"FLOODED MCDONALD'S" AND "BURNING CAR" by SUPERFLEX

How the Internet is leading toward “digital Maoism” and the loss of individuality

By LARRY GETLEN
Last Updated: 6:07 AM, January 10, 2010

The most popular aspects of Internet life — including Wikipedia, Facebook and digital music — are so detrimental to humanity that they give young people “a reduced expectation of what a person can be.”

That’s the disturbing conclusion of Jaron Lanier, the computer scientist famous for coining the term “virtual reality.” Lanier, a visiting scholar with the Department of Computer Science at Columbia University, among other positions, says that the Web has reduced communication to the point where we’re molding ourselves to serve it in harmful ways.

Social networking, for example, reduces people from complexities to categories, and subjects them to the will of what he calls the “hive mind.”

“The most effective young Facebook users are the ones who create successful online fictions about themselves,” he says. “They must manage off-hand remarks and track candid snapshots at parties as carefully as a politician . . . avoiding the ever-roaming evil eye of the hive mind, which can turn on an individual at any moment. A Facebook Generation young person who suddenly becomes humiliated online has no way out, for there is only one hive.”

The Internet favors the mob over the individual, and group efforts like Wikipedia are prized, even as they peel away personality and perspective. Uncredited bits of information — article excerpts, photos, video, etc. — are stripped of their humanity by being stripped of their context.

“Something like missionary reductionism has happened to the Internet with the rise of Web 2.0,” Lanier says. “The strangeness is being leached away in the mush-making process.”

Lanier regards this as an “anti-human” approach.

“Emphasizing the crowd means de-emphasizing individual humans in the design of society,” he says. In one notable instance, Wired Magazine ~~founder~~ Kevin Kelly posited that society no longer needs authors, and wound up in a feud with John Updike after declaring it a “moral imperative” that all the world’s books become “one book,” available for editing and mashing up by anyone who sees fit.

The result of all this, says Lanier, is that “when you ask people not to be people, they revert to bad, mob-like behaviors,” noting how vicious anonymous commenters even have driven some to suicide.

In explaining how we got here, Lanier discusses how computer science tried to replicate complex human activities with inferior results. One example is MIDI, which was developed in the early 1980s for the sole purpose of imitating the sound of a keyboard. Yet MIDI was limited, inherently unable to digitally represent “the curvy, transient expressions” of a singer or sax player.

Nonetheless, MIDI became “the standard scheme to represent music in software,” and is now the basis for all digitized music — including songs on our iPods — despite sounding far inferior to analog recordings.

Rather than search for a better solution, Lanier says that our response has been to lower our expectations of music quality. In the same way, we settle for what the Internet can give us in terms of information, entertainment and personality. The medium limits the message.…

The consequences of letting things persist could be dire, he says, comparing those who believe in the anti-human path to “digital Maoists.”

“History tells us that collectivist ideals can mushroom into large-scale social disasters,” he writes. “The fascias and communes of the past started out with small numbers of idealistic revolutionaries . . . I am afraid we might be setting ourselves up for a reprise.” …

“We have “entered a persistent somnolence,” he says. “We will only escape it when we kill the hive.”

Brightblack Morning Light/Lungfish split seven-inch from Harvest…

From Harvest Records:

Brightblack Morning Light/Lungfish 7″
Harvest Recordings 003

We are excited to finally have this record ready to roll. There is one Brightblack Morning Light track, “Another Reclaimation”, recorded live in 2008 at the South Paw in Brooklyn, NY. The Lungfish track is “You are the War” off their Feral Hymns release. The record is spun at 33 1/3rpm, comes on red/clear vinyl, and is limited to 500 copies.

This is an Anti-War release fueled by Nabob’s continued objection for the ongoing wars overseas; both tracks on the record exist to resist these wars. Nabob says the 7-inch’s purpose is “to make it known the current wars should end & peace should begin by our decisions.”

http://www.harvest-records.com/recordings.php

Jan 15-Feb 25, NYC: Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal #10 at White Columns

(above: cover of sold-out Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal No. 7)

From White Columns:

ECSTATIC PEACE POETRY JOURNAL – ISSUE #10
Edited By Thurston Moore with Byron Coley and Eva Prinz

White Columns is proud to present Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal, Issue #10: an exhibition, publication, and a series of readings and performances.

