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BIO
Marc Garrett is co-director and co-founder, with artist Ruth Catlow of the Internet arts collectives and communities – Furtherfield.org, Furthernoise.org, Netbehaviour.org, also co-founder and co-curator/director of the gallery space formerly known as 'HTTP Gallery' now called the Furtherfield Gallery in London (Finsbury Park), UK. Co-curating various contemporary Media Arts exhibitions, projects nationally and internationally. Co-editor of 'Artists Re:Thinking Games' with Ruth Catlow and Corrado Morgana 2010. Hosted Furtherfield's critically acclaimed weekly broadcast on UK's Resonance FM Radio, a series of hour long live interviews with people working at the edge of contemporary practices in art, technology & social change. Currently doing an Art history Phd at the University of London, Birkbeck College.
Net artist, media artist, curator, writer, street artist, activist, educationalist and musician. Emerging in the late 80′s from the streets exploring creativity via agit-art tactics. Using unofficial, experimental platforms such as the streets, pirate radio such as the locally popular ‘Savage Yet Tender’ alternative broadcasting 1980′s group, net broadcasts, BBS systems, performance, intervention, events, pamphlets, warehouses and gallery spaces. In the early nineties, was co-sysop (systems operator) with Heath Bunting on Cybercafe BBS with Irational.org.
Our mission is to co-create extraordinary art that connects with contemporary audiences providing innovative, engaging and inclusive digital and physical spaces for appreciating and participating in practices in art, technology and social change. As well as finding alternative ways around already dominating hegemonies, thus claiming for ourselves and our peer networks a culturally aware and critical dialogue beyond traditional hierarchical behaviours. Influenced by situationist theory, fluxus, free and open source culture, and processes of self-education and peer learning, in an art, activist and community context.
Net artist, media artist, curator, writer, street artist, activist, educationalist and musician. Emerging in the late 80′s from the streets exploring creativity via agit-art tactics. Using unofficial, experimental platforms such as the streets, pirate radio such as the locally popular ‘Savage Yet Tender’ alternative broadcasting 1980′s group, net broadcasts, BBS systems, performance, intervention, events, pamphlets, warehouses and gallery spaces. In the early nineties, was co-sysop (systems operator) with Heath Bunting on Cybercafe BBS with Irational.org.
Our mission is to co-create extraordinary art that connects with contemporary audiences providing innovative, engaging and inclusive digital and physical spaces for appreciating and participating in practices in art, technology and social change. As well as finding alternative ways around already dominating hegemonies, thus claiming for ourselves and our peer networks a culturally aware and critical dialogue beyond traditional hierarchical behaviours. Influenced by situationist theory, fluxus, free and open source culture, and processes of self-education and peer learning, in an art, activist and community context.
epic net art
Hi Vijay,
It's tough understanding things sometimes. Especially for myself at the moment because I am in the middle of setting up a show at our space HTTP Gallery for Richard Wright's 'How to Talk to Images' http://www.http.uk.net/exhibitions/HTTTI/index.shtml. The opening this evening. So it has been a bit busy at this end of the pond...
Getting back to you regarding your interpretations of a piece of text I had written to you earlier. I feel that (C) is probably the closest, or at least touching upon it some respect.
>c) if there were a piece of epic net art, that any accolades it could/would
receive for being epic would be ipso facto spurious? If this is what you're
saying, then it begs the question: are any of the pieces that you've posted
here in connection with "epic net art" only associable with the epic in
spurious ways?
I think that firstly, we probably need to admit (literally) that we are not just dealing with the idea or notion of an "epic net art", we need to know more, or at least get to grips with what epic means to us, now.
I suppose, to be more succinct when discussing my own perception of what 'epic' means for me. Is that it's meaning or context has different interpretations in accordance to where one sits in the food chain. That it may not necessarily be the idea that is the 'epic', but perhaps more the journey that many of us take in becoming who we are as creative individuals or collaborators.
