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

Geert Dekkers geert at nznl.com
Sun Jan 7 20:53:57 CET 2007


Perhaps. But as you might know, I included Alan in "Digital Bodies",  
a show I did with Antoinette Reuten in her gallery in Amsterdam. I  
had some trouble convincing her Alan was really "doing art" (I spend  
most of my days wondering what that means). So I do see a consumerist  
stance as a real obstacle to the appreciation of art. People tend to  
want a finished product, and Alan jsut isn't giving this kind of thing.

Geert


On 7-jan-2007, at 19:52, marc wrote:

> Hi Geert,
>
> >Really?
>
> I think that perhaps there those who are more interested in  
> collecting specific information & promoting their projects, rather  
> the other noise that happens on lists. I think that our list is  
> actually pretty mellow really...
>
> >Alan might make art, but we will never know
>
> I remember Heath Bunting stuck some text on a billboard about 15  
> yearsa go now saying 'most art means nothing to most people'...
>
> marc
>
>
>> 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
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>>> -- ---
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> NetBehaviour mailing list
>>>> NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org
>>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> NetBehaviour mailing list
>>> NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org
>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> NetBehaviour mailing list
>> NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org
>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> NetBehaviour mailing list
> NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org
> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour

met vriendelijk groet,

Geert Dekkers

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
-------------------
Geert Dekkers Web Studio | 2e Keucheniusstraat 8HS 1051VR Amsterdam |  
+31(0)627224301 | http://nznl.net
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
-------------------




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.netbehaviour.org/pipermail/netbehaviour/attachments/20070107/065f947a/attachment.htm>


More information about the NetBehaviour mailing list