NMS2014

Through the Rhizome website, I found Net.artist, Cornelia Sollfrank. Sollfrank with the help of four other artists, created a program that would comb the internet for content and then assemble it into a sort of collage of text and images. This is the Net.art Generator. It seems to me that the project is a comment on the proliferation of net.art at the time and whether or not certain net.art could even be considered art. The piece also seems to question authorship and appropriation. There is also a link on the site to a video of the generator in an art show somewhere, being used. "A smart artist makes the machine do the work" Sollfrank, Cornelia. Rhizome.org, "The Net.art Generator." Last modified 2011. Accessed February 21, 2014. http://archive.rhizome.org/artbase/33601/. Hasty, Nick. Rhizome, "Rhizome." Last modified 01 17, 2011. Accessed February 21, 2014. http://rhizome.org/.

Here's part 1 (of 3 segments on youtube) of documentary by John Akomfrah on Afrofuturism---an African-American literary and cultural movement, associated with science-fiction writers Samuel Delany, Octavia Butler and others. This movie's protagonist the "data thief" digs through archives of past, present and future, drawing on intersections between various musical genres which share a mythos of future technology and the extra-terrestrial. The future read as history, something already happened, the Atlantic Slave trade framed as alien abduction narrative, the music producer/DJ as cyborg --- human/machine hybrid finding new connections through material memories of black culture. "The Last Angel of History (part 1)" Posted on Youtube by Desultory Heroics. November 23, 2013. Accessed February 21, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqgkXbQOi68

Here's an introduction to notion of the mundane reality that "we're all cyborgs now" insight on the extensions of mental and physical abilities from locally based cyborg anthropologist Amber Case. We'll talk more about her ideas in subsequent classes. Amber Case: We're All Cyborgs Now. Filmed December 2010, Posted January 2011, TEDWomen 2010. Accessed February 21, 2014.

Janelle Monae's music is a steampunk mix of sixties jazz and pop that serves as a sort of story/soundtrack that stretches across several albums. In them she tells the story of an Android that falls in love with a human (which in the universe of the albums is forbidden) and all the conflicts/anxieties that take place as a result. The story of the android is one that Monae uses to talk about the other, the oppressed, in a sort of futuristic stranger in a strange land. I would highly encourage you to watch her short film, "Many Moons" that's imbedded into the link.

This is a better article describing how she made her way into sci-fi and a great explanation of Cyborgs within Afro Futurism as metaphors for the struggle of any oppressed within a social power dynamic.

Thanks for sharing these! Now that I see the name, I think that she might have been mentioned by Soda_Jerk, guest artists in another class last semester. I'll put up link to their project, also in realm of Afrofuturism.

Working between speculative fiction and documentary forms, duo Soda_Jerk explores Afrofuturism in a series of interrelated video installations. Excerpts from "Race for Space," "Destination Planet Rock," "Armageddon in Effect," and "We Are the Robots" are here on their site. The series seems a good supplement to the documentary by Akomfrah. Soda_Jerk digs further into histories of figures like Sun Ra and groups like Public Enemy, working as media archeologists or archivo-cyborgs, patching together new mythos using digital compositing and sound design. Soda_Jerk "Astroblack: Race for Space" 2010. Accessed February 21, 2014 http://www.sodajerk.com.au/video_work.php?v=20120921063755

This is a testimonial by Debra Michaels, who discusses her first experience with cyber-rape and addresses various other forms and sites dedicated to virtually satisfying violent fantasies. Technology has allowed us to transport our consciousness through space, which intern allows us to be victims of emotional crimes. This article is just further evidence of that very fact. Michaels also discusses how these behaviors are parodies of real life behaviors, and that those behaviors, though done in a virtual world should still have a consequence.

This is a study by Amy L. Gonzales and Jeffery T. Hancock on how exposure to Facebook effects self-esteem. The study analyzes the psychological effect on the individuals as they view their personal Facebook profiles. The article then discusses two different possible reactions. The first would be OSA which is Objective Self Awareness, which is a negative response and the other is the Hyperpersonal Model which enhances self-esteem. The study later concludes that since a majority of the content on the users profiles are selected the individuals experience the Hyperpersonal Model, since the individuals have the satisfaction of preserving themselves selectively.

Regina Lynn's commentary Virtual Rape Is Traumatic, but Is It a Crime? discusses the concept of cyber rape, and the position it currently holds in our culture. Lynn discusses the serious nature of cyber rape and address the psychological trauma involved; but she questions if it should be considered a crime in the real world. Lynn states that while traumatic, cyber rape is not to be equated with real life physical rape. I selected this article because while I do not necessarily agree with Lynn on the subject, I thought it was interesting to read an article from a viewpoint that is oppositional to the majority idea that cyber rape is a crime in it's own right.

