Professional Documents
Culture Documents
In this issue:
VIDEOGAME ART
josÉ marÍa rodrÍguez mÉndez
POST-SOVIET FILM
PLUS BOOK REVIEWS AND AUTHOR INTERVIEWS
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“ The best way to have
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– Linus Pauling, American quantum chemist and biochemist
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contents spring 2007
Publisher/Editor
21 Indexed Lights
articles or advertisements.
Russian Imagination of the West in Post-Soviet Film who in backing their ideas,
are willing to be part of our
publishing process by investing
their energy and resources as
Q&A » 04 May Yao | 19 Graeme Harper | 26 Robert W. Lawler | 28 Book Reviews needed in co-operation with us.
www.intellectbooks.com
Intellect Quarterly | 3
Q&A
iQuote » “Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll
May Yao
and their readership? as possible, while staying true to
We publish for university and the author’s voice.
college academics and postgrads. What stages does a book go
However, an Intellect book goes through before it reaches the
An interview with Intellect’s book publisher beyond the specialist in a given readers?
field to appeal to others who have The main production stages are
Photo Gabriel Solomons a multi-disciplinary interest in the peer review, copyediting and type-
topic. Intellect does not publish setting. The cover design, images
textbooks aimed at undergradu- and index must also be negotiated
ates. Such books contain very little during the production process.
original thinking and are mostly As we are an academic publisher,
How did you come to choose What attracted you specifically tutorial and survey material. all our books are peer-reviewed.
publishing as a career? to join Intellect? Intellect books are not aimed at This process is intended to ensure
I’ve always been interested in the I liked the idea of publishing on the educated reader at large. One a level of academic quality as
process of communicating and the merit of ideas rather than sales, of our biggest editorial mistakes well as providing feedback to the
disseminating ideas. The publish- and being able to publish books in the past has been to attempt author on how the book might be
ing industry has a considerable that other publishers might not be to publish books simultaneously improved. We try to involve the
responsibility both to inform willing to take on due to the finan- aimed at the specialist academic, author in every stage of the pro-
and entertain, and I was drawn cial risk involved. I felt that Intel- the undergraduate and the general duction process, from copyediting
to the idea of having a career that lect was trying to do something reader. However, such books rarely through to cover design.
might be able to combine culture very different from other publish- succeed to satisfy any of these How do you market your books?
with commerce. Publishing is ers – campaigning for the author communities, as their needs are Intellect’s primary strategy is
a constantly evolving industry rather than producing a book or very different. relationship marketing, which is
– especially in the current climate journal to fill a gap in the market. How do you differ in your edito- focused and cost-effective. Leaflets
of increasingly rapid technological The tension between Intellect’s rial policy from other publishers? and catalogues are sent directly
innovation, and there are always mission and commercial pressures Our strategy is to publish authors to targeted potential readers who
exciting opportunities and new creates a great dichotomy which is who have new ideas, new ways of have an interest in our subject
developments which make it a Intellect’s greatest challenge, but expressing their ideas, or cover areas. In addition to direct mail,
great challenge! I love the variety also its greatest strength! new topics not established within we use our website, e-communi-
of work that publishing offers, as What kind of books do you academia. These ideas may not be ties, e-newsletters and e-flyers to
well as the satisfaction of seeing a publish at Intellect? appreciated by mainstream aca- reach potential readers, as well as
finished book. We aim to publish books which demic publishers whose focus is attending or getting involved in
4 | Intellect Quarterly
May Yao ���������
books/journals/ideas...
www.intellectbooks.com �����������������������������
������������������������������������������
Art & Design
iQuote » “The holy grail is to spend less time making the picture than it takes people to look at it.” – Banksy
Videogame Art
Challenging and Provocative
By Grethe Mitchell and Andy Clarke
A
lthough a comparatively new dering engine with equally realistic musical instruments (Julian Oliver’s Below
medium, videogames have 3-D surround sound and a powerful QTO); they have created virtual galler- Escape from Woomera
by Julian Oliver and others
rapidly emerged to become scripting language, and the applica- ies (Fuchs and Eckermann’s Virtual
Museum Meltdown
an established cultural form, taking tions used to modify the games are Knowledge Space) and recreated real by Tobias Bernstrup and Palle Torsson
their place alongside television and relatively easy to master. galleries (Bernstrup and Torsson’s Bottom
film. Yet while television and film Mod art has sometimes been Museum Meltdown series). Mario’s Furniture (2003)
by Hillary Mushkin and S. E. Barnet
are now, for the most part, accept- described, derogatively, as ‘para- But it is not just the diversity of
able to all, videogames retain an air sitical’ as it relies on commercial the works produced that makes
of danger and degeneracy and are videogames, but this description videogame art so interesting. Every
frequently vilified in public debates ignores both the practicalities and example of videogame art is a liminal
about the state of society. aesthetics of digital art in general. work as it lies – by definition – at the
Given this mix of popularity and It, too, is reliant upon proprietary border between the commercial vid-
controversy, it is inevitable that applications (such as Flash or Pho- eogame and the artistic world. This
artists have looked to videogames toshop) and likewise has elements introduces a creative and intellectual
as both their inspiration and their of appropriation (with or without tension within the works which is of-
source material. Using the iconogra- manipulation) which although they ten lacking in other forms of digital
phy of videogames in artworks is as have been around since Duchamp art production.
