New-Media Art Education and Its Discontents Author(s): Trebor Scholz Source: Art Journal, Vol. 64, No.

1 (Spring, 2005), pp. 95-108 Published by: College Art Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20068369 . Accessed: 09/06/2011 15:48
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A crisis gence American

has

emerged

in new-media arts programs as well

arts and

education. strong

Despite student

the widespread throughout China, structure, include

emer North Germany, and top

of new-media universities

interest Thailand, the goals, issues isolation advanced

as in Finland, little public is debate taking

Singapore, about place. training, lab, the the The the

and Australia, ical orientation of undergraduate

surprisingly of these students art

programs

the demands

for vocational in the university artwork, in the

of new-media debate Source of theory, about

lack of

Trebor

Scholz

new-media Software

introduction the meaningful structure of most

of Open use

classroom,

New-Media and

Art

Education

and

the media-specific questions of

departments. an additional

Beyond

technical

instruction,

Its Discontents
The academics, Weblogs, topic of but with and wikis,

concern
technological (online) cell our

is the challenge of keeping up with

advances may in a number appear only of fields. marginally games,

the significant
relevant mailing with to lists, technol

collaboration phones, everyday e-mail, lives

multiplayer are increasingly

online

enmeshed

ogy. Acknowledging
people in societies that we it is urgent logical

that access to technology

that benefit examine from the ways in which

is partial and generally limited to

of the information through order, techno we collaborate

the globalization

channels. Free Cooperation: Networks, Art, and Collaboration, an April 2004 conference at

the Department
reflected on new

of Media
educational

Study at the State University

models in new-media

of New York at Buffalo,

education and the negotia

tion of the ground rules for collaboration.

and academics gathered radio in Buffalo to discuss collaborative cooperation, authorship, and Open these were scientists, Source topics included Organized A different version of this text was published by FibreCulture Journal in fall 2004. 1.Free Cooperation: Networks, Art, and Collabor ation took place in April 2004 at the Department of Media Study, State University of New York at Buffalo. The conference was organized by Trebor Scholz (New York/Buffalo) and Geert Lovink assisted by Doroth?e (Brisbane/Amsterdam), Gestrich (now at Banff Centre in Alberta), Orkan Telhan (Ankara/Buffalo), Tom Leonhardt (Toronto/Buffalo), Arzu Telhan (Ankara/Buffalo), and many others in the Department of Media Study. For the conference program, see http://freecooperation.org. 2. Christoph Spehr, Gleicher als andere: Eine Grundlegung der freien Kooperation (Berlin: Karl Dietz Verlag, 2003). 3. Christoph Spehr, Free Cooperation video tran script, available online at http://www.republic An art.net/art/concept/alttransspehr_en.htm. essay on the topic will appear ina forthcoming book by Geert Lovink and Trebor Scholz. Cooperation posed ways experiments,

Some one hundred

anti-universities, performance collaborations reality, networked forum, and

and fifty artists

the notion of free distributed artists in the of postings

projects,

self-organized peer-to-peer Software were

educational porn,

initiatives, virtual

between collaboration art. Many

networked and a

movement, on conference

participatory online

discussed in a free

preparatory publication. media critical crisis.

selected

by Amsterdam-based conference to overcome to the the examined its current conference term "free Most was Spehr's cooperation, cooperation, How an

critic

Geert

Lovink

and me, education

the Free and essay. pro

issues in new-media ' to do the I intend media in his writings essay have

same critic

in this Christoph

We Spehr, (More English, phone about who

invited coined

the Bremen-based cooperation" of Spehr's

"Gleicher not his been ideas

als andere" translated into Anglo into

Equal so media

than Others).2 the conference discourse.3

opportunity refer on as these of

to introduce to 1960s

writings insisting as well can

sci-fi movies of and refusal

to think and the with and right

contemporary from or

the option

of withdrawal corporate freedom

negotiation ideas of

renegotiation equality,

state monsters.

independence, in or outside

be useful

for alternative

networks

learning

the university?

On

Collaboration artists, collaboration deepening components. and consultation levels of are inevitable, to as bring technology together tech has

For media based nological

artwork and

requires conceptual

specialization contexts,

In business

"groupware"

95

art journal

become

increasingly

important.

Recent focus on

versions

of proprietary of file

software, sharing

such and to if they notions rele the

as Macromedia's issue changes choose of free of permissions other

Dreamweaver, in

the development collaborators

coauthoring.

