I seem to have had problems with posting this, apologies if you have already received it.
Hello List,
I'd like to pick up on Susan's questions/reflections on her work 'In
Coversation' as I think they resonate with some of the curatorial
concerns when working online.
The first one:
- "Where is the work? - is it on the street, on the net or in the
gallery (in two or three of the installations there was a gallery
installation showing a live - cinema verite - feed also)"
And here I am thinking on exhibitions whose narrative unfolds across
different sites that encompass the online and offline dimensions? How
do we think/write about such exhibitions, and thus such artworks as
curators, producers, artists and writers perhaps?
I think Saul has just given an interesting example in relation to
this, using babelfish's translation system and IRC channels, an
example of the relationship between technology/socio-cultural contexts
and their often being time specific.
The second:
- "Who (and where) is the viewer? Is it the person on the street
encountering the (disembodied) voice, the viewer on the net
interacting with the street or a third person/position, an observer
watching the action and the conversation/s (perhaps from elsewhere in
the street or in the gallery) unfold"
How do we address the viewer? How do we envisage his/her role in an
exhibition, or artwork, scattered through different sites/adopting
different forms in relation to the medium used? Are there new issues
that should be taken into consideration, or these issues are just the
same as for any contemporary artwork, e.g. I could mention the Musée
de l'Art Moderne, Départment des Aigles by Marcel Broodthaers which
could be seen as a sort of precedent, a work that encompassed
different mediums and technologies of its time (often reflecting on
mass communication, the inside/oustide, the private/public) and
unfolded through time and different spaces, from the studio, the
gallery, the book, and the film.
As for the earlier emails re moot/ahrc/software/hardware/tools
something has struck me in relation to the idea of mediation/re-
mediation both in terms of software and interface. Both software and
interface often operates as tools of mediation, and here I am thinking
of the differences occurring between curating or producing a show or
work through adopting and already existing web interface, such as
YouTube, and creating an interface for production and display from
scratch. As for software, I think it can often be seen as an (artistic/
curatorial) tool which offers possibilities as well as limits, and
here I am thinking about the tensions existing between organizing, for
example, a radio show using Airtime Pro software vs using a sound
editing software and uploading the results on SoundCloud as an indexed
archive or, again, using YouTube as a sound archive and production tool.
Just a series of thoughts. It would be great to hear if there is
something here that chimes with your practices/experiences.
Thanks,
Marialaura
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