No subject
Tue Sep 18 10:10:38 UTC 2007
=20
Meanwhile, in the face of the phenomena of vernacular video, institutionall=
y sanctioned video art necessarily attaches itself even more firmly to trad=
itional visual-art media and cinematic history. Video art distinguishes its=
elf from the broader media culture by its predictable associations with vis=
ual-art history (sculpture, painting, photography) and cinematic history (s=
lo-mo distortions of cinematic classics, endless homages to Eisenstein and =
Brakhage, etc.).
=20
Video art continues to turn its back on its potential as a communications m=
edium, ignoring its cybernetic strengths (video alters behaviour and steers=
social movement through feedback). Video artists, seeking institutional su=
pport and professional status, will continue to be retrospective and conser=
vative. Video installations provide museums with the window-dressing of con=
temporary media art. Video art that emulates the strategies of traditional =
media, video sculpture and installations or video painting reinforces the v=
alue of an institution's collection, its material manifestation of history.=
Video art as limited edition or unique physical object does not challenge =
the museum's raison d'etre. Video artists content with making video a physi=
cal object are operating as a rear guard, as a force protecting the museum =
from claims of total irrelevance. In an information age, where value is det=
ermined by immaterial forces, the speed-of-light movement of data, informat=
ion and knowledge, fetishising material objects is an anachronistic exercis=
e. Of course, it is not surprising that museum audiences find the material =
objectification of video at trade-show scale impressive on a sensual level.
=20
As vernacular video culture spins toward disaster and chaos, artists workin=
g with video will have to choose between the safe harbour of the museum and=
gallery, or become storm chasers. If artists choose to chase the energy an=
d relative chaos and death wish of vernacular video, there will be challeng=
es and high degrees of risk.
=20
Aesthetics Will Continue to Separate Artists from the Public at Large =20
=20
If artists choose to embrace video culture in the wilds (on the street or o=
n-line) where vernacular video is burgeoning in a massive storm of quickly =
evolving short message forms, they will face the same problems that artists=
always face. How will they describe the world they see, and if they are di=
sgusted by what they see, how will they compose a new world? And then how w=
ill they find an audience for their work? The advantages for artists showin=
g in museums and galleries are simple. The art audience knows it is going t=
o see art when it visits a museum or gallery. Art audiences bring their edu=
cation and literacy to these art institutions. But art audiences have narro=
w expectations. They seek material sensuality packaged as refined objects a=
ttached to the history of art. When artists present art in a public space d=
ominated by vernacular use, video messages by all kinds of people with diff=
erent kinds of voices and goals, aesthetic decisions are perhaps even more =
important, and even more complex, than when art is being crafted to be expe=
rienced in an art museum.=20
=20
Aesthetics are a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty. Fo=
r the purpose of this text, aesthetics are simply an internal logic or set =
of rules for making art. This logic and its rules are used to determine the=
balance between form and content. As a general rule, the vernacular use of=
a medium pushes content over form. If a message is going to have any weigh=
t in a chaotic environment - where notions of beauty are perhaps secondary =
to impact and effectiveness - then content becomes very important. Does the=
author of the message have anything to show or say?
=20
Vernacular video exhibits its own consistencies of form. As previously elab=
orated, the people's video is influenced by advertising, shorter and shorte=
r attention spans, the excessive use of digital effects, the seductiveness =
of slo-mo and accelerated image streams, a fascination with crude animation=
and crude behaviour, quick-and-dirty voice-overs and bold graphics that hi=
ghlight a declining appreciation of written language. To characterise the f=
ormal 'aesthetics' of vernacular video, it might be better to speak of anes=
thetics. The term anesthetic is an antonym of aesthetic. An anesthetic is w=
ithout aesthetic awareness. An anesthetic numbs or subdues perceptions. Ver=
nacular video culture, although vital, will function largely anesthetically=
.=20
=20
The challenge for artists working outside the comfort zone of museums and g=
alleries will be to find and hold onto an audience, and to attain professio=
nal status as an individual in a collective, pro-am (professional amateur) =
environment. Let's face it, for every artist that makes the choice to take =
his or her chances in the domain of vernacular video, there are thousands o=
f serious, interesting artists who find themselves locked out of art instit=
utions by curators that necessarily limit the membership of the master clas=
s. Value in the museum is determined by exclusivity. With this harsh realit=
y spelled out, there should be no doubt about where the action is and where=
innovation will occur.
=20
The technology of video is now as common as a pencil for the middle classes=
. People who never even considered working seriously in video find themselv=
es with digital camcorders and non-linear video-editing software on their p=
ersonal computers. They can set up their own 'television stations' with vid=
eo streaming via the Web without much trouble. The revolution in video-disp=
lay technologies is creating massive, under-utilised screen space and time,=
as virtually all architecture and surfaces become potential screens. Video=
phones will expand video's ubiquity exponentially. These video tools are in=
credibly powerful and are nowhere near their zenith. If one wishes to be pa=
rt of the twenty-first-century, media-saturated world and wants to communic=
ate effectively with others or express one's position on current affairs in=
considerable detail, with which technology would one chose to do so, digit=
al video or a pencil?
=20
Artists must embrace, but move beyond, the vernacular forms of video. Artis=
ts must identify, categorise and sort through the layers of vernacular vide=
o, using appropriate video language to interact with the world effectively =
and with a degree of elegance. Video artists must recognise that they are p=
art of a global, collective enterprise. They are part of a gift economy in =
an economy of abundance. Video artists must have something to say and be ab=
le to say it in sophisticated, innovative, attractive ways. Video artists m=
ust introduce their brand of video aesthetics into the vernacular torrents.=
They must earn their audiences through content-driven messages.
