<nettime> announcer 010

[announcer <Sandra.Fauconnier@rug.ac.be>]

1. Marie Ringler             _FLESHMACHINE_ (CAE) 21 - 22 Nov 97
2. blissett@backspace.org    A mythopoetical on-line guide to Luther
                             Blissett
3.                           Press announcement from Microsoft
4.                           la galeria de net.art


______________________________________________________________________
1.

To: syndicate@aec.at
From: Marie Ringler <marie@t0.or.at> (by way of Andreas Broeckmann)
Subject: Syndicate: _FLESHMACHINE_  by Critical Art Ensemble  21 - 22 Nov
97

FLESH MACHINE: A Genexploitation Project
by Critical Art Ensemble (Chicago/USA), Public Netbase t0 Media~Space!
21 and 22 November 1997


Friday   November 21, 1997
19:00 - 24:00   Lecture/Performance/Event and interactive
BioTech-Installation

Saturday  November 22,  1997
14:00 - 19:00   interactive BioTech-Installation


IF YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT THE FUTURE OF REPRODUCTION WILL BE, OR WHAT IS
HAPPENING NOW IN THE EXPERIMENTAL STAGES OF NEW GENETIC ENGINEERING, YOU
DO
NOT WANT TO MISS THIS EVENT!
In order to bring the situation of genetic engineering into sites for
public discourse, CAE has designed an event that not only reveals the
traces of Social Darwinism that are reasserting themselves within genetics
and reproductive medical centers, but also allows people to participate in
the actual lab processes.


THEORY/PERFORMANCE
The program begins on Friday 21.11. 19:00  with a theory/performance that
contextualizes the event that follows later that evening and on Saturday
22.11.

THE CLONING PROJECT - Are your genes "fit" enough?
In the event that follows the performance, participants will be able to
take actual donor screening tests and find out if they have marketable
reproductive materials (i.e., find out if they are fit for reproduction in
pancapitalist society).
Certificates of fitness will be awarded to those who successfully pass the
test. In addition, those who have marketable DNA will have the opportunity
to donate materials for cryo-preservation, and potential sale. Samples of
"successful" DNA will be displayed for public view and genetic profiles
will be put into a DNA database.

VIRTUAL TERMINATION - Let's kill Baby?
Participants will also have the opportunity to save embryos that are about
to be evicted from their cryocontainers. Participants can decide whether
the embryos should be saved for future market possibilities, or terminated
to make room for more "fit" embryos.

LET'S MAKE BABY! - Sex Education for the Third Millenium
There will be a CD-ROM display for the children on new In Vitro
Fertilization Technology--so families are welcome.



INTRODUCTION:

When it comes to technology, the focus and the hype is on new information
and communication technologies. From a marketer's perspective, this only
makes sense, because these new technologies seem to offer the public a new
utopian frontier; however, those who work with new complex technology on
an
everyday basis know that its primary function is to increase the velocity
of market place dynamics, which in turn increases the intensity of labor.
The organic systems - the humans - in our technocracy can no longer
maintain themselves at such speeds: physiological and psychological
pathologies abound in the new techno-environment. Unfortunately, it's too
late to slow the economic engines of technoculture, and so the problem of
collapsing organic platforms can only be solved by drastic flesh
reconfigurations.

This new social tendency has arrived at the right time. One of the leading
genetic engineers of the 1930s, Frederick Osborn, believed that in the
future genetic engineering would be a part of everyday life consciousness
(as opposed to being a policy imposed on populations). According to
Osborn,
in the time of what we know now as the economy of surplus and the nuclear
family, people would not only volunteer to engage in genetic engineering
practices, but would pay to do so. Because market competition would reach
such an intense state in late capital, and wealth and prestige would be
the
only measure of quality of life in society, people would be forced by
circumstance to acquire *whatever* would help to make them more "fit" for
success in the marketplace.

That future is now the present, and the first experiments in developing a
voluntary genetic engineering apparatus are underway in clinics for
reproductive services. However, unlike its technological sibling,
telecommunications, reproductive technology remains largely outside of
everyday life.
It's not something that we experience as mundane technology (like the
telephone or TV) nor as a potential social problem (like industrial
pollution); it is something we only hear after it has been filtered
through
the legitimating discourses of science and medicine. Consequently, the
genetic engineering practices that occur on a daily basis in the labs and
the clinics have no reality for those outside specific scientific and
medical specializations. Such practices are a silent subversion of
everyday
life that will not reveal themselves until they are fully deployed and the
damage has already been done.


