Re: LIFESCIENCE: Re: art/science?

[melinda rackham <melinda@subtle.net>]

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ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 99
LIFESCIENCE
Linz, Austria, September 04 - 09
http://www.aec.at/lifescience
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eugene wrote

>Again this is not to relativise things or to suggest that we should go
>back to this ecstatic state where everything is linked to everything
>else, but what does seem to be at stake here is the production of
>knowledge. The production of knowledge, and also the implementation,
>utilization, dissemination, and application of knowledge. On that level,
>I think there a numerous crossings, hybridizations, and tensions
>between, say, the life sciences and artistic practice (this year's
>festival & the projects in it is just one example)...

eugene - "flexible bodies" is great , maybe it wil change you mind on
connection of all things being  blindly ecstatic..:)  knowledge is shared,
applied and disseminated  in ways we don't even yet recognise.. I am
particulary intereessted in Martins picking up of the network theory of
immunity, where the self/non self boundary doesn't exit.. interresting too
that Jerne won the nobel prize for this work in the 70's and it almost
disaapeared since then.. i had to get his book out of the deep storage
archives at sydney university as it hadnt been requested for years..

>According to THE NEW YORK TIMES CYBERTIMES, one of the judges, Derrick
>de Kerckhove, who believes that "Art left to its own devices can be a
>crashing bore," said that the decision was intended to send a message to
>electronic artists, that "the real material of the Web is the code."

 i also have real problems with this years prix winners....  I think linux
is a great thing technically and sociologically, and together with  some of
the honourable mentions do reflect  the jurys preference to collaborative
net software development than anything to do with net.art, of which ther
are some fabulous new sites out there this year, including looking at some
of the sites from peopl on this list which i assume where entered.. i find
it almost obscene that that the totally commercial aspect has now
overtaken  the net category as it has done with visual effect where Pixar
gets an honorary mention  for bugs life after last years titanic fiasco..,
and digital Music where Aphex Twin won with a gothic commercial music
video. Its obviously not really an arena for independent experimental
producers.

 boundary pushing in "art" seeps into other ventures, just as  fashion and
advertising draw on art practice , subcultures etc, which then become a
commodity of common consciousness, but the source remains unacknowledged.
and i personally would like to see more places where the "art " is
acknowledged, rather than the "tools" ie the code,  or its commercial
application.

i was planning to travel to the symposium, but i am having doubts ..
birgit is there a detailed program availabe yet?

melinda

melinda rackham
_____________carrier is now in  pre.view release
________________________ http://www.subtle.net/carrier


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