Mez,
'Spruiking' is a new one on me. What does "spruiking the hell out of it" mean?
Bob
________________________________
From: mez breeze <[email protected]>
To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
<[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, 2 August 2014, 0:27
Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] Artists virtually gatecrash Google's DevArt
Barbican exhibit
Thx Marc for this.
Great comments at ‘Hack The Art World’, and a fan-freaking-tastic initiative
overall. I found the comment written by James Bridle to be extremely
interesting - it reads as significant back-pedalling by James, who was not only
in the Barbican Show but also wrote an embarrassingly sycophantic puff-piece in
the Guardian newspaper spruiking the hell out of it.
Chunks,
Mez
On Fri, Aug 1, 2014 at 10:20 PM, marc garrett <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hi Shardcore and all,
>
>I’ve noticed many critical responses whether discussing with friends,
>associates, or reading material about it online.
>
>I have copied and pasted some comments below from the ‘Hack The Art World’,
>site.
>
>“I can't say I was all that bothered by the daft "DevArt" neologism. Nor
>Google's unsubtle rewrite of digital art history. It was badly researched,
>short-sighted, and a touch imperialistic, yes, but ultimately it only made
>them look stupid, not anyone else.
>
>I was, however, a little creeped out by the DevArt competition. Their open
>call to the community. To me it just appeared to be a cynical corporate
>attempt to hoover up a load of grassroots enthusiasm and creativity and take
>ownership of it, for the benefit of no-one except a multinational's
>competitive advantage.
>
>Google's "opportunity" was, if we are to believe their blurb, intended to
>"inspire" the artists of tomorrow. The opportunity was to compete for a single
>commission, using tools Google wished to promote, and to surrender all rights
>to any submitted work - whether commissioned or not.
>
>This may well reflect the harsh realities of the commercial world, but if the
>aim was to inspire, this was a terrible way to go about it. IMHO, one inspires
>by giving a sense of possibility, not limits. By giving a sense of freedom,
>not constraint. By giving the experience of achievement, not disappointment.
>The DevArt "opportunity" was not a chance for the world to hear your voice, it
>was an invitation to queue for the XFactor auditions. It was a doorstep on
>which to dump your best ideas in the hope a rich benefactor might take one in
>and give it a home.” Matt Pearson.
>
>——————
>
>“Just wanted to lend my support to this, which I think is a creative response
>to the DR show. I was immediately galled by Google's arrogance when they put
>the statement out. My initial reaction quickly evolved into complete
>dismissal. Incursions into cultural discourse by clumsy corporate actors are
>probably best ignored. The term itself is a laughable articulation.
>
>Having said that, I think the art community should be suspicious about a
>'sponsor' as powerful as this making moves into the art sector. The GOOG have
>a track record of challenging, even dismantling (aka 'disrupting') cultural
>institutions - just ask the world's libraries. So I guess there are serious
>undertones here.” Anil Bawa-Cavia.
>
>——————
>
>“When I wrote about the exhibition for the Guardian (a preview piece - the
>show hadn't opened yet) I wanted to be careful not to disparage the work of
>those involved, but instead to highlight my discomfort with Google's
>involvement (given some of the responses, I may have been too subtle about
>this...). I also wanted to separate my personal feelings about Google from my
>feelings about what institutions should be supporting in artistic practice,
>and what I felt was a failure not by Google (who do what big corps do) and not
>by the artists (who need to make work and get by), but by the Barbican for
>allowing this to happen in their name.
>
>This I feel is the main problem: massive corporations are going to massively
>incorporate, artists are going to make work, and sometimes they are going to
>do it in difficult, questioning circumstances. Institutions should exist to
>facilitate work but not direct it. Far more ethically dubious partnerships
>(Bloomberg, BP) are common in the art world, but they don't dictate the form
>of the work, or try to write art history. It's at this point that the Barbican
>should have stepped in and reined Google in a bit: they're a sponsor, not a
>curator.
>
>My fear is that this failure of nerve on the part of the Barbican (and I hope
>it was that, and not sheer ignorance) is part of a wider failure of nerve on
>the part of institutions dealing with technology and tech/art, giving up
>curatorial confidence and simply handing it over to entities with their own
>agenda who they feel know more about this area. It's a worrying precedent.”
>James Bridle.
>
>To read the rest of these comments and more about ‘Hack The Art World’ — visit
>here http://hacktheartworld.com/discus.html#comment-1495932506
>
>And, here is the front end for http://hacktheartworld.com/
>
>
>
>
>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>>Hash: SHA1
>>
>>*waves*
>>
>>i'm in this, along with a few others, it's been organised by Jan Vantomme.
>>It's getting a surprising amount of press (WSJ, New Scientist, Wired etc)
>>which is good.
>>
>>Having just been to DigitalRevolution this week, I can say we need to be
>>making more noise than ever - it's a show full of 'interactive entertainment'
>>masquerading as art. Some of it's good, but there's a hell of a lot that
>>feels like 'tech demos'
>>
>>
>>
>>On 1 Aug 2014, at 09:48, marc garrett wrote:
>>
>>
>>Artists virtually gatecrash Google's DevArt Barbican exhibit
>>>
>>>By Katie Collins.
>>>
>>>A collective of coders and artists who go by the name Hack the Artworld have
>>>gatecrashed the Google-sponsored DevArt exhibition currently taking place at
>>>the Barbican in London.
>>>
>>>The artists have uploaded their own digital artworks to a website and have
>>>placed location markers within the DevArt exhibition itself -- digitally
>>>fencing it off, so that only visitors to the Barbican can access the
>>>artworks on their smartphones or tablets.
>>>
>>>The DevArt exhibition is meant to be an exploration of art that has been
>>>made with code, but it has not chimed well with everyone involved in the
>>>digital arts community, many of whom have been displeased by various
>>>elements of Google's efforts. On the Hack the Artworld website the artists
>>>have published an open letter addressed to Larry Page and Sergey Brin laying
>>>out their objections in full.
>>>
>>>Wired - http://bit.ly/1mDOZw1
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>--->
>>>
>>>A living - breathing - thriving networked neighbourhood -
>>>proud of free culture - claiming it with others ;)
>>>
>>>Other reviews,articles,interviews
>>>http://www.furtherfield.org/reviews.php
>>>
>>>Furtherfield – online arts community, platforms for creating, viewing,
>>>discussing and learning about experimental practices at the
>>>intersections of art, technology and social change.
>>>http://www.furtherfield.org
>>>
>>>Furtherfield Gallery – Finsbury Park (London).
>>>http://www.furtherfield.org/gallery
>>>
>>>Netbehaviour - Networked Artists List Community.
>>>http://www.netbehaviour.org
>>>
>>>http://identi.ca/furtherfield
>>>http://twitter.com/furtherfield
>>>
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>>>
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>>_______________________________________________
>>NetBehaviour mailing list
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>
>--
>--->
>
>A living - breathing - thriving networked neighbourhood -
>proud of free culture - claiming it with others ;)
>
>Other reviews,articles,interviews
>http://www.furtherfield.org/reviews.php
>
>Furtherfield – online arts community, platforms for creating, viewing,
>discussing and learning about experimental practices at the
>intersections of art, technology and social change.
>http://www.furtherfield.org
>
>Furtherfield Gallery – Finsbury Park (London).
>http://www.furtherfield.org/gallery
>
>Netbehaviour - Networked Artists List Community.
>http://www.netbehaviour.org
>
>http://identi.ca/furtherfield
>http://twitter.com/furtherfield
>
>_______________________________________________
>NetBehaviour mailing list
>[email protected]
>http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
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