[syndicate]

[furtherfield]

thanx for http://www.membank.org/dataset/inter.body/propaganda.html

i enjoyed your text...

marc

>
>
> >dear all,
> >
> >i hope you might be interested in the following text that was published
in
> >read_me 1.2 CD&book in an occasion of the first international software
art
> >festival read_me 1.2, moscow 2002
> >
> >olga
> >
> >
> >
> >Artistic Software for Dummies and, by the way, Thoughts About the New
World Order.
> >
> >Olga Goriunova, Alexei Shulgin
>
> very.beautiful. thank you for sharing.
>
>
> so ... - http://www.membank.org/dataset/inter.body/propaganda.html
>
>
> in which case I understand why Alexei Shulgin is so terrified by `nn`
> and I hope he understands there isn't any other way to breathe in + out
> simultaneously and without becoming ill.
>
> NN
>
>
>
>
>
>
> >What is artistic software?
> >
> >Artistic software is, first and foremost, software created for purposes
> >different than traditional pragmatic ones. Such programs are not seen as
> >tools for the production and manipulation of digital objects - from
online
> >bank accounts to works of art - they are works of art in their own right.
> >The emergence of this phenomenon is first of all due to the overall
spread
> >of software - commercial, proprietary programs as well as open source -
> >and its introduction into all spheres of human activity. Software has
> >always been seen as a neutral tool, tending to become a transparent
medium
> >for information processing, and a most comfortable one at that. Software
> >and the products created with its help have always been considered not
> >only to belong to totally different areas but even to be non-comparable.
> >In most cases, an individual piece of software is thought to be
completely
> >interchangeable with a competing product without any effect on the
result.
> >Such an approach assumes several stereotypical and false premises. First,
> >software is not a "transparent" tool for the creation and processing of
> >the digital product. It defines a quite limited space, within a specific
> >framework in which people are required to work. Thus it persistently
> >forces people to keep to certain, pre-defined rules. In addition to the
> >limitations of using computer programs there is also a certain
> >predetermined position - a creative, social, even political one - into
> >which the software user is put, not so much by the software's creators,
> >but by more general power structures: the culture of software creation
and
> >media culture as a whole. And this, in turn, depends on the dominant
> >social rules, which will be touched upon in this article. More and more
> >people are finding these limitations not only uncomfortable but also
> >boring and authoritarian. Second, the overall "digitalisation" of reality
> >makes software, the basis of the functioning of digital space,
> >increasingly important as such.
> >
> >Rationality and Western civilization
> >
> >The general and recently accelerating change in the world moves toward
its
> >deeper rationalisation.  The forms, the methods of functioning of the
> >society are all becoming extremely technologised. All means of
functioning
> >of the digital world - networks, software and even design are being
> >created in accordance with notions of the rational basis of the universe
> >and are the highest representation of the Western idea - the domination
of
> >the Reason.  The history of Western civilization is, among other things,
> >the history of human alienation, the history of rationalisation, the
> >history of the loss of the mystical. The changes in the notion of
> >Knowledge as the basis of progress can represent this history in the
> >simplest terms. Up until the Middle Ages, knowledge was interwoven with
> >magic, mysticism and religion. It was not considered, as it commonly is
> >today, as something purely abstract which could nevertheless have
> >practical applications. Knowledge could not be transmitted solely on the
> >theoretical level, outside of ritual practice. It was transmitted only
> >through personal and full communication of the chosen with the chosen.
> >Even "crafts skills" knowledge could not have been acquired within just a
> >couple of years. Knowledge was not detached from other forms of life. The
> >situation starts to change during the Renaissance: gradually the
> >theorisation of knowledge begins; knowledge separates itself from
> >mysticism and religion and acquires high autonomous status. By the end of
> >the XVII century the final break of knowledge from other forms of life is
> >taking place.  The history of rationalisation is the history of the
> >diminishment of the leading role of religion, the history of exclusion of
> >morality from all spheres except maybe that of the "life world"
> >(Lebenswelt).  Catholicism has introduced rationalised relations between
> >man and God (indulgence); Protestantism has rejected ancient rituals and
> >their traditional visual attributes and became the peak of the religious
> >rationality, logically progressing to "humanistic" atheism.  Gradually
> >science took the place of religion. And science oriented itself towards
> >the cognition of nature by defining nature in terms of matter's lack of
> >inherent value and metaphysical attributes. Examining nature as an
> >infinitely reusable object, science began to apply the same notions to
the
> >human being. Thus all scientifically unverifiable truths and meanings
> >could neither be supported nor refuted by all-prevailing Reason.
> >
> >What now?
> >
> >- Science, having finally broken away from all its once inherent
> >metaphysical goals, is becoming, by analogy with extreme sport, an
extreme
> >science, endangering the very existence of human beings on earth (nuclear
> >and bio-technologies, overall penetration of technology and its use as a
> >means of control over the human being).
> >
> >- The highly rational way of life in such societies as the US, can go out
> >of whack from time to time: one of the most convincing examples lies in
> >the events of the 11th of September 2001. The growing conflict between
> >East and West - which can be seen as a conflict between an extremely
> >rationalised western society and the metaphysically oriented eastern
one -
> >presents one of the most obvious dangers for the current world order.
> >
> > Culture as content
> >
> > The type of the society in which the citizens of "developed" countries
> >are living has been called informational for a long time already. The
> >system of such societies, accordingly, is utterly different from the
> >preceding industrial one, which was centered around industrial
production.
> >Post-industrial society is ruled not by commodity-money relations but by
> >informational currents. Or, rather currents of capital and power that are
> >spreading (and to a large extent in the form of open or veiled
propaganda)
> >through networks, in accordance with new laws.
