Fwd: cream 13: cream bits

Sept. 29, 2003

Type: discussion

If people don't know cream, it's really good though doesn't publish
that often. – Rachel

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "cream" <[email protected]>
> Date: Mon Sep 29, 2003 6:35:19 AM US/Eastern
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: cream 13: cream bits
> Reply-To: [email protected]
>
>
> ********************************************************************
>
>
> cream 13: cream bits
>
>
> ********************************************************************
>
> Cream almost seemed to melt away in the long hot summer we had on the
> European continent. You, the honorable members of the cream newsletter,
> have been terribly neglected. To relief you a bit from the lack of
> necessary art protiens and cultural vitamins this is causing we now
> serve you a few cream bits, drops and scoops. Our present cream editor
> is still seeking some secret ingredients for cream 14: the end of the
> internet. Will it become a sizzler or a skidder, will it keep balance
> or
> fall from the edges of the internet? Send us your thoughts on 'the
> end of the internet' and our editor might just think your text the
> cherry on his cream. But first, here's some lusheous info snacks for
> you.
>
> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
>
> content:
> ! art contexts, projects and short reviews
> * found treasures (non-creamy reviews)
> ? cream contribs activities
>
> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::_____________>
>
> ! some of what is going on out there: art contexts, projects, reviews !
>
> :::
>
> The Daniel Langlois Foundation and the Guggenheim have published a book
> by the Variable Media Approach entitled 'permanence through change',
> which deals with the preservation of what the book calls
> "nontraditional
> art works". This means art works that are not stable objects. One of
> the
> introductions is a highly ironic text by Bruce Sterling, who describes
> the many dangers threatening art works in colorful terms and then adds
> the new problems of the digital age on top. Besides the obvious problem
> of obsolete hardware the illusion of digital information being
> immaterial and thus eternally available needs some reflection: "Bits
> have no archival medium. We haven't invented one yet. If you print
> something on acid free paper, and you put it in a dry dark closet, you
> can read it in 200 years. We have no way to archive bits that we know
> will be readable in even 50 years. Tape demagnetizes. CDs delaminate.
> Networks go down." The other texts are gathered in thematic chapters
> called perspective, method, case studies and resources. Amongst the
> case
> studies are works by Nam June Paik, Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Mark
> Napier. The variable media approach seems to offer a very good addition
> to the discourses on the preservation of contemporary art, by also
> taking the artist's intent and the art work's context into account,
> something which is not common practice of conservators yet. The book is
> bi-lingual, in French and English.
> It's ISBN number is 0-9684693-2-9
>
> ::::::::
>
> This year's Ars Electronica, the Austrian festival for art and
> electronic media, seems to have been slightly hacked. The texts from
> its
> catalogue are available on line at a rather obscure website, which
> makes
> them available for those without access to the book or for those
> without
> enough cash to buy one. The texts from amongst others Christiane Paul,
> Florian Cramer, Peter Bentley, Oliver Fritz, Richard Kriesche and
> Howard
> Rheingold all deal with this year's Ars Electronica theme 'CODE'.
>
> http://www32.brinkster.com/blueplane/aec03/
>
> ::::::::
>
> Heath Bunting, former net artist, was in Berlin this summer to present
> some of his projects at Buero Friedrich, one of Berlin's most
> interesting galleries, and to give a workshop in fence climbing for the
> Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien. The Fence Climbing project, a collaboration of
> Heath Bunting and Kaylee Brandon, has been nicely documented in a
> little
> booklet compiled by Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien curator Gerrit Gohlke. The
> booklet called 'tour de fence' hopes to encourage its readers to
> "become
> a tour de fence amateur team". More promo blurb : "tour the fence is
> the
> answer to your real needs. while the internet promised to level out all
> barriers, tour de fence enables you to surmount the fences out there
> that people erect to obstruct your way every day. from wire netting to
> rustic fence, from steel door to close security system, tour de fence
> offers you the necessary know-how for unhampered movement. tour de
> fence
> is the direct way." About ten people participated in the Berlin
> workshop
> to climb fences throughout the city, of which two children, aged 9 and
> 3
> years old.
>
> Distribution by Vice Versa Vertrieb, Dorotheenstrasse 4, D-12557
> Berlin,
> Germany. Or [email protected]
>
> http://bethanien.de/de/tourdefence2003.html
>
> ::::::::
>
> Jon Ippolito, artist, curator and member of the variable media
> initiative, is working as a teacher in Maine these days, in what he
> calls the 'Still Water' project. His students have now produced at
> least
> three projects, which you can find at the website below. One of the
> projects is a game, or a proposal for a game. In the game the player
> apparently becomes a five year old epileptic girl, and sees the world
> from her perspective. It is unclear whether the game is working
> already,
> but what I like a lot about the presentation of it on the website is
> that it plays with the usual commercial game release and conjures up
> fake past and future positive reviews and negative criticisms of the
> game. Definitely a game with potential, even if it is only in concept
> stage!
