Does the artbase have an historicization function?

Zanni,

Did you send copies to the artbase people, or just to the list? I find that
Rhizome admins don't read the mailing list very often, or at least they
don't respond to the mailing list. They are "too busy." None of my letters
to Mark Tribe have ever been answered either, but I assume because they have
been sent here, and not directly to him, and he is "too busy."

Second, in defense of rhizome, I think you are mistaken, it is more of an
automatic process than a curational one. Mostly, it is people look at the
work, determine if it is net.art or not, and from there, the artist takes
control of the process. I don't think they are interested in quality or
originality all that much. I don't know who runs the selection process
either, but I would email them directly.

-e.



—– Original Message —–
From: "zanni.org" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 9:34 AM
Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: Does the artbase have an historicization function?


> Does the artbase have an historicization function?
>
> Does the artbase have "quality" as distinguishing mark?
>
>
> what happened with " Hole in the Sky " by Tom Scarpino (Hi Tom)
http://www.rhizome.org/object.rhiz?14018
> it's not a great thing for the reputation and the reliability of the
artbase.
> Above all because it's a "curatorial oriented" process and not an
automatic one.
>
> 1- Everybody depends from others, but in this case the work it's the same.
>
> 2- There isn't a duty in knowing my 2001 work (even if it passed through
the list) but once this thing has been emphasized ,
> why any official voice wrote me back?. … everybody can make a
mistake.. where is the problem?
>
> I'm really disappointed from this behavior
> i was expecting an answer from the artbase crew.
>
> Thank you
>
> cz
>
> http://www.zanni.org
> + 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
>

>>Did you send copies to the artbase people

I sent an email to Mark and Rachel

>>I think you are mistaken, it is more of an automatic process than a
curational one
>>I don't think they are interested in quality or originality all that much.

I was thinking the opposite… if so: bad political choice..
what is the reason for submitting an artwork to the artbase?

cz

>what is the reason for submitting an artwork to the artbase?

so an 'in-house' converted, paying audience can see it of course ;-)

marc


> >>Did you send copies to the artbase people
>
> I sent an email to Mark and Rachel
>
> >>I think you are mistaken, it is more of an automatic process than a
> curational one
> >>I don't think they are interested in quality or originality all that
much.
>
> I was thinking the opposite… if so: bad political choice..
> what is the reason for submitting an artwork to the artbase?
>
> cz
>
>
>
> + 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
>
>

Hi

I will forward these emails to Alena our artbase coordinator. She might
be abroad however. I personally have little experience with the
Artbase, and don't follow its policy.

Carlo, I got your email from two days ago, but didn't understand it –
you seemed to be comparing your work to someone else's. Reading your
posts I am more confused. You don't like a project that was accepted
into the artbase? It's too similar to yours? You want to know how
projects are selected, and what the quality control process is – have
you looked here – http://rhizome.org/artbase/policy.htm – if you have
a particular question about why one work was chosen and not another,
you will have to wait for Alena to respond, I am afraid.

Generally speaking though, I think to expect Rhizome staff, or any list
subscriber for that matter, to have the same reading/response strategy
would be specious. Your expectations will not be met. These days I
rarely read Rhizome Raw emails sequentially, for example.

This might seem obvious, but not everyone responds to emails as quickly
as one would like. Frankly, that is par for the course, and not likely
to change. I hope you can hang on.



On Wednesday, July 2, 2003, at 11:34 AM, marc.garrett wrote:

>> what is the reason for submitting an artwork to the artbase?
>
> so an 'in-house' converted, paying audience can see it of course ;-)
>
> marc
>
>
>>>> Did you send copies to the artbase people
>>
>> I sent an email to Mark and Rachel
>>
>>>> I think you are mistaken, it is more of an automatic process than a
>> curational one
>>>> I don't think they are interested in quality or originality all that
> much.
>>
>> I was thinking the opposite… if so: bad political choice..
>> what is the reason for submitting an artwork to the artbase?
>>
>> cz
>>
>>
>>
>> + 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
>>
>>
>
>
>
> + 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
>

Dear Rachel,

>>> you seemed to be comparing your work to someone else's. Reading your
posts I am more confused. You don't like a project that was accepted into
the artbase?

