<eyebeam><blast> to include means to share same discourse

[ursula biemann <biemann@access.ch>]

I am thrilled with the format of this forum which I experience as a lot
more inclusive than many fori or panel discussions I have attended in
real space. The written modus gives less speedy, articulate or agressive
type of speakers the opportunity to voice their position in a less
competitive climate. I greately appreciate it. It wouldn't hurt if some
of this quality could flow back into public communications behaviour
among artists and academics.

There are other ways how we can stimulate a more inclusive practices via
internet and e-mail. Preparing Just Watch, a symposium on
representational politics in the media, got me on the net for the first
time. The call for entries, be it videos or presentations for the
symposium, was sent out via e-mail to global women and media
organizations who then fowarded the message to their listed members.
Within 3 days the message was read by about 10'000 people, a figure that
goes way beyond the capacity of telephone chains and flyers as Broekmann
had suggested, just by the mere quantity of addressees and the amount of
time and money spent. Weeks after we sent out the message we still
received answers. News may take a lot longer to reach certain places via
e-mail, it is in direct relation to the geographical and economic
condition of a location or a nation, if you will. It's not all that
virtual in some places.

From a curatorial perspecive, this presented us with new challenges. In
a traditional form of curating, we approach artists who are known to the
curator, recommended by other institutions or read about in established
art magazines. Here, it turned out that the media producers, artists and
academics we got introduced to came from places we didn't even know
where to find on the map. We were in for a surprise. We invited two
Russian women from South Caucasus who made their way to Zurich. The gap
between the terminologies was quite impressive which raised the question
whether we all need to agree on the terms of a discourse in order to
participate in it, to participate in a forum like Just Watch or eyebeam.
Do we need to agree on the latest postion of gender theory with women
who have been introduced to feminism in 1991?

To have access to e-mail doesn't necessarily mean that you have access
to the internet which is the case for many organisations in India e.g. 
That means that to be able to participate in a global yet selfdesigned
network of peers and related networks doesn't mean necessarily that they
participate in the commercialized world of the internet. My observation
is that it rather reinforces the formation of alternative networks which
are based in a shared interest.

Ursula Biemann
www.access.ch/justwatch



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