cultural c@pital

This seems a bit redundant/extraneous, but I just wanted to go on the record as saying that I've been spending a lot of time on the internet as of late. Since getting back from Rotterdam, its just been all about the del.icio.us/network/binaryrobot. Just trying to contribute, navigate, surf, explore and learn all about (what I see as) an art movement. Trying to find out more about these internet-famous people, these well-linked, oft-blogged people, who are they? What kind of jobs do they have? Who knows who and lives where? Do Nasty Nets and Supercentral really have a beef??? Not stalker mode, mind you, but just trying to gain a bit of "social/cultural currency" as Kate termed it. Hell I even wrote my one paper I had this semester about it.

Here's an OK bit:
"Contrary to the avant garde of the past that sought isolation, net art mingles with the everyday experience. Today’s digital avant garde is completely public. It is camouflaged by its seeming acceptance and flippant attitude towards the flotsam of culture that surrounds it. Amongst this morass of information, the avant garde is a self-selecting group, involving those who not only seek out alternatives to mass culture and entertainment, but who also resist non-intervention, and actively contribute their own works to the web. These artists share the ultimate commodity of information and in the process create and define a new aesthetic. This movement is concerned with examining the tools of mass production that have come to blend high and low art, and utilizing those tools for their own needs. It relies heavily on pastiche, is often steeped in irony, but also confronts kitsch and mass culture by providing an alternative."

As for my own "active contributions," I'd encourage navigation over to my allmytshirts.com project which I finally 'finished' after starting in September (props due to Borna for swinging me into action (and props to Photoshop for batch automation)). If you guys are interested, I'll try to set up a public folder so you can post you own up there!! I'm already behind on new additions to the collection, doh.
Also I added a bunch of new audio posts, field recordings and otherwise.
I also made a DVD showreel of all my work from this term to present as documentation for my final assessment which went down on Thursday, so I'll have some new videos up soon.


By final assessment I mean that my term at St. Martins is over. I guess my blogging about it has been so intermitent in that there were almost no assignments to serve as nice marking posts, i.e. "oh I've just finished X, let me document it." No sir. The second 5 weeks totally flew by, but I feel good about the experience. Going back through and providing documentation of all my finished projects, and examples of the my other never finished/casual/non-gallery-style works and influences was a good way to consider the evolution of my 'artistic practice' in the short time I was here.

So before I leave Europe I'm gonna get offa this island and jet around the continent a bit - Barcelona, Copenhagen, and Berlin. If you've got any suggestions about people/art/cultural happenings/food that I need to go see(eat(meet)) I'd love some suggestions so please let me know!

Anyways I see no point any longer in trying to make this blog strictly some sort of academic or artistic work report, and will henceforth let it become the cultural distillery it so dearly wants to be. So here is some internet cultural capital to put in your bank account:

-> If you don't know about BAY LIFE, here's your chance to get at it.
-> Adam 'n mine's Phugly group on Flickr. Trying not to delete our 'bad' digital photos and make some new sorta aesthetic. Get down if you're on the flick.
-> Finally a nice video about the making of the Dr. Who theme song, found via artfagcity.com and del.icio.us/wizardishungry. Great synth action and recording to 16 track tape, this goes out to all my British people; thanks for your kindness and for letting me live in your country. I had a really good time.