Alice Ming Wai Jim
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Community Domain 2 - Welcome - 2006/05/08 14:49
Welcome to the Community Domain 2 online forum. The papers in this session explore the theme of Community Domain from quite specific locations and subject positions. Foregrounding indigenous communities and concerns, Joline Blais discusses the limitations of current colonial paradigms for cyberspace, bringing to bear a critique of the commons, or reservations, for the public good. Sharon Daniel exposes the public secrets of the U.S. prison system and how they exemplify not only the means to disenfranchise impoverished communities and persons of colour, but also cultural contradictions in a society that self-identifies as the “information society.” Mara Traumane examines the notion of self-referentiality in artistic collaborations from its avant-garde beginnings to its current development in new media art practices, bringing in new initiatives from Eastern Europe, specifically Riga, Moscow, Zagreb and Bucharest, that reveal the workings of both internal processes and the public consumption of the end-product.
Clearly the domains under discussion range widely, from virtual frontiers and artistic practice to the physical deprivation of space, and yet the public and private divide remains an important site of contestation. In all of the papers, the question of self-determination also arises as a key aspect of the way in which certain communities can or are forced to engage with current social and cultural conditions. In the coming days, we will discuss the different ways that these three studies are purposely enabling, intensifying or, in one case, purposefully working towards dismantling the effects of the respective community domains being explored in relation to various techniques of self-determination, notions of territoriality, and new media contexts.
To begin our investigation, may I invite the participants to share their opening remarks and possible immediate reflections of this proposed framework for the discussion. Following this, we may post more specific questions and comments to the various responses.
I look forward to a dynamic and productive dialogue with all of you.
Alice Ming Wai Jim
Vancouver
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