[NetBehaviour] Crisis at the ICA: Ekow Eshun¹s Experiment in Deinstitutionalisation

Thu Feb 11 15:12:04 CET 2010

   With participatory,conversational, collaborative, temporary, fluid  
approaches all being appropriated so quickly into institutional  
policies and communication being commodified by social networking  
sites.. has really made me wonder what the next 'turn' will have to be  
in artists tactics

What new approaches will emerge?

best
Helen
www.helenpritchard.info

On 11 Feb 2010, at 12:52, marc garrett wrote:

> Hi Simon & all,
>
> The other thing worth of note here is that the article was published  
> on
> Mute. Which of course, is a perceptive tactic in its own right.
>
> JJ Charlesworth's article is excellently executed. And it skillfully
> manages to take us through various processes, stages and periods of
> governance regarding the ICA, during Eshen's reign. So, in regard to
> journalists, I think we may have to be careful in tarring them all  
> with
> the same brush. Just like we need to be careful of tarring all  
> academics
> with the same brush. Charlesworth has done us all a very positive  
> favour
> here in declaring a big problem which needs immediate discourse and
> perhaps, action in some way - not sure what yet.
>
> The other thing is that, even if Eshen does try to appropriate media
> art's more tactical approaches, I doubt whether he will be able to  
> agree
> with its less top-down processes of collaboration. Much of it quite
> naturally comes from a grass roots desire to create alternative  
> contexts
> on their own terms. Whether it be part of the art or not. I would
> imagine his version would be at best superficial, and less ground
> breaking - but then, perhaps this is what plays in the hands of  
> creative
> industry and social networking corporation desires. Although,  
> judging by
> Charlesworth's article, it seems as though his reliance on high  
> profile
> celebrity and creative industry reliance has left him burnt, as well  
> as
> those poor people who are now losing their jobs at the ICA.
>
> Rewinding slightly back to the notion of Eshen suddenly appropriating
> media art strategies or tactics to further his own status, career or
> future. It would be radical or at least, much more interesting if  
> others
> were to take over the ICA in order to re-invent it, rather than have  
> him
> continue as its captain. He reminds me of Herman Melville's, stubborn
> Captain Ahab, blindly chasing Moby Dick whilst everyone else suffers  
> the
> consequences of his decisions and actions. He does need to go, it  
> needs
> a more authentic and real 'vision' to get it back into the  
> contemporary
> world, being critical is also about knowing when it's no longer worth
> flogging a dead horse. And perhaps, ICA is not the dead horse - if we
> think back to its history, but rather those who rule it right now,  
> they
> are killing its brilliant history.
>
> I sometimes wonder if ourselves ran the ICA what it that look like -  
> we
> would include so many others, such as a rotating curators, collective
> decision making - a consensus board, as well as being connected to the
> communities that we are already part of and have been for years,  
> that we
> could offer so much more than it is now - the artists are the source.
>
> The current representatives of our art culture are so lacking in  
> edge or
> recognition of what it is really going on, I know that dreaming such a
> silly thing is stupid, but we can carry on building our own contexts  
> on
> our own mutual terms anyway...
>
> marc
>
>
>> The irony is that if Eshun does appropriate such tactics from groups
> that have been active in new media he will be doing so shortly after  
> he
> closed down the department (media and live art) within the ICA that  
> had
> the remit to deal with such work. That is a tragi-irony for all  
> involved
> and a dramatic example of exploitative hypocrisy on his behalf.
>>
>> Best
>>
>> Simon
>>
>>
>> Simon Biggs
>>
>> s.biggs@ eca .ac.uk  simon at littlepig.org.uk  Skype: simonbiggsuk
> http://www.littlepig.org.uk/
>> Research Professor   edinburgh college of art   http://www.  
>> eca .ac.uk/
>> C reative I nterdisciplinary R esearch into C o L laborative E
> nvironments  http://www. eca .ac.uk/circle/
>> E lectronic L iterature as a M odel of C reativity and I nnovation in
> P ractice  http://www.elmcip.net/
>>
>>
>> From: marc garrett <marc.garrett at furtherfield.org>
>> Reply-To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
