Rachel Greene
Since the beginning
Works in New York, Nebraska United States of America

BIO
Rhizome is friends and family for Rachel, who has been involved with the org. in one capacity or another since 1997 when it was rhizome.com!!
Rachel wrote a book on internet art for thames & hudson's well-known WORLD OF ART series: it was published in June 2004. She was a consultant and catalogue author for the 2004 Whitney Biennial. She has also written for publications including frieze, artforum, timeout and bomb.
Discussions (824) Opportunities (20) Events (0) Jobs (0)
DISCUSSION

9 essay by josephine bosma, the people below the surface


from 9, a new tool developed by mongrel --
http://9.waag.org/Info/people_en.html

THE PEOPLE BELOW THE SURFACE

Josephine Bosma

How to reflect upon the world? The artist collective Mongrel has developed a
new tool for doing just that, a program called Nine(9). Instead of
reflecting upon the world, this relatively easy to use program reflects the
world quite literally in some ways. It was created for you and me, for the
wo/man on the street so to speak. It was made to tell stories, personal
stories or self invented histories. It could be called a virtual scrapbook,
collective sketchbook or living photo album. The difference with many other
on line diaries or meeting places is that the space of Nine(9) has no
beginning or end, no top and no bottom, no fixed entry. We roam through the
contents of Nine(9) like we roam our cities or our thoughts: a different
starting point, a slight variety of trajectory and the possibility of new
views almost every time. This is the world without a grand narrative, this
is the world from multiple points of view.

When you enter Nine(9) and start to feel your way around you will feel a
bit lost the first couple of times you visit. All these pictures, clustered
in groups of nines. Odd voids in the map. The slowness of your movements.
Not knowing what lies ahead, or whether anything lies ahead at all. Yet
there are people here, you discover. Voices, faces, views appear. You might
stumble upon familiar faces even, like I did. The faces and stories of
children, friends or neighbors start to form a personal trajectory, a
storyline based upon your personal curiosity or interests. I entered Lani's
world, the world of a three year old boy who came from London to live in the
Bijlmer, one of Amsterdam's most unpopular neighborhoods. Through Lani's
experiences I discovered that this unpopularity is, even to my surprise,
largely based on prejudices and racism. I saw Lani's friends and learned
about the occupation of their parents, the social structures in the Bijlmer
and the state of environment there (often pleasantly small townish and
green). Lani's mother Matsuko reveals it all for you in pictures and short
texts. Her space in Nine(9) is only one example though, one of many. Some
stories are personal, other people prefer to enter obscure underground art,
and again others play with a combination of images, words, short films or
sounds themselves. One can imagine Nine(9) to harbor reflections on politics
or philosophy as well, which one can enter and perceive (by way of your
storyline, that is) at wish. Walking or flying across the various maps of
Nine(9) one is at the same time close to and distanced from their content.
Mongrel has tried to create a structure without hierarchies, but not without
power of the individual.

Nine(9) is kaleidoscopic and endless. The repeated maps of nine stories
within nine images form a rhythmic visual metamap in which all borders meet
like on a globe. Or like on a giant Rubik's cube, if you will. Even if this
creates a sense of space, it can also create a feeling of claustrophobia.
This is enhanced by the apparent slowness in the navigation of the space.
Yet after a while you get familiar with some of the maps and you develop a
sense of where you are and how to get somewhere else. You keep strolling
past the same pictures, bumping into the same maps here and there and you
discover there is a way to make big leaps over them. Experiencing Nine(9)
feels a bit contradictive at times, more even so then you already might have
experienced browsing the web. It is a strange mixture of traveling places
and meeting different people in one space. Yet where on the web the variety
of form and design of the different web pages can create huge differences in
(however subconscious) valuation of individual sites, redeeming their
content more or less important depending on their either professional or
clumsy appearance, Nine(9) almost entirely eradicates these differences.
Entering one's story into Nine(9) means submitting to the wish of the
Nine(9) designers to present everyone as equal, or to give everyone equal
chances, in the battle for representation in a stressed attention economy.
Picture after picture, map after map, glowing like stars in a dark sky, all
information in this space is presented within the same modest frame.

