The Temporary Travel Office produces a variety of services relating to tourism and technology aimed at exploring the non-rational connections existing between public and private spaces. The Travel Office has operated in a variety of locations, including Missouri, Chicago, Southern California and Norway.
Is MySpace a Place?
Networked Performance pointed me toward an interview (download in PDF)with Networked Publics speaker Henry Jenkins and Networked Publics friend danah boyd about Myspace. The site, popular with teenagers, has become increasingly controversial as parents and the press raise concerns about the openness of information on the site and the vulnerability this supposedly poses to predators (Henry points out that only .1% of abductions are by strangers) and the behavior of teens towards each other (certainly nothing new, only now in persistent form). In another essay on Identity Production in Networked Culture, danah suggests that Myspace is popular not only because the technology makes new forms of interaction possible, but because older hang-outs such as the mall and the convenience store are prohibiting teens from congregating and roller rinks and burger joints are disappearing.
This begs the question, is Myspace media or is it space? Architecture theorists have long had this thorn in their side. "This will kill that," wrote Victor Hugo with respect to the book and the building. In the early 1990s, concern about a dwindling public culture and the character of late twentieth century urban space led us to investigate Jürgen Habermas's idea of the public sphere. But the public sphere, for Habermas is a forum, something that, for the most part, emerges in media and in the institutions of the state:
The bourgeois public sphere may be conceived above all as the sphere of private people come together as a public; they soon claimed the public sphere regulated from above against the public authorities themselves, to engage them in a debate over the general rules governing relations in the basically privatized but publicly relevant sphere of commodity exchange and social labor. The medium of this political confrontation was peculiar and without historical precedent: people's ...
SWITCH: Issue 22
HI everyone. Just wanted to announce the new issue of SWITCH:
SWITCH : The online New Media Art Journal of the CADRE Laboratory for
New Media at San Jose State University
http://switch.sjsu.edu switch@cadre.sjsu.edu
SWITCH Journal is proud to announce the launch of Issue 22: A Special
Preview Edition to ISEA 2006/ ZeroOne San Jose.
As San Jose State University and the CADRE Laboratory are serving as
the academic host for the ZeroOne San Jose /ISEA 2006 Symposium,
SWITCH has dedicated itself to serving as an official media
correspondent of the Festival and Symposium. SWITCH has focused the
past three issues of publication prior to ZeroOne San Jose/ISEA2006
on publishing content reflecting on the themes of the symposium. Our
editorial staff has interviewed and reported on artists, theorists,
and practitioners interested in the intersections of Art & Technology
as related to the themes of ZeroOne San Jose/ ISEA 2006. While some
of those featured in SWITCH are part of the festival and symposium,
others provide a complimentary perspective.
Issue 22 focuses on the intersections of CADRE and ZeroOne San Jose/
ISEA 2006. Over the past year, students at the CADRE Laboratory for
New Media have been working intensely with artists on two different
residency projects for the festival – “Social Networking” with Antoni
Muntadas and the City as Interface Residency, “Karaoke Ice” with
Nancy Nowacek, Marina Zurkow & Katie Salen. Carlos Castellanos,
James Morgan, Aaron Siegel, all give us a sneak preview of their
projects which will be featured at the ISEA 2006 exhibition. Alumni
Sheila Malone introduces ex_XX:: post position, an exhibition
celebrating the 20th anniversary of the CADRE Institute that will run
as a parallel exhibition to ZeroOne San Jose/ ISEA 2006. LeE
Montgomery provides a preview of NPR (Neighborhood Public Radio)
presence at ...
Art & Mapping
The North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) has released a special issue of their journal, Cartographic Perspectives:
Art and Mapping
Issue 53, Winter 2006
Edited by Denis Wood and and John Krygier
Price: $25
The issue includes articles by kanarinka, Denis Wood, Dalia Varanka and John Krygier, and an extensive catalogue of map artists compiled by Denis Wood.
[-empyre-] Liquid Narrative for June 2006
Christina McPhee:
hi all, I am not sure we got this message out to Rhizome!