Networked

are alerted can can decide Spehr's

team members them

have made or merge their

to a document contribution.

and How

to overwrite cooperation,

developed

in social-democratic vant grip credit

Germany, to the United

become States, with

more

its iron

of

student reports?

loans Here

and there

corporate is no social

safety net for those living the politics of

refusal and independence. are encouraging the Critical movements group protests examples. Mass and In There the United Reclaim promising During hundreds blocked highways the

States, Streets

present models. of 2003,

cooperative the antiwar of major as cyclists urban part of

in San Francisco intersections a Critical Mass and ini

tiative. This effort began with

campaign of advertising yet central Reclaim model times the actions leadership. the the actions, any vein,

a leafleting
and dates place took

without similar

In a uses the

Streets

a decentralized public sphere. Other

to reclaim

examples

of decentralized efforts radio, Green graffiti, movement subject Tiger to create the media. a conduc These TV, and And include and

community-organizing broadcasting street Kevin Lim and Penny Seow were among at the Free the live-blogging students conference. Cooperation otherwise Unless by Trebor Scholz Creative Commons indicated, all images are and are protected by a License. exemplifies position founded distribute the New a type (e.g., in class, of temporary gender, a race) alliance that parties. chooses of model video free The no

one goal.4

particular Paper

in pursuit

a shared of works

1981, presents

consequential activist

collaboration that works among critique without

collectively York City-based all artistic

produced, chamber and

orchestra

Orpheus functions

tor, rotating are examples In the University technology Assistants wise not

administrative leaderless of social learning,

the musicians.

of horizontal, context of

structures. a wireless tool ActiveClass participation, from to The facilitating students developed employs via who at the wireless Data other share and then

situations

of California in an attempt and wireless-enabled participate. and to all provide the

at San Diego to encourage laptop permits types and of

is promising: classroom computers, students feedback. teacher,

Personal might

ActiveClass other

silently results

ask questions, are compiled discussion.s

responses, broadcast 4. Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, The Radical Democratic imaginary (London: Routledge, 1998). 5. UCSD's ActiveCampus project provides loca tion-based services for educational networks. Available online at http://activecampus.ucsd.edu/.

students

the

verbal

What We

Is Free already

Cooperation'? collaborate to in person or in networks. From cooperation cross-cultural is a fact of to cross life. Looking

disciplinary

cross-professional

exchanges,

96

SPRING 2005

beyond

the focus the

on

internal

group

dynamics asked

(and what

the

relationships really happens years focusing testing of

between when many

individuals), collaborate. in this area

Free Cooperation

conference with instead of

Conference said should for that

participants collaborations,

as much of

as

twenty

experience on the pro and toler project.

immediately and the

ject goals, interests ance, With stands the and trust,

start with

the building Social attitudes

trust including

of values respect, on a

compatibility. values

trust, mutual to work together cooperation, are

shared true

make

it easier can can

for people take place. at any There

communication and must anyone remain

In free time. is no

everyone

to benefit,

leave

If there ideal

disagreements, there

cooperation

workable.

cooperation;

always

is compromise. and collective Issues off, there process. of how music, members exchanges is the Whose to credit and of of risk of labor involuntary becomes altruism invisible are more receives movement a bit dancers of caused by freeload steps in theater, for an individual to

Online ers the in the front?

and whose

collaborators film: each person Source gives and

developed credit

dance,

architecture, Some on

contribution. strategy receives moves spark of off based some.6

the Open effort. One

suggest software code

a tit-for-tat and then the

Comparably, and with take

jazz musicians turns a "third leading. body"

who

improvise can

study playfully free

the others one another,

At best, resulting

collaborations from a chorus.7

The

development
(Marx/ gain, Engels), rather

of each individual is the condition

although freedom, commonly, are associated self-sacrifice with

for the free development

and collaborative the absence work.

of all

of personal

than

The logic of the artworld

each ates art other. an art The object often art world that can focuses be

and that of technology-based

on the romanticized by many idea institutions. of

art are opposed

an author who Technology-based and existent Many in many

to
cre

distributed discursive, and

is variable,

ephemeral,

concept-based, can be distributed

copies; have

it is collaboratively taken on and the Internet an

authored as a context apparatus of

online.8

artists individual

for that

their work, goes beyond authorship

de-emphasizing distribution include and Robert

authorship communication.

seeking Early

extends Adrian

projects

collaborative

Sentence Welt in 24 Stunden(1983), Douglas Davis's The World's FirstCollaborative X's Die
(1994), 6. The "tit-for-tat strategy" in Open Source devel opment is described inCarliss Y. Baldwin and Kim B. Clark, "The Architecture of Cooperation: Does Code Architecture Mitigate Free Riding in Model?" a the Open Source Development Harvard Business School working paper available online at http://www.people.hbs.edu/cbald win/DRI /descrip.html. 7. The third body emerges from true collabora tion. The notion was developed by Charles Green inThe ThirdHand (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001), 125-38. 8. Lev Manovich "New Media from Borges to HTML," 2002, available online at http://www. nothing.org/netart_ 9. The Access Grid 101/readings/manovich.htm. is an ensemble of resources conceived of artists, and by most the project Jean-Francois art institutions Epreuves d'?critures, part Lyotard. In spite of of the these 198c exhibition and supportive Les Immatrieux the interest of free examples in nor

are neither

interested

cooperation.

