| akshun on Sat, 23 Oct 1999 09:13:07 -0700 |
[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]
| Syndicate: Wired Interview with AKSHUN |
Telephone Interview with Wired Online and "mona" of the AKSHUN collective October 22, 1999 This interview was conducted in response to a recent online offering. On Friday Oct 15, a collective at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, known as the AKSHUN group, put the school's main gallery up for auction on popular internet auction house ebay. A controversy has erupted within the Southern California art community over the use of gallery space. This is further sparking a series of heated debates over the internet concerning censorship, education, and the value of gallery space. The site continues to be up for bid on ebay until October 24. (http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=181775260) Following is the interview: WIRED Is it true that absolutely anything will be shown? AKSHUN Yes, anything. WIRED Including pornography? AKSHUN. Yes, including pornographic work. But then we would have to debate on what pornography is. WIRED Who controls this space, isnÃt it the school administration? AKSHUN We are responsible for what goes in the space. We have certain restrictions about the use of the space. WIRED What will you do with he money? AKSHUN WeÃre going to buy champaign, weÃll have a party! WIRED Of course-you are art students after all. When will that take place? AKSHUN Thursday December 16 @ 8:00 pm. We encourage people to attend. The exhibition will be for one week from December 11-16 at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. WIRED What is the project about? AKSHUN We would like to question the process by which artists acquire galleries; as we all know, it has little to do with how good an artist is. It often has to do with who one knows, with where one went to school, with the salability of the work. This project is also a response to the intense competition around gallery space. This competition for real estate goes on already in art institutions, students vie for the best school gallery spaces. WIRED Then why not use the space to offer your definition of a ìpureî art, an art unencumbered by the kinds of business concerns you mention? AKSHUN You mean organize our own show of other artists? WIRED Yeah. AKSHUN Then we would become curators, and would be participating in the kind of hierarchy we want to call into question. For artists who work online or digitally, there is a different perspective as far as exhibition space is concerned. There is an interest in calling attention to alternative spaces or ways of encountering work. We want to blur the line between action and object, between politics and art. WIRED So in offering this item on ebay, you are making a comment on its value... AKSHUN We want to reduce the value to a purely monetary one. WIRED The calarts people in charge are not happy about what you are doing? AKSHUN There have been mixed responses on the part of the administration. Some believe it is a crass and incorrect use of gallery space. They think the galleries should contain only student work. WIRED IÃd like to ask you about the North Korean relationship. How did the north Korean correspondence come about, exactly? AKSHUN There are many Korean students at our school, from Seoul. One of our members as well as 2 recent art school graduates from Seoul are involved in this. When we began discussing this project as a vehicle for non-artists, non-established artists, and others who typically cannot engage this kind of audience, naturally we thought of those we knew who donÃt get this kind of exposure. Our Seoul friends contacted North Korean artists they knew: a cousin and a friend. They are apparently known in North Korea, they have a following. But they are not artists you would see, for example,in an official show of North Korean work. Because of their political beliefs, they are in disfavor with their government, so they work underground. We contacted them and they expressed interest in the project and wanted to participate in the bidding. WIRED Then you found out this type of activity wasn't possible? AKSHUN Shortly thereafter we got an email tipping us off to the regulation- WIRED From who? AKSHUN (pause) We donÃt know who. WIRED Anonymously? AKSHUN Yes. WIRED How do you communicate with those in North Korean? AKSHUN Through the people from Seoul. We give messages to our contacts, and then we are contacted back by various means. Sometimes we receive emails in response; they travel a circuitous route. Sometimes messages go out via fax; again through a circuitous route; we cannot fax them directly. WIRED So somehow or another, youÃre not sure how, you contact your people and they contact them. AKSHUN Basically. WIRED If you really wanted to help those in North Korea, you could for example arrange to have this space available for them for a week, couldnÃt you? In offering this up for auction in the west, arenÃt you excluding those without means to participate? AKSHUN Well, I havenÃt checked in a little while, I did not take on that duty, but the bid yesterday was up to $120. That is not an exorbitant amount for anybody...but the point is to allow the participation of those who wish to participate. Perhaps what you suggested would be another project. WIRED There is something not quite consistent about this; on the one hand you are offering the space up for sale as a commodity, on the other hand you are ìfriends of the oppressedî. AKSHUN We are not friends of the oppressed. We do not personally know them. We do not know if their current work is anti-governmental. Our beef with the trade prohibition has to do with the fact that this is not about trade, but instead the exchange of ideas. And we believe this project must be open to everyone in order to fulfill our own requirements for the project. WIRED Off the record here, you are aware there may be political repercussions for you from north korea or our government in supporting the views of dissidents. So... therefore the anonymity on your part and on the part of the korean students through whom you are communicating. AKSHUN Yes. The practical laws governing e-commerce and e-communication are being formulated faster than regulation can address them. The trade restriction we are talking about is based on a 1917 ruling. This law is arcane. It should not affect those attempting an exchange of ideas between one people and another. WIRED Are you really in contact with Madeleine Albright? AKSHUN Not yet, but we plan to contact the Secretary of State. We are consulting a lawyer at this point. WIRED She says as....she....slows...down...her...words....