|
www.we-make-money-not-art.com is one of the most popular web logs (Blog sites) on the web. Its focus is on web activism, architecture, augmented reality, body, cyborgs, design, entertainment, gadgets, games, installation, locative media, nanotechnology, politics of privacy, RFID, robots, sex, sousveillance, street telephony, festivals, transport trends, ubiquitous computing, wearables and much more. I became aware of Régine Debatty’s site after I noticed so many other blogs referring back to Régine’s site, and when I saw the extraordinary coverage that Régine and her team provides, I made this my daily blog to read. With this, I felt it important to bring this fantastic blog to the attention of the readers of NY Arts Magazine. |
 |
We Make Money Not Art – Ken Rinaldo
www.we-make-money-not-art.com is one of the most popular web logs (Blog sites) on the web. Its focus is on web activism, architecture, augmented reality, body, cyborgs, design, entertainment, gadgets, games, installation, locative media, nanotechnology, politics of privacy, RFID, robots, sex, sousveillance, street telephony, festivals, transport trends, ubiquitous computing, wearables and much more.
I became aware of Régine Debatty’s site after I noticed so many other blogs referring back to Régine’s site, and when I saw the extraordinary coverage that Régine and her team provides, I made this my daily blog to read. With this, I felt it important to bring this fantastic blog to the attention of the readers of NY Arts Magazine.
Ken Rinaldo: Your interest set is quite diverse, what is your background?
Régine Debatty: I studied Classics at the University, that’s Latin and Ancient Greek. That’s also extremely un-useful when you’re looking for an exciting job. So, I moved to media, directing documentaries such as Belgian National TV, working as a reporter for the radio Onda Cero in Spain and as a consultant for the MEDIA program of the European Commission in Italy.
KR: How did you get into blogging?
RD: By chance, it was in 2004. I had nothing to do at the office except pretend I was working. I met Max who was working for a communication and advertisement company. He created artistic applications for mobile phones in his free time. One of them became quite successful; he showed it in art galleries here and there in Europe. His partner at the communication company got intrigued, asked him how it worked and managed to sell the application to one of Italy’s biggest cell phone operators.
We thought the situation was interesting: on the one hand a company that sells a technology and, on the other hand, an amateur/artist who uses the same technology to do things he’s not supposed to. We wondered if Max’s story was unique and decided to have a look around to see how often companies that develop and manufacture technologies actually meet the hackers and artists who have a more playful or activist approach to them. Do these two different worlds collide? If yes, how does it happen? If no, why not? Would it make any sense to try to change that non-communicative situation?
I knew nothing about new media art, RFID, bioart or Bluetooth at the time, so Max convinced me to use the blogging platform to document my research. I very quickly got hooked on blogging.
KR: The title of your blog: “We Make Money Not Art,” what does this mean?
RD: The title is both ironic and very in your face. It’s inspired by the story I’ve just told you. There are the guys who make money with technology and the artists who don’t make that much money.
KR: Are you selective about the kinds of advertising you accept on the site?
RD: Yes, otherwise my blog would be covered with phrases like, "Make money fast" and debt credits ads. And, I’d be rich. But, I’m quite lucky; art and design schools, art galleries and cultural centers regularly buy a banner on the blog.
KR: What other kinds of work have you done before becoming one of the most popular blog sites on art and technology?
RD: Teacher of Latin, weather forecaster in Spain, reporter in Bosnia,
translator, etc.
KR: Do you travel to many shows each year, and do you enjoy the travel?
RD: Yes, I travel to many shows and I love it, but it’s hard work too. I go back to the hotel to write reports on the event I’m attending while others are partying. I read my RSS feeds while having breakfast. I’m also often asked to talk, and never about the same subject, so I have to prepare my presentations as well. It’s tiring but not more than any other job, and I love it.
KR: Do you receive many invitations to speak at conferences?
RD: Yes, I especially like to go and talk to students at art schools.
KR: Can you make a living off of the advertising that is on your site?
RD: No, no, no. Unfortunately. But I write for magazines and I get invited all over Europe and sometimes to the US so, at the end of the month, I’m happy and well fed.
KR: How long would you say you spend each day on maintaining your extensive site?