> >
> > All means and media by which such societies function - networks,
> >computers, software and even design - are extremely technologised and are
> >created in accordance with the notion of the rational basis of the
> >universe.
> >
> > Culture and its manifestations are also turning into information (and
> >even "content"), flowing into information space. Just like any other
> >information, cultural information can be digitalised. With its shift into
> >computer space, culture begins to function by the same rational rules
> >according to which the rest of the system works - by the rules created,
in
> >particular, by designers and programmers.
> >
> > The methods of information presentation, storage and functioning, often
> >define its content as well. In so far as there is no place for
metaphysics
> >within information space, the space towards which all spheres of public
> >and personal life are moving, the mode of this space's being is
> >particularly rational - culture as the custodian of the non-rational
> >inevitably becomes sterilized in such space. Morality and "life world" -
> >for a long time and very consistently too - have been being rationalised
> >under the civilization processes. Within the digital environment this
> >process yet intensifies. Existing in the digital realm, human beings are
> >following its logic - the extra-ethical logic of the machine.
> >
> > Art as the custodian of the non-rational
> >
> > Art is one of the most mobile and diverse systems; it has been changing
continuously to the extent that it contradicts itself. It would be
interesting, then, to look at the change in the artist's social role:
> >
> >- Ancient times. There is no artist yet as such - she is an ordinary
> >member of the society, additionally performing some religious functions.
> >Her work is based exclusively on tradition, her name is not announced,
the
> >results of her work are part of the mystical ritual.
> >
> >- The epoch of Renaissance and Humanism: the artist is breaking from the
> >religious tradition and begins to glorify the beauty of the human and of
> >the surrounding world. The figure of the self-manifesting Genius appears
> >on stage.
> >
> >- The Technological epoch: The beauty of the world becomes easily
> >reflectable through technical reproduction media. At the same time the
> >ideals of humanism decline - as a consequence of technological progress
as
> >well. On one hand, art begins to reflect the crisis of human
> >self-consciousness (modernism), and on the other, it gets diverted into a
> >certain form of commercial activity. Works of art turn into commodities,
> >an extensive art-market is created (there appears, in particular, a
notion
> >of "the original"). During the preceding, humanistic epoch, the artist
was
> >placed very high in society (artist: demiurge, poet: the ruler of
people's
> >minds). Therefore, on the new technological level she begins to actively
> >participate (and be used) in the political struggle.
> >
> > The Communication epoch
> >
> > With the development and fundamental change of communicative space the
> >role of the artist is changing again. Artist is not someone who creates
> >images anymore; she rejects the idea of representation.
> > Information overload becomes a common illness. An infinite number of
> >images have already been created; they are kept in unerasable digital
form
> >in readily accessible databases. On the whole, the existing culture can
> >already be represented as information currents that surround people and
> >constantly try to penetrate their minds.
> > The artist's mission now shifts from creating images to manipulating and
> >redirecting information currents. The artist becomes, on one hand, the
> >information filter, and on the other, its re-transmitter.
> > This new role of the artist, then, in many ways becomes linked with the
> >functions of communication and computer technologies: her activity is
> >performed by means of networks and computers. The difference is that
> >computers work on the basis of "bare" algorithms, while humans apply
> >intuition, emotions and other non-rational elements - exactly those
> >qualities that are beginning to disappear due to the influence of
> >technology that makes everyone work rationally.  Thus design of networks,
> >databases, computers and software becomes defining factor in modern
> >culture. Software and computers tend to be seen exclusively as pragmatic
> >tools for information processing; programmers are usually exceptionally
> >pragmatic people whose rational side often prevails over all others.
> >Therefore, the artist has to confront pragmatism with the methods she is
> >well acquainted with, based on intuition and non-rationality.  Thus,
> >artistic software appears.
> >
> > How does software art save non-rationality?
> >
> > One might ask, "How can software art be non-rational, if rational
> >algorithms are what lies at its basis?"
> > Yes, at the basis of each piece of software there are definite
> >algorithms, but if conventional programs are instruments serving purely
> >pragmatic purposes, the result of the work of artistic programs often
> >finds itself outside of the pragmatic and the rational.
> > Because the process of the digitalisation of culture and other
components
> >of social life is inevitable, it is necessary to consider adequate ideas
> >and mechanisms for the transfer of those spheres into digital space, to
> >find adequate conditions for their functioning within networks. How can
we
> >put forth such mechanisms, those which would preserve the remaining
grains
> >of the non-rational and metaphysical, those which could guarantee the
> >safety of the society and protect it against further rationalisation?
> >Artistic software, non-rational software, perhaps gives some answers to
> >this question.
> >
> > Appendix. Most common characteristics of artistic software:
> >- irony 18%
> >- addressing political and social issues 10%
> >- interface prevailing over functionality 20%
> >- deconstruction 16%
> >- non-rationality 25%
> >- other 11%
> > (data for the beginning of 2002)
>
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>     /_/
>                           /
>              \            \/       i should like to be a human plant
>             \/       __
>                     __/
>                                    i will shed leaves in the shade
>         \_\                        because i like stepping on bugs
>
>
>
> *--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--
> Netochka Nezvanova                   nezvanova at eusocial.com
>                                     http://www.eusocial.com
>
>                                 http://www.ggttctttat.com/!
>    n  r  .   5        !!!      http://steim.nl/leaves/petalz
> *--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*-- --*--*--*--*--*--*--
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