Presented at the Southeastern College Art Conference on Friday, October 19th, 2007, 8-9:45am est
This is supposed to advocate and exemplify A: New Media Studies departments existing in schools B: Interdiscplinary models for those establishments (that often may require interdisciplinary collaborations between pre-existing departments), and C: That New Media studies is serious, it's not just about youtube.com videos that prominently feature fart jokes - and yet New Media scholarship needs to get more serious, in that, it needs more panels and people that bust out everything they have to contribute.
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Some experts suggest that writing a good paper requires three percent insight and about ninety-seven percent - not getting distracted by the Internet. Work in my field, however, depends on a fair amount of Internet distraction for its inspiration.
To situate myself quite clearly, I am coming from a position of advocacy; advocacy of myself being here, advocacy of my field of study, advocacy of interdisciplinary methodologies, and advocacy of some intelligent people who are producing some very interesting works that address a variety of social issues which directly involve our engagement with the Internet.
In this paper I seek to address, in an interdisciplinary fashion, selected Internet Art and New Media works that make use of commercial platforms from points of view including but not limited to performance, comedic convention, and icono-linguistic rhetoric. Hopefully this will also activate discourse on issues from how these works function culturally to how we intend to deal with them as agents of the Academy and most primarily as consumers of cultural production; to ask the question: what are the ethics and responsibilities of academic and artistic institutions with regards to the unavoidable reality that someone is going to have to step up to handle / make sense of / legitimize things that are happening in New Media to some degree.
I realize that the very nature of ‘Interdisciplinarity’ may seem to, in some sense, contradict the type of specialization that is historically known as, if not a primary, a very foundational rationale for the establishment of institutions of higher education. “We need specialists,” they used to exclaim; now it seems, that isn’t enough, particularly I would say with regards to Digital Media and medias that combine mediums, appeal to marginal modalities, qualify as ‘Multimedia’ or due to a lack of historical precedent, ‘New – media’. Standing on my soapbox, I often find it necessary to consult a variety of disciplines while embracing the view that there might be something about overspecialization that goes against the very nature of higher education. In other words, I see it as my responsibility as a learner to engage issues and apply methodologies that may at first seem unfamiliar, off-putting, or challenging. On that note: slide change
It’s interesting to point out that before the World-Wide-Web and HTML, the Internet, then ARPANET, “…_was designed for the primary function of existing as_ a communication system immune to nuclear attacks…” 1. In one sense this infrastructure is a Military property developed specifically as a response to a particular crisis in the nuclear age and yet is something, beyond the digital divide, that is a variety of things to many people worldwide. Furthermore, we have an example of something - the idea of which was conceived by the Academy, was developed by DARPA, ultimately with taxpayer money, and as far as I know - is not directly capable of killing somebody at this point in time, and in fact is something that many people safely use everyday. This is something you can’t say about many things that DARPA likes taking credit for. slide change 
http://www.darpa.mil/body/mission.html
Now, what I’m about to show you are several examples of how some producers of online culture are in many ways offering alternatives to the somewhat limited and consumptive ideals in which many dominant commercial and governmental entities slide change want online society at large to view the Internet. That being said, part of establishing an important function of the Internet as a site of cultural production requires an amount of activity that literally takes place inside the Internet. slide change
The Government, despite its previous intentions to regulate communications content in the pursuit of persevering decency 2 has shown interest in the Multiplayer via Internet first person shooter model that is also situated in recreating a somewhat realistic military experience, this model being popularized by games like Counterstrike wherein multiplayer arenas are literally divided into groups of ‘Terrorists’ versus ‘Counter-Terrorists’. slide change
In the Military’s own incarnation, “America’s Army”, violent prowess and respect of one’s chain of command reign as dominant values in a construct where everyone playing the game is represented as a soldier in the United States Army that is engaging an army of ‘enemies’; however in multiplayer mode, opposing forces have to be other connected users who are also playing under the pretense that they are U. S. soldiers fighting some poor bastards who dared to defy our government. slide change http://www.americasarmy.com/
http://www.opensorcery.net/velvet-strike/ Artists, Anne-Marie Schleiner, Joan Leandre, and Brody Condon’s piece, “Velvet-Strike”, attempts to address this notion of a multiplayer online violent activity as leisure within the definitive example, Counter-Strike. Conceptualized as a direct response to Bush’s ‘War on Terror’, ‘Velvet-Strike’ is a collection of anti-war graffiti that can be sprayed on the walls of multiplayer maps within Counter-Strike environments 3. slide change. The designs of the taggings immediately ranging from heart shaped formations to stamps bearing the directive “Shoot Love Bubbles” and the proposed caption “Hostages of Military Fantasy” 4.
