In the article written by Jill Lane, entitled Digital Zapatistas, she begins by citing critic Paul Virilio whose suggestions, in regards to our generations “industrialization of simulation” emphasis Lanes subject of the formations of new realities,realities that have been directly impacted by an increase in cybermedia. Ricardo Dominguez, founder of the Electronic Disturbance Theater, establishes a list of “metaphors” that can be identified with “cyberspace” words like “frontier” and “real estate.” These words reflect the concern that this article is investigating. The increased privatization of the public spaces due to neoliberalism and neocolonialism was once only a concern for tangible spaces but with the increase of alternative spaces such as the digital (cyber)space, will the same concerns arise? or is this digital playground space free of such concerns? Lane attempts to answer these questions by introducing the work of the Zapatistas and the Electronic Disturbance Theater. The Zapatistas aimed an attack at the Mexican army through the use of paper airplanes which carried messages to the soldiers about their oppression within the army, influenced by the work that the Zapatistas had done, Dominguez launched a digital attack at the US government and the Mexican government websites. The software developed was released to the public and allowed artist/activist to utilize this digital space to send messages to the government. It is interesting that we are discussing these acts in a class dedicated to performative arts. We have spoken about the lack of a physical body during a performance but now we have a digital avatar presented in a digital space. Now to say that this is performance art seems to be a stretch at first glance but the way Lane frames the conversation, it seems that she defines this as performative due to the fact that there is an aspect of “simulation” which further relates to the idea of new formations of realities. Beyond the concept of space lies the question of the physical body. Anne Balsamo notes that ” enhanced visualization technologies-from ultrasound to medical imaging technologies-routinely challenge the assumed boundaries of the material body, blurring boundaries between bodily interior and exterior,depth and surface, and organic aura from mediated projection.” ( Lane 131) It is hard to ignore the lack of a body in the cyber performance, but this asks us to question the extent of the physical body and “embodiment.” Artist or hacktivist have engaged with cyberspace in a manner that could not be achieved in the physical reality or “polyspatial embodiments.”
I"m glad that you bring up this discussion of the body (or lack thereof) in EDT's performances. Many times, I call their work "performance art" because THEY call their work performance art! Who decides what performance art is?
Also, I think it is really important to discuss this idea of the privatization of public space on the Internet. Let's discuss further. I hope Timothy weighs in on this topic, since he is our resident expert.
Reading about utilizing cyber means to create a concrete global change in Jill Lane’s article Digital Zapatistas, seems quite quaint in this present year as all issues, projects, opinions and quotidian experiences are recorded in the ever-evolving space of the Internet. What struck me was how radical the idea of creating a “global grassroots support network” through what the article deems as “the most basic digital means: e-mail distribution and web pages” which is precisely how our United States President successfully campaigned and re-campaigned for his presidency. He and his campaign have dubbed it nationally as a grassroots campaign, utilizing similar methods that are listed in the Zapatista movement to combat it’s own nations army, citing it as “radical democracy.” Furthermore, the article dispels the myth of an artist’s lack of inter-disciplinary skills involving science and technology. So detached from the bodily form, the 1998 EDT FloodNet “applet” used to divert Internet traffic to strain servers of targeted sites such as the U.S. Defense Department. This quiet protest is eerie in it’s systematic gesture yet also tinged with dark humor as the program was updated to request “non-existent pages, with such names as ‘justice’” so that error messages would appear and read “justice not found on this site.” A sardonic approach to an Internet protest, it is the supposed counter to ideas of the “hegemonic control by a techno-elite” however, is it not the “glory” of the Internet that has connected a world globally and connected niche cultures? I feel as though there could be a more positive movement formed out of the obviously effective Internet highway, bustling with ideas. Although on the other side of technical innovation, we live in an age of crowd sourced projects and protests that have over saturated the Internet with requests for attention, help and donations. So I suppose the more pertinent question is, what is next? What is the next grassroots shake up and in a global community that is evolving by the minute, is it possible to still create innovation for the sake of protests without veering into negative territory (e.g. wikileaks)?
The Zapatista Air Force, Electronic Disturbance Theater and Critical Art Ensemble all helped in propelling performance art in a new and innovative space during the 90s. Cyberspace, as we know it today, is a completely open and public space (Pirate Bay?). However, at the time of their attacks, the Zapatistas believe that the internet was “occupied and organized as a commercial and private, rather than public, space to be protected with the full force of the law, or of the military” (130-1). Just like a public square, or the housing development in Tlatelolco, military modernization sought to make a free and public space a controlled society itself. While the physical human body is obviously a precursor to performance art, it is intriguing how, for example, Electronic Disturbance Theater questions embodiment and its relationship to spatiality in cyberspace. By working as a collective, EDT exercises their presence over the internet and through email. While you might not be able to see their physical body, you can still feel their presence through their actions and performances on the internet. Similar to hiding their faces behind the firewalls of the internet, the Zapatista leader Subcommandante Marcos employs theatrical tactics that embrace anonymity and the idea of the collective. It also calls to question ideas of the public and private, specially within cyberspace. Their masks make an important comment on the supposed privacy of cyberspace, while proving that it is a public and controlled space where people’s voices can be silences or subdued. FloodNet’s messages such as, “justice not found on this website”, and others shown in response to overworked servers bring up interesting ideas of the physical versus the virtual. A protester’s sign can be destroyed or lost over time. However, nothing on the internet goes away.
