more throughts on the cyber-kitchen...

Sept. 4, 2002

Type: discussion

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The 'one-man-one-machine' experience of surfing the
net questions the
locality of the home and domestic space. One may live in a small rural
village in a European country yet spend equal (if not more) virtual time
working, talking and creating in American-made cyber-territories. The
cyber-self has migrated but an artist's 'home' in this virtual landscape
have no walls and no 'objects' - only visions, people and the sounds of
the click of each button. There are no home comforts in this space. No
familiar mirror of the artist's home, family or possessions on the web. In
some, this condition seems to be producing translocal schizophrenia.
The artist is divided between two lives. The virtual and the terra-
existence. Many artists seem (both in their works and words) to be quite
literally home sick.
When net.art is discussed eventually the idea of
the net 'community' or
'family' emerges: the 'rhizome community', the nettime community, the
Flash community, the Java community. If these communities (or
families) are truly active some indication of their physical presence must
be felt outside (perhaps) of the textual and visionary. A community that
thrives does more than talk and dream about its presence. A community
outworks it presence by claiming the physical space: house-building,
social interaction, playgrounds, schools and places of worship. In
cyber-space the playgrounds (artworks), social interaction (lists),
schools (educators) and the places of worship (virtual museums) have
long been established but these 'communities' are living in self-erected
tents. Bricks and mortar, belongings and the state of 'home' are absent
on the net. Scrolling down the inbox of the net.art chat forum can
produce comparisons of the camera on the BBC world service, panning
back to reveal the shanty towns of the asylum seekers - a community
isolated by the simultaneous absence of their locality and presence of
the alien soil.
If a home, even a mirror of the terra-property were
to be built in
cyberspace would artists be brave enough to move in? In the cyber-
kitchen project (July 2002) an artist outworked this (perhaps
subconscious) dilemma by interpreting a dark corridor leading off from
the kitchen in a frenetic video image by internal camera of the journey
down the human throat. Suddenly the placement of the kitchen was in
question. One minute the visitor was sipping coffee in the sunshine the
next they were slipping down into the darkness. The locality became
illusion; the domestic peace became a construction. If the kitchen in the
cyber home becomes a potentially dangerous it begs the question what
artists might construct under the bed, in the closet or in the woodshed.
To expand on the pioneering metaphor (so often used when describing
the 'conquering' of the web), net.artist are familiar with the virtual
landscape, its quiet places, crowded streets and supermarkets, perhaps
the time has come start laying the foundations of the cyber-home…
………………………
the cyber-kitchen is an ongoing project and is still
accepting work
and/or proposals. Please see
http://www.the-cyber-kitchen.com/call_for_artists.htm
………………………
Call for coders/scripters: The cyber-kitchen would
like to build a 'kitchen
table' where the artists can meet and have a beer:-) On-line forums,
chat evenings and/or guestbooks have been suggested. I badly need
help scripting/coding this. If you would like to be involved in this project
in this way please contact jess loseby at:
[email protected]        OR
[email protected]
………………………
Artists in the cyber-kitchen include: (new work in
red)
Kate Armstrong, Nancy Bechtol, Carla Della Beffa, Amie Bolissian, Brad
Brace, Susan Burgess, Samantha Caine, Ruth
Chandler, Geoffrey
Benjamin Chew, Damon Cleary, Nicolae Comanescu, Jo Cook, Lilian
Cooper, Agricola de Cologne, Caterina Davinio, dlsan, Anna Cecile
Gabali , Pierre Gauvin, Gez, Saraswati Gramich, Jane Griffin, Alana
Jelinek, Neil Jenkins, Rene' Joseph, Judson, Maya Kalogera,
Kanarinka, Dagmar Kase, Sarah Klein, Tamara Lai, Jess Loseby, Jorge
Margolles, Luiz, Joseph Franklyn McElroy & Donna McElroy, Fin
McMorran, Mr.Milk, Simon Morse, Linda Munday, Owen Plotkin, Joan
Posluszny-Hoffsten, Roslyn Rose, Tim
Sandys-Renton, Barbara
Santos, Ernesto Sarezale, Laurent Sauerwein, S'unya, Michael
Szpakowski, Pamela G. Taylor, Floe Tudor, Jeremy Turner, Mona
Vatamanu, Wes ,Cathy Ward & Eric Wright, Saskia Wilson-Brown
………………………
the cyber-kitchen is a non-profit collaborative art
project.
 
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<div align="left">– o     [  ][
II  ][ II  ]___</div>
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<div align="left">                          the
cyber-kitchen</div>
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