The Rhizome Archive | Rhizome Digest: Highlights from the New Media Art Field

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: 7.16.04
From: digest@rhizome.org (RHIZOME)
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2004 04:14:14 -0700
Reply-to: digest@rhizome.org
Sender: owner-digest@rhizome.org

RHIZOME DIGEST: July 16, 2004

Content:

+announcement+
1. Mark Tribe: "I will be on the ferry" - Lev Manovich re. ISEA2004
2. Rachel Greene: Fwd: Ars Electronica 2004 - Ars 25 Specials
3. ryan griffis: NewGenics
4. Jo-Anne Green: Networked Performance Blog and Conference

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5. Kevin McGarry: Budget Gallery
6. Dominique Fontaine: Grant program for Researchers in Residence

+work+
7. Curt Cloninger: pop quilt completed
8. jimpunk: LOADING FUNERAL : http://544x378.free.fr/(WebTV)/ : THE PARTY
9. mark cooley: NEW - Space Hijackers - project RAAAAAA

+feature+
10. Mark River: Defunct in Ohio

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1.

Date: 7.10.04
From: Mark Tribe <mt2187 AT columbia.edu>
Subject: "'I will be on the ferry" - Lev Manovich re. ISEA2004

'I will be on the ferry because when I attended the ISEA94 in Helsinki, as a
part of the conference we also had a 3 day ferry trip to St. Petersburg.
It was the best conference experience I had in my life!'
-Lev Manovich, Associate Professor, Visual Arts Department, UCLA

ISEA2004 CONFERENCE OUTLINES ANNOUNCED

ISEA2004 conferences in Helsinki and Tallinn, and on a luxurious cruiser
ferry connecting them, are key elements of the 12th International Symposium
on Electronic Arts (August 14th-22nd). ISEA2004 starts with the electrified
Interfacing Sound cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm, after which the
Networked Experience cruise from Stockholm to Tallinn via Mariehamn inspires
a range of panels, poster sessions and workshops. Networking sessions will
also, for example, be hosted by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
the Asia Europe Foundation..

After two dazzling nights on the ferry, ISEA2004 participants convene in
Tallinn to cover the themes of Wearable Experience, Geopolitics of Media and
Critical Interdisciplines: research/science, art and collaboration.
Wearable technologies are explored through project presentations of
state-of-the art ubiquitous computing in fashion and cultural practices.
Issues of technology and embodiment provide a critical context to this
discussion. Geopolitics of media looks at the ways in which new media
practices reflect diverse media geographies and their relation to real life
locations, globalization and activism. Part of the agenda of ISEA2004 is to
assess where new media culture and arts are at the moment. To this end the
Critical Interdisciplines theme digs deep into the questions of
relationships of computer engineering, design, media studies, anthropology
and new theories emanating from natural sciences in relation to networked
and other new media practices. Tallinn keynote speakers include Arturo
Escobar (Colombia/USA) and Sarah Kember (UK).

After Tallinn sessions, ISEA2004 culminates in Helsinki, exactly ten years
after ISEA94, when the net was still an emergent field. This time Wireless
Experience, Histories of the New, Open Source and Software as Culture and
Critical Interaction Design will be explored.

Wireless experience maps current emerging cultural and social practices of
mobile and other wireless media such as radio and WiFi networks. A key theme
is how wireless experience is enabling new ways to approach urban cultures
and turn public spaces into "writable and participatory media".
Histories of the new is a key theme to unravel not only the recent ten years
of change within the Networked experience, but to look at diverse local
histories of creative "new" media use since the 1960s. The theme also
explores the very logic of how new technologies become integrated into the
social and the cultural "sediments" of everyday life experience.

Critical interaction design seeks to foreground critical discourse and work
around sensitive, contextual, critical work on interactivity. It is also a
platform for dialogue bringing together interface designers, computer
scientists, media and cultural theorists as well as media artists (who are
often hybrids of these). Open source software as culture addresses politics,
economical or legal logic, and various cultural and social politics
regarding open source, and software at large. The theme positions software
as a cultural and a political object and as a subject for debate.
Helsinki keynotes include Erkki Huhtamo (Finland/USA), Wendy Hui Kyong Chun
(USA), Shuddhabrata Sengupta (India) and Matthew Fuller (UK).

