actually, that last line of the last paragraph should read:
No wonder some misguided power-brokers think media arts is 'no longer
urgent'. This does not make it any easier to deal with the fact, as
Marcia also rightly states, that these institutions bring in large
audiences who otherwise may not be exposed to the passion and life of
our new paradigm, EXCEPT at the level of mass violence and war.
j
----- Message from [log in to unmask] ---------
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:54:00 +0100
From: Professor SR Golding <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Professor SR Golding <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Live and Media Arts: "the art form lacks ...depth and
cultural agency"
To: [log in to unmask]
> 21 October
>
> Dear All
> With every email there is yet another bizarre and/or terrible twist to
> the life and times of media arts at institutional levels, including now
> the disturbing decision taken concerning the impending closure of the
> Media Arts & Imaging at Dundee...
>
> I just wanted to add a couple of other points to Marcia's insightful
> remarks below, linking back to Christiane, Simon, Marc, Emma and
> virtually all the respondents.
>
> As mentioned earlier, Media arts is not a technology or set of
> technologies, it names instead the paradigm shift of our times, both at
> the experimental/risk/ inventive level as well as meta-mathematical,
> multi-dimensional, simultaneous 'space-time' environments. This means
> that it is 'fed' or coloured-toned-shaped by questions of mixture,
> plurality, 'trans' (both in the gendered-sexual and gendered-sensuous
> moves as mentioned by Marcia as well as in post-postmodern (ie
> altermodern) queer-feminist implications of 'change', having no real
> origin, ground, or indeed 'goal' in the instrumentalist/ rationalist
> sense of the term 'goal'. In order to teach and expand upoon this
> kind of paradigm, what seems important to share/develop is a sense of
> two different, but crucial aspects to understand cultural institutions/
> art/ aesthetics/ ethics/ identity: 1. in the first instance, a
> re-think of what and how representation (metaphor, similarity etc)
> 'works' (or does not work). This would include not only understanding
> aspects of the so-called 'old' forms of modernity, including
> psychoanalysis, semiotics, post-structuralism, but doing so by a
> thorough re-think on the actual methodology that has quietly ground
> that 'modernity', particularly the dialectical method (Hegel, Marx et
> al) as well as 'negative' dialectical methodology (primarly Adorno,
> Benjamin). This method -- on the whole (and sorry to be so sweeping in
> this brief remark) is implicated in the latter works of scholars as
> diverse as Butler, Zizek, Derrida, Agamben and in some respects,
> Badiou. 2. in the second instance, there needs to be a thorough
> re-think of 'rhizomatic' method (a bit of a contradiction in terms, but
> nevertheless...) where one begins to inhabit the worlds of
> simultaneity/duration (clearly a nod to Bergson, Deleuze), but also the
> geneaological moves of Nietzsche, the discursive moves initiated in
> Heidegger's Identity and Difference, Foucault etc, and brought forward
> even more radically by Haraway, Istabelle Stengers -- where
> 'representation' itself is questioned without losing sight of the
> political. This kind of second move, iniated as early as Ada Lovelace,
> Einstein, Bohr, Turing (with his infamous 'can computers think') begins
> to help re-situate a non-representational ('sonic'? media?) way of
> thinking, doing, making, visualising.
>
> I'm wondering whether the kind of backward thinking of institutions
> like the ICA (and the list already cited) may be coming not (just) from
> a paucity of intellectual insight and economic pressure -- the usual
> culprits, but from a third arena too (which may or may not be also the
> outcome of intellectual poverty and economic decline): the collapse of
> the government initiative, at least in the UK, around the 'creative
> industries', which never seemed to be anything other than the cultural
> sector's way of mimicking wall street/the city's now illegal practice
> of 'selling short'. The irony (if it can be called this) is that
> Directors/leaders like at the ICA seem to believe that 'bailing out'
> this failed enterprise (and mixing it up as though it is equal to the
> media arts) requires a 'return to old-fashioned, tried and true
> tradition' like 'Fine art'-- when in fact those so-called 'old
> traditions' were once only the name for the emergent and indeed
> 'urgent' move in the 18th c to privatise art so that it could be more
> collectible in an economic downturn.
