mark cooley
Since 2002
Works in United States of America

ARTBASE (5)
PORTFOLIO (4)
BIO
Mark Cooley is an interdisciplinary artist interested in exploring the intersections of art, activism and institutional critique in a variety of contexts. Subjects of particular interest are U.S. foreign policy, corporate culture, and the political economy of new technologies. Recently, Mark has focused his attention on food production and consumption and the ways in which artists may mediate in these processes.

http://www.flawedart.net


The New American Dictionary


The Boston-based performance group Institute for Infinitely Small Things has published a book called The New American Dictionary.

The dictionary highlights the terminology of fear, security and war that has permeated American English post 9-11. It includes 68 new terms i.e. Preparedness and Freedom Fries as well as terms that have recently been redefined i.e. Torture.

The dictionary also has an interactive dimension. 58 terms are left undefined for the reader to pencil in their own definition. Furthermore, readers are invited to submit their additions to the institute for a possible inclusion in the 2nd edition.

The New American Dictionary is available at several online stores.

www.newamericandictionary.com

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exhaust emissions balloons


exhaust_emissions.jpg
a huge balloon, tied to a car�s vent-pipe, depicting the amount of exhaust emissions a car releases a day.

the "bursting earth" project is similar, but more dynamic. activists attach world globe balloons on exhaust pipes of cars in Berlin. the exhaust gas inflates the ballons. after the message becomes readable, there is a big "bang".

[link: frederiksamuel.com & adsoftheworld.com & 20to20.org]

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WoW!


Aram Bartholl is a german artist renowned for making physical abstractions of the digital world, particularly game-worlds.

One of Aram's not-to-be-missed performances is inspired by the popular computer game World of Warcraft (WoW).

In WoW, the nickname of the player's avatar is constantly hovering above the head of the player so that the identity is visible for everyone else in the game.

Aram took this little feature out of cyberspace to see how it would look if people's names would float above their heads in the physical world too.

WoW has been performed at different locations around the world. Luckily, it is well-documented!


Getting coffee WoW style Workshop in Ghent Project Site

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REALIZING THE IMPOSSIBLE: ART AGAINST AUTHORITY


reaimp.jpg

Aesthetics and Politics

REALIZING THE IMPOSSIBLE: ART AGAINST AUTHORITY by Josh MacPhee, Erik Reuland, editors :: There has always been a close relationship between aesthetics and politics in anti-authoritarian social movements. And those movements have in turn influenced many of the last century's most important art movements, including cubism, Dada, post-impressionism, abstract expressionism, surrealism, Fluxus, Situationism, and punk. Today, the movement against corporate globalization, with its creative acts of resistance, has brought anti-authoritarian politics into the forefront. This sprawling, inclusive collection explores this vibrant history, with topics ranging from turn-of-the-century French cartoonists to modern Indonesian printmaking, from people rolling giant balls of trash down Chicago streets to massive squatted urban villages and renegade playgrounds in Denmark, from stencil artists of Argentina to radical video collectives of the US and Mexico. Lots of illustrations, all b&w.;

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Discussions (102) Opportunities (8) Events (39) Jobs (2)
EVENT

Re: Net Art is not Dead it just smells funny


Dates:
Wed Apr 07, 2004 00:00 - Wed Apr 07, 2004

i've been following this thread - i agree with Marc when he made the statement that killing something is inherently a political act. this i think is a very useful starting point for discussion, but it seems that what has follwed is not all that productive, at least intellectually, so let's get on with it. what exactly is "the death of net art" a killing of? i can't answer this question, or nor would i want to, but there are some clear historical examples of "killing things" in a philosophical and aesthetic sense, and many of these killings had an active political agenda. some are "the death of royality", "the death of God", "the death of the author", the death of photography, painting and every other media we can think of. obviously, all of these battles had clear agendas in mind. i'm more interested in the specific agenda than than simply turning off when hearing the phrase "the death of...". obviously, if we say that we would want to declare a death to facist ideology, would it be a problem? if we wanted to declare the death of "the war on terror" as it now exists, would that be a problem? obviously, we do participate in a hiarchical culture. Rhizome is part of that culture. there are cultural managers, there are people who are chosen to speak for others and take on that roll. this is a political act. the fact that the Times talked to Rachel put her in the position of speaking for her "Community" this is problematic itself, but beyond this, as many of us know the Times had complete control over the framing of the article which was approximately "the death of net art", but from a specific institutional framework. in effect, what i read, is the Times declaring a fading of popularity of "net art" by the institution. the whitney, walker, etc. were mentioned. if, in this context the Times was saying that "net art" is not valued among dominant art institutions like it was some years ago. is this a problem? to some it is, but to others this would be what artists should be after - to provide an alternative to the institution. in other words - who cares if the NY times says that the institution is moving away from net art. many would say that is a positive thing. the Times appropriated a phrase ("the death of...") of historical relevence and worthy of serious discussion (especially it's political agenda)and made it into a weapon to get us all to put up our defenses and in effect proclaim - "but we really wanted to be part of the institution". i think that Rachel, Rhizome etc. is getting a lot of heat when perhaps we should be writing the Times. i don't know - just a few thoughts.

mark cooley

marc garrett wrote:

> Net Art is not Dead it just smells funny
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> As Rhizome.org officially shot itself in the foot, killing itself


EVENT

sampling, appropriation and...