Please join our guests this month, Dene Grigar (US), Jim Barrett
(AU/SE), Lucio Santaella (BR), and Sergio Basbaum (BR) , with
moderator Marcus Bastos (BR), for a spirited discussion of "Liquid
Narratives" ----- digital media story telling with a dash, perhaps,
of 'aura' .
Here's the intro from Marcus:
The topic of June at the - empyre - mailing list will be Liquid Narratives. The concept of 'liquid narrative' is interesting in that it allows to think about the unfoldings of contemporary languages beyond tech achievements, by relating user controlled applications with formats such as the essay (as described by Adorno in "Der Essay als Form", The essay as a form) and procedures related to the figure of the narrator (as described by Benjamin in his writings about Nikolai Leskov). Both authors are accute critics of modern culture, but a lot of his ideas can be expanded towards contemporary culture. As a matter of fact, one of the main concerns in Benjamin's essay is a description of how the rise of modernism happens on account of an increasing nprivilege of information over knowledge, which is even more intense nowadays. To understand this proposal, it is important to remember how Benjamin distinguishes between an oral oriented knowledge, that results from 'an experience that goes from person to person' and is sometimes anonymous, from the information and authoritative oriented print culture. One of the aspects of this discussion is how contemporary networked culture rescues this 'person to person' dimension, given the distributed and non-authoritative procedures that technologies such as the GPS, mobile phones and others stimulate.state of the planet infographics
a small collection of beautiful information graphics documenting the current state of the planet.
see also gapminder & 3d data globe.
[seedmagazine.com]
The Being John Malkovich Effect
The Being John Malkovich Effect
http://www.markdery.com/
Media Burn | Published on December 21, 2004
"But bloggers who want to remedy what ails the corporate McMedia
monopoly should grab a clue from Chris Allbritton and haul their
larval, jack-studded flesh up out of their Matrix-like pods and do some
goddamn reporting instead of just getting all meta about Instapundit's
post about The Daily Kos's post about Little Green Footballs's post
about the vast left-wing media conspiracy's latest act of high treason.
It's the Yertle the Turtle syndrome: Pundits stacked on top of pundits
on top of pundits, all the way down, and, at the very bottom of the
heap, the lowly hack who kicked off the whole frenzy of
intertextuality: the reporter who dared venture out of the media
airlock to collect some samples of Actual, Reported Fact.
Fwd: [announcement] call for work for Lumpen magazine #95
>
> hey there.
> Hope you all made it to 2005.
>
> We have a new year of action kicking in here in the Lumpen HQ.
> We're sending out boxes lumpens across the country this week and are
> getting
> ready to work on War News and a few other projects. If you haven't
> picked up
> a copy of our latest issue with the cover (attached) by Michael
> Freimuth,
> then you better be quick. They moved a bit too fast.
>
> We will keep you updated in the next few weeks and hope that you will
> help
> us spread the word about the projects and perhaps take part in them.
>
> In fact can you please forward this open call for work to anyone you
> think
> might be interested. Its a kind of primer for Version>05 ;)
>
> Lumpen call for participation.
> Inquiries contact ed@lumpen.com
> Deadline for work January 25, 2005
>
> We are inviting guest cultural workers to contribute to Lumpen issue
> #95
> Code named: A guide to Cultural Interference and Social Intervention.
>
> The issue will focus on everyday micro actions as well as projects and
> activities that can help our readers to transform their personal and
> shared
> environments. It is our hope that the issue will offer ways to engage
> in
> meme warfare, practice social engagement and produce instruments of
> transformation. We want to raise the volume level to reveal fresh and
> creative methods for cultural reclamation and initiate social dialogues
> about the pressing issues of our times, Sometimes this can be the
> edifying
> moment of discovering an 'anomaly
Fwd: info on the conference KLARTEXT! & exhibition DISOBEDIENCE in Berlin
> KLARTEXT!
