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: 6.25.04
From: digest@rhizome.org (RHIZOME)
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 19:30:01 -0700
Reply-to: digest@rhizome.org
Sender: owner-digest@rhizome.org

RHIZOME DIGEST: June 25, 2004

Content:

+announcement+
1. Ryan Schoelerman: Radio Art: Audio Research Test
2. Rachel Greene: ISEA2004: NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED]
3. Lina Dzuverovic Russell: Electric Weekend, London, 26 & 27 June

+opportunity+
4. Kevin McGarry: FW: assistant curator at the science museum
5. geoffrey thomas: New Media/Video Production Instruction Position AT
Florida Atlantic University
6. Luci Eyers: [] low-fi call for proposals for commissions '04
7. Kevin McGarry: New Genres Department Manager + assistant, SFAI
8. Kevin McGarry: FW: Oslo National College of Arts - Professors in Fine Art

+work+
9. Brett Stalbaum: Topographic Landform Interpretation Experiment

+scene report+
10. ryan griffis: The Privilege of Broken Windows

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

1.

Date: 6.21.04
From: Ryan Schoelerman <Ryan AT elintartslab.org>
Subject: Radio Art: Audio Research Test

Working to return radio art programming. A group of artists has been
organized to celebrate our independence by taking over the KUCI 88.9FM
station for a 24hour live improvised show on the 4th of July.

http://www.elintartslab.org/art.html

If you live in the SoCal area then tune in for some truly free radio
programming.

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2.

Date: 6.25.04
From: <rachel AT rhizome.org>
Subject: ISEA2004: NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED]

NEW ISEA2004 WEBSITE WITH PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS LAUNCHED -
http://www.isea2004.net

The site introduces the biggest media culture event of the year by
highlighting the programme taking place in Helsinki, Tallinn and on a
multi-venue cruiser ferry (August 15-17) connecting the harbour cities.
The site features artist profiles, speakers, projects and themes. Stay
tuned for daily up-dates, and check it out!

ISEA2004, the leading symposium on new media culture, is shaping up to be
an incomparable mid-August destination for a programme-filled experience
on electronic arts, music, research and technology. The cruise on the
Baltic Sea provides a multicultural forum for networking and pleasure. The
unique experience extends from custom-made buffer-dinners to ferry's gyms,
night clubs, pools and sun decks. Even the television programme on the
ferry is a part of the comprehensive experience.

Tickets: http://www.isea2004.net/tickets

Group discounts (30% off for groups of 6 or more): contact Mika Minetti,
mika AT isea2004.net, +358 40 7192280
_______________________________________

*** ISEA2004 - PICK-UPS ***

CRUISE: AUGUST 15-17
TALLINN: AUGUST 17-18
HELSINKI: AUGUST 19-22

TOP ARTISTS SPIN THE HOUSE DURING THE ELECTRIFIED CRUISE

Collaboration between Montreal-based MUTEK festival on electronic arts
brings AKUFEN, CRACKHOUSE, SKOLTZ_KOLGEN and DEADBEAT to ISEA2004. On the
ferry, Akufen will play 'Music for Pregnancy' - a work that thrilled
crowds at Tate Modern some time ago (http://www.isea2004.net/mutek). One
of the world's leading VJs, CHARLES KRIEL (UK), has promised to drop
dancefloor bombs and introduce the latest VJ technologies during his house
act ( http://www.isea2004.net/kriel).

FELIX KUBIN ('refreshingly perverse', the Wire), the German-born pioneer
of electro-acoustic music and electronic pop, takes over the Riviera deck
(http://www.isea2004.net/kubin). The pool party continues with the
underwater soundscapes created by 2Linja. The Finnish-British band ROGER
will add elegance and insight to Northern electronica while mixing in with
the FUCHS-ECKERMAN collective's bewildering FutureDJ project, thus
creating a DJ set of the future (http://www.isea2004.net/roger). Aboard
the ferry, you also get to experience screenings of interactive films,
installations such as the locative sound installation 'Float' by TUOMO
TAMMENPÄÄ (FI) and TAMAS SZAKAL (HU) that will turn the ship's route into
music (
http://www.isea2004.net/float).

WEARABLE TECHNOLOGIES & MACHINE THERAPY: LEADING MEDIA-LABS PRESENT THEIR
INNOVATIONS

During the Baltic cruise and the conferences in Tallinn and Helsinki,
leading media labs from allover the world present their innovations,
future products and interdisciplinary projects. KELLY DOBSON (MIT media
lab, USA) brings her MACHINE THERAPY session to the ferry's gym (
http://www.isea2004.net/dobson); THE SARAI MEDIA LAB (IND) introduces its
innovative research and creative projects in urban culture and new media,
and its initiator SHUDDHABRATA SENGUPTA is one of the keynote speakers in
Helsinki (http://www.isea2004.net/sarai).

KATHERINE MORIWAKI (USA) presents proposals, prototypes and specific
outcomes of her research examining wearable technologies, fashion,
emerging communication infrastructures, networks and the body in Tallinn (
http://www.isea2004.net/moriwaki). LOCATIVE MEDIA LAB (CA) comes to
Helsinki with their location-based media installation Trans-Cultural
Mapping as part of the ISEA2004 wireless experience. MAKROLAB (SLO) will
host 8 biologists researching the climate, weather and telecommunication
in a mobile laboratory, which this time finds its place on a small island
in front of Helsinki (http://www.isea2004.net/makrolab).

STORYMUPE is a mobile storytelling application created and developed for
ISEA2004 by NOKIA Research Center and HIIT Mobile Content Communities
research project. Cruise participants can join the game by using java
clients in their mobiles, SMS, web or camera phones. LEON CMIELEWSKI and
JOSEPHINE STARRS (AU), world-famous for their animations, bring their
interactive Floating Territories game aboard the ferry. Cruise
participants get to build tribal allegiances and reflect their own
migration history.

