The Rhizome Digest merged into the Rhizome News in November 2008. These pages serve as an archive for 6-years worth of discussions and happenings from when the Digest was simply a plain-text, weekly email.

Subject: RHIZOME DIGEST: 11.28.03
From: digest@rhizome.org (RHIZOME)
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 17:55:22 -0500
Reply-to: digest@rhizome.org
Sender: owner-digest@rhizome.org

RHIZOME DIGEST: November 28, 2003

Content:

+announcement+
1. Rachel Greene: DISTRIBUTED CREATIVITY FORUM ON RHIZOME

+opportunity+
2. Rachel Greene: CALL FOR PAPERS - CIBER AT RT BILBAO 2004
3. Taylor Nuttall: exhibition opportunity

+work+
4. Ruth Catlow: Rethinking Wargames Low-fi Commission

+comment+
5. Sean Capone: Sociology of the Fading Signal--Can You Hear Me Now?

+thread+
6. Eryk Salvaggio, Curt Cloninger, Jim Andrews, Joy Garnett, Ryan
Griffis, JM Haefner, Ivan Pope, Ruth Catlow: Thom Yorke / Howard Zinn

+feature+
7. Jonah Brucker-Cohen: Interview with Angie Waller

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1.

Date: 11.26.03
From: Rachel Greene (rachel AT rhizome.org)
Subject: DISTRIBUTED CREATIVITY FORUM ON RHIZOME

DISTRIBUTED CREATIVITY, an Online Forum hosted by Eyebeam and Still
Water for Network & Culture will spend a week cross-pollinating on the
Rhizome list. This forum investigates new paradigms for artmaking that
take advantage of nobile and distributed technologies such as WiFi,
Weblogs, Wikis, rich Internet applications, voice over IP and social
software. Forum co-hosts from around the world --week 3 at
RHIZOME!!--will continue the discussion on issues related to the
artistic, legal, technical and social dynamics of creative networks
small and large. All rhizomers are invited to participate with special
guest moderators for the week--Rachel Greene, Patrick Lichty and Perry
Garvin. To see archived threads from week one and two discussions with
Creative Commons and DATA go to www.eyebeam.org/distributedcreativity

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2.

Date: 11.24.03
From: Rachel Greene (rachel AT rhizome.org)
Subject: CALL FOR PAPERS - CIBER AT RT BILBAO 2004

CALL FOR PAPERS - CIBER AT RT BILBAO 2004 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Submission Deadline for Conference "Challenges for a Ubiquitous
Identity" Extended until January 7th 2004 The International Conference
will be held within the International Festival of New Technologies
Ciberart Bilbao 2004 which will take place from April 26th to 29th 2004
(Bilbao - Spain). We are inviting you to present your papers for the key
themes of the Conference which include: Computational Sociology,
Televirtuality and Telepresence, Body and Nets, Synaptic Cartography,
Planetary Art, The Museum of the Ubiquitous Art. The Scientific
Committee that will select the submitted papers is formed by the
following theorists: Roy Ascott (UK), Victoria Vesna (USA), =C1ngel
Kalenberg (Uruguay), Elisenda Ardevol (Spain), Guilia Colaizzi (Italy),
Peter Andres (USA), Alex Galloway (USA), Josu Rekalde (Spain), Lourdes
Cilleruelo (Spain), Ramon Lopez de Manteras Badia (Spain), Javier
Echevarra (Spain) y Pierre Bongiovanni (France ).

April 29th, last day of the Conference, will be dedicated to the
Planetary Collegium presentations, group of theorists directed by Roy
Ascott. A list of the speakers is available at the Festival's web page.

We invite you to visit our web page for further information about the
Conference and Festival: http://www.ciberart-bilbao.net/congreso_en.htm

We would also like to remind you that deadline for Artwork submission is
December 15th 2003.

Contact:
congres AT ciberart-bilbao.net
programacion AT ciberart-bilbao.net
www.ciberart-bilbao.net
Tel: +34 96 373 01 81
Fax: +34 96 373 05 45
_________________________________________
Direccion de Produccion - Production Management
Ciber AT RT Bilbao 2004
Av. Reino de Valencia, 58 - 8
46005 Valencia
Espana - Spain
Tel.: 00 34 96 373 10 82
Fax: 00 34 96 373 05 45
www.ciberart-bilbao.net
produccion AT ciberart-bilbao.net

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3.

