ryan griffis
Since 2002
Works in United States of America

ARTBASE (3)
PORTFOLIO (1)
BIO
Ryan Griffis currently teaches new media art at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He often works under the name Temporary Travel Office and collaborates with many other writers, artists, activists and interesting people in the Midwest Radical Culture Corridor.
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 ...

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SWITCH: Issue 22



Carlos Castellanos:

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 ...

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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.

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[-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.

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state of the planet infographics


stateoftheplanet.jpg
a small collection of beautiful information graphics documenting the current state of the planet.
see also gapminder & 3d data globe.
[seedmagazine.com]

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Discussions (909) Opportunities (8) Events (16) Jobs (0)
DISCUSSION

Re: Wired: PowerPoint Message Is the Medium


yes... if it's one thing artists should be doing it's making MS's
powerpoint more aesthetically challenging.
Can't MS afford to actually pay people to do their PR work for them?
More message, less massage!

On Dec 14, 2004, at 11:02 AM, Marisa S. Olson wrote:

> Ok, a little self-promotion, here... But, actually, it's interesting
> how the writer ends up critiquing all of the artists' lack of PPT
> skills. My presentation was intentionally self-reflexive of the
> medium, and I'd say they all were. But the presence of this
> expectation is interesting... ~marisa

DISCUSSION

Re: Fwd: [undercurrents] Fwd: Arts Intolerance: Emily Jacir/Ulrich Museum Wichita (fwd)


> but more importantly, it's a cultural difference. here (and i don't
> mean just ny, but metropolises where art is gets taken more
> seriously), there isn't nearly as much compromise as acceptance. you
> don't see hamburgers on a menu in an indian restaurant. there, people
> tend to try to accommodate everyone with compromises. something for
> everyone.

i don't know... right down the street from me (in LA) is a restaurant
that offers burgers, burritos and Thai food. ;)
i don't think accommodation or compromise are the issues - allowing
difference is exactly what should be happening. i think judsoN was
closer to accuracy when locating the patron/funders as the source of an
intolerance for difference. and this isn't just an "art" respect issue
- this instance speaks to a fundamental shift in educational
institutions, as corporate interests and fundamentalists assert their
agendas at the expense of difference. and i don't think it's a good
idea to ignore it either way. oddly, religious fundamentalism and hyper
capitalism get along great here (the 700 club financial news is an odd
reality - "preparing your stock portfolio for the rapture")