TOP SPEAKERS AT HELSINKI AND TALLINN CONFERENCES

Keynotes at the major ISEA2004 conferences held in Helsinki and Tallinn
include MICHEL MAFFESOLI, MACHIKO KUSAHARA (
http://www.isea2004.net/kusahara), JOANNA BERZOWSKA (
http://www.isea2004.net/berzowska), JULIAN WEAVER (
http://www.isea2004.net/weaver), ERKKI HUHTAMO (
http://www.isea2004.net/huhtamo) and MATTHEW FULLER. In Tallinn, the
Wearable Experience comprises project presentations of state-of-the art
ubiquitous computing in fashion and cultural practices. In Helsinki,
Wireless Experience maps current emerging cultural and social practices of
mobile and other wireless media.
________________________________

m-cult, centre for new media culture (www.m-cult.org), is the main
organiser of ISEA2004, coordinating the programme and managing the event
across the cities
and on the ferry. Other organisers in Helsinki include the Museum of
Contemporary Art Kiasma (www.kiasma.fi) and Media Centre Lume
(www.lume.fi). In Tallinn, the main partner Estonian Academy of Arts
(www.artun.ee) works in collaboration with the Center for Contemporary
Arts (www.cca.ee).

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Rhizome is now offering organizational subscriptions, memberships
purchased at the institutional level. These subscriptions allow
participants of an institution to access Rhizome's services without
having to purchase individual memberships. (Rhizome is also offering
subsidized memberships to qualifying institutions in poor or excluded
communities.) Please visit http://rhizome.org/info/org.php for more
information or contact Rachel Greene at Rachel AT Rhizome.org.

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3.

Date: 6.25.04
From: Lina Dzuverovic Russell <lina AT thewire.co.uk>
Subject: Electric Weekend, London, 26 & 27 June

ELECTRIC WEEKEND
26/27 June 2004
Electric Avenue Studios & Ritzy Cinema Brixton, London

http://electra-productions.com/electric_weekend/

Featuring: Emma Hedditch, Learning To Love You More (Harrell Fletcher &
Miranda July), low-fi & Rachel Baker's 'node drawing' activity, The People
Speak, CyberMohalla (Sarai Media Lab).

Screenings: Destroy All Monsters, Lightning Bolt, Wolf Eyes, Paper Rad, Dear
Raindrop, Kevy B, The Space Hijackers, Chicks On Speed, Joanie 4 Jackie
video chainletter and a brand new programme of videos from Cuba.

------

Electric Weekend celebrates the launch of b3 media's Electric Avenue Studios
in Brixton with a weekend of free events at the new venue, plus a film
programme at the nearby Ritzy Cinema, curated by Electra's Lina
Dzuverovic-Russell and guests.

Over two days, groups and individuals with shared interventionist
sensibilities will take part in conversations, workshops, interventions,
tactical media initiatives, social hacking, noise videos and participatory
artworks. These encounters are geared towards mapping, connecting and
supporting the diverse media arts initiatives across London and outside,
focusing on DIY approaches to the use of public space and technology.

[...]

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4.

Date: 6.19.04
From: Kevin McGarry <Kevin AT rhizome.org>
Subject: FW: NEW-MEDIA-CURATING assistant curator at the science museum

From: Sarah Cook <sarah.e.cook AT SUNDERLAND.AC.UK>

SCIENCE MUSEUM. LONDON

JOB TITLE: ICST (Information, Communication and Space Technologies)
Assistant Curator

GRADE: Yellow

LOCATION: South Kensington

REPORTS TO: Senior Curator, ICST

No OF STAFF SUPERVISED: Will vary as the successful candidate will
occasionally supervise the work of volunteers

BRIEF DESCRIPTION:

To assist with the creative and innovative interpretation of
information, communication and space technologies and relevant
collections, principally via projects, for and with all our audiences,
to support the delivery of the Science Museum¹s business plan and
strategy.

The successful candidate will have an appropriate degree or equivalent
in a relevant discipline e.g. science, technology, history etc.

Oral and written communication skills are essential for a range of
specialist and non-specialist audiences including both adults and
children. The candidate will also have presentation skills;
interpersonal skills for effective working within teams and with the
public and organisational.

The candidate will be able to present objects and collections in a
creative and innovative was to a wide variety of audiences. S/he will
research and deliver, under direction, outputs across a range of media
engaging with a variety of audiences (exhibitions, publications,
electronic products etc).

Therefore experience of handling and assessing objects, basic
documentation and more detailed cataloguing under direction or basic
research experience will be beneficial.

PAY: Yellow - £17,472 - £22,880

CLOSING DATE: Thursday 24th June 2004

FURTHER INFORMATION: Jags Patel, 0207 942 4683 or via email
j.patel AT nmsi.ac.uk

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5.

Date: 6.20.04
From: geoffrey thomas <thomas AT fau.edu>
Subject: New Media/Video Production Instruction AT Florida Atlantic
University

FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY, Department of Communication, is seeking an
Instructor in New Media Production at its Davie campus, to teach courses in
the Departmentâ??s BA in Multimedia Studies, which includes sequences in
Film & Video Studies and Multimedia Journalism. The Department seeks a
scholar of digital art and new media practice with expertise in new media as
art and communication. Ideal candidates will cross media platforms and have
experience in creating and analyzing multimedia texts. Candidates must be
able to offer instruction in the integration of text, image and audio.
Applicants should possess practical skills in more than one of the following
media platforms: digital photography, computer-based imaging technologies,
web and graphic design, and multimedia authoring. Applicants must also be
proficient in Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Studio, and have some
experience in scripting. The position is a renewable nine-month, non-tenure
track appointment beginning August 2004. Salary: $35,000. The teaching
load is the equivalent of four courses per semester, and includes teaching
introductory and advanced interactive multimedia courses, as well as
managing the Departmentâ??s Proteus website and serving as a web design
consultant for the College of Arts and Letters. MFA, MA, or equivalent
professional experience required. All candidates must have an active
production record. Application deadline: July 16, 2004. Send letter of
application, cv, letters of recommendation, and samples of creative work to:
Dr. Eric Freedman, Chair, New Media Search Committee, Department of
Communication, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL
33431-0991. E-mail (for questions only): efreedma AT fau.edu. For detailed
information on FAU, visit our web sites at: http://www.fau.edu and
http://proteus.fau.edu. Florida Atlantic University is an Equal
Opportunity/Equal Access Institution.