Artist, musician, poet and publisher Thurston Moore began editing and producing Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal in 2001 as a forum to publish poetry by individuals who intersected the worlds of poetry, music and art. A dynamic range of writings, with various pages of visual work by Gerard Malanga, Richard Meltzer, Chan Marshall, Dennis Cooper, Kathleen Hanna, John Sinclair, Richard Hell, Jutta Koether, Gus van Sant, Rick Moody, Kim Gordon, Anne Waldman, Bill Berkson, Anselm Berrigan, Gary Panter and many others were published in eight issues in as many years.

Moore was inspired to publish Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal after years of appreciation, study and relentless archiving of post-war poetry publishing focusing on the activity of the “mimeo revolution” of the ’60s and ’70s. The stapled mimeo poetry journals produced from the St. Mark’s Poetry Project, Peace Eye Bookstore in New York City, and Asphodel Bookstore in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as a myriad of other subterranean centers of shared post-beat writing, rage, meditation and experimentation continues to inform the publication of Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal.

Issue #10 of Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal will be published and presented at White Columns as an expanded event/exhibition. A stapled issue will be created during the show. Pages from each of the ten journals will be exhibited as enlarged wall pieces, including the heretofore unpublished issue #9, [in keeping with the journals every-third-issue a theme issue, i.e., #3 was themed “cunnilingus,” #6 was “punk,”—with #9’s theme “pot”]. The main gallery space will feature a selection of historical poetry publications from the last fifty years culled from Moore’s own library, including original editions of Amphora, Change, Coldspring Journal, Copkiller, Fervent Valley, Free Poems Amongst Friends, Gaslight Poetry Review, Kauri, Klactovedesteen, LA-BAS, Outburst, Stance, Sum, The Willie, Trobar, Yowl and more.

Working as co-editor on many aspects of Ecstatic Peace Poetry Journal, including this exhibition is writer Byron Coley, formidable musicologist, essayist, poet and producer of music and literary arcana, ephemera and beyond. Select pieces from Moore and Coley’s catalogue will be reprinted in limited states for this exhibition. Eva Prinz, editor, co-publisher of Ecstatic Peace Library and curator of Radical Living Papers: Free Press 1965-75 (2007) brings additional organizational and creative force to Issue #10 as a gallery event.

Reading and performance schedule:

Friday January 15th:
6-8pm. Opening performance: Northampton Wools (Thurston Moore, Chris Corsano, Bill Nace)

Saturday January 23rd
7-9pm. Reading: John Giorno, Byron Coley. Performance: Thurston Moore

Friday February 5th
7-9pm. Reading: Edmund Berrigan, Anselm Berrigan. Performance: Thurston Moore

Friday February 19th
7-9pm. Reading: Richard Hell, Dorothea Lasky. Music: Thurston Moore + guest

Thursday February 25th
7-9pm. Reading: Thurston Moore and Anne Waldman accompanied by musicians Ambrose Bye and Devin Waldman

All performances and readings are free, admission on a first-come basis.

Continue reading →

Proper concept albums

TV commercials for Parliament’s Motor Booty Affair and Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome

Chrissie Hynde on Arthur

“I love the magazine [Arthur]. There’s a really cool little shop in Akron, Ohio called Revival, and they stock it, so I took it home one day. And I called [Pretenders publicist] Jim Merlis and I said, ‘OK, I’ve just seen the best magazine in America, so can we do it?’ It’s a really cool magazine, real interesting, diverse, good articles…”

—Chrissie Hynde, as told to Oliver Hall, September 2008

Read Oliver’s interview with Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders from the [online-only] Arthur No. 32

Friday, Jan 22, Brooklyn: A BENEFIT FOR TULI KUPFERBERG OF THE FUGS

A Benefit for Tuli Kupferberg
Produced by Hal Willner
Friday, January 22 at 7:30PM

at St. Ann’s Warehouse
38 Water St
DUMBO, Bklyn, NY 11201

Tuli Kupferberg, the influential songwriter who co-founded the Fugs, suffered two strokes, in April and September 2009, which left him blind, confined to his apartment and in need of 24-hour care. He is recovering well—he is able to speak clearly—but has overwhelming medical expenses not covered by Medicare or the very modest publishing/royalties income he earns at the age of 86. A number of his friends and admirers are coming to his aid by performing in a benefit concert produced by Hal Willner, including his fellow Fugs [Ed Sanders, more], John Kruth and an all-star band, Lou Reed, Sonic Youth, Peter Stampfel, John Zorn and others who will be announced soon.

