Dear Elayne,

I remember the days at the University of Iowa. Nevertheless, I can not
forget that thanks to our personal interested in interdisciplinary we
were able to engage in a very supportive knowledge exchange network with
other people like us.

Your words echoes the experience of our generation, wanting to free
ourselves from the specialized theoretical and scientific thinking into
a complex geometrical variable matrix where we could employed elements
from the different disciplines we are interested. As you, I have the
chance to develop in to many areas: media making, writing, curatorial
work, critical inquiry, youth education, social activism and even work
as facilitator in Domestic Violence Prevention program.

Recently, I was asked "Are you a new media curator" and suddenly I felt
trap into a fixed category. I answered that I am a curator of new art
and as such I do not centralized my practice on technology. When I
further explain that interaction, which is one of the key element of XXI
century art, was not necessarily tide to machines, I saw the question
marks on the face. How could we forget that our existence has been
marked with human interaction since ancient time to today, including
oral discourses, public theater, mail art, social performance, the book,
interactive installation, gardening, environmental art, just to name
some of the ways in which we remarks the way in which interact with the
world and/or the universe.

Two years ago I taught Multimedia at a college in California and I was
criticized because I introduce Yoga as part of my class. Well, those of
us who has experienced the systematic disruption of our body by
technology know that ergonomics is a key issue in the technological
driven world. To learn how to take care of your body in relation to the
destructive aspect of the machine is an important knowledge we need to
acquired in order to avoid self-destruction. Thanks to the deities I won
a Fund For Culture Mexico/USA grant to develop a project dealing with
migration and the transformation of territories in Yucatan and LA County
and left that institution.

I am now organizing Arte Nuevo InteractivA'05
(www.cartodigital.org/interactiva), a curatorial project and
interdisciplinary lab taking place from June 16 to July 30 in Merida,
Yucatan, Mexico.

Best,

Raul
On Thursday, April 28, 2005, at 04:45 PM, Elayne Zalis wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> When I attended graduate school at the University of Iowa in the
> 1980s, I
> felt limited by traditional disciplinary boundaries, so, through the
> Graduate College's Ad Hoc Interdisciplinary PhD provision, I designed a
> doctoral program that allowed me to work with faculty in comparative
> literature, English, film, performance, multimedia, and video art. After
> discovering hypertext and hypermedia writing in the late 1980s, I also
> incorporated these emergent genres into my studies. Encouraged to
> combine
> theory and practice, I had the freedom to explore new intellectual and
> creative territory, an experience that was exciting and personally
> rewarding. Working outside established departments and disciplines had
> drawbacks, though, especially in relation to employment (academic and
> nonacademic), publishing, and grants. The situation may have changed
> since I
> graduated in 1993, but it seems to me that the academic establishment
> still
> reinforces disciplinary boundaries, which scholars who seek tenure are
> expected to respect. Although these constraints may not be an issue for
> tenured professors, they do influence how many scholars approach
> "interdisciplinary" studies. I think these issues need to be addressed
> when
> formulating models of scholarship. Regarding my own approaches to
> interdisciplinary study and practice, which now focus primarily on
> autobiography and new media, I draw on all the resources I've explored
> as a
> scholar, a creative writer, an educator, and an archivist. I've
> continued to
> work independently, a choice involving many challenges and rewards.
>
> Best,
> Elayne
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
Raul Moarquch Ferrera-Balanquet
http://www.cartodidigital.org/krosrods
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