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]
Re: citizen king-mystery of truth
10. Non-imperial art is necessarily abstract art, in this sense: it
abstracts itself from all particularity, and formalizes this gesture of
abstraction.
maybe the "non-particular" is different from the "non-specific"?
> i agree that the badiou seemed fairly platonic. platonism might as
> well be a
> religion in certain ways.
yes, but without acknowledging itself as practicing "faith." i don't
mean to bring up the post-structuralist critique of reason/rational
thought, only some of which is either practically or conceptually
interesting to me. But "searches for truth" in that Platonic vein,
especially those that attempt to critique religion as false
consciousness seem absurd IMHO, especially when it comes to "Art." What
kind of "truth" can be found that is "abstracted from all
particularity" that is not based on faith?
i had a philosophy prof that spent his time (and ours unfortunately)
trying to define the "value of Art." Not the symbolic-, exchange-, or
economic value, which would have been useful, but "Art Value." He had
this Platonic notion that "Art" has an ideal form that we only have
access to in particularities (concrete form). oh how he hated modernism
and postmoderism, and anything that dealt with anything tangible or
rooted in historical analysis. Actually he liked arguing against pomo
theory because it was easy for him to lead its student defenders into
the relativist trap, denouncing their own values until they were
totally confused. And he loved that power trip.
> one would expect general statements about art often to share a certain
> amount of applicability with religion, wouldn't one? they're both
> concerned
> with spirituality and goodness, aren't they?
i don't know about that... maybe one could say the intentions behind
each overlap sometimes. but i don't think art is based in any kind of
spirituality. but then again, what art are we talking about. Art(forum)
Art(news) Art(papers) Art(& Language) Art(text) Art(& Design)...
i don't mean this cynically, but i think it's important to separate
creation from the industrial mechanisms that allow for the existence of
a field called "Art." i.e if one wants to argue the "creative impulse,"
OK, but an innate impulse is different than an economic and political
superstructure. and those superstructures are certainly not based on
"goodness." that would be like looking for "spirituality" and
"goodness" in the concerns of "Fashion" or "Furniture Design." i think
it's difficult, if not an outright mistake, to attach concerns to "Art"
or anything else, as if it's a natural thing. these are constructs,
vehicles IMO, that represent the interests of those driving them.
The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest presents "star left"
star left
Saturday, January 29, 2005
12pm - 11pm
Hosted by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE)
contacts:
Cara Baldwin
Fwd: [call for work] Version>05 Invincible Desire
> CALL FOR PROJECTS AND PEOPLE TO CONVERGE ON CHICAGO APRIL 22-MAY 1,
> 2005 FOR
> VERSION>05 INVINCIBLE DESIRE
> http://www.versionfest.org
>
> Version is a hybrid form of festival, conference, arts fair and online
> project. The fourth annual Version convergence is an experimental
> approach
> at navigating the activities of emerging cultures that combine visual
> arts,
> activism, social practices, creative use of new technologies as well as
> tactics and strategies of intervention.
>
> Version>05>Invincible Desire
> Version>05-Invincible Desire is a summit of the underground and the
> everyday. Version>05 aims to practice, examine, and strengthen the
> activities of local configurations and their external networks.
> Version>05
> is a drunken boat on a river whose flow has been reversed by the U.S.
> Army
> Corps of Engineers.
>
> Driven by an irrepressible urgency for intervention in the roaring
> bullshit
> carnival that has become reality, Version>05 will investigate,
> debilitate,
> and agitate contemporary US culture through a diverse program
> featuring an
> experimental art expo, artistic disturbances, networked urban events,
> screenings, interactive software applications, performances, workshops,
> parties and street action. We envision a New Renaissance summit of
> aggressive cultural workers organizing their shared interests and
> networking
> a distribution of ideas; a rendez-vous of friends & lovers who've
> never yet
> met.
>
> We will convene in Chicago for a ten-day open laboratory to explore a
>
> Version>05-Invincible Desire is a cultural summit and call for
> creating and
> strengthening connections among artists, writers, wingnuts, curators,
> vigilante gardeners, activists, surrealists, scientists, musicians,
> pirates,
> filmmakers, activists, space hijackers, tactical media provocateurs,
> radical
> cartographers, students, designers, dreamers, architects, adventurers,
> critical thinkers and cultural workers of all kinds.
>
> Send us your critiques of the society of Control and help us examine
> the
> rhizomatic systems now confronting the monoculture. We want to enlarge
> our
> little utopias and expand participation across today's multiple fronts
> of
> countercultural emancipation and cultural reclamation.
>
> We dictate no format and only require your desire to make it happen.
>
>
> CALL FOR PROPOSALS AND WORK.
> Deadline Feburary 28,2005
>
> Version>05 Invincible Desire is a cultural summit and call for
> creating and
> strengthening connections between, artists, writers, vigilantes,
> curators,
> scientists, musicians, filmmakers, activists, space hijackers, tactical
> media provocateurs, students, designers, architects, critical thinkers
> and
> cultural workers of all kinds.
>
> SEND US YOUR IDEAS AND PROPOSALS FOR: papers, workshops, films, street
> art
> (stickers, cut-outs, xeroxable pages, stencils), anti-corporate
> actions,
> tactical media projects, culture jamming activities, public art
> interventions, micro actions, billboard modifications, DIY urbanism,
> office
> pranks, social and technology hacking ideas, agit prop posters, how
Parking utopia
data for an upcoming tour of street level parking in the Central
Hollywood Business District in Los Angeles, CA. Participation is not
limited to residents of the Hollywood area, or even Los Angeles. An
analysis of the data and its use in the tour will be documented on the
web and announced once it is complete. The tour is in conjunction with
"starleft," an event designed by the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest
and hosted by the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (details below).
Your participation in the survey would be greatly appreciated - simply
follow the directions below.
Although you have parked your car where you needed to be (hopefully) at
the moment, what is your dream destination? Instead of naming the
place, if it has a name, please describe your utopia in detail -
sights, smells, sounds, temperature, etc.
To participate, call the number provided below and leave a message.
Call: (661)716-2564
A voice will ask for another number, enter: (323)444-4444
Enter 4444 when asked for the passcode.
You will have up to 5 minutes for your message.
Thank you for your participation.
The Temporary Travel Office
www.yougenics.net/traveloffice
The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest presents:
star left
Saturday, January 29, 2005
12pm - 11pm
Hosted by Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE)
On Saturday, January 29, the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest will
transform Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions into an 11-hour
experience that includes visual/performance art, live music and
participatory dance. Throughout the day, the Journal, along with
artists Karen Lofgren, Karl Erickson, Toast, and the Temporary Travel
Office will present and perform site- and context-specific works that
mine the relationships between physical bodies, space and resistance.
Beginning at 8pm, LACE will become the site for a Contra Dance set to
the music of Old Jitters, an old time string band. For those not
familiar with the Contra Dance, an introductory lesson will take place
from 8-8:30pm.
Old Jitters is: Christof Certik on Banjo, Benjamin Guzman on
Mandolin/Guitar, Barbara Hansen on Fiddle, Kelly Marie Martin on Bass
and Walter Spencer on Mandolin/Guitar plus a cameo caller.
A $7 donation requested after 7:30pm.
There will be a cash bar.
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE)
6522 Hollywood Boulevard
LA, CA 90028
(east of Highland, west of Vine, between Wilcox & Schrader)
Paid parking is available behind the building (accessible from Wilcox),
and metered parking along the street .
Tel: (323) 957-1777
The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest
www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org