ONLINE | M/C themed 'Review'

M/C - Media and Culture
Current issue themed 'Review' - Edited by Emma Nelms, Kate Cuthbert and Tim Milfull

Reviews occupy an uneasy position in society. There are those that argue that reviewing is an art in itself, that a well-written review stands alone. There are those that argue that reviewers enjoy a parasitic relationship, piggy-backing on another's creation. Still others see reviews as mere advertisements, one more cog in the publicity wheel. Regardless of which faction you support, however, it must be admitted that reviewing is fast becoming one of the most controversial forms of writing.

What is it about reviews that make them so popular (or unpopular) with consumers? Can a review really affect the way consumers act or feel? Why will people read the opinions of a reviewer they already dislike? What gives the critic the right to pass judgement on another person's work and when do we consider them suitably qualified to do so? At what point does one move from being 'Monday's expert' to a valid opinion-holder, whose views would be welcome in a wider public forum?

What is the difference between a run-of-the-mill review and a piece that offers a critical analysis of an art form; and why do some readers prefer one over the other? Is reviewing an art form, and when does a review merely provide a platform for the reviewer? This issue considers these and other aspects of 'review'.

http://journal.media-culture.org.au/

ONLINE | Digital Writing on -empyre-

Throughout October ... Writing is one of the oldest known technologies, but the concept of writing did not change as substantially as the different forms of text mediation have done, throughout the years. Nevertheless, the invention of press and, most recently, of the computer, altered important operations related to how words and paragraphs are organized. Also, devices such as the Internet, DVD and mobile equipments allowed new forms of writing and publishing.

During the month of October, Bill Seaman, Brigid McLeer, Friedrich Block, Giselle Beiguelman and Sue Thomas will discuss, at the ­ empyre ­ mailing list (http://www.subtle.net/empyre), if the concept of
writing is still adequate to describe the most eloquent examples of creative processes involving words and digital media. Given the growing use of sound, image and programming at the web — once claimed to be the media that brought text back to the center of an increasingly image oriented culture— what is the state of the art, on the field of digital writing? Issues such as the recombinant nature of digital writing, writing for public spaces (and related notions of placement / displacement), sampling as a form of intertextuality and writing for mobile devices, among others, will be the central topics.

Subscribe
https://mail.cofa.unsw.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/empyre

PUBLICATION | Sarai Reader 05: Bare Acts

Sarai Reader 05: Bare Acts
The Sarai Reader is a unique product, even in terms of form: neither book nor journal, it is a purely experimental enterprise that combines contributions that range from the academic to the literary, from the purely textual to the visual, from detailed ethnographic reports to fairly dense theoretical writings. In fact, it will not be an exaggeration to say that the Sarai Reader embodies in every sense, the collapse of all boundaries of form, style and genre. Sarai has made available to us a whole new language for apprehending the enormous changes taking place over the last decade, which have radically transformed our existence.

for full text of review by Aditya Nigam visit:
http://www.india-seminar.com/2005/553/553%20books.htm
http://www.sarai.net/journal/reader_05.html

LECTURE | Making Space for the Artist

Making Space for the Artist
A public lecture by Mark Amerika
Tuesday October 11
7pm- 8.30pm
Building 3.5.10
(Bon Marche Building- corner of Harris St and Broadway, Ultimo)
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
UTS

By its very nature, new media art is congested with always emergent technologies and a slew of theoretical justifications that attempt to turn aesthetic practice into art-research. But avant-garde artists have been at the forefront of pioneering an experimental humanities since the early 20th century, and many reputable universities are now finding pockets of interest in their various science faculties that want to move away from "computer science per se" as well as "theory" while simultaneously embracing new modes of interdisciplinary thought that border on the aesthetic. Who are the new media artists of today and where are they hiding in the midst of all of this interdisciplinary change? Are they capable of making space for their creative enterprise without conforming to preset research agendas and styles of inquiry, and is it still possible to take a radical stance from within the work of art itself regardless of what new technologies are hot and what current theory tries to appropriate its fluid context?

Mark Amerika's lecture will mix personal narrative, philosophical inquiry, spontaneous theories, and cyberpunk fictions as a way to locate the emerging spaces where new media artists operate when distributing their digital art personas. Presenting a selection of his work composed over the last 15 years, he will discuss how making space for the artist requires protecting the creative process from becoming neutered by the corporate greed machine, and how artists themselves might strategize a parallel "digital poetics" that creatively disturbs the by now predictable forms of academic research practice.

Bio
Mark Amerika is a Professor of Art and Art History at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His net art, DVD surround sound installations, and VJ performances have been exhibited and featured all over the world. He is the author of two novels, has edited three published anthologies, and is the Founder and Publisher of the Alt-X Online Network, a net art and new media writing site started on the Internet in 1993 (www.altx.com). His forthcoming book of artist writings, entitled META/DATA: A Digital Poetics, will be published by MIT Press later next year. Professor Amerika is also directing his first feature-length film, entitled MY AUTOEROTIC MUSE. His website is www.markamerika.com

Mark Amerika is a Visiting Artist in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, UTS, in Spring 2005. For further information please contact Megan.Heyward@uts.edu.au.

NEWSPAPER | Arts & LEISURE

A newspaper on the relevant subjects of criticality and complaint, edited by Julieta Aranda and Carlos Motta. Based on an idea conceived by The Generals (Julieta Aranda, K8 Hardy, Gareth James, and Carlos Motta, 2005).

TEXTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS BY:
Fia Backström • Michael Baers • Sybil Baker • Roman Berka / Elia Gurna / Ben Lam (museum in progress) • CAMEL • Andrea Fraser • Mariam Gahni • The Generals • Andrea Geyer • Liam Gillick • Terence Gower • Francesca Grassi • Nicolás Guagnini • Ashley Hunt • Jesal Kapadia • Stewart Ludlow • Gabriel Lester • Maria Lind • Raimundas Malasauskas • Yates McKee • Gean Moreno • Natasa Petresin • Christian Rattemeyer • Miguel "Curri" Sarate • Brian Sholis • Elena Sorokina • Valerie Tevere • Leon Trotsky • Anton Vidokle • Alex Villar

You can request a copy of the newspaper at: info@arts-and-leisure.com
Arts & LEISURE has been co-published by e-flux art in general

ISBN: 0-9766693-0-72
8 pages
print run: 2,000 copies
http://www.arts-and-leisure.com/