Even if the visual interface, the surface, is not the most important aspect
in the end, it certainly is the most dominant in how you navigate and
perceive everybody's stories in Nine(9). The first impression of Nine(9) is
a visual one: that of many, many pictures, together yet distinct. Nine(9) is
in some ways like a slow movie. A film played one image at the time, and you
are the final editor.

In a documentary for Dutch broadcaster VPRO called 'the end of television as
we know it' someone working for the Disney corporation claimed that future
communication would be image based, not text based. Even if this remark was
mostly wishful thinking concerning Disney's market position in the future it
probably contains more truth then some of us might care to admit. Yet
already in the early 20th century people thought film, the wide distribution
of moving images, would help us return to a "pre-Babel 'great human family",
that film would bring people together. It only did so in an indirect, still
faulty way. Even if Nine(9) can never be called a solution for the language
problem between peoples (since solving that seems a utopian dream), it is a
step in the right direction. There is an extra dimension to Nine(9) though,
something film does not have, which is its relatively easy interface and its
connection to the 'street' via the Mongrel workshops and events, in other
words, it's accessability. Nine(9) was developed to demystify and unravel
the world of electronic media. Nine(9)'s sober and anti hierarchic design
can create very strong and interesting social spaces indeed.

DISCUSSION

Nine(9) essay by matt fuller


from the 9 project by graham harwood, which is just launching --
http://9.waag.org/

GRID UNLOCKED Matthew Fuller

9 = 3

Nine(9) is given its name from the difference in the number of years of
healthy life expectancy from birth between a woman born in Jamaica in 2001
and a woman born in Sweden in the same year [1] ; the length in months of
human gestation regardless of where you're slotted in the market of freedom;
or the number of jellied eels it takes to change a light bulb? Numbers join
things in ways that are absolutely arbitrary, but at the same time, they
provide some of the most concrete and supple tools that we have for talking
about things and relations between them. Their palpable abstraction is what
makes numbers useful: 9 groups = 81 archives = 729 maps = 6561 images with
59049 links to any of the 2125764 files on a server.

You on the guest list?
What would a nice friendly artist want to do with what people who run
computer networks call permissions structures? Underlying Nine(9) is a
complex sequence of rules for who can do what to what: change the contents
of an archive, add text, make a link. Instead of 'free expression' which
embeds its laws in vague secrets, here, the lists of what you can do are up
front. It's a bit daunting, filling in a Nine(9) archive. Perhaps the
software is aimed at people with the most experience at form-feeding, those
of us who keep the welfare state well nourished with our lives; people who
shift from one regulatory zone to another without a lawyer in tow? Those
forms, they lower the blood sugar a little. But, it being a program, you got
to love the upgrade path potential.

Linker
Nine(9) is, in some senses, a reversion of an earlier programme by Mongrel :
Linker. [2] This is a stand alone programme that is used offline. It is
usable only if you have the programme and the files provided by the maker of
a particular map. Nine(9) takes the basic principles of Linker, extends them
and moves them onto the web. This makes it more generally available. It
means it doesn't have to rely on running on a particular kind of operating
system. It does mean you need an internet connection to use it, at least for
now.

That Nine(9)
That Nine(9) is on the net also has distinct advantages in the way it makes
different kinds of connection occur. When you make a map, it's possible to
link to a file in another map. Linking is a normal part of the function of
the world wide web. The difference with Nine(9) is that the underlying
software makes the link, but also uses it to make a connection between you
and the other map's maker. An email is automatically sent notifying them of
the use. Multiple layers of connection run through Nine(9), they form its
underlying principle. Links are made by users, by people who make the maps,
but also automatically, by the software.

Shuffle
Each Nine(9) map has nine spaces for images to be included. Along with the
structure of permissions built into the software, this is one of the
constraints around which it is organised. Nine images is enough to tell a
story, but few enough to make you choose which of them mean enough together
to be worth combining. Shuffling pictures, arranging them into sequences,
making connections. It's difficult to take one photograph which takes upon
itself the function of a masterpiece here, three's a crowd. Even if one or
two of your photos doesn't work on its own, it will get mobilised by
conjunction with others.