> The Status of the Political in Contemporary Art and Culture
>
> Conference from January 14-16 2005
> Kunstlerhaus Bethanien and Volksbuhne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin
>
> With (selection): Inke Arns, Berlin/Dortmund; B+B, London; Marius
> Babias, Berlin; Jochen Becker, Berlin; Bernadette Corporation, New
> York/Paris; Anita Di Bianco, New York; Sezgin Boynik, Prizren; Gerd
> Brendel, Berlin; Boris Buden, London; Roger M. Buergel, Vienna/Kassel;
> Fulvia Carnevale, Paris; Chto delat?, St. Petersburg/Moscow; Catherine
> David, Paris/Rotterdam; Susanne von Falkenhausen, Berlin; Fiambrera
> Obrera/Yomango, Madrid; Alex Foti, Milano; Grupo de Arte Callejero,
> Buenos Aires; Hans Haacke, New York; Brian Holmes, Paris; Jakob
> Jakobsen, Copenhagen; Deborah Kelly, Sydney; KpD, Berlin; Holger Kube
> Ventura, Halle; Maria Lind, Stockholm; Shaheen Merali, Berlin; Nina
> Montmann, Hamburg/Helsinki; Chantal Mouffe, London; Francesco
> Jodice/Multiplicity, Milan; Marion von Osten, Zurich/Berlin; Jacques
> Ranciere, Paris; Oliver Ressler, Vienna; Irit Rogoff, London; Ilaria
> Vanni, Sydney; Claudia Wahjudi, Berlin; Paola Yacoub/Michel Lasserre,
> Berlin; Yes Men, New York.
>
> KLARTEXT! means "straight talk" in German. The aim of the project,
> initiated by Berlin-based independent curators Marina Sorbello and
> Antje
> Weitzel, is to explore the current use-and sometimes misuse-of the
> category "Political" as applied to contemporary art and culture.
> Especially since September 11 and Documenta 11 in Kassel, one
> encounters
> the claim that art is becoming increasingly politicised or
> re-politicised and that political questions have returned to the arena
> of culture and contemporary art. In a variety of ways-and with varying
> results-current exhibition projects and publications are taking this
> thesis into consideration. Is it just a new trend? Such approaches tend
> on the whole to neglect the inherent questions that necessarily attend
> such a proposal and take for granted an implicit understanding of the
> terms art and politics, of their social functions and effects.
>
> The conference brings together in Berlin international artists,
> activists, curators, workers in the cultural sector and theoreticians
> to
> discuss the relationship between art and politics, and provides a
> platform and context for the exchange of thoughts, strategies and
> approaches. KLARTEXT! is also an exhortation to the participants and
> the
> audience to engage in the analysis of the aforementioned themes and
> issues. Are we really dealing with the politicisation of art or is it
> more a matter of an aestheticisation of political themes and contents?
> How influential is art? What is activism today, and how does the
> interchange between art and activism function? Does it make any sense
> to
> use art as a means to articulate social and political concerns? What
> manifestations should this kind of art assume? And in what context can
> it be effective?
>
> For further information, please visit www.klartext-konferenz.net
>
>
>
>
> DISOBEDIENCE
> An ongoing video library
> A project by Marco Scotini
>
> play\_gallery for still and motion pictures
> hannoversche strasse 1, d-10115 berlin
> www.pushthebuttonplay.com
> Private viewing: Thursday, 13th January 2005, 7 pm
> 14th January
Fwd: [news] kafka, orwell, gonzales
> Ugly Truths About Guantanamo
>
> By Richard Cohen
> Tuesday, January 4, 2005; Page A15
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A45936-2005Jan3?
> language=printer
>
> Somewhere in the U.S. government is the person who came up with the
> idea of
> fusing the wail of an infant with an incessant meow from a cat food
> commercial to torment detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Detainees
> were also
> subjected to popular songs by the likes of Eminem and Rage Against the
> Machine. What Liberace would have done to an observant Muslim, I can
> only
> imagine, but it is a mad genius who realized that ordinary American
> culture
> can, with repeated exposure, be nearly lethal. God help us all.
>
> In George Orwell's novel "1984," it was rats, as I recall, that were
> used
> to torture Winston Smith. It was not that the rats could do real
> physical
> damage; rather it was that Smith was phobic about them -- "his greatest
> fear, his worst nightmare" -- and so he succumbed, denounced his
> beliefs and
> even his girlfriend, and went back to his pub where he wasted his days
> drinking gin. This was Orwell's future, our present.
