On Thu, 2009-10-08 at 11:45 +0200, Damian Stewart wrote: > Ian Clothier wrote: > > > These are the kind of activities that need networking to assist > > sustainability; our role might be being the glue. Lets move from one off > > activities to co-ordinated, relevant interconnection. > > i'm a little concerned about the direction this has taken towards > education. as an artist, i don't want CNZ money / ADA support energy being > spent on education systems - that should be the educators' roles. and as a > member of this 'us' group, i don't want to be the glue.
well...i can think of a number of reasons why education is good here, and why artists are good glue... 1. most artists involved in technology, imho, have a passion for the tech. indeed, i would say that many works are a result of exploratory tinkering borne out of fascination than the desire to 'make an artwork'...with most things that one has a passion for comes the eagerness to share this enthusiasm. this is what, imho, makes tech artists good educators - although many get paid for it, many actually enjoy it...call it sharing what your passion, call it education - who cares? 2. in my experience, 'education' (especially how we have been talking about it re. the van) is one of the most interesting venues for new media artworks. blah blah galleries. take your work to the people - give them a reason to encounter it (installation in a public space, presentation at a weird and seemingly unrelated conf, used as an example for teaching)...this is where I personally have the most exciting responses to the work I have been involved in. for example, science museums - fantastic venues for art- they are edu. institutes - but holy schmoly - wanna see someone get excited about new media art? install it in a science museum. the reactions will live with you forever, whereas (for example) galleries are usually dull affairs, best seen as venues for the progressive staging of art careers than the presentation of art works. 3. if done appropriately, presenting your work in a edu context (as teaching materials) gives you the opportunity to actually talk about what you know and what you were exploring with the work. it might actually give you the opportunity to let people really know what you are on about since most inhabitants of the new media ecosystem work on a keyword level understanding of tech...and, imho, any venue to talk about a work is good since talking about it also helps you understand it yourself 4. imho being an artist is a very privileged position. usually only available to the wealthy. its kinda good to 'give something back'. education is a good opportunity to do that..naive that might be, but sometimes naivety works quite well adam > > (although, to be sure, i don't know many artists on this side of the world > who don't also teach). > -- Adam Hyde Founder FLOSS Manuals German mobile : + 49 15 2230 54563 Email : [email protected] irc: irc.freenode.net #flossmanuals "Free manuals for free software" http://www.flossmanuals.net/about _______________________________________________ Ada_list mailing list [email protected] http://aotearoadigitalarts.org.nz/
