A choice

[nin@xxxxxx]

Dear Burmanet readers,

In the Internet Era, things are moving so fast along with an Internet
speed. Do we have a choice or not?

Some say it is useless to resist this current because other people will
just move on things, and you'll be left behind in the dust. This seems 
to be a very good argument for doing nothing, or everything immediately
without thinking. Just like eating Fried Chicken from the fast food 
store for our daily dinner. Excuse me for not being able to come up 
with a better example. This sounds as if I forgot the very fact that 
there are million of people who won't have their dinner tonight. I know 
it with all my senses and feel it from the bottom of my heart. 

It is for 'this reason' that I would like to say 'we do have a choice'.

We all witness one way or another 'ends justifying the means'. As a
saying goes, 'we live under the tyranny of urgent forget the truly
important'. 

It is everywhere, in almost all arenas, we seem to witness 'maturation' 
of a volatile, half-baked culture. If everything is so rushed, trying
to justify each and every fast action by means of 'rationalization',
it'll add up to something like a fast-food culture. Self-destructive!
Self-suicidal! The most dangerous 'patch-work' will pile up. It is okay 
to patch a grand mother's sweater, however, it would be deadly dangerous
to patch up a 'hot-air-balloon'.

This note is an introduction to the following essay that provoked my
thoughts. Having read that essay, I found the 'alerming' simile between
that one and the reconstruction of Burma which is my obsession :-), hope
everybody noticed it by now. I do not intend to start any debate here 
nor to call for extensive discussions. 

The idea is just to provoke some thoughts. Under extreme circumstances,
when one doesn't have the freedom of expression, one could still 
practise one's freedom of thoughts. Why not? And what are we waiting 
for?
 

With metta and respect,
Dr. Khin Ni Ni Thein
WRTC , http://wrtcburma.org

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QUICK AND DIRTY PERFECTION
by Tom Sherman

Ideas are ten a penny.  Actually the reverse is true.  There are damn few
ideas that'll hold any water.  But being light as a feather has its
advantages.  Economies and markets are like anchors.  Conceptual art never
had any real economy, and look how it took off.  Network art has the same
up-side.  Nobody gives a shit, but it is spreading like wildfire.  It
makes you think twice before you make something heavy to carry and
difficult to store.

It's like drawing versus painting.  If you ask people what's more
important, they'll pick painting because colour is hard, painting
techniques are more difficult to master, mistakes are permanent, etc.  
But let's face it, craft time is overrated, and material persistence and
permanence are outdated concepts.  In other words, why move beyond the
sketch?  If people have so little time to digest their culture, then why
spend a lot time making things that last?

So much of what artists create is the result of actually taking the time
necessary to see or recognize something as it is, and taking the time to
represent this something elegantly, or taking the time to tweak it until
this something really sings--the time spent on the work is somehow saved
or 'banked' in the work and is presented as the basis of the work's value.

We learn to appreciate things over time as our experience builds or
accrues in layers.  With information refreshment there will naturally be
layering through multiple points of view.

It is one thing to make art in materials that last, creating the illusion
of permanence.  It is another thing to plan ongoing maintenance for a work
of art, so that art will be taken care of and maintained in the future.  
This conjures up images of works of art that come complete with custodians
or maintenance workers contracted to take care of them.

Much conceptual work is a documentation of ongoing obsessions, taking time
and compressing it to create value through documented procedures and
processes.

Time-based art, improvised in real time, features the artists making the
work in the same time it takes to experience the work.  In a culture of
convenience, 24X7 culture, it makes sense to produce information in the
exact amount of time it takes to consume it.

When business-oriented people talk about demos, pilots and sketches...they
say that everything is fair game when you're putting together a pitch.  
If you need a soundtrack, use a track off your favourite CD.  Steal what
you need.  Cut and paste.  Move as fast as you can to make your point.  
The question I have to ask is why move beyond the sketch?


Tom Sherman
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