Venue: http://stannswarehouse.org/

Tickets: https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/7900805

The Fugs: http://www.thefugs.com/

THE APOCALYPSE ALREADY HAPPENED

“[W]e as a society are taught politically and religiously that the Apocalypse is coming, it’s on its way. But what I’m saying with my show is, ‘We’re there right now: this is the Apocalypse.’ The fact that we’re surrounded by cement and we’ve already killed everything means the Apocalypse has happened.”
—Lady Gaga, London Times, Dec 6, 2009

Vision Quest: Neo-Shamanic Art in Brooklyn, NY, Jan 17th

vision

Show image: Jason Leinwand “Accepting Fear Rather Than Trying to Understand It”

VISION QUEST – A Group Show of Neo-Shamanic Art
Opening: Saturday, January 16th, 2010 7–10pm
On View: January 17th–February 21st, 2010
Hours: Thursdays & Fridays 3–6pm; Saturdays & Sundays 12–6pm

Brooklyn, NY – OBSERVATORY and Phantasmaphile’s Pam Grossman are proud to kick off 2010 with VISION QUEST, a group show of neo-shamanic art, on view from January 16th through February 21st.

A healer, a medicine (wo)man, a guide: the shaman is a figure who interfaces with nature magic and the invisible world at large, for the betterment of the tribe. Fluent in the language of symbols, and a perennial student of plant wisdom, the shaman is also a translator – bringing back messages from a place veiled thick with leaves, bones, smoke, ghosts.

This journey to the other side – to the innerside – is not just a flowery promenade of song and trance; of friendly animal spirits and ancestral reunions. For while this land is rife with vibrant, variegated beauty, it can also be a danger zone. Images of decapitation and dismemberment abound – though ultimately act as portents for personal transformation and rebirth. This shadowy terrain is trod only by those brave enough to encounter whatever may be found along the way, as each sojourn is mysterious, thoroughly unpredictable, and entirely individual. However, the results of the trip often prove invaluable, as the traveler returns armed with knowledge that will in turn illuminate and repair the community, and fortify his or her own soul.

While the role of the shaman has traditionally been fulfilled by experienced elders in indigenous groups spanning culture and time, VISION QUEST posits that our artists fit the bill as well. Today, with more of us living in an urban jungle rather than a real one, it has become all the more important to figure out ways to internalize the lessons of nature: its growth, its brilliant bloom, its death. And in an age of digitization and distraction, of wire vines and humming screens, it’s no wonder we long for deeper, more sensory experiences of self – with all of its darkness and divinity.

As such, each piece in VISION QUEST explores the archetype of the shamanic voyage, using the tools of paint, pencil, or paper in lieu of fire, flower, feather. Taken together this work represents a full spectrum of what it means to go underground and out of body; to go there and come back again, perhaps just a little bit wiser or, at the very least, more wide awake.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Jesse Bransford • William Crump • Scott Gursky • Juliet Jacobsen • Ashley Lande • Adela Leibowitz • Jason Leinwand • Christopher Mir • Joe Newton • Herbert Pfostl • Christopher Reiger • Christine Shields • Erika Somogyi • Jessie Rose Vala

ABOUT THE CURATOR
Pam Grossman is the creator and editor of Phantasmaphile, the premiere online destination for art aficionados with a passion for the surreal and the fantastical. An internationally beloved art and culture web log, it features daily spotlights on artists and events, as well as interviews with such visual luminaries as Thomas Woodruff, Nils Karsten, and Richard A. Kirk. Phantasmaphile was written up two years in a row on the Manhattan User’s Guide Top 400 New York Sites list, and Grossman’s previous show, “Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists,” was featured by myriad taste-making outlets including Juxtapoz, Arthur, Upper Playground, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter page. “VISION QUEST” is her latest curatorial effort, and she is proud to have it hanging at OBSERVATORY, the art and events space she co-founded.

ABOUT THE GALLERY
OBSERVATORY is an art and events space in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Founded in February 2009 and run by a group of seven artists and bloggers, the space seeks to present programming inspired by the 18th century notion of “rational amusement” and is especially interested in topics residing at the interstices of art and science, history and curiosity, magic and nature. The space hosts screenings, lectures, classes, and exhibitions, and is part of the Proteus Gowanus art complex. It is located at 543 Union Street (at Nevins), and is accessed through Proteus Gowanus Gallery’s entrance. OBSERVATORY’s gallery hours are 3-6pm on Thursdays and Fridays; and 12-6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

For press and media inquiries, please contact Pam Grossman: phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com

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