>
> The term "Orwellian" is much abused, and back in the actual year 1984 I
> thought Orwell himself overrated. The essential novelist of the 20th
> century, I thought then, was Kafka, who realized that there is no more
> efficient murder weapon than what the critic George Steiner called "the
> lunatic logic of the bureaucracy."
>
> Orwell, however, was off by only 20 years. With immense satisfaction,
> he
> would have noted the constant abuse of language by the Bush
> administration
> -- calling suicidal terrorists "cowards," naming a constriction of
> civil
> liberties the Patriot Act and, of course, wringing all meaning from
> the word
> "torture." Until just recently when the interpretation of torture was
> amended, it applied only to the pain like that of "organ failure,
> impairment
> of body function, or even death." Anything less, such as, say,
> shackling
> detainees to a low chair for hours and hours so that one prisoner
> pulled out
> tufts of hair, is something else. We have no word for it, but it is --
> or
> was until recently -- considered perfectly legal.
>
> The administration's original interpretation of torture was
> promulgated by
> the Justice Department, under John Ashcroft, and the White House,
> under its
> counsel, Alberto R. Gonzales. The result has deeply embarrassed the
> United
> States. Among other things, it produced the abuses of Abu Ghraib
> prison in
> Iraq, which we were assured were an unaccountable exception. My God,
> if only
> higher authorities had known.
>
> Now we all know. The International Committee of the Red Cross has
> complained that some of what has been done at Guantanamo --
> Guantanamo, not
> Abu Ghraib -- was "tantamount to torture." The American Civil Liberties
> Union has complained, but that you would expect. So, though, have the
> FBI
> and military lawyers, former and current. Just about across the board,
> the
> Bush administration has raised itself above the law. It pronounced
> itself
> virtuous, but facing a threat so dire, so unique, that Gonzales found
> the
> Geneva Conventions themselves "obsolete." Such legal brilliance does
> not
> long go unrewarded. He has been nominated to become attorney general.
>
> The elevation of Gonzales is supposed to be a singular American
> success
> story. This son of Mexican immigrants bootstrapped his way to Harvard
> Law
> School and from there to Bush's inner circle, first in Austin, then in
> Washington. There he came up with a brilliant definition of torture,
> one so
> legally clever that only the dead could complain and they, of course,
> could
> not. Everyone was off the hook. Is it any wonder the Senate will
> probably
> soon confirm him? By next year, he will undoubtedly receive a cherished
> Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded to those who successfully serve
> the
> president but dismally fail the nation. In the audience, unseen but
> nonetheless present, Orwell and Kafka look on.
>
> The revelations coming out of Guantanamo are hideous. The ordinary
> abuse of
> prisoners, the madness instilled by gruesome incarcerations, the
> incessant
> lying of the authorities, plus the mock interrogations staged for the
> media,
> in which detainees and their interrogators share milkshakes -- all this
> soils us as a nation. It's as if the government is ahistorical,
> unaware of
> how communists and fascists also strained language and ushered the
> world
> into torture chambers made pretty for the occasion. We now keep some
> pretty
> bad company.
>
> The Bush administration has fused Orwell with Kafka in the same way
> someone
> fused the cry of an infant with that of a cat from the Meow Mix
> television
> commercial. The upshot is Gonzales, ticketed maybe for the Supreme
> Court
> because he winked at torture and yessed the president. He's Kafka's
> man,
> Orwell's boy and Bush's pussycat. Know him for his roar.
>
> Meow.
>
Re: BEACON
> project does reconfigure the tech enough to be interesting to me. But
> as T. Whid pointed out, the public display aspect has already been
> done, by Google themselves in the recepetion area of their own
> corporate offices.]
agree on curt's perspective comments relating to "search art". Natalie
Jeremijenko did a project for the Xerox PARC residency (i think it was
her at XP anyway) that used real time stock quotes to control the flow
of water in a fountain, or something like that. What JS Brown called
"using peripheral vision" in his futurist-corporate speak.
http://cat.nyu.edu/natalie/projectdatabase/