Because I want to exist. Because I am part of the global community. Because willingly I want people to know all about me. Because I know people like to spy.

Facebook – I know everything about you without lifting a finger. I see my dream of being God, I know what is needed to fulfill my wants of global domination…….

Saatchi the Google of Art?

Excuse me Mr. Saatchi, there is a tidal wave of Artists at your door, shall I let them in?

A year or two ago, thebookmann had stumbled across the Saatchi Gallery website and found the work to be mediocre, and he was quite puzzled. This was the prestigious Saatchi Gallery represented by four or five images, a biography and other details related to an Artist from Lebanon.

The Gallery also had a link to their new acquisitions from artists such as Peter Doig, but a preview from their collection was not available. It only occurred that this was a catch to draw the readers to devised internet experiment in human behavior. Any artists of any calibre had the opportunity to submit their work on the site, and to participate in the “big break”, that is the chance of Art fame, wealth and all the perks that surround it including the very real prospect of Charles Saatchi seeing, collecting or creating a buzz about their work…..very inviting is it.

More truth than fiction.

Since then, the Saatchi Internet Gallery has spread like a virus in the Art World. Even Adele, the co-author of thebookmann received an email from the gallery encouraging her to submit work to the project. It was very flattering at first, but with the sheer number of artists that are hosted, and the poorly designed interface, it was not worth the effort nor was it interesting enough to read. Sorry Mr. Saatchi, the way a website looks determines its value of its content. “The world’s interactive Art Gallery” has the appeal of a gambling vending machine with prizes to be won.

So what the agenda behind all this, thebookmann believes that Mr. Saatch is attempting to become an internet Art guru like the “Google brothers” and wants to be the conservator of the art information worldwide. The future of art may be a “Saatchi Search”, after there is much money is made from the selling information on the internet.

This is the Art Collector who made super stars out of Damian Hirst, Chris Offili and Tracy Emin and with his instincts and experience, he is trolling the water for the next best thing, all stored in his data-base from thousands of artists throughout the world, eager to capture his eye and exhibit in his real rather than virtual space.

The only installation thebookmann remembers at the Saatchi Gallery was a work that entailed a long galvanize gutter looping running oil.

The Kodak Virtual Moment – Flickr

Above all, people want to voice their ideas without intrusive censorship, the internet allows a truer history of who we are from those who have filtered it in the past

Bones, ” Computer bring up the Flickr data from the turn of the twentieth century”

If you were asked to explain what Flickr is, it could be described as being the operator of a film developing machine, where snap shots of the lives of people are constantly in motion. Yet, with the popularity of Blogger and Youtube, the internet conglomerates are cashing in on the future by storing all of the information that are passed onto them. If you read the Terms and Agreement it says that Flickr collects personal information when you register with Flickr to use Flickr services or to post content on Flickr.

People are less concerned with the policy, and more eager to share their work or kept it as a record on the internet. Nothing more or less is expected but rather it is following in the footsteps of Google by organizing and making information universally accessible. And in time, it would accurately portray the world by recording mankind through his own words through stills and moving images – The truest possible democracy ever conceived.

Storing your ideas for future deeds

The images that are inset with this post are from via The Library of Congress and Pingnews hosted on Flickr. It is a sample of the power of internet and accessibility of information. This is a glimpse into the past and present though historic photography which has shaped our world. In fifty years or so, the world as we see it will come to understand that all the possibilities we strive for will be in reach through a wearable wireless module.

Saatchi the Google of Art?

Excuse me Mr. Saatchi, there is a tidal wave of Artists at your door, shall I let them in?

A year or two ago, thebookmann had stumbled across the Saatchi Gallery website and found the work to be mediocre, and he was quite puzzled. This was the prestigious Saatchi Gallery represented by four or five images, a biography and other details related to an Artist from Lebanon.

The Gallery also had a link to their new acquisitions from artists such as Peter Doig, but a preview from their collection was not available. It only occurred that this was a catch to draw the readers to devised internet experiment in human behavior. Any artists of any calibre had the opportunity to submit their work on the site, and to participate in the “big break”, that is the chance of Art fame, wealth and all the perks that surround it including the very real prospect of Charles Saatchi seeing, collecting or creating a buzz about their work…..very inviting is it.