=20
The mission is a difficult one. The vernacular domain is a noisy torrent of=
immense proportions. Video artists will be a dime a dozen. Deprofessionali=
sed artists working in video, many sporting M.F.A. degrees, will be joined =
by music-video-crazed digital cooperatives and by hordes of Sunday video ar=
tists. The only thing these varied artists won't have to worry about is the=
death of video art. Video art has been pronounced dead so many times; its =
continual resurrection should not surprise anyone. This is a natural cycle =
in techno-cultural evolution. The robust life force of vernacular video wil=
l be something for artists to ride, and something to twist and turn, and so=
mething formidable to resist and work against. The challenge will be Hercul=
ean and irresistible.
=20
Venturing into the Broader Culture of Messaging
=20
The culture of messaging is transforming art into a much more extensive soc=
ial and political activity. The role of the individual artist is changing r=
adically as complex finished works of art are no longer widely embraced ent=
husiastically by audiences. Attention spans have shrunk and audiences want =
to interact with the culture they embrace. Audiences are consumed by the co=
mpulsion to trade messages. Today, messaging is all that matters. Instant m=
essaging, voice messaging, texting, e-mail, file sharing, social networking=
, video streaming and all manner of interactive synchronous and asynchronou=
s communication are the order of the day.
=20
The speed and pervasiveness of electronic, digital culture is erasing the f=
unction of art as we knew it. The world of top-down, expert-authored one-to=
-many forms of communication have given way to the buzz of the hive. The br=
oadcast and auteur models, where control of content remains firmly in the h=
ands of a few, have disintegrated. Speaking horizontally, one-to-one or man=
y-to-many, now dominates our time. Our cultures are no longer bound togethe=
r by the reception and appreciation of singular objects of thought, but by =
the vibrations and oscillations of millions of networked transceivers. Tran=
sceivers, those devices for receiving and authoring messages, the video ena=
bled cell phones and laptop computers and PDAs with webcams, are erasing th=
e differences between artists and audiences as both move towards a culture =
of messaging.
=20
In the early 1960s the communications revolution, satellite-based telecommu=
nications, made it impossible to maintain an art separate and distinct from=
the culture at large. Boundaries between art and the broader culture simpl=
y broke down due to increased communication. Abstract expressionism, the ze=
nith of Clement Greenberg's high modernism (art for art's sake) was crushed=
by a deluge of advertising imagery. Pop art marked the beginning of the po=
stmodern era. Postmodernism resulted from a technologically determined coll=
apse of the boundaries segregating and protecting the art world from a broa=
der culture dominated by advertising. Chaos has characterised Western art e=
ver since, as for five decades we have experienced the relative freedom of =
an 'anything goes' philosophy of expanding pluralism. Feminism and many pre=
viously unheralded Others (and content in general - the counterpoint to abs=
traction and formalism) took their turns in the spotlight of a postmodern e=
ra churned by the broad, alternating strokes of minimalism and the ornate. =
The formal properties of postmodern art and culture swing back and forth be=
tween the classic simplicity of natural forms (minimalism) and the playfull=
y complicated synthetic hodgepodge of bricolage (neo-rococo).=20
=20
If pop art essentially signified the big bang that commenced postmodernity,=
an era characterised by cultural diversity and hybridity, then we can imag=
ine fragments of art mixed with culture flying away from the centre of a ca=
taclysmic implosion. The postmodern implosion of the early 1960s resulted i=
n an expanding universe where art and culture mixed haphazardly. Art remain=
ed as a concept at the centre of the postmodern implosion, recognisable onl=
y through art historical references. Art was pure and identifiable only if =
it quoted or repeated its past, an art history crowned by its highest order=
: abstraction - the zenith of modernism.
=20
The Second Implosion: Postmodernity Itself Collapses
=20
We have now undergone a second, even more violent and gargantuan implosion.=
The second postmodern implosion took place early in the millennial decade:=
2002-2005. The cultural debris of the expanding postmodern cultural mix, t=
he delightfully insane levels of diversity, hybridity and horizontality cha=
racterising late twentieth century culture and its fragmented, disintegrate=
d pockets of contemporary art, had reached a density and weight so dispropo=
rtionate to the vacuum at the centre of 'art' that a second complete collap=
se was unavoidable. In other words, after five decades of relative chaos, p=
ostmodernity itself has collapsed and imploded with such intensity that we =
now occupy a vast cloud of cultural disorientation.
=20
If this exercise in cultural cosmology seems unreal and strangely rooted in=
a philosophical premise that art has an important function in creating, re=
making and even maintaining order in our increasingly turbulent cultures, b=
e warned that this text was written by an artist, a believer in the value o=
f art. Artists believe strongly that it is their role to push cultures to c=
hange as a result of the imposition of their art. Art is extreme, twisted, =
marginal culture; a minority report. Artists believe they are agents of cha=
nge and act accordingly. Artists ask embarrassing questions. Artists are ah=
ead of their time. By simply embracing the present, thereby glimpsing the f=
uture, artists lead audiences reluctant to let go of the past. The principl=
e tenets of the belief system of art are that art refreshes culture and som=
ewhat paradoxically that the history of art can anchor culture during storm=
y times of disorder. We live in such stormy times.=20
=20
Art is a belief system in crisis. At the centre of this belief system we fi=
nd art chained to art history, to times before the dominance of computers a=
nd the emergence of networks and vastly distributed authorship. We find con=
temporary art that finds security in looking like art from the early to mid=
-twentieth century (modern art). While these historical references have bee=
n stretched to the breaking point by time and technocultural change, the br=
oadest public persists in embracing an idea of art that remains antithetica=
l to television, radio, cinema, design, advertising, and the Web. The Web o=
f course encompasses all of the media before it and stirs the pot to the bo=
iling point with a large dose of interactivity. Art at the centre necessari=
ly acquiesces to the parameters of art as have been defined by the history =
of art, refusing to be corrupted by interactivity, but for more and more th=
inking people art historical references are unconvincing and useless in the=
face of our collapsing cultural order. These anachronisms are security bla=
nkets with diminishing returns.