old as videogames themselves, but a – if not earlier – have come into their Videogame artists routinely use
growing number of artists are using own with digital technologies. Digi- their work to critique the games
the videogames themselves as their tal art presents inherent problems that they use both as medium and
artistic medium. if judged by traditional aesthetic raw material and to provocatively
Some do this through writing art criteria (particularly those which
videogames from scratch (such as emphasize ‘originality’, ‘uniqueness’
Thompson and Craighead’s Trigger and ‘the hand of the artist’). This
Happy); others hack videogame does not mean, however, that digital
hardware such as Game Boy consoles art is invalid; instead, it means that
(for example, Paul Catanese’s Super the criteria of assessment need to be
Ichthyologist Advance); yet others take re-thought when applied to digital
existing games – usually FPS (‘first- works (including videogame art).
person shooter’) games such as So rather than regard mod art as
Quake, Unreal or Half Life and modify ‘parasitical’, we feel it is more correct
these. This latter type of work, cre- to describe it as a virus that produces
ated by modifying existing games, is mutations in its host. Mod artists
usually referred to as ‘mod art’ and is have found ways to subvert and mod-
the most visible form of videogame ify every aspect of the game. They
art. The reasons for this are easy to have placed themselves in the game
understand: FPS games provide the (as in Feng Mengbo’s Q4U); they
artist with a formidable set of fea- have turned games into abstract pat-
tures including a real-time 3-D ren- terns (Jodi’s Untitled Game series) or
6 | Intellect Quarterly
Videogame Art
iQuote » “Whoever is able to write a book and does not, it is as if they had lost a child.” – Rabbi Nachman
Intellect Quarterly | 7
New for 2008
Intellect Journals
Publishers of original thinking / www.intellectbooks.com
For a print sample issue for £10 or a free electronic copy contact: Intellect. PO Box 862, Bristol BS99 1DE, UK
INTELLECT OFFER n Tel: 44 (0)117 958 9910 / Fax: 44 (0)117 958 9911 / E-mail: mail@intellectbooks.com / www.intellectbooks.com
GOODBYE
LENIN!
PUBLIC (RE)VISIONS:
CRITICAL PICTURES OF THE
FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL
PASSION IN
MOTION
PICTURES
Published as a bi-monthly, full colour journal, Film International covers all
aspects of film culture in a visually dynamic way. This new breed of film
magazine brings together established film scholars with renowned jour-
nalists to provide an informed and animated commentary on the spectacle
of world cinema and commercial cinema.
“Film International is a considerable contribution to film culture.”
– Mark Cousins, author of The Story of Film
S
paniards have been travelling to the past obsessively – and un- dríguez Méndez is a comprehensive study of his theatre from the 1950s
comfortably – in recent years in search of justice, reparation, rec- to the present, focusing particularly on his history plays and on his
onciliation and, above all, their own collective identity. The civil representations of cultural identity. He was one of the first dramatists
war of 1936 to 1939 resulted in a bloody annexation of national history to challenge the Franco regime’s dogmatic, chauvinistic definitions
and identity by the right-wing forces led by Francisco Franco, whose re- of national history and identity, proposing instead a dynamic view of
gime occupied the territory and strictly controlled access to it for almost collective identities emerging from the everyday social performances
40 years. The transition to democracy after 1975 was founded upon a of popular culture in resistance to official ideologies. In an essay on
series of difficult compromises made possible by a pacto del olvido – an traditional popular culture published in 1971, Rodríguez Méndez uses
agreement to forget not only the pain and the blame but also the fact the term machismo español to sum up this process of identity construc-
that there were precedents for the ‘new’ values of liberty and democracy tion in a surprising but ultimately productive way that acknowledges
in that region of the past which was the Spanish Republic. It is only the negative gender implications of the conventional meaning of ma-
recently that demands for the ‘recuperation of historical memory’ have chismo but absorbs them into a broader and more positive concept of
come to the forefront of political debate, public opinion and media at- collective creativity and rebellion. His plays show communities and in-
tention, fed by the identification of large numbers of collective graves dividuals (men and women, straight and gay, influential and margin-
of the victims of Francoist repression, legal claims for reparations and alized) at various moments in Spanish history acting out the spirit of
a stream of previously untold testimonies of suffering, injustice and machismo español as a marker of community identity, an enabler of indi-
heroism. A bill presented by the Government in 2006 incorporating vidual self-expression and a means of resistance to the ideological and
various measures intended to provide
recognition and reparation to victims
and redress the commemorative imbal- ‘José María
ance left over from Francoism has been Rodríguez
fiercely resisted by conservatives reluc-
tant to cast light on the skeletons litter- Méndez was
ing the landscape of the past, as well as one of the first
by those who feel that the proposed leg-
islation does not go far enough. dramatists to
Historians, creative writers and film- challenge the
makers, however, have for some time
been rediscovering and re-mapping Franco regime’s
Spain’s past, including the dark corners dogmatic,
of the civil war and the dictatorship.
José María Rodríguez Méndez (born in chauvinistic
1925) is a playwright, journalist, essayist definitions of
and novelist who has insistently made
Spanishness in the past and the present national history
the core of his work. My book Performing and identity...’
