Timothy Jaeger on Sun, 19 Jan 2003 22:40:08 +0100 (CET) |
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<nettime> The Data-Life Theory |
This is a 'hypertext' version of something I wrote a bit ago called THE DATA- LIFE THEORY that links data-garbage, Godard, Stan Douglas, a number of other artists with ways that new processing techniques shape ourselves and practices. It was published by Syracue University's SGA magazine LA PENSEE SAVAGE...I re- edited it slightly, and put it up online... Here's the first bit, but you can view it all at: http://www.thing.net/~timjaeger/data_life.html Peace, Tim Jaeger [ ] THE DATA-LIFE THEORY The data-life theory is a serious attempt to re-configure the human apparatus not merely as an extension of the video-camera or other recording device, hereby thought of as an apparatus to the human, but as a machine in-and-of- itself, an absorption unit, one that recognizes every waking (and non-waking) moments as instances of time (minutes, seconds, hours, etc..) that contain data, which can be picked out and culled over from the interlaced-field of (interlaced because the information field is naturally incomplete, somehow gutted, points of view left out, etc….i requires and produces more news, feedback, etc.) [ ] The human in this scenario might go about the day in a manner that brings to mind the screen in SOUND FORGE: "Monitor..Record?" // seconds of time pass that could either be 'recorded' in a real or metaphorical sense // either using a video-camera apparatus or else the mind-apparatus // there is a diaphanous flow here between treating oneself as an extension of the video- recording machine and as a recording device in-and-of itself // [ ] The data-life theory is not a model formulated as a reaction or running parallel to the Information Age and all it contains // rather, it is a symptom of hyper_life, life on the brink of a paradigm shift where one's sense of time itself is increasingly becoming mediated by blinking numbers and blue bars that lead to the filtering and computation of data // [ ] New forms of communication have arisen, and Artists like jennicam.com, Mark Dion, the French photographer Bruno Serralongue, video-artist Kristin Lucas, are examples of those who feels an intense but somehow unidentifiable desire to not merely be present and accounted for as a statistic or symptom of hyper- capitalism (credit cards, global trend marketing, etc.) // these individuals / organizations are engaged in some sort of perceptual self-reconfiguration to the contemporary scenario and make use of the (lack of) history, and the information-rich present and make use of factoids, residuals, packets, resonances, events, things, statements, answers, etc. in a way that leads to new self or institutional formations // [ ] For example, how a simple twisting of the master volume knob usurps common- enough paradigms in drum n'bass music care of Alexander's Dark Band: Lord Calrec LP// CROSS-REFERENCE YOUR WAY TO THE TOP Mark Dion's thoughts on this new configuration: [ ] "…Making art is no longer confined to the institutional spaces that we've created for such activity. It's more in the "field" now. The focus is on relations and processes - an ecology of art if you will - and not solely on decontenxtualized objects that are like natural specimens." [ ] Data-lifers are born distributors: in this sense they act as conduits. Data- lifers are not necessarily 'information-seekers,'as oftentimes the information just comes to them naturally…they just need be there as an eyewitness, an observer, a recorded [ ] For example, during a recent interview in Chicago when musician Jjim O'Rourke was asked exasperatingly where he discovers all the music that he does, he just adds: // "I'm a mad cross-referencer..when I hear one referred to in relation to something else I have to hear that other thing, to compare, to continue learning.." // .... .... Continued at: http://www.thing.net/~timjaeger/data_life.html -- thelast100years.com - timjaeger news, files, texts, sound, events # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net