=20
One thing for sure is that levels of uncertainty are up big time. The speed=
and volume of cultural exchange is undermining the lasting impact of 'orig=
inal' ideas, images and sounds, and the economics of both culture and art a=
re undergoing radical change. In the millennial period, everyone is looking=
for a foothold. Artists are just as uncomfortable with instability as ever=
yone else, but the prevailing myth has it that artists seek and thrive on u=
ncertainty. But there has to be some order before artists can break the rul=
es. Seeking order and security, artists have been moving back and forth bet=
ween two pillars of thought throughout the five decades of postmodernity: 1=
) the history of art is a source of order and content in a posthistorical e=
ra, and 2) culture in the broadest sense (television, cinema, radio, newspa=
pers, magazines, music, the Web), has its own mind-numbing conventions in f=
ormulaic programming, but provides access to broader audiences. Artists inh=
abit and straddle these opposing, negligibly conjoined islands of form and =
order and gaze at the turbulent universe swirling around, under and over th=
em.
=20
The Immediate Environment following the Collapse of Postmodernism
=20
The immediate environment is a cloud-like swirl of fragmented particles and=
perforated strips of culture and art. The second implosion has been devast=
ating; delightfully so if one is selling telecommunications transceivers. I=
solation and alienation must be countered by real and potential social oppo=
rtunities. MySpace, Facebook and YouTube come to mind. Digital, electronic =
networks provide the only perceivable order and stability in the immediate =
environment. Digital telecom is the lifeline. This is ironic as digital tel=
ecom and the horizontal, decentralised nature of internet communication has=
been the major factor in eroding institutional authority and order. Museum=
s, universities, the press, religions and the family have all taken major h=
its. Internet communication, while having tremendous advantages in terms of=
range and asynchronous time, has serious shortcomings in depth, especially=
relative to a physical social world. On the other hand, a physical and soc=
ial grounding through links with a virtual world are better than nothing. N=
ature, we are told, is on its deathbed. The autonomy of the individual has =
eroded psychologically to the extent that the body has become a fleshy temp=
le. We savour our food, go to the gym, have sex and otherwise push ourselve=
s physically, to the point of exhaustion, in order to feel our bodies.
=20
The current environment favours messaging, the propagation of short, direct=
, functional messages. The characteristics of poetic art, ambiguity and abs=
traction, are not particularly useful in a messaging culture. We desperatel=
y seek concrete correspondences between our world of messages and the physi=
cal realities of our bodies and what remains of nature. While messaging can=
extend beyond our immediate physical environment, the body must remain in =
contact with the earth. Global telecom, the breakdown of space and time, is=
balanced by the emergence of microregionalism. Cities are redefined as man=
ageable neighbourhoods. Nature is attainable in specific places; say a clea=
ring in a wooded area behind a graveyard. Messaging often coordinates physi=
cal meetings in particular spots at specific times.
=20
Messaging differs from industrial culture (cinema, television, radio, newsp=
apers, and the synthesis of these smokestack media through the Web) in its =
pragmatic referencing of the body and specific locales. The body is the las=
t autonomous, 'original,' non-mediated physical object, at least until it i=
s cloned, and its geographical position can be tracked and noted. A person,=
a body, may issue voice or text messages, but the body is referenced physi=
cally by photography or video to create a sense of the site of authorship. =
Messaging is tied down, given weight and actuality through references to th=
e emanating body. Disclosures of place are also key to message functionalit=
y. 'I'm having a coffee at Starbucks on Marshall Street. (here's my image t=
o prove it) Where are you?' This message from Starbucks differs from art an=
d industrial culture such as commercial cinema in its brevity and simple go=
al of placing the body. Obsessive messaging interrupts longer, more complex=
objects of thought like cinema. Movies, television and certainly literatur=
e are perforated as audiences and readers are sending and receiving message=
s instead of paying total attention, thus breaking the continuity of narrat=
ives. Cultural objects are perforated by messaging, compounding their state=
of fragmentation at the hands of advertising. Longer, more demanding narra=
tives are being blown full of holes by the apparent necessity of messaging.=
=20
=20
Ambiguity and abstraction fare poorly under the siege of constant interrupt=
ion. Explicit, pragmatic short message forms, repeated for clarity and effe=
ctiveness, may survive the perforation effect. This perforation analogy can=
be used to describe consciousness itself in the millennial decade. There i=
s no such thing as an interruption anymore because attention is defined thr=
ough the heavily perforated veil of our consciousness. We give away our att=
ention by the split-second to incoming traffic on our cell phones, PDAs and=
laptops. Our observational skills have suffered as we have mastered multit=
asking. We now commonly send messages while we are in the act of receiving =
information.