The

Conference love conferences. They debate new are venues ideas friends, who and where artworks, then you party occasionally meet in on makes can reflect, rethink, get on meet or

People future provoked, in the together whose

collaborators, learn, make sauna. They

intensely, carry to ideas. access and Access

inspired the debate a few

and can't

allow

people

otherwise zoom

spend

days

(away geographic

from

their location

obligations) or financial such as video

and

For practitioners to these Grid venues allow

situation conferencing

large-format displays, pre including multimedia sentation and interactive environments, and inter interactions faces to support group-to-group across the grid. For more information, see http: / /www.accessgrid .org.

impossible, remote

technologies participation.9 and and the I suggest essentially

Lovink of panels

in a recent

essay

that

the

ritualized of

academic the keynote

structure speech feed

noncommunicative

form

97

art journal

to the Free Cooperation Entrance confer ence with conference banner designed by Arzu Ozkal Telhan.

The GuerillaGirlsBroadband conference. Cooperation

at the Free

into of this agree. out needs as the

the

celebrity dialogue

system, and

reinforcing of hearing on a the

hegemonic diverse,

paradigms emerging voices.

that get "Some

in the way will read dis to get and such

genuine criticism

as an attack are not mode.

scientific in danger is part

community of of extinction, the dark over

as a whole. and side

But we it is time

Academics the defensive to be arts,

species Panelism

of

of'academism' contexts

addressed, culture, new formats

exactly media, of logic

because and the even

it is

spilling

to other

activism."10 are unnecessarily that will of research. these should imposed acknowledge Left to their I am not involved in on the arts, an art own sug

Increasingly, 10.Trebor Scholz and Geert Lovink, "ABC's of Conferencing: Experiment, Play, Reflect," in the Fall 2004 issue of Springerin; an English version is available online at http://conferencing.distributed creativity.org. driven project devices, gesting by

sciences

the business

of many

universities formats up with or

as fundable artists that would

if it affirms not cannot likely speak

scientific have for come

formats. not be

artists

themselves

98

SPRING 2005

practices essay, argue

embracing Lovink that and it is high tendency ideal arrive I do

theory question time by

and

production, "the forced

or

arts

and of openly and

sciences. scientific

But

in our and label

adaptation

formats it, and

to start

public

awareness, names: read each

talk about panelism." or

the occurring In the before mations easier you they of

its proper

paperism other's

setting,

participants At on

papers

presentations short could sum it

at the venue. and focus

the actual discussion. other more crowds). but contain network.

event,

presenters

offer

their work

Specific easily This (i.e.,

software recognize

make the person too

for participants to meet for media in

to find large arts

each

want

conference conferences, nametags area

technology contexts

is still already have

expensive location-aware locatable WiFi.Bedouin." The

business

similar

networks: close-proximity

information This is a

that makes possible

the person for the

in a

application

Free Cooperation community, scenario of and

conference but

took

place

on was

university theatrical. of

campus We

and

in the A big for show

an academic conference concentration the first in which personalities" monica.12 talkathon few day

the atmosphere

designed play. planned a talk and on also at a (about

after energy

the dramaturgical (talk show, the

structure

a Brechtian was

debate-intensive end of the second.

sessions) For

again

toward

example,

participants also Remote (one

impersonated featured guests musical commented speakers,

sci-fi

filmmakers,

scientists, Conrad Chat. We

"flexible the phonar set up time), games), a small a a

intermezzos via eight Internet people

by Tony Relay

room, a video

two

in the audience conference game

dialogues,

conference,

a weekend

streamed exhibition, There were

net-radio several no

debates, workshops,

brainstorming a turntablist and no

sessions,

film

screenings, and were a more a long time one

collaboration, panels. Participants to encourage took

monologue. explicitly dialogical to sink in. asked

keynote of

speakers long of "no with are

to avoid format, All rooms Large works other cant

the delivery but the mantra

lectures lectures, circular

in order no

panels"

were

organized

seating. for students to create in the turn future. out their own net with signifi

conferences relationships artist

opportunities become cultural

and

that may friends, course or work. leave.

fruitful critics may

Encounters to be more stay

students, than

regimented but study

Generally, It is essential

faculty for

members them to make

in a particu not only

lar institution, where is a wearable, mobile 802.1 I I. WiFi.Bedouin node disconnected from the global Internet. For further information, see http://www.tech I b The Logic they

students but also

links

internationally.

of the University? in Dresden, students of Arizona, organization London, in several Tucson, of and New research and York City and have taught undergraduate the Bauhaus, of New was York

I studied and

kwondo.com/projects/bedouin/. is an update of 12.Conrad's phonarmonica Benjamin Franklin's glass arm?nica, an instrument that spun glass bowls and was played with the fin gertips. Conrad's DJ version uses a power drill to spin a stack of 78 RPM records at increasing velocity while they are played by manual contact with a pair of phonograph tone arms. 13.Trebor Scholz, "New Media Education and Its Discontent," 2003, available online at http:// www.mail-archive.com/nettime-l@bbs.thing. I73.html. net/msgOl 14.The discussion is available online at http://www.discordia.us/scoop/special/ead obbs/index6b2.html?eaid=52.

graduate

institutions, currently on 2003, the

including State University education I posted some

the University at Buffalo. by a debate The

a session

new-media when on mailing

inspired and

that developed about many and new-media

in October arts via

thoughts

observations I received Discordia, port

education

the mailing list, ranged concerned the from with

list <nettime>.13 collaborative enthusiastic boredom, Weblog sup apa

responses, dozens The of

the Rhizome The

e-mails.I4

responses

to uneasiness.

text was

predominantly

thy, and the role

anti-intellectualism of the teacher, and

in American issues of

undergraduate teaching beyond

new-media

classrooms,

"just-in-time-knowledge."