***To download the conference programme by sessions, visit our website:
http://www.isea2004.net/programme.html***

HOW TO JOIN ISEA2004 AT THE MOST AFFORDABLE PRICE?

By combining the conference with the cruise, you will not only experience
the full journey but save money on tickets. Our FULL EXPERIENCE offer to you
is:

- ISEA2004 conferences in Tallinn and Helsinki: 100,00 euros

- ISEA2004 cruise: 2 nights, 2 buffet dinners, 2 breakfasts on the ferry:
204,00 euros

- Fast ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki: 20,00 euros

--- !!! Your entire ISEA2004 package, a full week of business and
pleasure;-) 324,00 EUROS PER PERSON !!! ---

HOW DO I GET THESE BENEFITS?

Book on-line before FRIDAY MAY 28 at http://www.isea2004.net/tickets.
Please note that there is a limited availability in this cabin category. On
the website, you will find more information on pricing, including different
cabin categories and accommodation possibilities in Tallinn and Helsinki.

TRAVELLING IN A GROUP?

If you wish to make a group reservation for several cabins, contact me at
mika AT isea2004.net or by telephone +358 40 719 2280. I am happy to save your
time and take care of your booking arrangements.

Warm regards,
Mika Minetti + ISEA2004 crew

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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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2.

Date: 7.12.04
From: Rachel Greene <rachel AT rhizome.org>
Subject: Fwd: Ars Electronica 2004 - Ars 25 Specials

Begin forwarded message:

From: Ars Electronica Center <announce AT evil.aec.at>
Date: July 8, 2004 9:48:28 AM EDT
Subject: Ars Electronica 2004 - Ars 25 Specials
Reply-To: announcement AT aec.at

Timeshift - The World in Twenty-Five Years
Ars Electronica 2004
Linz, Do 2. - Di 7. September
www.aec.at/timeshift

1st Announcement: Ars 25 - Specials

You are reading the first issue of the Ars Electronica 2004 newsletter,
providing information about the program of this year's festival, TIMESHIFT -
The World in 25 years.

TIMESHIFT

"I'll throw the damned rearview mirror out of the damned window because I
don't want to know where I've come from, but where I'm going," Frank Lloyd
Wright, the American architect, is reputed to have said once in the '30s of
the 20th century, and indeed he did actually break off the car's rearview
mirror and throw it out of the window. A brilliant anecdote. But that was
before the Holocaust, Hiroshima and Vietnam, before the first flight to the
moon, before Chernobyl, before 9/11 and the Iraq War, before the discovery
of the DNA double helix, Dolly the cloned sheep, and the deciphering and
patenting of the entire genome, before the development of the transistor,
the age of digital simulations, the development of the Internet and the
triumphal advance of cell phones and computer games... That's quite a lot of
future reflecting in our rearview mirror. But what lies ahead of us?

Gerfried Stocker and Christine Schoepf, Directors Ars Electronica

Ars 25 Specials

Ars Electronica is 25, and to celebrate the occasion, several events and
theme presentations are being added to the Festival lineup. Even before Ars
Electronica 2004 opens, the "Language of Networks" conference will be
offering a glimpse of the state of the art in network theory and
visualization. The Media Art Forum is the lead-in to another Festival
highlight: the "Digital Avant-Garde / Prix Selection" exhibition at the
Lentos showcases milestones of interactive art from the historyof the Prix
Ars Electronica.

Ars 25 - Special: Digital Avant-Garde / Prix Selection >
Ars Electronica's 25th anniversary is a suitable occasion for a
retrospective of media art. "Digital Avant-Garde / Prix Selection" showcases
an array of works from past Ars Electronica prize competitions. This
exhibition will run in New York from May to July and in Linz during the
Festival.

Ars 25 - Special: Media Art Forum - Digital Avant-Garde >
The artists represented in the "Digital Avant-Garde / Prix Selection"
exhibition present their works and discuss concepts of working with
interactive media.

Ars 25 - Special: Language of Networks >
An interdisciplinary conference focusing on social networks and information
visualization. A symposium and workshops featuring international experts
elaborating on theory, techniques, methods and applications of network
analysis.

Ars 25 - Special: Ars Electronica - Network of Media Art >
Gerhard Dirmoser (A) has been systematically observing and analyzing Ars
Electronica for 25 years. The results: a detailed and comprehensive study
and highly expressive visualizations that he will present on three evenings.