=20
The millennial environment is strangely similar to a premodern environment =
in that accurate description and literal representation tend to rule. The a=
uthors of messages (texting, voice, e-mail, webcam, clips for video file sh=
aring networks.) have short-term, clearly defined goals. In this period aft=
er the collapse of postmodern industrial culture and art the environment is=
'stable' only in the sense that it is unrelenting in its turbulence and in=
coherence. There is no room for small talk in this kind of environment. The=
behaviour of other species in environments and ecologies with high levels =
of uncertainty offers insights into our current situation. For instance, sc=
ientists think that birds only say two things, no matter how elaborate thei=
r songs at dawn and dusk. The birds say 'I have a really good tree,' and 'w=
hy don't you come over and have some sex?' Human messaging follows similar =
patterns in terms of directness. I have a body and I am in a particular pla=
ce. Use your imagination to figure out why I am contacting you.
=20
The medium of video, and in particular live, real-time video, is the heir a=
pparent to the summit of messaging. No medium establishes presence and fixe=
s position as well as video. The development and application of communicati=
ons technologies forced the initial collapse of modernism in the early 1960=
s. The coming of age of digital telecom in the millennial decade has create=
d the conditions for an even more complete breakdown of the meaning of indu=
strial culture and art. We now navigate within a thick cloud of shifting cu=
ltural debris, anchored by networks permitting us to interact. Most of the =
messages insist that we exist and insure that we can sustain ourselves (the=
business of water, food, companionship, amusement, sex, shelter within the=
broader concerns of economics and politics).
=20
Given the reality and inevitable growth of such a culture of messaging, the=
re are questions we have to ask about the future of culture and art. When w=
ill poetic work emerge again in a network-anchored culture dominated by str=
aightforward pragmatic exchanges? And if ambiguous and abstract messages on=
ce again emerge, will there be anyone left with the strength of attention t=
o read them? And finally if artists cling to a belief system that includes =
the potential for transforming culture through autonomous, strategic interv=
entions, then how will they do so effectively in a culture of messaging tha=
t continues to diffuse the power of individual messages in favour of an inc=
reasingly scattered, distributed, collective authorship?
=20
----- =20
=20
Note: Acknowledgment is due to the art historian Arthur C. Danto for the cl=
arity and utility of his analysis of postmodernity. Danto's After the End o=
f Art (Princeton University Press, 1996) served as a springboard for my sca=
n of the post-postmodern culture of messaging in 2008.=20
--_F28DF26A-A3A8-4E5C-8068-895306F6C311_
Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<HTML dir=3Dltr xmlns:o =3D "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns=
:st1 =3D "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"><HEAD></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV id=3DidOWAReplyText43075 dir=3Dltr>
<DIV dir=3Dltr> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV dir=3Dltr>
<DIV id=3DidOWAReplyText63504 dir=3Dltr>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">[Note: the following is an expanded version of </SPAN><SPAN style=3D"FON=
T-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times N=
ew Roman'">“Vernacular Video,” originally published in shorter =
form in <U>Les Fleurs du Mal</U>, issue #2, Montreal, Quebec, September 200=
6; and now in print in the <U>Video Vortex Reader: Responses to YouTube</U>=
, Geert Lovink and Sabine Niederer (eds.), Amsterdam: Institute of Network =
Cultures, 2008.]<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B style=3D"mso-bidi-fon=
t-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=3D"TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; FO=
NT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Ver=
nacular Video<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B style=3D"mso-bidi-fon=
t-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-=
font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Tom Sherman<SPAN style=3D"mso-=
spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><twsherma at syr.edu><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B>=
</P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Video as a technology is a little over forty years old. It is an offshoo=
t of television, developed in the 1930s and a technology that has been in o=
ur homes for sixty years. Television began as a centralised, one-to-many br=
oadcast medium. Television’s centrality was splintered as cable and s=
atellite distribution systems and vertical, specialised programming sources=
fragmented television’s audience. As video technology spun off from =
television, the mission was clearly one of complete decentralisation. Forty=
years later, video technology is everywhere. Video is now a medium unto it=
self, a completely decentralised digital, electronic audio-visual technolog=
y of tremendous utility and power. Video gear is portable, increasingly imp=
ressive in its performance, and it still packs the wallop of instant replay=
. As Marshall McLuhan said, the instant replay was the greatest invention o=
f the twentieth century.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><SPAN style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p><=
/SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Video in 2008 is not the exclusive medium of technicians or specialists =
or journalists or artists – it is the people’s medium. The pote=
ntial of video as a decentralised communications tool for the masses has be=
en realised, and the twenty-first century will be remembered as the video a=
ge. Surveillance and counter-surveillance aside, video is the vernacular fo=
rm of the era – it is the common and everyday way that people communi=
cate. Video is the way people place themselves at events and describe what =
happened. In existential terms, video has become every person’s POV (=
point of view). It is an instrument for framing existence and identity.<o:p=
></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">There are currently camcorders in twenty per cent of households in <st1:=
place w:st=3D"on">North America</st1:place>. As digital still cameras and c=
amera-phones are engineered to shoot better video, video will become comple=
tely ubiquitous. People have stories to tell, and images and sounds to capt=
ure in video. Television journalism is far too narrow in its perspective. W=
e desperately need more POVs. Webcams and videophones, video-blogs (vlogs) =
and video-podcasting will fuel a twenty-first-century tidal wave of vernacu=
lar video.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B style=3D"mso-bidi-fon=
t-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-=
font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">What Are the Current Character=