RD: Now, this might sound pathetic. I’d say 10 hours (but only 4 hours on the weekend) spent mainly online, but also visiting exhibitions, reading books and magazines. Doesn’t feel like work most of the time.
KR: Do you have employees?
RD: No, just contributors: Sascha Pohflepp, who’s a very talented new media artist from Berlin, Peder Burgaard, who’s working in IT research and development and who lives in Copenhagen; Sin’ishi Konomi, researcher in Tokyo.
KR: Where do you see your blog site We Make Money Not Art five years from now?
RD: You know what? I have no idea. Will I still be blogging?
KR: Do you feel that art curators are aware of your awareness of the field, and have you been invited to join any juries?
RD: That’s tricky because I still feel like I have so much to learn. I’ve been invited to join several juries (a rhizome commission, the interactive café jury for ISEA06, some interaction design jury to review students’ end-of-the-year projects, etc.) I think some people do think I am competent, but I guess it’s mainly because I’m out there with that popular blog, so my name pops up easily.
On the other hand, the "traditional” art curators have never heard of me. But, I suspect most of them do not regard new media art/electronic art/interactive art as art.
KR: Are there lessons here for corporations? Can you give me some examples?
RD: Not sure there’s any lesson that they really want to listen to. In my experience, they are just looking for an immediate answer to a given problem or for the killer product. The projects described in the blog might be interesting for corporations because some of them give a glimpse—albeit sometimes whimsical—of people’s desires or of what tomorrow could bring.
The first idea (people’s desires) could be illustrated with several projects that allow people in public spaces to regain some control over technology in their surrounding: Husman Haque’s floatables, the EM Shelter booth by Anthony Townsend, Katherine Moriwaki’s Recoil or WIFI Hog by Jonah Brucker-Cohen.
We all need these communication technologies, but sometimes we might feel overwhelmed by them. Surely there should be a way to get some control back. The industry has had little incentive to address the problem and give us more control. I hope that they are already getting their designers and engineers to work on that (especially when it comes to the technology that seems to frighten everyone: RFID), but until companies come up with something convincing, artists are exploring methods of self-defense. Hopefully they will inspire someone out there.
About artists using technologies to give us a glimpse of what tomorrow could bring, my favorite examples show how artists have explored the kind of dynamic, mapping and sightseeing experience that Google Earth brings us today. In the 80s, there was Naimark’s golden gate fly over, in the 90s there was art+com’s terravision installation. I think if one is willing to look beyond the quirkiness and delirious aspect of some installations or applications, there’s a lot to learn and get inspired about.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that artist hold the key to our future or the magic formula but here and there, something worth our attention pops up.
KR: What do you think artists’ voices can bring to technology? Can you give me some examples?
RD: Apart from what I’ve mentioned above, I think artists can de-mystify technology, make it sexier, more approachable however, artists have a more important role. They show the hidden side of technology and make very tangible and immediate its implications.
Look at France Cadet’s robotic dogs. They have been hacked and turned into transgenic animals. They are hybrids of several animals species. The modification of these improbable creatures are based on real researches and experiments carried out in scientific laboratories today. One of the robots, called Dolly, have genes mixing dog, cow, sheep and ewe. It was born with the mad cow disease, first you can admire it happily walking on the artificial grass pad, then it feels sick and you can witness its death. Reading in a newspaper about cloning, eugenics and genetic manipulation seems remote and far away from our everyday life. A work like Cadet’s Dog Lab put the possible consequences of such experiments into a disturbing light, warning of the possible dangers of research.
Sure scientific research is made for our own good. But do we have complete control on what’s going on in laboratories? What happens when it goes wrong?
KR: What are you working on right now?
RD: Nothing new, just trying to grow up.
KR: Does all the blogging make you want to create physical art that deals with technology?
RD: No, no. On the contrary; it makes me realize that I have very little imagination and absolutely no talent.
Interviewer Ken Rinaldo is an artist and theorist. He has been working at the intersection of art and biology for over two decades working in the categories of interactive robotics, biological art, artificial life, interspecies communication, rapid prototyping and digital imaging.
Rinaldo teaches interactive installation, robotics & electronics, 3D modeling & rapid prototyping, digital imaging, multimedia and Directs the Art and Technology program in the Department of Art at The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio. http://kenrinaldo.com
