tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3142651457573975861.post2671724324263605248..comments2023-03-19T01:44:14.962-07:00Comments on FIVE YEARS : five yearshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17881461131158392631noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3142651457573975861.post-41309244358342001182007-09-20T18:32:00.000-07:002007-09-20T18:32:00.000-07:00Can we have some clue as to why comments have been...Can we have some clue as to why comments have been removed?Edward Dorrianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10921328634952720782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3142651457573975861.post-80481673295338977862007-06-29T12:44:00.000-07:002007-06-29T12:44:00.000-07:00Hi Mike (this is Marc btw) - thanks for the feedba...Hi Mike (this is Marc btw) - thanks for the feedback. While I can't speak for Five Years collectively (but then the space for disagreement is in my mind integral to what Five Years is about) I certainly share your unease with regard to most of the currently established models of activity... and by established I simply mean those that determine public funding, media coverage etc. etc... thus effectively coralling some artists into the types of roles and positions you're speaking of. I guess it's inevitable that the current status quo mirrors third-way politics. So you essentially have big business (for the arts read hyped-up commercialism) in a queasy co-alliance with an overly beaurocratised and authoritarian model of the 'non-commercial' (educational?) based on spurious notions of what's 'acceptable', 'valid', 'legitimate', 'useful' etc etc.. Which means you get exploitative, conservative criteria masked as the 'anything goes' on the one hand and repressive, censorial criteria masked as the 'tolerant / inclusive' on the other. From either point of view this represents a triumph of concensus, received ideas and so on - an impersonal environment in which genuine individual creativity, thought, research etc has very little currency (let alone purchase) other than in terms of 'entrepeneurship' or, within academia, as a reiteration of romanticism, which is in any case invalidated a-priori in that context except as a historical facet. I've felt for a long time that the only way around this is through embracing a marginal position to some extent - but in a broader sense I do think this may be a very productive moment for experimenting with new models and terms etc, as I think you're also suggesting. I think you're right on the mark when you say we need a new term for comrade (maybe also for individual?)... but maybe the only way of doing this is to avoid terms, insofar as they constitute determinations, limitations... though I do enjoy the playful and apparently optimistic way you're using them (on your blog too)! btw - good to hear you're doing something with Paul for slash-seconds. Five Years is also going to be in that issue... looking forward to it.tender preyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10053384390438416389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3142651457573975861.post-45728669316028831092007-04-02T09:38:00.000-07:002007-04-02T09:38:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.tender preyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10053384390438416389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3142651457573975861.post-33199735934232578382007-04-01T06:10:00.000-07:002007-04-01T06:10:00.000-07:00Cool, I like the dialogue. Am working on a similar...Cool, I like the dialogue. Am working on a similar dialogue format with Paul Sakoilsky at the moment. The first of our dialogues, will appear in the next edition of 'slash seconds' e-zine, but I'll mail it if you like.<BR/>Your dialogue raises some good points, and I often feel aggrieved at the culture the artist is expected to operate within. The policy of pairing up artists in state/charity sponsored projects aimed at children, minority groups, and people who don't generally like art ('working classes')is patronising to all parties involved. <BR/>I feel that government and arts council sponsored cultural schemes, which generally emphasise the role of the community, or the group, serve (perhaps inadvertently) to dampen the role of the individual within the arts. The cultural sphere is heading towards becoming a homogenised mass of what may well be second rate artists, whilst individuals possessing a real talent for innovation become increasingly marginalised (and perhaps forced into the position of having to become community artists)! This is reflective of 'third way' politics as a whole, which by its definition is intolerant of extremes. This, to be sure, belies a personal distaste I have for community arts, but it is something that presented itself to me when reading your dialogue.<BR/>But there is something very real happening, a stirring, and a whiff of an alternative way of producing/receiving art, and I think artists have been all too cosy with the state and large corporations/business interests for too long now - something will give. But it must be done in a way that does not hideously mimic the bombastic tone of extreme leftist politics. We need, basically, a new word for comrade - a community of individuals, doing much as they wish and producing positive outcomes. And I always have liked Five Years (from what I have known of your work/s) for slogging it out and continuing to believe all this time. <BR/>To a new Bohemia, and some art along the way!<BR/>Mike R. Watson<BR/>www.collecteast.orgMWatsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16684016346029843154noreply@blogger.com