you can imagine, we rely heavily on > viral promotion, more than on any other means of communication to reach out > to our audience. > > How did this happen? Two photographs that we posted to our profile this > week, to illustrate some of the performances taking place during the > festival, were “reported” no less than three times to Facebook for being > judged as “abusive content”. Since when should an image, which, yes perhaps > strange – de facto, since the performances in question are daring, not to > say even intentionally destabilising – and depicting only a naked body on > which one could not even see a millimetre of genitalia if one tried, be > considered pornographic, or in any case, obscene? > > Need we mention that in this particular case the photographs in question > are solely documentation of artworks, not the artworks themselves, in which > nothing, absolutely nothing, could be considered obscene, or even erotic. > Destabilising, sure. We are truly sorry to see that one of art’s most > important objectives, that is to raise questions and, perhaps, from time to > time, make things uneasy for the public, is not quite as evident to all as > we might have hoped. > > Our account is, as of yesterday, now blocked for three full days… (NB: we > are referring to our profile, and not to our page, which is still active, > but with far fewer followers. Liking the page to keep up to speed on our > ensuing misadventures would be all the more appreciated). > > What better way to illustrate the paradoxes of this world, in which means > of communication and free expression are just as powerful and open, as they > are fragile and so easily misused for, ostensibly, doubtful purposes? Might > we not, at this point, bring attention to the fact that our approach > towards digital art is, fittingly, constructive, as it is critical and > question raising? > > Will the artistic community and the press support us better, if not more > sensibly, than so-called open networks in this absurd situation? > > -- > Céline Escouteloup, Communication > Eastern Bloc > > > > 7240 rue Clark > H2R 2Y3, Montréal, QC > tél. : 514-284-2106 > > Eastern Bloc remercie ses membres, bénévoles et donateurs, ainsi que le > Conseil des arts du Canada, le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, > le Conseil des arts de Montréal, la CDEC-Centre Nord, la Ville de Montreal, > la CRÉ de Montréal et le Forum jeunesse de l'Île de Montréal. Eastern Bloc > est membre du Regroupement des centres d'artistes autogérés du Québec > (RCAAQ), du Conseil québécois des arts médiatiques (CQAM) et de l'Alliance > des arts médiatiques indépendants. > > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >
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