99

art journal

Reading between of teaching

these

responses who

helped have

me

realize

that

there were of

significant

differences

individuals in the of reflects

the actual and others not get

experience who approach

the here-and-now-ness teaching with with the students. there -

classroom ideas on they

and-then-ness of this essay

did

a chance

to test-drive

Part

this debate. the United States increasingly are restructured to fit

Universities

throughout

the imperatives of corporate business

Readings as elaborates on the replacement the university's may on life. them States conceive education It would, and now response of

logic. In his book TheUniversity inRuins,Bill

of culture riots in who effort to blame weight to find a by the discourse Undergraduate make of excellence stu a down into that in This 1968.ls

to the campus

dents

themselves and, with however, puts

as consumers next be to no elitist

conveniently (like shopping), for

payment the good socialized the United

graduate the system

students on them.

a tremendous pressure

Undergraduates graduation.

are under

severe

job after

urgency
the the media that faculty

is both self-imposed
to outline provided teaches clearly will

and sustained by peers and parents. It is the task of

what get the the interests of the department Amy are and where a out do realize with in students Alexander, points

education

professionally. of California

artist who "Unemployment

at the University

at San Diego, go for very

paychecks how culture

from WalMart.

and food don't payments stamps . . . Once work full-time, you jobs are, and that you'll Students want

far; neither you'll

a while, an

amazingly outside

unfulfilling of your

engagement

employment.",6

in new-media

art programs

the United
in was European to belong

States rarely hold the hopes for employment

universities to the have held, especially of graduates since who the 1 to 2 percent

that their counterparts

1980s. The could make aspiration a living with technol basically to a then

their work ogists, a

in the art market.17 sustaining It is for art market this reason

In the United does not exist,

States, and

especially substantial

for young grants in are

unavailable. greater extent. Increasing artist-educators and 15. Bill Readings, The University inRuins (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997). 16. E-mail interview with Amy Alexander, August 2004. 17. See Education Information Entertainment: New Approaches to Higher Artistic Education, ed. Ute Meta Bauer (Vienna: Institut f?r Gegenwartskunst, Akademie der bildenden K?nste Wien, 2001 ). 18. See, for example, Derek Bok, Universities in theMarketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003); Sheila Slaughter and Larry L. Leslie, Academic Capitalism: Politics, Policies, and the Entrepreneurial University (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999); Stanley Aronowitz, The Knowledge Factory: Dismantling the Corporate University and Creating True Higher Learning (Boston: Beacon Press, 2001); and Steal This University: The Rise of the Corporate University and the Academic LaborMovement, ed. Benjamin Johnson, Patrick Kavanagh, and Kevin Mattson (London: Routledge, 2003). discourse. deal

that new-media

art has

flourished

Europe

bureaucratic have The has to

demands actively rate of engage

in many with

universities contemporary change

diminish cultural

the

time

production challenge. as a been for-profit offered.l8

high

technological about the

is an additional university have

A great knowledge New-media between become industry."

been

written but few

contemporary or counterexamples

factory, art

alternatives worldwide

departments

experience faculty members.

widespread Students for

disagreement rarely aspire in "the and do sets politi they to

undergraduate artists They and focus

students on the of is no

and

acquiring relevance

vocational of media past.

skills

their work theory, industry and the

challenge

archaeology, But to which

cal context refer? In

as concerns reality, there

an unfashionable one stable

new-media

industry,

skill

required for the field are constantly

once one and her desire rather have for been the young reality possible for filmmakers, artist. local new-media lab to the

shifting. A fixed identity of the artist may

for example, but drift and Cox it is hard from the talks for Time to imagine turntable stage. corporate at hand, In Job opportunities organization Ana Marie is, skills the VJ theater of the the

virtual essay for than

nonprofit

in the anthology

Steal This University,

"just-in-time-knowledge"?that basic, a broader skills. As an

necessary cites by Real the

job

example,

she

Interactive

Simulation,

higher-education

institution

licensed

state

of Washington

100

SPRING 2005

and

run

by

the Nintendo whatsoever.

