Dirk Vekemans
Since 2005
Works in Kessel-Lo Belgium

ARTBASE (1)
PORTFOLIO (1)
BIO
born in 1962 in Lier, Belgium.
studied filology at Louvain, Belgium.

worked a lot in bars and restaurants before i became obsessivly addicted to producing stuff on computers.

i once won a design contest of cgi-magazine and they let me go to New York for four days, that was nice.

i think in terms of writing mostly (or programming, but those are very similar processes for me)

painting is a very different process and i'm very bad at it but i do it anyway because i like the differences it produces and i like the freshness of amateurism, i guess.

what i produce new media-wise is also very much influenced by my daily practice of webdesign and programming with its concerns of usability and the pragmatic approach it implies.

Discussions (292) Opportunities (0) Events (1) Jobs (0)
DISCUSSION

Re: re net art market RAM IT IN part 1


Encapsulation of type is thus achieved when there is an abstract class with
derivations (or an interface with implementations) that are used
polymorphically. "

Alan Salloway & James R. Trott , Design Patterns Explained. A New
Perspective on Object-Oriented Design,
Boston: Addison-Wesley (2004), p.121

Quote of the day at http://www.vilt.net/nkdee

Objects to RAM into society:
Artistic freedom. Artistic freedom is thus achieved when no abstract class
can be thought of or generated that has derivations (or an interface with
implementations) that are used polymorphically in order to encapsulate your
artistic process and make money from your art when you don't want it.

Capsule: any living process reduced to an object by commercial systems to
make it managable & profitable.

Process to RAM into society:
Transcoding of programming concepts into society needs critical and artistic
analysis and a counterbalance building upon that analysis.

Priority: none. I'll probably change my mind about this again tomorrow. Or
rephrase it. Processes don't work the RAMMING way. There's no need for
revolutions. If you make art, deny it's art. Destruction is an essential
part of creation. Love's function is to create unknownness. My body is the
car I drive. The vehicle inside me contains a person. I am caught in the
trap of life. I know only how I make it. A tree is not a tree. Silence is
not equal to absence of speech. I could go on like this for ages, but I have
a commercial deadline to meet. In fact I'm dead already.

dv
http://www.vilt.net/nkdee

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-list@rhizome.org [mailto:owner-list@rhizome.org] On Behalf Of
Dirk Vekemans
Sent: dinsdag 26 april 2005 15:08
To: 'Jim Andrews'; list@rhizome.org
Subject: RE: RHIZOME_RAW: re net art market she shoots she scores

That's probably what it boils down too, & it kinda takes the whole point
from underneath this discussion: if you see the media as a gigantic scanning
device looking for money everywhere it can, and getting more refined at it
every day, you don't need to worry about to sell or not to sell or even
about how to sell, it's just a matter of you being picked up by it or not.
In fact, trying to get sold could be disadvantageous to your profit, 'cause
you might be pushing up the wrong parameters to the system.

It doesn't do away with the very real problem of how to finance making the
kind of art no large supporting or commercial institute is interested in,
though. You still have to bend & twist that in all directions just to be
acceptable, it's dicatorial: i mean you can write poetry with a piece of
paper and a pencil,you don't need any money, if you want to make net art or
installation art or anything involving computers, you will need your basic
infrastructure and lot's of time for research/learning.

I could manage pretty well writing/working regular jobs and have some nice
results, not caring about any commercial pressure at all and i'm pretty sure
i would have written different things when i did care about getting
published within the existing publication media. As it turned out, i have
far more people reading my poetry than i would have the traditional
publishing way, plus i've written stuff that i'm actually happy about.
Of course, the kind of poetry i'm talking about doesn't have any commercial
value at all, it's not exactly the love & romance stuff song texts are made
of...

I'm finding it very hard doing the writing/developing/net art/working
combination without starting to bend my highly poetic notions into some
stuff that's sellable. I don't like that because i feel i'm wasting time
with that kind of detour, I would like to do it the same way like i used to
do when writing & not change anything because it would give me money. I just
can't maintain my strict division of this i do for money and this i do
because it fullfills my artistic needs (i really don't care why I have
those, i have 'm so i have to do sth with it). And i do believe that i have
some meaningful things for others to say & do in this field, that couldn't
be done by people who haven't gone to the depth of how language can be
turned into poetry.
It's a rather unknown perspective, but if you'd care to check out some of
the stuff that my compatriot and much better writer Peter Verhelst is doing
with Crew Online at http://www.crewonline.org/crew.html , you'll see that
the very same perspective can lead to some amazing and very relevant art.