Spanishness: History, Cultural Identity and
Censorship in the Theatre of José María Ro-
Rodríguez Méndez in Barcelona / Photograph courtesy of J.M. Rodríguez Méndez
10 | Intellect Quarterly
Performing Spanishness
iQuote » “Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre.” – Gail Godwin
Right
Los inocentes de la Moncloa, Teatro Cómico (Madrid),
January 1964 / Photograph by Manuel Martínez Muñoz
Far Right
La marca del fuego, Real Coliseo Carlos III (San Lorenzo
de El Escorial), November 1986 / Photograph by Chicho,
courtesy of Centro de Documentación Teatral, Madrid
Below
El pájaro solitario, CEU San Pablo (Valencia), 1998 /
Photograph courtesy of J.M. Rodríguez Méndez
cultural control exercised by the state and by dominant social groups. to be uncertain about how to evaluate them, perceiving something of
The other side of the coin is that Rodríguez Méndez offers a bleak pic- their profound cultural dissidence – often puzzlingly at odds with an
ture of contemporary society (since the civil war), in which the par- apparently innocuous tone or conventional form – but unable to agree
ticipative creativity enabled by traditional forms of popular culture has on exactly what made them dangerous. In a sense, Franco’s censors
been eroded by industrialization, political control and the spread of paid Rodríguez Méndez an unwelcome backhanded compliment, fear-
the mass media. This outlook becomes a cynical, sometimes simplis- ing his work to be more powerful and subversive than he could have
tic or reactionary, view of post-Franco Spain which has ensured that he hoped for. In the process, they repeatedly confirmed the political and
remains as difficult and unorthodox a figure in the liberal, democratic cultural importance of history and the unsettling power of theatre to
present as he was under the dictatorship. The past in his theatre is a make the past simultaneously more foreign and more immediate. {
foreign country that is, paradoxically, more Spanish; they do things
more colourfully and creatively there.
Despite the fact that Rodríguez Méndez’s work never explicitly FURTHER READING
expressed political opposition to Francoism, he was one of the play-
Performing Spanishness:
History, Cultural Identity and
wrights whose career was most severely damaged by the strict censor-
Censorship in the Theatre of
ship maintained throughout the life of the regime. His plays provide José María Rodríguez Méndez
fascinating case studies of the unpredictable nature and stifling effect of
By Michael Thompson | £19.95, $40
censorship on theatre in Spain in the 1960s and 70s. The censors tended
ISBN 978-1-84150-134-5
Performing Spanishness delves into the theatre
‘In a sense, Franco’s censors of Spanish dramatist José María Rodríguez
Méndez, one of the most significant Spanish
paid Rodríguez Méndez an playwrights of the twentieth century and an
acerbic cultural commentator.
unwelcome backhanded This book traces the development of
Rodríguez Méndez’s work from the hard
compliment, fearing his work times of the Franco dictatorship through the
uncertainties of the transition to democracy.
to be more powerful and Rodríguez Méndez’s theatre is saturated by
the socially explosive concept of Spanishness,
subversive than he could have dramatized as a dazzling range of popular
performances of cultural identity in various
hoped for. In the process, periods from the middle ages to the present.
The author locates this impression in Rodríguez
they repeatedly confirmed the Méndez’s interpretation of ‘machismo español’
as a volatile, universal articulation of Spanish
political and cultural importance identity charged with the dissident voice of
popular resistance to constraining political and
of history and the unsettling ideological structures.
The analysis of Rodríguez Méndez’s work
power of theatre to make the from the late 1950s to the mid-70s is enriched by
detailed evidence from censors’ reports, provid-
past simultaneously more ing fascinating case studies of the unpredictabil-
ity of censorship under a dictatorial regime.
foreign and more immediate.’
Intellect Quarterly | 11
Art & Design
iQuote » “The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.” – Michelangelo
T
he visual as an agent in the com-
munication process has grown
in importance as the means or
media through which it is transmitted has
expanded, but it is rarely explored with
the same rigour as that shown for the ver-
bal, as, for example, in linguistics. This
state of affairs could be accounted for by
its apparent surface level innocence, its
engagement with the senses and, thus,
it appears closer to the natural order of
things. In terms of measurement, its ex-
istence as analogue means that it is based
upon a continuous scale, upon degrees
of difference, rather than the discrete
steps accorded to the digital. Even in the
case of half-tones in print and electroni-
cally generated images, the digitalized
is perceived perceptually as analogue, as
continuous, not composed from separate
elements, such as dots and pixels. When
cast in the register of language, a province
of the digital, the visual undergoes loss, Near Capel Curig, North Wales by B.W. Leader, Walker Art Gallery
the loss, for example, of the subtle grada-
tions that the eye can detect in colour and
words cannot explain. Likewise, there beyond the obvious, beyond its place as and an awareness of the influence they
is an inability to give full expression in a medium given to sight. It calls upon a exert upon the observable surface of the
language to an aesthetic experience, for search for connections and influences visual in communication.
