Sunday, April 3, 2011
Sameeta: Mauj kya hai?
Atteqa: this is a proposed text collage of words from Mauj contributors and friends.It was collated in a moment of madness (now that moment has stretched to 20 hours)
Nameera: the initiatives of Mauj use open technology, art and culture to empower society and people. Our projects engage regional and international participants and audiences. MAUJ explores the phenomena of new media arts and the impact of technology within the context of the city.
Niilofur: Good you pointed it out, maybe we need to explain it further that both new media and established artists working with traditional media will be equal partners who will negotiate and conceptualize the formal aspects together.
Amar: Shakil, Ata, I think you should think about putting up your carrom game for display as this will give you valuable, live users feedback, which otherwise you won’t get if you simply put it on the web.
Nameera: It seems we need more explanation on the actual interaction between traditional and new media artists. A little more detail is needed it seems. How the two will come together, will the new media persons only act as support for the traditional artists, or will they also be involved at the creative level?
Leena: Yesterday I found a man selling vehicle/truck art stickers on the road; I got 2 stickers from him, and what was really interesting was that one of the stickers was a computer representation of a chamak patti sticker! I asked him to give me the real thing, i.e. the real chamak patti made by hand by cutting stickers into intricate patterns, but he said that now this is what is 'in'! I will scan this image and send it :)
Atteqa: I think its open to interpretation, when in doubt, take a few words to start and build up from there, hopefully discussion on those words leads us to more concepts?
Fariha: Still pinging and not kicking as yet:) so here's a ping,
Words for internetters
"citizens with the individual and community tools that are necessary to
perform the functions of current institutions and democratic processes:
slow down, mediate, negotiate, educate, take a long term perspective...
Words for institutioners
"speed up, catalysize, act, radiate, disseminate, snowball, take short term
and intermediary added to long term perspective"
And you are right it does indeed take both together to make a difference
Nothing beating 'us' understanding 'I'
cheers!
Atteqa: yaar,
dus aur lafs socho jo 100 saal tak chaleyn gay aur jo 100 saal baad khatam ho jayen gay
donon zaban main:)
Shakil: Local issues are not local issues anymore; the people from the old school do not understand what is going on and what to do about the current dilemmas.
We need to understand which direction technology is going in, the fact that the audience of the English language newspaper has now switched to internet, advertising now also has to change strategy for online audiences.
We need to see the limitations of new media arts, organize students around activities and projects through social networking
Social networking is going to play a very important role in the future direction of this country, everything related to it is being re-arranged, many new issues are coming into the limelight…..
Rob: Yes, I think the plates are shifting…but we need new strategies to prevent cultural, social and ethical collapse. Can scaling up local initiatives help meet global challenges? What can we
learn from models that distribute insecurity as a default; such as those
which are improvised and informal in Lagos, New Delhi and Karachi?
Can we still argue from an intuitionalist point of view for solutions if
our major institutions have become part of the problem?
Suzanne: I would love to hear, just shout your heart out about
insights in your country that need and deserve attention….Lots of things possible and it looks like the time is now to come into action!
Sameeta: Technology and its advancements have seemingly increased the disconnect between the City and Nature. It seems to the urban dwellers that they are ‘self-sufficient’: not relying ‘directly’ on the produce of the land. Our project at the Mohatta can be an attempt to ‘uncover’ the layers of our urban lifestyle and unearth the very essential part of Nature in our survival and how it has been harmed
The Mauj project will be creating links between Nature, the Rural and the Urban.
Both Modernist city planning and its application in the developing world are failed experiments. They have not met the needs of communities or the natural environment. Today we are going back to nature in search of technical solutions for the city.
Our idea will show the relationships and differences between each kind of environment, how the city is still a part of nature, dependent on it and heavily impacting it.
Naveed: sorry for late reply... my computer isn't working.
Rob: Mauj is a specific form of organization that could only emerge in the
digital networked realities of the past decade. It is informed by and
informs similar initiatives that are gathered in spaces such as bricolabs
(www.bricolabs.net) The expertise that is gathered and produced there will
be crucial to finding the necessary mechanisms of the collective to ensure
the most inclusive take up of disruptive technologies and innovation.
Give an example?
Usman: In Karachi, a city well-known for its traffic congestion, most people agree that the traffic is a problem: it creates pollution, consumes energy and adds stress to every journey. Most people also agree that, if people just drove more respectfully, everyone would benefit. So, if everyone agrees on both the goal and a means to achieve it, why don't they just do it?
They don't because the first mover is the one who suffers the most. Whoever attempts to drive 'better' is the one who gets stuck on the road as others take advantage of the gaps that this leaves. Even if you believe that altruistic behaviour is the 'right' thing to do, it is unlikely (or even impossible) that everyone will believe the same thing at the same time, and therefore it is unlikely to succeed.
This dilemma (reflected in so-called 'prisoner's dilemma') appears in deliberations concerning climate change as well: which ever country or company makes the first step towards ameliorating environmental conditions will be the one who takes on the most risk and will be (in the short term, and it's the short term that usually matters most to individual decision makers) most economically disadvantaged. Whether that risk is real or not is irrelevant: it's the perception of risk that prevents the action.
Every participatory system needs to acknowledge this limitation: you cannot rely on the end goal being incentive enough to encourage individuals to participate and cooperate on achieving the end goal.
Atteqa: this is a proposed text collage of words from Mauj contributors and friends.It was collated in a moment of madness (now that moment has stretched to 20 hours)
Nameera: the initiatives of Mauj use open technology, art and culture to empower society and people. Our projects engage regional and international participants and audiences. MAUJ explores the phenomena of new media arts and the impact of technology within the context of the city.