(chuckle) One always has to be careful once a lawyer is called into things. AKSHUN Yes, of course. (smile) WIRED So you will contact her in the next week or so? AKSHUN I would think by then we will have contacted her. WIRED You talked about the lack of exhibition space, the competition for space. Is this a very coveted space? Is this a space that any artist would want? AKSHUN We have students and faculty here from all over the world, and many famous visiting artists at any given time. So you have an amazing opportunity as far as who sees your art going through this heavily traversed way through the school. Southern California art schools more than any other area attract artists from all over the country and all over the world. WIRED More than Northern California? AKSHUN Yes. Southern California in the early seventies was the birthplace of Conceptual Art as well as the Feminist Art Movement. It was and continues to be a magnet for artists. Again, we are not talking about artists, necessarily. We donÃt know who is bidding on the space. All we have to go by is the email addresses. The joke may be on us, ultimately; we are obligated to hang any work and are (implicitly) responsible for the content. WIRED Is it true that, letÃs see what you have here, UCLA and USC students are competing for this space? AKSHUN Actually, UCLA and Art Center students. WIRED Is that because they canÃt get space at their schools? AKSHUN These days enrollment is at an all time high. The usual route today for professional artists is to go through graduate programs. There may be shortages of exhibition space at their schools. WIRED Is there someone I can contact at UCLA and Art Center? Do you have the names of the deans or something? AKSHUN I vaguely recall the name of the chair of the photo program at UCLA, I applied there. Jim something or other. But you can call either school and get it, that should be no problem. WIRED As far as you know, is there something illegal about this? AKSHUN As far as I know, no. Our institute explicitly states that they will not censor the content of our work. And this is our Art. So it looks like the show will go up. WIRED Has this ever been done that you are aware of? AKSHUN Not that I know of. This sort of thing wasnÃt possible until very recently. E commerce as a mass activity is a recent phenomenon. WIRED And the mass emails are necessary because... AKSHUN This kind of mass contact was also not possible before. Now you have these email lists that are substantial and there are a lot of them. We have a way to call attention to the project, to make it open for anyone interested- WIRED And to get publicity? AKSHUN And to get publicity, this becomes part of the project, the online activity is part of the project. WIRED Is this the first time that you are doing this? AKSHUN Yes, this is the first time that we are engaging in this particular activity. WIRED Will you do this again? AKSHUN I think so, this has been fun! Perhaps next time we will succeed in getting a Los Angeles gallery or New York Gallery. One of us spoke with a New York gallerist about doing this project there. He was excited about the project, but hesitated to offer his space. Maybe next time we will succeed in getting an even more visible space. WIRED Can I ask your last name? AKSHUN With respect to the collective, I would prefer not to give information about individuals in the group. WIRED Are you a graduate student? AKSHUN I donÃt want to give that information either. WIRED How many of you are there? AKSHUN There are....nine of us! WIRED (chuckle) LetÃs just say you wonÃt divulge that information, for your sake.... AKSHUN Too many or too little? WIRED Well, nine of you, that doesnÃt seem substantial. AKSHUN OK. WIRED Is Mona your real name? AKSHUN Well, I have some letters in common with Mona... WIRED Can I call you at this number for questions? AKSHUN Yes, certainly. WIRED I think this is all we need for now. AKSHUN Thank you! Bye. WIRED Bye. ------ "Anything that I can do isn't politics. If I can do it, it's not politics, because I'm not much of an politician. And I could figure out how to do this. You know, if you want to prevent something from being shown, I could figure out how to do that." -AKSHUN Collective "Anything that I can do isn't art," he said. "If I can do it, it's not art, because I'm not much of an artist. And I could figure out how to put this together. You know, if you want to throw dung at something, I could figure out how to do that." -NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani commenting on a painting of the Virgin Mary stained with pig dung http://www.nytimes.com/library/arts/092499brooklyn-museum.html ------Syndicate mailinglist-------------------- Syndicate network for media culture and media art information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/syndicate to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at> in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress