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[- Artists, activists and impassioned comments
filter-it-yourself
By Aileen, Section Filter It Yourself!
Posted on Wed May 7th, 2003 at 03:58:03 PM EURODISCORDIA TIME
Filtered through a concern about which voices may be heard

As much as I enjoyed and appreciated Trebor's review and Brian's response, when I think of people I know, whose work I respect and admire, work that is important to me in between and around art and activism, I feel some concern that their voices could be overheard among so many words, because they use other means of expression.

 

[ --------------------------------------------- ]

Just a few fragments -
Which spaces can/does art claim and why? And does there always have to be a reason? What kinds of relationships could there be between agenda and aesthetics? Can art ever be a-political? Can utopias exist outside art?
How loud do you have to be, to be heard, and is that all that matters?
Other fragments?
Other voices?
Anyone?

[ --------------------------------------------- ]



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Artists, activists and impassioned comments | 12 comments
[new] fragmentary questions (in response) (Avg. Score: 3.00 / Raters: 1) (#1)
by petertraub on Wed May 7th, 2003 at 03:57:53 PM EURODISCORDIA TIME
(User Info)

Can art ever be a-political?

are you implying that ALL art is political? i'm not sure I consider much of my work political, although perhaps i'm working on a different assumption of the meaning of politics. example: a work i completed last year at stanford is an 8 channel electronic tape piece. it has a fairly structured form, but the sounds/timbres aren't really recognizeable, and my intention (as it is with a lot of my work) is to really try to create something that i haven't heard before. so are my aims political w/respect to the need to escape from more conventional musical modes and styles? the work itself doesn't have an agenda, nor did i have any sort of agenda in mind when creating it.

Can utopias exist outside art?

aren't most religions utopian on some level (even if, imho, their effect on humanity has been anything but)? maybe i'm a bit unclear on your question...

How loud do you have to be, to be heard, and is that all that matters?

anyone can be heard if they scream loud enough. what is more difficult is to be listened to. and can you do that by being quiet? (does that question even make sense?)...

#!/usr/bin/peter -w




 
[new] utopian voices in your head (Avg. Score: none / Raters: 0) (#10)
by Rachel Beth Egenhoefer on Sun May 25th, 2003 at 02:06:21 PM EURODISCORDIA TIME
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Can utopias exist outside art? Can utopia really exist outside your head? Or are those the voices too?



 
[new] fragmented response (Avg. Score: none / Raters: 0) (#3)
by qpdoll on Thu May 8th, 2003 at 02:07:30 AM EURODISCORDIA TIME
(User Info)

i guess i should also summarize my response in the trebor/brian thread here:

which spaces can/does art claim and why?

art or political projects can and should, according to me, occupy any public spaces *including* - but not privileging - art museums. i don't see much point in doing projects, especially political ones, just for art museums. but i also don't see much point in excluding them. i had a few caveats about hype and exploitation; people who want to read the whole thing can read my comment in the other thread.



 
[new] good question! (Avg. Score: none / Raters: 0) (#2)
by qpdoll on Thu May 8th, 2003 at 02:00:23 AM EURODISCORDIA TIME
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i just wrote a response over in the trebor/brian thread, but wow, i almost accidentally cruised past the whole thing... i'm one of those toys who can feel shy about posting stuff when others seem smoother with words than i am. yet, in this case, people were talking about stuff which i've been directly involved with - it's kinda like walking in late to dinner and discovering you're on the menu...

it's cool that this political art discussion crops up right here on discordia! but on the other hand, yeah, i agree, aileen, there's this issue with styles of communication - i personally prefer to communicate through projects rather than words, but online fora favor words. some of my non-native english speaking friends have also expressed concern that they feel at a disadvantage expressing themselves on online fora because they can't keep up with all the words (though of course they could post in their native language, then there's a problem of audience.)

i like that discordia seems to offer opportunities for alternative discussion formats - less formality, shorter blurps, dialogues, etc.
yet wordliness can still seem to have the advantage at times.

of course it's great that people who have a way with words can wordify on... but i think it's also good to create a comfortable space for dolls and other less-verbal people who might otherwise find themselves on the menu - or standing outside - instead of sittin' at the table... i don't know that there are any easy answers, but just opening this discussion and reminding people of different communication styles i think is a step in the right direction, aileen....

keep your head facing forward and keep reaching beyond your ears...
-qp doll





Artists, activists and impassioned comments | 12 comments
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