hey can u turn the list back on its getting chilly, i need the warmth
best wishes from karachi :)
yasir
hey yasir, happy now? what's up in karachi anyway? perhaps you can invite some taliban iconoclasts on the list? i'm sure that would make for a lively discussion.
after almost two years we have the thingist back. we invited back the old gang, but also added a few new ones and will continue to do so. some of you may ask now, what's the use of such an antiquated medium like a listserv in the days of twitter and facebook? well, i don't know, but yasir and others asked for it and i don't do facebook, so for me this is the facebook antidote. maybe we missed that peculiar mix of people from different backgrounds that made the thingist so special. there's the activist faction, the pranksters, the artists, the curators and writers and the media and tech gurus. if you can decipher email addresses, all you have to do is check the members list and you know who they are (and i want to remind you of the code, please don't copy emails and spam the list members). so the idea is to throw them all into one pot, turn on the heat and see what kind of stew we can cook. hopefully it will be something different from the homogenized global art world discourse we get served daily from the usual purveyors - you know who they are. just to bring up one issue, there are challenges coming from new media culture that only now start to resonate in the art world. the question of the role of the author, the free sharing of information, intellectual property and copy rights, all this has a tremendous impact on cultural production. if the seismic shift hasn't occurred yet in the art world, its tremors can be clearly heard.
anyway... the thing has always been somewhat anti-cyclical and it's no coincidence that it is coming back in a time of severe economic crisis. we are currently rebuilding the board, trying to raise funds and find a permanent space for office, meetings, screenings and installations. our clocktower lease is over, but there is a temporary 2500 square feet space in lower manhattan that we hope to inaugurate with a big splash later in may. we will be able to tell you more after tomorrow's board meeting.
that much from new york today, good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.
ps: one thing i forgot. yes, the list is now moderated. it shouldn't intimidate anyone, we will only filter out the worst crap. if you have announcements for events or shows or whatever, forward them to the list as usual, but do so well in advance. the moderators will attempt to fashion a weekly digest to keep the list traffic of promotional material at a sustainable level.