***  Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Forum1 Archive  ***
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   [Date]: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 00:00:20 +0800
   [From]: p w toy <toy1234@iinet.net.au>
     [To]: Cultural Exchange via Internet <forum1@herz.kbx.de>
[Subject]: Re: [forum1] Re: Pleasure or torture

Tom,
Yes your reply was quite pedantic but also quite patronizing.... it makes me feel as if I'm on the outside of
something which you know a lot about, but it is this OUTSIDE which I am speaking of when I refer to.....the
PHYSICAL REALITY of
> our world....
There are many issues here, but one which interests me (derived from your posting) is the notion that the network
is perhaps more which you give it credit. What looms large in my imagination is the metaphor of the network as an
artifical mind of which we are "all" a part of. But unfortunately, as Olu Oguibe states in his "Connectivity and
the Fate of the Unconnected", we are not all a part of this network. And those on the OUTSIDE are begining to feel
this disadvantage.
Who are these OUTSIDE artists. To me these are the artists because of economic and difficult physical barriers are
unable to utilise technology which perhaps many in the developed world have easy assess to (me included). For
example in Australia about 5 years ago our government decided to invest a considerable amount of money in
Multimedia, particularly in the Arts. Many Artists, (including myself) fought to get this NewMedia money, but in
the end it was the smart ones who new how to present funding applications who succeded. These are the NewMedia
elite. Most Artists I know can not afford a computer and the fee to become a part of the Network and so carry on
with the usual media - the physical things which we can afford... Photography, Ceramics, Installation,
Performance, etc. and many of these artists feel on the OUTSIDE of this NewMedia elite. I am still not convinced
that, as you say...artists using the net are basically addressing the same
issues as artists not using the net. In my experience over the years the opposite seems to be the case. I have one
example where a NewMedia artist was disinterested in talking to me because at that stage I did't have email.In
this instance I was very aware of being on the OUTSIDE of an elite group.
In conclusion I would stand firm with my notion that the Network or web is not a PHYSICAL REALITY as I know it,
but I am intersted in it as MIND and how it might serve us as such.

Regards,
Peter Toy
http://www.iinet.net.au/~toy1234/


t o m v i n c e n t wrote:

> > Are there any artists out there in Cyber Space intetested in making
> >constructive response to the PHYSICAL REALITY of
> > our world..... We need to hear and SEE this.
>
> Peter,
>
> This may sound pedantic, but cyber space _is part of the physical reality of
> our world. More obviously so even than radio or television, which transmit
> invisibly, because the net is still predominantly carried through physical
> cables and wires. And increasingly it is a more and more important part of
> our world. I know you are concerned specifically with human rights and
> ethics issues, but artists using the net are basically addressing the same
> issues as artists not using the net. Some - maybe many - are concerned with
> the mark making process, the aesthetics of web browsing etc - but all are
> concerned with physical reality.
>
> Have a look at mailing lists like Syndicate, for example.
> http://www.v2.nl/syndicate
> look at what happened with the Belgrade radio station B92, and the help site
> http://helpb92.xs4all.nl/
> have a look at what etoy.com (info at) and

> http://www.RTmark.com are doing in response to corporate abuse.
> What about Ingo Gunther's http://www.republik.com - addressing the issues of
> refugees and state authority?
>
> There are loads more. You don't have to look very far to find them -in fact
> since the web has taken off it has never been easier to attempt to make
> constructive responses, and to join them. (Whether they are more successful
> than before the web is another conversation, however).
>
> But look out there. Search the web. Artists now are shouting louder than
> ever before.
>
> Tom