Date: 11.25.03
From: Taylor Nuttall (taylor AT greenquarter.co.uk)
Subject: exhibition opportunity

Call for entries:

You are invited to take part in the 2004 Folly Members Exhibition to
take place 12th March - 12th April 2004

Curated by Folly, this exhibition will give Full members of Folly the
chance to have their work displayed as part of the programme for 2004.

Full membership is available for £25 and will give you the opportunity:

* to hire equipment such as digital video cameras, Apple Laptops, data
projectors
* use facilities at Folly such as the Darkroom, Digital Video Editing,
Web Streaming
* receive a discount of 20% on courses and events
* take part in special events and opportunities for members
* have access to Folly's server services for developing your own online
content
* take part in Folly's Think Tank to actively contribute to the
development of Folly and opportunities for artists within the Lancashire
/ Cumbria region
* 15% discount on goods from Folly cafe

Group membership is available at £12.50 each
Couples or 2 at the same address membership for £40

There is no geographical restriction on membership or on participation
in the 2004 Folly Members Exhibition

Photography and new media work will be accepted. Please submit up to 5
images (12? x 16?) or other relevant work on slide, disc, email or print
to:

Members Exhibition, Folly, 26 Castle Park, Lancaster LA1 1YQ

or email Kate Connolly on admin AT folly.co.uk

The closing date for submission is Wednesday 7 January. Please send a
SAE if you would like work returning.

Please also note Folly admin will be unavailable due to Christmas
closure between Saturday 20th December and Sunday 4th January.

Reagrds

Taylor Nuttall
Director
Folly
26 Castle Park
Lancaster
LA1 1YQ
01524 388550
director AT folly.co.uk
www.folly.co.uk
====================

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4.

Date: 11.24.03
From: Ruth Catlow (ruth.catlow AT furtherfield.org)
Subject: Rethinking Wargames Low-fi Commission

Rethinking Wargames commissioned by Low-fi
http://www.low-fi.org.uk/rethinkingwargames/

This participatory net art project initiated by Ruth Catlow, uses the
game of chess to find strategies that challenge existing power
structures and their concomitant war machineries.

Activate:3 player chess is a new online game in which the pawns join
forces, subverting the usual hierarchical structure of the game. It was
made in collaboration with computer programmer, Adrian Eaton, with rules
that reflect the humour and blue-sky-thinking of early contributors to
the project: chess players, artists, activists and philosophers.

Those with a talent for strategic thinking, are invited to contribute to
the ongoing reevaluation of the game by playing the new game and posting
to the 'Pawns Unite' online journal-
http://www.journalscape.com/pawns_unite

Please come along to the live events or take part in the online
tournament.

Live Events:
BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art
Gateshead
November 27th, 2003, 7pm

Limehouse Town Hall
London
November 29th, 2003, 7pm
++++++++++++++

http://www.low-fi.org.uk/rethinkingwargames/
http://www.furtherfield.org

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5.

Date: 11.08.03
From: Sean Capone (sean AT mvmt.us)
Subject: Sociology of the Fading Signal--Can You Hear Me Now?

Hi all. While chatting with a friend in SF from my location in Chicago,
his signal suddenly died. While the implications of mobility and nomadic
enabling telecommunications has been written about quite a bit, I am
interested if anyone has conducted any artistic or anthropological
research on the telecommunications reality of the Faded Signal. There
seem to be some implications here on the way in which theses
technologies have sculpted new social landscapes, but in which the
glitches inherent in the technology are taken for granted by the users,
whose navigational instincts then guide them through the anxieties of
Sudden Potential or Actual Communication Loss. I mean it seems obvious,
but I think that's only because we have so seamlessly adopted (adapted)
our habits around the inevitability of the Glitch.

Some quick scattered thoughts:

1) Can Total Information Loss provide comfort in a paranoid age of Total
Information Awareness?