+ + +

FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY, Department of Communication, is seeking an
Instructor in Video Production at its Davie campus, to teach undergraduate
courses in television and video production. The video production component
of the Departmentâ??s BA in Multimedia Studies emphasizes documentary and
experimental modes; the curriculum is designed to give students a solid
grounding in field and studio techniques, while developing personal voice
and point of view. Courses emphasize the relation between practice and
theory, underlining key aesthetic and critical concerns. The position is a
renewable nine-month, non-tenure track appointment beginning August 2004.
Salary: $35,000. The teaching load is the equivalent of four courses per
semester, and includes teaching introductory and advanced production
courses, as well as managing the Departmentâ??s multimedia labs on the Davie
campus. MFA, MA, or equivalent professional experience required. All
candidates must have an active production record. Application deadline: July
2, 2004. Send letter of application, cv, letters of recommendation and
samples of creative work to: Dr. Eric Freedman, Chair, Video Production
Search Committee, Department of Communication, Florida Atlantic University,
777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991. E-mail (for questions only):
efreedma AT fau.edu. For detailed information on FAU, visit our web sites at:
http://www.fau.edu and http://proteus.fau.edu. Florida Atlantic University
is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access Institution.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Rhizome is now offering organizational subscriptions, memberships
purchased at the institutional level. These subscriptions allow
participants of an institution to access Rhizome's services without
having to purchase individual memberships. (Rhizome is also offering
subsidized memberships to qualifying institutions in poor or excluded
communities.) Please visit http://rhizome.org/info/org.php for more
information or contact Rachel Greene at Rachel AT Rhizome.org.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

6.

Date: 6.22.04
From: Luci Eyers <giraffe AT easynet.co.uk>
Subject: [] low-fi call for proposals for commissions '04

[] low-fi commissions ¹04
[apologies if you receive this more than once]

This is an open call for proposals for 5 net art commissions. We are
wanting to support some new work by artists already working with
network technology. low-fi is an artist collective focusing on net art.
More info below and on our site:
http://www.low-fi.org.uk/commissions

bw,
low-fi

[] Call for proposals

low-fi welcomes proposals for 5 commissioned art projects from artists
working with networked technology/internet. We are open to
international applications. A successful proposal could be realised
either wholly online; or could be partially online and partially in
some other media or event/performance based. However the internet will
need to be an integral component. We are aiming to extend artists'
current practice by offering financial assistance to the successful
applicants. The fee for each commission will be £1,500.

low-fi will curate an exhibition of the commissioned projects
collaborating with Iliyana Nedkova [ http://www.mediascot.org ] the
Associate Curator at Stills Gallery, Edinburgh [ http://www.stills.org/
]. Proposals should include details on how their proposed project would
work in a gallery based installation. Please also include some
indication of installation requirements, especially those that go
beyond the basic provision of equipment, network connection and
rudimentary construction (such as screens, plinths &c.) The show will
run at Stills Gallery from April - June 2005.

[we will not accept proposals which are:
- for home pages of documentation for projects that exist entirely
offline
- for projects which have already been produced]

In order to submit a proposal please download and complete the
application form:

[] URL: http://www.low-fi.org.uk/commissions/application_04.txt

Then email it to us at low-fi AT low-fi.org.uk

[] Deadline: 15 July '04

[] LOW-FI
[] http://www.low-fi.org.uk
[] net art locator

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For $65 annually, Rhizome members can put their sites on a Linux
server, with a whopping 350MB disk storage space, 1GB data transfer per
month, catch-all email forwarding, daily web traffic stats, 1 FTP
account, and the capability to host your own domain name (or use
http://rhizome.net/your_account_name). Details at:
http://rhizome.org/services/1.php

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7.

Date: 6/22/04
From: Kevin McGarry <Kevin AT rhizome.org>
Subject: FW: New Genres Department Manager + assistant, San Francisco Art
Institute

From: calls AT theredproject.com

June 18, 2004

PRIVATE POSITION AVAILABLE JOB DESCRIPTION"

TITLE: New Genres Department Manager

REPORTS TO: VP Academic Planning and Operations

SUPERVISES: New Genres Assistant Manager

STATUS: Full-time; Supervisory; Exempt

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

Provide ongoing administration of department, including supervision,
maintenance and development of department facilities and equipment; provide
technical assistance and instruction to students, faculty and staff.

QUALIFICATIONS:

BFA or equivalent experience required, MFA preferred; demonstrated
commitment to the arts

Working knowledge of all digital video equipment including small production
and post-production video work; ability to perform light repairs on,
instruct others in the use of, and maintain video equipment
Full understanding of design of digital editing suites
Relevant office skills including basic budgeting and bookkeeping
Computer experience including Word and Excel (or similar programs)
Excellent interpersonal skills, especially the ability to work with
students, faculty and artists
Specialized training in electronic and video equipment desirable
Supervisory experience preferred


APPLICATION PROCEDURES:

Send a cover letter and resume to:

Human Resources, Job #NG 03
San Francisco Art Institute
800 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94133

Founded in 1871, the San Francisco Art Institute?s main campus is located in
the heart of the city?s North Beach neighborhood. Fully accredited, it
offers an undergraduate BFA and a graduate MFA degree, Post Baccalaureate
certificate, community education programs and a range of public programs.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, SFAI has a strong commitment to the
principle of diversity, and in that spirit seeks a broad spectrum of
candidates from historically underrepresented groups.

++++++++++++++++++++

June 18, 2004

PRIVATE POSITION AVAILABLE JOB DESCRIPTION"

TITLE: Assistant to New Genres Department Manager

REPORTS TO: New Genres Department Manager

STATUS: 50%-Time during the academic year (mid-August to end of May);
off during the summer

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

As the Assistant to New Genres Department Manager, provides technical and
administrative assistance in the maintenance and use of facilities,
including video, audio, computer hardware and software. Maintain and
supervise equipment check out.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Experience with/working knowledge of digital video production techniques and
equipment, including computer applications i.e. Photoshop, Final Cut Pro,
After Effect 5; experience with and working knowledge of multi-platform
computer technology; Desktop publishing, system utilities.
Experience with and working knowledge of Audio production techniques and
equipment.
Ability to work well with students, faculty and visiting artists
Excellent administrative, organizational and communication skills
Some college level education preferred.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES:

Send a cover letter and resume to:

Human Resources, Job #NG 04
San Francisco Art Institute
800 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94133

Founded in 1871, the San Francisco Art Institute?s main campus is located in
the heart of the city?s North Beach neighborhood. Fully accredited, it
offers an undergraduate BFA and a graduate MFA degree, Post Baccalaureate
certificate, community education programs and a range of public programs.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, SFAI has a strong commitment to the
principle of diversity, and in that spirit seeks a broad spectrum of
candidates from historically underrepresented groups.

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8.

