Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga

Structural Patterns

Reflections on Art, Technology and Society

Archive for May, 2009

Rhizome Interview with Natalie Bookchin

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“Dancing Machines: An Interview with Natalie Bookchin,” by Carolyn Kane (May 27th, 2009) presents a thoughtful perspective on private performance for public consumption. The interview revolves around Bookchin’s latest installation consisting of edited YouTube footage of people dancing in their homes.  As Bookchin puts it:

…the YouTube dance, with its emphasis on the individual, the home, and individuated and internalized production, embodies key characteristics of our economic situation of post-Fordism. If Fordism once described a social and economic system that focused on large-scale factory production, post-Fordism describes a shift away from the masses of workers in the same space, to smaller scale production by workers scattered around the world. These workers are linked by technology rather than an assembly line, and there are more temporary or contract workers, often working from home, producing more specialized, less standardized goods.

Ideas that Jeff Crouse and Stephanie Rothenberg’s virtual sweatshop piece “Double Happiness Jeans”.  An installation and performative work that has real people using their Second Life avatars making jeans for gallery visitors.

Written by ricardo

May 28th, 2009 at 9:20 am