Ars 25 - Special: Itsuo Sakane - Lecture >
Prof. Itsuo Sakane, a contemporary eyewitness to the history of media art
since its earliest days, delivers his second major address at Ars
Electronica-this time documenting the '50s and '60s on the basis of his
incomparable collection of material.

Ars 25 - Special: Re-inventing Radio >
Live: on air - on line - on site
80 years of radio in Austria, 25 years of Ars Electronica and 15 years of
the Long Night of Radio Art. An international network of artists refers live
to radio-art reaching beyond Ars Acustica and the traditional broadcast
medium.

Detailed Festival Program online

The detailed Ars Electronica 2004 festival program is online now.
The website www.aec.at/timeshift is providing regular and detailed updates
on the festival theme, program details, news and background features as well
as information about artists, speakers and performances until the festival
in September.

Overview Announcements

1st Announcement (July 2004): Ars 25 Specials
2nd Announcement (July 2004): Conferences I
3rd Announcement (July 2004): Conferences II,
4th Announcement (July 2004): Conferences III
5th Announcement (August 2004): Exhibitions I
6th Announcement (August 2004): Exhibitions II
7th Announcement (August 2004): Events I
8th Announcement (August 2004): Events II
9th Announcement (September 2004): Electrolobby

Sponsors of Ars Electronica 2003:

Stadt Linz, Land Oberösterreich, Bundeskanzleramt/Kunstsektion

SAP AG, Telekom Austria, voestalpine, Gericom, Mitsubishi Electric, Siemens
AG, FESTO, Ö1, Microsoft, Mercedes Benz, Sony DADC, Casino Linz.

Additional Support: 3com, Cancom, Frank&Partner, Lexmark,
Pöstlingbergschlößl, VS Fickenscher, BMWA, BMBWK, Innovatives Österreich,
M-AUDIO, Jindrak, Kulturkontakt Austria.

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3.

Date: 7.14.04
From: ryan griffis <grifray AT yahoo.com>
Subject: NewGenics

News updates from social world of genetics, genomics and biotechnology.
syndicate: http://yougenics.net/atom.xml

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Bioinformatics and Comparative Genomics
From the O'Reilly MacDev Center
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2004/06/29/bioinformatics.html

FBI HARASSMENT CONTINUES--ARTIST FACES 20-YEAR CHARGES
The defendants were charged not with bioterrorism, as listed on the
Joint Terrorism Task Force's original search warrant and subpoenas, but
with a glorified version of "petty larceny," in the words of Kurtz
attorney Paul Cambria. The laws under which the indictments were
obtained are normally used against those defrauding others of money or
property, as in telemarketing schemes.
http://www.caedefensefund.org/overview.html#070804

EU projects develops GM plant vaccines
The European Commission is providing 12 million euro under the Sixth
Framework Programme (FP6) for a new project aimed at using genetically
modified (GM) plants to grow vaccines against rabies, tuberculosis,
diabetes and HIV.
http://dbs.cordis.lu/cgi-bin/srchidadb?
CALLER=NHP_EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=EN_RCN_ID:22327

Genomics Momentum 2004 Conference
An international conference on genomics, entitled 'Genomics Momentum
2004 - genomics for our world', will take place in Rotterdam, the
Netherlands, from 30 August to 1 September.
http://dbs.cordis.lu/cgi-bin/srchidadb?
CALLER=NHP_EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=EN_RCN_ID:22329

Monsanto Co. wins OK in Argentina to sell biotech corn that survives
Roundup The St. Louis-based agricultural biotechnology company said the
South American country's government on Tuesday authorized the use of
Monsanto's NK603 corn.
http://www.canada.com/news/agriculture/story.html?id=7b27c2dc-cd07
-4377-a24d-b664a19cc607

'DNA Fingerprinting' Trend Threatens Genetic Privacy, Due Process
Genetics and crime fighting are becoming as intertwined as the DNA
double helix. But that quickly evolving collaboration has taken a
dangerous new twist.
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?
article_id=a82d75a5846357315237f8c49625dec6

Twin Girls Share Gene Pool, Different Birth Mothers
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/Living/Twins_Surrogate_IVF_040714
-1.html

U.S. pushing ahead with stem cell bank plan
The U.S. government plans to open a "national bank" to better grow the
only embryonic stem cells eligible for government-funded research,
holding firm against critics who want Bush administration restrictions
on the controversial cells lifted.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1089812403336_29/?
hub=Health

For fun: Play the Furturefarmer's Porchinga Pinga
http://www.futurefarmers.com/pinga/pinga.html

YOUgenics: art interrogating genetic technologies
http://www.yougenics.net

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4.