Corporation: That's because

"Students those

take no things is a fickle

humanities are superfluous intellectual

or

social for the

science needs of Most for the

courses

the Nintendo faculty technological members

Corporation." desire

'9 Novelty to educate

companion. them and enduring

students factory. are more than the

instead Independent likely teaching

of preparing thinking to provide of

Taylorism

in an HTML courses resources and

challenging intellectual knowledge"

"just-in-time What

common

software

applications.

will
not

students fall back to if their first job choice does

come through right approach which complaining intellectual describes as having debate away? to education itself in nurtures neglecting or con Bill anti A consumer

intellectualism, assignments, demning Readings America

manifests about as

workloads, boring or

irrelevant. in North

undergraduate a widespread courses, "In a sense in their

students sense

of being

"parked" credits,

at the university?taking waiting to graduate. that nothing of

acquiring this is their

reaction encourages of the story

to the fact them of

education

to think

themselves . . ."2?

as the heroes

liberal

education

The

Future

of Critical Suggestions
artist teaching and my

New-Media

Arts After
of a

Education:
I am a media

for the Morning

within suggestions in-between of We the system for place.

research come of

university, from

solutions The rhetoric

this difficult,

resistance leads we of

to the corporatization to concrete can escape proposals. the business (Readings), with future arts program innovative are structures examples cost software easily use of

the university need of ways the that in "univer is fun What from era? arts edu the time or free groups, for

rarely which sity

logic a construct

excellence" at odds

damentally

responsible of a student

education. graduating

is the professional a new-media What playing the phonarmonica Parker Jr. Show," part of the Free Cooperation conference. Tony Conrad "The Bonnie in education? cational come In the post-welfare projects when we that can respond replace Which are

in the post-dotbomb for new-media of self-organized Has Source student technologies in a Futurist how and which

state, what to the soaring

education? with Open

all proprietary tools How and can we can we

software departments, teaching? way?

applications? and How with

to network wireless together and of are

universities? theory

introduce be brought

can

production hyped

meaningful discourses do we read

Faced

technophobia, us blind

techno-optimism, reality topics

of progress 19.Ana Marie Cox, "None of Your Business: The Rise of the University of Phoenix and For-Profit Will Fail Us All," in Steal Education?and Why It This University, 15-32. 20. Bill Readings, The University inRuins. think ings for about are

that make and

to the clumsy Which to turn some

computers, urgent of

live with and

technology? Iwant

relevant

lasting?

to a number

concrete from

proposals models

a critical

new-media

education,

of which

are drawn

already

at work.

I0 I art journal

Theme-Based Rather could than develop

Rather developing

Than

Media-Based traditional work media media-oriented groups art and departments, around the knowledge beyond As much theme-based the universities issues such as

theme-based technologies, research could

(departments) politics, or

cooperative Team-based of even

commons. set boundaries as is feasible, structure is

enable

cross-disciplinarity departments. Software. The

the most would use

progressive and teach

media-based Open Source

teams

applied in universities
where involved tional of each theme-based learning in the responsibility We Learning

such as the Design Academy Eindhoven

group and works with process which less should efficiency, take place an organization should is often more follow at odds play, or the teaching

(Netherlands),
a company. logic of the All educa logic experi

and need and

accountability, to allow teaching for

with

accounting.

and more that questions

mentation.

in a way

knowledge
of friendships, and chairs a good

through authority. More

relationships healthy food (rare among to find

attention should be paid to the building

peers, on U.S. and interpersonal would skills. also for research. Ergonomie contribute self-learning Working to

campuses) should and

learning

environment. time, open

Participants to collaboration

be motivated collective

and

self-directed

from the Freie Klasse (free class) model

ticipants own should organize and department, they want with courses invite in which of should curriculum,

of the Berlin University

they their teach each other, choice. Within

of the Arts, par

write their of what no A is the about grades the

speakers students

the context to decide and ways.

theme-based and given. how

have would

the autonomy be encouraged,

to learn; local to involve project.21

self-reflexivity tech-businesses students

Exchanges attempt

are enabled in local manufacturing students with produce local

in creative

thoughtful HowStufftsMade the creation Students produce and Delhi. than long

facilities photo essays

In this model, and get involved the Berlin,

of products should York,

businesses. art don't in Riga, contacts only

learn

that

conquistadors and London, based allow departments as well. Locally, for

of new-media but on also

in New

Buffalo, student battles of

Singapore, rather Networked

International administrative events this opening of different of new-media Caucasian I believe

exchanges would

personal

this understanding. and colleagues the university sexualities, and States teachers

international achieving tion

like-minded of horizons ages, arts males. that,

are useful

in

is a confedera ethnicities. are often are Yet filled

of people

classes, classrooms reason

genders,

the benches with white who possible young,

in the United is that most part, it will in

One for

themselves teachers is another

and male. attract minority

the most

be minority high schools

students. to end this

Focused imbalance.

recruitment

approach

Do-It-Yourself-Education In the Paris of universities 21. HowStuffisMade is an encyclopedia of manu facturing processes and labor conditions involved in the production of contemporary products. The entries are summary, short photo essays pro duced primarily by students. Available online at charts nars, context such Studies that and of of 1968 and argued an optional budget a student libraries. for an At uprising the same led to a general strike Maciunas laboratory, independent and the occupation designed student-run study. Today, educational the School Fluxus semi in the

time

George

experimental

educational for

non-degree cuts,

program self-organized the Freie

state

do-it-yourself Klasse, and

projects

as the Commune offer inspiring

http://jove.eng.yale.edu/experimentalproduct/ HowStuffisMade.

des Arts, approaches.

for Missing journalist,

The Munich-based

art historian,

102

SPRING 2005

the Free Cooperation conference, During at Soundlab Alex Rivera performed with the group Los Nukis.

