<nettime> FRIED CHICKEN OF THE INFO AGE

[Tom Sherman <twsherma@mailbox.syr.edu>]

THE NEW MEDIA ARE THE FRIED CHICKEN OF THE INFORMATION AGE

People say things are moving so fast that it's a waste of time to write up
proposals, because other people will just move on things, and you'll be
left behind in the dust.  This seems to be a very good argument for doing
nothing, or everything immediately.  We seem to be witnessing the
'maturation' of a volatile, half-baked culture.  If everything is so
rushed, it'll add up to something like a fast-food culture.  Industrial
strength dim-witted gestures will prevail.  The junk will pile up.  This
junk culture is mounting at an accelerating pace right now, day after day
after day.

Everything seems to be in translation.  Nobody seems satisfied with
original material.  Everything is a twisted version of something else.  
Content, like chicken, is being transformed into new media, the fried
chicken of the information age.  Information is being processed and served
on assembly lines.  Industrial centres for new media production and
distribution have been miniaturized to desktops and even laptops.  
Individuals are organizations, solo incorporations.

If you are reluctant to invest in such a culture, well, invest in
something else, like flowering trees or canola oil.

-----


QUICK AND DIRTY PERFECTION

Ideas are ten a penny.  Actually the reverse is true.  There are damn few
ideas that'll hold any water.  But being light as a feather has its
advantages.  Economies and markets are like anchors.  Conceptual art never
had any real economy, and look how it took off.  Network art has the same
up-side.  Nobody gives a shit, but it is spreading like wildfire.  It
makes you think twice before you make something heavy to carry and
difficult to store.

It's like drawing versus painting.  If you ask people what's more
important, they'll pick painting because colour is hard, painting
techniques are more difficult to master, mistakes are permanent, etc.  
But let's face it, craft time is overrated, and material persistence and
permanence are outdated concepts.  In other words, why move beyond the
sketch?  If people have so little time to digest their culture, then why
spend a lot time making things that last?

So much of what artists create is the result of actually taking the time
necessary to see or recognize something as it is, and taking the time to
represent this something elegantly, or taking the time to tweak it until
this something really sings--the time spent on the work is somehow saved
or 'banked' in the work and is presented as the basis of the work's value.

We learn to appreciate things over time as our experience builds or
accrues in layers.  With information refreshment there will naturally be
layering through multiple points of view.

It is one thing to make art in materials that last, creating the illusion
of permanence.  It is another thing to plan ongoing maintenance for a work
of art, so that art will be taken care of and maintained in the future.  
This conjures up images of works of art that come complete with custodians
or maintenance workers contracted to take care of them.

Much conceptual work is a documentation of ongoing obsessions, taking time
and compressing it to create value through documented procedures and
processes.

Time-based art, improvised in real time, features the artists making the
work in the same time it takes to experience the work.  In a culture of
convenience, 24X7 culture, it makes sense to produce information in the
exact amount of time it takes to consume it.

When business-oriented people talk about demos, pilots and sketches...they
say that everything is fair game when you're putting together a pitch.  
If you need a soundtrack, use a track off your favourite CD.  Steal what
you need.  Cut and paste.  Move as fast as you can to make your point.  
The question I have to ask is why move beyond the sketch?


Tom Sherman


-----

http://www.allquiet.org/



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