istics of Vernacular Video?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Displayed recordings will continue to be shorter and shorter in duration=
, as television time, compressed by the demands of advertising, has sociall=
y engineered shorter and shorter attention spans. Videophone transmissions,=
initially limited by bandwidth, will radically shorten video clips. The us=
e of canned music will prevail. Look at advertising. Short, efficient messa=
ges, post-conceptual campaigns, are sold on the back of hit music. Recombin=
ant work will be more and more common. Sampling and the repeat structures o=
f pop music will be emulated in the repetitive ‘deconstruction’=
of popular culture. Collage, montage and the quick-and-dirty efficiency of=
recombinant forms are driven by the romantic, Robin Hood-like efforts of t=
he copyleft movement. Real-time, on-the-fly voiceovers will replace scripte=
d narratives. Personal, on-site journalism and video diaries will prolifera=
te. On-screen text will be visually dynamic, but semantically crude. Langua=
ge will be altered quickly through misuse and slippage. People will say thi=
ngs like ‘I work in several mediums [sic].’ ‘Media’=
is plural. ‘Medium’ is singular. What’s next: ‘I a=
m a multi-mediums artist’? Will someone introduce spell-check to vide=
o text generators? Crude animation will be mixed with crude behaviour. Slic=
k animation takes time and money. Crude is cool, as opposed to slick. Slow =
motion and accelerated image streams will be overused, ironically breaking =
the real-time-and-space edge of straight, unaltered video. Digital effects =
will be used to glue disconnected scenes together; paint programs and negat=
ive filters will be used to denote psychological terrain. Notions of the su=
b- or unconscious will be objectified and obscured as ‘quick and dirt=
y’ surrealism dominates the ‘creative use’ of video. Trav=
elogues will prosper, as road ‘films’ and video tourism prolife=
rate. Have palm-corder and laptop will travel. Extreme sports, sex, self-mu=
tilation and drug overdoses will mix with disaster culture; terrorist attac=
ks, plane crashes, hurricanes and tornadoes will be translated into mediate=
d horror through vernacular video.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B style=3D"mso-bidi-fon=
t-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-=
font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">From Avant-Garde to Rear Guard=
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Meanwhile, in the face of the phenomena of vernacular video, institution=
ally sanctioned video art necessarily attaches itself even more firmly to t=
raditional visual-art media and cinematic history. Video art distinguishes =
itself from the broader media culture by its predictable associations with =
visual-art history (sculpture, painting, photography) and cinematic history=
(slo-mo distortions of cinematic classics, endless homages to Eisenstein a=
nd Brakhage, etc.).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Video art continues to turn its back on its potential as a communication=
s medium, ignoring its cybernetic strengths (video alters behaviour and ste=
ers social movement through feedback). Video artists, seeking institutional=
support and professional status, will continue to be retrospective and con=
servative. Video installations provide museums with the window-dressing of =
contemporary media art. Video art that emulates the strategies of tradition=
al media, video sculpture and installations or video painting reinforces th=
e value of an institution’s collection, its material manifestation of=
history. Video art as limited edition or unique physical object does not c=
hallenge the museum’s <I style=3D"mso-bidi-font-style: normal">raison=
d’etre</I>. Video artists content with making video a physical objec=
t are operating as a rear guard, as a force protecting the museum from clai=
ms of total irrelevance. In an information age, where value is determined b=
y immaterial forces, the speed-of-light movement of data, information and k=
nowledge, fetishising material objects is an anachronistic exercise. Of cou=
rse, it is not surprising that museum audiences find the material objectifi=
cation of video at trade-show scale impressive on a sensual level.<o:p></o:=
p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">As vernacular video culture spins toward disaster and chaos, artists wor=
king with video will have to choose between the safe harbour of the museum =
and gallery, or become storm chasers. If artists choose to chase the energy=
and relative chaos and death wish of vernacular video, there will be chall=
enges and high degrees of risk.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B style=3D"mso-bidi-fon=
t-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-=
font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Aesthetics Will Continue to Se=
parate Artists from the Public at Large<SPAN style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes">&n=
bsp; </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">If artists choose to embrace video culture in the wilds (on the street o=
r on-line) where vernacular video is burgeoning in a massive storm of quick=
ly evolving short message forms, they will face the same problems that arti=
sts always face. How will they describe the world they see, and if they are=
disgusted by what they see, how will they compose a new world? And then ho=
w will they find an audience for their work? The advantages for artists sho=
wing in museums and galleries are simple. The art audience knows it is goin=
g to see art when it visits a museum or gallery. Art audiences bring their =
education and literacy to these art institutions. But art audiences have na=
rrow expectations. They seek material sensuality packaged as refined object=
s attached to the history of art. When artists present art in a public spac=
e dominated by vernacular use, video messages by all kinds of people with d=
ifferent kinds of voices and goals, aesthetic decisions are perhaps even mo=
re important, and even more complex, than when art is being crafted to be e=
xperienced in an art museum. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Aesthetics are a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty.=
For the purpose of this text, aesthetics are simply an internal logic or s=
et of rules for making art. This logic and its rules are used to determine =
the balance between form and content. As a general rule, the vernacular use=
of a medium pushes content over form. If a message is going to have any we=
ight in a chaotic environment – where notions of beauty are perhaps s=
econdary to impact and effectiveness – then content becomes very impo=
rtant. Does the author of the message have anything to show or say?<o:p></o=
:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Vernacular video exhibits its own consistencies of form. As previously e=
laborated, the people’s video is influenced by advertising, shorter a=
nd shorter attention spans, the excessive use of digital effects, the seduc=
tiveness of slo-mo and accelerated image streams, a fascination with crude =
animation and crude behaviour, quick-and-dirty voice-overs and bold graphic=
