I took a few days out to go down below Sofia, to the south-west, towards the Greek Border, to a town called Sandanski famous for its mineral waters, its restful spas and now (in my view) the lack of any other UK tourists. It's main attraction for me was that hardly anyone spoke any English so I could read and read to my heart's content, test out some words on paper, solve some complicated conceptual twists and stare at the blue sky otherwise, and think about nothing (always a good thing to do I find in times of synaptic overload). Also, clutched in my hand was some desirous reading material - a book about Ubermorgen.com (see previous post) a newspaper about African Maximalism and slum.tv given to me by the inspirational Alexander Nikolic  - www.slum-tv.info - who I met in Sofia and the latest London Review of Books with a diary article about Pakistan by Tariq Ali  - www.lrb.co.uk.v31/n14/ali_01_html -  which I would love to discuss with my friends at Mauj who have been keeping us posted also about happenings in Karachi over the past eight months. What would they say to Ali's claim that Pakistan's largest city is in his view 'the Naples of the East' with its 'muggings, burglaries, murders, many of them part of protection rackets linked to politicians..'. There are other articles in the issue which burn into my skull as I lie in the blazing heat of southern Europe and I give myself time to think. The issues raised by the e-tribalisation workshop, particularly the ideas for projects which emerged at warp speed in the final session after two days of warbling and meandering - specifically the ideas linked to deepest deep Europe and its collective socio-religious histories (spawned by Romanian participants including Stefan Tiron) - moved me also to some thoughts that could lead somewhere - we shall see. I read also this week some postings on bricolabs including Rob Van Kranenburg's summer writing about his fav topic the Internet of Things and a rather stylised response from a Berlin based US photographer - Tim Syth - who has decided to sign up to the belief that the world is divided into digital natives and non-natives. I wonder where this leaves e-tribes? I also wonder where this leaves Hans Bernhard, who is described luminously in the Ubermorgen book by  Domenico Quaranta as follows: ' a child of the generation that wanted to 'leave reality behind' that appreciated the openness of the net, the freedom, the ability to make the body of the artist disappear, Hans Bernhard saw reality crashing down on him, or rather, he saw the net acting on his mind and body, infecting it. He experienced first hand the transition from the internet to the internet of things, his own transformation from user to 'node' on the network.'...they say ' we are children of the 1980s. We are the first internet-pop -generation...'. Quaranta goes on: ' Hans Bernhard's neural networks are connected to the global network.... 'These analogue texts offer me some counterpoint to a view I've been thinking lately that never before in history has so much been said by so many about so little.

It's the second day of the 'e-tribalisation' meeting in Sofia which turns out to be British Council supported under their Creative Collaborations programme - and so we are sitting in their building on the edge of Oborishe near to the Bulgarian National Library and the Art Academy. The temperature outside is around 40 degrees and inside there has been an uneven series of presentations from those attending - some of which have addressed issues relating to e-tribalisation, others which haven't. The best was the last - by Hans Bernard of Ubermorgen.com who lucidly and succinctly described the course of his work with key collaborators from e-toy in the mid 90s to today, including the successful 'auto-cannibalistic' project - Google Will Eat Itself - as well as Amazon Noir, a piece of code so successful that said company have offered to buy it. More at - http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0710/07-dieter.php -  Hans reminds us that information is free and it is impossible to keep it anyway - so best idea is to put out as much contradictory information as possible......'we are hallucinating that we are sitting here' he says.....

Hans will do a key note at this year's ISEA Festival, in Belfast, on 26th August, at 5. pm. Topic: Torture.

There's a book now called UM. Ubermorgen.Com Media Hacking vs Conceptual Art (Christop Merian Verlag 2009). Orders to Amazon now?

Looking forward to next week, I am going to Sofia in Bulgaria to participate in a workshop convened by AltArt linked to a project about E-Tribalisation. The organisers say:

"The time of global retribalization is now. Social dynamics becomes unbound by geography, but dissipates in a maze of shallow  communication. As communication mazes fill or unfill with meaning, communities (tribes) sink and emerge, capable of asserting notable -even global - power at the height of their tide. As tribes unite or collapse, migrate and change shape, so do their ways of negotiating value and truth.

