OCTOBER 2005

Artist's discuss the gallery and middleman rip-off and the Government Study:
from australia this discussion lifts off......
amanda m.crowley writes:
"The Australia Council will conduct a scoping study of new media art  in Australia and the terms of reference are now available.  The study  will provide baseline data upon which to develop a framework for how  the Australia Council can assist the development of Australian new  media art practice into the future.  It will articulate the practice  for the entire organisation, helping the Council to manage its aim of  funding new media practice across all artform boards." http://
www.ozco.gov.au
For my money, it is *absolutely* critical that this document be  developed by someone/s from our field who understand the critical,  cultural and historical significance of this field of practice and, 
frankly, the seminal role that Australian practitioners have played  in the development of work in this area not just in Australia but  internationally.

I would encourage people on this list to *seriously* think about  tendering to do this work, as it would be a travesty for it to be  developed by a 'consultancy firm' that does not have a thorough  working and historical knowledge not only of the Australia Council's  support of the field (which dates back to the Art and Technology Fund  of the mid 1980s, through the development of a range of art and  technology initiatives by the Visual Arts/Craft Board, the profoundly  important establishment of the Hybrid Arts Committee by the (then)  Performing Arts Board (which is now of course 3 separate boards  again) and finally the establishment and then subsequent dismantling  of the New Media Arts Board (which for a moment was the new media  arts fund)) but also the broad range of initiatives that have  happened at grass roots levels.  Organisations such as dLux and  experimenta have histories that go back twenty years and more and  remain tireless advocates of artists in this field, exhibiting and  touring work with great success (and miniscule budgets).  The artists  and technology research project initiated by the Experimental Art  Foundation (for which Francesca da Rimini was, interestingly enough  also the project officer who conducted the research) was begun in  1985 and led to the establishment of ANAT in '88 - an organisation  that remains unique in the world, that still supports artists  actively in a myriad of ways and that has great international  espect!   Other individual artists like Stelarc or Jill Scott or  Peter Callas have been pushing the boundaries in this area since the  1970s.  Through the 1990s there emerged a range of initiatives, that  explored the political importance of access to technologies and  furthered grass roots media activism (like CAT, or myspinach).   SystemX was an artist run online initiative that began in the early  1990s -- which I don't need to remind you was *definitely* pre-web.  
The tissue culture and art project was an artists group that were  leaders in the emerging area of biotechnology and art and let to  SymbioticA which remains a unique support organisation for this area,  internationally .... Lists like this one and empyre were early  leaders of discussion and debate in this area and remain  internationally some of the most interesting.  The list goes on and I  am sure that most of you will be able to contribute to making sure  the scoping study accurately reflects to amazing diversity of  practice in this field in Australia.

There is little doubt that the current configuration of artform  boards at the Australia Council will NOT have this kind of knowledge  represented on the Boards.  Council will have to work VERY hard to  make sure that peers are appointed that do have this knowledge and  are able to advocate seriously and broadly within and across the  Boards and the Council itself.  One of the biggest shortcoming of the  restructure is that there is NO representation of this field at the  highest policy development level -- the Council itself.  So ensuring  that there are strategies to make sure our voices are heard will be a  key issue for the scoping study to address and make recommendations 
on.   And, to be relevant, it must be done in language that reflects  the "artform" in all of its diversity, not in bureaucratese!! So load up their website, download the terms of reference document  and think seriously about putting in a tender!! :)

s/a/m writes Hi
Anna Munster wrote:

>>>> Or maybe it's time to start seriously negotiating our relationships with social movements with hybrid NGO/nonNGOs etc to open up new spaces for praxis... cheers<<<<

My understanding is the main issue is one of access to finance... I don't see how social movements can assist - unless NMA practioners seriously want to commit to building / fostering social movements that can overthrow the government and re-establish the idea of public funding... But that's a whole other game. And whatever you do, don't talk to any peace activists.

Also, the IPA (institute for public affairs - http://www.ipa.org.au/) has effectively killed any NGO that is dependent on government financing from doing any work that is critical / goes against government policy (like speaking out against human rights abuses in west papua for example).
The writing is clearly on the wall. What needs to happen is for NMA practioners to develop strategies to finance their activities, and to do this in a world where 'Government maintained' public funding no longer exists.
Dependency is dangerous. Has anyone seen Darwin's Nightmare? Best wishes, Sam.

