Fully agree - while it seems to be out of fashion, the
list-serve remains one of the most effective platforms
for communication, the depth of critical reflection -in
my opinion - reflects more on the participants of the exchange
than the tool.
nina



The announcement below is an interesting off-theme thread to consider in the
context of Crumb.

Would people agree that, within the network, art criticism (I assume this
includes other critical discourses) is confined mainly to blogs?

I find this a strange claim. I?ve seen various media come and go, as well as
various styles of critical discourse. In that time some media have been more
successful than others in facilitating both the making of discourse and its
dissemination. With discursive media the processes of making and
disseminating are the same. Therefore it makes sense that a medium that
conflates making and disseminating would be an ideal platform for critical
debate.

One of the most effective and affecting of such media I have ever come
across is the list-serve. It is true that the list-serve probably
experienced its height of efficacy in the 1990?s and early 2000?s and that
the development of newer platforms, such as blogging and twittering, have
encroached upon and taken up some of that bandwidth. However, on the whole,
my impression is that list-serves remain the most vital and popular
platforms for critical debate, especially about the media arts.

Would other?s agree with this, or do they think blogs and other media have
displaced list-serves and other media to a greater degree? If people do
agree, do they think list-serves facilitate deeper critical reflection as an
outcome of their interactive and discursive format or shallow and popular
debate, as is suggested below in reference to blogs?

Best

Simon


Simon Biggs

Research Professor
edinburgh college of art
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www.eca.ac.uk

Creative Interdisciplinary Research into CoLlaborative Environments
CIRCLE research group
www.eca.ac.uk/circle/

[log in to unmask]
www.littlepig.org.uk
AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk



From: Eric Kluitenberg <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Eric Kluitenberg <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:59:44 +0100
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] Critics Floating in the Virtual Sphere,
December 9, 14-17 hrs., De Balie, Amsterdam

A  N  N  O  U  N  C  E  M  E  N  T

Critics Floating in the Virtual Sphere

Will Art Criticism Survive the Digital Age?

International Seminar
De Balie, Amsterdam
www.debalie.nl

Wednesday December 9, 2009, 14.00 - 17.00 hrs (CET)
Doors open: 13.30

Live webcast:
wwwdebalie.nl/live


The digital revolution has profound effects on the status of art criticism.
With newspapers and other printed media in decline, the traditional platform
for critical reflection on art has shrunk or shifted towards electronic
(web-based) media. At the same time the presence of art criticism on the
internet is mostly limited to the ?blog? ? a format that celebrates an
impressionistic, subjective and often populistic point of view. More
substantial forms of web-based criticism are still rare to be found.

Broader changes in the culture could be responsible for this. In the current
climate the voice of ?classical? criticism is associated with an
authoritative, paternalistic tradition. In the universe of web 2.0,
consumers no longer tend to accept that authority.

Another effect of the internet revolution is that information about artists,
artworks and exhibitions is now abundantly available online. Critics facing
the challenge of covering the ever-growing number of biennials and other
large-scale exhibitions all over the world, may feel tempted to stay at home
and write their ?reviews? without actually visiting the exhibition they
write about. According to some reports, this critical practice is become
more and more common.

Is there a future for serious, in-depth criticism in an internet-dominated
society?
Has the need for art criticism completely disappeared, or has it merely
changed? Does the internet offer possibilities for serious criticism beyond
the limitations of the blog? Do new media arts and net.art show us the way?
Is the interactive, social networking capacity of the internet at all used
in this context, or even understood? Is the web really replacing print or is
this a false contradiction?
How do art critics respond to these changes and challenges?


Speakers:

Georg Schöllhammer, editor in chief of Springerin and curator of the
Documenta 12 Magazines project.
http://magazines.documenta12.de/frontend/

Regine Debatty, writer and editor of we-make-money-not-art.com.
www.we-make-money-not-art.com/

Arjen Mulder, writer and media theorist.

Jennifer Allen, art critic.


Moderator:

Maria Hlavajova (Basis voor Aktuele Kunst Utrecht)

-----

Wednesday December 9, 2009, 14.00 - 17.00 hrs
Doors open: 13.30

Admission free | Reservation recommended

Live webcast:
www.debalie.nl/live

----

Organisation:

AICA Netherlands - Association Internationale des Criticques d?Arts
www.aicanederland.org

De Balie - Centre for Culture and Politics
www.debalie.nl/media


Supported by:

Lectoraat Kunst en Publieke Ruimte, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam;
Lectoraat Kunstenaarstheorieën en de Artistieke Praktijk, Hogeschool van
Beeldende Kunsten, Muziek en Dans, Den Haag;
Lectoraat Beeldende Kunst van AKV / Sint Joost / Avans Hogeschool, Den
Bosch;
Institute of Network Cultures, Hogeschool van Amsterdam.
Metropolis M


Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland,  
number SC009201