Date: 6.22.04
From: Kevin McGarry <Kevin AT rhizome.org>
Subject: FW: Oslo National College of Arts - Professors in Fine Art 1) MA
studies 2) photo/film/video

From: calls AT theredproject.com

The Oslo National College of the Arts
The National Academy of Fine Art

The Oslo National College of the Arts was established in 1996. The College
is comprised of the previous the National College of Art and Design, the
National Academy of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Dramatic Art, the
National College of Operatic Art and the National College of Ballet and
Dance, all of which now function as departments within the college.

The National Academy of Fine Art, established in 1909, provides the
highest education within Fine Art in Norway and has an international
network and a developing dynamic milieu. The academy is, as a part of Oslo
National College of the Arts, in organisational development.. The academy
has 105 students and 22 staff, of whom 14 are teaching staff.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Professor in Fine Art, specialization MA studies

The Bachelor of Fine Art degree at The National Academy of Fine Art is a
three-year integrated professional education for training artists. An MA
course is currently being developed at the academy and there is a vacant
position as Professor to lead the course of MA studies starting January or
August 2005, for a term of six years with the possibility for applying for
an extension period of another six years.

The Professor will lead the development and be involved in the teaching of
the MA course. It is expected that the professor?s teaching role will run
parallel to his or her own research and development.

We seek a person with a high international artistic and theoretical
profile and an active international network. Pedagogic qualification and
practical teaching experience must be documented in the form of education,
experience from teaching at higher or lower level, developing of
curriculum, teaching material, student and collegial assessment or in
other relevant way.

The selection process will lay an emphasis on the applicants personal
suitability and qualities he or she can bring to the position.

The appointed person must abide by those rules and regulations etc. that
at any time apply to state institutions generally, and universities and
colleges in particular, and must be prepared for organisational and work
situational changes which might occur in the future.

The position is paid according to Governmental pay regulations code 1013,
Professor, pay scale 62-65 (N.kr 426.500 ? 451.300) according to
qualifications. For a particularly well qualified applicant a higher pay
scale may be considered.

A 2% legalised premium will be deducted from the salary for the State
Pension Fund.

Provided the conditions met, severance pay can be paid for up to one year
after one six year term and up to two years for two terms.

The Board at the Oslo College of the Arts is the final appointing authority.
The government workforce shall represent Norwegian society?s cultural
breadth. It is an aim to form a balance with regards to age and
male/female ratios, as well as encouraging persons from the ethnic
minorities to apply for vacant positions.

Further information about the position can be obtained from Dean Michael
O?Donnell or Head of Administration Britt Wold, tlf (0047) 22 99 55 30.

The application should be directed to the Oslo College of the Arts,
department the National Academy of Fine Art, St.Olavsgt. 32, 0166 Oslo.

The application, with an accompanying CV, should be presented in 5 ex.
Publications, photo material and other documentation can be presented in
one ex. Any part of the application submitted after the application date
will not be considered by the assessment committee.

Application date: 15.09.04

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Professor in Fine Art, specialization Photography and Video/film

The Bachelor of Fine Art degree at The National Academy of Fine Art is a
three-year integrated professional education for training artists. An MA
course is currently being developed. At the academy there is a vacant
position as Professor in photography and Video/film starting August 1st
2005, for a term of six years with the possibility for applying for an
extension period of another six years.

The Professor will lead the development and teaching within the field of
photography together with video and film at the academy. It is expected
that the professor?s teaching role will run parallel to his or her own
research and development.

We seek a person with a high artistic profile and international exhibition
experience. We require an extensive artistic practice, on the highest
level and of international standard and breadth within the field.
Pedagogic qualification and practical teaching experience must be
documented in the form of education, experience from teaching at higher or
lower level, developing of curriculum, teaching material, student and
collegial assessment or in other relevant way.

The selection process will lay an emphasis on the applicants personal
suitability and qualities he or she can bring to the position.

The appointed person must abide by those rules and regulations etc. that
at any time apply to state institutions generally, and universities and
colleges in particular, and must be prepared for organisational and work
situational changes which might occur in the future.

The position is paid according to Governmental pay regulations code 1013,
Professor, pay scale 62-65 (N.kr 426.500 ? 451.300) according to
qualifications. For a particularly well qualified applicant a higher pay
scale may be considered.

A 2% legalised premium will be deducted from the salary for the State
Pension Fund.

Provided the conditions met, severance pay can be paid for up to one year
after one six year term and up to two years for two terms.

The Board at the Oslo College of the Arts is the final appointing authority.

The government workforce shall represent Norwegian society?s cultural
breadth. It is an aim to form a balance with regards to age and
male/female ratios, as well as encouraging persons from the ethnic
minorities to apply for vacant positions.

Further information about the position can be obtained from Dean Michael
O?Donnell or Head of Adminstration Britt Wold, tlf (0047) 22 99 55 30.

The application should be directed to the Oslo College of the Arts,
department the National Academy of Fine Art, St.Olavsgt. 32, 0166 Oslo.

The application, with an accompanying CV, should be presented in 5 ex.
Publications, photo material and other documentation can be presented in
one ex. Any part of the application submitted after the application date
will not be considered by the assessment committee.

Application date: 15.09.04

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9.

Date: 6/21/04
From: Brett Stalbaum <stalbaum AT ucsd.edu>
Subject: Topographic Landform Interpretation Experiment

Topographic Landform Interpretation Experiment
A geo-referenced walking work at Racetrack Playa
Death Valley National Park
May 15th 2K4
Brett Stalbaum
(Text with complete illustations:
http://www.paintersflat.net/landform_interpret.html)

Navigational inquiry++

The history of navigation is addressed across many disciplines.
Interestingly, the history of land navigation is barely existent in
almost any literature, no doubt because it represents a fundamental
pre-historic aspect of nominal hominid experience; predating the
particular hominid Homo sapiens. Although there are many resources on
orienteering and land navigation ("how to"), very few of these engage in
historical, genealogical, or cognitive analysis. The history of
navigation as a technology generally seems to 'begin' in the literature
with the citation of celestial navigation techniques (and the
development of related technologies, often in reference to sea
navigation), which were developed over time to traverse larger distances
than the domains typically wandered by small scale, non-industrial
(hunter-gatherer), pedestrian cultures; although there is, quite
interestingly, no shortage of literature on small scale, non-industrial
seagoing cultures. The history of navigation somehow connotes voyages of
exploration, dislocation, or endeavors involving significant distance;
not quotidian walks to the water hole or shorter overland journeys
between patches of resource in the landscape.

