Scribe 9/10

Announcements:
- Read “Relational Aesthetics” by Nicolas Bourriaud. You do not have to blog about this reading.
- Participatory Action assignment is due by Monday at 6p. Description is on the class website.

We started class talking about new technologies. One student brought up the new iPod release. Another described a new type of nanotechnology spray.

We then discussed the reading “Remixability and Modularity” by Lev Manovich. Some important notes are:
- Data has been made modular, meaning it is easily exchanged; one does not need to be proficient in computer programming to utilize its functions
- Web 2.0: refers to our current Internet; accessibility and user friendliness
- The modular form of the web makes it easy for anyone to use for various purposes, even beyond the original creators intent.
Some students said this reading was a bit difficult.

The discussion continued with remixability. Remixing can be done by anyone to anything in anyway. Modern remixability removes the prerequisite of being an expert.

We then looked at Post Secret, a type of community project in which participants send a post card with a secret written on it to one person, ultimately the editor, who the puts it online. The attraction to Post Secret could be because of its short form, accessibility, anonymity and potentially voyeurism. The question asked was: Is this art? Does it have an aesthetic concern? The argument that this is art can be made in that the creator, presumably, made a conscious choice of what post card and what secret to pair together. It is a composed piece of something. We discussed the possibility of fakes and whether or not that matters.

Pad.ma was briefly introduced. It is a website in which documentary filmmakers can upload clips of their work to be traded with other filmmakers.

Clips from Improv Everywhere were shown. This group organizes participatory actions in public venues. We looked at “Frozen in Grand Central” where volunteers were organized to freeze on a specific cue, hold their pose, and unfreeze on another cue. We looked at clips of flash mobs as well and discussed what was art and why. What are the requirements to make it art? Is it the amount of direction?

Lastly Professor Drury mentioned the concept of whether there is a political dimension in this participatory art.

To prepare us for this weeks reading, she brought up the term interstice which literally means (according to Miriam Webster) a space that intervenes between things. In the reading this term is used to describe the space in between people and public space.

*All the clips mentioned have links on the class website.*