and

artist

Stefan

R?mer

describes with instruction,

the Commune a commitment and with by no

des Arts

as nonhierarchical, engagement, on and with

self-organized no curriculum

by participants or The formal base

to social emphasis state,

the production participants universities,

of objects.22 raise money and agencies. Similarly, are responsible

budget

is covered

the German museums,

for projects

in collaboration

with

libraries,

in the Freie for both is based study on

Klasse content

movement and practice, art for collective

active

in Vienna

and

Berlin,

students The politically,

organizational on and the ability theory. The they

structures. to act

curriculum and intensive

artistic

reflection history

in contemporary students and

self-organizational be self-motivated, their decides is that to own

pattern discursive work about

prepares media gain

these artists

a future

that demands learn Klasse

organizers. An

Participants of Freie

to evaluate students critics point,

and

self-confidence. The danger,

assembly

admissions.

to which courses responsibility.

several are

European seen by

student-motivated, decrease funding

self-organized and delegate

institutions

as a way

The School of Missing

international ment in cities The study marked school and or

Studies provides a flexible educational platform for

on cultural undergoing research and art who of issues related political, and are local to the urban social, and environ cultural

exchange by

currently

transition. for young missing

provides

productive

project struggling urban

opportunities with change. what is

professionals in their studies

in architecture with regard

to processes

Approaching The educational

Teachnology initiatives be skills we mentioned above rather way focus to "an exemplify that new-media arts

curriculum the 22. Stefan R?mer, "Vendetta the Supermodel Visiting the Commune des Arts," a free coopera tion archive available online at http://molodiez. org/ocs/mailinglist/archive/376.html. idea of

must craft skills,

concept-driven is giving should that not

than media-defined. literacy, technical on the

In a time when and alone. The orga

to computer on teaching

networking, skills

nizational

cybertriumphalism is extremely

leads

exclusive out

emphasis of

software tools we

programs use, the

problematic,

as it leaves

the history

103 art journal

politics Alexander rejects examined This idea

of

these in the

very machines e-mail cited and culture;

and above.

the

all permeating for

social

context"

says Amy that be context.

I advocate

an educational cultures

project should

both

technophobia as part connects of our to the should book, My

technophilia. they should

New-media be understood Mountain and

in a social with of

idea

tradition be

of Black

College, outside

its core

that education recent for

consistent

inside

the classroom. Simon This Penny's

In his most argument acknowledges The

First Recession, Geert a technical drive

Lovink

discusses agenda.

a transition that cultural

from

to a cultural technical Anna

approach

practices

developments.23 argues that the notion

Sydney-based

media

philosopher

Munster

that art can be defined according

stands firmly within who unique per the discourse that what the medium it features or the emphasis digital are not

to the medium
of modernism. was it unique deployed. of

through which
She to a refers

it is realized

to Clement art coincided on with tech of draws a so

Greenberg, what nology kind much ernism. was

argued about

particular

"The

concentration the development processes, the discourse parameters thus

se, whether style

as part on artwork

the content

of digital of this

computational back within

cutting-edge

of mod nor can

The machines

reducible

to a set of

technical

the digital be considered

and ideas expressed that supports

solely in terms of the formal qualities. The content

digital them."24 art should be addressed over and above the

through

technology

The Over refer a

Knowledge the

Commons years the

and Tools term

for Cooperative has become there

Learning widely is an cultural use of used explosive practices. in academia growth How of do collabo and foster to

last few

"tool"

to these

software

applications. tools cultural for

Currently, collaborative

variety

of new Web-based forms of

contemporary rative applications

production corporate models of

make

of newly

available

to subvert independent

forced

cooperation and that we assist networks

self-organized, Collaboration achieve While environments that such instant escape asWeb

modes

cultural

production goals

dissemination? could each not

means

working

together

to achieve

as individuals. the cost provide rigidities cams for

Cooperation education free and (for and parallel inadequacies. is

suggests rising,

that people independent Students the past Isight), widely of that for

other. and online situations

projects. Over or

devise few Ichat, used

learning years,

technologies Relay Chat, Natalie of chal for role of

example, video engineer, states

Polycom streaming and

Internet in

messaging,

became faculty

teaching.

Jeremijenko, California lenge

an artist, at San Diego,

member interview not

the University it is "the main but

in an e-mail

to teach

the use

of Web-based and underwrite and media says

resources, for engaging and

convenience,

restructuring 23. Geert Lovink, My First Recession: Critical Internet Culture in Transition (Rotterdam: NAi, 2003). 24. E-mail interview with Anna Munster, August 2004. 25. E-mail interview with Natalie Jeremijenko, August 2004. 26. Interview with Warren Sack by the author, October 2004, available online at http://distrib utedcreativity.typepad.com/idc/2004/12/inter view_with_2.html. the academy: The California the advent and Europe

