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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Threads on ethics have been running here on
iDC since at least April '07, variously named </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ethics of Participation, of Leisure, of
(Productive) Leisure. But it was </FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>recent posts with the subject line (no subject) - ethics
by Davin, Mark and Danny that prompted me to enter the
fray.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think Randolph is very sensitive to how prone we
are to beating ourselves up about not much we are NOT doing; how we can be
simultaneously frustrated by BOTH work that is not explicitly trying to
change the world and by overtly political work that is. Which is to say,
perhaps, that reading the book is not unlike therapy. You're not sure
what exactly is going on but you feel better, or if not better, at least not
worse... more than not worse, more than just the same, somewhat less stuck, more
able to go on.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Which isn't to say the book is a cake walk; like
therapy, you have to work it. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Good question Sal about the 'tone' or 'valence' of
the term 'illusion', but it's better to refer to Randolph's words than mine.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Take for example Randolph's phrase "<FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">shared illusion of the experience of
ethical<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></FONT></FONT>imagining."
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Why I think this notion is relevant here is that
Randolph doesn't talk about individual artists or their particular commitments
but puts the concept of ethics into a social/group context. Groups involve
ethics, believing you all stand for the same thing, which is a kind of illusion,
but I think she's talking about more than that, about sharing a kind of
practice, which she calls 'ethical imagining.'</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>She's not talking about explicitly critical or
didactic creative work. Randolph in a very entertaining
way chides advertising; jingles, slogans and the fashion industry but
really, to me she's gettting at something more aesthetic...
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sal's description of Winnicott is great... makes me
think how advertising and consumer products fail, really, to achieve their
potential to be 'transitional objects.' We don't invest that much in a brand of
shampoo or sneakers. And this is perhaps how materialist-driven consumer
products fail, they aren't "ethically imagined," the process is flawed
from the get-go.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I should add that the text of Ethics of
Luxury is accompanied by about 20 reproductions of artworks
selected by Randolph and editor Ihor Holubizky. These don't so much illustrate
her thesis as run parallel to the text, as examples of works
where ethics are in play. These works have, like a curated exhibition,
a distinct aesthetic to them; there's something prickly about them,
something that is crtically challenging in terms of the conventions of
representation and in terms of how they might be read in context. You might say,
in terms of Winnicott, that they are more successful as transitional objects,
you can love them sometimes, hate them other times, be neutral about them at
other times but it would be hard to imagine anyone owning them or appreciating
them as mere material objects.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't know how helpful I'm being in explaining
the book. But to me there's something important about what she's getting at that
the discourses around socially-based art practices, participatory art,
relational aesthetics often don't get to. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=salrandolph@gmail.com href="mailto:salrandolph@gmail.com">Sal
Randolph</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=admin@klooj.net
href="mailto:admin@klooj.net">R Labossiere</A> ; <A
title=idc@mailman.thing.net href="mailto:idc@mailman.thing.net">iDC</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, January 21, 2008 5:54
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [iDC] (no subject) -
ethics</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Hi Robert,
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>That's a really intriguing quote from Ethics of Luxury, but I'm not quite
sure how to interpret it - can you offer a little more context for those of us
who don't have a copy of the book on hand just yet?</DIV>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Randolph postulates community as a common
illusion </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">produced by the exercise of imagination in ways
that involve trust and a </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">shared ethics:</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>I'd be particularly interested to know with what sort of tone or valence
she (and you) are using the word "illusion" here, and in what way this
illusion is thought to influence actions and realities. </DIV>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>Personally I love Winnicott, especially for his notions of
transitional objects and transitional space - what I take from his ideas
is specifically that the "transitional" occupies a middle zone between
imagination and reality, a way for the two modes to meet and transform one
another. </DIV>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>(For anyone here who isn't yet a Winnicott fan, the classic "transitional
object" is something like a child's blankie - a real thing infused with the
imaginary presence of another, for instance the child's mother. The
blankie works for the child -- it feels comforting, it can be thrown away and
retrieved, played with, and ignored -- precisely because both its real and
imaginary properties operate together).</DIV>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>This implies that transitional spaces (for instance, art or play) are
pathways by which imagination (illusion?) can have an influence on, can
matter, in the real world (and vice versa). Or to put it
differently, it's one way of thinking about how imagination can be
political.</DIV>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV>- Sal</DIV>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV><BR class=webkit-block-placeholder></DIV><BR>
<DIV>
<DIV>On Jan 18, 2008, at 11:30 PM, R Labossiere wrote:</DIV><BR
class=Apple-interchange-newline>
<BLOCKQUOTE type="cite">
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">I've just had the great pleasure of working on a
book that tackles the<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">difficult question of ethics and creative
production and would like to quote<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">a part of it (below) that I believe is particularly
relevant to this thread.<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">The book, as I proofed it so many times, struck me
as so pertinent not just<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">to the visual arts but particularly to our new
media milieu. Jeanne<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Randolph, the author, is an artist and
psychiatrist. Informed by object<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">relations theory, Winnicott in particular, she
conceptualizes the positions<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">of creators and artists in terms of ethics, while
tackling the ornery<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">reality that our positions are fundamentally
'tainted,' by the reality of<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">superabundance -<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>luxury. Randolph postulates
community as a common illusion<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">produced by the exercise of imagination in ways
that involve trust and a<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">shared ethics:</DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Randolph:</DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">"I continue the make-believe of a group of
basically imaginative people, a<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">group formed on the basis of shared illusion of the
experience of ethical<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">imagining (or, if this is really a new idea, a
group formed on the basis of<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">the hypothesis that there is such a practice of
ethical imagining).</DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">It would be our joy, whenever given the impetus
primum non nocere [from the<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">hypocratic oath: before all else, do no harm], it
would not be contradictory<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">to suppose that in our enclave of luxury:</DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">We would converse gladly;</DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">We would delight in curiosity;</DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Certainly we would abhor objectification of any
person anywhere;<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN>this
would<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">include abhorrence of reacting to another person as
a mere function of our<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">own agenda;</DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Each of us would maintain equanimity about holding
individual or group<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">power;</DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">We would never enforce judgments on the possible,
to remove obstacles to<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">playfulness;</DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">If we witnessed someone(s) who rarely had the
opportunity to participate in<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">situations like ours, our saddened response would
include reconsideration of<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">the relevance of their situation to our enclave of
luxury;</DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">After many conversations we might even come to
believe that the illusory<SPAN
class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">experience we had conjured -- ethical imagining --
keeps us together even<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">while we are dispersed ... working in separate
enclaves of luxury."</DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">- excerpted from Ethics of Luxury: materialism and
imagination by Jeanne<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Randolph<SPAN class=Apple-converted-space>
</SPAN><A
href="https://nt2.nshosts.com/yyzartistsoutletorg/books.asp?language=en">https://nt2.nshosts.com/yyzartistsoutletorg/books.asp?language=en</A></DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Robert Labossiere</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><A
href="http://www.readingart.ca">http://www.readingart.ca</A></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><A
href="http://www.robertlabossiere.com">http://www.robertlabossiere.com</A></DIV>
<DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></DIV><BR><BR>
<DIV><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 12px Helvetica; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; orphans: 2; widows: 2">
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Sal Randolph</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">salrandolph [at[ gmail [dot] com</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><A
href="http://salrandolph.com">http://salrandolph.com</A></DIV>
<DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV>
<DIV><BR class=khtml-block-placeholder></DIV><BR
class=Apple-interchange-newline></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<P>
<HR>
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