Men & Bombs

I especially like the music – the opening reminds me of the opening of
"De Staat" by a Dutch composer called Louis Andriessen. Your soundscape
gets a wee bit anecdotal soon after (but you might have meant it that
way, given the subject matter).

Geert

On maandag, juni 23, 2003, at 07:53 PM, marc.garrett wrote:

> Men & Bombs
>
> A collection of cut up, collaged images found originally on the
> Internet and
> constructed using DHTML. This means that everything featured,
> including the
> music is using the Internet as a resource & useful palette to form,
> sculpt,
> create visual and dynamic content. Everything has either been remixed
> or
> changed in accordance to the main themes - atomic energy, masculinity,
> bloodlust, misogyny, sadism, sex, desire, fashion, heroism, lust,
> bravado,
> weaponry, murder etc.
>
> The accompanying music is a soundscape influenced by a record I heard
> years
> ago by the excellent Anarchist punk band 'Crass'. A much more
> incidental &
> quiet piece but still capturing the flavour of their song 'Nagasaki
> Nightmare'.
>
> http://www.furtherfield.org/mgarrett/men_&_bombs/ - Opera/Explorer
> only.
> (mac users, still tidying it up for macs but it is accessible, revisit
> as
> time goes by)
>
> marc garrett
>
>
>
> + ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup
> -> post: [email protected]
> -> questions: [email protected]
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>
>
————————————————————————
—————————————
Geert Dekkers | 2e Keucheniusstraat 8hs | 1051VR Amsterdam |
http://nznl.com

Hi Geert,

Thanx for that - I might of meant it but you might also be using a good ear=
.
I'll have another listen to it, it can be changed. I might live with it for=
a few days first, if what you say niggles at the back of cranium for long =
enough; then it must change. For now though it must breath for a little whi=
le while longer…the soundscape grows on you.

marc
—– Original Message —–
From: Geert Dekkers
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 8:41 PM
Subject: Re: RHIZOME_RAW: Men & Bombs


I especially like the music – the opening reminds me of the opening of "=
De Staat" by a Dutch composer called Louis Andriessen. Your soundscape gets=
a wee bit anecdotal soon after (but you might have meant it that way, give=
n the subject matter).

Geert

On maandag, juni 23, 2003, at 07:53 PM, marc.garrett wrote:


Men & Bombs

A collection of cut up, collaged images found originally on the Interne=
t and
constructed using DHTML. This means that everything featured, including=
the
music is using the Internet as a resource & useful palette to form, scu=
lpt,
create visual and dynamic content. Everything has either been remixed or
changed in accordance to the main themes - atomic energy, masculinity,
bloodlust, misogyny, sadism, sex, desire, fashion, heroism, lust, brava=
do,
weaponry, murder etc.

The accompanying music is a soundscape influenced by a record I heard y=
ears
ago by the excellent Anarchist punk band 'Crass'. A much more incidenta=
l &
quiet piece but still capturing the flavour of their song 'Nagasaki
Nightmare'.

http://www.furtherfield.org/mgarrett/men_&_bombs/ - Opera/Explorer only.
(mac users, still tidying it up for macs but it is accessible, revisit =
as
time goes by)

marc garrett



+ ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup
-> post: [email protected]
-> questions: [email protected]
-> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
-> give: http://rhizome.org/support
+
Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php



————————————————————————-=
————————————–
Geert Dekkers | 2e Keucheniusstraat 8hs | 1051VR Amsterdam | http://nznl.=
com

I thought that I'd publicize Men & Bombs again on here. I asked for net art
news to publicize it, but there were not takers which surprized me; it made
me feel as if I was on my own. Not using the right language, not being
correct.

That I must do art about the medium in some way alone & must not put
feelings into my net art-work - why is that? What's wrong with not wishing
to be autistic?

Offlist - I got some pretty intuitive & wel observed repsonses but on here,
it was like a communist had just entered town.


marc


Men & Bombs

A collection of cut up, collaged images found originally on the Internet and
constructed using DHTML. This means that everything featured, including the
music is using the Internet as a resource & useful palette to form, sculpt,
create visual and dynamic content. Everything has either been remixed or
changed in accordance to the main themes - atomic energy, masculinity,
bloodlust, misogyny, sadism, sex, desire, fashion, heroism, lust, bravado,
weaponry, murder etc.

The accompanying music is a soundscape influenced by a record I heard years
ago by the excellent Anarchist punk band 'Crass'. A much more incidental &
quiet piece but still capturing the flavour of their song 'Nagasaki
Nightmare'.

http://www.furtherfield.org/mgarrett/men_&_bombs/ - Opera/Explorer only.
(mac users, still tidying it up for macs but it is accessible, revisit as
time goes by)

marc garrett

Marc,

Several thoughts on this piece.

First off, I find you are able to draw the audience into your connection of
masculine heterosexuality and war. Tied in with our gender discussions, I've
found it both amusing and annoying that the cultural norm in the states that
men must aspire to reflects more or less a sweat drenched wrestler with a
gun in one hand and a martini in the other, a combination of rage and cool;
which has been tapped into by the current anarcho-libertarian warhawks we
have in office in this country. Bush is part Marlboro Man and part Randy
"Macho Man" Savage. However, I am, in my viewing of the piece, confident
that other connections are there to be made. Whether it is your discussion
or not your discussion; I personally feel that making the sex/war connection
is not enough in a piece if it hopes to raise consciousness on the issues of
war, which are certainly bountiful. However, I got some other things from
the work, which may be what I brought to the table on my own, you can let me
know.