DISCUSSION

Hack.it.art - Hacktivism in the Context of Art and Media in Italy


> hack.it.art
> Hacktivism in the Context of Art and Media in Italy
>
> From January 15th till February 27th 2005
>
> Opening hours: Tuesday till Sunday from 12 till 7 pm
> Organized by: Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien in cooperation with the
> Italian Cultural Institute of Berlin and the Bundeszentrale fur
> politische Bildung. In partnership with the "U-Spot" Art Magazine, the
> "Zitty" CityMagazine, the "Taz" Newspaper, the "Jungle World" Weekly
> Magazine, Data-Recovery and the media art festival "transmediale.05".
> With the support of the Cultural Anthropology Department, Faculty of
> Sciences of Communication, University "La Sapienza" of Rome and the
> "Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa".
>
> The project hack.it.art at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien
> (www.kunstraumkreuzberg.de) is an exhibition and event about
> technological, artistic and political activism in Italy. It sheds
> light onto a large complex of activities that, throughout the 80ies,
> have set up and grown alternative networks to the traditional art
> system. While these activities may not always be identified as "art",
> they could more easily be called "practices" or "activism".
>
> In Italy, technological, artistic and political activism is closely
> interconnected, in a common network spread over the whole country, and
> consisting of collectives, activists and artists alike. Their common
> denominator is to give life to an alternative and independent way of
> producing information, cultural consciousness and communication. In a
> specific way, the correct meaning for this network of practices is the
> word "hacktivism". Hacktivism is the fusion of hacking and activism,
> technology and political action. Hacktivism is a rhizomatic, open
> source phenomenon. According to this point of view, hackers are not
> just those who destructively intrude into computer systems (and who
> should be more correctly called "crackers"), but those who share the
> good of knowledge, who fight for free communication and access for
> all, aiming to create and spread knowledge for the public domain.
>
> A practical example of this is the hacker ethic which could be called
> an attitude of gaining knowledge through technology and sharing the
> results, using both technology and knowledge in a genuinely free way
> which overcomes traditional copyright economy.
>
> The exhibition shows this widespread phenomenon and presents to the
> German public the multitude of Italian media and net activism. The aim
> is to give an inside view into this very heterogeneous and in Germany
> so far rarely recognized Italian scene, to provide links to the field
> of art as well as politics. Furthermore it attempts to connect and
> interlink Italian and German projects and activists.
>
> hack.it.art is focused on Italy as a country, in which, due to its
> political and social situation, alternative media networks offer the
> only means to make voices heard in opposition to the dominant media
> monopoly of Berlusconi. This net of counter information is signified
> by its potential to mobilize (through mailing lists, forums etc.).
> This offers the possibility and ability of spontaneous intervention in
> cooperation with other social movements. In a longer perspective this
> seems to imply a great potential of political participation.
>
> The exhibition presents artistic positions which apply themselves to
> social questions and pose a critical point of view towards a
> traditional media landscape and art scene. The exhibition explores
> answers to the question: How can there be independent media production
> in self-maintained network while there is autocratic media and a
> monopoly of communication by the state?
>
> The political aim of hack.it.art refers to an acknowledgement of the
> net as a political space, with the possibility of decentralized,
> autonomous and grassroots democratic participation. Access for
> everybody, information as a free good and the conscious,
> non-commercial use of hardware and technology, the basic concepts of
> hacker ethics, are referred to in this project as political
> objectives.
>
> For six weeks, from the 14th of January till the 27th of February, the
> exhibition will take place at the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien. There
> will be workshops and events on various aspects of Hacktivism. Some of
> the exhibition space will become a temporary media lab for workshops
> to take place.
>
> hack.it.art is presented by AHA: Activism-Hacking-Artivism project
> (www.ecn.org/aha) and curated by Tatiana Bazzichelli and Alexandra
> Weltz.
>
> Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien
> Director: Stephane Bauer
> Mariannenplatz 2
> 10997 Berlin
> phone: +49-(0)30-90298-1455 or 1454 fax: +49-(0)30-90298-1453
> Bethanien@kunstraumkreuzberg.de
> www.kunstraumkreuzberg.de
>
> Curators:
> Tatiana Bazzichelli, t_bazz@ecn.org
> Alexandra Weltz, a_weltz@hotmail.com
>
>
> Exhibition
> Opening
> 14th, January 2005, 7 pm
> "SuperFactory (TM)" with: Pi-radio & Displaced Dilemma
> www.superfactory.biz (Berlin, D)
> "PHAG OFF" with: Nikky www.deliriouniversale.com and Francesco
> "Warbear" Macarone Palmieri
> http://www.vidalocarecords.com/booking/phagoff.htm (Rome, IT) and
> Bernardo "Noisy Pig" Santarelli www.goodstuff-music.com (Berlin, D)
>
> Exhibition (14. January - 27. February)
> The exhibition connects four hacktivist concepts in four different
> rooms:
> - Hack Gender! action pink and sexyshock; with: Betty collective
> www.ecn.org/sexyshock (Bologna, IT)
> - Hack the Frequency! telestreet and subversive video production;
> with: Disco Volante TV from Telestreet Network www.telestreet.it
> (Senigallia AN, Italy).
> - Hack the Code! hacker art and net.art projects from the Italian
> hacktivist community www.hackmeeting.it (Italy).
> (Wall)paintings by Nomad and Miss Riel www.this.is/gata (Berlin, D)
> - Hack the Reality! the art of hacktivism; with: video on hacktivism
> by Candida TV www.candidatv.tv (Rome, IT) and Italian magazine
> info-desk (Neural www.neural.it, Decoder/Shake www.decoder.it and
> www.shake.it, Simulteneita, etc.). "Inconsapevoli Macchine Poetiche"
> installation by Giacomo Verde www.eutopie.net (Lucca, IT)
>
>
> Workshop
> 5th/6th, February 2005
> Hacking TV: How to build a Telestreet
> During the workshops the instructions to build a Telestreet will be
> given to the public; max 20 partecipants. 5th February, 2.00-6.00
> pm/6th February 12.00 am/3.30 pm.
> - Agnese Trocchi, Candida TV (www.candidatv.tv Rome, IT)
> - Federico Bucalossi, Nothuman (www.nothuman.net Florence, IT)
> - Alexandra Weltz, filmmaker (Berlin, D)
>
> Panels
>
> 6th, Feburary, 4.00 pm
> Hacking the Body
> cyberfeminism panel: radical and ironical uses of technology through
> female bodies.
> first section (4.00-5.30 pm):
> - Cornelia Sollfrank, artist and cyberfeminist www.obn.org (Hamburg, D)
> - Agnese Trocchi, Candida TV www.candidatv.tv (Rome, IT)
> discussion with the public
> Projection of the video (5.30 pm):
> "Bio Doll's Baby" by Franca Formenti www.francaformenti3.org (Varese,
> IT)
> second section (6.00-7.30 pm):
> - Diana McCarty, Bootlab www.bootlab.org (Berlin, D)
> - Betty, Sexyshock www.ecn.org/sexyshock (Bologna, IT)
> discussion with the public
> - Moderation: Tatiana Bazzichelli, AHA www.ecn.org/aha (Rome,
> IT/Berlin, D)
>
> 8th, February, 7.00 pm
> Hacktivism. Was tun?/Che fare?
> panel on the present and future of hacktivism; with:
> first section:
> - Tina Lorenz, Chaos Computer Club www.ccc.de (Berlin, D)
> - Tommaso Tozzi, Hacker Art www.hackerart.org (Florence, IT)
> second section:
> - Sebastian Lutgert, Textz.com www.textz.com (Berlin, D)
> - Freaknet.org (www.freaknet.org Catania, IT)
> discussion with the public
> - Moderation: Alessandro Ludovico, Neural www.neural.it (Bari, IT)
>
> Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien | Mariannenplatz 2, 1o997 Berlin |
> Tel.: (o3o) 9o298-14 55 | Fax: -14 53 |
> bethanien@kunstraumkreuzberg.de.de | www.kunstraumkreuzberg.de |
> Leiter: Stephane Bauer, Projektmitarbeiterinnen: Ulrike Ettinger,
> Katharina Ballhausen, Julia Schonlau
> More info on: www.ecn.org/aha