2) Episode of Friends: Phoebe fakes her way out of a phone conversation
by pretending that she was on a mobile and 'just about to go into a
tunnel---(makes static noise with mouth)--OK bye now!'. A good comic
bit, but also a riff on the social phenomena (batteries dying, signal
cutout, needing two hands to do something) of deceit which is enabled by
taking the Glitch for granted.

3) Is anyone else struck by the sadness of the "Can You Hear Me Now"
guy--a rootless lonely cell-phone ronin endlessly repeating his mantra
to the electronic void...

4) Business etiquette as practiced by international executives has the
severity and rigidity of bushido. I wonder what mannerisms and
professional attitudes of conducting business have emerged as a result
of having a potential signal loss wiping out a delicate
deal-in-progress. What ethnic and cultural biases come into play as
different countries' incompatible cell networks and methods of social
protocol compete?

5) STD-ISD: You will never get lost in India no matter what--it is THE
most wired nation in the world. I was impressed that literally
everywhere, on practically every street corner, were booths that allowed
one to make cheap, clear, and fast phone calls to anywhere in the world.
To say nothing of the frenzy of the (now increasingly regulated) cell
industry out there. A sane response to an otherwise glitchy and
congested society.

6) Why is the loss of email and TV reception met with frustration and
near-hysteria, but cell phone signal loss is met with, at best, mild
aggravation and more often than not, if you think about it, mild relief
at the outside interruption of what was a (good but) banal conversation?
What are the statistics on resuming conversations following a signal
loss? What does this say about the flexibility of our habituations?

7) Everyone experiences 'dead zone' areas in cities--certain places that
are clearly delineated-- where one's cell simply will not get a signal.
These electromagnetic topographical black holes create anxieties once
encountered and perhaps permanently alter one's desire to return to the
area or skirt the virtual perimeter. But at the same time they offer
zones of retreat and reflection, a telecommunication Zen garden deep
within the city's canyons.

7a) In other words, these 'Dead zones' produce yet another
psychogeography overlaid on the several we carry already navigating our
urban habitations, but rather than a social or technological map, it is
one of neuroses. The ability to be gotten ahold of at all times creates
a neurotic condition about being out of touch, even if it's just for
minutes at a time.

8) Why do we apologize when our signals fade or are crappy? I believe
this is leftover cultural collateral anxiety along the lines of, say,
choosing a crappy car or buying a cheap TV set. Picking an inferior
wireless provider or a cheap phone is, by nature, indicative of a
careless or insuficient identity/personality as manifested through its
consumer choices.

9) The potential Loss of the Signal is the perimeter around any new
works or social acts. The new activist phenomena of spontaneous,
cell-phone motivated organizations and happenings is undermined should
there be a sudden relay power loss, or should the targets of protest
engage in the counter-practice of picking-or creating- 'dead zones' in
which to house their activities. Or, in terms of art practice, Golan
Levin conducted a cellphone symphony by casting his own frequencies at
the audience (is this correct?), eliminating the need to stage the event
in a universally receptible location..

10) The Matrix, among other things, creates a world where survival
depends upon clear signals and defined 'exit points' via the Operators.
These 'real people' diving into the Matrix are the metaphorical
Initiates embodying present-day cool 'Wired' individuals-- Infonauts
spelunking into consumer-zombie society along the lines of privileged
demands for free and instantaneous access to technological
communication. Is Neo the equivelant of the cell-phone yapping, SUV
driving Silicon Valley millionaire, creating the need for
science-fiction-like access to technology for a society he secretly
holds in contempt?

Feel free to add to this list of observations. Again, while the
implications of mobile empowerment is interesting, I'm even more
compelled to explore what's happening on the ragged edges and empty
spaces--

Look around and see how you and others around you seamlessly absorb
signal loss into your daily existence.

:sean

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6.