On 13/09/2005, at 6:23 PM, Somaya Langley wrote:How does a resident artist benefit the
scientific community or cultural organisation?   I don't have the answers, but I am willing to push this idea within the National Library for starters and see where it goes.  There is currently a Folk Festival Fellowship - allowing people to apply to create a project using the library's folklore collections.  (Okay, so it's not a pool of funding where you can entirely select the scope of a project yourself - as it does have to relate to the Library's collections in some way...) The time is ripe for putting forward the idea of creating a similar program for new media artists.  I've no idea whether anything is acutally possible, but I have to start somewhere.  I don't want to be powerless and be a bystander watching the new media community die or simply walk away.
There's not one straight forward solution that I can see.  I think it's come to a time where suddenly we are left out in the open to fend for ourselves and have to create our own opportunities.  And I *do not* think this provides a climate for creating well developed worthwhile artworks.  It creates an environment where we are all working double workloads - one providing the bread and butter and providing funds so we can have the 'privilege' of creating art.  Now this is very far from
ideal at all (it's what many of us do right now).
So while, more exhibition spaces are appearing - raw space, pelt - funding is slipping away?  If you have to pay to hire an exhibition space, then how is this going to succeed if artists don't have the cash? Somaya

13/09/2005 Julian Knowles replies: I couldn't agree more... The real difficulty I have with many artist run galleries is that it is 'pay to play' if you'll pardon the music expression.... We don't need more pay to play situations (which is almost a form of vanity publishing)  what I think we need, is a more sustainable network of opportunities in which artists can gain presentation opportunities and derive fair fees.  In an ideal world, suitable organisations would provide direct support to artists to develop and present work and  be appropriately paid for their efforts. These opportunities also need to be widely available and diverse in their nature (ie cover a broad spectrum of practice..., aural, visual, networked, performative etc....).

Some good organisations exist in certain areas, but there are real gaps in others...  going back to sound/music for a moment (and without wanting to offend anyone) there are no organisations with a sustained track record of support in this area. Official events happen on a sporadic basis, and the most serious and sustained end of that practice is happening in illegal warehouse venues on an unfunded basis. The artists get a split from the door take (usually about $50) and the organiser takes the  ill e g a l   b ar.  We all know these gigs, which are great to a point in terms of building communities and audiences, but it's depressing to contemplate that this is the main forum for this work these days. At VS the point was made that somehow we have reached a point where it is ok for artists not to be paid, or worse still, an environment where it is ok for them to pay for the privilege of presenting their work. This needs some careful consideration.
julian
fibreculture@lists.myspinach.org

Arts world unites for plea to pull troops out of Iraq

By Ben Russell, Political Correspondent

Published: 16 September 2005 The Independent

A coalition of artists, musicians and writers have joined anti-war campaigners to make a collective appeal to Tony Blair to pull British troops out of Iraq by the end of the year. The diverse group, including the musician Brian Eno, the actor and film director Mark Rylance and the guitar player John Williams, as well as 100 academics, MPs and activists, signed an open letter of protest condemning the continued occupation of Iraq as "an unmitigated disaster". The letter, which was also signed by the film director Ken Loach, the Body Shop founder Anita Roddick and the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, urged Mr Blair to start moves to pull troops out of Iraq when the US-led alliance's United Nations mandate expires at the end of December.

Mr Eno and the film star Julie Christie delivered the letter to Downing Street yesterday, the day after a suicide bomber killed more than 150 in Baghdad's bloodiest day since the fall of Saddam. And in the past week, three more British soldiers have been killed in Iraq, bringing to 95 the number of British service personnel killed in there since March 2003.

The text states: "The war and occupation of Iraq have been an unmitigated disaster, both for the people of Iraq and Britain. Countless innocent Iraqis have lost their lives and still more innocents have been killed on our streets. "British soldiers, many of whom do not want to serve in Iraq, have been killed, wounded or maimed." The letter argues that a pullout would stop Iraqi deaths at the hands of British troops and make Britain's streets safer.

Speaking in Downing Street, Mr Eno told The Independent: "We are saying that the war is a disaster and has failed in every way and is continuing to fail. Personally I'm saying I do not want to be associated with a bunch of red necks with big guns and small minds. "People who were perhaps agnostic about the war have become much more sceptical about it. I want to say to Mr Blair that he would not be that badly off if he admitted he had made the wrong decision." Ms Christie added: "What we are doing is encouraging the growth of terrorism, despite Tony Blair's vociferous denials.

"People will not stop fighting against occupation," Asked what her message was to Mr Blair, she said: "It's hard to talk to someone who isn't listening."

The letter was drawn up by the Stop the War coalition. The group is hoping for a huge turnout at a demonstration in London on 24 September, on the eve of the Labour Party conference. Labour left-wingers are planning to raise the war at the conference, and are hoping for a significant demonstration to increase the pressure on Mr Blair to act. Jeremy Corbyn, the MP for Islington North, said campaigners were attempting to secure a debate on an emergency resolution on Iraq at Labour's conference later this month. He said: "The message of the eve of the Labour Party conference will remind Tony Blair of the anger about the Iraq war. We want to ... build support for the march on September 24." Other signatories include Professor Richard Dawkins, the scientist, Billy Bragg, Tony Woodley, the general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union and the playwright Harold Pinter.