Contacts:
Konrad Becker 	                        Marie Ringler
Public Netbase t0	            Public Netbase t0
Fon: 43/01/522 18 34 	            Fon: 43/01/522 18 34
Fax: 43/01/522 50 58 	            Fax: 43/01/522 50 58
Email: office@t0.or.at                 Email: office@t0.or.at

________________________________________________________________________
2.

From: blissett@backspace.org
Subject:  A mythopoetical on-line guide to Luther Blissett

LUTHER BLISSETT PROJECT
a mythopoetical on-line guide at:
<http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Rampart/6812/index.html


*UNDER CONSTRUCTION*
site to be "completed" by January 98
(soon to be mirrored on a less crowded server)


the ongoing self-historification. the baffling creation myths.
the amazing media pranks. the incredible amount of press coverage.
NO FRILLS, no terrific artwork (yet), just a plenty of texts and some
useful
pics. links to dozens of Blissett-related and psychogeographical websites.
access to several documents available in English, German, Hungarian,
Italian and Spanish.

edited by Luther Blissett, <capt_swing@geocities.com>

criticisms, submissions, translations and/or mirror sites welcome!



                                  NOW AVAILABLE:


1. Mondo Mitomane 1994-96. Notes on Multiple Name Mythopoesis
as the Cutting Edge of Psychogeography.

Written in January 1997, this piece is a detailed account of the early
phases of the Luther Blissett Project in Italy, focusing on the huge
amount
of contradictory 'creation myths' and extensively covering such
psychogeographical activities as _Radio Blissett_, the notorious
psychogeographical program which resulted in a riot and a trial on some
Roman multiple name bearers.
There's also an explanation of LB's kind of paradoxical _reverse
Gramsciism_ (indeed the Project is more influenced by Bordiga).

-------

2. What The Fuck Is The Luther Blissett Project (Selected
 Excerpts from _Mind Invaders. Come fottere i media. Manuale di
 guerriglia e sabotaggio culturale_ , Castelvecchi, Rome 1995).

If you ever considered Luther Blissett nothing more than yet another
JoeySkaggs-like prankster, well, take a second look! The translation of
the
book's
title is: 'Mind Invaders, or How To Fuck The Media. A Guide to Cultural
Sabotage and Guerrilla'. If the LBP had Scriptures, this powerful essay
would
be its Genesis. Since its first release it's got 3 editions and has
influenced hundreds of psychic warriors. Stewart Home's recent 'reader in
culturale sabotage, semiotic terrorism and psychic warfare' (Serpent's
Tail,
London 1997) is clearly named after it. These translated excerpts throw
light on the relations between myth-making and a new r/evolution whose
protagonist is the global human community (or, as Karl Marx called it, the
_Gemeinwesen_).

-------

3. Ray Johnson: A Zapatista In Greenwich

Among the countless creation myths spread by Luther Blissett (answers to
the
question: 'Who the fuck adopted the name for the first time?'), this is
possibly the closest to truth. Dramatis personae: Ray Johnson (the
Godfather
of Mail Art, RIP), Ruggero Maggi (artist, performer, 'metanetworker in
spirit'), Vittore Baroni (networker, musician and rock journalist) and
Stewart Home (novelist and "intellectual terrorist"). Also available
Spanish and Hungarian translations.

-------

4. Why I Wrote A Fake Hakim Bey Book And How I Cheated The
 Conformists Of Italian Counter-culture (revised translation)

The complete account of the disturbing prank pulled in 1996, whose victims
were the self-styled NYC guru, some 'hip' left-wing hacks, two
"alternative"
publishing houses and thousands of gulls desperately trying to be
cutting-edge. How some champions of 'anti-copyright' activism lost their
temper and threatened to sue all and sundry in the Italian radical scene.

-------

5. How Luther Blissett Turned A Corporate Attack On The Multiple
Name Into A Great Prank On A Major Publisher (revised translation)

Blissett's most complex and ambitious literary hoax so far. Apparently
inspired by the funny saga of the Hitler diaries, this action of
psychedelic
anti-fascism provoked an unforgettable sensation in Italy in 1996. The
victims: Giuseppe Genna (right-wing poet and hopeless moron), Mondadori
(the
biggest Italian publisher, owned by semi-fascist tycoon - and former PM -
Silvio Berlusconi) and Panorama (the most read weekly news magazine,
published - you guess- by Mondadori).

-------

6. Crap Dealers: The Disgusting Coverage Of 'The People vs.
Luther Blissett' On Some British Stinking Rags

During the early sessions of the Rome trial (Springtime 1997), several
British hacks decided to cover the event. They did their worst. This
section
includes the pieces appeared on The European (the best one), The Daily
Express, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Mail and The Daily
Telegraph.
The article from The European, which is the less stomach-turning, includes
a
funny interview with the "real" Luther Blissett, i.e. the former soccer
player whose name was "stolen" by a gang of anonymous activists in 1994.

-------

7. The Gospel According To Judas or The Ultimate Luther Blissett Manifesto


Originally written in Italian and delivered as a blasphemous sermon during
a
Psychic Attack on the fucking Pope. Also three pictures related to
anti-catholic warfare.

-------
8. 1997: Well Begun Is Half Done. A Devastating Phone Prank On A Famous
priest.