Date: 11.25.03-11.28.03
From: Eryk Salvaggio (eryk AT maine.rr.com), Curt Cloninger
(curt AT lab404.com), Jim Andrews (jim AT vispo.com), Joy Garnett
(joyeria AT walrus.com), Ryan Griffis (grifray AT yahoo.com), JM Haefner
(webgrrrl AT mac.com), Ivan Pope (ivan AT ivanpope.com), Ruth Catlow
(ruth.catlow AT furtherfield.org)
Subject: Thom Yorke / Howard Zinn

Eryk Salvaggio (eryk AT maine.rr.com) posted:

A discussion between Thom Yorke of Radiohead and Howard Zinn:

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17242

So would you say that there's a place for both directly political and
non-political artists? What importance do you think each have?


Zinn: There are all sorts of artists. There are artists who really don't
have a social consciousness, who don't see that there's a connection
between art and life in a way that compels the artist to look around the
world and see what is wrong and try to use his or her art to change
that. There are artists who just entertain. You can look upon
entertainment as something useful, as we don't want to eliminate art
which is only entertaining, and insist that all art must be political,
must be revolutionary, must be transforming.


But there's a place for comedy and music and the circus and things that
don't really have an awful effect on society except to entertain people
- to make people feel good, and to act as a kind of religion. That is
what Marx called the "opium of the people," something that people need.
They need distraction.


So it does serve a purpose, but if that's all that artists do, the
entertainment that you seek will become permanent. The misery that
people live under and the wars that people have to go through, that will
become permanent. There are huge numbers of people in the world whose
lives are bound, limited. Lives of sheer misery, of sickness and
violence. In order to change that you need to have artists who will be
conscious of that, who will use their art in such a way that it helps to
transform society. It may not be a blunt instrument, but it will have a
kind of poetic effect.


Yorke: Yeah, I don't think we are political at all, I think I'm hyper
aware of the soapbox thing. It is difficult to make political art work.
If all it does is exist in the realms of political discussion, it's
using that language, and generally, it's an ugly language. It is very
dead, definitely not a thing of beauty. The only reason, I think, that
we go anywhere near it is because, like any reason that we buy music,
these things get absorbed. These are the things surrounding your life.
If you sit down and try to do it purposefully, and try to change this
with this, and do this with that, it never works.

+ + +

Curt Cloninger (curt AT lab404.com) replied:

My sister-in-law and I were talking last night, and the topic of
conceptual art somehow came up. She asked, "what is conceptual art?" I
said it was art in which the art object was largely incidental or a prop
for the concept, and that the para-texts and the contexts were the main
vehicles through which the art spoke. She asked, "but isn't that just
like philosophy or psychology? Why call it art?" I answered that you can
get away with more stuff socially and politically if you call it art. My
brother added, "plus, they probably can't draw."

The assertion that the circus is marginally useful Marxian opiate
entertainment and that overt, socially conscious art is the only way to
*really* change the world -- that sounds just like something a political
scientist would say. Sadly, many artists on this list would quickly step
up and agree. Artists used to know intuitively what Thom Yorke
stumblingly describes -- that if art is really plugged into life, it
won't have to try to be in intentional moral dialogue with life issues,
it just will be (and in a way much more
natural/valuable/persuasive/subtle/transformatory/ARTISTIC than
something like nikeplatz). These days it takes a pop musician to point
this out, and it comes across as some sort of relevatory challenge to
"serious" artists.

Which is why I much prefer reading Lester Bangs to Lev Manovich, and why
I prefer writing for Paste magazine to writing for Mute magazine.

Maybe one day I will drop out of new media altogether and succumb to the
lure of pure, unadulterated rock music journalism.

until then,
curt

---

+ + +

Jim Andrews (jim AT vispo.com) replied:

I'll bet you'd like really strong conceptual art, Curt. If you get a
chance, pick up Joseph Kosuth's book 'Art After Philosophy and After'.
It's a pretty exciting read. He's a strong writer and thinker about art.
Whether you agree with him or not is something else. He's sufficiently
brainy, passionate, knowlegeable and articulate that the writing is
exciting.

Which would seem to be crucial to successful conceptual art. But that's
part of what is missing from so much of the contemporary type,
particularly of the digital variety. Too often calling it 'conceptual
art' is a way of justifying posturing vacuity, pompous moralizing, and
technical incompetence.