The project brings together 12 international artists to test new ways of reaching electronic tribes with their work, to see how is the art discourse altered in this context, to test the difference an artwork cand make in an electronic tribe. During the 10 month process artists explore new perspectives on communicating with audiences and brings electronic communities a deeper understanding of the new social structures they are engaging. Welcome aboard!"

 

 It's an exciting time to be going to Bulgaria. Beforehand I will be participating in a panel discussion at Sadlers Wells in London, at an event organised by Arts Council England, which addresses the impact of digital media on arts organisations from across the spectrum of their regularly funded organisational portfolio. DO THE ARTS SPEAK DIGITAL is the rather strange title of the event. The panel I'm on has Jamie King and Gavin Starks as well as a media lawyer Lawrence Kaye and we'll be asked to comment on whether artists need 'a digital rights agency'. It should be interesting. 

 

Just got back from a day out in Manchester, where the International Festival is happening - with lots of good stuff doing on, including an hour long procession devised by Jeremy Deller which created a series of  beautiful moments out in the city streets conjuring up memories and melodies of a north west region which was familiar to some, unfamiliar to others  - with former mill workers on a float called The Last Industrial Revolution, flowering hearses with blossoms mourning the passing of the Hacienda, brass bands playing Joy Division tracks and Oldham's oldest fish and chip shop celebrated by a great group going by on a float singing of how Chips are Heavenly. You couldn't make it up, as they in northern parts!!

 Behind the city hall, on a day filled with activities, children gathered and climbed up the upside down willow trees which artist Gustav Metgzer has used to make his public artwork, having fun regardless of the serious messages behind the work....where Metzger has sunk the treetops into concrete symbolising the end of nature. The crowd sitting around watching in the Peace Garden included many locals - and among them the Community Radio team wandered asking for views and opinions on the work and on the festival so far. I listen in.....close range.....and am moved to hear a woman beside me speak lucidly and with great depth of insight about why this piece of public art works for her. She mentions in particular the way in which people have gathered and congregated around it and also laments the fact that at the procession earlier, she found herself having to lead the crowd into clapping as floats passed. She thinks it may now not be seen as cool to clap.

Inside the City Art Gallery, Zaha Hadid has worked with Manchester sound engineers/acousticians from  Sandy Brown Associates  to create a Bach Pavilion - a temporary auditorium made from stretched lycra that contorts across a room like a snake, or a musical note....

It's been as bright as Brasil in London these last few weeks. We're staggering under the weight of so much sun.

I'm glad also to see the emergence of a few things I've been working on lately - a Proboscis 'Diffusion' text (using a nice new format) - is available at:

 http://diffusion.org.uk/?p=1238

Having worked on this gothic piece in the cold and dark of New Year's Eve 08, it's fun to see it reach the light of day now n dense July.

The essay I recently wrote for the BBC is now up at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/knowledgeexchange/8.pdf

along with some essays by Pat Kane, Bill Thompson, Stephen Heppell etc commenting on a recent programme of collaborative research which the Beeb supported with UK academics funded by the AHRC. In the piece I wrote I was asked to concentrate on the nature of the knowledge, innovation and partnerships involved in the programme which brought academic researchers together with broadcasters for collaborative research into shifting media trends, public engagement through social media etc.  I argue for openess of processes and 'sharism' (citing Isaac Mao) as an essential part of any research into the impact of so called new media on the traditional public sector broadcast domain.

Yesterday, I went to see the Architectural Association end of year student show in London and was mightily impressed. There's a Latin American theme to some of the diploma work. One project group were seeking to design a new high speed railway line to run the whole way down through Chile and they link this back to London's railway stations, to Paddington Station in particular, one of Brunel's great accomplishments. With the graduation party going on in the park opposite beyond this year's temporary Pavilion it was possible to find some space in the small hot galleries, enjoy the accompaniment of Brasilian Music whilst looking at beautifully intricate designs for micro-infrastructure development within the Port of Rio de Janeiro and pick up at reduced price - for one night - copy of a new publication, Articulated Grounds: Mediating Environment and Culture.