Ivan Pope
Since the beginning
Works in Brighton United States of America

BIO
In the place where analogue and digital overlap, that's why you will find me in the kitchen at parties.
Everything is at my site, http://blog.ivanpope.com
Discussions (225) Opportunities (0) Events (0) Jobs (0)
DISCUSSION

Re: Manifesto Of The Day


Rob,
At the end of the eighties and the early nineties before the web came along
there were artists working collaboratively via FTP and email.
One of the main ways of working was with images that were passed around and
modified. It was a bit laborious then, but it did work. No lovely instant
web based gratification, but lots of offline coding and decoding.
The main organiser of all this was OTIS (The Operative Term Is Stimulate).
The Exquisite Corpse was an everyday reality, sort of. Even then it was
clear that the networks were going to change everything. Still working on it
though.
Maybe you were there?
A bit of a Google will give you the history of OTIS and likeminded things.

I wrote because your email brought back memories of a brief and largely lost
history of art on the web.
Cheers,
Ivan

Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: Manifesto Of The Day

> Start a weblog. Place a downloadable image on it in a common format
> (SVG, PNG, Gimp, PhotoShop) placed under the Creative Commons
> Atrribution-Sharealike license. Let people modify and re-upload the
> image using the comments mechanism (censor uploads that don't preview,
> offer help if people get this wrong). Collaborative art.
>
> After a while upload a new image as a new topic and begin the process
> again. Use elements from the previous work or make a call for new
> images. Encourage an accompanying discourse (or at least discussion).
> Take the work somewhere. Make shared objectives.
>
> Art & Language's 1970s Indexes provide a good historical
> counter-example to the whimsy of Exquisite Corpses and Mail Art for
> collaborative artwork. The net can be studio and gallery
> simultaneously. Work can be done this way. More, it should be done this
> way. This is culturally urgent. The relations of production,
> distribution and consumption as well as the creation and extraction of
> value must be changed.
>
> +
> -> 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
>

DISCUSSION

Re: Re: Thom Yorke / Howard Zinn


>Moralizing is often a function of art, as is historical and political comm=
entary. I for one prefer to take the risk, and like it when >someone arrive=
s at my intended interpretation. Otherwise I'd be designing toilet paper.

Surely the very point of toilet paper is that people arrive at the intended=
interpretation. Otherwise they wouldn't get to wipe their arses.
Surely it is for designers to desire an arrival at the 'intended interpreta=
tion'.
Isn't the phrase 'intended interpretation' an oxymoron? If something has an=
obvious intent, then it is not interpreted.
Ivan

DISCUSSION

Re: the XTC of communication


Subject: RHIZOME_RAW: the XTC of communication

> 3) Off topic for a minute, I can understand the design convergence of
aerodynamically engineered cars and shoes, but why make cell phones look
like that too? I suspect that that play off deeply coded cultural signifiers
of speed & mobility.
>

No, sure, let's make them square or even less aerodynamic, with sticky out
bits that catch on our pockets and obstruct our fingers when we try to use
them. Why not a mobile phone in the shape of a ring binder or a desk light
or a cereal packet.
Cheers,
Ivan

DISCUSSION

Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz


Just had to pass this on. Amazon makes some helpful suggestions as to what I
might like to read along with this book. True.

Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of
Auschwitz
Having lost her husband, her parents, and her two young sons to the Nazi
exterminators, Olga Lengyel had little to live for during her seven-month
internment in Auschwitz. Only Lengyel's work in the prisoners' underground
resistance and the need to tell this story kept her fighting for survival.
She survived by her wit and incredible strength. Despite her horrifying
closeness to the subject, Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of
Auschwitz does not retreat into self-pit or sensationalism.

Customers interested in Five Chimneys may also be interested in:

* Flue & chimney supplies
Huge range of chimnies in stock Delivered to your door
www.specflue.com

* NCC Ltd.
Suppliers of Flues and Chimney Systems
www.ncc-flue.co.uk

* Special Marble Fireplaces
Very popular and very high quality marble fireplaces going cheap.
www.firesrus.co.uk

--
Ivan Pope
ivan@ivanpope.com

http://www.ivanpope.com
http://www.tochki-inc.com

DISCUSSION

Re: Rhizome Needs Your Support


Subject: RHIZOME\_RAW: Rhizome Needs Your Support

> Hi Rhizomers:
> I'm
> writing to you now to let you know that we need your support once again.
> Our goal this year is to raise $37,000 by the 1st of February. So far we
> have raised about $5,000.
>
> It will cost about
> $210,000 to operate Rhizome.org this fiscal year (this is about
> two-thirds of what our was budget last year).

Hi Rachel,
I think we've been here before. I'm a donor and have the T-shirt to prove
it. But honestly I got the impression that Rhizome was over now, apart from
the mailing list which we stay on for old times sake. I haven't seen any
announcements about the ArtBase for months, is it suspended or did I miss
something?
Your mail asks for $37,000 ('this year') by Feb 1. But you give no context
to this. What is 'this year' (as February is patently in next year)? You say
you have raised $5000 'so far', but what is 'so far'? When did this
fundraising start? What part of your fundraising is this $37,000. Is this an
emergency, or do you have to raise this every quarter? How does this relate
to the $210,000 it will cost 'to operate Rhizome this fiscal year'?
I say we've been here before because I can remember discussions before about
Rhizome's income v. expenditure and I think Tribe pointed us to the Rhizome
accounts. I did go to the website to read something about Rhizome's
expenditure/income, but I can't find anything. So I thought I'd ask.

> Your support will be put to good use. In the next few months, we will
> initiate a new cycle of commissions in which we will award more than
> $12,000 to Rhizome artists, revamp our search engine, develop a new
> ArtBase curatorial program and launch Rhizome Memberships for
> Organizations, a new program that will provide access to Rhizome.org
> through schools, libraries and arts organizations from Chiang Mai to
> Chile. And we will continue to offer our core programs, including the
> Rhizome.org web site and email lists, with a focus on further improving
> the quality and relevance of our content.

Give away $12,000 <--- hmm, if it were $120,000 it might pique
interest, should I support this?
Reveamp the ArtBase. <--- yes please, cluster around the ArtBase, I
support this assuming the ArtBase is still open
Recruit organisations. <--- Fundraising, should I support this?
Provide access to Rhizome.org through schools, libraries and arts
organisations <--- are you giving them web access then? what more do they
need?

I thought by way of comparison with Rhizome's $210,000 expenditure, we
could ask Ruth and Marc how much it costs them to run Furtherfield. Then we
could do a value comparison.

Cheers,
Ivan