Discussion aside, what Simon says here is the bottom line regarding
this particular eschewing of live and media art.
best wishes,
Jon & Alison
--> web
http://www.thomson-craighead.net
On 24 Oct 2008, at 11:37, Simon Biggs wrote:
> Hi Annick
>
> If you lived in the UK you would have the pleasure of seeing Ekow
> Eshun
> regularly on TV as he is a regular pundit on the (only) weekly
> broadcast
> cultural critique program we have. From memory (please correct me
> if I am
> wrong) the Late Show has never covered media art (expect perhaps
> Bill Viola)
> and very little live art. It’s main focus is pop music, mainstream
> cinema,
> Booker nominated English language literature, TV shows, English
> language
> mainstream theatre, blockbuster art exhibitions and sometimes a little
> contemporary dance.
>
> I assume that the ICA will no longer seek to fulfil its historical
> remit (to
> present and engage cutting edge culture) and will remain firmly
> focused on
> material that is likely to be reviewed on the Late Show.
>
> Regards
>
> Simon
>
>
> On 24/10/08 11:22, "Annick Bureaud" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> I love that sentence :
>>
>> " I didnt feel that we could financially or artistically
>> justify a whole department devoted primarily to that
>> relatively narrow area of practice."
>>
>> narrow area of practice ?
>> I guess that publishers should stop immediately to publish
>> poetry, this is even narrower.
>> I guess he should open a porn department, this has got a
>> huge production, is financially sustainable and has quite an
>> audience (though, artistically questionnable).
>> Sorry to be sarcarstic, but this sentence is so ... can't
>> find a word !
>> I have never met that person, I would love to, he seems to
>> be great fun !
>> Sorry to be sarcastic again.
>>
>> Annick
>>
>>
>>
>> Jon Thomson wrote:
>>>> This from Ewok Eshun in the guardian blog comments -a politician in
>>>> training by the looks of it.
>>>>
>>>> --:>
>>>> Dear Lynn,
>>>>
>>>> Whilst I both understand and respect your point of view here Im
>>>> keen to
>>>> address some of the points youve raised.
>>>>
>>>> Most urgently, its important to say that I dont think that live art
>>>> lacks any kind of cultural urgency. As a sincere fan of live
>>>> performance
>>>> works from the likes of Katie Mitchell and Punchdrunk to Ursula
>>>> Martinez
>>>> this is very far indeed from my point of view!
>>>>
>>>> For the past number of years the ICA has run a Live & Media Arts
>>>> department which has focused primarily on new media based artistic
>>>> practice. In my internal email to staff that you quoted, I was
>>>> trying to
>>>> make the point that I didnt feel that we could financially or
>>>> artistically justify a whole department devoted primarily to that
>>>> relatively narrow area of practice. With the limited resources
>>>> available
>>>> to our institution, Ive had to take the view that we are better off
>>>> devoting our energies towards a more concentrated programme of
>>>> activities rather than finding ourselves in the perpetual peril of
>>>> spreading ourselvestoo thin. We need to do justice to the
>>>> programme we
>>>> present and that sometimes means doing less with greater depth
>>>> rather
>>>> than continuing to aim as broadly as we have in the past.
>>>>
>>>> Its not a decision Ive come to happily or lightly. Although the
>>>> department will close, the ICA will continue to host part of the
>>>> London
>>>> International Mime Festival in January and other events, as they
>>>> occur
>>>> out of the programme, into the future.
>>>>
>>>> Ekow Eshun
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 24 Oct 2008, at 10:51, Michelle Hirschhorn wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> FYI -
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:08:47 +0100
>>>>>> From: Lois Keidan <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>>> Subject: Re: Live and Media Arts at the ICA
>>>>>>
>>>>>> * This email is sent via the Liveart mail-list. 'Reply' will
>>>>>> send your
>>>>>> response to that list *
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Lyn Gardner has written a Guardian blog about the ICA's
>>>>>> decision to
>>>>>> cut its live programme, but, more importantly, about Ekow Eshun's
>>>>>> extraordinary statement that such work lacks 'depth and cultural
>>>>>> urgency'
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2008/oct/23/ica-live-
> arts-closure
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have just spoken to Lyn and she would like everyone on this
>>>>>> list to
>>>>>> know that Guardian blogs can be VERY effective, but its
>>>>>> important that
>>>>>> people respond to them and contribute to the debates they
>>>>>> provoke.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So, please do add a comment to her blog and please do spread
>>>>>> the word
>>>>>> to anyone and everyone who should see it and ask them to
>>>>>> respond with
>>>>>> comments.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Lois
>>>>>> On 24 Oct 2008, at 00:00, NEW-MEDIA-CURATING automatic digest
>>>>>> system
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>
>
>
>
> 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,
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