More truth than fiction.

Since then, the Saatchi Internet Gallery has spread like a virus in the Art World. Even Adele, the co-author of thebookmann received an email from the gallery encouraging her to submit work to the project. It was very flattering at first, but with the sheer number of artists that are hosted, and the poorly designed interface, it was not worth the effort nor was it interesting enough to read. Sorry Mr. Saatchi, the way a website looks determines its value of its content. “The world’s interactive Art Gallery” has the appeal of a gambling vending machine with prizes to be won.

So what the agenda behind all this, thebookmann believes that Mr. Saatch is attempting to become an internet Art guru like the “Google brothers” and wants to be the conservator of the art information worldwide. The future of art may be a “Saatchi Search”, after there is much money is made from the selling information on the internet.

This is the Art Collector who made super stars out of Damian Hirst, Chris Offili and Tracy Emin and with his instincts and experience, he is trolling the water for the next best thing, all stored in his data-base from thousands of artists throughout the world, eager to capture his eye and exhibit in his real rather than virtual space. -thebookmann

The only installation thebookmann remembers at the Saatchi Gallery was a work that entailed a long galvanize gutter looping running oil.

Voice of America verses Pandora’s Self-broadcasting Box

Repeat it many times and you’ll begin to believe it

Using the power of the Internet to broadcast a true independent voice; A composite of media bits ParkRidge47

Tonight on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, there were three topics that caught my attention. The first being the marking of the fourth year of America’s War in Iraq! It is shocking to really hear the number of years that this has gone on! The second is the interview with Ann Curry and the clearly megalomaniacal President of Sudan and the amateur campaign advertisement for Barack Obama. These three things relate in a very eerie way.

The last item, a very good editing and superimposition of the video, sound and text was spliced into and altered the message of Apple Computer’s award winning commercial that launched the company in 1984 What makes this advertisement so interesting is its delivery, both in terms of what, how and who. But that aside, there is the more important reaction that it has received. Internet film reminds me of MTV in the 1980’s. On reflection it was something that we looked at because we were thirsty for that type of entertainment. We all knew that it was not very good, but we didn’t care because it was better than what it was before, mainly television shows like Solid Gold, fixed to a specific time, day and formula.

Just as I am writing now on thebookmann and completely unaware of who may read this, the amateur campaign advertising benefits from a sort of for want of a better word, sniper advertising. A quick shot, unseen but dramatic. There shall be many types of product advertising that shall jump and have jumped onto this bandwagon, as this very cheap form of media is drawing so much attention. This attention has some unsettling aftertaste however, and I shall explain why.

On the one hand, everybody and their cousin seems to be filming themselves on camera these days. It seems very freeing, and in some instances even refreshing, as many well crafted careers are made to be seen through the lens of reality. Yet, this ‘reality’ may be as unreal and potentially damaging in ways that no choreographed career can be anticipated.

On the other hand, there is the fact that these types of films can be used in ways that we could never have foreseen, mainly blitzing. They are so cheap that someone with a grudge and time could do the equivalent of telemarketing all of your media toward a particular message. It is hard enough that children today have a hard time knowing right from wrong. It is now apparent that the boundary between truth and fiction is grayer than ever. Truth may become a thing of degree, if it hasn’t already.

The Ann Curry interview with the President of Sudan, Omar al~Bashir is chilling, in the way that like the President of Iran, this gentleman uses a level of fiction akin to a conspiracy theory against his country. I am particularly horrified by this because in a strange way, The United States of America has given the world television that causes the very backlash it attempts to avoid. Mr. Al~Bashir is stating a lie so heinous about his own country, and he is using America’s own conspiracy theorists speculations to do so. Layering one meaning over another. Finally, the War on Iraq, four years on was stated as a war longer than World War I, World War II and the Korean War! What an Indictment ! This has been a war the world overall protested against. Yet President Bush found it necessary to write his own fiction to get America to where it is today. A third type of layering.

