RE: -empyre soft-skinned space
Thanks Melinda for explaining the background of -empyre soft-skinned space.
Tim Murray and I have been traveling with intermittent internet but we
have been keeping up with the discussion. I wanted to add to Melinda
Rackham's post that the -empyre list-serve has over 1600 subscribers
today. Melinda's modest idea of -empyre being like a lecture series has
expanded beyond her imagination to become an international exchange space.
Since 2007 I have been herding the moderating team of Tim Murray, Simon
Biggs and Patrick Lichty. Our mission continues to attempt to engage a
broad spectrum of participant/subscribers from all over the world but
especially Asia and South America where we would like to attract more
subscribers. Issues of translation seem to get in the way of that more
often than not though on several occasions we have had one or two
subscribers translating posts.
-empyre launched a new website via the Cornell University server last
September
http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/
and a full archive of all of the discussions since January, 2002 can be
accessed from the COFA Australian server
http://lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/
The balance between theory and production is the one issue that I have
truly struggled with throughout my participation in -empyre. The
importance of ensuring that some subscribers do not feel intimidated to
respond is one that both Tim and I try to overcome by encouraging our
guests to write in a conversational tone, that we encourage our guests not
to reprint previously published materials such as conference papers, and
that we seek out both artists, theorists, and when we can coders/engineers,
etc.
The other hurdle we consistently try to overcome is the percentage of our
subscribers who remain lurkers and are more comfortable just sitting back
and either reading or filtering the posts into their own email archives.
This past June we launched a celebration of our over ten-year anniversary
with all call to our subscribers list by asking the question "Who is
empyre?" We were delighted with responses from many who we had never heard
from.
http://lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au/pipermail/empyre/2013-June/006453.html
-empyre's experiments in the real world have included participation in
documenta 12's magazine project, a collaboration with Anderson Art Ranch in
Colorado, a conference in San Francisco, a discussion at the Pompidou
Center in Paris, and a happy hour at the Istanul ISEA conference. What an
interesting experience it was to meet many of our empyre subscribers in
realtime and real space, many of whom we had developed online relationships
with through the list-serve.
Thanks again Charlotte for inquiring about -empyre. Renate Ferro
--------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Melinda Rackham <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, Oct 13, 2013 at 4:06 AM
Subject: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] empyre
To: [log in to unmask]
Hey Charlotte and all-
apologies if you've received this twice,
thanks for contacting me - its like a school reunion at Crumb this month!
I've been offline for a while writing a memoir for print publication and
revelling in the solidity of the novel as a container for intensity after
being in endlessly variable ether worlds for almost 20 years.
but to your question-- a brief history of empyre..
-empyre- mailing list sprang into being in January 2002, as part of my PhD
research at the College of Fine Arts, UNSW, Sydney. It was and still is an
online forum which regularly invites guest artists, theorists, curators,
producers or administrators from the Australia/Pacific and International
media arts field to discuss their projects, publications, pet theories and
productions. I intended to get away from the US/Euro axis of knowledge,
and focus on media art issues in depth, without necessarily being
academically referenced, or concerned with delineating areas of practice.
Im really delighted that its still running and has expanded with each new
facilitation teams. Its like a child growing up- I can still see its baby
features, but it has matured, filled out, chiselled off some edges and
explored new pathways. My initial intent has been modified over time, and I
don't particularly see it as a space I can comfortably speak in nowdays as
my creative practice has changed quiet significantly.
The list had a specific format for a number of reasons. Over the years I
had been getting frustrated with the low ratio of signal to noise on other
lists, and seeing lists like Syndicate be torn apart by the constant
revision of the social structure of the list - i.e. discussions over what
was appropriate in mailing list etiquette in terms of announcements and
postings. I also initially wanted a discussion space which would explore
topics specific to 3d spaces on the web as that was the area I was
researching in my phd. I had been working in that area of practice for a
few years and discovered a vibrant global community discussing the
technical issues associated with web3d, but no avenues for the more
aesthetic or theoretical discussions of networked dimensional environments.
And most importantly, I saw other lists where the culture of the Internet
and impacts of technology were being discussed by writers and academics,
but not by artists who were making work in the field who often felt
intimidated and ignored as not being theoretical enough. I think this
artist voice may have been a little lost again.
–empyre– aimed to fill those gaps. How it works is that each invited guest
speaker has the list for period of time to discuss different aspects of
their media practice, or their books or their sites, or performances, or
curated shows. Offline i thought –empyre- would equate to a casual lecture
series, or a resident workshop program. It aimed to have diversity in its
scheduled topics, and to be flexible enough to adapt to current events,
which it has continued to do. It has collaborated with many exhibitions,
events and institutions including ACMI, ISEA and Documenta producing
readers, polemics, texts and to my surprise one day a thick rainbow covered
-empyre- book turned up in my Post Box. Unbeknown to me a full months
discussion on Archiving, had been archived unedited, printed and
distributed by a gallery in Texas.
When I launched –empyre- it was an experiment, I thought it would be a cosy
intimate group of around 50 people max, I hear its now 1500, and I wonder
if thats a maximum number for participation? Yes list etiquette issues were
always present… from its inception I have had strong guidelines as to what
are appropriate postings, for example "-empyre- is not a chat space, nor an
announcement or self-promotion list, nor online performance space. It’s for
topic discussion only", and I stated up front that I would unsubscribe
anyone who consistently disregarded those guidelines. And I did. And I was
threatened and harassed at one point.
Like some other list instigators I had a separate persona (subscriber
account) or two whom I employed to ask simple questions, interrogate
anonymously, occasionally ask the hard and unpopular questions - so that my
personal position was in the background in a facilitation mode rather than
having a personality presence - at least that was the idea..
Re sending some posts that were significant ? thats an impossible task as
every month brought new insights and perspectives - and importantly what is
written on the list is, as I aways say, only the tip of the iceberg of the
discussions generated by it, which reverberate and ripple through academic
and creative communities.
xx
Melinda
On 06/10/2013, at 10:20 PM, Charlotte Frost wrote:
> Finally empyre enters the mix!
>
> I'm hosting a discussion on the history of lists and all things online art
> community on the New Media Curating list:
> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=new-media-curating;262b7d94
.
> 1310
>
>
> I'm trying to keep it low maintenance for people to take part so there are
> discussions on and off list, on Facebook, Twitter etc and if someone
> doesn't have the time to subscribe, I just post their responses/thoughts
> (with their permission) to the list itself.
>
> I'd love if you had time to offer a brief history of empyre and pick up
> some of the points below or in the rest of the discussion. And if there
> are posts from empyre that you can forward that illustrate a typical
> discussion or even one that was particularly significant, that would be
> great!!! I'm trying to use the list to create a bit of an archive of list
> history - especially as everyone has had a bit of time to digest some of
> the early list antics.
>
> All the best,
>
> Charlotte
--
Renate Ferro
Visiting Assistant Professor of Art,
(contracted since 2004)
Cornell University
Department of Art, Tjaden Hall Office: 306
Ithaca, NY 14853
Email: <[log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>>
URL: http://www.renateferro.net
http://www.privatesecretspubliclies.net
Lab: http://www.tinkerfactory.net
Managing Co-moderator of -empyre- soft skinned space
http://empyre.library.cornell.edu/
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