For instance in one my of fave books in the early nineties written by a Turkish artist called Bedri Baykam called 'MONKEYS' RIGHT TO PAINT'. He writes about his personal journey about his big struggle against the western art Establishment's one sided history making and prejudices. " The fight of a cultural guerilla for the rights of non-western artists and the empty world of the neo-ready mades".
His struggle is different but reflects what I have felt through my own early years when dealing with more established art institutions and academics. I have always been against the term 'net.art', or at least Vuk Cosic's tactics of placing a few individuals in Internet art history, appropriating a net 'dot' art 'epic', the (supposed ironic) 'Heroic Period'. for this takes away from the many and hands over the accolade of history to but a few - they then become historical 'epics', via a modernist behaviour of creating genius's that end up as representatives above other supposed, seemingly 'bad net art'. This is a hegemonic act.
So my real heroes in net art, are those who have not been fairly represented - this my own personal position and concept of what a real 'epic' can be. It is about the struggle of becoming...
chat soon :-)
marc
It's tough understanding things sometimes. Especially for myself at the moment because I am in the middle of setting up a show at our space HTTP Gallery for Richard Wright's 'How to Talk to Images' http://www.http.uk.net/exhibitions/HTTTI/index.shtml. The opening this evening. So it has been a bit busy at this end of the pond...
Getting back to you regarding your interpretations of a piece of text I had written to you earlier. I feel that (C) is probably the closest, or at least touching upon it some respect.
>c) if there were a piece of epic net art, that any accolades it could/would
receive for being epic would be ipso facto spurious? If this is what you're
saying, then it begs the question: are any of the pieces that you've posted
here in connection with "epic net art" only associable with the epic in
spurious ways?
I think that firstly, we probably need to admit (literally) that we are not just dealing with the idea or notion of an "epic net art", we need to know more, or at least get to grips with what epic means to us, now.
I suppose, to be more succinct when discussing my own perception of what 'epic' means for me. Is that it's meaning or context has different interpretations in accordance to where one sits in the food chain. That it may not necessarily be the idea that is the 'epic', but perhaps more the journey that many of us take in becoming who we are as creative individuals or collaborators.
For instance in one my of fave books in the early nineties written by a Turkish artist called Bedri Baykam called 'MONKEYS' RIGHT TO PAINT'. He writes about his personal journey about his big struggle against the western art Establishment's one sided history making and prejudices. " The fight of a cultural guerilla for the rights of non-western artists and the empty world of the neo-ready mades".
His struggle is different but reflects what I have felt through my own early years when dealing with more established art institutions and academics. I have always been against the term 'net.art', or at least Vuk Cosic's tactics of placing a few individuals in Internet art history, appropriating a net 'dot' art 'epic', the (supposed ironic) 'Heroic Period'. for this takes away from the many and hands over the accolade of history to but a few - they then become historical 'epics', via a modernist behaviour of creating genius's that end up as representatives above other supposed, seemingly 'bad net art'. This is a hegemonic act.
So my real heroes in net art, are those who have not been fairly represented - this my own personal position and concept of what a real 'epic' can be. It is about the struggle of becoming...
chat soon :-)
marc
epic net art
Hi Vijay,
"The approach of the question immediately presumes a position that, there is no net art worthy of the spurious, accolade of historical art resonance, as soon as it is asked."
Seems clear to me...
I will reread it and whether I am talking nonsense ;-)
marc
"The approach of the question immediately presumes a position that, there is no net art worthy of the spurious, accolade of historical art resonance, as soon as it is asked."
Seems clear to me...
I will reread it and whether I am talking nonsense ;-)
marc
epic net art
Hi Vijay,
Always a pleasure discussing with you, good questions...
On hearing the word epic, it feels like a loaded term. It has weight, yet at the same time it is flippant. The approach of the question immediately presumes a position that, there is no net art worthy of the spurious, accolade of historical art resonance, as soon as it is asked.
The question itself, if seriously considered within a contemporary net art and media art context, can only end with one pure, single answer - this would be a 'no'.
