The impetus for this project is a shared set of artistic and intellectual interests. Each of us has expressed interest in starting an online editorial/curatorial project, and want to use this class to act upon this goal. The three of us have maintained a number of blogs over the years, mostly using Blogspot and Tumblr as platforms. These sites have been mainly imaged-based, while the class project will be text-heavy and more critical in nature. There is a desire to say more than "I like this," to do more than select an artwork or .jpg to stand in as an avatar of ourselves. With this publication, we would like to work through specific issues pertaining to contemporary art and culture. Though the three of us will contribute, the most important element will be commissioned artworks and essays from artists and writers of our choice.
Common points of reference are Romantic Conceptualism, New Sincerity and the status of irony, the role (or possibility, even) of self-expression in contemporary art, and the navigation of identity in online spaces. Many of the artists we want to include are shared favorites (Bunny Rogers, Jaakko Pallasvuo, Jennifer Chan), though each of us will choose contributors that hold personal resonance. The basis for this project is the group's pool of shared interests and preferences, with the site acting as a mechanism for each member to explore these texts and ideas.
We are inspired by a number of web-based publications turned out by our peers, and wish to contribute to this conversation. Two models we look to are http://pooool.info/ and http://pwrshare.info/. Pool acts as a platform for the discussion of topics relating to New Media art and digital culture. The contributions come from young artists and writers, ranging from traditional academic essays to more personal reflections on individual artistic practices. The main elements we look to here are the promotion of critical inquiry and the creation of content from a group of invite-based contributors. PWRSHARE is the Internet component of the quarterly published PWRPAPER. Every few months, the PWRSHARE website is updated with visual and written works from a new group of contributors, while the corresponding PWRPAPER publication offers a printed counterpart to the website. Due to the differences between print and online media, the twin publications complement rather than directly replicate each other. As a group, we are excited by the prospect of preparing a print component to accompany our online project. This will require us to conceptualize a project that goes beyond strict analog/digital binaries. Ideally, this would encourage an approach to website design that utilizes characteristics particular to the web, namely ones that could not be reproduced in print.
At this point, we have devised a basic layout for the website. The site would consist of only one page, with no separate "about" or "contact" pages. Each element of the publication - audio, video, text, or image - would appear on the page as its own item that can be clicked on and expanded. Instead of the content being presented in a static format, we would like for items to continually load as one scrolls down the page. The main goal is to move away from an interface that utilizes or mimics pre-available templates from websites like Wordpress.
The three of us are active within the Internet Art community but do not wish to limit our project to this sphere. We previously worked together on Barmecidal Projects, which was explicitly net-oriented in its fixation on materiality and online versus offline space. Our publication will move away from this framework both through the artists selected and through the inclusion of a print-based element in our mandate.
Common points of reference are Romantic Conceptualism, New Sincerity and the status of irony, the role (or possibility, even) of self-expression in contemporary art, and the navigation of identity in online spaces. Many of the artists we want to include are shared favorites (Bunny Rogers, Jaakko Pallasvuo, Jennifer Chan), though each of us will choose contributors that hold personal resonance. The basis for this project is the group's pool of shared interests and preferences, with the site acting as a mechanism for each member to explore these texts and ideas.
We are inspired by a number of web-based publications turned out by our peers, and wish to contribute to this conversation. Two models we look to are http://pooool.info/ and http://pwrshare.info/. Pool acts as a platform for the discussion of topics relating to New Media art and digital culture. The contributions come from young artists and writers, ranging from traditional academic essays to more personal reflections on individual artistic practices. The main elements we look to here are the promotion of critical inquiry and the creation of content from a group of invite-based contributors. PWRSHARE is the Internet component of the quarterly published PWRPAPER. Every few months, the PWRSHARE website is updated with visual and written works from a new group of contributors, while the corresponding PWRPAPER publication offers a printed counterpart to the website. Due to the differences between print and online media, the twin publications complement rather than directly replicate each other. As a group, we are excited by the prospect of preparing a print component to accompany our online project. This will require us to conceptualize a project that goes beyond strict analog/digital binaries. Ideally, this would encourage an approach to website design that utilizes characteristics particular to the web, namely ones that could not be reproduced in print.
At this point, we have devised a basic layout for the website. The site would consist of only one page, with no separate "about" or "contact" pages. Each element of the publication - audio, video, text, or image - would appear on the page as its own item that can be clicked on and expanded. Instead of the content being presented in a static format, we would like for items to continually load as one scrolls down the page. The main goal is to move away from an interface that utilizes or mimics pre-available templates from websites like Wordpress.
The three of us are active within the Internet Art community but do not wish to limit our project to this sphere. We previously worked together on Barmecidal Projects, which was explicitly net-oriented in its fixation on materiality and online versus offline space. Our publication will move away from this framework both through the artists selected and through the inclusion of a print-based element in our mandate.
I'm happy that you are using the course as an opportunity to advance an editorial/curatorial collaboration that is already well underway and that I am sure will continue after the course is done... see this as a way-station to get to a certain point in the editorial conversation. As I said in class it is not necessary to 'complete' both digital and print elements in this semester. Let's work on establishing realistic deliverables. Perhaps it is more a case of structuring and seeking draft material and moving down the editorial development process of bringing manuscripts and (moving) pictures to a publishable state.
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