Re: <eyebeam><blast> Emergence or Submergence/Chaos and

[Susan Hapgood <shapgoo@ibm.net>]

Emergence
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I want to respond to N. Katherine Hayles posting (March 3), commenting
on Jon Ippolito's discussion of emergent systems (Feb. 13), which was in
response to a Hayles' discussions of the same, and to my posting on
February 9th about possible collaborative possibilities for artists
working in networks. Jon had reacted quite negatively to the various
concepts of collaborative activity described, if such activity submerged
individuals' ideas; he saw any united front as a situation in which
individuals' perspectives were being repressed.  

N. Katherine Hayles' responding discussion of flocks of birds as
possible models for thinking about emergent systems of groups of
individuals on the internet, and the previous posting about the activity
of ants, fascinate me, and expand significantly on the discussion at
hand. 

Have any good texts been written that analyse the patterns and
structures of formations and dissolutions of art movements? They would
be good models. In the recent past, most artists I have ever worked with
do not like to be associated with groups or with movements; they wish to
be recognized for their own contributions. But if we look at what we
have learned historically about art, it quite often comes to us in the
form of "movements," which must be related to how we behave socially,
how we package and understand some of the bigger cultural changes.
Individuals' efforts are clearly discernible, on their own and as part
of a larger structure too.  

Susan Hapgood
Independent Curator



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