@banff

From: at-banff (98/7/31)

Regarding:               Simple Sloganeering

Dear Artist Messiah

[I may have read this wrong but...]

>More Artists --- Less Lovers;
this sounds a bit moralistic to me

>More Faculty --- Less Friends;
this and the above seem more like symptoms of the insistence of
institutional space
and the denial of the private and the public that we are forced to endure
by authority

in any humans dealings whether work or play,
friendships or conflicts and affection or hatred will arise

the real problem seems to be when they can not be separated from
professional life

this is a political problem

right wing systems always attempt to create separation between people
and cohesion between ideas and systems

e.g. manager vs staff for the good of the institution

a leftist approach would recognize that every humans embodies these
contradictions

the separations would lie in each individuals attitudes

e.g. compromise adapt systems to help people

if we refuse to see that this is a structural problem and attack individuals
then we only end up reinforcing the oppressive system that harms us all

>More Personality --- Less Q-Mail;
Q-Mail is centralized and authoritarian
- that's why it doesn't work

why do people still use it ?

>More Respect --- Less Elitism;
again - more politics

this is probably the core discussion subject here at present:
do we prioritize people or art ?

elitists tend to put work and achievement before the people that make it
whether they be technicians or artists

you know the score - artists get famous once they are dead
and can no longer be a physical inconvenience

I guess a good solution would be a compromise

>More Staff --- Less Travel;
travel is a necessary part of knowing what's going on in the rest of the
world. I
it's impossible to judge work from a set context; things only make sense in
their
own environment

>More Artists --- Less Corporations;
engagement with business could be a good strategy
to empower artists if executed in a disciplined manner

its worth remembering that art and its social meaning
is always changing and that people are resistant to change

the banff centre for example has recently changed from
and instrument of state propaganda into one of
corporate public relations

there is no going back and our strategies
should recognize this

artistic practice in such a changing environment is also subject to change
and becomes meaningless if held constant

a painting is not always a painting

>More Art --- Less Parties;
social meetings are a very important way to build trust
which is essential in any collaborative process

they should not be exclusive though

>More Truth --- Less Lies;
please tell me what is truth
truth is always used to justify violence to bodies

I would like to suggest that this again
is a political problem

'lies' comes about from secrecy
which again is a symptom of right wing separation

there would be no lies if decisions were made
collectively and publicly