Re: [Fwd: LIFESCIENCE: Re: LIFESCIENCE]

[owner-lifescience-en@aec.at]

---------------------------------------------------------
ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 99
LIFESCIENCE
Linz, Austria, September 04 - 09
http://www.aec.at/lifescience
---------------------------------------------------------
On 17-Jun-99, Prof. Dr. Birgit Richard wrote:

>> > It may change system from art to
>> > science perhaps commercialized than it is no longer art and if it stays
>> >within
>> > the art system it will have no direct influence on society!
>>
>> I agree with Lubica Lachinova -it is not the task of art to have DIRECT
>> influence (in a practical sense) on society -just as I believe it not the
>task
>> of science to have a DIRECT influence.
>>

>that is very true but the forms of sciences will strongly infiltrate social
in
>the
>case of lifescience although the starting point is a scientific laboratory.

Is it not advisable to ask advice by someone who has no vested interest in
the outcome?

So perhaps the basic paradox of BOTH art and science is that their
social relevance is highest when social relevance is not part of their
strategy.

Is this not similar to the point being made by speer?

>> "   art ,,like life will only reveal itself for what it is AFTER it has
been
>> created." -speer

Today I heard Amos Oz on BBC radio saying that EVERY story teller has to
build the vehicle in which the story travels during the journey.

Surely, life is like that too.

"A little knowlege is a dangerous thing" -but as humans we can only have
access to limited knowlege. So it is surely adviseable to share the little
we have -and to extend it as much as possible by comparing it with the
knowlege that others have. For our own safety, it might be advisable to
proceed with caution when exploiting our limited knowlege and to avoid
believing the "media hype" which always claims the latest "definitive" answer
to ALL problems (available, of course via your local dealer).

>> If art has NO influence on society -then that is surely the fault of
artists
>> who have rejected all definitions, constraints or criteria for their work
>> -thus reducing art to the level of a religious sect which is only relevant
>to
>> those who already believe in it -or earn their living from it.
>>

>the purpose of art is a special one giving new objects for communication to
>society

On 17-Jun-99, Prof. Dr. Birgit Richard wrote: (to speer)
>to create art you have to have some utopian view into the future because art
>always refers to something or develop different concepts of world

So we have TWO slightly contradictory visions here:

Art as COMMUNICATION (for public) and art as INVESTIGATION (for artist).

Personally, I would reject "Art as Communication".
Although of course there are no watertight divisions:
-in order to communicate one should presumably investigate first
-and investigation can produce information which may influence others.

But, even if the path is the same -then the direction of the traveller will
surely affect their view, and people moving in different directions will
see different things.

So we can kill each other because we have differnt views -or we can have
the pleasure (and knowlege) gained by exchanging and comparing them.

>so this is the point of view of very conervative art historian telling you
>have
>to wait 50 years to tell something about an piece of art, only then you have
>the necessary reflective attittude.

Possibly, except of course that after only 50 years one might be advised to
wait a little longer (unfortunately, a reflective attitude is not enough
-one also needs time to see how things develop, and to study the implications
of those developments).

Of course we cannot put our brains on ice until then -but in the meantime
we could perhaps exercize a little humility and not assume that we now know
ALL the answers, that those who were before us were fools -and that those who
come after us will have nothing to do.

>>
>> Is this a forum to discuss "Lifescience" or to sell "transgentic art"?
>>

>i am not paid by eduardo kac if you mean that :)))

Sorry, I did not mean to imply that. Perhaps it was an unjustified remark,
simply expressing my frustration at the difficulties of having a meaningful
discussion. Certainly I was thinking more in terms of an "ideological" sell
than a "financial" sell -although of course the two are not entirely
separate.

On 17-Jun-99, melinda rackham wrote:
> i also have real problems with this years prix winners....

Ars Electronica is not free from commercial sponsoring, but of course it is
not alone in this.

In America there is the  "Microsoft Artist-Residency Fellowship Program" at
the Carnegie Mellon University.

And in Switzerland:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
GAME_OVER version 1.0 started april 14th 1999 and
will end july 4th 1999
    museum fuer gestaltung zuerich
    ausstellungsstrasse 60
    ch-8005 zurich / switzerland
    fon [+41] 1-446 22 11
    http://www.museum-gestaltung.ch
._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _.
<sponsors>
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
GAME_OVER version 1.0 is funded by research grants of the
commission for technology and innovation KTI of the BUNDES-
AMTES FUER BERUFSBILDUNG UND TECHNOLOGIE SWITZERLAND and
supported by CREDIT SUISSE [main sponsor], IFA informatik,
SONY computer entertainment and SIEMENS business services
and many more... additional programs are organized by
digital brainstorming / KULTURPROZENT MGB, cinema riff raff,
load, booom and substrat at the rohstofflager.
_._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _._ _.

These being just a few (random) examples of how "commercialized" our
"culture" has become (in such poor countries as Austria, America and
Switzerland).

On 17-Jun-99, melinda rackham wrote:
>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.

Well, so would I.
However, I would also like to see artists who understood that the code
is not (simply) a "tool".

Because (strangely enough) there seems to be a whole generation of "media
artists" and "media experts" who seem to believe that the computer is an
extension to "video art" -that it is an informal tool for "manipulating
images".
Unfortunately, procedural artists were using the computer to explore
artistic algorithms some years before video was invented. Indeed, it were
these techniques that were "packaged" and sold to the public in the form of
electronic "paint by number kits" that made the "informal" computer so
popular (plus of course the "do-it-yourself music kits")!

By ignoring the "formal" aspects of the computer -the differences in character
manifested when it is approached as "tool" by a user or as a "medium" by a
programmer can never become visible -because few "artists" or "experts" are
interested in, or capable, of programming the beast. Current art dogma -has
it that the medium is unimportant -that the idea is paramount, so artists
are encouraged never to get "formal" (and there are very few teachers who
could
teach this approach, anyhow). Art historians and festivals follow (and
reinforce) the current trend, so the circle closes -and the evidence against
it becomes lost.

How much is "sponsoring" the cause -or the effect?
I do not know.

On the other hand, how much is "Linux" to be concidered a "commercial"
product. Surely, it could be argued that "Linux" could be used to demonstrate
that the open practices of non-commercial systems generate (via the net)
beter products than the restricted practices found in more commercial systems.

At the risk of boring everyone -I have forwarded separately some remarks I
posted on another (Ars Electronica) list. Just to prove I am not entirely
against the smell of money.

Greetings,
trevor


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are subscribed to the English language version of LIFESCIENCE
To unsubscribe the English language version send mail to
lifescience-en-request@aec.at (message text 'unsubscribe')
Send contributions to lifescience@aec.at
--------------------------------------------------------------------------