Tonight the news continued to look at what new media is doing to messages, but really, it is never the media, but the message, as the book is still with us, and radio, and television. So what is essential is to remain hopefully neutral to information until you have had the opportunity to see multiple perspectives. However be very careful while doing so, as all media because they are all about selling, sell you the cover, not the book.~ Adele

 

thebookmann All Rights Reserved 2007

Reposed at a Hanging = gangsters among saints

Come my people,  come see a hanging…..
The disturbing images taken of Mr. Hussein before his hanging is something the world should feel a bit tarnished by. Somehow, despite all that he may have done to others outside of the glare of cameras showing him being led to his death did not achieve what it was set up to do. The use of a phone camera to bring the world more private imagery from the scene also lent an air of the perverse on top of the existing perversity.

On a day when the former president of the United States, Mr.Gerald Ford, and the Godfather of Soul, Mr. James Brown held the worlds’ interest with their deaths, it was very disconcerting to see Mr. Hussein also make the headlines, in a way, stealing the thunder from arguably outstanding individuals. This is one of the amazing ironies of life, gangsters among saints, everyone reduced to a soundbite at the end of the day. But what really struck me was that yet again in 2006, a different perspective on an orchestrated event was caught on a tiny phone. This has huge repercussions for what we have come to call reality television. This is in some ways ‘more real’ than reality. I also wondered, many years ago with the death of Princess Diana, many clamoured to keep her last images away from the public eye. Now many years on, with this public hanging, are we not pretending that we have standards? Just when you think that the bar is a limbo dance, the bar goes lower. Why do we want to see such tragedy, and moreso, paid for by comercials interspersed between each vouyeristic morsel. The only difference here is that we are not standing in a public square screaming ‘heretic.’ The camera phone shall continue to have a great deal to tell us about ourselves, our news and our reality. The very serious issue here is whether we can turn back the hands of bad taste now that nothing is sacred. – Adele

Death fascinates those who are not at the foot of the bearer.

We will never know exactly how Saddam Hussein felt moments before his death, but the his conduct was posed, reposed and captured from a mobile phone and broadcast worldwide on the internet and through major television networks.

thebookmann All Rights Reserved 2007

Exhibitionists, Voyeurs, Cellphones and Bluetooth

Trust no one……Not even your lover

Today my students were showing me without any embarrassment, downloaded images of local people having sex using their phone. It seems that it is the new ‘thing’ to do. I find it quite shocking, and the students are all a bit giggly about it, telling me in one instance that they went to high school with one of the participants, and in another instance, that the girl in the self pleasuring film short is the daughter of a rich businessman. I do not consider myself a prude, but I realize that what I consider jolting, others consider a way of the world, and thus very worthy of trying to understand where our island youth are going in terms of what technology is helping them to experience, and thus making them more worldy than ever before.I am amazed at the use of a cellphone for such an activity that can remain in public domain forever.

I wonder whether the people involved are seeking thrills and fame of some sort? What is the motivator? Just last year a local public figure was featured showing off his penis as well as his alleged prowess with a variety of women, this was made more shocking because he belonged to a very religious family. He subsequently lost his job and left the island.You could not go anywhere without people feverishly talking about it, and as for emailing the images around, it seemed never ending. It was definitely a new experience in the world of public images in Trinidad and Tobago. It also showed a level of hidden sophistication, as people would tell you how they saw it, who blue toothed whom, and how it got online in the first place. No one was shy about discussing the contents of the images and everyone who got involved with discussing the hijinx basically laughed it off as the folly of youth. In Trinidad and Tobago that is a big deal. We are a country of big contradictions. Public displays of affection is not encouraged, and people walking around half dressed are considered loose and crazy.

In fact Shurwayne Winchester recently had to explain why the homophobic lyrics in a song he released last year, should not be frowned upon by the ‘gay community.” We have a whole ‘underground’ culture that co-exists alongside constant churchgoing and marching for crime and Jesus. This new habit of detailing ones private life via phone and sharing it is hardly a phenomenon of these islands, but what it does do, is it shows us the repression and curiosity that persists in our island,as the participants are of all races, ages and professions. Is it possible that such filming shall spawn an artform?

After writing the above article, the newspaper has had a front page expose about children making films for themselves and sharing them around with their friends.

What has happened since, is that it has encouraged a great deal of debate. Everyone I know has had something serious to say about the topic, and it has led to quite a lot of very interesting points of view about children in schools to parental discipline and home schooling. This is likely to be the first of a long debate. – Adele