> http://newmedia.umaine.edu/codeplay/
>
> ::::::::
>
> The artist Cary Peppermint has been a special case inside the net art
> arena for some years now. His work is mostly off line performance art,
> yet he has also engaged in so called 'ebay art', making on line
> auctioning a mixture of conceptual and time based performance art and
> he
> has made a few small web projects. Peppermint is one of those artists
> that work with the internet as a given, as just one material at hand
> for
> contemporary art practice. In this new work for the on line art
> collection of Doron Golan Peppermint is using his alotted space to
> follow up on earlier work in which his private life is opened up and in
> which the artist balances uncomfortably between intimacy and
> exhibitionism. This is one of those artists for whom art and life are
> almost one, without the artist ever slipping into pure self indulgence.
> http://www.computerfinearts.com/collection/peppermint/mediation/
>
> ::::::::
>
> Another artist with a background in performance is Karen Lancel. Her
> work have so far been largely overlooked by the net art community and
> media art scene, which is a great shame. The reason for that seems to
> be
> that Lancel has not really involved herself in those on line
> communities
> which have spurred most of the attention for network art. Her work is
> interesting enough though. It ranges from 'nomansland', which deals
> with
> the question of territory and borders, to 'stalkshow', in which the
> audience has to follow someone wearing a computer on her/his back in
> order to be able to take part in the work. Only recently Lancel's
> 'agora-phobia-digitalis' was presented at the Eyebeam Gallery in New
> York. This installation, in which one can take part in a chat with
> someone in an isolated place, like a prison or a monastery, creates a
> feeling of space and claustrofobia at the same time. It consists of a
> transparent plastic blown up curl, which at the same time protects and
> encloses the audience participant, that serves as an outdoor computer
> booth. Both 'agora phobia digitalis' and 'stalkshow' are part of a
> larger project called 'traumatour', in which Karen Lancel investigates
> "psychological survival techniques for experiences with violence,
> (in)security and isolation".
> http://www.xs4all.nl/~lancel
> http://www.nomansland.nu/
> http://lab.v2.nl/projects/stalkshow.html
> http://www.agora-phobia-digitalis.org/uk/home.html
>
> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::_____________>
>
> * Reviews on the web - found treasures *
>
> :
>
> Lars Midboe, one of the organizers of the Swedish Electrohype
> festival,
> wrote a review of the latest edition of the Read-Me software art
> festival in Helsinki, where many of us wanted to go but weren't able
> to.
> The text is available at
> http://www.kopenhagen.dk/international/articlesint/readme0603.html
>
> ::::::::
>
> Artist Kate Rich, formerly part of the Bureau of Inverse Technologies
> together with Natalie Jeremienko, wrote a lengthy review of the
> 'Territories' exhibition in the Berliner Kunstwerke. The main focus in
> the text is on a project by the Israeli architects Segal and Weizman
> called LAND GRAB. The project seems an interesting, critically
> productive overlap between architecture, art and politics. The gallery
> Berliner Kunstwerke which is now presenting this project has a
> controversial approach to art which is at the moment causing heated
> debate in Berlin, since it is currently preparing an exhibition about
> art and the terrorist group Rote Armee Fraction. Read the text about
> 'Territories' at the web exclusive department of Mute magazine. Also
> check the text by Weizman and Misselwitz which you will find under Kate
> Rich's review on this same site:
> http://www.metamute.com/
>
> ::::::::
>
> Writing weblogs has really become popular. At the Next5Minutes
> conference just last weekend Geert Lovink called it the solution for
> mailing list and other email trouble. This weblog is filled by artists,
> curators and critics and offers an interesting, fast overview of
> various
> events and exhibitions around the globe.
>
> http://www.thecentreofattention.org/
>
> ::::::::
>
> Another interesting, weblog (blog) type site is netartreview.net. The
> site has been started by people that were annoyed by the change in
> membership policy of the new media arts site rhizome.org. It focusses
> on
> art on the net, and the content is mostly written by artists. When it
> first started a lot of the reviews were on older projects as well,
> which
> was good for those new to the net, but slightly boring for others. Now
> the site is amazingly fresh and should be in everyone's regular surfs.
> A
> very good alternative for or addition to rhizome's daily netartnews.
>
> http://www.netartreview.net/
>
> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::_____________>
>
> ? what are those creamies up to: cream contribs activities ?
>
> Saul Albert:
> Saul Albert is currently helping to build a distributed library
> (http://dlpdev.theps.net) for the University of Openess
> (http://uo.theps.net)
> where he is the janitor.