s that highlight a declining appreciation of written language. To character=
ise the formal ‘aesthetics’ of vernacular video, it might be be=
tter to speak of anesthetics. The term anesthetic is an antonym of aestheti=
c. An anesthetic is without aesthetic awareness. An anesthetic numbs or sub=
dues perceptions. Vernacular video culture, although vital, will function l=
argely anesthetically. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">The challenge for artists working outside the comfort zone of museums an=
d galleries will be to find and hold onto an audience, and to attain profes=
sional status as an individual in a collective, pro-am (professional amateu=
r) environment. Let’s face it, for every artist that makes the choice=
to take his or her chances in the domain of vernacular video, there are th=
ousands of serious, interesting artists who find themselves locked out of a=
rt institutions by curators that necessarily limit the membership of the ma=
ster class. Value in the museum is determined by exclusivity. With this har=
sh reality spelled out, there should be no doubt about where the action is =
and where innovation will occur.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><SPAN style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN style=3D"mso-spacer=
un: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">The technology of video is now as common as a pencil for the middle clas=
ses. People who never even considered working seriously in video find thems=
elves with digital camcorders and non-linear video-editing software on thei=
r personal computers. They can set up their own ‘television stations&=
#8217; with video streaming via the Web without much trouble. The revolutio=
n in video-display technologies is creating massive, under-utilised screen =
space and time, as virtually all architecture and surfaces become potential=
screens. Videophones will expand video’s ubiquity exponentially. The=
se video tools are incredibly powerful and are nowhere near their zenith. I=
f one wishes to be part of the twenty-first-century, media-saturated world =
and wants to communicate effectively with others or express one’s pos=
ition on current affairs in considerable detail, with which technology woul=
d one chose to do so, digital video or a pencil?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><SPAN style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p><=
/o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Artists must embrace, but move beyond, the vernacular forms of video. Ar=
tists must identify, categorise and sort through the layers of vernacular v=
ideo, using appropriate video language to interact with the world effective=
ly and with a degree of elegance. Video artists must recognise that they ar=
e part of a global, collective enterprise. They are part of a gift economy =
in an economy of abundance. Video artists must have something to say and be=
able to say it in sophisticated, innovative, attractive ways. Video artist=
s must introduce their brand of video aesthetics into the vernacular torren=
ts. They must earn their audiences through content-driven messages.<o:p></o=
:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">The mission is a difficult one. The vernacular domain is a noisy torrent=
of immense proportions. Video artists will be a dime a dozen. Deprofession=
alised artists working in video, many sporting M.F.A. degrees, will be join=
ed by music-video-crazed digital cooperatives and by hordes of Sunday video=
artists. The only thing these varied artists won’t have to worry abo=
ut is the death of video art. Video art has been pronounced dead so many ti=
mes; its continual resurrection should not surprise anyone. This is a natur=
al cycle in techno-cultural evolution. The robust life force of vernacular =
video will be something for artists to ride, and something to twist and tur=
n, and something formidable to resist and work against. The challenge will =
be Herculean and irresistible.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B style=3D"mso-bidi-fon=
t-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-=
font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">Venturing into the Broader Cul=
ture of Messaging<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">The culture of messaging is transforming art into a much more extensive =
social and political activity. The role of the individual artist is changin=
g radically as complex finished works of art are no longer widely embraced =
enthusiastically by audiences. Attention spans have shrunk and audiences wa=
nt to interact with the culture they embrace. Audiences are consumed by the=
compulsion to trade messages. Today, messaging is all that matters. Instan=
t messaging, voice messaging, texting, e-mail, file sharing, social network=
ing, video streaming and all manner of interactive synchronous and asynchro=
nous communication are the order of the day.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">The speed and pervasiveness of electronic, digital culture is erasing th=
e function of art as we knew it. The world of top-down, expert-authored one=
-to-many forms of communication have given way to the buzz of the hive. The=
broadcast and auteur models, where control of content remains firmly in th=
e hands of a few, have disintegrated. Speaking horizontally, one-to-one or =
many-to-many, now dominates our time. Our cultures are no longer bound toge=
ther by the reception and appreciation of singular objects of thought, but =
by the vibrations and oscillations of millions of networked transceivers. T=
ransceivers, those devices for receiving <I style=3D"mso-bidi-font-style: n=
ormal">and</I> authoring messages, the video enabled cell phones and laptop=
computers and PDAs with webcams, are erasing the differences between artis=
ts and audiences as both move towards a culture of messaging.<o:p></o:p></S=
PAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">In the early 1960s the communications revolution, satellite-based teleco=
mmunications, made it impossible to maintain an art separate and distinct f=
rom the culture at large. Boundaries between art and the broader culture si=
mply broke down due to increased communication. Abstract expressionism, the=
zenith of Clement Greenberg’s high modernism (art for art’s sa=
ke) was crushed by a deluge of advertising imagery. Pop art marked the begi=
nning of the postmodern era. Postmodernism resulted from a technologically =
determined collapse of the boundaries segregating and protecting the art wo=
rld from a broader culture dominated by advertising. Chaos has characterise=
d Western art ever since, as for five decades we have experienced the relat=
ive freedom of an ‘anything goes’ philosophy of expanding plura=
lism. Feminism and many previously unheralded Others (and content in genera=
l – the counterpoint to abstraction and formalism) took their turns i=
n the spotlight of a postmodern era churned by the broad, alternating strok=
es of minimalism and the ornate. The formal properties of postmodern art an=
d culture swing back and forth between the classic simplicity of natural fo=