Well, heck, i'm just starting out with net art , i'll find a way to ram it
up the system anyway.

dv
http://www.vilt.net/nkdee

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-list@rhizome.org [mailto:owner-list@rhizome.org] On Behalf Of
Jim Andrews
Sent: dinsdag 26 april 2005 13:10
To: list@rhizome.org
Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: re net art market she shoots she scores

i wonder how the different financial pressures different places exert on
people shape attitudes to art, and what is 'viable' and 'of value'?

on a related though slightly digressive note, we are having a great
television hockey season. much like the net (not the one with goalposts). i
watch tv by no schedule, channel surf sporadically. i might find a game from
the swedish league on. or one from the junior leagues. or even more
junior--this season i've seen a championship pee wee game (12 year olds).
and have seen international 'under 17' games. and AHL games. And the
Canadian women's team. And local hockey on TV. And it's just as interesting
to watch as NHL games. Moreso in certain ways. It isn't bloodsport. The best
game I've seen this year was the Canadian University championship game.
Excellent! I like the net approach to televised hockey: diversity.

When professional dominance of the media fails, we discover the televised
game in a fresh way and are able to see the relevance of the professional is
highly constructed, artificial. once the strike is over, this diversity of
televised hockey will diminish, no doubt, to the previous state. but that is
not so much because it's what people want as what the machines of capitalist
media prefer as high octane fuel (to make and take money).

ja
http://vispo.com

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DISCUSSION

Re: re net art market she shoots she scores


That's probably what it boils down too, & it kinda takes the whole point
from underneath this discussion: if you see the media as a gigantic scanning
device looking for money everywhere it can, and getting more refined at it
every day, you don't need to worry about to sell or not to sell or even
about how to sell, it's just a matter of you being picked up by it or not.
In fact, trying to get sold could be disadvantageous to your profit, 'cause
you might be pushing up the wrong parameters to the system.

It doesn't do away with the very real problem of how to finance making the
kind of art no large supporting or commercial institute is interested in,
though. You still have to bend & twist that in all directions just to be
acceptable, it's dicatorial: i mean you can write poetry with a piece of
paper and a pencil,you don't need any money, if you want to make net art or
installation art or anything involving computers, you will need your basic
infrastructure and lot's of time for research/learning.

I could manage pretty well writing/working regular jobs and have some nice
results, not caring about any commercial pressure at all and i'm pretty sure
i would have written different things when i did care about getting
published within the existing publication media. As it turned out, i have
far more people reading my poetry than i would have the traditional
publishing way, plus i've written stuff that i'm actually happy about.
Of course, the kind of poetry i'm talking about doesn't have any commercial
value at all, it's not exactly the love & romance stuff song texts are made
of...

I'm finding it very hard doing the writing/developing/net art/working
combination without starting to bend my highly poetic notions into some
stuff that's sellable. I don't like that because i feel i'm wasting time
with that kind of detour, I would like to do it the same way like i used to
do when writing & not change anything because it would give me money. I just
can't maintain my strict division of this i do for money and this i do
because it fullfills my artistic needs (i really don't care why I have
those, i have 'm so i have to do sth with it). And i do believe that i have
some meaningful things for others to say & do in this field, that couldn't
be done by people who haven't gone to the depth of how language can be
turned into poetry.
It's a rather unknown perspective, but if you'd care to check out some of
the stuff that my compatriot and much better writer Peter Verhelst is doing
with Crew Online at http://www.crewonline.org/crew.html , you'll see that
the very same perspective can lead to some amazing and very relevant art.

Well, heck, i'm just starting out with net art , i'll find a way to ram it
up the system anyway.

dv
http://www.vilt.net/nkdee

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-list@rhizome.org [mailto:owner-list@rhizome.org] On Behalf Of
Jim Andrews
Sent: dinsdag 26 april 2005 13:10
To: list@rhizome.org
Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: re net art market she shoots she scores

i wonder how the different financial pressures different places exert on
people shape attitudes to art, and what is 'viable' and 'of value'?

on a related though slightly digressive note, we are having a great
television hockey season. much like the net (not the one with goalposts). i
watch tv by no schedule, channel surf sporadically. i might find a game from
the swedish league on. or one from the junior leagues. or even more
junior--this season i've seen a championship pee wee game (12 year olds).
and have seen international 'under 17' games. and AHL games. And the
Canadian women's team. And local hockey on TV. And it's just as interesting
to watch as NHL games. Moreso in certain ways. It isn't bloodsport. The best
game I've seen this year was the Canadian University championship game.
Excellent! I like the net approach to televised hockey: diversity.