> You will be able to meet Saul Albert live in Rotterdam, the
> Netherlands,
> on October 12th, for a Dorkbot event, with ao Alexei Shulgin and
> Wilfried Houjebek (who organizes this event). See:
> http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotrotterdam/
>
> Inke Arns:
> Inke Arns is curator of the upcoming travelling exhibition of Irwin,
> the
> Slovenian art group. The Irwin exhibition will first be presented at
> the
> Kuenstlerhaus Bethanian in Berlin, Germany, from September 26th to
> October 26th. Then it will move on to the Karl-Ernst Osthaus Museum in
> Hagen, also Germany, from November 11th 2003 to Januari 4th 2004, to
> finish at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Belgrade, Serbia, from
> April
> 17th to May 17th 2004. A bi-lingual, German/English catalogue will
> appear, for more details please see the following web site:
> http://www.irwin-retroprincip.de/
>
> Tilman Baumgaertel:
> Together with Hartware from Dortmund Tilman Baumgaertel is preparing an
> exhibition on computer games. The exhibition will run from October 11th
> till November 30th in a renovated old industrial site called Phoenix
> West in Dortmund, Germany. Amongst the artists that are presented are
> Thomson & Craighead (UK) , Arcangel Constantini (MEX), Jodi (NL/BE) and
> Margarete Jahrmann and Max Moswitzer (A).
> http://www.hartware-projekte.de
>
> Josephine Bosma:
> You can find Josephine Bosma's latest text ('No Ego'), which is
> available in a preliminary version, at:
> http://www.404project.net/datenbank/bos_pdf
> The final version of this text will be available at the same site end
> of
> October 2003.
> Josephine Bosma will be speaking about art and the interface at a
> conference on the same topic at the University of Aarhus Denmark.
> Danish
> web site:
> http://www.digital-aestetik.dk/
>
> Sarah Cook:
> In spring 2004 Sarah Cook is co-curating an exhibition in the Banff New
> Media Institute, Canada, together with Steve Dietz and Anthony Kiendl,
> called Pretty Good Access. Details will be announced later.
>
> Florian Cramer:
> After making one exception by appearing as a speaker at this year's Ars
> Electronica, Florian Cramer will now focus entirely on finishing his
> PhD
> thesis on self-executing code in poetry (in the form of anagrams,
> permutations and finally computer sourcecode) from the late antiquity,
> 17th century, 20th century modernism to present.
>
> Steve Dietz:
> Steve Dietz also just started teaching, and the course he gives is
> called 'art after new media' at Carleton College in Northfield, MN.
> Then Steve Dietz is also preparing an exhibition in the Banff New Media
> Institute, together with Sarak Cook and Anthony Kiendl. More details on
> the exhibition called 'Pretty Good Access' will be announced later.
>
> Tetsuo Kogawa:
> At the 'birthday of art' Tetsuo Kogawa and others started a monthly
> webradio broadcast in Januari this year. For live stream at specific
> times and the archive of earlier webcasts check:
> http://anarchy.k2.tku.ac.jp/kinesonus/
> Then there is a big chance you can meet Tetsuo Kogawa in person at
> Radiophon'ic 2003, a radio art festival in Brussels from November 1st
> till November 8th. The website of this festival is nothing but a front
> page today (September 17th), but hopefully the program will appear
> there
> soon.
> http://www.radiophonic.org/
> Some info about the festival in French:
> http://www.acsr.be/rencontres.php
>
> Frederic Madre:
> The malfunctions of the Internet as a space for social re-invention
> have
> now become too numerous to mention for Frederic Madre. Tune Out. He is
> currently in a state of mourning and blames it all on the gluttony of
> weblogs. "Destroy All Weblogs" is his motto. Turn Off. Later this year,
> Fred will pick up the pieces and try to put everything forward
> together.
> Listening at night to Roland Barthes' "Living together" seminar helps
> him. A book of Frederic Madre's photographs will be published in the
> Fall of 2004. The word is "Idiorrythmie". Syndicate lives, he says.
> Drop
> in.
> http://www.roland-barthes.com/qesseuil/pub/FRA/seuil/extrait0014.htm
> http://2balles.cc/dehors.php
> http://pleine-peau.com/mange
> http://anart.no/~syndicate
>
> Robbin Murphy:
> Robbin Murphy is still in exile on an island in the Gulf of Mexico
> where
> he works at the confluence of digital theory and landscape
> architecture.
> He posts his findings daily on thingist (http://bbs.thing.net). If
> anyone knows the secret of making gardenias bloom he can be contacted
> at:
> [email protected]
>
>
> <_________________________:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
>
>
> cream is an experimental collaboration of writers and curators in the
> field of art, with a focus on art in networks. You can subscribe to
> cream
> and we invite you to forward this mail to anybody you feel might be
> interested in the content of cream.
>
> :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
>
> Contributors and supporters of cream so far: Saul Albert, Inke Arns,
> Tilman
> Baumgaertel, Josephine Bosma, Sarah Cook, Florian Cramer, Steve Dietz,
> Katharina Gsollpointner, Karin Hinterleitner, Frederic Madre, Armin
> Medosch,
> Robbin Murphy, Tetsuo Kogawa, Uli Wegenast, Alex McLean, Jo Walsh,
> Michael
> Weinkove.
>
> :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
>
> contact cream at: [email protected]
> web site: cream.artcriticism.org
>
> :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
>