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<TITLE>RE: [iDC] shelf life</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>axiom 1: every new medium has a shorter shelf life than the previous one (stone lasts longer than paper lasts longer than film lasts longer than magnetic lasts longer than optical)<BR>
<BR>
axiom 2: with each step, recording media come closer to becoming erasing media<BR>
<BR>
Sean Cubitt<BR>
scubitt@unimelb.edu.au<BR>
Director<BR>
Media and Communications Program<BR>
Faculty of Arts<BR>
Room 127 John Medley East<BR>
The University of Melbourne<BR>
Parkville VIC 3010<BR>
Australia<BR>
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Tel: + 61 3 8344 3667<BR>
Fax:+ 61 3 8344 5494<BR>
M: 0448 304 004<BR>
Skype: seancubitt<BR>
Web: www.mediacomm.unimelb.edu.au<BR>
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Editor-in-Chief Leonardo Book Series<BR>
<A HREF="http://leonardo.info">http://leonardo.info</A><BR>
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-----Original Message-----<BR>
From: idc-bounces@mailman.thing.net on behalf of Danny Butt<BR>
Sent: Thu 11/15/2007 8:35 PM<BR>
To: idc@mailman.thing.net<BR>
Subject: Re: [iDC] shelf life<BR>
<BR>
Interesting topic and much in Annette's analysis that resonated, but <BR>
let me pick out a tension related to the question of performance <BR>
which is on my mind a lot right now probably because I know so little <BR>
about it:<BR>
<BR>
I've recently looked to artists with a performance orientation to <BR>
help understand new media practices, and I think the question of <BR>
documentation is understood in a much more sophisticated way in that <BR>
field than it is in new media practice, so an engagement with that <BR>
history could be a great opportunity (of course, many artists are <BR>
already working that thoroughly). We get sucked in by the short term <BR>
stability of a digital object (or platform/algorithm) and generally, <BR>
new media is interested in what's new, so archival practices are not <BR>
only de-emphasised, but there are few models around to discuss. <BR>
Personally, when I look at some works I was involved with more than <BR>
ten years ago, I'm grateful to be able to just describe the ones that <BR>
don't work, as the ones that do seem pretty dated. But then maybe I <BR>
should have been producing "better work" lol.<BR>
<BR>
I'd describe the idea that<BR>
<BR>
"Barring physical destruction, but acknowledging cultural difference, <BR>
contextual change, and continuous reinterpretation, the [traditional] <BR>
art object has a kind of inner stability/integrity that defies time. <BR>
This is often irrespective of judgments of quality or fashion, but <BR>
something that resides in the object itself, an indissoluble <BR>
lamination of medium and idea"<BR>
<BR>
as more to be a statement of modernism than of art generally, and the <BR>
persistence of that ideology within the new media sphere has always <BR>
been a source of great discomfort to me, because it's not really true <BR>
from my pov. Here is a further, heavily politicised link to <BR>
performance: performance is a medium which found very little space in <BR>
the modernist aesthetic (Michael Fried), or we might even follow <BR>
Amelia Jones in suggesting that performance art can be read as an <BR>
often deliberate displacement of the modernist subject.<BR>
<BR>
To add to this, I'm not sure I agree with the statement that "There <BR>
seems to be an odd paradox of 'long gestation, short lifespan' that <BR>
seems very particular to new media", or the characterisation of <BR>
performance art as "spontaneous, gestural, open-ended and casual". <BR>
Yes, there is a tradition of improvisation in the performance sphere, <BR>
but I see performance generally as being similar in its long <BR>
gestation period, and with often even shorter lifespans.<BR>
<BR>
So a tension between the temporality of media practice and that of <BR>
institutional (or subjective) demands for stability could be an <BR>
opportunity to forge stronger alliances with other fields that have <BR>
failed to be "real enough" for the institutions - performance, video, <BR>
storytelling, "craft", etc... and perhaps media art is less unique <BR>
than we might think in this respect.<BR>
<BR>
On this whole question, I've really enjoyed the work of Caroline Rye <BR>
and others in University of Bristol's PARIP (Practice as Research in <BR>
Performance) project which, while dated (2001-2006) raised some of <BR>
these questions for me initially <http://www.bris.ac.uk/parip/ <BR>
index.htm>. I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone doing further <BR>
work in this area.<BR>
<BR>
Regards,<BR>
<BR>
Danny<BR>
<BR>
--<BR>
<A HREF="http://www.dannybutt.net">http://www.dannybutt.net</A><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
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