Date: 7.16.04
From: Jo-Anne Green <jo AT turbulence.org>
Subject: Networked Peformance Blog and Conference

July 16, 2004
Networked_Peformance Blog and Conference
http://turbulence.org/blog

Hello,

We're planning a networked performance conference for Spring/Summer 2006
and invite you to play a role in its development.

We've set up a blog on the Turbulence web site
(http://turbulence.org/blog) where you can describe your performance
activities, and give us your perspective on what the important issues
and challenges are in networked performance today. We hope to obtain a
wide range of perspectives and uncover points of mutual relevance that
will help build the content of the conference.

The conference will bring together practitioners and scholars from all
forms of networked performance--distributed Internet performance
(including dance-, theater-, and music-driven works), avatar theater,
online performance art, multi-user gaming performance, mixed reality
performance, and other hybrid forms.

Multiple institutions and organizations will play a role: New Radio and
Performing Arts, Inc. (NRPA), a not-for-profit media organization and
parent of Turbulence.org; Emerson College, Boston; and California State
University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB). We plan to work with additional
organizations that will commission and/or host performances during the
conference.

So visit the blog. Tell us who you are. Give us your URL(s) to post in
our links section and the dates of any upcoming networked performances.
And please tell anyone you think might be interested to join us.

Looking forward to an exciting discussion and conference,

Helen Thorington, Jo-Anne Green (New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.)
Michelle Riel (California State University at Monterey Bay)
John (Craig) Freeman, Brooke Knight (Emerson College)

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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.

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

5.

Date: 7.12.04
From: Kevin McGarry <kevin AT rhizome.org>
Subject: Budget Gallery

http://www.budgetgallery.org/bg/exhibts/main.html

-------------
Introduction:
-------------

The Budget Gallery organizes gallery style art shows in the unused public
spaces found in urban areas. From empty walls to empty buildings, the Budget
Gallery uses any space that is available and highly visible during the day.
Space is often prepared with white paint and signage so work will be as
professionally presented as possible. Pieces will be labeled with the
artists name, materials used, and asking price for the work. We host opening
receptions that are attended by hundreds of people forming a sort-of block
party garage sale style art show right on the sidewalk.

All pieces not sold by the end of the the opening reception stay up for the
course of the week with a price and contact phone number for interested
buyers. The gallery is in co-opted public space with no security. Any work
not sold at the reception can be sold, stolen, or vandalized during the rest
of the show. Artists submit work with these inevitabilities in mind. Most
work sells at the opening, but some is always left. The Budget Gallery
considers vandalism a form of artistic collaboration, and theft is the
highest honor of the Budget Gallery.

-----------------
Call for entries:
-----------------

All work that meets guidelines will be accepted for the show - in line with
the Budget Gallery's belief that any art is better than the commercial
advertising which typically dominates public spaces. Work will either be
purchased, stolen, or vandalized. Artists are encouraged to make pieces for
this show with these inevitabilities in mind. Ideal pieces should catch the
eye, capture the imagination, and invite extended viewing from passing
crowds. Art that addresses the issues of public space are especially
encouraged, but again, all work will be accepted.

Artists are encouraged to use the Budget Gallery as an opportunity to show
work they may not normally present in other venues. Masterpieces are not
required. Work in media other than the artists primary media is encouraged,
along with older pieces, works in progress, studies, and so on.

Work should be priced to sell to the general public. All pieces not sold at
the opening will be left on the wall for 1 week, after which they will be
placed elsewhere. Those interested in your piece will be instructed to
remove it, take it home, and contact the gallery regarding payment.
Commission is arbitrary, optional, and decided by the artist. Work will not
be returned.

-----------
The Theme:
-----------

Use the theme if it inspires you. If it doesn't, find something that
inspires you and use that.

The theme is "Success!" What does success mean to you? Personal success.
Financial success. Spiritual success. Physical success. What is success
in times of war? What is success in November? What is success in your art?
What is success in your family or career? How do your ideas of success
compare with others? To what they were 5 years ago? 25 years ago?