Niilofur: Good you pointed it out, maybe we need to explain it further that both new media and established artists working with traditional media will be equal partners who will negotiate and conceptualize the formal aspects together.
Amar: Shakil, Ata, I think you should think about putting up your carrom game for display as this will give you valuable, live users feedback, which otherwise you won’t get if you simply put it on the web.
Nameera: It seems we need more explanation on the actual interaction between traditional and new media artists. A little more detail is needed it seems. How the two will come together, will the new media persons only act as support for the traditional artists, or will they also be involved at the creative level?
Leena: Yesterday I found a man selling vehicle/truck art stickers on the road; I got 2 stickers from him, and what was really interesting was that one of the stickers was a computer representation of a chamak patti sticker! I asked him to give me the real thing, i.e. the real chamak patti made by hand by cutting stickers into intricate patterns, but he said that now this is what is 'in'! I will scan this image and send it :)
Atteqa: I think its open to interpretation, when in doubt, take a few words to start and build up from there, hopefully discussion on those words leads us to more concepts?
Fariha: Still pinging and not kicking as yet:) so here's a ping,
Words for internetters
"citizens with the individual and community tools that are necessary to
perform the functions of current institutions and democratic processes:
slow down, mediate, negotiate, educate, take a long term perspective...
Words for institutioners
"speed up, catalysize, act, radiate, disseminate, snowball, take short term
and intermediary added to long term perspective"
And you are right it does indeed take both together to make a difference
Nothing beating 'us' understanding 'I'
cheers!
Atteqa: yaar,
dus aur lafs socho jo 100 saal tak chaleyn gay aur jo 100 saal baad khatam ho jayen gay
donon zaban main:)
Shakil: Local issues are not local issues anymore; the people from the old school do not understand what is going on and what to do about the current dilemmas.
We need to understand which direction technology is going in, the fact that the audience of the English language newspaper has now switched to internet, advertising now also has to change strategy for online audiences.
We need to see the limitations of new media arts, organize students around activities and projects through social networking
Social networking is going to play a very important role in the future direction of this country, everything related to it is being re-arranged, many new issues are coming into the limelight…..
Rob: Yes, I think the plates are shifting…but we need new strategies to prevent cultural, social and ethical collapse. Can scaling up local initiatives help meet global challenges? What can we
learn from models that distribute insecurity as a default; such as those
which are improvised and informal in Lagos, New Delhi and Karachi?
Can we still argue from an intuitionalist point of view for solutions if
our major institutions have become part of the problem?
Suzanne: I would love to hear, just shout your heart out about
insights in your country that need and deserve attention….Lots of things possible and it looks like the time is now to come into action!
Sameeta: Technology and its advancements have seemingly increased the disconnect between the City and Nature. It seems to the urban dwellers that they are ‘self-sufficient’: not relying ‘directly’ on the produce of the land. Our project at the Mohatta can be an attempt to ‘uncover’ the layers of our urban lifestyle and unearth the very essential part of Nature in our survival and how it has been harmed
The Mauj project will be creating links between Nature, the Rural and the Urban.
Both Modernist city planning and its application in the developing world are failed experiments. They have not met the needs of communities or the natural environment. Today we are going back to nature in search of technical solutions for the city.
Our idea will show the relationships and differences between each kind of environment, how the city is still a part of nature, dependent on it and heavily impacting it.
Naveed: sorry for late reply... my computer isn't working.
Rob: Mauj is a specific form of organization that could only emerge in the
digital networked realities of the past decade. It is informed by and
informs similar initiatives that are gathered in spaces such as bricolabs
(www.bricolabs.net) The expertise that is gathered and produced there will
be crucial to finding the necessary mechanisms of the collective to ensure
the most inclusive take up of disruptive technologies and innovation.
Give an example?
Usman: In Karachi, a city well-known for its traffic congestion, most people agree that the traffic is a problem: it creates pollution, consumes energy and adds stress to every journey. Most people also agree that, if people just drove more respectfully, everyone would benefit. So, if everyone agrees on both the goal and a means to achieve it, why don't they just do it?
They don't because the first mover is the one who suffers the most. Whoever attempts to drive 'better' is the one who gets stuck on the road as others take advantage of the gaps that this leaves. Even if you believe that altruistic behaviour is the 'right' thing to do, it is unlikely (or even impossible) that everyone will believe the same thing at the same time, and therefore it is unlikely to succeed.
This dilemma (reflected in so-called 'prisoner's dilemma') appears in deliberations concerning climate change as well: which ever country or company makes the first step towards ameliorating environmental conditions will be the one who takes on the most risk and will be (in the short term, and it's the short term that usually matters most to individual decision makers) most economically disadvantaged. Whether that risk is real or not is irrelevant: it's the perception of risk that prevents the action.
Every participatory system needs to acknowledge this limitation: you cannot rely on the end goal being incentive enough to encourage individuals to participate and cooperate on achieving the end goal.
:: Mauj ~ موج //: Leena Ahmed and Ian Fletcher at Art Dubai
:: Mauj ~ موج //: Leena Ahmed and Ian Fletcher at Art Dubai
http://theislandarts.org/exhibitions/menasa-studio-dispatches/leena-ahmed-and-ian-fletcher/
http://theislandarts.org/exhibitions/menasa-studio-dispatches/leena-ahmed-and-ian-fletcher/
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