on 8/25/00 3:14 AM, Richard Povall at R.Povall@mdx.ac.uk wrote: > > Or perhaps not... I think that artists are more and more > disinterested in ghettoizing technology, so that attending a 'dance > and technology' workshop is of less interest than attending a > workshop on, say, collaborative making processes that may or may not > include the use of technology. We've ghettoized ourselves too long, > and I think the relative quietness on this list for the past six > months or so is evidence of that. So, on the contrary, perhaps the > 'technologists' have lost the plot and the real work has been taken > over by the real artists. Ooops, that sounds really nasty, and it's > not meant to be. > Perhaps not, but it is reinforcing a rather annoying dichotomous stereotype. Why do we assume that artists cannot use or handle technology? Why do we assume that technologists are not as aware of aesthetics as "artists"? I have spent far more hours on the stage than behind it, and far more time in a studio than behind a computer. It's interesting the way we seem unable to accept that a person may be able to both do pliés AND handle a fresnel. Or even be able to pronounce both. However, I think perhaps the disinterest comes in part from this attitude on the parts of participants. Even in "blended" programs such as UW-Madison's IATech, you were assumed to be a dancer or a techie--and the few such as A.J. Niehaus and myself who very STRONGLY identify themselves as both have to constantly fight the labeling. I'm introduced as a "computer programmer" to people, or worse. My response is to suggest that I introduce my colleagues on the marley as "jumpers" or "pirouetters". Do you see the difference? This is something they DO, not what they ARE. If, however, it is going to be assumed that because I designed the projections for one show that I must have no desire to be on the stage, then why bother going to the dance workshops? Why bother attempting to put classes of interest to dancing bodies into technology workshops at all? Differentiating between "artists" and "technologists" in that way simply continuing to "ghettoize" even as you attempt to broaden the participation and audience. I am very disturbed that the same tendency towards specialization and "tech school" training that we see in the Universities is being continued here in this community. Jeff
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