Nmherman on 5 Mar 2001 05:34:54 -0000 |
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[Nettime-bold] Genius 2000: First Censored Concept |
Propaganda@001001100010000.org writes: "1: Actually it is hard to say. Net Artists have had to take a step back in order to reflect the digital codes they appropriated, and then another step back to analyze the first step. This is why we use the term "Anti-Post-Net Art" instead of simply "Post-Net Art." This term precisely dictates a second level of removal from the commodity value of digital art - it is not some mind game, but a clear political statement: We are not willing. 0: Would you mind if people see this as a traditional avant-garde attitude? 1: Well, you may have noticed that our approach, which is perhaps situationist if anything, is to take the code of a Net Artists like jodi and copy them, but altering some of it, like the color of a page, or some words contained in them... whatever seems marginal. And then this appropriation becomes the underlying marginality of our own work. Remember Duchamp's emphasis on the studio-editor." ++ I'm forwarding the following which was not considered worthy of discussion by tbyfield. Tybyfield, I wonder why only certain of the self-interviews proposed by amy Alexander of plagiarist.org are reposted to nettime. Max Herman ++ From: nmherman@aol.com Date: Mon Feb 26, 2001 8:07am Subject: Re: <nettime> Re: net art history - Interview Yourself! ++ Amy: I get everything stopped by tbyfield, but if I interview myself will you post it somewhere? You probably won't if I'm the only one who does it. But I will do it just to get the process underway. From: nmherman@aol.com Date: Sun Feb 25, 2001 8:23pm Subject: Essentially tbyfield is saying he can't keep up. Bullshit. From: t byfield <tbyfield@panix.com> Date: Sun Feb 25, 2001 8:04pm Subject: Re: <nettime> In Defence of Cultural Studies aka Debord and nostalgia To: Nmherman@aol.com Nmherman@aol.com (Sun 02/25/01 at 08:44 PM -0500): > Why don't you let me post to nettime? Are there some guidelines I'm not > following, or do you just dislike me and my ideas to the point where they > will never be posted? Is it because of Meiko and Ryu? I just did a real > good piece on fake money and you wouldn't post it. It's depressing. max-- it doesn't have anything to do with like or dislike; it has to do with the fact that you generate an ENORMOUS amount of material, and wading through it in order to see what may or may not be suited to nettime is a major PITA. if you were a LOT more selective about what you sent to the list we would consider what you send; but you aren't so we don't. cheers, t ++ From: baseekins@netscape.net Date: Mon Feb 26, 2001 8:32am Subject: update on Modest Proposal Greetings, Comrades. It is Monday and back to classes after the break. Today my campaign for just tuition starts in earnest. I expect to have at least a couple of hundred students signatures by Friday. I already have one of my former students committed to carrying a petition, and she is the only student I've had a chance to talk to so far. I am forming a group called Students for Just Tuition. Enclosed is a copy of the letter I mailed to Governor Angus King over the weekend. ++ From: "Nicholas Hermann" <NHerman@hga.com> Date: Mon Feb 26, 2001 2:09pm Subject: An Interview with Max Herman of the Genius 2000 Network: Part One ++ February 26, 2001 Interviewer, Charlie Rose: I would like to thank all of you for joining us. Our interview today is with Max Herman, contributor to the Genius 2000 Network. Mr. Herman has distinguished academic credentials, including degrees in literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University, where he received the prestigious University Fellowship. He has also studied literature, critical theory, video art, aesthetics, creative writing, and mathematics at various institutions such as Oberlin College, Binghamton University, Cambridge University (UK), and the University of Minnesota (as part of the University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Project or UMTYMP). His website and video documentary for Genius 2000 are currently among the most controversial recent works in their respective fields. Mr. Herman, thank you for joining us. Max: It's my pleasure Charlie. Please call me Max. Charlie: Certainly Max. Now for those of our viewers who have not yet heard of Genius 2000, can you briefly describe what it is. Max: The Network at this point consists of several participants and contributors, most of who work on the internet. Of course many do not. We use listservs, videotape, and websites to elaborate the core concepts of Genius 2000 and to bring them to a wider audience. Charlie: And what are these core concepts? I'm aware of the complexity of your work but for the sake of clarity can you sum them up in a few words? Max: Of course. Genius 2000 is about changing the global system of media control as we enter the twenty-first century. We promote a radical democracy of genius. Charlie: And it is in your work that you elaborate more precisely what this movement is about? Max: Absolutely. We explore as many facets and ramifications of the core concepts as our budget and time allow. Charlie: Well you've taken on quite a task. For example, your video--also called the Genius 2000 Video First Edition--took over six months to shoot and edit, and if I'm not mistaken was funded completely out of your own pocket. Max: Correct. I felt the academy would not assist me in any meaningful way with the video and decided to go independent, as it were. Sometimes artists and intellectuals need to break away from the institutions in order to focus their energy and explore new methods. Charlie: What were some of the obstacles you faced in graduate school? Max: That's a tough one. Much has been said about the careerist, homogenized tendencies of US universities. I can't prove this of course but I sensed it. There's a lot of "steering" so to speak that goes on in the academy. Not just in literature, but in all the arts and humanities. You sort of have to experience it to