One of my favorite questions to ask in a situation like this is: why is this or how could it be funny? From the point of view of performance, imagining that this act is a piece of theatre staged for our consumption, we bear witness essentially to an extremely incongruous situation. It is exactly what we least expect to see that we are confronted with in an environment that encompasses an ideology so dominant it becomes naturalized as a non-ideology. While the presumed function of consuming such a product clearly seems to satiate and further exacerbate human urges for ‘tactical violence’, as the box may describe on the retail shelf, it is not difficult to imagine alternative functions that the product may serve. coffee slide. This basic comedic structure of incongruence is to some extent universal; its function is often to deconstruct particular, identifiable, social constructions.
It’s important to point out that what’s literally being offered here, in the form of programming, is the ability to do something new physically and ideologically within the context of a structure that is decidedly very limited in it’s original form. Mechanically, it is the production and distribution of a coded object designed to be implemented within a greater program, which due to its open-ended production allows flexibility for people who seek to Mod, or modify their gaming experiences.
However, experiencing this from the point of view of performance, the re-inscription of ideology, while experiencing the work in the context of slide change actually playing the game, allows us to more clearly understand it as an empirical unit of social change. It instructs and declares A. that there is a Crisis in the realm of public opinion, B. that there is not only a relationship between the politics of the real world and the game, it, C., illustrates a social dilemma where one would most likely expect post-purchase complacence. The solution posited is the redefinition of a player’s goals while playing the game. Effectively, the virtual piece creates an audience out of traffic in the tradition of guerilla theatre and since the location is cyberspace, ‘Velvet-Strike’ concretizes an ideology that exists about not using the game in a form that represents this within the object of its oppression, insisting that there be absolute continuity between the real world and its virtual ones 5.
Thus, it can be viewed as an act of detournement, or a form of defacement that re-appropriates the originally intended discourse or ‘Spectacle’ as envisioned by Situationist Guy Debord 6. This situation, like many, performs a subjunctive in contrast to the indicative - a ‘what could be’ vis a vis the situation as it stands. Furthermore, it reminds us that our taste in what we consume in terms of technology, leisure, and culture are things that we must become increasingly political about. slide change
http://www.unr.edu/art/DELAPPE/Gaming/Quake%20Friends/QUAKE%20FRIENDS%20MAIN.html Such is partially the case for ‘Quake/Friends’ performed by the conceptual ensemble under the guidance of Joseph De-Lappe at the University of Nevada at Reno. Taking place in a multiplayer session in the game, Quake 3 Arena, known colloquially as (Q3A), ‘actors’ through their avatars gathered in a map location and through the typed universal chat function, micro-phoned recitation, and physical space blocking, performed, in real-time, the pilot episode of the popular NBC sitcom, ‘Friends’. slide change. Armed with the Quake-identification-names, Ross, Pheobe, Chandler, Monica, Rachel, and a copy of the script downloaded from a fan site, their performance made it difficult to not notice something different about this particular game server. slide change. Incongruously, either from the point of view of the game or the television series, the ‘performers’, were periodically killed and re-spawned without missing a cue. slide change
http://obadike.tripod.com/ebay.html On August 1st, 2001, multimedia artist, Keith Townsend Obadike attempted to auction his blackness on eBay. Billed as a ‘net.performance, the virtual trace edifice, still accessible as a copy for purposes of documentation, has been reduced to a ripped HTML simulacrum that essentially remains as a sparsely interactive virtual canvas of mixed media. As a piece of advertising designed to solicit bids in pursuit of an actual online purchase, we could consult Roland Barthes’ three orders of meaning in the communication of advertising which consists of “a linguistic message, a coded iconic message literal, and a non-coded iconic message _or the symbolic message created through social, cultural, and/or historical knowledge, actions, and/or beliefs_”*9*. The eBay template itself imposes its own content mostly in the form of linguistic information on the sale terms and meta-data of the item in question. The eBay template works foremost to notify the viewer that this is eBay and this is what you can with it under the assumption that you’re limiting your interaction with the site strictly to commercial enterprises. The iconic message further authenticates its legitimacy and its responsive step-by-step icono-linguistic captioning further verify and establish at certain points in the user experience where virtual actions become legally binding. However, the presence of an eBay template is a representation that is now both commercial and cultural since symbolic meaning has been culturally established by a history of human experience in the viewing of eBay sites; suddenly we may become struck, for instance, by absurd resonances of Justin Timberlake’s half-eaten piece of toast selling for over three thousand dollars.
