I like to think about the ephemeral also in relation to (digital)
animation, animation as the non-linear, and the interrupting; and I want
to use the disorientating, distracting or spacing affect of the animated
image as a way to understand the practice of animation in relation to text. 
and the marginality attributed to animation, and its discourse.

Pierre Huyghe did this wonderful video piece Les Grands Ensemble (a
digital animation based on an architectural model) that indeed opens out
writing about "ephemera", "momentary", instantaneous, work in multiple
directions. Based on a digital rhythm this work i think can only be
grasped in its imaginative power + its appearance/s.
The abstraction, that takes place through this rhythm (the
windows/lights of two tower blocks are coded/digitally manipulated, so
the building communicate with each other) is one where the artwork is
defined by its relation to an over-all principle which perpetually
modifies its meanings; but also where the artwork is thus exposed to
becoming serialised. In Les Grands Ensembles it assumes the character of
an abstraction of housing.

a shadowy dimension of contemporary art - with animation as one of its
key features - is interestingly discussed by Mario Perniola in Art and
its Shadow (2004). He describes an obscure site that manifests the
artistic dimension, and that its obscuring character describes a
contradiction between the artwork and the communication market. 
What is characteristic for this artwork is not a kind of
‘demystification and unmasking’ or its denial, but a
‘hyper-mystification’, a mystification that further mystifies.   

lines of thoughts

verina





----- Original Message -----
From: Jorn Ebner <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:27 am
Subject: Re: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] Writing about the ephemeral...

> also thanks to Beryl for the invitation to respond to this month's  
> theme from me. I thought I'd share some of my writer's experiences
> 
> 
> I like writing. I go see an exhibition, suggest a review, editor  
> likes it, it gets published, I get a small fee.
> 
> The press release is helpful for supplying information about 
> aspects  
> of the work on show that are invisible. This is true for every work 
> 
> and is not pertinent to the 'ephemeral' only: any idiosyncracy, say 
> a  
> personal iconography, in a work of art requires explanation. If the 
> 
> works come from a different cultural background or age, a press  
> release should help to understand what is going on. If the press  
> release doesn't do this job, I talk to the curator, press person,  
> gallery or museum director.
> 
> When writing, the description of the 'ephemeral' in the writing 
> about  
> a work of art may require special attention, as there may not be a  
> photographic record. For me, descriptions are important as any  
> further arguments for a work of art derive from the appearance of  
> the  work itself. The description of a monochrome painting may take 
> 
> up less space than a time-based work or a socially interactive one -
>  
> hence a text on a socially interactive work is more interesting to  
> read and to write, as a number of processes need to be described 
> and  
> analyzed. Descriptive texts are often frowned upon: not by me. I 
> find  
> that texts without descriptive elements to support an argument are  
> opinionated twaddle. The description leave room to form my own  
> opinion. The role of writing about art, for me, is, roughly, to  
> present to readers the form of visual thinking and to try explain 
> how  
> intention, manifestation and cultural political whatever context 
> hang  
> together, or not. I am not a critic - if I am not interested in a  
> work or even dislike it, I wouldn't waste time on it. For me it is 
> a  
> matter of disseminating knowledge not judgement.
> 
> On the other side, as an artist to write about one's project, it is 
> 
> to find a balance of getting an editor interested to either send  
> someone, or to make the writer interested to suggest my works /  
> projects to the editor. Some people frown upon the self-publicist.  
> Within the New Media, Web etc environments some of the dependencies 
> 
> from editors can disappear. I can publish, but I won't get a fee.  
> Here, writing itself - which is somewhat ephemeral to begin with -  
> ephemeralizes itself and may become part of a discourse about the  
> ephemeral. This is the writing about writing territory, I presume.
> 
> I don't think (New) Media works are really ephemeral. They may have 
> 
> an unpredictable life span and they may require equipment not  
> available to everyone but usually there is a manifestation of some  
> kind that lasts for some time. But the political, social etc 
> contexts  
> are ephemeral, the experiences, the memories are ephemeral. Because 
> 
> of its nature of newness, of maybe because of not connecting to 
> works  
> of art previously known, because of maybe not participating in  
> fashionable discourses, a work of art may have more difficulty  
> penetrating the circuit of public attention. It therefore requires  
> more writing, more visibility, more support, which is also why it  
> appears to be more ephemeral.
> 
> best
> 
> Jorn Ebner
> 
> ************
> 
> http://www.jornebner.info
>