Nice, Damian Douglas instead of fixating on the word 'bus' can we maybe just think of it as a signifier of mobility? not necessarily a thing that moves but an approach that can be moved, a way of decentring the idea of a 'room', one that connects with different kinds of 'rooms' in different cities, a way of increasing access to a pool of particular tools and modes of working, a summer holiday even...
On 7/10/2009, at 1:54 AM, damian stewart wrote: > for me, the bus idea is selfish reasons, an excuse to make an endless > stream of short-lived not overly-thought-through one-off work that > might > mean some things to some people. i grew up in a small town in > Taranaki and > i still remember what it felt like when something interesting happened > there. > > it's disjoint from the 'lab' idea though. they have different aims, > different goals. > >> I'm going to rain on this one too. A bus? Why? >> >> You are clutching to the dimensional qualities of the lab, and >> leaving >> behind the rationale (which was: a place that is always there to work >> and meet in; something young people can find; a place to make media- >> art >> tourists feel at home). The reason for the box was locatedness; now >> you've put wheels on it and its rolling away. >> >> Why a bus? What is so big and unitary that requires a bus? People >> are >> mentioning arduinos, but you want room for a mainframe. >> >> For at least a decade bogans have been performing electronically >> coordinated convergences. A gathering of 200 cars will coalesce in 5 >> minutes and stay for half an hour, before evaporating and reappearing >> somewhere else. They live a networked life. Their life is a >> networked >> performance. Meanwhile here are the digital artists aspiring to a >> bus. >> >> So, OK, I get the nostalgia. And the taking-it-to-the-people aspect. >> As Damian put it: >> >>> fill a bus/van with some basic tech and go and confuse smalltownfolk >>> with new media. >> >> But it doesn't work like this anymore. They're not all sitting in >> the >> town square waiting for entertainment. They're at home tweaking >> their >> facebook profiles. That's including the ones who live on buses. >> >> Buses are actually not fun to be on for long. So why not a train? >> Why >> not a flash mob? bicycles? boats? backpacks? why not catch public >> transport? why must it be a lab on wheels? >> >> But, you know, I don't really mind. It's not that I want there not >> to >> be a bus, like I wanted there not to be a lab. A bus would be good, >> probably. At worst, harmless. I do wonder, though, if all our >> relief >> at reaching consensus hasn't dented our rigour. >> >> I'd rather go by helicopter. >> >> Douglas >> _______________________________________________ >> Ada_list mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://aotearoadigitalarts.org.nz/ >> > > > -- > http://frey.co.nz > > _______________________________________________ > Ada_list mailing list > [email protected] > http://aotearoadigitalarts.org.nz/ _______________________________________________ Ada_list mailing list [email protected] http://aotearoadigitalarts.org.nz/