>
> No wonder some misguided power-brokers think media arts is 'no longer
> urgent'. This does not make it any easier to deal with the fact, as
> Marcia also rightly states, that these institutions bring in large
> audiences who otherwise may not be exposed to the passion and life of
> our new paradigm, etc at the level of mass violence and war.
>
> johnny
>
>
>
>
> ----- Message from [log in to unmask] ---------
> Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:45:46 -0700
> From: marcialart <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: marcialart <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: "the art form lacks ...depth and cultural agency"
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>> I'm jumping in very late here but I wanted to applaud Christiane
>> Paul for her dismay regarding Ekow Eshun's blanket dismissal of
>> "new media based arts practice" and to agree with her mordant
>> irony-laced critique of his assessment "that, in the main, the art
>> form lacks the depth and cultural urgency to justify the ICA's
>> continued and significant investment in a Live & Media Arts
>> department." I think he'll come to eat his words.
>>
>> In my view, "new media based arts practice" is NOT an "art form" in
>> itself. It's a diverse, continuously metamorphosing variety of
>> experimental arts practices explored in diverse ways, using a broad
>> range of ever-shifting media, by a growing number of
>> male/female/trans-/ decline-to-be-identified-by-gender global
>> artists of every aesthetic, conceptual, ethnic, national,
>> political, personal, etc. description. Their practices produce
>> works in many different forms and, as with any other artistic media
>> including the traditional ones of painting, drawing, sculpture,
>> photography, etc. , much of it is bad or mediocre yet blessedly
>> some of it is extraordinary, mind-shifting and revelatory.
>>
>> Eshun's statement reveals either an astonishing ignorance of the
>> field and/or one or several of the hidden agendas other respondents
>> have suggested. Besides, his remark implicitly devalues the work
>> of all the artists who have explored these media over the past 60+
>> years, AND of the visionary curators who have labored to make these
>> works accessible to a wider audience in alternative as well as
>> mainstream institutional venues.
>>
>> As a new media curator myself, I question Charlie Gere's notion
>> that artists working experimentally with new media are better off
>> without the support of mainstream institutions. Large audiences
>> need to be exposed to these works so that they can overcome their
>> technophobia and appreciate that real art -- art that invents
>> compelling forms while expanding consciousness, imagination and
>> aesthetic experience and illuminating contemporary life and culture
>> -- is being created by artist who use the contemporary technologies
>> that define our lives within the "information society." The
>> universe of contemporary artistic practice has room for
>> non-commercial "skunk works" as well as blue chip market-based
>> objects, and every degree of the spectrum between those poles --
>> this applies to artists working in every medium, including new
>> media. I'm all for promiscuity and proliferation in this regard.
>>
>> I still think it's a pity that the ICA should opt to exclude what I
>> consider to be the most vital, dynamic and illuminating area of
>> artistic practice in our time.
>>
>> Marcia
>>
>> On Oct 18, 2008, at 6:06:51 PM, "Christiane Paul"
>> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> From: "Christiane Paul" <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Re: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] Live and Media Arts at the ICA
>> Date: October 18, 2008 6:06:51 PM PDT
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Hi everyone,
>> I agree that termination of new media programs at cultural
>> institutions per se is nothing new, we have seen it before, for
>> many different reasons.
>>
>> I also agree with Simon's comment that the following statement by
>> Ekow Eshun wouldn't necessarily need to be read in a negative way:
>>
>> "I no longer feel that the artistic rationale for devoting
>> considerable institutional?attention to that art form - to the
>> extent of maintaining a dedicated department to its pursuance - can
>> be strongly made."
>>
>> This ideally would mean that new media arts are considered part of
>> contemporary artistic practice and find their place in the
>> institution's programming - something we presumably would all
>> support. (Of course the reality most of the time is that new media
>> arts drop off the map as soon as they lose their dedicated space).
>>
>> What I find deeply disturbing is the following comment:
>>
>> "New media based arts practice continues to have its place within
>> the arts sector. However it's my consideration that, in the main,
>> the art form lacks the depth and cultural urgency to justify the
>> ICA's continued and significant investment in a Live & Media Arts
>> department."
>>
>> Wow. (Live &) New media arts lack 1) depth and 2) cultural urgency.
>>
>> 1) Is it the first art form in the history of art that, overall,
>> lacks depth? One could make a very strong argument that any art
>> form produces works that lack depth, works that are mediocre,
>> works that are good and works that are outstanding. I guess new
>> media arts are exceptional after all.
>>
>> 2) New media arts is the only art form that uses the technologies,
>> which have profoundly changed societies around the planet, as a
>> medium. The information society, globalization, connectivity (from
>> the work place to 'social networking' / Web 2.0), immaterial labor
>> - the list could be much longer - are supported and enabled by
>> these technologies. While not all new media art comments on the
>> social / cultural / political condition, it seems to be *the* art
>> form with prime potential for cultural urgency. (And I'm not
>> saying that any other art form couldn't exhibit the latter).
>>
>> I suspect that many people in the traditional art world share
>> Eshun's opinion. To the best of my knowledge he is the first who
>> shuts down a program by blatantly dismissing the art form. I'm
>> looking forward to seeing his version of an "ambitious artistic
>> plan."
>>
>> Christiane
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Curating digital art - www.crumbweb.org on behalf of marc garrett
>> Sent: Sat 10/18/2008 11:46 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Live and Media Arts at the ICA
>>
>> Hi Simon & all,
>>
>> I agree with Simon. It does seem that the ICA are sending a strong
>> message that they wish to maintain an old fashioned, perspective on
>> things by keeping mediums and practices apart from each other. Such an
>> approach is a mistake and only serves to show the world outside, how out
>> of touch they are with contemporary culture as a whole.
>>
>> And yes, it is a great pity, not only for culture generally but also for
>> their audience, who are being sold a very limited vision of things.
>>
>> It also sends a rather dispiriting message that they are no longer an
>> interesting or viable option to show at, or worthwhile collaborating
>> with. It also gives the impression that they are all hiding behind some
>> kind of castle, trying to hold together some ideal, which does not
>> relate to the world outside. It is a shame that they have chosen not to
>> expand and take on new forms of creativity in a more positive manner.
>> Yet, this is their choice and perhaps it is more about keeping certain
>> jobs in the ICA - at the top. And unfortunately, those who are staying
>> in these positions at the top, are perhaps less interested in
>> contemporary art and its ever expanding, nuances. Not interested in
>> relearning, adapting their knowledge about media art and other related
>> practices.
>>
>>
>> I think that Emma is probably best out of there.
>>
>> marc
>>>
>>> Johnny is right and I take back what I wrote before. Or, rather, I wish to
>>> finesse it. Media arts, in the sense they are understood at the ICA (art
>>> that employs media) is, as I stated before, well and truly part of the
>>> mainstream of arts practice and therefore not having a specific program to
>>> engage it shouldn¹t be surprising nor necessarily a bad thing. However,
>>> creative media practice which facilitates, by its very nature, an expanded
>>> notion of what art can be well, that is what Johnny is proposing. It is
>>> something that is a force for change, for creating new modalities,
>>> new forms
>>> of engagement, new social formations.