When professional dominance of the media fails, we discover the televised
game in a fresh way and are able to see the relevance of the professional is
highly constructed, artificial. once the strike is over, this diversity of
televised hockey will diminish, no doubt, to the previous state. but that is
not so much because it's what people want as what the machines of capitalist
media prefer as high octane fuel (to make and take money).

ja
http://vispo.com

+
-> post: list@rhizome.org
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-> subscribe/unsubscribe: http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
-> give: http://rhizome.org/support
-> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is open to non-members
+
Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
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DISCUSSION

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Net Art Market


hum hum hum
hum HUM hum!

(1 pony going dutch)

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-list@rhizome.org [mailto:owner-list@rhizome.org] On Behalf Of
Patrick Simons
Sent: maandag 25 april 2005 23:16
To: list@rhizome.org
Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Net Art Market

Hi Matthew

Why would you want to suggest that I would "clamor"?
and what would the "action" be?
and loads of people would hopefully hate me for it
AND I imagine there is a whole chorus (massed) behind the "utopian vibe"
humming ecstatically.
And Andy Warhol... didn't seem to be able take care of himself, never mind
taming the bastard art market
AND
"media art necessarily intersects with commericial
> production"
Just sounds like something the Borg would say..
Im off to look at some brilliant free work.
Patrick

Matthew Mascotte wrote:

>
> once the market catches up to electronic art production,
> when aquiring digital art is as common as buying painting
> you all will be clamoring for a piece of the action...and
> no one will hate you for it and it won't mean that your work
> has been sacrificed in any way...the fact that getting
> grants for work like this now is so intnesely competitive has
> already established a "market" for certain types of production
> and influences things considerably. so we're already there...
>
> i just cant get behind the utopian vibe "has no possibility of
> being reduced to capital" as if works that sell are somehow
> sell-outs...
> or if an artist strives to be commercially successful they're
> some how sacrificing artistic integrity. warhol has taken care of
> this for us... media art necessarily intersects with commericial
> production...the very fact that consumer electronics are required to
> create and witness these works is an example of this.
>
> respects,
>
> matthew
>
>
>
>
>
> On Monday, April 25, 2005, at 04:34PM, Pall Thayer
> <palli@pallit.lhi.is> wrote:
>
> >On Mon, 25 Apr 2005, Patrick Simons wrote:
> >hear, hear!
> >
> >> To take this further, isn't the very idea of producing work which
> is beyond the commodifying process, of making something which has some
> resonance for other people, but has no possibility of being reduced to
> capital just magnificent and life re-affirming?
> >> Patrick
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Michael Szpakowski wrote:
> >>
> >> > Absolutely! This Marxist at least Curt, has no problem
> >> > accepting your characterisation of at least some of
> >> > the roots of art.
> >> > Marx wouldn't have either.
> >> > Ryan is spot on, too, on who actually does sound like
> >> > that -ie. the free marketeers; and, admittedly, also
> >> > those who have drunk deep of the poisoned well of
> >> > academic Marxism as it descends from Zhdanov and Mao
> >> > -although given the political evolution of many of
> >> > those, at least in the UK, it's quite difficuly to
> >> > tell the two camps apart. I hear, for example, New
> >> > Labour, loud and clear.
> >> >
> >> > best
> >> > michael
> >> >
> >> > --- ryan griffis <grifray@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> > > >
> >> > > >> art only exists as a solution, a vehicle, for
> >> > > getting
> >> > > >> what you really want, be it respect or a new pair
> >> > > of shoes.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > This kind of statement always riles me. It's so
> >> > > materialistic,
> >> > > > cynical, and overly simplistic. It's like
> >> > > something a marxist
> >> > > > economist would teach to freshmen. What if making
> >> > > art is a
> >> > > > celebration? What if it's play? What if it's
> >> > > worship out of a heart
> >> > > > of thanksgiving for the mere fact that we exist?
> >> > > It's pretty cold
> >> > > > (but not at all uncommon) to reduce play and
> >> > > celebration and worship
> >> > > > to unconscious self-serving activity. I object.
> >> > >
> >> > > curt,
> >> > > i understand your response to the above statement,
> >> > > which i object to as
> >> > > well... i agree with many of your contributions to
> >> > > the discussion on
> >> > > selling net art, etc.
> >> > > but to label that above statement as similar to a
> >> > > marxist position
> >> > > might as well be red baiting. marx was not
> >> > > anti-play. and the notion
> >> > > that someone would work as something other than an
> >> > > artist, then spend
> >> > > leisure time engaging in creative activity in order
> >> > > to create something
> >> > > aesthetic, participate in a community, or learn more
> >> > > about something is
> >> > > entirely a marxist one.
> >> > > i would replace "marxist economist" in your response
> >> > > to "classical
> >> > > economist" or if you want to be more specific,
> >> > > possibly a "free market
> >> > > economist." viewing work as a means to obtaining
> >> > > shoes (unless you're
> >> > > making your own shoes) is the position of capital,
> >> > > not marxism.
> >> > > ryan
> >> > >
> >> > > +
> >> > > -> post: list@rhizome.org
> >> > > -> questions: info@rhizome.org
> >> > > -> subscribe/unsubscribe:
> >> > > http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> >> > > -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> >> > > -> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is
> >> > > open to non-members
> >> > > +
> >> > > Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set
> >> > > out in the
> >> > > Membership Agreement available online at
> >> > > http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
> >> > >
> >> >
> >> +
> >> -> post: list@rhizome.org
> >> -> questions: info@rhizome.org
> >> -> subscribe/unsubscribe:
> http://rhizome.org/preferences/subscribe.rhiz
> >> -> give: http://rhizome.org/support
> >> -> visit: on Fridays the Rhizome.org web site is open to
> non-members
> >> +
> >> Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> >> Membership Agreement available online at
> http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
> >>
> >
> >--
> >Pall Thayer
> >artist/teacher
> >http://www.this.is/pallit
> >http://130.208.220.190/
> >http://130.208.220.190/nuharm
> >http://130.208.220.190/panse
> >
> >
> >+
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> >+
> >Subscribers to Rhizome are subject to the terms set out in the
> >Membership Agreement available online at
> http://rhizome.org/info/29.php
> >
> >
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DISCUSSION