rms (minimalism) and the playfully complicated synthetic hodgepodge of bric=
olage (neo-rococo). <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">If pop art essentially signified the big bang that commenced postmoderni=
ty, an era characterised by cultural diversity and hybridity, then we can i=
magine fragments of art mixed with culture flying away from the centre of a=
cataclysmic implosion. The postmodern implosion of the early 1960s resulte=
d in an expanding universe where art and culture mixed haphazardly. Art rem=
ained as a concept at the centre of the postmodern implosion, recognisable =
only through art historical references. Art was pure and identifiable only =
if it quoted or repeated its past, an art history crowned by its highest or=
der: abstraction - the zenith of modernism.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B style=3D"mso-bidi-fon=
t-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-=
font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The Second Implosion: Postmode=
rnity Itself Collapses<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">We have now undergone a second, even more violent and gargantuan implosi=
on. The second postmodern implosion took place early in the millennial deca=
de: 2002-2005. The cultural debris of the expanding postmodern cultural mix=
, the delightfully insane levels of diversity, hybridity and horizontality =
characterising late twentieth century culture and its fragmented, disintegr=
ated pockets of contemporary art, had reached a density and weight so dispr=
oportionate to the vacuum at the centre of ‘art’ that a second =
complete collapse was unavoidable. In other words, after five decades of re=
lative chaos, postmodernity itself has collapsed and imploded with such int=
ensity that we now occupy a vast cloud of cultural disorientation.<o:p></o:=
p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><SPAN style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p><=
/o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">If this exercise in cultural cosmology seems unreal and strangely rooted=
in a philosophical premise that art has an important function in creating,=
remaking and even maintaining order in our increasingly turbulent cultures=
, be warned that this text was written by an artist, a believer in the valu=
e of art. Artists believe strongly that it is their role to push cultures t=
o change as a result of the imposition of their art. Art is extreme, twiste=
d, marginal culture; a minority report. Artists believe they are agents of =
change and act accordingly. Artists ask embarrassing questions. Artists are=
ahead of their time. By simply embracing the present, thereby glimpsing th=
e future, artists lead audiences reluctant to let go of the past. The princ=
iple tenets of the belief system of art are that art refreshes culture and =
somewhat paradoxically that the history of art can anchor culture during st=
ormy times of disorder. We live in such stormy times. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P=
>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Art is a belief system in crisis. At the centre of this belief system we=
find art chained to art history, to times before the dominance of computer=
s and the emergence of networks and vastly distributed authorship. We find =
contemporary art that finds security in looking like art from the early to =
mid-twentieth century (modern art). While these historical references have =
been stretched to the breaking point by time and technocultural change, the=
broadest public persists in embracing an idea of art that remains antithet=
ical to television, radio, cinema, design, advertising, and the Web. The We=
b of course encompasses all of the media before it and stirs the pot to the=
boiling point with a large dose of interactivity. Art at the centre necess=
arily acquiesces to the parameters of art as have been defined by the histo=
ry of art, refusing to be corrupted by interactivity, but for more and more=
thinking people art historical references are unconvincing and useless in =
the face of our collapsing cultural order. These anachronisms are security =
blankets with diminishing returns.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">One thing for sure is that levels of uncertainty are up big time. The sp=
eed and volume of cultural exchange is undermining the lasting impact of &#=
8216;original’ ideas, images and sounds, and the economics of both cu=
lture and art are undergoing radical change. In the millennial period, ever=
yone is looking for a foothold. Artists are just as uncomfortable with inst=
ability as everyone else, but the prevailing myth has it that artists seek =
and thrive on uncertainty. But there has to be some order before artists ca=
n break the rules. Seeking order and security, artists have been moving bac=
k and forth between two pillars of thought throughout the five decades of p=
ostmodernity: 1) the history of art is a source of order and content in a p=
osthistorical era, and 2) culture in the broadest sense (television, cinema=
, radio, newspapers, magazines, music, the Web), has its own mind-numbing c=
onventions in formulaic programming, but provides access to broader audienc=
es. Artists inhabit and straddle these opposing, negligibly conjoined islan=
ds of form and order and gaze at the turbulent universe swirling around, un=
der and over them.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><B style=3D"mso-bidi-fon=
t-weight: normal"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-=
font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB">The Immediate Environment foll=
owing the Collapse of Postmodernism<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">The immediate environment is a cloud-like swirl of fragmented particles =
and perforated strips of culture and art. The second implosion has been dev=
astating; delightfully so if one is selling telecommunications transceivers=
. Isolation and alienation must be countered by real and potential social o=
pportunities. MySpace, Facebook and YouTube come to mind. Digital, electron=
ic networks provide the only perceivable order and stability in the immedia=
te environment. Digital telecom is the lifeline. This is ironic as digital =
telecom and the horizontal, decentralised nature of internet communication =
has been the major factor in eroding institutional authority and order. Mus=
eums, universities, the press, religions and the family have all taken majo=
r hits. Internet communication, while having tremendous advantages in terms=
of range and asynchronous time, has serious shortcomings in depth, especia=
lly relative to a physical social world. On the other hand, a physical and =
social grounding through links with a virtual world are better than nothing=
. Nature, we are told, is on its deathbed. The autonomy of the individual h=
as eroded psychologically to the extent that the body has become a fleshy t=
emple. We savour our food, go to the gym, have sex and otherwise push ourse=
lves physically, to the point of exhaustion, in order to feel our bodies.<o=
:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><SPAN style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p><=
