Dear Evan;
Kassen: nice one, bringing the Neuremberg defense into the conversation...
> yes I do have a sense of humor, and a dark one at times, but really, did
> you have to casually bring Nazism into it? I'm not demanding an apology or
> anything like that, only asking, for the sake of us all, not to lightly take
> the conversation of giving people light-hearted instructions into the realm
> of bureaucratic mass-slaughter unless we *really* want to go there. And I
> vote emphatic no on that one.
>
I believe this word is used more generally for that type of defence (I might
be wrong?) we could call that distasteful. It was most certainly not my
intend to make light of the second world war (having grown up with a dad who
was born in 1919 I never would). My main fascination with this type of
performance still is where "guilt" and "responsibility" lie, this is why I
wrote about -what I believe to be- a similar setup a few months ago on this
list. I did so after having seen a installation where one person could
"control" another over headphones while the actor was wearing a helmet for
his safety, to block his own senses and likely also as a liberating sort of
thing. I couldn't help but notice masks were used here as well. Though the
joystick seemed replaced by automated orders(?).
While this sort of phenomenon is very common in our daily life (I believe
the common "excuse" of having had a few drinks is related) where it may be
practically beneficial, it of course also relates to darker forces. I think
we can explore these artistically and that due to a discomfort with the
subject matter will often do so in a joking way. That's what I was hinting
at with my remark. This wasn't intended to accuse Mathew or Nick of
atrocities or to make light of the terrible events of WWII at all and I'm
very sorry if this came across the wrong way. There have been more than a
few hints on people feeling livecoding relates to (and questions) orders,
social rules and perhaps even norms; I share that idea (though I couldn't
pinpoint it in a exact text) and I'd like to keep sharing thoughts on this
subject but perhaps I went too far in that here, even when I do feel that by
the time we are talking about "common assault" the joking nature of the
context should be clear.
I hope this clarifies my reasoning; I'm really sorry for any hurt feelings I
might have caused. I'll try to humorously explore and question regulations
in a less offensive way in the future.
Yours,
Kas.
Received on Fri Aug 07 2009 - 18:22:50 BST