Thus is the cultural logic of late capitalism where we won’t be able to differentiate between what exists to function as culture and what exists to be sold, since economic facts will become increasingly cultural and cultural artifacts will, unavoidably, become economic commodities 10.
The same site that has historically legitimized ‘Piece of Dorito resembling the Pope’s Hat’, and ‘Virgin Mary Toast’ 11, oddly enough decided to terminate ‘Keith Obadike’s Blackness’ despite the fact that there were several bidders reaching, evidently, a high bid of around 152 dollars. Why and how it was canceled was also somewhat interesting. Instead of establishing immediate contact with the artist, eBay terminated the sale on the fourth day of the auction “…without any warning or real explanation. My only explanation was an automated form letter and a link to their guidelines, which don’t approach anything like my auction…” The message read: “eBay appreciates the fact that you chose to list your auction: #1176601036, Keith Obadike’s Blackness with us. However, we have determined that your item is inappropriate for listing on eBay…” Meanwhile, as Obadike has pointed out, eBay has not historically so much as even commented on the suitability of ceramic coons and mammies, African exotica, and Nazi paraphernalia 12 until recently. Still, trace artifacts can be found that exemplify some shred of hypocrisy. slide change
Blackness, as we know, is physical, cultural, and quite often, a commodity slide snoop slide snoop. EBay, however, doesn’t have the grounds to declare ‘Keith’s Blackness’ as false advertising, and it can’t really say that it doesn’t already trade in blackness on a daily basis slide blackness. Also, eBay does not allow much room for the potential of postings to exist, self-reflexively, as another person’s work of art though the posting may actually be selling something. This would perhaps break ground for the possibility of eBay postings selling other eBay postings, or at the least, material prints of historical eBay postings, which eBay will probably retain the rights to anyway. While other artists have claimed that their auctioning of an item on eBay is their artwork, Keith Obadike has earned the distinction of being the only artist thus far who has had their sale terminated aside from a female who was actually serious in attempting to sell her virginity on eBay and who later proved successful in doing so from her own personal website. slide change
The juiciest content is that which is perhaps most true in Obadike’s authored linguistic message in the key of pseudo-legalese when prompted to produce an item description. Some of my favorite benefits include,“#9. This Blackness may be used to augment the blackness of those already black, especially for purposes of playing 'blacker-than-thou'. 10. This Blackness may be used by blacks as a spare in case your original Blackness is whupped off you._” However, “_be warned_…The Seller does not recommend that this Blackness be used during legal proceedings of any sort... while seeking employment… while voting in the United States or Florida… or in the process of making or selling 'serious' art,” a point somewhat exemplified by eBay’s response to terminate this work. _slide change
http://www.myspace.com/tunusmcelwain, http://ucsc.facebook.com/profile.php?id=546507011 Since 2003, social networking sites have become amazingly popular. These are places where text boxes prompt you to enter in as much personal information as you will allow, and upload any multimedia that you feel best represents yourself. Given that information, these sites will effectively produce a simulacrum of one’s self in the form of an interactive web page viewable to all and especially yourself every time you log into your profile. What’s more, if you find that you have a friend or coworker also with a profile page on this same site, you can illustrate the great friendship that you have in real life in the form of making your respective pages also friends with themselves. This is due to the tendency of such profiling structures to emulate or virtually materialize social networks as they appear in reality. However, there are a number of mildly culturally deviant actions the system will allow, including but not limited to, publicizing your band slide change, pretending that cartoon characters actually exist slide change, and, for instance, establishing your own academic department. slide change
http://www.myspace.com/deptofnetworkperformance Cary Peppermint has produced a My-Space profile that seems to represent or create the existence of his own academic department, ‘The Department of Network Performance’. slide change