example, the feelings engendered when that play a part additional to that given While at the practical/physical level,
viewing mountain scenery. To these con- to the eye. Thus we are led into fields as visual media has undergone significant
ditions we can also add the insufficiency diverse as those of, for example, psychol- developments, from print to photogra-
of words to express adequately the nu- ogy, semiology, information theory and phy, including moving images and more
ances of visually perceived cues in social aesthetics. Here we may find a rich source recently to computer-generated images,
encounters, which are echoed in film and of established research and writing which and while its uses and abuses for political
television. Be that as it may, on closer can be drawn upon and used to uncover and other purposes are raised in media
inspection it will be seen that a proper the ‘hidden dimensions’ that lie behind courses, the factors at work within the
understanding of the implications of the the whole enterprise that we call visual individual viewer which coalesce to pro-
visual as a medium in the communication communication. At its base it is an intel- duce visual awareness and visual knowing
process calls for an awareness that goes lectual activity, a search for relationships are rarely brought to the fore. Generally
12 | Intellect Quarterly
Visual Communication
iQuote » “The idea of a mass audience was really an invention of the Industrial Revolution.” – David Cronenberg
speaking, the medium itself becomes the in the case of aesthetics, the feeling or
‘The power of the visual focus of attention, the wizardry of techni- emotion. Film and television in their role
in communication relies cal innovations casts its spell, the visual as image generators are perfect examples
assumes its pre-eminence as a carrier of of this state of things, they are given on
upon its involvement illusions. screens; things, people and events are
with perception, the raw The power of the visual in communi- portrayed in spatial contexts. The contexts
cation relies upon its involvement with may change serially, over time, as in mov-
perception of being in the perception, the raw perception of being ing images, but there is always a given or
world of the senses, and, in the world of the senses, and, thus, it
may be said that it is closer to nature than
an implied relationship which the viewer
has to complete from his or her repertoire
thus, it may be said that it is other media which are not so clearly iden- of mental connections, it is a search of
closer to nature than other tified. This raises a paradox that while it
carries this potential, its engagement with
mind which may be conscious or sub-
conscious. Likewise, in abstract paint-
media which are not so media introduces an arbitrary element, ings the viewer is called upon to search
one that is shaped by social and cultural for relationships between parts which,
clearly identified.’ codes and conditioning. Taken to ex- when made, may evoke feelings without
tremes the medium itself can appear to be any necessary recourse to verbalization or
reality, if only momentarily, for example conceptualization; this we refer to as an
the illusion of reality that film and televi- aesthetic experience.
sion is able to generate, and, likewise, In all cases, when viewing images,
Highway, USA the illusion of reality that static images static or moving, the same principle ap-
known as trompe l’oeil can create. plies; the mind is called upon to perceive
Apart from the illusions which it can or search for relationships, to jump the
generate, visual perception is, by its gaps between parts, to join that which
nature, given to seeing things in contexts; is proximal. The outcome of the search
its engagement with the world is always depends not only upon the motivation to
with settings. This attribute, with its carry out the task but the ‘preparedness’
closeness to the natural state of things, of the mind that is carrying out the task.
provides a significant clue not only to The ‘in-forming’ – the form that the mind
the way in which inference or meaning is takes as a result of the search, and the
constructed, but also to the feeling engen- connections it makes, is to that person
dered by the form of the visual image, its the meaning – or, in the case of the aes-
aesthetic. In both cases it is the relation- thetic, the feeling. The maker of images,
ships between the parts, their spatial moving or static, provides a spatial con-
proximity, that provides the significant text in which he or she has placed (or has
clue to the way in which information is arranged to be placed) specific elements
inferred and aesthetic sensibility is felt. with the intention that, when fused, the
However, although the viewer of im- viewer will be informed (in-formed) in the
ages is presented with things in spatial way intended.
proximity, natural in direct perception To the importance of spatial proximity
and artefactual in indirect, mediated we must add another term that is relevant
perception, it is only an offering of parts; to the study of visual communication,
in both instances it calls upon the mind namely, the place of the icon. Here we
to fuse the parts. The media creator offers move into the shaded territory of the
parts in juxtaposition, the viewer is called verbal, and here the proximity factor
upon to integrate them. It is a dynamic that we saw as a spatial entity shifts to
act echoing visual perception itself, it is an ideational one. The ground is opened
individual. The fusion that takes place for symbolism, for the icon to be read
becomes the meaning to that person, or as metaphor. Thus the relationship that ¥
Intellect Quarterly | 13
Art & Design
iQuote » “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” – Joseph Chilton Pearce
14 | Intellect Quarterly
New for 2007/8
Intellect Journals
Publishers of original thinking / www.intellectbooks.com
For a print sample issue for £10 or a free electronic copy contact: Intellect. PO Box 862. Bristol BS99 1DE, UK
INTELLECT OFFER n Tel: 44 (0)117 958 9910 / Fax: 44 (0)117 958 9911 / E-mail: mail@intellectbooks.com / www.intellectbooks.com
Media & Culture
iQuote » “Don’t hate the media, become the media.” – Jello Biafra
T
elevision is all shook up! franchise from MacDonald’s of-
In the post-broadcasting fers much more than tips on how
present of television, new to prepare hamburgers and fries.
structures, finances, technolo- Hence, a TV program format
gies and players dominate the franchise is a complex and com-
global mediaspace. One of the prehensive body of knowledge
most important of these new that not only offers a lot of advice
engines is the new worldwide on how to make a particular pro-
system for the distribution and gram but also carries significant
production of programming information and advice in such
based on the principle of the TV areas as financing, program-
format. All television programs ming, scheduling, promotion,
– like all other human arte- marketing and so on.
facts – can be variously copied, However, the full significance
imitated, cloned, adapted, of this extension to parts of the
counterfeited, parodied and so service industry of franchis-
on quite irrespective of what one ing cannot be confined to the Eddie McGuire in Australia’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire!
thinks of the results. The TV phenomenon of worldwide
format principle, then, simply
increases the adaptability of a
circulation of such formatted
programs as Big Brother, Pop Idol
‘...one homely conjunction with an experienced
visiting producer provided by
program from place to place and Changing Rooms. Instead, the way in which the the licensor, who actually brings
and from time to time. It does
this by systematically gathering
format principle has acted as
Trojan Horse to two highly sig-
international TV the German or the Australian
version of Dancing with the Stars
together into a total package the nificant developments in the area industry thinks into existence. Because much of
set of knowledges, skills, infor- of international programming the latter processes have been
mation and other data which distribution and production. about formats is templated, it is best to think
will make it easier to produce For franchising is, primarily, a as akin to cooking of this latter set of processes
another version of the program. means of distributing a service as manufacturing rather than
Hence, one homely way in which on a large, international scale recipes out of producing. Hence, a second
the international TV industry where the franchise becomes which attractive significant effect of the global
thinks about formats is as akin a means of drawing a series of TV format is to fracture program
to cooking recipes out of which small geographically dispersed and engaging production into creative work on
attractive and engaging concoc-
tions can be prepared. A much
companies in the areas of pro-
duction and transmission into
concoctions can the one hand and manufacture
work on the other and to also
more useful way of understand- relationship with a centralized be prepared.’ despatialize them in the process.