Navigation over smaller distances, the matter of how humans navigate in
the landscape using tactical landmarks and other opportunistic features
for orientation (foliage change, animal trails, geology, human markings
such as cairns, shelters, rock art, etc.) via the use of concepts such
as mental maps or "cognitive maps"[1], has been a matter of research
explored a to a great degree in archeology, anthropology, cognitive
science, and psychology. Presently, navigation is mediated by maps as
well as wireless technology such as GPS, location aware mobile phones,
and wireless networks that deliver traditional internet connections.
Somewhere in the interstice between innate navigation, the history and
techniques of applied land navigation, the history of navigation
technology utilized for long distance travel, and contemporary networked
navigation should lie a theory that somehow encompasses both voyages of
exploration requiring well developed cultural technologies for
wayfinding over long distances (long paths) and the types of cognitive
and cultural processes that let one move in a motivated manner toward a
food cache when hungry, or in a more contemporary sense, toward an
entertainment station when bored, or through the lobby, up the correct
escalator, and down the correct corridor for the next meeting (short
paths).

Terminology and background

In an attempt to lay some groundwork for some such theory, I speculate
that there is something to be learned from the study landform
interpretation, which I view as the analysis of the meaning of land
formations relative to human bipedal navigation, because it collapses
all of the above concerns (from bio-innate navigation to wireless) into
a single, potentially comprehensive unit of study. I propose that this
is a more expansive notion than "terrain association"[2] as a component
of orienteering practice, because it is free to draw from numerous
interdisciplinary approaches, while maintaining an analysis that unites
what C5 has recently identified theoretically as the coextensive nature
of the long path and the short path.[3] This leaves space for the
proposition that there exist other ways of interpreting landforms
(particularly computationally mediated methods) that are perhaps even
visible and learnable by soldiers or hikers. It supposes not only an
experimental field comparing database techniques for landform
interpretation against typical landform interpretation utilized in
terrain association and land navigation, but more generally a potential
framework in which to test some more abstract theoretical constructs
related to the interoperation of people and computation (via
communications networks) in the landscape.

"Landform Interpretation" was also chosen as the term for this
experiment because it is the closest match to the specifics of the
experimental interdisciplinary domain which simultaneously allows for
the scope of the inquiry to expand in the direction of our primary
discipline area: art. Another possibility was "Landscape
characterization" which refers to a sub discipline of environmental
science relating to monitoring conditions and documenting landscape
dynamics, utilizing remote sensing and pursuing identification and
quantification of ecosystem stressors through the use of geographic
information systems and statistical analysis. Yet another, "Landform
characterization" is closely related to "Landscape characterization",
yet it is specific to geology. Both "landscape characterization" and
"landform characterization" are bounded somewhat narrowly by well
developed scientific disciplines. "Landscape interpretation" by contrast
often implies historical and cultural analysis in the framing of, or
scholarship regarding, the meaning of place. "Landform interpretation"
is somewhat more satisfactory than the previous, because it is
specifically drawn from the science of geography, which has always been
a discipline with broad interdisciplinary applications and influences.
Thus this particular experiment as a walking artwork infused by
interdisciplinary influences is best characterized as landform
interpretation as I have defined it. Landform interpretation as an area
of study also has more freedom to draw eclectically from an
interdisciplinary pool of research including
quotidian/pedestrian/urban/suburban navigation as well as sport/trekking
land navigation in non-urban, non-suburban, non-developed 'natural' or
'wild' environments. General disciplines which seem to contribute well
developed research into related questions of human bi-pedal navigation
in culturally mediated and/or 'wild' environments are psychology,
geography (particularly GIS), archeology, architecture, military
studies, and art. As an art experiment, this project is particularly
interested in the potential overlap between eclectic, interdisciplinary
sources and the tradition of walking works as practiced by artists such
as Hamish Fulton, Richard Long, Dominique Mazeaud, and Teri Rueb.

Landform abstractions utilized in land navigation

Perhaps the most basic of contemporary resources on land navigation that
imply both strategic (long) and tactical (short) modes of pedestrian
land navigation combined with a coextensive set of abstractions and
techniques for applying those abstractions to orienteering practice are
to be found in military training documentation. Two typical documents
that present interpretive abstractions of landforms for use in land
navigation are the U.S. Navy's Seabee Combat Handbook Volume 1 (chapter
5 - Land Navigation)[5] and the U.S. Department of the Army's, Map
Reading and Land Navigation[6] manual. The schema for landform
recognition I utilized in the walking experiment at Racetrack Playa is
taken from the latter. Interestingly, this training text encourages
trainees to think of the landforms in terms of very general statistical
characterizations. For example, "A hill is an area of high ground... the
ground slopes down in all directions", while "A ridge is a sloping line
of high ground... you will normally have low ground in three directions
and high ground in one direction..." This implies that landforms are
recognized based in part on simple conceptual relations of high to low
ground. Refer to Table 1 for the complete list of landform abstractions
and a breakdown their high ground to low ground characteristics.

Table 1 - Landform abstractions useful in land navigation, utilized by
the U.S. Army in training recruits.
(Text with complete illustations:
http://www.paintersflat.net/landform_interpret.html)

Hill, 0/4
"A hill is an area of high ground. From a hilltop, the ground slopes
down in all directions."

Ridge, 1/3
"A ridge is a sloping line of high ground. If you are standing on the
centerline of a ridge, you will normally have low ground in three
directions and high ground in one direction..."

Spur, 1/3
"A spur is a short, continuous sloping line of higher ground, normally
jutting out from the side of a ridge. A spur is often formed by two
rough parallel streams, which cut draws down the side of a ridge. The
ground sloped down in three directions and up in one direction."

Cliff, 1/3
"A cliff is a vertical or near vertical feature; it is an abrupt change
of the land. When a slope is so steep that the contour lines converge
into one 'carrying' contour of contours, this last contour line has tick
marks pointing toward low ground."

Saddle, 2/2
"A saddle is a dip or low point between two areas of higher ground. A
saddle is not necessarily the lower ground between two hilltops; it may
be simply a dip or break along a level ridge crest. If you are in a
saddle, there is high ground in two opposite directions and lower ground
in the other two directions."

Draw, 3/1
"A draw is a less developed stream course than a valley. In a draw,
there is essentially no level ground and, therefore, little or no
maneuver room within its confines. If you are standing in a draw, the
ground slopes upward in three directions and downward in the other
direction. A draw could be considered as the initial formation of a
valley."

Valley, 3/1
"A valley is a stretched-out groove in the land, usually formed by
streams or rivers. A valley begins with high ground on three sides, and
usually has a course of running water through it. If standing in a
valley, three directions offer high ground, while the fourth direction
offers low ground."