Found this Wired magazine article on cyber rape that i thought would be relevant to the conversation on the Mr. Bungle reading

One of those sort of chintzy web-novel thingies. It involves the sordid internal dialogue of a mother and "the baby" as she, the mother, ambulates about her apartment performing various domestic type tasks. The structural system of little footnote-y links that elaborate little bits of the main body of the story remind me of reading Infinite Jest. Most entertainingly the woman refers to her baby as "the baby" and "the baby" is pretty much more interesting than her. It seems, based upon my chosen links, that net.art of the visual variety has very limited appeal to me. In fact I have decided that it is rather fucking obnoxious and that people should refrain from producing any more of it. Story/writing/narative/shit-poetry based stuff is OK I guess.

This is a page I came across whilst frustratedly slogging about on one of those rabbit-hole-look-there-are-so-many-fucking-links-all-over-that-move-and-change-colors-and-shit-aren't-we-so-disruptive-type-sites. It is rather unremarkable in most ways, but I found it a semi-welcome respite from the rest of the site. Like many other sites of this era, it is a web poetry message board of sorts that relies on user generated content, namely semi-anonymous bits'o "creative writing" that are supposedly prompted by way of the writer viewing one of three pairings of images. Some users attempt to narrativise the images to varying degrees of success, and some people write about fucking jars of peanut butter, as in literally humping said jar. Like many such collections of user generated avant-poetry it becomes increasingly difficult to suss out which pieces have an actual considered conceptual core, and which are just word diarrhea. Nevertheless, I found some of them sort of charming. Also of note is that there are mail-to links associated with each writing that are supposedly linked to the writers email account. This seems bizarre in a present where such personal information is closely guarded, hidden from the masses of web-weirdos and spambots.

I stumbled upon Teo Spiller while looking through different examples of Web Art. Spiller worked with some interesting concepts, and questioned many of the social norms that occur in the digital world. One of the most interesting pieces in my opinion, is titled "Nice Page" and was created in 2000. It is a webpage, completely overtaken with bright text, and segmented images. While this piece might seem to be a page that showcases a multitude of webpages, displayed for an audience, as if flipping through the pages of the web, it is actually meant to critique the superficial attitudes what are associated with the web. The piece itself bombards the viewer with a lot of information, acting as a protest to the way we are constantly flooded with information. Spiller, Teo. "Nice Page" 2000 http://rhizome.org/artbase/artwork/2516/

As mentioned throughout the interview with Ricardo Dominguez, the Electronic Disturbance Theater is a group of cyber activists who use electronic civil disobedience to non-violently take action against political powers. On this site, a part of thing.net, there are brief descriptions of the Electronic Disturbance Theater and electronic civil disobedience. There is also information surrounding the EDT's influences, beliefs and methods of electronic civil disobedience. Many of the brief descriptions are accompanied with links to larger, more in-depth articles as well. Wray, Stefan. thing.net, "The Electronic Disturbance Theater and Electronic Civil Disobedience." Accessed February 12, 2014. http://www.thing.net/~rdom/ecd/EDTECD.html.

Thanks, this is an excellent supplement to the interview, lots of context for related ideas from broader situation behind the Zapatistas struggle and 'etmological' roots of the ECD concept

This article by Richard Joyce gives a more in-depth look at the Zapatistas and how they have created the new movement of Internet activism as means to take action against political powers. It touches upon some of the positive and negative aspects of their methods, along with a brief history and several examples of the ways they have used the Internet to take action. Joyce's critical analysis of the Zapatista movement allows for a new perspective that differs from that of the Electronic Disturbance Theater. Joyce, Richard. Bowdoin, "Zapatista Solidarity Online: A Case Study of Internet Activism." Accessed February 12, 2014. http://learn.bowdoin.edu/courses/soc022-richard-joyce/2010/04/zapatista-solidarity-online-a-case-study-of-internet-activism/.

Another noteworthy supporter of Internet based artworks is Turbulence. Here, in the archives, dated chronologically by year (96 - 04 for this assignment) an array of artists works commissioned by this wing of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc, a project that started in 1981 to support artists' experiments with earlier forms of networked media.

Net.art collection intiated in 2002 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Amongst the many artists works you'll find examples of net.art conservation, and questions as to the 'integrity' of the work that accompany such endeavors --- is the artwork compromised if you update the browser plug-ins?

Internet -based art in an online venue, housed on the servers of the 'brick-and-mortar' art institution, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Then curator Steve Dietz initiating this collection which remains accessible, an incredible archive of early net.art works.

Russian net artist, Olia Lialina, one of the trailblazers in this new medium,approached from background in film and theory. Her website, linked above, was also the first network based art gallery, causing much feedback (positive and negative) from offline / online artists. You'll find Lialina's net.art works from the 1990s below her bio and cv information.