February 10, 2006

EVENT | HARDCOPY @ Media State

[Hard Copy]

State Library of SA, Lecture Theatre, Institute Building
13 March, 10am - 5pm
FREE

Hard Copy is a professional, strategic workshop on publishing the outcomes of, and criticism about, interdisciplinary creative art practices. Current publishing paradigms and available outlets are not adequate for the myriad forms of output generated by hybrid, interdisciplinary and collaborative practice. Issues include editorial and selection structures, the validation of scholarship and assurance of quality, the impact of government research assessment and funding policy and the question of how to represent transversal outputs as cohesive bodies of work.

Equally important is the critical discourse surrounding interdisciplinary work, and its role in the development of an informed and engaged audience. Issues include the privileging of traditional art forms in mainstream print and broadcast media and addressing the divide between art and science, high and popular culture. For both academic and popular publishing, new media offers new opportunities in terms of circulation and readerships. The Hard Copy workshop is a strategic initiative to develop an Australian discourse around these issues with an international perspective. The workshop will provide an overview of the state of interdisciplinary publishing in Australia and an opportunity for the generation of new models and the development of new partnerships between organisations and individuals active in the field.

Hardcopy will be facilitated by ROGER MALINA, editor of LEONARDO, the leading journal for readers interested in the application of contemporary science and technology to the arts. ANAT invites professionals in art criticism and interdisciplinary creative work to join the discussion. Pre registration is essential.

Hard Copy is part of the Media State program presented by ANAT. Media State is a series of media art exhibitions, events, forums and workshops, which explore the connection between, and intervention of, media arts in our lives.

Info:
http://www.anat.org.au/projects/mediastate

FORUM | Between history and fiction

PUBLIC FORUM: Between history and fiction
MASTER CLASS: Finding your writing voice
Graduate Studies Centre
Queensland College of Art, South Bank
Saturday 18 March, 2006

This forum and masterclass event, sponsored by the Humanities Writing Project and the Centre for Public Culture and Ideas, sets out to debate the relationship between narrative history and fiction, and to consider the ways writers creatively negotiate or ignore the seeming divide between the two. A morning panel with guest speakers will be followed by an afternoon masterclass for postgraduate students and early career academics working between history and fiction in new and innovative humanities projects.

Guest speakers will include the authors of the recent Is History Fiction?, Ann Curthoys and John Docker, who will lead the afternoon masterclass. Is History Fiction? (UNSW Press, 2005) explores in fresh and innovative ways the perennial question, What is History? How can we in the present know the past? In a wonderful journey that starts with the classical Greeks and travels through the centuries to more recent forms of history that are framed by Marxism, postmodernism and feminism, John Docker and Ann Curthoys find that history has a double character. It is both a rigorous scrutiny of sources, and, because it presents the results of its enquiries as narrative, it is part of a literary world too. Such doubleness is the secret of historyâ€(tm)s fascination as an always changing, inventive endeavour. Yet it also explains why history has been a source of sometimes bitter disputes.

Both events are free and the forum is open to the public.

RSVP to attend the 'Between History and Fiction Forum' on 10-30 am - 12.30 pm, Saturday 18 March
Jill.Jones@griffith.edu.au

To attend the 'Finding your Writing Voice Masterclass', 1.30 - 4.30 pm, Saturday 18 March: Numbers are strictly limited and participants will be selected through application. Those wishing to participate will need to submit no more than 300 words about their current writing project in the humanities before the submission date. Submissions by email to Fiona Paisley, Co-Director of the Centre for Public Culture and Ideas (F.Paisley@griffith.edu.au). Include your full contact details, an outline of your project and what you hope to achieve through participating in the masterclass.

Submission due date: 5.00pm, MONDAY 6 MARCH. Confirmation of participation by Friday 10 March.

Dr Fiona Paisley
Co- Director
Centre for Public Culture and Ideas
Griffith University, Nathan Campus
170 Kessels Road
Nathan QLD 4111
07 3875 7464
fax 07 3875 4132
f.paisley@griffith.edu.au
http://www.griffith.edu.au/centre/cpci

ARTICLE | The End of the Internet?