Depression, 4/0
"A depression is a low point in the ground or a sinkhole. It could be
described as an area of low ground surrounded by higher ground in all
directions, or simply a hole in the ground."

These abstractions, which are used in combination with navigation
techniques and technologies such as the magnetic compass, topographic
maps (which are forms of analog computers)[7], and the more recently the
global positioning system (GPS), have presumably emerged through some
genealogical development process in the spaces between practical
experience with effective military land navigation (throughout a long
history), and the need to introduce new recruits to effective land
navigation skills on an ongoing basis. Interestingly, the abstractions
(not limited to but including cartography) and techniques (methods for
bringing such abstractions into coordination with practical and
effective motion in the landscape), serve not only military strategic
planning and tactical implementation, but are also widely employed in
military logistics. Logistics are arguably the most important,
influential, yet least romantic area of endeavor in contemporary
military science. Much as database is the foundation of new media,
feeding its every pixel, logistics are the foundation of military
effectiveness, literally feeding its troops and machinery. Nevertheless,
war narratives have tended toward and tend to the tactical and strategic
situations and implications, just as much of new media has focused on
user interface and the societal implications of new technology. Database
and supply-chain management simply are not as sexy as interfaces where
one might witness motion, sound, and action. But they the positions from
which the formal aspects of both multimedia and the war machine are
projected.

The performance

The walk was performed on an expedition with my students to Racetrack
Playa, an alluvial clay filled depression measuring some 5 Kilometers
south to north and over 2 Kilometers west to east in places. The notion
behind the larger performance was to develop a distributed
interpretation of place through the lens of contemporary art practice,
and informed by ideas about socially distributed computation and
cognition.[8] My interpretive experiment was to utilize GPS and a
magnetic compass to identify landforms in centrifugal orientation to the
playa, in order to experience the landforms personally, identify more
complex configurations of landform, and to characterize and process the
data collected into images utilizing the C5 Landscape database. This
later activity was intended to further software development by adding
useful features to the software, and to test some assumptions regarding
a certain attribute (more on this later) generated and stored in the
database. The process was as follows: As I circumnavigated the edges of
the playa, I looked for good examples of the landforms identified in Map
Reading and Land Navigation, also occasionally noting landforms that did
not easily fit the model. When I had identified a landform, I would
perform the following:

1. Take a photograph with the landform roughly centered in the picture
2. Take a GPS waypoint[9]
3. Record the azimuth to the landform from the waypoint using a magnetic
compass
4. Take various notes about the site, including image number, waypoint
number, landform, etc. (See Figure 2)

Upon my return, (utilizing the C5 Landscape Database and the GD library,
and some custom code for this project to overlay track log and waypoint
data, and to project lines of direction), I processed the data collected
and produced the following image (Figure 1) which superimposes the GPS
track log of my walk, (yellow), the waypoints (red) and the azimuths
(projected in green) from each waypoint in the direction of the
landform. Because I followed botanical edge of the racetrack, note that
my track is circumscribed by the actual edge of playa (where the
elevation changes.) The remaining figures in the paper are the
photographs showing the visible landscape in the direction of the
azimuth readings taken at the various waypoints. The figure captions
show the waypoint number, UTM coordinates of the waypoint from where the
photo was taken, the azimuth reading, the landform, and a brief notes
taken on site.

http://www.paintersflat.net/landform_interpret/racetrack.png
(Text with complete illustations:
http://www.paintersflat.net/landform_interpret.html)

As an Art Experiment

As mentioned earlier, I see this work as operative in the general
category of walking art works. Much as artists such as Long and Fulton
take pictures on their journeys, so have I, including one produced from
a database and software that I have been developing for C5. This image,
(Figure 1), characterizes the entire performance and provides an object
of comparison between the photographs. An important difference from the
work of Long and Fulton is of course is that these photos and the image
produced are geo referenced. But I draw much inspiration from these
artists, particularly the work of Long, who has this to say about his
practice:

"My art isn't about urban culture... in a way I didn't give these issues
any thought. You know, it seemed a right and natural thing to do,
particularly to go to places like Exmoor and Dartmoor, which are really
abstract, empty. The fact that they're just rolling moorland, that
they're almost plateau-like, was very useful, especially for the early
works. I was very conscious, then, that it gave me the opportunity to
make a type of art by walking in a completely new and original way,
particularly those early, formal, ritualized walks: walking in straight
lines or perfect circles, measuring time."[10]

Though I draw inspiration from this, I want to point out that the formal
and ritualized aspect of my walk is different; focused purely on data
collection, and the analysis of landforms. I also draw inspiration from
other walking traditions. Teri Rueb's work was among the first work I
became aware of to utilize dynamic geo referencing in her practice; I
believe the work "Trace" (1997) to be an important early GPS work in the
walking art mode. And for Dominique Mazeaud, I picked up two items of
trash to dispose of that I discovered along my trek, one of them a
ribbon tied to an escaped party balloon that eventually fell to Earth on
the eastern side of the Racetrack.

While on the issue of art, I'd like to take a moment to comment on the
recent development of the meme "locative media" that has become popular
in the new media art critical context over the course of 2003 and 2004.
While it is nice to see a number of developments over the past 10 years
(GPS art, PDA art, software art, mobile art, wireless art, net art)
converge somewhat into a single meme that in some way encapsulates the
trajectory (in computing arts) from screen to hand to body to bodies
situated geographically, the meme (just as any) also presents the
simultaneous and unavoidable narrowing of the range of practice. As I
mentioned earlier, geography is one of the most naturally
interdisciplinary of scientific endeavors; just as what is nominally
called art practice (especially in the computing in the arts discipline
area) is also massively interdisciplinary. It would be a shame to see a
term like "locative media" cause practice to devolve critically into a
narrow range of practice, especially before Geographic Information
System (GIS) art is taken up and explored more thoroughly. Another point
worth making is that the history of navigation has spawned numerous
technologies that which deserve analysis alongside the new meme. Are
inventions like Mercator projections, the astrolabe, quadrant, sextant
and magnetic compass "locative media"? It may be complained that these
technologies do not report the location of the back to a panoptic
surveillance context or distributed, collaborative network, but actually
they were almost always implemented alongside systems of logging and
position fixing (though most rigorously in military contexts of course),
that enforced exactly such a regulatory gaze. Certainly truckers in the
United States who are required to log the number of miles and hours they
have driven will understand clearly that a roadmap and a paper log can
function as locative media.