There's a terrific tradition, though, in your country of 'poetry of
ideas', say, or 'art of ideas' involving characters like Thoreau,
Emerson, Whitman, Melville, Wallace Stevens, etc, and I admire it
deeply. Conceptual art isn't unrelated to that sort of very strong
brainy passion, at its best.

ja http://vispo.com

+ + +

Joy Garnett (joyeria AT walrus.com) replied:

rock on, curt. I got the same feeling off that exchange (except I doubt
I will end up ditching painting for pure rock/writing) -- the problem of
'political art' is so thorny; I happen to be reading a tiny book of
essays by Howard Zinn at the moment (hot off the press: Artists in Times
of War, Univ. of Wisconsin Press), who I respect, but who, like a lot of
folks--artists included--doesn't understand or want to understand the
first thing about 'art' -- and that there is a problem the minute you
try to make art with a message...

moralizing just plain defeats the function of art BECAUSE it attempts to
steer or limit interpretation. which would be the job of propaganda,
agitprop, sloganeering, campaigning or whatever counts as political
speech. the function of art--or one of them--is a more complex one. if
your content includes or focuses on the political, the social, the Big
Issues, you end up having to find ways to avoid moralizing--there all
kinds of ways to do this, but sometimes it isn't so easy. people fall
into the trap.

one might say that the language of (any) art is by necessity amorphous,
open-ended, and in fact, risky. one risks interpretations one didn't
intend. which is an important factor to consider: you put something out
in the world that resonates with something larger than yourself, that
perhaps you fail to comprehend entirely. the thing then has a life of
its own.

[Yorke]:
These are the things surrounding your life. If you sit down and
try to do it purposefully, and try to change this with this, and do this
with that, it never works.


yep.

best,
joy

:::
http://thebombproject.org

+ + +

Ryan griffis (grifray AT yahoo.com) added:

i have to say that for an argument that seems in opposition to the
over-simplistic practice of political/conceptual art, it seems a
simplistic response itself. it's also strange that "political" and
"conceptual" art keep getting collapsed. certianly there are examples of
"political art" going back to Goya through the Mexican and California
Muralists that i don't think is being criticized here (because it
involves manual craft, hence "Art"?). It also seems to have something to
do with a valuation of ambiguity? Certianly, the roots of much
political-conceptual art, dada/surrealism and situationism, embraced and
employed ambiguity as a political tactic. the politics included
pleasure. but much celebrated conceptual art was as apolitical as it
gets (in overt terms) On Kawara, LeWit, Bochner, even a lot of Kosuth's
work. so i guess i'm not sure what's being critized here. is it feeling
like one's being "preached" at with no formal outlet to distract from
the "sermon?" or is it a desire for manual craft? i don't have problems
with these positions, i'm just trying to figure out exactly what the
critique is, because i think some art perceived as cut-and-dry or overly
"didactic" can be read with much more ambiguity and sensitivity. but to
say that "it figures that a political scientist would expect this from
art" as a dismissive is, well, not very useful. it overlooks other forms
of knowledge that might have something useful to add to a critique fo
visual culture. i'm not saying that it should be given priority by any
means (that might be scary), but it shouldn't be dismissed. unless this
is all about taste, in which case, whoever has the most cultural power
wins ;) it's also strange to insist that artists don't have to try to
communicate, they "just do" by being part of the environment. what?
take care,
ryan

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JM Haefner (webgrrrl AT mac.com) replied:

To say it never works is a perhaps a bit extreme. I would agree that it
is reactionary. Though the artist is recording -in a way- what is around
him or her, it's a snapshot of sorts, of a political moment. Often, the
approach is as graphic as the deed that created the reaction, but who
said art has to be pretty?

To say that it is dead because it is ugly is like saying Rap is then
dead, because it can be ugly too.

I don't think it's about absorbing that type of art but an affirmation
-that we were thinking that too, but lacked the means to "show" it.

In certain political climates, it is dangerous or is perceived as such
-to make art that is negative/political. Art can still be the harbinger
or the "pulse of the people," and this type of art often makes our
thoughts real.

As far as the risk of interpretation... "pretty" art risks the same. Did
those O'Keefe flowers have a sexual connotation?