I'm not comparing my work to someone else's. The fact is that TS's work is
the SAME I did 2 years ago and the problem is that ArtBase listed it.
There isn't a duty to know my 2001 work (even if it passed through the list)
but once this thing has been emphasized, I think artbase people have to pay
attention because this fact hides two key issues : memory and authorship.

I just want to defend my work. It's not possible to historicize a work
already done by another artist 2 years before.
Simple and Clear.

cz

Hi cz:

When I read your initial post, I thought (as you seem to suggest below) that
you were simply informing us that you did a similar project which may have
been made before "Hole in the Sky." Although originality is one of the
factors we consider when deciding whether or not to include an artwork, it
is virtually impossible to avoid all duplication (on a large and small
scale) in the archive. In fact, many artists have explored similar issues
using similar means but, on some level or another, have ultimately produced
projects which each exhibit their own unique characteristics. Although the
Rhizome staff at times does encourage artists to submit their work to the
archive, we rarely solicit the submission of projects with methods similar
to those of museum curators, who, for example, exhaustively vet their
potential purchases for originality and so on.

Moreover, despite the fact that the ArtBase remains to be one of the most
comprehensive archives of new media art, it is by no means entirely
exhaustive. As a result, a number of projects appropriate to the archive
and its aims (as your project appears to be) have not been included in the
archive, simply because artists do not venture to submit their work. Posting
to the list does not automatically initiate this process.

Nevertheless, this duplication is certainly not intentional, and I apologize
for any personal offense you may have taken to our inclusion of "Hole in the
Sky" in the ArtBase. But especially since your project is currently not in
the archive and I did not come across your project as a past submission–I
just checked my records, but please let me know if I am mistaken–to not
include "Hole in the Sky" simply because your project exists somewhere else
seems a bit extreme. It is a more serious matter, of course, if you think
that your intellectual property has been infringed in some way.

Best regards,
Alena

+ + +

Alena Williams
ArtBase Coordinator
Rhizome.org

> Does the artbase have an historicization function?
>
> Does the artbase have "quality" as distinguishing mark?
>
>
> what happened with " Hole in the Sky " by Tom Scarpino (Hi Tom)
> http://www.rhizome.org/object.rhiz?14018
> it's not a great thing for the reputation and the reliability of the artbase.
> Above all because it's a "curatorial oriented" process and not an automatic
> one.
>
> 1- Everybody depends from others, but in this case the work it's the same.
>
> 2- There isn't a duty in knowing my 2001 work (even if it passed through the
> list) but once this thing has been emphasized ,
> why any official voice wrote me back?. … everybody can make a mistake..
> where is the problem?
>
> I'm really disappointed from this behavior
> i was expecting an answer from the artbase crew.
>
> Thank you
>
> cz
>
> http://www.zanni.org
> + 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
>

I want to support the idea that a number of artists can respond to an
absence in the same way. In 2001, Carlo Zanni and Tom Scarpino
responded to an absence by using the icon for an absent digital
image. If you visit http://www.paulstgeorge.com/shopping/ you will
see that I used the same tactic in 1999.

Can I take this opportunity to submit my art work to the ArtBase?

I want to support the idea that a number of artists can respond to an
absence in the same way. In 2001, Carlo Zanni and Tom Scarpino
responded to an absence by using the icon for an absent digital
image. If you visit http://www.paulstgeorge.com/shopping/ you will
see that I used the same tactic in 1999.

Can I take this opportunity to submit my art work to the ArtBase?

i think the broken image has been an interesting new idea added to vocabulary with the www - i used it first in connect/disconnect [no longer extant] to show missing webcam users around 96/97 - then later to play with realities and the dot.com crash in 2000 by posting broken stickers on advertisements around san francisco. i had a tshirt too, but only two people bought it. check them out at

http://userpages.umbc.edu/~cotto1/brokenimages/