DISCUSSION

Red States Journals


The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest is looking for some US-based
participants in a short, mail-based project. Below is the description.
If you're currently in a "red state" and want to participate, reply to
me off list and we can arrange to send you a journal.
Thanks,
ryan

The Los Angeles California based Journal of Aesthetics and Protest
would like to hear your thoughts, ideas, reflections
about the notion of living on the conservative side of the "Divided
States of America."

What is the truth about your daily life? What's it like for a someone
like you to be living in your town? Describe your local scene, where
you find community, what sort of interactions you have. What are the
local political and cultural institutions that you find meaningful?
Which ones do you distrust? Why? What are the social and political
conflicts that are happening around you and why? Where do you find
common ground with your greater community?

Do you think its really all that different from our communities here in
Blue California? Do you feel the "redness" when you walk down the
street? Who are your neighbors? What is your community like? What's
going on that you think those of us in the blue should know about? Are
there other color schemes you imagine besides the red and the blue?

In this diary please contribute, however you find appropriate, your
thoughts and feelings about what it means to be in your "Red State".

Contribution ideas: narrative and/or critical writing, drawing,
psychogeographic maps, collages, song lyrics and whatever you think is
appropriate. Please be aware that others will be writing in this
journal after you.

This Red State Journal, one of 10 sent to contacts in the Red States,
is part of a dispersed project initiated by the Journal of Aesthetics &
Protest. You have been specially chosen to contribute either by member
of the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest collective member or another
participant in the project. When you are done writing within 1-7 days,
please pass it on to a person you trust.

We hope that when returned to Los Angeles, the Red State Journals will
serve as a small window into the life in your town.
http://www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org

DISCUSSION