ing the TV format is in terms of body which is in the business Altogether, it is high time that
being a franchising service that of franchising out to nationally this new engine of international
producers prepare for licensees local companies. In turn, it is television was better understood
in other television territories. A with the latter, often working in and investigated. {
16 | Intellect Quarterly
Television’s New Engine
iQuote » “The advertisements are the most truthful part of a newspaper.” – Thomas Jefferson
Intellect Quarterly | 17
intellect books| Film Studies / Theatre & Performance / Art & Design / Media & Culture
Spring
Books
Media & Culture Media & Culture Film Studies
One for the Girls: The Reclaiming the Media Film, Drama and the
Pleasures and Practices of Edited by Bart Cammaerts Break-Up of Britain
Reading Women’s Porn and Nico Carpentier By Steve Blandford
ByClarissa Smith
Against the claims of the increasing It hardly goes uncontested anymore that This book engages with ideas that are
sexualization of culture, one truism is media organizations play an important highly topical and relevant: nationalism,
constantly rehearsed – that women have role in democracy. The main questions nationhood and national identity as well
little taste for pornography. In One for have now become whether the contem- as the relationship of these to post-co-
the Girls!, a new basis for understanding porary media conjuncture offers enough lonialism. However, it does so within
women’s pleasures in sexually explicit to our democracies, how their democratic the broad field of drama. Examining the
materials is offered, focusing on the investment can be deepened and how our debates around the relationship between
production and consumption of For communication rights can be expanded. culture and national identity, the book
This book looks at four thematic areas
Women magazine. This thought-provok- documents the contributions of actual
that structure the opportunities for
ing book argues that theories of harm and dramatists and film-makers to the chron-
democratizing (media) democracy.
women’s subordination have deflected icling of an important historical moment.
Section one is devoted to citizenship
attention away from the lived experi- Breaking down what have been tra-
and the public spheres, giving special
ences and practices of pornography. ditional barriers between theatre, film
attention to the general theme of com-
The book examines the ways in which and television studies, the text takes into
munication rights. Section two elaborates
pornography has become a favoured further on a notion central to communica- consideration the very broad range of
repository of social fears and debunks tion rights, namely that of participation. ways in which the creators of dramatic
the myth of the ‘evil pornographer’ Section three returns to the traditional fictions are telling us stories about our-
producing images of objectified women representational role in relation to de- selves at a time when the idea of being
for troubled male viewers. By focusing mocracy and citizenship, scrutinizing and ‘British’ is increasingly problematic. A
on an individual publication, this book il- criticizing the democratic efforts of con- very wide range of material is discussed
luminates the ways in which pornography temporary journalism. Section four moves in the book, ranging from box-office hits
is a social product and subject to a range outside of the (traditional) media system, such as The Full Monty to community-
of institutional practices which influence and deals with the diversity of media and based theatre in Scotland and Wales.
its styles and presentations. communication strategies of activists.
Intellect Quarterly | 19
Media & Culture
iQuote » “Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.” – Erich Fromm
vail and are undermined by close consideration of creative practice. now. And make inroads into answering them!
They don’t and, anyway, they’re not! What does undermine creative What kind of questions?
practice, I believe, is a failure to give it university kudos; that is, a fail- Quite basic, but fundamental, ones. Such as: where is practice-led re-
ure to recognize its importance in and around universities. That lack search taking place? What activities does practice-led research cover?
of kudos we have to work on and counter by promoting universities as Who is doing practice-led research? Who financially supports prac-
places of creative teaching and creative practice research. tice-led research – currently at least? How is practice-led research
What kinds of things have you seen going on in practice-led research? acknowledged? Those kinds of things. Questions about the research
The list is not as endless as it might be! Certainly areas of thematic itself, but also about its cultural, economic and societal importance.
study: someone producing a film or a novel or a set of paintings based So – the future of practice-led research, then?
on a theme, and then investigating that theme as a cultural phenom- Is very exciting, for starters! It’s full of possibilities around the idea
enon. Areas also of structural and form-based research: practice-led of exploring ideas, subjects and themes through the production of
researchers attempting to evolve an established creative form and, original creative work. Fantastic possibilities! Once better acknowl-
then, investigating in their critical responses the historical context and edgement is given to this type of activity as a way of investigating, ex-
then contemporary difficulty of moving that particular form on. Also, amining and responding to questions then more opportunities arise
areas of research involving the links between self and society through to create collaborative work, to link up creative practitioners with criti-
creative works – whether new media, drama, film, music or otherwise. cal specialists in order to investigate modes of human understanding,
Sometimes the latter focuses on looking at other individual practitio- to support cutting-edge creative projects that might reveal more about
ners and their contributions, modes of working, or life histories and ourselves and our World, as well as enhance the dimensions of cul-
then producing original work that reflects on the links between that ture. Similarly, cross-cultural work, work between arts and sciences,
creative and working life and the practice-led researcher’s own cre- thoughts about technologies and their impact on creative practice.
ative work. At present what limits the range of practice-led research This is just a small cross section of the probable future. Much of this
going on is perhaps not so much a lack of ideas. If that were the case is happening already, but it is often poorly supported financially, and
we’d be in trouble! What limits the range is a lack of a set of practice- sometimes poorly supported politically, within universities. The future
led research definitions, theories and models in our fields and, thus, a is about recognizing the university as a creative place and a place of ex-
lack of confidence that such research will be supported by universities cellence in learning, and making more of the wonderful link between
and research councils. those two important things. {
So that is what the AHRC is currently considering?