Pedophilia, snuff movies, a rehab centre in Thailand, a priest who enjoys
appearing on TV talking about Jimi Hendrix and a gullible news agency. You
don't need anything else!

-------

9.  Umberto Eco's Multiple Name: The Point Of View Of A Right-wing Nutter

Of all the bizarre conspiracy theories on Luther Blissett, this is perhaps
the most fascinating, as well as the most absurd one. A catho-fascist
paranoid called Andrea Ridolfi recently wrote a pamphlet titled _Il Nome
Multiplo Di Umberto Eco_ and put it into circulation in Italy's right-wing
milieux. Ridolfi ascribes the pamphlet to a mysterious 'KMA' and has never
admitted to be the author (which I'm sure he is). Now most fascists
believe
that the LB Project was invented by Umberto fucking Eco! This is the link
to
Ridolfi's website on Geocities: the geezer even bothered to translate his
bullshit into English.

-------

10.  Yet Another Manhunt: Media Morons On The Trail Of An Imaginary
Sado-Maso Guru

Who the hell is this Reverend William Cooper? He is the author of _Sesso
Estremo_ [Extreme Sex], a best-selling essay published by the omnipresent
Castelvecchi back in 1995. The blurb described Cooper as born in
Birmingham
and active in the lurid London S-M underworld. The Panorama bloodhounds
met him
in Soho and published an intriguing interview, as well as his picture.
It's
a pity that Cooper doesn't exist. Another great scam by Luther Blissett.

-------

11.  Missing Presumed Dead: The Sensational Prank On The RAI TV Cops
Hunting One Harry Kipper all over Europe (revised translation)

Blissett's first great media hoax. Also included in Stewart Home's _Mind
Invaders_, but this version is longer and goes into details.

____________________________________________________________________
3.

From: Wolfgang Coy <coy@INFORMATIK.HU-BERLIN.DE>
Subject:      Pressemitteilung von Microsoft
To: IMD-L@LISTSERV.GMD.DE


REDMOND, Wash.--Oct. 21, 1997--In direct response to accusations made by
the Department of Justice, the Microsoft Corp. announced today that it
will be acquiring the federal government of the United States of America
for an undisclosed sum.

"It's actually a logical extension of our planned growth," said
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. "It really is going to be a positive
arrangement for everyone."

Microsoft representatives held a briefing in the oval office of the
White House with U.S. President Bill Clinton, and assured members of the
press that changes will be "minimal." The United States will be managed
as a wholly owned division of Microsoft. An initial public offering is
planned for July of next year, and the federal government is expected to
be profitable by "Q4 1999 at latest," according to Microsoft president
Steve Ballmer.

In a related announcement, Bill Clinton stated that he had "willingly
and enthusiastically" accepted a position as a vice president with
Microsoft, and will continue to manage the United States government,
reporting directly to Bill Gates. When asked how it felt to give up the
mantle of executive authority to Gates, Clinton smiled and referred to
it as "a relief." He went on to say that Gates has a "proven track
record," and that U.S. citizens should offer Gates their "full support
and confidence." Clinton will reportedly be earning several times the
$200,000 annually he has earned as U.S. president, in his new role at
Microsoft.

Gates dismissed a suggestion that the U.S. Capitol be moved to Redmond
as "silly," though did say that he would make executive decisions for
the U.S. government from his existing office at Microsoft headquarters.
Gates went on to say that the House and Senate would "of course" be
abolished. "Microsoft isn't a democracy," he observed, "and look how
well we're doing.

When asked if the rumored attendant acquisition of Canada was
proceeding, Gates said, "We don't deny that discussions are taking
place.

Microsoft representatives closed the conference by stating that United
States citizens will be able to expect lower taxes, increases in
government services and discounts on all Microsoft products.

About Microsoft:
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in
software for personal computers, and democratic government. The company
offers a wide range of products and services for public, business and
personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and
more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of
personal computing and free society every day.

About the United States:
Founded in 1789, the United States of America is the most successful
nation in the history of the world, and has been a beacon of democracy
and opportunity for over 200 years. Headquartered in Washington, D.C.,
the United States is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation.

"The United States of America" and "Microsoft" are registered trademarks
of Microsoft Corporation.
-------
Forwarded
peter@ee.newcastle.edu.au               (Peter Moylan)


Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Coy
Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Institut fuer Informatik
Unter den Linden 6, D-10099 Berlin

http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~coy/
ftp://waste.informatik.hu-berlin.de

E-Mail coy@informatik.hu-berlin.de
Tel (+49) 30 20181 -303 oder/or -302,
Fax (+49) 30 20181- 304

_________________________________________________________________________
4.

From: Axel =?iso-8859-1?Q?Pl=F6ger?= <saeploe@amauta.rcp.net.pe>

Hola,
   You all 
    are invited to 
         have  a look
          at 
            la galeria de net.art
                http://ekeko.rcp.net.pe/lagaleria

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