-----------
Guidelines:
-----------

1. All work must have our entry form attached.
2. Work must be able to be hung on a wall or fence.

- It must be mounted on something hard - clipped to a piece of cardboard
is ok, just no loose paper.

3. Please avoid pieces larger than 40 inches by 40 inches or any piece
heavier than 25 pounds. If your piece exceeds these dimensions, contact the
Budget Gallery before submitting your work.
4. Please deliver art with your preferred mounting hardware supplied. If no
mounting hardware is supplied, work will be hung in the most convenient way
possible (Starting with wood screws, then staples, twine, or tape).
5. Please submit a slide or digital photo of work (if possible) for our
website.
6. Work must be received by July 24th , 2004

-----------
Submission:
-----------

Please email where AT budgetgallery.org for submission address.

Download form, fill out, and attach to piece. Go to
http://budgetgallery.org/pdfs/

email us with any questions huh AT budgetgallery.org

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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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6.

Date: 7.16.04
From: Dominique Fontaine <dfontaine AT fondation-langlois.org>
Subject: Grant program for Researchers in Residence

***ENGLISH FOLLOWS***

Programme de bourses pour chercheur resident : Date limite le 31 ao=FBt 2=
004

Veuillez noter que dans le cadre de son concours international ouvert aux
historiens, aux conservateurs, aux critiques, aux chercheurs ind=E9pendants,
aux artistes et aux scientifiques, la fondation Daniel Langlois offre la
possibilit=E9 =E0 deux chercheurs de travailler au Centre de recherche et de
documentation (CR+D) Montreal, mame ses fonds documentaires et =
ses fonds d'archives. Les projets de recherche doivent porter sur un des
fonds d'archives de la fondation ou sur des projets soutenus par la
fondation.

Vous pouvez consulter le profil des collections de la fondation l'adres=
Se suivante :

<http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/f/index.php?NumPage=3D147>
http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/f/index.php?NumPage=3D147

Vous pouvez consulter les recherches soutenues par la fondation l'adres se
suivante :
<http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/f/index.php?NumPage=3D148>
http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/f/index.php?NumPage=3D148

Pour lire les lignes directrices du Programme de bourses pour chercheur
resident :

<http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/f/index.php?NumPage=3D121>
http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/f/index.php?NumPage=3D121

*****************************

Grant program for Researchers in Residence: August 31 2004 deadline

Please note that as part of its international competition open to
historians, curators, critics, independent scholars, artists and scientists,
the Daniel Langlois Foundation is offering the chance for two researchers to
work at the Centre for Research and Documentation (CR+D) in Montreal,
specifically in its documentary and archival collections. Research projects
must be directly related to one of the Foundation's archival collections or
research projects supported by the foundation.

A description of the collections is available at:
<http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/e/index.php?NumPage=3D147>
http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/e/index.php?NumPage=3D147

Descriptions of the research projects supported by the foundation is
available at:
<http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/e/index.php?NumPage=3D148>
http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/e/index.php?NumPage=3D148

Guidelines for the Grant Program for Researchers in Residence:
<http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/e/index.php?NumPage=3D121>
http://www.fondation-langlois.org/flash/e/index.php?NumPage=3D121

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7.

Date: 7/10/04
From: Curt Cloninger <curt AT lab404.com>
Subject: pop quilt completed

After almost a year, the pop quilt is completed and viewable at:
http://www.playdamage.org/pop/

Now accepting submissions for the community quilt:
http://www.playdamage.org/quilt/invite.html

View all the quilts here:
http://www.playdamage.org/quilt/

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8.

Date: 7.10.04
From: jimpunk <www AT jimpunk.com>
Subject: LOADING FUNERAL : http://544x378.free.fr/(WebTV)/ : THE PARTY

YOU'RE INVITED TO TAKE PART TO THE FINAL ROUND

THE 544x378(WebTV) WILL BE CLOSED ON TUESDAY JULY 13 IN THE MORNING AFTER
THE PARTY*

FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT '(WEBTV) REPORTERS' BUT WOULD LIKE TO TAKE PART TO THE
PARTY, PLEASE GO TO http://www.blogger.com <http://www.blogger.com>

LOGIN : samerror
PASSWORD : billie

AND EXPRESS YOURSELF

BEST REGARDS

JIMPUNK

http://544x378.free.fr/(WebTV)/ <http://544x378.free.fr/(WebTV)/>

TO SEE YOUR POST /

http://544x378.free.fr/(WebTV)/FFFFFF.htm

*some explanations to post in blogger.com ;

to upload directly imgs :

upload path : just add : img/ after (WebTV)/

or you can link directly to a website img like :

<img src="http://www.website.net/blabla_img.gif";>

if you want to change the background image

just upload an img named :
WebTV.gif , but this time directly in upload path : (WebTV)/

-

do exactly what you want, texts , img, link, sound etc.