Immediate visual elements include images of other artworks and net artists in the state of performing their personas, which appear on his profile by way of an HTML modification to the original My-Space template. For example, there’s an image of Duchamp’s ‘Fountain’ and a still taken from a ‘lonelygirl15’ video, ‘lonelygirl15’ being a youtube.com alias of a person that performed an alternate identity through a series of videos meant to create the illusion that she was documenting a much simpler, younger, and less scripted version of herself named Bree. slide change
Soon after the first seconds of audio have loaded the viewer will begin to hear Peppermint’s ‘Introductory Remarks’, an mp3 track that discusses, at great length, the topic of ‘information’ as it pertains to anything, from any viewpoint, by any possible definition. Additionally, his repeated monotone enunciation of the word ‘information’, complete lack of insight, and George W. Bush-esque twang establish a farcical parody of anybody who’s ever attempted to teach a class about anything. After a climax that starts somewhere around “…information can make you wanna git you some, I’m talkin about sex,” and reaches the conclusion, “…remember where you came from,” the vocal then recycles itself this time being accompanied by a score of arppegiated techno synthesizers. slide change
The site also addresses the viewer as a student from the point of view of a professor by way of a self-reflexive course outline that clarifies: “This is not My-Space. This is Arts 404.JO, simultaneously a networked course and performance intended to assist students in the conceptualization, development, and implementation of online instances of networked performance-art practices.” This disclaimer, also part of the performance, is effective in establishing the terms of the piece itself as both a class that demands a performance as a conceptual illustration and yet is also a performance that depends on its own insistence that it is, in fact, a class which serves as the content necessary for the performance to take place. slide change
Furthermore, the piece exemplifies both the rise of New Media as a cultural phenomenon and as an institutional field of study while it is presently being indoctrinated into legitimacy throughout the systems of Academia, which themselves also happen to be infrastructures of dominant commercial and governmental culture. slide end
1 Greene, Rachael. Internet Art. Thames and Hudson. New York, NY. 2004. P. 18.
2 ‘The Communications Decency Act of 1996’ (CDA).
3 Paul, Christiane. Digital Art. Thames and Hudson, New York, NY. P.203.
4 ‘Velvet-Strike’.
5 Turner, Victor. Are There Universals of Performance?
6 Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle.
7 Mirapaul, Matthew. Arts Online; Take That, Monica! Kapow, Chandler!
8 Mostkoff, Peter. Brilliant Characterization of Quake/Friends. Interview, 10/07.
9 Barthes, Roland. Rhetoric of the Image. Hill and Wang. New York. NY. 1978.
10 Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.
11 Ng, Anne. The Most Memorable Sales on eBay.
12 Fusco, Coco. All Too Real: The Tale of an On-Line Black Sale.
Barthes, Roland. Rhetoric of the Image. Hill and Wang. New York. NY. 1978
DARPA. DARPA’s Strategic Plan. http://www.darpa.mil/body/pdf/DARPA2007StrategicPlanfinalMarch14.pdf.
February 2007.
Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle.
Fusco, Coco. All Too Real: The Tale of an On-Line Black Sale.
Interview with Keith Obadike. 9/24/01. http://www.blacknetart.com/coco.html. 2001
Greene, Rachael. Internet Art. Thames and Hudson. New York. NY. 2004
Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Post-Contemporary Interventions. Duke University Press. Durham. NC. 1991
Mirapaul, Matthew. Arts Online; Take That, Monica! Kapow, Chandler! The New York Times.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE3D71E3CF930A35750C0A9659C8B63. March 3, 2003
Ng, Anne. The Most Memorable Sales on eBay. Associated Content. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/111042/the_most_memorable_sales_on_ebay.html. January 2007
Obadike, Keith. ‘Keith Obadike’s Blackness’. http://obadike.tripod.com/ebay.html. August, 8, 2001
Paul, Christiane. Digital Art. Thames and Hudson. New York. NY. 2003
Peppermint, Cary. ‘The Department of Network Performance’. http://www.myspace.com/deptofnetworkperformance.
Turner, Victor. Are There Universals of Performance? University of Arizona Press. Arizona. 1985
‘Velvet-Strike’. http://www.opensorcery.net/velvet-strike/.
Wikipedia. ‘The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA)’. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Decency_Act. Fall, 2006.
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