[NetBehaviour] erhu & Comments on Alan Sondheim's postings on this list...

[Geert Dekkers]

Really?

Anyway, I was just reconsidering a line

>> - Alan might make art, but we will never know

at first I wrote

Alan might NOT make art, but we will never know

I think that's better


Geert




On 7/01/2007, at 6:35 PM, marc wrote:

> Hi Geert,
>
> >(Incidentally, I'm quite amazed that leon at c6.org  
> <mailto:leon at c6.org>'s little bout of indigestion lead to a thread  
> this size)
>
> Well, he must of been affected in some way because he has  
> unsubscribed now.
>
>
> marc
>
>
>> I would like to add this:
>>
>> - Alan might make art, but we will never know
>> - Alans work isn't a series of  "works"
>> - Alan makes raw materials, not consumer items
>> - We are smart enough to put it all together again
>>
>> (Incidentally, I'm quite amazed that leon at c6.org  
>> <mailto:leon at c6.org>'s little bout of indigestion lead to a thread  
>> this size)
>>
>> Geert Dekkers---------------------------
>> http://nznl.com | http://nznl.org | http://nznl.net
>> ---------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>> On 7/01/2007, at 4:12 PM, marc wrote:
>>
>>> Comments on Alan Sondheim's postings on this list...
>>>
>>> I perceive Alan's post-works, as an going work in 'process',  
>>> expounding the very nature of process itself, as a continualy  
>>> networked , creative act of mutated-consciousness, in a literal  
>>> form. It involves the material itself to be distributed, when  
>>> visiting various lists as part of a performative operation, this  
>>> is part of its context. Viewing the function and behaviour of how  
>>> the work is solicited can also bring about a closer understanding  
>>> of what the work is doing, in essence, as we receive it daily.
>>>
>>> Its value as art, or even an act of creativity rests in  
>>> appreciating that some of the work is like semiotic code, using  
>>> the language of tools, sofware and the computer, to build the  
>>> content, mixed with more traditional wordings alongside other  
>>> peices of texts. His work is noise, not non-thinking noise but a  
>>> noise that expounds, or translates the result of Alan's poetic  
>>> imagination, melding with code. It is not trying to communicate  
>>> as a linear message would do, or as a singular art object like an  
>>> image. It is exploiting the channels of communication, leaking  
>>> into these platforms like a virus would, yet directed by his  
>>> consciousness.
>>>
>>> So, Alan's behaviour in releasing his material around the  
>>> Internet, could be considered as acting much like a parasite. I  
>>> do not mean this in a negative way, but more that 'this is what  
>>> is done', it becomes, or is part of the meaning of the work  
>>> itself - the function is component of its larger meaning, if  
>>> there is such a thing as meaning. The intention of his actions,  
>>> also becomes part of the work which we may not be so clear about  
>>> which is probably what causes the most troubles, when people ask  
>>> questions - like why is there so much of it?
>>>
>>> Alan and the Internet cannot be split. His work spans its  
>>> history, and as much as it has dominated his psyche, he has also  
>>> dominated the Internet's psyche; and perhaps also infiltrated our  
>>> own minds just by being here or there, as we tour many of the  
>>> lists ourselves. We are part of the work, whether we be passively  
>>> or engaged with it, it is now part of our online presence with  
>>> us, like a virus, hacking into the listserv, structures and sub- 
>>> structures, and into our own contexts. We become segments of the  
>>> structures that he sets his work up to infiltrate.
>>>
>>> What makes it a little more confusing is that we know that Alan  
>>> harbours real emotions, ideas and also gets involved in discourse  
>>> regarding various subject matters on lists as well as  
>>> distributing his work on them at the same time. But, he speaks  
>>> differently from his posts/conversations because that is  
>>> dialogue, and this should be acknowledged. I do not feel that  
>>> Alan is trying to impose any type of mesaage to dominate us, or  
>>> even try and impose a claiming of territory. Much of his work  
>>> just is, it is being, it is there and bleeds into its  
>>> surroundings like steam into a room.
>>>
>>> I am definately not sure if Alan would agree with any of this,  
>>> but if he is not going to respond and discuss about his work, it  
>>> is not a problem. Because going through the motions of exploring  
>>> these texts and their purposes etc, has been rewarding itself and  
>>> opened different possibilities, and nuances, and also helps one  
>>> to understand or at least appreciate (a little) work by other  
>>> artists such as MEZ and FLorian Cramer.
>>>
>>> marc :-)
>>>
>>> --------------------------
>>> (c)human interaction in a broad sense of any cultural  
>>> appropriation and use: in 1968, in his book Algol, Noël Arnaud  
>>> made a first attempt at using a programming language as material  
>>> for poetic compositions. Later on, the hacker slang “leet”, Alan  
>>> Sondheim’s “Codework” and Marie Anne Breeze’s “Mezangelle” all  
>>> apply code as a material that can be recomposed to create a  
>>> particular form of written language that is recognised as  
>>> “computer talk”, imitating command lines but readable as some  
>>> sort of English. In the same way as James Joyce experienced with  
>>> language in “Finnegan’s Wake”, these new forms of writing create  
>>> their own semantics and a meta-language with social and cultural  
>>> implications. On the other hand, the work of George Pérec, Jodi,  
>>> the I/O/D group, Netochka Nezvanova or Adrian Ward’s Auto- 
>>> Illustrator introduce what Cramer defines as “software dystopia”,  
>>> the reflection on software not as a subservient, domesticated  
>>> assistant but as a fearful, obscure and incomprehensible golem  
>>> that may revolt against us at any time or take its own decisions.  
>>> Under this light, software becomes much more than just a tool, it  
>>> is part of a broader concept of culture.
>>> Pau Waelder - Words Made Flesh (2005) - Florian Cramer. http:// 
>>> www.furtherfield.org/displayreview.php?From=Index&review_id=167  
>>> <http://www.furtherfield.org/displayreview.php? 
>>> From=Index&review_id=167>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> NetBehaviour mailing list
>>> NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org <mailto:NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org>
>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
>>
>>
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