Random fandom
How do these patterns of images make of themselves anything more than what
you'd get by random collision out of an image search engine? Some of them
don't. It takes skill to be truly random. In Nine(9) archives, thing work by
clusters, by association. They can be boring as well as brilliant. That's
permissible.

Software and Autonomy
If something has autonomy to the extent that it is able to exist separately
from its representation, the extent that images and systems cannot be
imposed upon it, how autonomous is a user of Nine(9)?
It's not quite as simple as saying the rules are up-front, users choose the
software they want. Not all the software that could be made gets made.
Nine(9) belongs to a current of software which aims to put what is missing
somehow into view, part of the way this is done is by being clear about what
it demands. But it also operates with others by opening up a gap between the
applications and companies that economically and conceptually dominate
software and the spaces and processes by which software might develop.
A piece of software doesn't guarantee you autonomy. What it is, what it's
mixed with, how it's used are all variables in the algorithms of power and
invention that course through software and what it connects to. Mongrel
designed Nine(9) to be used primarily in workshops and in collaboration with
others. The conditions by which users come to the software, what previous
computer skills they have, whether they can use an image editor to make
pictures to include in Nine(9); the way in which the workshop is run; the
reputations and usability of the space it's being held in; all these things
connect to and shape how well the software can be said to work.

Collaborative data
A further way in which Nine(9) generates more room to maneuver is because of
the stuff it is made of. Nine(9) is a combination of, XML parsed as HTML;
Perl scripts; image manipulation and formatting tools such as Imagemagick
and the Gimp; and a MySQL database. HTML is the basic way of organising the
structure and style of web-sites. Perl is a scripting language which codes
how the data is processed and arranged. MySQL organises the data so that it
can be retrieved.
All of these elements are used not only in Nine(9), but also contribute to a
growing mass of resources available online that are used, shared, changed
and developed. Copyright, where it exists, gets bent out of whack.
Otherwise, code runs like the river of lemonade down sugar rock candy
mountain: it's a free-for-all. So long as you don't fancy cherryade instead.
Coding gets easier and, with attention, it gets better.

Word knots
Any text that is fed into Nine(9) is filtered by the computer. The program
looks for words that are shared across parts of a Nine(9) map or -
depending, of course, on the permissions structure - across archives. The
words appear as links to another appearance of that word, or a variant of
the word, a plural for instance. [3] On a normal website, links are
hard-coded. That mean that they have to be specifically chosen to operate as
links. In its use of text, Nine(9) allows links to occur as a natural
outcropping of their commonality of usage. This doesn't mean of course that
the same ideas are linked together. People might use the same words to say
different things. The messy richness of words and the unsane rigour of
computer logic mix here to trick each other up, make new conjunctures.

[1] World Health Organisation, World Health Report 2002, Annex Table 4,
Healthy Life Expectancy (HALE) in all member states, estimates for 2000 and
2001
[2] www.linker.org.uk
[3] In the word linking function of nine plurals are spotted, not treated as
separate words, thanks to a Perl module, Lingua, available at
http://search.cpan.org/src/DCONWAY/Lingua-EN-Inflect-1.88

DISCUSSION

FW: <ALT> Event at AMMI Thursday March 6


------ Forwarded Message
From: AmericanMuseum of the Moving Image
<ammi_dm@topica.email-publisher.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 11:23:44 -0700
To: rachel@rhizome.org
Subject: <ALT> Event at AMMI Thursday March 6

March 6, 2003
6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Reception/artist talks to be held in conjunction with the opening of seven
new works, including several world and U.S. premieres, to the Museum's
digital arts gallery space, <Alt> DigitalMedia.

For more information: http://www.movingimage.us/alt
For directions: http://www.movingimage.us/site/about/index.html

On March 6, 2003, from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m., the Museum will hold a reception
and artist talks to celebrate the opening of seven new works in the Museum's
digital arts gallery space, DigitalMedia. The event will include talks from
three noted artists, whose new works are featured in <Alt> DigitalMedia.

