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Knowing Me Knowing You - Am I A Network?
Some could argue otherwise but one difference between the intertwined disciplines of art and science is that fatalities don't result when art either goes "wrong" or down the tubes. Maybe it feels a little awkward, you just shrug your shoulders or are left flat on your back. Some could also argue that being left flapping in the wind is what art does best and Ray Beldner's talk at Bernal Bubbles Saturday April 6th seemed to meet that expectation. During the latest in a series of arts lectures at his laundromat Mr Beldner led a fairly informal talk with friends and neighbors as he mapped out his social network for all to see. As an introduction he described a hypothesis by Stanley Milgram in 1967 commonly known as "Six Degrees of Separation" - a condition where you are connected to every other person on the planet through a certain number of people (6 to 3). Also referred to by the Disney Corporation as "It's a small world after all" and made ever more possible by a condition referred to in the Economist Magazine as "globalization". Using a white board Mr. Beldner drew a bunch of concentrically arranged circles and labeled them with names of people he knew connecting those to his name at the center of the chart. Intervening between his name and others were the names of organizations which he used to schematically connect other people as well. With some audience participation he drew more lines - lots of them - to illustrate how everyone was 'connected'. The visual result was a bunch of hairy ball scribbles which did little to illustrate Milgrams hypothesis but identified who knew who in the room. In retrospect one sort of expected that this former assistant professor of Art at St Mary's College would somehow connect himself to famed artist Richard Diebenkorn or someone else of note or remoteness. Instead of that the white board visual became a big hairy mess which any regional art world seems to be anyway. Redrawing it with a ruler might have only made it look like a Ponzi scheme or corporate org chart so attempts at neatness would not have added anything. While the talk was just a restatement of a basic idea with a weak illustration it did leave one with some open questions like: What is the significance of boiling your existence down to a myspace page? Or ...am I a network? And ...do you want a beer at the Stray Bar before we head home? This talk did illustrate the perceived importance of "it's not what you know it's who you know" The cultural organism of a social network seems to serve a purpose in the world but the effect is hard to quantify. It is an abstraction of something larger than yourself that give meaning like the idea of a Universe, an omniscient/powerful God, nirvana, or having a real social life with people on Yelp, Tribe Net or Friendster? Rather than take stock in the small comfort afforded by solitude there has to always be something bigger that is more benevolent than say an asteroid, a war, speeding truck, or hurricane coming right at you? In the end diagramming an arena of potential favors from friends and nieghbors becomes another deterministic comfort food. At the same time and nearby in the Mission at Southern Exposure a strategic reaction to social networks has been composed and ready for an "audience" of sorts. A group of artists developed a more existential anarchitic reaction to the digital social network with a conceptual offering at the SoEx art space. Under the moniker of NoSo by Glowlab the public is provided a place to come in, kick back and drop off its collective cell-net-device. The premise is you get rid of your devices and chill out for a moment of quiet reflection and positive personal boredom. It is nice to know that the arts are offering yet another place where you have to turn off your cellphone and sit quietly. Instead of going to a movie, play, exhibit or attend an interesting lecture you can do this. From a more institutional arts perpective it's like going to see John Cage's 4'33" composition with no date next to you and no performer on stage. To my initial point nobody got hurt at either non-event but questions did emerge. ------------------- The Bernal Bubbles soapbox lecture series occurs the first Saturday every month at 10pm and provides 'hors d'oeuvres' for thought. No food is served but a decent beer can be had afterwards a couple doors away. http://bernalbubbles.com/soapbox.html Southern Exposure is located at Mission and 25th street near a pie shop.
