Re: <nettime> introducing meta-daria, an autonomous discourse [green,

[Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>]

Whew... I find any limitation of art re: definition problematic to say the 
least. The same with kitsch; there is a real class consciousness here that 
makes me uncomfortable. Look at Bourdieu's Distinction. It's art, period. 
It may not be art you like and it may be in fact art that you or I would 
find reprehensible or terrific or racist or sexist or whatever - but it's 
art. The ideological embedding is another thing altogether, and even there 
we've got to be careful. I personally like the idea of an autonomous soft- 
ware artist and I hardly expect early attempts to be transformative. Yes, 
it did look like men's magazines - but not really, more like Psychology 
Today years ago, whatever, soft-core illustration, but that's hardly the 
only point here. The art equally (god, I'm quantifying here) lies in the 
technology, in the modes of distribution, a whole lot of things. And by 
the way, shells in boxes, potpourri, whatever, can be as much art as 
anything else. This is really dismissive and uncalled-for. If you're going 
to be politically correct, you should certainly accept and try to 
understand class distinctions and the different meanings of art that 
emerge among different groups, crafts, artisans, artifacts.

- Alan



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