really understand how the obstacles to original ideas are built into the system, but a simple metaphor would be that of nepotism. One's importance in the academy depends mainly on the importance of one's sponsor and the degree of his or her favor. There are no objective standards for quality work--aside from the GRE, on which I scored in the 99+ percentile--and there is certainly no public involvement in assessing academic work. Just as nepotism in economies leads to corruption and mediocrity, the current tenure-track or art-star system encourages imitative and derivative work. Charlie: Well that's a scathing indictment but certainly one that has been voiced by many both inside and outside the academy. What was one example of this nepotism, as you call it, adversely affecting your own work? Max: There were quite a few, and you have to remember that this "steering" is more a dirty little secret than an open policy. One that stands out for me involved Tom Sherman, a very well-known professor of new media-- Charlie: --Which is-- Max: New media encompasses basically everything electronic like computer art, video, multimedia, sound, the internet--basically what's left after painting and sculpture. Charlie: So this professor was involved in new media-- Max: Yes, video in particular was his area of expertise. He was involved with video art in the seventies I believe, when it was very new, and that's how he got into arts administration. He has a lot more experience in adminstration than in art, but for some reason he got the job of running the new media program at Syracuse. There were rumors that he only got it because his parents were wealthy, old money--you know how that works--but I doubt it can be proven. In any event, I got to know this professor a little and saw a few lectures, so when I finished my degree work and decided to start a new project on the internet I contacted him. Charlie: And at this point you were on good terms? Max: Yes, I believe so. He sounded interested at first but after a little correspondence he asked me--and this is verbatim--"why would I or anyone want to invest in a project with no identifiable product?" Now this comment struck me as alarming in many ways. I had mentioned that I wanted to work with the idea of a brand-name, in part to satirize consumerism but also to lend coherence to work in different disciplines and media. I didn't think it was such a strange or controversial measure at all, more compositional than anything, more of a title than a finished work. But he was very hostile. You can tell when a professor is brushing you off. Anyway, he obviously didn't want to discuss the project anymore. After it got well known, he was either noticeably silent or attacked my work without actually mentioning it. Charlie: You have to admit that sounds a little paranoid Max. Max: Well academia breeds paranoia! It's all about stealing ideas, amassing cachet, you name it. I can tell you haven't been to graduate school in the last couple of decades; anyone who has knows exactly the kind of treatment I'm describing. It doesn't stop you from working, but it does stop you from respecting the academy. Charlie: Well moving on, assuming you weren't given a fair hearing at school, how have you been able to get your work out to a wider audience? After all, here you are on the cover of Wired-- Max: --and on Charlie Rose!-- Charlie: --And on Charlie Rose, so you must have struck a chord somewhere. What was your first connection with an audience other than the university environment you came out of? Max: Well that's simple, it was the internet. I joined a lot of discussion groups, and when I finished the Video there were quite a few people out there willing to watch it. Plus a website, that helps lend a certain heft to one's internet presence. Charlie: Specifically though, who were the first people to listen to what you had to say? Max: Well Charlie there's hearing and there's listening, but I'd say I received a fair amount of attention on the first internet list I joined, which I ironically was run by the Walker Art Center-- Charlie: --Your hometown museum-- Max: Yes, I grew up in Minneapolis so I felt I had a right to participate in an open forum. I had my website up, and I'd talk about the video as I was working on it, so I got some recognition there. Charlie: As well as some heat if my information is correct. This is a quote from the Shock of the View discussion run by the Walker: "I think Max should donate his website to Mark Napier's Digital Landfill. That way he will get the critical and culturally acclaim he so desires." Now that sounds to me like an insult. Is it? Max: I'd say it is. It's the kind of insider-insult that people with a reputation use to strong-arm anyone new to the scene. It's intimidation; it happens all the time. But the person who said that was a pretty high-profile artist at the time--G.H. Hovagimyan--and he has continued to more or less savage me and my work ever since. He even closed a prominent discussion group to unmoderated posts because of me. I'd say he considers me a jerk, to put it mildly. Charlie: But you also got some respect on the Walker list? Max: Yes, I'd say so. I was fairly mild-mannered for most of the time I was on that list--after all it was my first list--and I sort of proved that I had a good education and at least some independence of thought. I made some contacts there, people who were like "give him a chance, he's not so bad," and that kind of balanced out the negative opinions of Sherman and Hovagimyan. One odd result of the Walker list was that I made enemies out of most of the New York City web artists, and only made friends with the other outsiders, like from Manitoba and Orlando and so forth. But yes, it was a good experience and I did get some recognition. End of Part one of the Interview. (Please Note: This is a fictional interview, written completely by Max Herman for Amy Alexander's IYIYIYIYIY project. See plagiarist.org for more details or contact Max Herman at nmherman@aol.com) _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold