:: Monday, November 08, 2004 ::
ORIGINAL POST: Monday, November 01, 2004
BY: Garrett Lynch
As the climax to the U.S. presidential election draws to a close, we begin to see more and more net artists create works of political dissent and dissatisfaction, often through forms of humor or ridicule.
Yes, Bush Can announced a few days ago--only days before election polls closed--that, in fact, "no, Bush can't!" and that they were going to endorse Kerry's campaign. "Before changing sides, the Yes, Bush Can team drove around the country supporting the President in a campaign bus they had equipped with sound and light systems, confetti cannons, and various props and costumes. They gave dozens of stump speeches, distributed campaign videos and USA Patriot Pledges, and performed patriotic songs to audiences across the country."
Of course, the change of sides might seem a little fickle in terms of loyalty, but when you realize that it's The Yes Men and this is their intention to reflect the candidate's ever contradictory speeches and changing of policies to gain votes, it starts to make sense.
The suspicions around Bush's speeches and debates, especially the "bulge" on his back incident, have caused much controversy. Well, Bush Bot 0.4 gives us a very plausible explanation. The "bulge" is, in fact, "Chat bot technology developed in the mid 90's," which "has been directly implanted into the spine of the candidate!" The designers of the Bush Bot 0.4 system claim the idea of using a chatter bot (along the lines of Eliza) solve the need for a larger vocabulary and improved grammar on the part of George W. Bush, as the system can be trained and "can (more or less) remember."
On a more serious note (slightly), those of us particularly interested in activist art work might like to have a closer look at the recently published MIT Press book,
ORIGINAL POST: Saturday, October 30, 2004
BY: Ana Boa-Ventura
Here goes a new text in Portuguese. Synopsis in English follows
GAZING AT …. LISBON'S CITYSCAPE:: NEW MEDIA: FRONTIERS AND STRATEGIES
Festival Multimedia em Lisboa, Portugal
Desculpas antecipadas pela auto-promocao sem vergonha... - sou uma das oradorea na conferencia. Mas e' tao raro ter oportunidade de anunciar aqui eventos em portugues que acontecem em Portugal e nao no Brazil...
Entre premios multimedia portugueses, curtas-metragens "Made in Brasil", sessoes video do ETIC, do Cine Clube de Avanca, e da Lusofona, e uma conferencia dias 12 e 13 de Novembro no CCB, os novos media em Lisboa vao dar que falar este Outono. Se morar na area de Lisboa nao perca pitada - de 3 a 13 de Novembro. E se nao morar em Lisboa... pois.. isso mesmo. Va' ate' la'!
Para mais informacao consulte o programa no site oficial
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GAZING AT …. LISBON'S CITYSCAPE:: NEW MEDIA: FRONTIERS AND STRATEGIES
Multimedia Festival in Lisbon, Portugal
Apologies in advance for the shameless self-promotion--yours truly will speak at this conference--but it's so rare that I have the chance to publish here in Portuguese about events taking place in Portugal and not in Brazil.
The program includes Portuguese Multimedia Awards, several sessions of short-movies--such as "Made in Brazil", as well as video sessions by several and Portuguese Cine-Clubs and Schools--and a conference on the 12th and 13th of November at the wonderful CCB (Centro Cultural de Belem or Cultural Center of Belem).
For more information check the official site.