[iDC] sharing "new media" curricula/potentials

[Ryan Griffis]

On Jan 26, 2007, at 3:29 PM, kanarinka wrote:

> However I think it's also extremely important for artists to  
> understand the various art/new media worlds, particularly the ones  
> they want to operate in, from a critical, sociocultural and  
> economic standpoint as a tool for both navigating and changing  
> them. Without that understanding, it is hard to do anything  
> effective to change the circumstances under which art is created,  
> presented, valued, bought and sold nor to do what many new media/ 
> digital artists find themselves doing - creating a meaningful  
> community and context for the work through self-generated,  
> curatorial, organizational, etc. activities. What I was hoping to  
> accomplish with the real world course was to give students (and  
> myself) a chance to understand and _call into question_ the  
> material circumstances and cultural ecology that art is a part of  
> in multiple, equally real worlds, how to operate in them, what is  
> at stake in them, and what other skills you have to learn (probably  
> on your own) in order to be a part of them.

Great points kanarinka! And your class, i think addresses many of my  
concerns as to how navigating "the economy" can be addressed  
tactically without adopting the ideological imperatives of the market  
de facto.
i have a lot to learn about reconciling my concerns with the practice  
of teaching and being part of an institution, and your class  
certainly opens a few paths for thinking through how that can even  
start to happen. Particularly what i find really interesting is that  
the class also forces some consideration of how "making a living" is  
broader than earning money. Decisions about living are all too easily  
defined through the taxonomy of careers, as if they are pre-existing  
life forms that have to discovered and shot with a RFID tag so we can  
track it. Making decisions in those terms can't have any value  
judgments involved, it's about "eat or be eaten".
But if we can slowly break the equation of career with life, maybe we  
can start talking about life decisions in a way that doesn't let us  
off the hook just because we "have to make a living".
Maybe i'm misreading, but i sense in the syllabus some critical  
sarcasm that makes me think you're not entirely abandoning value  
judgments, but rather opening up the discussion so that such  
judgments are not defined a priori? :)
ryan