[iDC] interesting article on new media scene in LA

[Murphy]

On Oct 29, 2005, at 9:47 AM, Judith Rodenbeck wrote:

> I find the current unproblematized adoption and valorization of the
> business-model model very disturbing--and it's present not only in new 
> media
> circles but also in the theorizing of "relational aesthetics" as in MFA
> programs. This business-model discourse has a history too--see Allan
> Kaprow's "Should the Artist be a Man of the World" as well as his 
> "Education
> of the Un-Artist"--and I worry that with the piecemeal dismissal of 
> history
> the nuances--historical, ethical, "aesthetic"--of its implications may 
> get
> lost. Certainly that's what's happened in Bourriaud. But then again 
> maybe
> critical vanguardism is hopelessly retardataire.

The military/education/entertainment complex that exists in So Cal is 
where the money is because of the economic trajectory of the Pacific 
Rim. I'm not sure how much any of this has to do with art but I do find 
it interesting that they've lured so many "new media artists" from New 
York, just as Cal Arts did with conceptual artists  in the 'eighties. I 
like to think we sent them the riff-raff.

Over the past couple of weeks I've read through both "Art After 1900" 
and the "New Media Reader" and they both share Kaprow but little else. 
The difference is that Krauss & Co. do seem to be trying to deal with 
new media subjects but haven't quite been able to bring themselves to 
say the words yet. But then they do a better job with the first half of 
the 20th C (interweaving Freudian influences especially) than they do 
with the second half. "NMR" is better with contemporary ideas because 
of a lack of knowledge of art history. I'd like to see more on the 
influence of cybernetics on art in the mid-century.

As for the business model trend. Art school is expensive. Period. 
Perhaps the European Graduate School concept isn't so far-fetched after 
all. At least you see what you're paying for in the form of living, 
breathing professors. And it's cheaper in the long run.

Robbin Murphy
The Thing, Inc.
459 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011
murphy at thing.net
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