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From jgriffi9 Tue Apr 4 11:24:35 -0400 2006
From: jgriffi9
Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:24:35 -0400
Subject: Response 9
Message-ID: <20060404112435-0400@www.as.wvu.edu:8000>

Response 9: 4/4/06

1. What can be accomplished with experimental narrative archeology like "Annotate Space" that can't be accomplished with traditional media? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

2. Can new media forms be invented, or are we at the point in our technology where the only thing left to do is to combine existing medias? What creative outlets could this restriction create? 

3. In Glowlab's "One Block Radius," the art museum isn't the focus: the street-block is.  People generally go to the museum to see the museum, and ignore the environment around the museum.  What does this project say about "real" space and pyschogeography?

Response to Question 3:
Out of all of today's reading, I'm most fond of Glowlab.  The idea of concentrating not on documenting the museum, but on what surrounds the museum, has a nice tie-in with pyschogeopgraphy: when people take a trip to the museum, they are so focused on getting there to see the art that they ignore the streets leading to their goal.  Glowlab creates a derive out of the museum's surrounding block: hey, look at this poster on the ground and this garbage bag.  You didn't see them.  I remember coming out of New York's MET and feeling just so overwhelmed sensationally.  It was too much beauty crammed into one building, and I couldn't comprehend it all in such a short period of a couple hours.  The street in comparison looked dowdy and useless. "One Block Radius" turns this its head and lets us see what is surrounding the perfectly planned and arranged and tidied museum just for the sake of looking at it to see what's there, the very definition of a derive.  I didn't completely understand the point of a derive until I browsed this project, and now I have even more questions about how and why we interact with space according to our goal destinations.  Maybe the street isn't as important as what's in the museum, historically speaking.  But the underlying statement is that we often pay more attention to media or unreality than we do to our actual surroundings.  To me, this project and the derive are about living in the present: don't be too focused on getting to that museum.  Instead, enjoy the birds eating french frys in the parking lot on the way there.  You'll get to that musuem in time.