>>>
>>> In this respect the ICA¹s decision seems to evidence their wish not to be
>>> involved with any meaningful challenge of the status quo. It wishes to see
>>> art that is ³art², music that is ³music² and cinema that is ³cinema². That
>>> is a great pity.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> Simon
>>>
>>>
>>> On 18/10/08 12:40, "Professor SR Golding" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Dear Emma and List
>>>> It is disturbing, but not surprising, to hear of the kind of
>>>> short-sightedness and ill-conceived departure of live & media arts
>>>> from the ICA, especially under the misleading tag line of those arts
>>>> no longer being 'cutting edge'. We find at the Univ of Greenwich in
>>>> London that our MA-PHD Media Arts Philosophy and Practice Programme
>>>> has increased over the years by 300%, with huge home, EU, and
>>>> international interest. We have just established a cross-fertilizing
>>>> Media Arts Production BA/BSc with two Schools: The Humanities and
>>>> Social Sciences and School of Computing Mathematical Sciences. The
>>>> cutting edge work of artists, combined with philosophers, journalists
>>>> and scientists has been and continues to be exciting and provocative
>>>> -- and our situation is not unique. There are many universities,
>>>> post-academic and creative commons environments that are doing
>>>> precisely this kind of combination -- led by the live arts and
>>>> encompassed in the broad term of 'media arts', where the latter
>>>> ('media arts') points not to a 'sub-set' of technologies, but names
>>>> the paradigm shift of our age (eg, after 'liberal arts'), where speed,
>>>> energy, space, time embed themselves differently in the visual and
>>>> sonic arts, or what has been termed elsewhere as the 'altermodern'.
>>>>
>>>> How this substantial and lush environment could have escaped the eye
>>>> of the Director at the ICA is not clear from his letter.
>>>>
>>>> However, what is much more obvious is that the role of the 'art
>>>> institute', and especially the ICA, seems to have lost its shine.
>>>> Perhaps art galleries/ contemporary art institutes never did encourage
>>>> cutting edge works -- but now, at least in terms of the ICA, it
>>>> definitely is not encouraging it. The Gallery/institute appears to
>>>> have recoiled back to the safe shores of being a service sector
>>>> environment to the usual suspects of capital, industry, and banality.
>>>> Pity, really.
>>>>
>>>> Guess we'll just have to go elsewhere -- but then, isn't that the
>>>> usual story for
>>>> artists-philosophers-scientists-designers-curios-thinkers-doers?
>>>>
>>>> Johnny de Philo
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Message from [log in to unmask] ---------
>>>> Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:23:43 -0700
>>>> From: marcialart <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Reply-To: marcialart <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Subject: Re: Live and Media Arts at the ICA
>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>> Dear Emma,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sorry to hear about this. It's sad for you and the ICA, and
>>>>>> astonishingly short-sighted on the part of the director, especially
>>>>>> as the ICA was THE germinal institution for new media / computer
>>>>>> based art with its pioneering 1968 presentation of Cybernetic
>>>>>> Serendipity curated by Jasia Reichardt.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Best regards and good wishes to you in the next phase of your
>>>>>> career, and congratulations on your accomplishments @ the ICA.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Marcia Tanner
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Oct 17, 2008, at 10:11:13 AM, "Emma Quinn" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>>> From: "Emma Quinn" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>>> Subject: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] Live and Media Arts at the ICA
>>>>>> Date: October 17, 2008 10:11:13 AM PDT
>>>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>>>> Apologies for the blanket e-mail and any cross postings
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It is with sadness that I am writing to announce the closure of the
>>>>>> ICA's Live and Media Arts Department. I have included a statement by
>>>>>> Ekow Eshun, the Artistic Director of the ICA below.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I am continuing with the programme here until the end of November 2008
>>>>>> and will then be looking to develop and expand the programme with other
>>>>>> partners and venues. I will of course update you on new developments as
>>>>>> they occur.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thank you for your support and interest in the department's projects
>>>>>> during my time at the helm, and please do make the most of the rather
>>>>>> full line-up running over the next couple of months. It would be
>>>>>> wonderful if you could continue to show your support by attending what
>>>>>> will be an exciting finale.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.ica.org.uk/?lid=12173
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have enjoyed my time at the ICA tremendously and this has been a
>>>>>> direct result of working with some fantastic artists and practitioners.
