introductions and greetings
Craig Saper
creative scholarship and arts in media studies, I like the term
Pollyannish to describe a certain trend in digital media studies. Or,
I just like that term -- I watched the movie a few years ago (and
early version) ... and was surprised at how rebellious Polly Anna
was ...
My name is Craig, I write about those who simultaneously embrace and
resist cybernetic systems and webs of social networks.
My State government asked me to pledge allegiance to the them as a
requirement of my employment. Jeb Bush was the governor. So ...
I'm interested in Critical Art Ensemble ...
Neil Hennessy
I'm a member of an arts collective Prize Budget for Boys, make new
media art that I don't know is all that subversive, but is definitely
often perverted. I was part of a travelling show called the
Spectacular Vernacular Revue that was a whole heap of political and
literary satire about Canadian/American foreign policy that eventually
got published in book form by Roof Books. You can see a bunch of our
work at http://pbfb.ca/
My work of late has been focussed on some less overtly political
themes to do with sundry matters of healing, dancing, ecstasy,
videogames, fashion, gender, sexuality, shamanism, and cats, in the
wake of recovery from debilitating mental illness.
However, I am actively working on a project relating to cartography in
support of native title/aboriginal land claims in Canada and Australia
called 'Urban Awakenings' that uses spray painted construction
markings from the streets of Melbourne to create aboriginal style dot
paintings in Photoshop. Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand are
the four nations who shamefully refused to ratify the United Nations
Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. As a colonial
descendant and citizen, I have been employed in three of those places.
In terms of a bibliography, the two most effective subversive new
media projects I can remember encountering are the following:
Casa Segura - given all the talk about neoliberalism on this list so
far, this one should be of interest, because it provides actual
physical help in the form of food, water, medical care, and blankets
to those who are forced to flee the economic destruction wrought by
neoliberal economic policy. Consisting of a solar powered shack that
will be installed near the US/Mexican border, it also has a bilingual
touch screen interface that will allow migrants who use it to share
their stories in words and pictures that will be uploaded to a
website.
http://www.casasegura.us/
One Laptop Per Child - "The laptop is a potent learning tool created
expressly for the world's poorest children living in its most remote
environments."
http://laptop.org/
These projects, by throwing their shoulders against the gears, shame
my own efforts at helping provide a voice to the voiceless.
yours,
nmh