A few thoughts!

I think that part of the problem for April's discussion getting started is
the amount of time it takes to 1) take a look at everyone's web work
involved in the discussion --  and 2) get registered and signed up to the
list, and 3) think how one's position fits into the "curated" group of
respondants.

At timebase, we have terrible connectivity which only becomes "better"
after hours, and our server kicks off at 8 pm because of a setting made
to "protect us" from some invisible group of activists.  One of the major
priorities for us at HTBA is to set right our ISP and connectivity in the
next few months. The interest among the Timebase team, our users and the
growing audience is moving quickly towards work that combines different
technologies, ie: video/audio and web streaming, audio and image, live art
and sound....education with creating new work.  All kinds of artwork that
doesn't fit into easy categories anymore.  Never mind the "appropriateness"
of the media -- it is being tested, shoved, stretched and tried in every
way.  We really don't know the limits for new collaborations, new
relationships and ideas to develop.

The overall concern for media of any description is the purpose of the
work....and why do we label it "community" - "activist" - "educational" -
 "experimental" -- for starters.  I wonder if these terms are not just
concoctions for fundraising, academic discourse, art criticism categories
and maybe even for archiving.  Seems to me that reallly exciting work
usually comes from a desire to satisfy all or many of the issues
(mentioned) plus more.  Web work began without the holy structure of the
gallery and museum....it prospered despite the ignoring of the work for
many years, and it all remains delightfuly very difficult to "control". (my
use of quotations are to point out words normally used that no longer
really relate with regard to net_art).


At HTBA are in the process now of looking at projects for our upcoming ROOT
festival (Running Out of Time) which takes place October 26-29.  We are
looking for projects that demonstrate the deep process of artistic
research, the connectivity of spaces and minds, the collaborations between
science and art (as manifested in live-art, media and net_art).  Projects
that don't find their way into the main museum/art environment (for many a
year to come) are our first choice, as we feel that this is a duty we have
as an artistic collective dedicated to risk taking practice. You can take a
look at the last year's festival at www.timebase.org -- go to projects bar
on the upper left hand of the flashy flash page -- and hit
archive....select ROOT.  Phew.

The job of "curating" - "producing" - "workshopping" etc. the potential
works for the city also need consideration for the context of the
environment of Hull and the topic.  We have budget constraints and space
problems which are a great source of our frustration, and investigation,
and forces us into all kinds of barter and exchange.  We try to be
extremely excited about each of the works selected, as this helps to
guarantee the success of the work.

More soon,
Kathy