Some personal thoughts on NODE.London.
Last Wednesday NODE.London launched its catalogue and website at E:vent
space. The party went on till early morning. It was an excellent evening
and the abundance of visitors included those from the press and of
course NODE.L's various organisers, interns, subscribers, artists,
funders and the just plain interested. People just kept on arriving and
filling, and refilling in their droves, fascinated and excited by this
strange new project that many have heard about that involves so many who
reside in London, also from elsewhere.
There are those who have made a clear and conscious decision not be
involved with NODE.L which of course is fair enough. But there are some
who keep a seemingly nervous, low profile whose previous work in media
arts curation might (mistakenly) lead one to imagine they would love to
be involved in some form or another, or at least be part of some
dialogue around it. Let's face it- there has been nothing like it in
London before.
So, what's going on? Shouldn't there be an influx of discussions by the
main media art lists about it, especially this list? What is it about
NODE.London that certain media curators are scared of? I would like to
know, as well as many of the people who have worked extremely hard to
get this project underway, they would also like to know why the main
cultural instigators on here are ignoring and blanking out something as
significant as this? I would love to be wrong...
Let me inform you why I am part of NODE.London, and what it means to me.
The political climate in our world at present as many of you know is,
not the most forward thinking and positive scenario that we can wish
for. Our planet's resources are diminishing and we are heading for
global warming with more catastrophes on the way. The war on our (once
free) identities and imaginations, under the (double speak) guise of
'war on terror' just continues to promote that 'killing' is the way, for
our children. The constant killings, bombings and beatings imposed by
emotionally backward absolutists on civilians of the world, is now a
daily occurrence. Our governments are failing us (once again), stoking
up the 'patriarch' dominated fires with even more useless solutions,
adding more pain to the various problems which they originally caused,
and blindly advocated.
With this dark-dystopian, spiralling trap that we are all falling into
'together', I would of thought that there might of been some sense of
urgency with an aim to explore new options, addressing such
soul-destroying situations that (obviously) dominate our battered psyches.
If we dare to change our behaviours and re-evaluate the way that we
work, bringing ourselves up to speed with an empowerment that engages in
the process of critical openness, that appreciates the spirit of
participation and linking outside of our usual micro-circles, then may
be we can feel proud that at least we do not revert to type and hide
away behind closed doors, hoping that it all would go away. It is up to
us to find ways of engaging in culture that offers potential, (not just
for ourselves) and much more than just the same. We need to move more
constructively, and further into incorporating (non cynical)
alternatives that are flexible and not scared of change.
This is one of the reasons why I decided to join NODE.London as a
volunteer, not because of profile or cultural capital, but because it
challenged my own conceptions of what it meant to be a human being, in
the type of world that we are living in today and then a curator and
then a media artist. NODE.London is an extension of various ideas, and
much of it has come from a grass roots perspective, yet it includes
successfully some institutions as part of the season such as the Tate
and the Science museum, and other equivalent groups and organisations.
I was also inspired by the fact that NODE.London, was a non curatorial
project. To me, this was an evolutionary decision and actually quite
brave. Many curators might (of course) criticize such a move, due to
their own way of working. NODE.London has broken the away from using
traditional curation so that there other processes are explored and more
media art could to be seen and represented. The content had to rise up
from the roots of what the nodes themselves had to offer from
social/local perspectives, as well their own curatorial intentions- not
from top down, as in anyone telling the nodes what to show. Offering an
alternative and more up to date, contemporary version of media arts that
is being acknowledged and distributed for all to see.
It is a misinformed (subjective and political) myth that a curated
project is better than a non curated project. Let's face it, there are
bad curators and good curators, just as with all things in life.
If the season of media arts in London was to have any authentic,
critical effect and was to actually engage itself culturally to a wider
audience, beyond its own usual/prescribed circles. The brave decision
had to be made of stepping forward and beyond tried and tested formulas.
This meant not only supporting those who were either well written about
already within historical contexts and canons. It had to also not fall
easy prey to the simplistic desire of 'star-making'. This meant making a
conscious effort in supporting projects and artists who do not possess
cultural currency or agency from within media art-circle defaults,
facilitating a space for them to emerge.
The activities and social changes of NODE.London are changed by the
people who become part of it. It is not a machine or an art product but
an ever changing scale-free network, of networks consisting of human
beings, who have got involved mainly because they want something special
to happen. Call it Utopian, call it whatever you fancy- there is no
denying which ever way you choose to slice it that, this season of media
arts is going to have quite an impact on the scene on London and the
rest of media arts culture internationally.
Instead of funding work to be created, we all implement a strategy that
allowed the venues to set up technical resources so that they are able
to show media art projects. Not only that, there are over 40 venues and
over 90 projects exhibiting media arts during the season, which is
positive for all concerned.
I remember someone wrote last year in Mute, that there were no venues
for media art to be found in London. Well- that has changed now and we
should celebrate that fact and explore what has led to this resurgence
of media arts in London.
------------>much respect to all who frequent on this list.
It would be really interesting to know what others think about NODE.London.
marc garrett
The new NODE.London site:
http://nodel.org/
If you wish to read a collaborative text about NODE.London by myself and
Ruth Catlow from Furtherfield.org & HTTP, it can be found here:
http://www.mazine.ws/NODE.L_Interdependence
If you want to delve into the finer workings of NODE.London, visit the
wiki, http://smal.omweb.org/modules/newbb/ where the history of the
project sits.
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