Experimental Objective

The Landform Interpretation Experiment at Racetrack Playa was also
intended to collect data and perform analysis in order to test some
suppositions regarding the utility of "topographic_descriptor" attribute
of the UTM_POINT_STATS table, which is part of the C5 Landscape
database. Specifically the experiment tests how the C5 Landscape
Database functions as an alternative to models commonly utilized for
landform recognition common in orienteering and wayfinding, particularly
as utilized by the military. The attribute is a TINYINT (a byte) where
the bits represent the elevation trend in the cardinal and primary
intercardinal directions. (See table 2.) It is intended to be useful in
landform interpretation for the purposes of land navigation, and also in
pattern matching algorithms intended to determine landscape similarity
across wide expanses. This test goes exclusively to the former, however.
The individual bits taken as a whole represent the center point of a one
kilometer square area. Based on that point, the bits are set to one if
the elevation in the direction represented by the bit is higher than the
point represented by the record, and zero if is less than or equal to
the point represented by the record. This provides a simple, storage
efficient characterization of the surrounding landscape. One of the main
suppositions regarding this element is that it would bear some
relationship to topographic landform characterizations utilized in way
finding, though it is unclear whether it does so by itself, or in some
combination with other attributes (such as percentile, standard
deviation, or contiguous modality percentage), or at all. The experiment
is a way of exploring what correlations may exist between these and
traditional landform characterizations.

Figure 20 - SQL for UTM_POINT_STATS table
(Text with complete illustations:
http://www.paintersflat.net/landform_interpret.html)

The topographic descriptor for the area surrounding each point is
presented is presented in Table 2 below. The sample size is not however
sufficient to answer the above questions, but notably even for a small
sample, it does not indicate any strong correlations even after rotating
the bits in an attempt to match terrains. This does not indicate likely
usefulness in landform interpretation unless perhaps used in conjunction
with other metrics. While the assumptions regarding the utility of the
topographic descriptor in the above SQL are likely incorrect, its
utility as a pattern match for similar general topography (regardless of
the landform abstractions specified in Map Reading and Land Navigation)
requires further experimentation in the form of further walking work.

Table 2 - Data collected during walking work, racetrack playa, May 15th
2K4.
(Text with complete illustations:
http://www.paintersflat.net/landform_interpret.html)

Notes:

[1] Kaplan, Steven, "Cognitive Maps in Perception and Thought",
published in Image and Environment, cognitive mapping and spatial
behavior, Roger M. Downs and David Stea, editors, Aldine Publishing
Company, Chicago IL, 1973, ISBN 0-202-10058-8

[2] U.S. Department of the Army, MAP READING AND LAND NAVIGATION, FM
3-25.26 (FM 21-26)
http://155.217.58.58/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/3-25.26/cover.pdf
Chapter 11, Terrain Association:
http://155.217.58.58/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/3-25.26/ch11.pdf

[3] These notions are theory-in-progress, at this time still internal to
C5.

[4] I am involved with C5 (www.c5corp.com) as collaborator on GIS,
database and large scale installation and walking works, as well as
theory. I also work with Paula Poole in conceptually related but really
quite different works that produce conceptual paintings and digital
prints. (www.paintersflat.com).

[5] U.S. Navy, SEABEE COMBAT HANDBOOK, VOLUME 01, NAVEDTRA No: 14234
CENTRAL EDITION 1993
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/navy/nrtc/14234_fm
.pdf
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/navy/nrtc/14234_ch
5.pdf

[6] ibid.

Chapter 10, Elevation and Relief:
http://155.217.58.58/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/fm/3-25.26/ch10.pdf

[7] Hutchins, Edwin, Cognition in the Wild, MIT Press, Cambridge MA,
1995. ISBN: 0262082314. "[o]n some types of nautical charts it is easy
to measure the direction (course) and the distance between any two
locations represented on the chart." (54) See also pages 61-62.

[8] Please refer to http://www.racetrackplaya.net for more information
on the class project.

[9] Waypoint 001 in my Garmin Vista GPS was already used, so the auto
numbering started from 002.

[10] Interview with Richard Long, from Artists, Land Nature, Mel Gooding
and William Furlong, 2002 Cameron Books, Harry N. Abrams Inc., NY. NY.

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10.

Date: 6/24/04
From: ryan griffis <grifray AT yahoo.com>
Subject: The Privilege of Broken Windows

A Report on Two Conversations: Geography, Imagination, and the Traffic
in the Everyday (San Diego - Institute of the Americas, UCSD) + A
Dialogue on Urbanisms (Centro Cultural Tijuana), May 27/28

The drive back to Los Angeles from Tijuana was a bit louder than the
initial drive South. A busted out rear window on my anonymously dull
Corolla made 80 miles per hour on I-5 sound more like I was approaching
the sound barrier at 30,000 feet. The window must have been broken by
someone who mistook my travel bag for something more valuable, like a
purse. It was surely an unpleasant surprise for the person, who
realized this only after finding a half-used tube of toothpaste instead
of bundles of cash, credit cards, or a passport. I'm recounting this
banal anecdote not because it speaks to where it happened, but because
of how it pulled me from the distanced, comfortable conversations about
culture I had just attended, and reminded me that what was being talked
about is not an abstraction that exists somewhere else, but is an
ongoing process of negotiations and movements within a material system
of asymmetrical distribution.

The conversations I'm referring to were part of the inSite_05 series of
panel discussions and art events that explore the complex border
ecology of the San Diego-Tijuana region. Since 1992, inSite has brought
together cultural workers of all kinds to foster discourse about this
US-Mexican border zone, as well as add to the larger body of work on
social, political and economic borders in general. inSite_05's
programmatic theme is "Bypass," a broad concept that continues inSite's
historical mission and participates in the current art world interest
in formulating cultural utopias. On 27 and 28 May, two Conversations,
the third and fourth in a series organized by San Diego-based art
historian Sally Yard, were held, one at the University of California,
San Diego, the other at the Centro Cultural Tijuana.
The first, held at UCSD's Institute of the Americas, and entitled
"Geography, Imagination, and the Traffic in the Everyday," included
presentations by Arjun Appadurai, Judith Barry and Sally Stein.