of participation, to produce, designer Cruz,

students the

in the primary information Sack, of

validate

commons."25 the University last year, since of

software at Santa

theorist

Warren

in an e-mail he has begun

interview to invite critiques. two-on-one

that

in the

of Apple's to "attend" students two-way Web

Isight,

colleagues This critiques

from has worked with cam

the East Coast surpris vis well

end-of-the-semester one-on-one cam. For Sack, or

ingly well: itors via

get

the virtual that "works

Isight

is the first Web

enough

to support this kind of extended, distributed dialogue."26 He thinks it

104

SPRING 2005

would (and each

be

interesting teaching studios. businesses

to extend these

this practice kinds of classes

so

that

all

those

across regular

the

country to

beyond) other's Online

might

become

visitors

such

as Friendster

or Linkedln virtual outside spaces Rheingold

offer

many-to-many and forums for Such educational idea a that many potential interest."27 com MIT students, ideas on of text inter elec

communications action, tronic goals. to-many revolution Free which are

systems already

(multiparticipant used by students

worlds) of that

the classroom. can further the

environments In the book venues

are new

pedagogical

Smart Mobs, Howard are not only a new

advances

form on

of

communication "communities of

but

in social for texts can

organization example, be found and are

based available

shared

textbooks,

online

atWikibooks, Web

and many

plimentary OpenCourseWare and free

at the Gutenberg open educational The texts project

site, Gutenberg.org. for faculty, applies site improve

is a free around

resource Opentheory of the

self-learners software

the world.28 of

to the development of others.29 format.30 edit Web-page encyclopedia Wikiversity A Wiki content Wikipedia

as users

the real people

submissions time create logging and

facilitates of Web server

learning

through that

the Wiki allows

is a type using will

application

to

browsers.

The Web-based become these more tools were still find

and

open

submission than with

eventually the fact that

comprehensive welcomed it too much of

traditional hyped to

encyclopedias. and a try. are

Despite fairly

enthusiasm give them

easy

to use,

many

a burden

Open-content

formats

introduce

a new

production

paradigm,

offering

edi

torial opportunities
commons?from edge. This But these tools

and a potential
collection succeed and best by that the

for broad participation

in combination research from with

in the knowledge
of knowl meetings. sociologist people main

recombination

to the distribution face-to-face of Toronto

necessity

is underlined who shows

of University online

Barry Wellman, tain trains, their air

apart social

communication, through the telephone,

geographically travel, face-to-face

diverse

network and

cars,

meetings,

letters.31

Open

Source

and

Free

Software demands much of the and instructor technical cut and and costs introduces administrative while or Free supporting Software. inde and on of to dis of an

Computer-based overhead support. a of

teaching required

upgrades, departments by switching and

equipment, could

New-media agenda operating from Open

immediately to Open

progressive Linux

instruction free software economic code

Source universities such that

The

system

allow

to become as Microsoft can be read

pendent 27. Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution (Cambridge, MA: Perseus, 2002). is available online at 28. MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html. is available online 29. Information on Opentheory inGerman at http://opentheory.org. is a free, open learning environ 30.Wikiversity ment and research community. Online courses are created as a form of cooperative and interac tive exchange of knowledge. See http://en.wiki books.org/wiki/wikiversity. 31. BarryWellman and Caroline The Internet inEveryday Life (The Haythornthwaite, Information Age) (London: Blackwell, 2002). Apple. the

the dominance Source modified, of (think software of "free refers and

of global to the source

players software Free and

of

Internet, kinds users

redistributed: can be legally rather and

it evolves. copied than "free

Software given free Linux processors. of people and

consists of charge freely

several other tributed Free

that

speech" for PCs the

beer").

is a

operating allows

system for the

a number of wider

of other groups

The and

use

Software

education that lagging skills they

allows at no for

students charge. updates, employ

to install Rather students them. This, than

software

use

at the university industry can bring

at home, and paying

constantly a set of course,

behind that they

standards

gain of

to the businesses with some students,

that who

is a difficult

negotiation

105 art journal

may

come

to the university e-mail inWeimar, We possible. future, source, interview stated: try to use We and can't

with Ralf

expectations Homann, use

to learn an artist to and

proprietary a professor group

software. at Bauhaus work, but for to set up it is their applica

In a recent University collaborations. not always

"We open ignore

software software

organize for

source

all applications students professional

the fact the university teach

that we

educate is no

professional tion of open

if outside can't

there

then we

it inside

the university

either."32

The

Uneasy

Connection

between

Theory

and

Practice

Wouldn't they would ?Augusto Augusto be used the

it be wonderful

to see a dance piece where to dance? for Actors

in the first half dancers danced, and in the second

show the audience how Boal, Boal's to from exercises theory Games

and Non-Actors such as the could In

for nonactors, in a way

"ideological engages

warm-up," students' of bodies.33 articles.

perform context, educators a crisis be

that physically involve the the

classroom

this might get beyond

theatrical of

reading

Once

new-media experience What of should

certainty

technical of their

instruction, topical does

many

due

to the unbearable in a new-media To the we theorists can add,

lightness context

orientation. not have much

read canon?

that fortunately Foucault, the rich

an established and Jacques offered

like Michel for example,

PaulVirilio.Vannevar collection New Media implement is quite to find in the of per Reader.34 in the similar sources same to and fields, and at are we teaching new media

