as an aging activist in real-life movements who has become involved
artistically in an imbroglio with internet and 'real-life' social, political
dimensions which touches on 'real' lives. This drama began on the internet
(email, bb's, and a web site or two) and continues to unfold there and
through snail mail, phone calls, conversations with doctors, etc. - it has
bcome somewhat of a symphony in my opinion, but I'm disappointed that I have
not been able to find much useful in print or on the net regarding the
aesthetics or poetics of net movements. I find myself returning to Alinsky
and MLK for inspiration and Aristotle for guidance.
As far as net work with impact there is Reiner's project of a few years
ago with it's aesthetic esprite but I've found little else. There is the
sound-poetry-performance movement in the international 'art world' which has
it's roots in the early years of the century just ended, but this type of
discussion too often degenerates into classification and definition battles.
The Prix Ars Electronica has at least three separate categories and my
general impression is that there are tiny bits of potentially useful
information scattered all over the net and nobody communicates with anybody
else. There seem to be a lot of turf wars being fought for attention and a
lot of slivers of dirt being tossed in the air at random. [this last might
just be a reflection of my current morass]
HELP. suggestions?
tom bell
----- Original Message -----
From: "Minerva Cuevas" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 10:43 AM
Subject: Re: from Grant Kester
> > Or is it just that that the _rhetoric_ of the medium says it will be
> > good for the job of international communication and networking? I'm
> > struck by the relatively few examples of successful international
> > net.art activism (irational being amongst them) and I'd be very
> > interested to hear about what does work, and what is just rhetoric.
> > I'm also interested that artists like Susan Collins and Paul Sermon
> > have work which is very much about skills of enabling dialogue,
> > although it may not be explicitly activist.
>
> For MVC the important thing about online strategies is to target an off
line
> social context.
>
> I do reject the idea of net activism, the net is only one of the tools or
> mediums to reach people, there is no such a thing as "political art" or
"art as
> activism", activism is there if the real concern is to make a social
> statement/action as a political actor.
>
> I like to think about irational.org as one of this political actors, not
an
> online server, and results are there: work/campaigns are developed via
online
> tools. MVC has target the public assistance that should be provided by the
> national lottery (Mexico), the inclusion of the homeless people as part of
the
> national census (Mexico), or the discounts/free admision to cultural
centres
> and public transport using student ID cards (international), pirate radio
> stations are opened, help is provided, statements are made.
>
> I think results should not be expected on line but in the idea of the
world we
> want to live in and in daily life...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
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