*THE PARTY IS BEGINNING RIGHT NOW

permanent (WebTV) reporters :
Eduardo Navas
Rico da Halvarez
doron golan
c p la.cocina
bituur esztreym
annie abrahams
jp halgand
car( )oline
various-euro
clement Thomas
m river
april may
skysan hayashi
abe linkoln
chris bruno
lewis lacook
brandon barr
un lotus
):mµn<

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9.

Date: 7.13.04
From: mark cooley <mgc868f AT smsu.edu>
Subject: NEW - space hijackers - project RAAAAAA

"London is a remarkably un-mountainous area, with the area around the Kings
road remarkably flat in comparison to other slightly more hilly areas of the
city. However it seems that the residents of Kensington & Chelsea have had
something funny put in their water, where we see designer shops and
residents parking areas, they see jungle terrain and mountains. This can be
the only explanation for the ridiculous number of expensive 4x4 vehicles
driving around in the area.

We decided that the only way of shocking them out of their petrol guzzling,
pollution pumping, lethal weapons on wheels, was to show them what a real
safari looks like."

http://www.spacehijackers.co.uk/html/projects/raaaa/raaaa.html

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10.

Date: 7.17.04
From: Mark River <mriver102 AT yahoo.com>
Subject: Defunct in Ohio

Defunct in Ohio

2003, by M.River of MTAA, orginally published in the
SMAC! zine

Prologue

SMAC! co-founder/editor-in-chief Marisa S. Olson
emails me from the warm future-perfect paradise that
is California. She asks me to write an essay on
obsolescence, the defunct, and, in general, the
Technology of What Was. A thousand words by New
Year?s.

Of course... Umm... sure. I know all about the obsolete.

In a few days I will travel, as I do each year, from
New York City to Ohio, for Christmas with my family.
In Ohio, in Christmas, I will find the What Once Was.

1.
On the tarmac outside LGA?s USAIR, Gate #7 window sits
a small twin-prop plane. My heart jumps. Like the
Wright Brothers before me, propellers are my choice
for flight. Getting a prop plane over some fat, fast,
and ?safe? jet is always a chance when booking a
flight to Ohio. This time, I lucked out. I know
propellers are not 'obsolete.' But they enchant me, as
they are no longer the future.
Walking across the open-air tarmac, up the small steps
to the plane, I turn and give the suckers in the
passengers lounge a big two-handed Nixon victory wave.
To the terrorists I shout, 'Attention you
missile-toting-orange-alert fucks: My plane is way too
old and small for you to care about. Go take a pot
shot at some blimp-of-a-747.'
When my brother in Ohio finds out that I rode home on
a prop plane again, he will, as always, mumble under
his breath, 'Death trap.'

2.
Apparently, pitched roofs are out. As my plane
descends, all I see are big flat-box buildings with
loading docks and ample parking. Set clock back to
1984 and queue Pretender and fellow Ohioan ex-pat,
Chrissie Hines:
'I WENT BACK TO OHIO BUT MY PRETTY COUNTRYSIDE HAD
BEEN PAVED DOWN THE MIDDLE BY A GOVERNMENT THAT HAD NO
PRIDE THE FARMS OF OHIO HAD BEEN REPLACED BY SHOPPING
MALLS AND MUZAK FILLED THE AIR FROM SENECA TO CUYAHOGA
FALLS SAID, A, O, OH WAY TO GO OHIO'

3.
Attention holiday shoppers: Restoration Hardware now
sells faux rotary-dial phones. What emotion recalls
such has-beens from the dustbin? Nostalgia? Remorse?
Why do I still need to go to The Salvation Army in
Columbus for vintage button-down shirts? What
separates Restoration Hardware from the Salvation
Army? It?s the difference between Zombies and
Vampires.