That, there is no epic, meaning that there is no awe and that net art has failed to fulfill the demands of producing a great work of art. The question itself (perhaps not knowingly) conspires in setting up a no win situation. We are then left with a diverson rather than a thoughtful, contextual understanding of net art and related creativities. Assuming that, many artists are playing in accordance to a set of rules that possess a primary concern to create an epic, when much of the work is not from a mono-cultural intention in the first place - what about looking at the actual work itself and exploring what the artists' themselves are saying in their artwork?
The mistake that some fall into with net art and media art, is to ignore its own reasonings and invent ideas that can sometimes smother the content of the work rather than letting it breath to be what it really is. This is where the hegemonic stance settles in, an asphyxiation of the actual heart of a work can be squeezed out via such diverting concepts which do not accept what the artwork or (dare I say) 'genre' actually is.
A hegemonic culture or atmosphere, creates a pseudo market of thought, a type of economy that ignores, the more messy questions that much art, and creatively driven reflection around it explores. The term 'epic' is a heroic position, a labeling that has a lot of power - like a Hollywood film, but at the same time offers no useful ingredient or nourishment beyond its own frame-set and transient noise.
If there is an answer, surely it is not about a single (fantastical) artwork or a selection of works which are consisting of the demand of enacting out the function of being an epic - if there is an epic I feel that it would be more about the whole genre of net art itself (media art or both)...
I will respond to your questions about the work that I have suggested, once I have had some sleep:-)
wishing you well.
marc
Always a pleasure discussing with you, good questions...
On hearing the word epic, it feels like a loaded term. It has weight, yet at the same time it is flippant. The approach of the question immediately presumes a position that, there is no net art worthy of the spurious, accolade of historical art resonance, as soon as it is asked.
The question itself, if seriously considered within a contemporary net art and media art context, can only end with one pure, single answer - this would be a 'no'.
That, there is no epic, meaning that there is no awe and that net art has failed to fulfill the demands of producing a great work of art. The question itself (perhaps not knowingly) conspires in setting up a no win situation. We are then left with a diverson rather than a thoughtful, contextual understanding of net art and related creativities. Assuming that, many artists are playing in accordance to a set of rules that possess a primary concern to create an epic, when much of the work is not from a mono-cultural intention in the first place - what about looking at the actual work itself and exploring what the artists' themselves are saying in their artwork?
The mistake that some fall into with net art and media art, is to ignore its own reasonings and invent ideas that can sometimes smother the content of the work rather than letting it breath to be what it really is. This is where the hegemonic stance settles in, an asphyxiation of the actual heart of a work can be squeezed out via such diverting concepts which do not accept what the artwork or (dare I say) 'genre' actually is.
A hegemonic culture or atmosphere, creates a pseudo market of thought, a type of economy that ignores, the more messy questions that much art, and creatively driven reflection around it explores. The term 'epic' is a heroic position, a labeling that has a lot of power - like a Hollywood film, but at the same time offers no useful ingredient or nourishment beyond its own frame-set and transient noise.
If there is an answer, surely it is not about a single (fantastical) artwork or a selection of works which are consisting of the demand of enacting out the function of being an epic - if there is an epic I feel that it would be more about the whole genre of net art itself (media art or both)...
I will respond to your questions about the work that I have suggested, once I have had some sleep:-)
wishing you well.
marc
epic net art
Hi Matthew,
I have listed just a mini-selection of my faves. But I have many more...