Yes. The importance of current national discussions on practice-led
research cannot be overem-
phasized. Creative practice is ‘The range of prac-
a mode of engaging with the
World, and it is a mode of ex- tice-led research in
amining the things and ideas
in and around us, investigating
Britain is already
them, exchanging ideas about cutting edge in
them, advancing our engage-
ment with, and understanding
many ways, but as
of, them. The range of practice- yet it is not as well
led research in Britain is already
cutting edge in many ways, but
recognized and in-
as yet it is not as well recognized ternationally known
and internationally known as it
could be. The new Creative In- as it could be.’
dustries interest from govern-
ments worldwide has helped to
raise questions about practice-
led research that should have
Sculpture, Centre for Advanced Software Technology (CAST) / Photo: GH
been asked some time ago. But
that’s fine – we can ask them
20 | Intellect Quarterly
Art & Design
iQuote » “The world is but a canvas to the imagination.” – Henry David Thoreau
Indexed Lights
Text by Pierre Auboiron ‘The artist is always engaged in writing a detailed history of the
future because he is the only person aware of the nature of the present’. – Wyndham Lewis
O
ne of the most vivid modern metaphors for light is its allegoric our streets safer, has swiftly become a powerful tool which rationalizes
embodiment of electricity. Although invisible, electricity is of- and signposts the City at nightfall. At night, a city is first announced from
ten represented by brightly coloured sparks and flashes. In the the distance to an approaching traveller by its diffused lights in the sky.
collective consciousness light is the true substance of electricity. On a However, owing to the development and democratization of new tech-
computer, small flickering lights indicate an active hard drive or network nologies, urban lighting schemes have entered a new age and, accom-
connection. Many people are familiar with the image of HAL, the computer panying this, an alternative and oneiric approach to light has emerged.
which played a leading role in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001, A Space Odyssey. This has lead to a significant break with the traditional comprehension
HAL’s physical presence was manifested by a visual sensor: a simple lens of light in the City.
lit by an inner, reddish glow. Arthur C. Clark describes HAL as a simple Two artists in particular have embraced this new approach to urban
‘spherical lens’ in his epic. The red glow lighting: the French light designer Yann
was Kubrick’s addition; it allowed him The proper artistic response to Kersalé and the Japanese architect Toyo
to animate HAL with an inner fire giving Ito in collaboration with the engineer Ka-
HAL a disconcertingly human feel. This digital technology is to embrace oru Mende. Using very complex lighting
is directly linked with both metaphorical it as a new window on everything systems, made of sensors and computers,
and metaphysical aspects of light: since these artists can materialize and visual-
the origin of humankind, light has rep- that’s eternally human, and to ize environmental phenomena such as
resented and embodied what is invisible
and intangible, as well as what has disap-
use it with passion, wisdom, noises, draughts, the current of a river and
invisible human activity on the buildings
peared. fearlessness and joy. themselves. Thereby they intend to make
Visual culture is here and now and its he- buildings fit back into their historical and
gemony within our cities no longer needs – ralph lombreglia socio-geographical environment.
to be proved. Light, being the essence of This type of project is not exclusively
any visual communication, and new tech- Japanese or French. When Jonathan Speirs
nologies, as prevailing information vec- NEW INTELLECT TITLE FUTURES PAST: was asked in 1996 to design the lighting
tors, have both played a leading role in
the hegemonic expansion of visuality in
30 YEARS OF ARTS COMPUTING n of the technical tower of Bridgewater Hall
in Manchester, he decided to turn it into a
the City. The proliferation of neon signs, Tower of Time. There are three different light
plasma screens, and lighted shop windows are all symptomatic. The his- indexations: the interior lighting changes according to the zodiac cycle,
tory of urbanism tells us that the City has always been the birthplace of while light ‘on the exterior reflects the time of year, starting with green for
every paroxysm: technological, social, cultural, artistic and economic. spring, and running through yellow, red and blue, denoting each subse-
From this perspective, the City has, naturally, become the temple where quent season in a gradual wash of colour’. Last but not least, lines of light
all forms of visual media are not just celebrated but even over-consumed. tubing delineate the eight storeys of the building and indicate the day of
Cities have become the privileged scene of this complete and radical trans- the week. This complex abstract clock obviously echoes ancient observa-
formation of the rhythm of human society. A new architectural approach tories like Stonehenge and the ancient desire to adjust human activity to
to light has become widespread: in the course of the last few years the natural cycles.