Bush, spectives

Derrida, in Noah of

Wardip-Fruin and production

and Nick is not

Montfort's easy to

The merging classroom. pursuing make as well pedagogy. Goldsmiths unable art and culture The

theory

practice

of writing cultural

curriculum practice. and in One

in this field is prompted teaching

an event-based connections as linkages Anna to other among Harding,

institutions discourses the former asks,

to peers

emerging of do we is the

media,

film,

activism, program

director "What

the curatorial hope

College to teach? student should Can

in London, art be

to teach? What between in critical

taught? What First and

relationship education

'success?'"35 focus on

foremost,

educating faculty artists use of

artists. members who in-depth are conceptually knowledge discursive of both and theory open adequate to con

It is difficult technically and

to find or The

advanced,

who the

have knowledge of

programming. tools, which

commons resources, In any and case, are

and Web-based, steps teachers to an need skills.

content response. stantly

enable

the

sharing possibility. own

32. Interview with Ralf Homann by the author, October 2004, available online at http://distrib utedcreativity.typepad.com/idc/2004/12/inter .html. view_with_I 33. Augusto Boal, Games for Actors and Non-Actors (London: Routledge, 2003). 34. Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Nick Montfort, eds., The New Media Reader (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003). 35. Anna Harding, "Artist?Curator?Audience: Relationships and Curating," inEducation Inform ation Entertainment, 74-81 36. For more on DLP, see http://dlp.distributed creativity.org. in new-media For further information on courses art that Ihave developed, see

Coteaching learn and build

is another on their

technical

theoretical

The

Distributed

Learning

Project arts educators due looking have to the for to work fast-paced texts, spend For harder than many of their

Dedicated colleagues Instructors technologies, Wide Web

new-media in other spend and for

departments much good and time

changes artworks days these

in the field. that use specific

relevant They the wheel.

technical often

tutorials. reinvent

searching reasons,

the World Tom

syllabi

Leonhardt and I developed

ated in new tool for learning The DLP media.

the Distributed
to create,

Learning Project (DLP).36 It is a situ

find, edit, reuse, and share project content that is educational

communities is a Web-based,

http://critical-netcultures.net.

collaborative,

106

SPRING 2005

Arjen

et al. Keesmaat and DanVatsky, 2003. InterfacinglRadiotopialKeyWorx, at the bien Screen shot from performance nial Dutch Art Festival Electronic (DEAF), March Rotterdam, 1, 2003.Vatsky partici from New York; text was submitted pated members by audience using mobile phones.

accessible mental from the

all network

the

time

for

anyone

with

an

Internet

connection. media.

It is an experi It links knowledge art new-media departments studio,

supporting sound media lab,

collective the nonprofit the

research

in new

the

audio

organization, small new-media the club scene,

the new-media company, and many

independent

initiative, the design universities tool for

cultural and

organizations, within

studio,

disciplines This

internationally. and research interconnects cultures, links and knowledge professions of knowledge art), cultural film, theory. litera The

easy-to-use

teaching disciplines, The

from

different

departments, arts inquiry science, free

universities, DLP cohesively (e.g.,

to aid new-media from ture, DLP time created, ship. fields of

education. as diverse political

blocks

as art science, of

history social

conceptual and

computer encourages and

science,

distribution and and improves distributed

research

materials. It challenges The

Sharing the way

research knowledge

saves is

resources developed, than appears

teaching. to a

public.

project

enables

interauthor inter students,

Rather

the

single-author-to-one-text groups artists, of researchers, and

relationship, industry educators.

collaborative professionals,

authorship media critics,

within

VJs, media

musicians,

The DLP is the first project of the Institute for Distributed

Creativity that

107 art journal

Nora

Heilmann

and Sher

Doruff.

I founded media in spring media art, of arts

in

May

2004.

The and

research theory, start with

of

the an

iDC focuses emphasis lunchtime on

on

collaboration contexts. series on

in In the new

CassisCaputlHelmet Screen shot from

performance Amsterdam, Berlin, and New York City,

2003. Heads, dance/new-media cams using public Web London, Brussels, June 28,2003.

technology, 200c the

social speaker

iDC will

a Web-cam

education.37 concepts from the Bauhaus and proposals to Paulo for new Spehr The about Freir? 's notions of models into infor by the

Educational mal, nonhierarchical

teaching critics new-media in which insist on

collaborative be

contemporary practice one of of

media critical

like Christoph arts pedagogy.

should

introduced conference

Free Cooperation education

was culture

the venues should

the discussion the university negotiation,

in new-media for critical and follow. projects based on

started. We production refusal, invent with our

as a framework experiments, discussions failure, will

activity, of can we

of knowledge, the own on expectation future? We radically new

possibilities How

that enriching need more

independent-learning of communities

that orient sharing

themselves and

configurations

cooperation. is a media artist, writer, educator, and organizer, trebor@thing.net and http://molodiez.org

edcreativity.org ativity.org.

37. For further information, see http://distribut and http://blog.distributedcre

Trebor Scholz

108

SPRING 2005