For one, there's the obvious homoeroticism in the work. But it gets me to
thinking again on the concept of men and thier relationship to war as a
bonding ritual. Men kill with a pack to release bonding chemicals, as
opposed to having sex with one another. Ultimately this connection means to
imply that war is a primary social identification for men but only as a
result of thinly vieled homosexual urges. Therefore- gay, or at least
bisexual relationships, might somehow eliminate a need for war. Or would it
reinforce it? Why aren't women on the battlefield? And why were some of the
most ferocious early European armies openly gay?

The connection between war and sex also raises another issue- conceptually,
this is some of the same stuff we've seen in the "Rub Linda" catastrophe,
however, having switched the sexualized gender has neutralized a lot of the
resistance I have to the piece. Why is that? Part of me is asking, "Isn't
the sexualization of any act of war at least on some level supporting war
through a distortion of sexuality and by the reduction of human beings to
portions of thier anatomy?" But I think your piece works in a way "Linda"
didn't, just because you took care not to promote an actual sexualized
image, instead emphasizing the grotesque nature of sexualized war through
the removal of most primary identifying charectoristics; faces, etc, as well
as the black and white- which, combined with the images of explosions,
brings out a really disturbing contrast between the sexualization of
individuals and the manner in which body parts are literally torn apart in
war. (Also bringing up a notion of women being psychologically at war on a
daily basis- having to look not at human beings but human being's legs,
breasts, lips, asses, etc- I wouldn't be surprised if this is not somewhere
a subtle, subconsciously engineered attempt to coerce women into the fear
that our culture finds so attractive in them.) Would it be a stretch to say
you took some of the "Rub Linda" dialogue into consideration when you were
constructing this piece?

Lastly, the piece seems to tap into a castration anxiety. The idea of having
an orgasm that blows my penis off into raging flames is not exactly my cup
of tea; but you're also looking at the element of orgasm as "petit morte"
and well, war as "petit morte, grande", though I have a problem keeping
french and spanish seperate so I hope that's right. I think you get the
point either way. Species-wise, war is inherently masochistic; war derives
its pleasure not only from conquest but also from annhilation and nihilism.
There are reports of bezerker behavior from many wars, Vietnam being one of
them, where men were overdriven by such hopelessness that it came through in
excrutiating acts of cruelty towards the enemy- raping wives, pissing in
dead soldiers mouths, skullfucking, all elements of human behavior that are
brought out as a means of deriving pleasure in the confirmation of total
hopelessness and despair, and the pressure that stems from the possibility
of death coming at any moment for extended periods of time. But all of this,
you'll notice, is sexual behavior.

I think this piece may be one of the best pieces of war art I've seen, but
my test for war art is simply, does it make me want to vomit when I think
about war? I always go back to Paul Goodman, in "designing pacifist films":

"Given a film about capital punishment, for instance, a Camus will notice,
and be steeled in revulsion by, the mechanism of execution: he will deny the
whole thing the right to exist because it is not like us (this is the
reaction-formation, denial, that is characteristic of active compassion);
but a vulgar audience will identify with the victim, get involved in the
suspense, thrill to the horror, and weep with pity. The effect is
entertainment, not teaching or therapy; and to be entertained by such a
theme is itself damaging."

I think Goodman puts too much blame on the audience, when the artist is the
one who, if s/he is a real artist, makes works that elicit responses, and
which emotions that artist chooses to elicit are part of the artistry. In
anti war art, nothing can be ethically allowed except for the elicitation of
revulsion- to inspire us to "deny the whole thing the right to exist because
it is not like us." Otherwise, we would make art that is tolerant of war, or
glorifies it.

-e.





—– Original Message —–
From: "marc.garrett" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 8:21 PM
Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: Men & Bombs


> I thought that I'd publicize Men & Bombs again on here. I asked for net
art
> news to publicize it, but there were not takers which surprized me; it
made
> me feel as if I was on my own. Not using the right language, not being
> correct.
>
> That I must do art about the medium in some way alone & must not put
> feelings into my net art-work - why is that? What's wrong with not wishing
> to be autistic?
>
> Offlist - I got some pretty intuitive & wel observed repsonses but on
here,
> it was like a communist had just entered town.
>
>
> marc
>
>
> Men & Bombs
>
> A collection of cut up, collaged images found originally on the Internet
and
> constructed using DHTML. This means that everything featured, including
the
> music is using the Internet as a resource & useful palette to form,
sculpt,
> create visual and dynamic content. Everything has either been remixed or
> changed in accordance to the main themes - atomic energy, masculinity,
> bloodlust, misogyny, sadism, sex, desire, fashion, heroism, lust, bravado,
> weaponry, murder etc.
>
> The accompanying music is a soundscape influenced by a record I heard
years
> ago by the excellent Anarchist punk band 'Crass'. A much more incidental &
> quiet piece but still capturing the flavour of their song 'Nagasaki
> Nightmare'.
>
> http://www.furtherfield.org/mgarrett/men_&_bombs/ - Opera/Explorer only.
> (mac users, still tidying it up for macs but it is accessible, revisit as
> time goes by)
>
> marc garrett
>
>
>
>
> + ti esrever dna ti pilf nwod gniht ym tup
> -> post: [email protected]
> -> questions: [email protected]
> -> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> +
> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> Membership Agreement available online at http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
>