***  Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Forum1 Archive  ***
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   [Date]: Wed, 03 Nov 1999 12:02:03 +0100
   [From]: olu oguibe <ooguibe@undp.org>
     [To]: Cultural Exchange via Internet <forum1@hkw.kbx.de>
[Subject]: Re: [forum1] America?

At 02:39 PM 11/3/99 +0100, Kim Machan wrote:

>Hello List!
>Without again bringing up the word "sensation" I have been a little
>surprised at how much of the space and time on this list has gone into
>the discussion of american art and politics.
>Why is it that so much of the time has gravitated back to New York?


Kim, I don't think that such policing slashes are useful to insightful
discussion and exchange. The nature and geography of themes discussed here
ultimately depend on who is willing or disposed to contribute. Going
through my mailbox for this forum, I count 6 contributions from Kim Machan
between Friday, November 20, 1998 and Wednesday, November 3, 1999. 2 of
those contributions are questions. 2 are about MAAP 99 which you directed
in September. Only the remaining 2 are direct contributions to debate.
That's over a period of 12 months. None of those 6, from my point of view,
tells us much about what is happenning in the Pacific, how the changing
economic and political climate in the region is impacting culture, how
Australia is reluctantly yielding to the inevitable demographic
reconfiguration of the region, how "globalization" is determining outsider
encounters with--and perspectives on--contemporary Asian cultures, how Asia
might ultimately determine the future of the digital age, etc, etc. 

With such a record, why does it surprise you that the list is discussing
New York, wrong as that claim obviously is? How does discussion about a
culture activist dismissed from his job in Latin America, or concerns about
the future of the web [an area where you are obviously a player], or the
opinion of an African artist and critic who edits a journal of contemporary
African art, contributing on discussion around a controversy at the center
of which are a Black British artist of Nigerian descent, and a largely
Latino and Italian catholic community in New York constitute derailment
from the goals of this forum? 

I would not want to misinterpret your attempt to urge "silent" members of
the forum to speak up, but there is no better inducement than example.
There is a little, Christian injunction which notes that "faith without
work is dead?"