>>>>>> The opportunity and privilege to work on the many exciting,
>>>>>> thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable projects over the last 3
>>>>>> years, has provided me with new challenges, joy, energy, pride, insight,
>>>>>> thrills and above all has made me very very happy! I am very much
>>>>>> looking forward to continuing with these established relationships as
>>>>>> well as generating new ones in the next stage of my career.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I will be contacting everyone again before I leave with my personal
>>>>>> contact details should you wish to stay in touch.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thank you for your time.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kind regards
>>>>>>
>>>>>> emma
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --- From Ekow Eshun, Artistic Director of the ICA ---
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Following a review of the ICA's programming activities I have taken the
>>>>>> decision to close the Live & Media Arts department from the end of
>>>>>> November 2008.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The ICA has led a pioneering role in new media arts practice over the
>>>>>> last decade and more.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We are proud of that legacy. However times change. And I no longer feel
>>>>>> that the artistic rationale for devoting considerable institutional
>>>>>> attention to that art form - to the extent of maintaining a dedicated
>>>>>> department to its pursuance - can be strongly made.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As an institution dedicated to the contemporary moment it is important
>>>>>> that we continually review the timeliness and relevance of our
>>>>>> activities and at times make decisions on that basis.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> New media based arts practice continues to have its place within the
>>>>>> arts sector. However it's my consideration that, in the main, the art
>>>>>> form lacks the depth and cultural urgency to justify the ICA's continued
>>>>>> and significant investment in a Live & Media Arts department. Following
>>>>>> discussion with the ICA Council and the Arts Council - and agreement
>>>>>> from both bodies - I have decided to close the department.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It's also my view that the sheer breadth of activity that our artistic
>>>>>> programme encompasses means that we are often stretched too thin as an
>>>>>> organisation. Our technical, building and financial resources are under
>>>>>> considerable strain and it is hard for us to communicate our aims to our
>>>>>> audience with directness and clarity.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In closing the Live & Media Arts department, we will be able to invest
>>>>>> greater resources in a more concentrated programme of activities,
>>>>>> allowing us to create a more ambitious artistic plan for 2009/10. And in
>>>>>> communication with the public, the focus of our activity will be
>>>>>> exclusively on Visual Arts, Cinema, Talks and Music.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In addition, these changes will offer the opportunity for the Digital
>>>>>> Studio to be reconstituted as a dedicated Education space, offering a
>>>>>> valuable benefit to an important and growing section of our audience
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ---End---
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Emma Quinn
>>>>>> Director of Live & Media Arts
>>>>>> ---------------------------------------
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Institute of Contemporary Arts
>>>>>> The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH
>>>>>> ---------------------------------------
>>>>>> t: +44 (0)20 7766 1415
>>>>>> e: [log in to unmask]
>>>>>> w: www.ica.org.uk <http://www.ica.org.uk/>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Dogs Ears
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Online Art
>>>>>>
>>>>>> www.ica.org.uk/dogsears
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>> ----- End message from [log in to unmask] -----
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Simon Biggs
>>> Research Professor
>>> edinburgh college of art
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>> www.eca.ac.uk
>>> www.eca.ac.uk/circle/
>>>
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>> www.littlepig.org.uk
>>> AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk
>>>
>>>
>>> Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in
>>> Scotland, number SC009201
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> ----- End message from [log in to unmask] -----
>
>
>
> --
> _______________________________________________________________________
> Professor S Golding
> Professor of Philosophy in the Visual Arts & Communication Technologies
> Head MA Programme in Media Arts Philosophy & Practice Programme
> MRes/MPhil-PHD Media Arts Research
> Office: King William, Rm 130 Tel: +44 (0) 20 8331 8948
>
> Dept of Creative, Critical and Communication Studies
> School of Humanities and Social Sciences
> University of Greenwich, Maritime Campus
> Old Royal Naval College, Park Row
> Greenwich, London SE10 9LS
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> University of Greenwich, a charity and company limited by guarantee,
> registered in England (reg. no. 986729). Registered office:
> Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
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----- End message from [log in to unmask] -----
--
_______________________________________________________________________
Professor S Golding
Professor of Philosophy in the Visual Arts & Communication Technologies
Head MA Programme in Media Arts Philosophy & Practice Programme
MRes/MPhil-PHD Media Arts Research
Office: King William, Rm 130 Tel: +44 (0) 20 8331 8948
Dept of Creative, Critical and Communication Studies
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Greenwich, Maritime Campus
Old Royal Naval College, Park Row
Greenwich, London SE10 9LS
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