In the article written by Jill Lane, entitled Digital Zapatistas, she begins by citing critic Paul Virilio whose suggestions, in regards to our generations “industrialization of simulation” emphasis Lanes subject of the formations of new realities,realities that have been directly impacted by an increase in cybermedia. Ricardo Dominguez, founder of the Electronic Disturbance Theater, establishes a list of “metaphors” that can be identified with “cyberspace” words like “frontier” and “real estate.” These words reflect the concern that this article is investigating. The increased privatization of the public spaces due to neoliberalism and neocolonialism was once only a concern for tangible spaces but with the increase of alternative spaces such as the digital (cyber)space, will the same concerns arise? or is this digital playground space free of such concerns? Lane attempts to answer these questions by introducing the work of the Zapatistas and the Electronic Disturbance Theater.
ReplyDeleteThe Zapatistas aimed an attack at the Mexican army through the use of paper airplanes which carried messages to the soldiers about their oppression within the army, influenced by the work that the Zapatistas had done, Dominguez launched a digital attack at the US government and the Mexican government websites. The software developed was released to the public and allowed artist/activist to utilize this digital space to send messages to the government. It is interesting that we are discussing these acts in a class dedicated to performative arts. We have spoken about the lack of a physical body during a performance but now we have a digital avatar presented in a digital space. Now to say that this is performance art seems to be a stretch at first glance but the way Lane frames the conversation, it seems that she defines this as performative due to the fact that there is an aspect of “simulation” which further relates to the idea of new formations of realities. Beyond the concept of space lies the question of the physical body. Anne Balsamo notes that ” enhanced visualization technologies-from ultrasound to medical imaging technologies-routinely challenge the assumed boundaries of the material body, blurring boundaries between bodily interior and exterior,depth and surface, and organic aura from mediated projection.” ( Lane 131) It is hard to ignore the lack of a body in the cyber performance, but this asks us to question the extent of the physical body and “embodiment.” Artist or hacktivist have engaged with cyberspace in a manner that could not be achieved in the physical reality or “polyspatial embodiments.”
I"m glad that you bring up this discussion of the body (or lack thereof) in EDT's performances. Many times, I call their work "performance art" because THEY call their work performance art! Who decides what performance art is?
DeleteAlso, I think it is really important to discuss this idea of the privatization of public space on the Internet. Let's discuss further. I hope Timothy weighs in on this topic, since he is our resident expert.
DeleteReading about utilizing cyber means to create a concrete global change in Jill Lane’s article Digital Zapatistas, seems quite quaint in this present year as all issues, projects, opinions and quotidian experiences are recorded in the ever-evolving space of the Internet. What struck me was how radical the idea of creating a “global grassroots support network” through what the article deems as “the most basic digital means: e-mail distribution and web pages” which is precisely how our United States President successfully campaigned and re-campaigned for his presidency. He and his campaign have dubbed it nationally as a grassroots campaign, utilizing similar methods that are listed in the Zapatista movement to combat it’s own nations army, citing it as “radical democracy.” Furthermore, the article dispels the myth of an artist’s lack of inter-disciplinary skills involving science and technology. So detached from the bodily form, the 1998 EDT FloodNet “applet” used to divert Internet traffic to strain servers of targeted sites such as the U.S. Defense Department. This quiet protest is eerie in it’s systematic gesture yet also tinged with dark humor as the program was updated to request “non-existent pages, with such names as ‘justice’” so that error messages would appear and read “justice not found on this site.” A sardonic approach to an Internet protest, it is the supposed counter to ideas of the “hegemonic control by a techno-elite” however, is it not the “glory” of the Internet that has connected a world globally and connected niche cultures? I feel as though there could be a more positive movement formed out of the obviously effective Internet highway, bustling with ideas. Although on the other side of technical innovation, we live in an age of crowd sourced projects and protests that have over saturated the Internet with requests for attention, help and donations. So I suppose the more pertinent question is, what is next? What is the next grassroots shake up and in a global community that is evolving by the minute, is it possible to still create innovation for the sake of protests without veering into negative territory (e.g. wikileaks)?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure exactly what you mean by "negative territory." But we should discuss this (and Wikileaks!) further in class.
ReplyDeleteThe Zapatista Air Force, Electronic Disturbance Theater and Critical Art Ensemble all helped in propelling performance art in a new and innovative space during the 90s. Cyberspace, as we know it today, is a completely open and public space (Pirate Bay?). However, at the time of their attacks, the Zapatistas believe that the internet was “occupied and organized as a commercial and private, rather than public, space to be protected with the full force of the law, or of the military” (130-1). Just like a public square, or the housing development in Tlatelolco, military modernization sought to make a free and public space a controlled society itself.
ReplyDeleteWhile the physical human body is obviously a precursor to performance art, it is intriguing how, for example, Electronic Disturbance Theater questions embodiment and its relationship to spatiality in cyberspace. By working as a collective, EDT exercises their presence over the internet and through email. While you might not be able to see their physical body, you can still feel their presence through their actions and performances on the internet.
Similar to hiding their faces behind the firewalls of the internet, the Zapatista leader Subcommandante Marcos employs theatrical tactics that embrace anonymity and the idea of the collective. It also calls to question ideas of the public and private, specially within cyberspace. Their masks make an important comment on the supposed privacy of cyberspace, while proving that it is a public and controlled space where people’s voices can be silences or subdued. FloodNet’s messages such as, “justice not found on this website”, and others shown in response to overworked servers bring up interesting ideas of the physical versus the virtual. A protester’s sign can be destroyed or lost over time. However, nothing on the internet goes away.