novelty of new architecture lies more in the way that it is illuminated than In 1997, James Turrell was commissioned to light the office building
in its outer design. and computer centre for the natural gas industry, the Verbundnetz AG in
Architects and town planners have always obsessively sought to master Leipzig. The building is totally self-sufficient in terms of energy due to
light, but it has proved ever-elusive. The discovery of electricity and its both its own gas-fuelled power station and to a system adjusting the heat-
large-scale generation provided the first true opportunity to push back ing and air-circulating systems. The artist decided to index his lighting to
the night. From this perspective, light, which was initially used to make this autarchic technological world. The light colours vary according to the ¥
Intellect Quarterly | 21
Indexed Lights
iQuote » “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once they grow up.” – P. Picasso
22 | Intellect Quarterly
Art & Design
iQuote » “You come to nature with all her theories, and she knocks them all flat.” – Renoir
Intellect Quarterly | 23
024 film»feature
Media & Culture
exclusive interview
iQuote » “All media exist living
to invest our lives with alone
artificial perceptions and arbitrary values.” – M. McLuhan
24 | Intellect Quarterly
Film Studies
iQuote » “Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don’t have film.” – Unknown
Intellect Quarterly | 25
Q&A
iQuote » “An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo
ethics – and pursuing many other early creativity is most frequently Emotion Machine – it’s appreciation friends and the enduring affection
‘dead ends’ – but I also encountered found. of the power of negative thinking. you feel for other scholars. So we
there Peter Viereck’s book The Un- So, future students will be able to Every mathematician knows there is publishers have their lives in our
adjusted Man, focused on individual look here for research problems no argument so powerful as a coun- hands, not just their books.
freedom and the value of western and ideas. ter-example. Life provides counter- If digital libraries come to domi-
civilization in providing more and I would describe the two volumes of examples to our mis-conceptions. nate the future, as they are rapidly
various ‘burrows of freedom’ in The Society of Mind and The Emotion Minsky describes internal criticism doing, that is certainly true. It is an
which such independent people Machine as a conceptual armory for as a structural key to the adaptation awesome responsibility for men of
could exist. When I was young, attacking the kludge-like structure and learning in an evolved nervous scholarly sensibilities. But there is
libraries were one such place. Books and function of our evolved minds. system, which creates and explains even more. Inasmuch as the delight
became places to seek answers to the If this is more than merely a the very possibility of mind such as I have had in such friends and their
deepest questions and, even more, collection of popularized ideas, tell we embody. books gives rise to a deep sense of
places to discover good questions me why. How would you summarize your gratitude – even of an indebtedness
to ask. There, too, I found N. J. The deepest root here lies in the appreciation of this new book? that almost amounts to obligation
Berrill’s book Man’s Emerging Mind, a long division between psychology It is more than a book. I think here – this is also a ground of inspiration,
lodestone of my intellectual journey. and Artificial Intelligence. In The of a question the playwright DeVigny the source of goals and energy for
I’ve heard your colleague Minsky Emotion Machine, the three most asks, ‘What is a great life, if not a future work for me and for future
is publishing a new book. Is it an frequently referenced psychologists youthful idea made real with the generations as well. Also, on the
important one? are Freud (for his structural creativ- focus and perseverance of the mature grand scale, books are the communi-
When I mention other thinkers to ity), Williams James and Aristotle. mind?’ The Emotion Machine and cation lines for the whole world’s life
him, Minsky always asks, ‘What’s The Harvard psychologist Sheldon The Society of Mind together realize of the mind (what a grand business
really profound in the work of X?’ White suggested to me, after reading Minsky’s vision of a general theory Intellect is in) and your commitment
So it’s appropriate then to ask, an early draft of The Emotion Machine, of intelligence covering mind as em- to work at the frontier of these mod-
‘What’s really profound in the work that Minsky should look into the bodied in biological and electronic ern technologies is a great service
of Minsky?’ Many years ago, Marvin ways that his view of mind was simi- machines. Minsky’s life work is a you have committed to provide for
(Minsky, ed.) mentioned how hard it lar to that of William James. Marvin successful effort to re-conceive our that long conversation which is the
was to write academically respect- found his ideas very congenial. understanding of knowledge and heart and soul of human culture.
able articles about his view of mind. The prominence of Aristotle in The thinking through computation- We’ve gone on a long time, and we
I urged him then to write a sequel Emotion Machine is amusing to those based description of structures and haven’t even talked about your work.
to The Society of Mind, arguing for a of us who know of Marvin’s long functions necessary for the existence Let me say simply, then, that it is on-
future suite of web pages, with all engagement with science fiction. and behaviour of mind. His work is going and continues to be inspired,
the lexicographical simplicity of His friend Van (A. E. Van Vogt) wrote distinguished by a commitment to both technically and in terms of the
structured programs, reflecting in its the sci-fi masterpiece The World of mechanistic descriptions that cross goals I’ve set, by the ideas and values
variety the variety of aspects of mind. Null-A, which followed Korzybski’s from the common sense of everyday of these, my heroes, as I pursue the
The aim? To create a foundation for argument that contemporary science experience to more exotic sciences questions voiced by John Berrill:
a new generation of AI research, a shows we live in a non-Euclidean, derived from the deepest examina- Who am I? Where have I come from?