Moralizing is often a function of art, as is historical and political
commentary. I for one prefer to take the risk, and like it when someone
arrives at my intended interpretation. Otherwise I'd be designing toilet
paper.

-j

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Ivan Pope (ivan AT ivanpope.com) replied:

"Moralizing is often a function of art, as is historical and political
commentary. I for one prefer to take the risk, and like it when someone
arrives at my intended interpretation. Otherwise I'd be designing toilet
paper."

Surely the very point of toilet paper is that people arrive at the
intended interpretation. Otherwise they wouldn't get to wipe their
arses. Surely it is for designers to desire an arrival at the 'intended
interpretation'. Isn't the phrase 'intended interpretation' an oxymoron?
If something has an obvious intent, then it is not interpreted.

Ivan

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Ryan Griffis added:

"Surely the very point of toilet paper is that people arrive at the
intended interpretation."

damn, that's a great observation... but i think the point was one of
meaning as different from function? which is certainly a question that
has implications for "politically engaged" art (via McLuhan) or those
interested in reappropriating function...
http://www.interactivetoiletpaper.com/main.html

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JM Haefner replied:

intended

1. aimed at or designed for
2. planned for the future
3. said or done deliberately

interpretation

1. an explanation or establishment of the meaning or significance of
something
2. an ascription of a particular meaning or significance to something
3. the way in which an artistic work, for example, a play or piece of
music, is performed so as to convey a particular understanding of the
work
4. the oral translation of what is said in one language into another,
so that speakers of different languages can communicate

I presume you were going for # 4?

+ + +

Ruth Catlow (ruth.catlow AT furtherfield.org) replied:

If we're talking in the abstract (without specific examples-lots of
handy ones provided by ryan) the only problem that I can imagine with
conceptual political works is if they are poorly or narrowly informed,
inadequately synthesized or badly contextualised- just the same as for
any other artwork really. An artwork might then be experienced by
viewers as an 'opinion'. This might occur if someone has adopted
another's ideas or concerns without properly absorbing the significance
of these ideas to their own life and circumstances. This then creates an
impression of detachment from a subject and opens up the artist to the
accusation of making capital from the oppression and misery of others.

I guess it's also possible that works are perceived as political
didactic when the viewer does not appreciate the political standpoint of
the artist.

I've heard Thom Yorke talking on the radio before and my understanding
is that he has never felt moved to make 'political' songs. This is fine.
One problem is that artists sometimes feel that (for many reasons) they
OUGHT to be making political work. One reason might be to be taken
seriously- an 'important' subject may lend a piece of artwork a kind of
gravity, a raison d'etre.

Of course taken superficially, if we are talking about doing something
objectively useful and important in the world, creating any kind of
artwork might come pretty far down the list on a popular survey- as
Heath Bunting said 'Most art means nothing to most people'. One of the
great things about life is that one can never tell objectively whether
what one is involved in is contributing positively to the continuum of
life consciousness.

hmm
ruth

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*Editor's Note:
To read the full contents of this thread, point your browser to:
http://rhizome.org/thread.rhiz?thread=11256&text=21621

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7.

Date: 11.19.03
From: Jonah Brucker-Cohen (jonah AT coin-operated.com)
Subject: Interview with Angie Waller

Interview with Angie Waller
By Jonah Brucker-Cohen (jonah AT coin-operated.com)

Introduction
A few months ago, I wrote a Net Art News for Rhizome about LA based
artist Angie Waller's project: "Data Mining the Amazon". The project
(released as a book available from Waller's website) catalogs and
graphs relationships between books customers bought on Amazon.com and
music CDs purchased by users with similar tastes. Waller's approach
adds a political slant by profiling relationships between liberal and
conservative titles, popular books among the US military, and
profiles on world leaders such as George W. Bush and Margaret
Thatcher. Her aim is to repurpose a supposedly helpful customer
service into a window of collective reflection on popular culture and
values. The project also asks how media and commercial trends
disseminate into public opinion through both national and global
outlets like Amazon.com. My main interest in Waller's work comes from
the focus on subverting networks from one purpose to another by using
existing information to draw new types of correlations and reactions.
Below is an interview I conducted with Waller about the project and
her motivation as an artist, avid consumer, and data cartographer.

