[resource-net] resource Reflection + Analysis / Arts + Praxis - Part 1

podinski podinski at mailbox.org
Sat Dec 17 22:01:41 CET 2016


Dear resourcers,

[ sorta long post, sorry, feel free to dive in if you have time ]

I haven't posted to resource-net for some time... And in Sept., I
switched to this mailbox.org for better security.

So, I have been out of the conversations here for quite awhile, though i
did return to a meeting at the Apartment Galerie several weeks ago.

There I noticed that some bit of struggle and tensions between resource
members+participants and Transmediale team still existed. Kristoffer
thereafter also wrote to some of us ( who were part of the network at
its very early stages) a long email clarifying the precise origins and
intentions of this network from Transmediale's perspective...

This was helpful, but what was not included in that account was
individuals who also had brought their energies, skills, concerns, needs
to those meetings to provide inputs, collaborations, and connections for
all of us who work, play, build, research, analyze and resist in the
fields of digital arts + culture year round in Berlin. 

Venues like Panke + Art Laboratory Berlin wanted a network that provided
a community + information on all the goings-on about town in these
fields. That was an interesting element for me,  so i went to some
"extra-resource" meetings that focused on the "TBA platform". That
online platform now exists, but... probably due to all our
over-abundance of online stuff ... and a number of other factors... it
didn't bring the community to a closer and cohesive entity.  One of the
problems being is that the majority of online communications has been
colonized by the social media giants. Just one of many dilemmas in our
digital culture realities.

My own personal interests in A Beyond-The-Transmediale-Festival
Community was that, while i greatly appreciate the complexity of
investigations at the festival,  there are not enough tangible nor local
resonances from these 3-4-5 day convergences... Little lasting effect
from the knowledge and revelations... And no working groups to follow
up, to transform theory into praxis and as on-the-ground or day-to-day
manifestations.

And in my humble opinion, there is an important new genre of arts taking
shape over the last years... An ARTS+PRAXIS-oriented MOVEMENT or a
TACTICAL ENGAGEMENT. Perhaps there's better language already out there
for this, so excuse me if this sounds too simplistic. [ I don't spend
alot of time reading arts+culture theory. ] ...

One can see this happening in a variety of places from HKW's own
thematic seminars + workshops (related to Anthropocene + Technosphere
issues ), Supermarkt workshops, festivals like Elevate, Subversive and
Memefest?, hacklab working groups, ongoing Cryptoparties, Hackathons,
conferences like Chaos Congress... 

As the resource network began to take shape, i saw this as an
opportunity to encourage and push Transmediale to invest in local
community, as much as they do in bringing international stars ,
academics, and specialists for a quick visit to drop some impressive (
and/or showy ) knowledge... downloads. 

Especially in the digital realms, the art world is in many places
feeling the need to be engaged with our unprecedented and quite
disturbing social crises and challenges !  ( climate change and
trumpydom to name just two ).

Transmediale is very aware of this, and yet still has not really
invested in the local spaces and the local actors who attempt to
construct local infrastructures for ongoing year-round engagement. I
consider them a little stuck in the festival + showtime formats, and
obviously are a small team which has to remain focused on pulling off a
very sophisticated and intellectually pioneering showcase each year. 
And of course their budget is limited. And yet it is highly
disappointing that they have not been able to assist or provide or
facilitate a hunt for A LOCAL BUDGET to build the local VORSPIEL events
... now in it's 5th? YEAR.  But maybe this won't be able to come from
Transmediale (internationally-focused funds), and other means need to be
evolved.

In my own humble opinion, ANOTHER FESTIVAL, a parallel festival,  like
Vorspiel isn't even really the best possible use of resource and its
local energies, and our artists and curators labor ... which currently,
if i may be a little critical, could be much more than this exploitative
crowd-sourced web 2.0-ish model that is currently playing out now. 
Though it is great to see it grow into a project involving over 35 venues !

There's an opportunity here for a platform, a network, alliances which
could perhaps help build infrastructures for more collaborations on a
regular basis, assistance + strategies for local spaces and local artist
+ curator LIVELIHOODS ... In the midst of producing works which
confront, challenge, escape the narrow confines of the commercial
arts+culture industry ... and away from all the window dressing and
exhibitions (-ism)...  and become a part of this praxis movement !

Alot of this thinking and my concerns comes from witnessing a city like
San Francisco, with a history of vibrant alternative arts,  destroying
its own fertile soil by allowing the neo-liberal trends and tech sector
economy to dominate. Thereby constructing very superficial and transient
environments, and extremely vulnerable communities.

This is a long conversation about themes like gentrification,
disruption, digital colonialism, and cybernetic regime change (
XLterrestrials wink )... but to sum up quickly, this was all tragicly
summed up in a horrible warehouse fire in Oakland last week, where over
30 people were trapped and killed. Almost all were artists from the
alternative arts scene, already suffering in the midst of a severe
housing crisis and a massive loss of cultural spaces killed off by
neo-liberal-driven market real-estate games and AirBnB-type invasions.

Not to sound overly dramatic, but there are probably some good analogies
to make here with ALL OF US. And probably on a planetary scale. We are
all likely to find ourselves, metaphorical or literal, in that burning
house, if we are not strategic in these times in using our creativity to
build new social infrastructures... and/or alternative paths which
deviate from the predatory + competitive forces + trajectories around us...

Maybe we can come together and think about using our creative
communities and the resource network more on these levels in 2017... And
if anyone's seeing this from a similar perspective, let's discuss further.

I've wanted to attempt trigger this conversation for a longer time, but
been to busy to do so... Also did not want to agitate in the midst of
organizing Vorspiel... but now maybe this is also a good theme to take
with us ... as the Transmediale High Season arrives.

Respects,

Paolo Podrescu

0----O----o
www.xlterrestrials.org/plog <http://www.xlterrestrials.org/plog>
arts + praxis organisms
o-----O------0

Co-founder of XLterrestials + CiTiZEN KiNO project

@podinski


 

 

 

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