Toni Dove will discuss her new interactive DVD-ROM project, Sally or The
Bubble Burst, which uses speech recognition and synthesis to allow viewers
to converse with famed 1930's depression-era performer, Sally Rand. Camille
Utterback and Adam Chapman will discuss their new prototype, Potent Objects,
a set of five digital/physical objects that examine our emotional
relationship with technology. In addition, the event will feature live
video/audio processing from artist/animator Mumbleboy
<http://www.mumbleboy.com> . The talk will be held at 6:30 p.m., with the
video performance and reception to follow immediately afterwards. <Alt>
DigitalMedia gallery will be open from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Sally, Toni Dove

Update your profile
<http://topica.email-publisher.com/survey/?a2i5zq.a5xBt2.cmFjaGVs> or
unsubscribe
<http://topica.email-publisher.com/survey/?a2i5zq.a5xBt2.cmFjaGVs.u> here.
Delivered by Topica Email Publisher <http://topica.email-publisher.com/>

------ End of Forwarded Message

DISCUSSION

Wal-Mart Web Offers Linux as Windows Alternative


Wal-Mart Web Offers Linux as Windows Alternative

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.(NYSE:WMT - news) the world's
largest retailer, has begun selling packaged Linux (news - web sites)
operating system software on its Web site, a sign of rising consumer
interest in the alternative to Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT - news)
Windows, software maker Lycoris said on Tuesday.

Walmart.com offers Linux operating systems and applications from Lycoris and
Lindows, two companies which produce slightly different versions of Linux
that both look similar to Windows.

Walmart.com has already offered computers loaded with Linux for as little as
$200. The boxed software, meant to be loaded on an extra, often older
machine, is an expansion of the Linux product lines carried by the retailer.

Linux enthusiasts say the upstart platform offers a cheaper alternative to
Microsoft, which has an effective monopoly in the market for PC operating
systems.

A Lycoris desktop operating system goes for about $30, compared to about
$100-$120 for Microsoft Windows XP (news - web sites) home edition upgrades
and full versions, on Walmart.com. Lindows' and Lycoris's operating system,
office software and games cost about $100.

The core of a Linux operating system is a nugget of freely available "open
source" software code that is developed cooperatively by programmers
worldwide. Many applications, such as word processing programs, are also
available in open source versions.

Critics say Linux is still relatively difficult to use for consumers, but
Lycoris spokesman Jason Spisak said the audience was clearly growing as
mainstream retailers like Wal-Mart and Fry's offered his software.

Open source software is often free, but technological novices generally find
it easier to buy the software packaged with instructions and
consumer-friendly applications, such as from Lindows and Lycoris.

Linux so far has been more widely adopted by corporations and hi-end users,
and Microsoft's dominance on the desktop is nearly absolute. Spisak said at
peak during the holiday season Wal-Mart sold in one week about 700 of its
$200 computer running Lycoris Linux.

He said the boxed software would appeal to more sophisticated users putting
Linux on older machines, often for less technologically able friends and
acquaintances.

DISCUSSION

FW: Miranda July at MoMA's Gramercy Theatre- Feb 24


------ Forwarded Message
From: "London, Barbara" <Barbara_London@moma.org>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 16:50:17 -0500
Subject: Miranda July at MoMA's Gramercy Theatre- Feb 24

MoMA at The Gramercy Theatre presents MediaScope
Monday, February 24, 8:15
An Evening with Miranda July (Portland, Oregon)

Miranda July premieres videotapes, demonstrates her new "How Will I Know
Her" web site, and performs. Participate by completing an assignment @
www.learningtoloveyoumore.com before
Miranda's MediaScope presentation.

MoMA at The Gramercy Theatre
127 East 23 Street at Lexington Avenue
For ticket information: <http://moma.org/visit_moma/momafilm/index.html>

SUBWAY: 6 to 23 Street
BUSES: M23 to Lexington Avenue; M1 to Park Avenue and 23 Street; M101, M102,
M103 to Third Avenue and 23 Street

------ End of Forwarded Message


CURATED EXHIBITIONS (1)