Name: Angie Waller
Age: 27
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation / Title(s): Artist
URL: http://www.couchprojects.com

JBC: How did you start the "Data Mining the Amazon" project? What was
the impetus?

AW: I started data mining Amazon.com as a loyal customer. I am a
sucker for e-shopping and I never checkout with only one item. As a
frequent shopper, I started to develop a very specialized home page
on the site. I became more and more interested in the movies and CDs
recommended to me based on my purchase history of art theory and
computer programming books. One day a friend and I were talking
about some band she had never heard of and I described them by saying
"if you like band x and band y you might like band z." She knew
instantly what I was referring to, and I realized that Amazon.com had
become a huge influence on my vocabulary.

JBC: Your work seems to pick out cultural memes and play around with
them. Is this intentional or do you see it fitting into a larger
exploration? If so, what?

AW: I think the next morning I woke up with the idea to hit the
political memes. Aesthetics and culture used to be of high importance
in the political sphere, but these days we are being led by
philistines. As an artist, I have a problem with that. Exploring
Amazon became an easy way to relieve some of the tension.

Popular culture such as movies and CDs are the strongest cultural
arena and I was excited to find associations between pop culture and
books that described a specific political ideology. Although we all
consume a lot of the same popular culture it is also a way to
describe our aesthetic tastes. It is a bit of a teenager mentality
when looking over your friend's CD collection. But there is still
some truth in what type of person listens to what types of things.

JBC: The political angle of the piece is really striking since most
people would probably overlook these connections. Why did you focus
on political icons vs. any other types of relationships?

AW: After the last election between Bush and Gore, it seemed like the
party lines were fading together. The Bush and Gore debate became
more about their personalities and presentation. During that
climate, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to start
pin-pointing the differences between democrats and republicans based
on the types of music they listen to. I am sure the Amazon database
it not the most diverse sampling, but it couldn't be inferior to the
election polls we are already accustomed to.

JBC: What was surprising or unexpected about the results you found?

AW: At first I had a few surprises. I was surprised that books about
military battles and corporate takeovers pointed to the soothing CDs
of Enya and Sarah Brightman. But, on second thought, it was not so
unusual. I also enjoyed the eerie specificity with some of the
bigger figures like Hitler and Mao Tse Tung.

JBC: Did you find that people who saw your correlations were
surprised by the connections? If so why?

AW: A lot of people use the charts to see if they fit one profile or
the other which can be entertaining. A lot of people look for truth
in the information and are defensive when they see what music they
are "supposed" to like. Then the charts become about profiling and
how none of us really make a perfect fit even though companies place
a lot of importance on this information.

I have taken a passive attitude towards companies profiling me.
Sometimes I buy things because they were recommended to me.
Sometimes I fantasize that the schizophrenic profile I created is
triggering a flashing red light at some corporate headquarters
causing a database shutdown and an internal investigation. I
probably suffer a little paranoia.

JBC: Why should people be interested in your findings?

AW: People should be interested in my book because we would all love
to know what George W. has in his CD collection. It creates the
opportunity for consumers to profile leaders in a similar way we are
profiled as voters.

JBC: I know this is an older piece, but what (if any) future
directions could this work take?

AW: Maybe companies like Amazon will have more fun with the free
associations that their database provides. I see an excellent dating
service on their horizon. On a grander scale, maybe our current
administration will make their tastes public knowledge. I would love
to know what they are reading, listening to, watching and if there
are any artists they like.

Personally, I am only visiting Amazon to shop these days. My art
work has a tendency to use tools against their original intentions in
search of greater things. I am sure another database project is on
the distant horizon. The book will be different things over time. It
is my first publication and I like that it will not be outmoded by
technological progress. I am certain it will always be interesting
to look at, it gives an unmediated look at the political climate of
2001-2002 with a popular music twist.



--
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Jonah Brucker-Cohen
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http://www.simpletext.info - performance in UK - Nov 27-29!
http://www.coin-operated.com/blog
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