foundation permitting and support- non-Newtonian and non-Aristote- tion of reality. The Emotion Machine Where am I going? Why am I going
ing future research efforts branching lian universe (respectively in terms of will become the ground for a new there? I’ve made these questions my
off from the proposals and chal- both space-time and mentally coping generation of research. This book is own as well, still following Robert
lenges each page could suggest. with experience). This is appropriate the finest and most accessible single White’s case study method, believ-
This idea, which Marvin surely had to mention, because the dramatic work of cognitive science your audi- ing with Kurt Lewin that studies of
thought of himself too, may have had climax of The World of Null-A focuses ence members will encounter in their individuals not only exemplify laws
a special appeal to him because it di- on the slogan ‘the negative judgment lifetimes. of psychology but embody and reveal
rectly addressed a theme close to his is the peak of mentality’ (from A. I certainly have a feeling for how those laws. {
heart, the importance of engaging N. Whitehead, Process and Reality). important books have been in your
adolescent geniuses in a discipline But it is also deep, in pointing to life and how intertwined for you FIND BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR:
are scholarly works and the lives of
somewhat like mathematics, where a profound aspect of Minsky’s The
WWW.INTELLECTBOOKS.COM
Intellect Quarterly | 27
Book Reviews
iQuote » “Writing is the best way to talk without being interrupted.” – Jules Renard
FILM STUDIES She met Makhmalbaf twice, first She also saw a very similar concern
Cinemas of the Other: during the Thessaloniki International among these film-makers from differ-
Film Festival in 1995 and then at the ent countries regarding culture and cin-
A Personal Journey Locarno International Film Festival in ema in a postmodern age: ‘Erden Kiral
with Film-makers 1996. She also met Dariush Mehrjui in and Ali Ozgenturk from Turkey, Dariush
France where both of them served on Mehrjui from Iran and Chingiz Aitmatov
from the Middle East the jury of the International Film Festi- (who is the only novelist and script-
and Central Asia val of Asian Cinema in 2005. In her in- writer among the interviewees) from
By Gonul Dönmez-Colin terview with Bayzaee, which took place Kyrgyzstan, lamented the loss of values
in Istanbul at the Istanbul Film Festival, in our consumer-oriented societies
Reviewed by Parviz Jahed Bayzaee, who is an outspoken figure in where intellectuals are either shunned
Iranian cinema, talks openly about his or pushed to the margins.’ (p.16)
28 | Intellect Quarterly
Book Reviews
iQuote » “ Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” – Cyril Connolly
drawings have ‘fearless, searching ‘Only Fire Forges Iron: The Archi- validate new processes, it merely
energy’) diminishes not Picasso and tectural Drawings of Michelangelo’ makes intelligent debate impossible.
Matisse but the writer and, by exten- is an adept but tantalizingly short Emerging technologies can be best
sion, his argument, which is a shame discussion of the relation between understood by using new, discrete
because he has ideas worth consider- drawn conceptualizations of space, terms rather than by mangling
ing. Unfortunately, Ruskin, being a anatomical studies and an artist’s un- established definitions. Damaging
good judge of drawing, is not one of derstanding of light effects and how language diminishes us all and the
them. Ruskin’s dicta ‘The perfect way this may have influenced Michelange- urge to appropriate unsuitable exist-
of drawing is by shade without lines’ lo’s architecture. Will Lynch treat this ing classifications betrays a certain
and ‘No good drawing can consist area at greater length elsewhere? timidity. If science can manage this
ART & DESIGN throughout of pure outline’ rule out Russell Lowe’s informative paper area effectively, then why can’t the
Ingres to Shiele, Rembrandt to Pica- on 3-D printing is marred by an visual arts? (See this reviewer’s
Drawing – bia, and are pure gibberish. example of doublethink common article ‘Cause for Concern’, Printmak-
The Process Walker has a witty take on the pe- among proponents of digital tech- ing Today, vol. 13 no. 2 for discussion
By Alexander Adams culiarities of life-drawing conventions nologies. It runs along the following on this point.)
and he (rightly) identifies Lucian Freud lines: digital technologies are unfairly There is much more besides. Vet-
To the editors...
Your publications are very contemporary,
forward-thinking and inspiring. As a
young teacher in Canada I find many of the
publications available here to lack more
critical and open-minded perspectives.
A Good Investment
artist and “Professor of Art and Jewish Thought at the
University of Judea and Samaria in Ariel, Israel...” I
would like to bring to your attention the fact that Ariel
is an illegal settlement in the occupied Palestinian
territories outside the so called “green line,” the only
internationally recognized border of the state of Israel.
Intellect wins prestigious Investor in People Award
I would like also to add that not a single country in the
whole world (not even the USA, the strongest supporter In January 2006 Intellect was awarded culture” which is very productive in
of the state of Israel) recognizes the illegal settlements Investors in People recognition after an managing change. The company takes
as part of “Israel.” Furthermore, the terms “Judea assessment by the UK government on recent graduates and offers an
and Samaria” are used only by Jewish settlers as their sponsored Business Link organisation. excellent apprenticeship training
chosen name for the Palestinian occupied territories in The Investors in People standard was programme. More established staff are
order to deny the right of the Palestinians to this land. launched in 1992. It was developed to given free time for self-reflection and
By mistakenly (I hope) describing Ariel as part of Israel, encourage and reward good practice in research – reading etc. This results in
Intellect Press not only legitimises and normalises the the training and development of staff to staff feeling valued, with high levels of
continuing military occupation and colonization of achieve business goals. It is a standard commitment and loyalty to the business.
the Palestinian territories but also gives it a moral and applied to organisations of all sizes and The assessors report highlighted the
political support. I hope that the Press will take the in all sectors. company’s strengths and advised on how
necessary steps to remedy this grave mistake. In the case of Intellect, the assessors they could be improved. Intellect is
observed that although it is a small pleased with the outcome and is commit-
Yours sincerely, business, it has well-developed manage- ted to build on the quality of its staff.
Professor Yosefa Loshitzky ment systems and processes. The A recent “Impact Assessment”
assessors were impressed with the investigated 1,600 organisations divided
annual business planning cycle which equally between those recognised as
allowed all staff to have an input in the Investors in People and those not.
30 | Intellect Quarterly
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