Thanks for asking :-)
marc
www.furtherfield.org
http://www.http.uk.net
Brian Mackern/1962/Uruguay
http://netart.org.uy
The Golden Shot (revisited) by Simon Poulter
http://www.viral.info/gs2.htm
video link - http://netartfilm.furtherfield.org/?q=node/25
The Appearance Machine by Willy LeMaitre & Eric Rosenzveig
http://www.w----e.net/appearancemachine/index.html
review
http://www.furtherfield.org/displayreview.php?review_id=303
feral trade (import-export)
trading goods along social networks since 2003
http://www.feraltrade.org/cgi-bin/courier/courier.pl
The Sheep Market by Aaron Koblin
http://www.thesheepmarket.com/
Open Source Embroidery: Craft and Code
http://www.http.uk.net/exhibitions/OSE/index.shtml#events
Slippage - exhibition of net.art curated by Nanette Wylde, bringing together a group of 8 artists that include: Mez Breeze; Krista Connerly; Juliet Davis; Lisa Hutton; Paula Levine; Jess Loseby, et al.; UBERMORGEN.COM; and Jody Zellen.
http://slippage.net/
live performance called Video Terraform Dance Party
Jeremy Bailey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNO0l4ppgIY
[ ASCII WMD ]
TRANSLATED FROM THE IRAQI UTF-8 TO AMERICAN STANDARD
CODE FOR INFORMATION INTERCHANGE
http://artcontext.net/act/06/asciiWMD/ascii_of_mass_destruction.html
The Status Project
Heath Bunting
Surveys and maps made to order (currently
surveying homelessness and social security).
http://status.irational.org/
Norwayweb
Bjorn Magnhildoen
http://noemata.anart.no/norgesveven/
review
http://www.furtherfield.org/displayreview.php?review_id=295
The Sound of eBay an UBERMORGEN.COM project
http://www.sound-of-ebay.com/
An E-Mail-Art project on the NetBehaviour email list culminating in an exhibition at the HTTP Gallery in London.
http://www.http.uk.net/docs/exhib12/exhibitions12.shtml
Playful interaction and goal-oriented gaming explored through media arts practice
http://blog.game-play.org.uk/
I have listed just a mini-selection of my faves. But I have many more...
Thanks for asking :-)
marc
www.furtherfield.org
http://www.http.uk.net
Brian Mackern/1962/Uruguay
http://netart.org.uy
The Golden Shot (revisited) by Simon Poulter
http://www.viral.info/gs2.htm
video link - http://netartfilm.furtherfield.org/?q=node/25
The Appearance Machine by Willy LeMaitre & Eric Rosenzveig
http://www.w----e.net/appearancemachine/index.html
review
http://www.furtherfield.org/displayreview.php?review_id=303
feral trade (import-export)
trading goods along social networks since 2003
http://www.feraltrade.org/cgi-bin/courier/courier.pl
The Sheep Market by Aaron Koblin
http://www.thesheepmarket.com/
Open Source Embroidery: Craft and Code
http://www.http.uk.net/exhibitions/OSE/index.shtml#events
Slippage - exhibition of net.art curated by Nanette Wylde, bringing together a group of 8 artists that include: Mez Breeze; Krista Connerly; Juliet Davis; Lisa Hutton; Paula Levine; Jess Loseby, et al.; UBERMORGEN.COM; and Jody Zellen.
http://slippage.net/
live performance called Video Terraform Dance Party
Jeremy Bailey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNO0l4ppgIY
[ ASCII WMD ]
TRANSLATED FROM THE IRAQI UTF-8 TO AMERICAN STANDARD
CODE FOR INFORMATION INTERCHANGE
http://artcontext.net/act/06/asciiWMD/ascii_of_mass_destruction.html
The Status Project
Heath Bunting
Surveys and maps made to order (currently
surveying homelessness and social security).
http://status.irational.org/
Norwayweb
Bjorn Magnhildoen
http://noemata.anart.no/norgesveven/
review
http://www.furtherfield.org/displayreview.php?review_id=295
The Sound of eBay an UBERMORGEN.COM project
http://www.sound-of-ebay.com/
An E-Mail-Art project on the NetBehaviour email list culminating in an exhibition at the HTTP Gallery in London.
http://www.http.uk.net/docs/exhib12/exhibitions12.shtml
Playful interaction and goal-oriented gaming explored through media arts practice
http://blog.game-play.org.uk/