If there was a unified theme to the panelists' talks, it was a concern
for the role of visual culture in formulating understandings and new
possibilities for social relationships. Appadurai, a professor of
social sciences who has written on different aspects of globalization,
discussed the "politics of hope," often referring to his current work
with housing activists in Bombay. For Appadurai, "hope" is a socially
generated and reproduced meme, so to speak, that is the product of a
social imaginary, or what he calls the collective "work of the
imagination." The social imaginary is responsible for both the positive
and negative aspects of culture according to Appadurai, and was
discussed in terms of the coexistence of both repressive and
emancipatory organizations in Bombay. Underlying this seeming
contradiction of experience (something arguably present in varying
degrees everywhere) is what the speaker refers to as the "capacity to
aspire" - the cognitive map of life possibilities that determines the
decisions available to each of us.

Multimedia artist and writer, Judith Barry (US), presented an
illustrated thesis that connected the phenomenological orientation of
early minimal and land art to the ongoing development of critical
site-specific art practice. Tracing the interest in ephemerality and
action-based experience to Tony Smith's famous account of his nighttime
drive on the incomplete New Jersey Turnpike through Robert Irwin's
development of an incidental optics, Barry brought her discussion up to
the present with Francis Alÿs' "When Faith Moves Mountains" work that
involved the displacement of an entire sand dune in Peru and the recent
"My Doomsday Weapon" performance by Jakob S. Boeskov that spread
(fictional) rumors across the net of a rifle that shoots traceable
microchips into unsuspecting civilians.

The moderator and respondent, Sally Stein, followed with a fairly brief
polemic on the role of information communication technologies in the
construction of social spaces. Stein, a historian of photography and
media teaching at UC, Irvine, as well as a self-described "elected
outsider" to cell phone culture, projected a series of photographs
picturing cell phone users in urban space and invited the audience to
turn on their cell phones to create a participatory "multimedia
experience." While the presentation was humorously critical of these
new "umbilical cords" of communication, it is the technology's role in
facilitating both connection and isolation that was of interest to
Stein. "We may be more 'connected' more often, but to whom?" she asked.
Are our social circles more inclusive or exclusive as a result of how
we choose to use communication devices?

In the open discussion that followed, many questions, both directly
connected and tangential to the formal talks, were raised regarding the
role of visual culture in the various current geopolitical situations
surrounding US foreign policy. Of particular interest was the power
assigned to images, and the emerging technologies that allow for their
quick, and global, dissemination, exemplified by the photographs of US
military abuses in Iraq. This was followed by a related line of
questioning about the importance of narrative in some recent art,
similar to the perceived "allegorical impulse" of the 1980s.

The next evening's event, entitled "A Dialogue on Urbanisms," at the
Centro Cultural Tijuana, while still centered on concepts of borders
and the cultures that operate in such spaces, was concerned with the
material structures that make up border zones, rather than actions
occurring within them. Tijuana-based Raúl Cárdenas talked about a
recent series of projects undertaken by Torolab, a collective he helped
form in 1995 to investigate the spaces of the Tijuana/San Diego border
zone. This series of projects included work with nine Tijuana families
to co-design new residential structures using modular building
materials as one way that the group is exploring the concept of
"emergency architecture." This is not a response to catastrophic
situations, but rather a structural answer to necessities by those
needing them, rather than by architects and urban planners - or what
were called "human," as opposed to "architectural" conditions.

Next, architect and curator, Peter Zellner presented a photo essay
called "Culture or Bust," that looked at the booming area of the Inland
Empire, a vast collection of suburbs just east of Los Angeles. The
essay, a project by ValDes, a non-profit co-founded by Zellner, used
photographs (by California-based photographer Alex Slade) and info
graphics to explicate the current decline of urban LA and the rise of
low density, suburban communities that are, for the most part,
unplanned. "Culture or Bust," theorized one potential reason for the
problem: while LA attempts to "revitalize" its downtown with new, high
profile structures (the Gehry designed Disney music hall) and other
examples of "high culture" (plans for "Gallery Row"), the 'burbs
prioritize such mundane things as communications infrastructure and
providing low cost, large spaces for business. But, as Zellner made
clear, the Southern California suburban boom has huge costs. In order
to accommodate the population that must commute from the Inland Empire
to the more urban coastal counties for work each day ("supercommuters"
they're called), there are plans to construct a massive freeway tunnel,
under the Santa Ana Mountains between LA and Riverside.

José Castillo, an architect working in Mexico City, looked at the
periphery of large urban centers to find what he called the
"pathologies of urbanisms." The problem of urbanism, according to
Castillo, is one of knowledge as much as of physical space. Using
Mexico City as primary source material, Castillo illustrated a theory
of urban space as a complex set of coexisting languages, where the
margins form a kind of "horizontal Babel" made up of informal
organization, much like creative slang and creole linguistics.

All three speakers performed an interest in the periphery and marginal,
whether it is represented by disenfranchised residents of Tijuana or
the very different examples of suburban sprawl in Southern California
and Mexico City. This connection was taken up in some of the questions
posed by audience members, one questioning the authority given to
Western scholarship and practice in analyzing global problems while
another wondered about the use of language that seemed to naturalize
the development of suburbs, when it's been well documented that they
are actually a product of deliberate planning and regulation, at least
in the US.

When I arrived at the North-bound US border post, I showed my passport,
stated the purpose of my visit and said that I had "nothing to
declare." Thanks to the national origin of my passport, the process
took under two minutes, and I was home in less than two hours. I wasn't
even stopped at all crossing into Mexico (the security is all focused
on traffic moving in the other direction). The broken car window became
a uniquely urban symbol for me, not because it speaks to an "urban
condition," but because the imaginary border between the private and
social urban space is often depicted as constantly threatened - by
difference, by density, by the proximity to the problems of others. In
the car culture of Southern California (or the suburban US Midwest for
that matter), the moving second home of one's car is just another
protective border used to quarantine the inside from the outside. As I
headed north for LA, my attempts to describe the discussions to a
friend by cell phone were drowned out by the noise of public space
rushing past at 80 miles per hour.

Ryan Griffis

For more info:

inSite http://www.insite05.org/

ValDes http://www.lab71.org/issue04/l71section180/l71section180.html

Torolab http://www.metropolismag.com/html/content_1001/ob/ob07.html

My Doomsday Weapon http://events.thing.net/Boeskov_text.html

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Rhizome.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and an affiliate of
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Rhizome Digest is supported by grants from The Charles Engelhard
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the Visual Arts, and with public funds from the New York State Council
on the Arts, a state agency.

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Rhizome Digest is filtered by Kevin McGarry (kevin AT rhizome.org). ISSN:
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