4.
What the hell happened to all the cars? It?s
wall-to-wall SUVs out here on Interstate 71 North.
Bring back station wagons, damnit!

5.
The Ohio EPA is saddened this week by a federal
appeals court's temporary block of Bush's new
'relaxed' emission guidelines. This means hundreds of
aging Ohio power plants, when upgrading their
facilities, will still need to install modern
pollution controls. Why does the Ohio EPA weep at this
good-neighbor policy? Simple, Ohio's favorite power
producer is coal. Yes, that (*cough*) clean burning,
low-sulfur, easy to dig up in your backyard, darling
of the industrial age: coal.

6.
Mid-vacation call between the MTAA art collaborative
(M.River in Ohio - that's me - and T.Whid, somewhere
in the Mexican Caribbean).
T. Whid: 'yeah dude, thanks, Merry Christmas to you
too. So, how's the writing going?'
M. River: 'Ummm okay. I'm a bit stuck right now.'
TW: 'Hey, why don't you just write about how art is
defunct?'
MR: 'Well I don?t know if I believe that. I mean, art
is more adaptable than most ideas. It kinda... well... it
kinda moves around the endpoints. Art becomes other
Things... like this article... It's art-like.'
TW: 'Sorry. No, it's not art.'
MR: 'It's not?'
TW: 'No and don't go tellin? anyone that shit.'

7.
As homage to fellow Smac! essayist Bruce Sterling's
'The Dead Media Manifesto,' I'm trying to think of a
good Dead Media indigenous to Columbus, Ohio. The
closest I've found is the Ohio State Marching
Band - words written on a football field via marching
musicians. The locals, however, will never consider
'Script Ohio' dead. The band still advances in elegant
cursive and the crowd still goes wild. But I believe
human musical text-messaging cannot possibly evolve
beyond its current state.

8.
Google's search engine's top listing under the query
'Defunct' results in defunctparks.com; a site
dedicated to Amusement Parks that have ceased to
amuse. Among the 50 parks listed as defunct in Ohio, I
find Chippewa Lake Park (opened 1878, closed 1978).
Current photographs reveal abandoned rides reclaimed
by entropy. Rust, fire and vegetation overtake steel
spokes and rails. One twilight image captures a Ferris
wheel, full-grown tree sprouting though its belly.
Contemporary Art. Tatlin's Monument to the Third
International, Smithson's Spiral Jetty and Warhol's
Elvis smashed into one. Rotary phones return to the
living in push-button reproduction. This Ferris wheel
is resurrected by subtler means.

9.
As this is a new-media publication, I should probably
say something about the Internet. The Internet. Born
in my lifetime; I wonder which of us will go first.
Don't laugh. I've already outlived HTML. Wonder why am
I writing about Ferris wheels in a new media zine?
Replace website with amusement park. Replace
rotary-dial with TCP/IP.

10.
Christmas vacation is over. I wake and look out my
plane window. A perfectly clear December sunset. There
is my city, New York. My adopted home. I hold no
shame. I love my city, like the good groom of 10 years
that I am.
Defunct. New York has been pronounced dead so many
Times-the Depression, fires, riots, Robert Moses,
white flight, drugs, blackouts, bankruptcy, terrorist
ripping the city apart before our eyes. Even when the
idea of ?city? was replaced by a bright suburban
future, New York rose again. Like the Ferris wheel
with a tree though its heart, the city evolves within
its downfall.

Epilogue
Back home at my old desk. I'm typing away on my first
generation iMac. (I love you as well my RAM-packed
Bondi Blue. I'm sticking with you till you shoot
yellow sparks out your hard drive or they put you in a
Dead Tech museum.) Dear little iMac, how shall we end
this essay? I think it will be best to write something
vague and call it a night.
Machines and systems come into this world. They thrive
and then grow old. Technology gets updated, replaced
or just fades off on its own. Sometimes, because we
miss them, we dig up graves and let the dead walk the
earth. We love seeing undead lurch around, bloody
limbs and all. New media is growing old. We are
already writing the eulogies. While some prepare for
last rights, others will contact voodoo priests and
sharpen their spades. Me? I'm ironing my plaid thrift
store shirt, excited for the funeral.

Thanks for traveling with me. See you in the future.

=====
http://mteww.com
http://tinjail.com

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