> <netbehaviour at netbehaviour.org>
>> Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:57:05 +0000
>> To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
> <netbehaviour at netbehaviour.org>
>> Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] Crisis at the ICA: Ekow Eshun¹s
> Experiment in Deinstitutionalisation
>>
>> Hi Simon, I agree with what you are saying here. As usual, the
> artists are pushed aside like 'economical fodder' for the patriarch,  
> in
> this case by a ego-centric, journalist who is onto a good thing  
> through,
> exploiting sensational contexts whilst promoting his own
> position/status. The other dodgey thing here is that Eshun, is  
> actually
> quite high up within the Arts Council himself, making decisions as a
> high-profile board member. This surely has an influence on the outcome
> regarding how much support they get from the Arts Council... Another
> aspect of the article I found curious was Eshen's idea of exploring  
> new
> territories which may relate to our own way of working, some of the
> processes he has proposed seem to be influenced by media art culture's
> own strategies in survival, as well as similar to festival  
> behaviours -
> I fear that all it means is that he will steal many of the
> contemporary/imaginative ideas as part of a strategy to put himself  
> and
> perhaps like Nicolas Bourriaud's top-down related solution for moving
> forward. Thus, exploiting the ideas of smaller groups like ourselves  
> to
> promote those who are already considered safe or viable items for
> profile rather than content or 'real' change. So, supporting a
> modernist, capitalist and neo-liberalism agenda in the guise of  
> supposed
> 'radicalism'. The power positions remain in place but the interface
> changes, just another brand to sell... marc The main point of the
> article is that Eshun has sought to agrandise himself and his position
> as a pundit in the media at the expense of the ICA and the artists  
> that
> support it and who are in turn meant to be supported by it. This is  
> what
> happens when journalists take over cultural organisations. A bit like
> bankers taking over industries. The new BBC arts blogger Will Gompertz
> was recently the focus of some alarmed discussion as it became clear  
> BBC
> Online has appointed a journalist and marketing person as their key  
> arts
> commentator. It could be assumed that the UK arts scene is being taken
> over by such people. The ICA was the original “artists’ run” space in
> the UK but has somehow, over the past 60 years, transformed into a  
> Hela
> cell. Perhaps it needs a little chemotherapy – but I don’t think Eshun
> is part of the cure. For him the art is irrelevant. Best Simon Simon
> Biggs s.biggs@ eca .ac.uk  simon at littlepig.org.uk  Skype: simonbiggsuk
> http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ Research Professor   edinburgh college of
> art   http://www. eca .ac.uk/ C reative I nterdisciplinary R esearch
> into C o L laborative E nvironments  http://www. eca ac.uk/circle/ E
> lectronic L iterature as a M odel of C reativity and I nnovation in P
> ractice  http://www.elmcip.net/ From: Jim Andrews <jim at vispo.com>
> Reply-To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
> <netbehaviour at netbehaviour.org> Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:26:06 -0800
> To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
> <netbehaviour at netbehaviour.org> Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] Crisis at
> the ICA: Ekow Eshun’s Experiment in Deinstitutionalisation i'm only  
> very
> remotely interested in what's going on at the ica, but the article was
> interesting in its picture of the relation of art and artists to the  
> ica
> and, by extension, many other institutions of art. in the picture
> charlesworth draws, the art itself is irrelevant compared with the  
> buzz,
> and the buzz not even about the art as the moment in which the art is
> situated. ja http://vispo.com
> _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing
> list NetBehaviour at netbehaviour.org
> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour Edinburgh
> College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland, number
> SC009201 _______________________________________________ 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
>>
>> Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland,
> number SC009201
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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