On Mon, 18 Jul 2005, Joel Weishaus wrote:
Alan:
This must be answered, and not just by me, as it touches on so much of what
I, and I guess others who work almost exclusively in the digital, have
thought and think about.
Let's start at a signpost, this one being the Paleolithic caves. Did the
people who painted these caves think their work would last forever? I doubt
that they even thought about it, or had a concept of longevity. They
followed their spirit and did what they had to do. We think on a different
time-scale, but we still follow our spirit and do what we have to do.
We also, at least I also, think radically different; the cave example isn't
that relevant to me (although it might be to others). What I'm on about is
whether net art makes any difference to others beyond net artists; museums pay
attention to it, etc., but it seems somewhat stillborn outside of the hothouse
of its webpages and creation.
The future of the internet will have to take care of itself. I suspect it
will go on expanding, getting faster, more prevalent in the average person's
life. Our work, then, will be considered pioneering. What we say and make
will be annotated into a history of the medium.
Our work will probably be forgotten! I can already think of a number of web
artists no one knows about at this point - you can see this sort of
fast-forward activity in the newsgroups. For years I followed the Monster Truck
Neutopians; I doubt there's much reference to them at this point.
In fact most art doesn't 'come out in the wash' - look at conceptual art and
see how many artists are remembered (beyond the usual LeWitt and Weiner).
History integrates the differentiated noise of the now; in the process, events
and names are necessarily forgotten.
I don't follow the mass media, corporate concerns, or even the Art World--I
have no idea anymore what's being written in Art in America or Artforum, et
al., because when I did I found that there's nothing happening there, that
what's interesting is happening here.
Well of course that depends on one's viewpoint; there are a lot of painters who
would feel the opposite!
As for contributions, who knows? At least we're not part of the political
rabble or what these days passes for journalism--talk about entertainers!
Our work is to tend the Promethean Fire, and I think we are doing it with
distinction, We are honoring the artists who came before us, not by bidding
on their paintings, but by, as they did, biting on the Gordian Knot.
I worry we might be part of the political rabble; discussions among artists
aren't any more astute than any other group...
Nor do I think science is more important to the future of the species than
is our work. Like art, science is a journey with no end; while technology is
more often applied to war and profiteering than to anything the species
really needs. No wonder so many people are running to churches, to another
generation of evangelists who rip-off their pocketbooks while they're
looking upwards to Jesus.With all the science and technology, more people
feel disconnected, and thus are becoming neurotically attached to cell
phones, to constant conversation, to constant entertainment, to being in
touch with everyone but themselves.
Well, science and technology aren't the same; and I'm not sure that the former
doesn't have an end, or at least ends. It's complicated; Stent pointed out
years ago that trignometry was an exhausted science; it depends on the domain.
War and profiteering have been with us forever; there was a study done, I
believe, in the 70s, indicating that the world usually has around 3500 small
and large wars going on at any one time. (Forget the source here; apologies.)
Only now the wars are devastating as populations increase.
The kernel for me is still the fact that three to four species an hour are
disappearing on the planet, all because of one that has run amuck.
As for wars, they should be ignored, in the sense of the old expression,
"What if someone gave a war and nobody came?" Let the politicians deceive
people into thinking they are serving their country by killing others,
because we're no going to be able to stop it. All we can do is, as I said,
tend the Promethean Fire and continue to bite on the Gordian Knot.
This reminds me, of course, of:
In Germany they came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I
wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I
wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I
didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me--and by that
time no one was left to speak up.
Written by Martin Niemller(1892-1984)
- and there is no answer. The implicate order implicates us all; as Pogo said
(paraphrase) 'We have seen the enemy and he is us.'
And I truly believe we _are_ the politicians.
- Alan
-Joel