/o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">The current environment favours messaging, the propagation of short, dir=
ect, functional messages. The characteristics of poetic art, ambiguity and =
abstraction, are not particularly useful in a messaging culture. We despera=
tely seek concrete correspondences between our world of messages and the ph=
ysical realities of our bodies and what remains of nature. While messaging =
can extend beyond our immediate physical environment, the body must remain =
in contact with the earth. Global telecom, the breakdown of space and time,=
is balanced by the emergence of microregionalism. Cities are redefined as =
manageable neighbourhoods. Nature is attainable in specific places; say a c=
learing in a wooded area behind a graveyard. Messaging often coordinates ph=
ysical meetings in particular spots at specific times.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P=
>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><SPAN style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p><=
/o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Messaging differs from industrial culture (cinema, television, radio, ne=
wspapers, and the synthesis of these smokestack media through the Web) in i=
ts pragmatic referencing of the body and specific locales. The body is the =
last autonomous, ‘original,’ non-mediated physical object, at l=
east until it is cloned, and its geographical position can be tracked and n=
oted. A person, a body, may issue voice or text messages, but the body is r=
eferenced physically by photography or video to create a sense of the site =
of authorship. Messaging is tied down, given weight and actuality through r=
eferences to the emanating body. Disclosures of place are also key to messa=
ge functionality. ‘I’m having a coffee at Starbucks on <st1:Str=
eet w:st=3D"on"><st1:address w:st=3D"on">Marshall Street</st1:address></st1=
:Street>. (here’s my image to prove it) Where are you?’ This me=
ssage from Starbucks differs from art and industrial culture such as commer=
cial cinema in its brevity and simple goal of placing the body. Obsessive m=
essaging interrupts longer, more complex objects of thought like cinema. Mo=
vies, television and certainly literature are perforated as audiences and r=
eaders are sending and receiving messages instead of paying total attention=
, thus breaking the continuity of narratives. Cultural objects are perforat=
ed by messaging, compounding their state of fragmentation at the hands of a=
dvertising. Longer, more demanding narratives are being blown full of holes=
by the apparent necessity of messaging. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Ambiguity and abstraction fare poorly under the siege of constant interr=
uption. Explicit, pragmatic short message forms, repeated for clarity and e=
ffectiveness, may survive the perforation effect. This perforation analogy =
can be used to describe consciousness itself in the millennial decade. Ther=
e is no such thing as an interruption anymore because attention is defined =
through the heavily perforated veil of our consciousness. We give away our =
attention by the split-second to incoming traffic on our cell phones, PDAs =
and laptops. Our observational skills have suffered as we have mastered mul=
titasking. We now commonly send messages while we are in the act of receivi=
ng information.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><SPAN style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p><=
/SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">The millennial environment is strangely similar to a premodern environme=
nt in that accurate description and literal representation tend to rule. Th=
e authors of messages (texting, voice, e-mail, webcam, clips for video file=
sharing networks…) have short-term, clearly defined goals. In this p=
eriod after the collapse of postmodern industrial culture and art the envir=
onment is ‘stable’ only in the sense that it is unrelenting in =
its turbulence and incoherence. There is no room for small talk in this kin=
d of environment. The behaviour of other species in environments and ecolog=
ies with high levels of uncertainty offers insights into our current situat=
ion. For instance, scientists think that birds only say two things, no matt=
er how elaborate their songs at dawn and dusk. The birds say ‘I have =
a really good tree,’ and ‘why don’t you come over and hav=
e some sex?’ Human messaging follows similar patterns in terms of dir=
ectness. I have a body and I am in a particular place. Use your imagination=
to figure out why I am contacting you.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">The medium of video, and in particular live, real-time video, is the hei=
r apparent to the summit of messaging. No medium establishes presence and f=
ixes position as well as video. The development and application of communic=
ations technologies forced the initial collapse of modernism in the early 1=
960s. The coming of age of digital telecom in the millennial decade has cre=
ated the conditions for an even more complete breakdown of the meaning of i=
ndustrial culture and art. We now navigate within a thick cloud of shifting=
cultural debris, anchored by networks permitting us to interact. Most of t=
he messages insist that we exist and insure that we can sustain ourselves (=
the business of water, food, companionship, amusement, sex, shelter within =
the broader concerns of economics and politics).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">Given the reality and inevitable growth of such a culture of messaging, =
there are questions we have to ask about the future of culture and art. Whe=
n will poetic work emerge again in a network-anchored culture dominated by =
straightforward pragmatic exchanges? And if ambiguous and abstract messages=
once again emerge, will there be anyone left with the strength of attentio=
n to read them? And finally if artists cling to a belief system that includ=
es the potential for transforming culture through autonomous, strategic int=
erventions, then how will they do so effectively in a culture of messaging =
that continues to diffuse the power of individual messages in favour of an =
increasingly scattered, distributed, collective authorship?<o:p></o:p></SPA=
N></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-la=
nguage: EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B">-----<SPAN style=3D"mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN><=
/P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=3DMsoNormal style=3D"MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=3DEN-GB style=
=3D"FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-G=
B; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Note: Acknowledgment is due to =
the art historian Arthur C. Danto for the clarity and utility of his analys=
is of postmodernity. Danto’s After the End of Art (Princeton Universi=
ty Press, 1996) served as a springboard for my scan of the post-postmodern =
culture of messaging in 2008. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HT=
ML>
--_F28DF26A-A3A8-4E5C-8068-895306F6C311_--
More information about the iDC
mailing list