The End of the Internet?
by Jeff Chester
Source: The Nation

America's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.

... Under the plans they are considering, all of us--from content providers to individual users--would pay more to surf online, stream videos or even send e-mail. Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that would further limit the online experience, establishing "platinum," "gold" and "silver" levels of Internet access that would set limits on the number of downloads, media streams or even e-mail messages that could be sent or received.

Read the fill article online at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester

ARTICLE | Participatory News

What Will Be the Model for a More Participatory News?
by Ronda Hauben

Recognizing that there is deep dissatisfaction with the mainstream news media, especially in the US, a number of news reading companies have opened web sites. Some are dot.com startups. A few are reported to have substantial venture capitalist funding. (1) The goal of these startups is to provide a new way for users to read the news. One such startup is Newsvine, Inc. (2) Newsvine is currently in a beta version which is being tested by invited users. One has to sign up at its web site in order to get an invitation to join or get an invitation from someone who already has access. It will open to the general public once the testing phase is finished.

Read the entire article online at:
http://english.ohmynews.com/ArticleView/article_view.asp?
menu=A11100&no=271588&rel_no=1&back_url=

February 09, 2006

ARTICLE | Subversion ...

On The Seven Reviews of Monkeys and Shit
... The Continuation of a Dialogue
Nicolás Guagnini
Source: NYFA Interactive

Although its heyday is some 30-plus years deep into art history, there was a brief era when the artist’s manipulation of the art magazine wasn’t entirely uncommon in the US. These days, art magazines are more closely guarded and more explicitly commercial, which makes Nicolás Guagnini’s subversive use of Time Out New York’s art section all the more outrageous and compelling. In 2003-4, Guagnini wrote seven reviews of exhibitions in New York. There was a caveat: in each review he forced himself to work in a reference to either primates or excrement. He succeeded (without being found out), and ultimately released the volume The Seven Reviews of Monkeys and Shit, which he displayed at Printed Matter in New York in 2004. The following is Guagnini’s response to the letter he received from NYFA Current Editor Nick Stillman requesting more information about the project.

Read the entire article at
http://www.nyfa.org/level3.asp?id=448&fid=4&sid=8

February 01, 2006

BOOK | RADICAL REVISIONISM

RADICAL REVISIONISM: AN ANTHOLOGY OF WRITINGS ON AUSTRALIAN ART
Edited by Rex Butler

The IMA is pleased to announce the publication of our new anthology of Australian art criticism, Radical Revisionism, a sequel to What is Appropriation? Radical Revisionism gathers important recent writings on Australian art. These writings are ‘revisionist’ insofar as they seek to bring a series of present-day perspectives to the study of art of the past: feminism, post-colonialism, the overturning of the legal doctrine of terra nullius. Radical Revisionism asks: What is the proper role for art history? Is it merely to chronicle the truth of the past, or is it to actively intervene in the events it records? These questions obviously bear a relationship to the ‘history wars’ that raged throughout the 1990s in Australia. The anthology concludes by asking whether there can in fact be a history of ‘Australian’ art in which white and indigenous artists come together. It proposes that the 21st century will be characterised by a certain ‘unAustralian’ history of Australian art.

Info:
http://www.ima.org.au
im@ima.org.au

ARTICLE | Arts journalism on the brink ...

An article by Jay Handelman in South West Florida's Herald Tribune examines some pressing issues about arts journalism and criticism. Handelman writes "While business is generally strong at commercial and nonprofit theaters across the country as they adjust to changing tastes and buying habits, the media, particularly newspapers, are increasingly turning a blind eye to the performing and visual arts -- often in favor of more stories about movies, TV and stars."

Adding to the woes of the arts is a disturbing trend which sees arts reporters replaced by freelancers: "as critics have retired or taken buyouts, they weren't always replaced. If they were, it might have been with a freelance writer, which means a reduced presence in those newsrooms to champion certain kinds of coverage."

More info:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060129/COLUMNIST26/601290922