Dates:
Fri Mar 19, 2004 00:00 - Fri Mar 19, 2004

let's not forget Detournment - here's some text copied from various sites -

Detournment is the act of turning around images (news, advertising or other popular representations) and reconfiguring them to reveal (and sometimes satirize upon) the ideological messages hidden within them. Many Artists have used this concept or similar concepts to give the public a more problematic view of the slick and oversimplified view of life that we often receive from state and corporate sponsored images. In the last few years web detournment has become a useful technique for new media artists. Similar to artists using this technique in print Net artists have found ways of interrupting the expected "flow" of "information" from producer to consumer by disguising their works in familiar & dominant forms (corporate web design) while offering to often unsuspecting viewers alternative readings of contemporary culture.

"Detournment; "short for: detournment of pre-existing aesthetic elements. The integration of past or present artistic production into a superior construction of a milieu. In this sense there can be no Situationist painting or music, but only a Situationist use of these means.", Internationale Situationiste issue 1, June 1958.

Detournment could be said to be the opposite side of the coin to 'recuperation' (where radical ideas and images are made safe and commodified), in that images produced by the spectacle are altered and subverted so that rather than supporting the status quo, their meaning is changed in order to put across a more radical or oppositionist message. Such a pro-situ technique can be seen in action in the present day when looking at the work of Culture Jammers including Ad Busters 1, whose 'subvertisements' 'detourn' Nike adverts, for example. In this case the original advertisement's imagery is altered in order to draw attention to said company's policy of shifting their production base to cheap labour cost third world 'Free trade Zones'.
However, it can be a thin (or at least very fuzzy) line between 'recuperation' and 'detournment' at times, as Naomi Klein points out in her book No Logo. Here she details how Culture Jammers and Ad Busters have been approached (sometimes successfully) by corporations such as Nike, Pepsi or Deisel and offered lucrative contracts in return for partaking in 'ironic' promotional campaigns. She points up further irony by drawing attention to merchandising produced in order to promote Ad Busters' Buy Nothing day, an example of the recuperation of detournment (or of culture eating itself) if ever there was one.


EVENT

Re: thoughts on Appropriation versus Sampling


Dates:
Fri Mar 19, 2004 00:00 - Fri Mar 19, 2004

just to add to the sampling, appropriation stuff - let's not forget detournment - here's some text gathered from the web...

"Detournment; short for: detournment of pre-existing aesthetic elements. The integration of past or present artistic production into a superior construction of a milieu. In this sense there can be no Situationist painting or music, but only a Situationist use of these means.", Internationale Situationiste issue 1, June 1958.

Detournment could be said to be the opposite side of the coin to 'recuperation' (where radical ideas and images are made safe and commodified), in that images produced by the spectacle are altered and subverted so that rather than supporting the status quo, their meaning is changed in order to put across a more radical or oppositionist message. Such a pro-situ technique can be seen in action in the present day when looking at the work of Culture Jammers including Ad Busters 1, whose 'subvertisements' 'detourn' Nike adverts, for example. In this case the original advertisement's imagery is altered in order to draw attention to said company's policy of shifting their production base to cheap labour cost third world 'Free trade Zones'.
However, it can be a thin (or at least very fuzzy) line between 'recuperation' and 'detournment' at times, as Naomi Klein points out in her book No Logo. Here she details how Culture Jammers and Ad Busters have been approached (sometimes successfully) by corporations such as Nike, Pepsi or Deisel and offered lucrative contracts in return for partaking in 'ironic' promotional campaigns. She points up further irony by drawing attention to merchandising produced in order to promote Ad Busters' Buy Nothing day, an example of the recuperation of detournment (or of culture eating itself) if ever there was one.


EVENT

another new Joywar piece


Dates:
Fri Mar 05, 2004 00:00 - Fri Mar 05, 2004

http://art-design.smsu.edu/cooley/molotov/

Molotov Remix - consists of a jpg. of Joy Garnett's painting "Molotov" sliced into 121 43px X 52px images. Each sliced image is randomly loaded via javascript into one of 121 cells of an html table. Users may click on the "Recompose" link to achieve a new randomly generated recomposition each time. the chances of users hitting upon a perfect realignment of image slices is less than winning the lottery, but just in case i have a "fair use" argument ready.

http://art-design.smsu.edu/cooley/molotov/

mark cooley


EVENT

pentagon warns administration of imminent global catastrophe


Dates:
Fri Mar 05, 2004 00:00 - Fri Mar 05, 2004

i'm fairly sure everyone has seen this, but for those who haven't here's a link to the report written by pentagon officials on the imminent threat of global warming. the pentagon urges that this is a far greater national security threat than terrorism.

what's even scarier than the thought of global warming is the fact that it is solely defined as a military concern (i mean it is the pentagon). Not surprisingly, the report speaks how military will be used to hoard and protect resources while keeping angry, suffering people and nations at bay. so now we get to trade in the "War on Terror" - a war for resources with the 'Terror