<nettime-ann> [ann] CARGO NEWSLETTER

["Geert Lovink" <geert@xs4all.nl>]

.

From: cargoweb@pandora.be

THE CARGO NEWSLETTER
CARGO=A0IS A FOUNDATION FOR CREATION & DEVELOPMENT WITH MEDIA
http://www.cargoweb.org

THE DREAM OF CARGO

CARGO investigates new forms of creation development with media, and=20
invites artists, philosophers, architects and critics to engage in
this=20=

search. The question =96 how can the world-with-media open itself to
us=20=

in meaningful experience =96 is central. To consider development as a=20
process, as an event even, that is the intention of CARGO.

Today=92s digital culture has everything to do with expansion of scale =
in=20
terms of space (being global and omnipresent) and time (being=20
simultaneous, available and caught in speed). We are dealing with a=20
state of exponential growth and incontrollable conception in which=20
everybody and everything is involved, accomplice to form of crime as
it=20=

were =96 a crime of becoming.

We are dealing with a state of =91as-if-it=92, a =91drama of false=20
appearances=92. True, there will always be people =96 like media =
persons,=20
artists, politicians, academics and businessmen =96 who exploit this=20
state of seemingly inexhaustible possibility of mixing for their own=20
profit, thinking that its use has been revealed to them alone,=20
invisible and unavailable to others (i.e. everyone) who are too=20
literally involved. Don=92t we find here an ultimate paradox of truth =
and=20
falsehood?

It is no longer relevant to distinguish between reality and fiction,=20
but rather to discover the nucleus of reality, which we can only=20
maintain as real as long as we fictionalize. Truth operates on the=20
level of false appearance rather than detailed (historical,=20
sociological etc.) knowledge. Are we wrong, then, in considering=20
digital media as a form of =91supplement=92 that is added to whatever =
is,=20
that transforms what originally exists and, in=A0doing so, maintains
it?=20=

In other words, would we still exist or would we still be able to=20
establish our lives, if we were to disengage from what inevitably=20
transforms us?That is the central question.

With CARGO we intend to set up situations that not only permit such a=20
=91distorted=92 view on everyday life, but even provoke it: situations =
that=20
generate radical shifts of perspective; worlds of experience that are=20
made known by those who discover their truths in them not only by=20
helping to initiate them, but maybe even more so by playing a=20
tragicomic part in them.

CARGO wants to develop a context for further investigation, where=20
concrete approaches are tested that are compatible with the=20
extraordinary features of the new media. The key word isn=92t=20
=91experiment=92 but rather =91development by creation=92; or
=91context=92=
 but=20
rather imaginary imagination; or =91process-like approach=92 but rather
=
a=20
step-by-step approach, with one move after another; or =91network=92
but=20=

rather circuitry between people.

Exactly which requirements this type of development should meet and
how=20=

the approach/method eventually should look like, remains to be seen.=20
Indeed, in some ways it shares its features with new media studios,=20
workshops, labs, institutional research centres and online web=20
communities, but in others it is very different.

FIRST MOVES BY CARGO

- - - ) -=A0In case you feel like getting tuned in to this dream, and=20
investigate further its potential, then please don=92t hesitate to
read=20=

the latest CARGO publication:

WEAK MEDIA, as a book and online on http://www.cargoweb.org

WEAK MEDIA traces and marks of a search for new ways of using media.=20
Here we keep asking the question how we can make the most recent
media=20=

work for us. How can we benefit from them in terms of our own=20
development? Which capacities do we need for that? At what cost and
at=20=

what expense? And what do we get in return? Can media account for=20
applications outside their own field? Within the given technological=20
and overtly company-dependent infrastructure, is there any
possibility=20=

of criticism, experiment 
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