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Net Art Market


Hey man, English is *not* my native language, I do make mistakes when I try
to chat, no need to ridicule that, is there? It's pretty obvious I meant the
audience for bloody poetry written in the bloody Dutch language is limited
to a small bloody number of people, and that the composition of that
audience doesn't change much over the years. No, you don't need to pay to
see a Dutch speaking person, they're not that rare yet.

dv

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-list@rhizome.org [mailto:owner-list@rhizome.org] On Behalf Of
Patrick Simons
Sent: maandag 25 april 2005 22:41
To: list@rhizome.org
Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Net Art Market

Hi Judson
you've lost me now mate.

"a pretty stable audience of well trained
> >interested individuals, most of whom write poetry themselves"

Is this a group of ponies, that can rhyme?

That I would pay to see, ironically

best

Patrick

judsoN wrote:

> >my reason for refusing to (try to) get my texts published is a
> >complex of motivations and you should read it in the context of
> >publishing poetry specifically. So let me explain that context and
> >its consequences first:
> >Poetry written in a small language like Dutch is by itself a very
> >marginal affair, so it is more a question of maximizing your
> >audience than of economical choices. If you choose to publish within
> >the existing publishing print market you're likely to get a maximum
> >of 200 to 1000 readers, a pretty stable audience of well trained
> >interested individuals, most of whom write poetry themselves. Add to
> >that that when you do this, you generate a reflex with people
> >outside that elite circle that you are categorising yourself as
> >someone who writes elite poetry. So imho it's rather the contrary of
> >being 'judgmental',
>
> this is a really interesting problem. so glad you told us about it.
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DISCUSSION

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Net Art Market


>my reason for refusing to (try to) get my texts published is a
>complex of motivations and you should read it in the context of
>publishing poetry specifically. So let me explain that context and
>its consequences first:
>Poetry written in a small language like Dutch is by itself a very
>marginal affair, so it is more a question of maximizing your
>audience than of economical choices. If you choose to publish within
>the existing publishing print market you're likely to get a maximum
>of 200 to 1000 readers, a pretty stable audience of well trained
>interested individuals, most of whom write poetry themselves. Add to
>that that when you do this, you generate a reflex with people
>outside that elite circle that you are categorising yourself as
>someone who writes elite poetry. So imho it's rather the contrary of
>being 'judgmental',

this is a really interesting problem. so glad you told us about it.

Thanks, Judson, that's reassuring. It's hardly a cool insight,though, merely
truth getting through my thick head after years of indulging in fantasies...
dv