finding time to judge well by Kristen Palana   Hello all, I realize I have been quiet up to this point. I've been a bit preoccupied with other projects and the usual lack of time. I've been trying to view 5 works per day since the list of artists came out and writing comments on each one as I slowly compile my short list. I feel the works in the exhibit need time to be digested. I do have to say, that I am quite interested in the variety of works displayed: video, interactive, animation, stills, time-based, photo-documentation, soundscapes, text-based, poetry, and even browser art have graced my screen. What's even more impressive to me are the diverse backgrounds and nationalities of the artists involved. Best of luck to you all as you attempt to finalize your votes this week. Regardless of the outcome, I hardly think we've wasted our time. Best, Kristen Palana Tuesday, October 15th, 2002 at 00:07

Re^1: finding time to judge well by Brooke A. Knight   I agree, Kristen. This is certainly no waste of time, and I'm deliberating on my own voting proceedures as well as which pieces I think should "win." I am also having difficulty with the notion of "winning," too. I am intrigued by the curatorial concept of having the participants choose the pieces, but I'm wondering about its application to a topic like 9.11. The scope of the tragedy is so hard to explian, yet we are asked to judge artwork that in some way reflects this tragedy -- i.e. is it appropriate to be judging this work? Isn't any work in this realm valid? And, how then, do we determine the relative validity of the works? I don't know, but I'm interested in the outcome, and so will vote as directed. Brooke Tuesday, October 15th, 2002 at 12:46

Re^2: finding time to judge well by Eduardo Navas   An interesting point is brought up by Brooke Knight: >I am also having difficulty with the notion of "winning," too. I am intrigued by the curatorial concept of having the participants choose the pieces, but I'm wondering about its application to a topic like 9.11. > >The scope of the tragedy is so hard to explian, yet we are asked to judge artwork that in some way reflects this tragedy -- i.e. is it appropriate to be judging this work? Isn't any work in this realm valid? And, how then, do we determine the relative validity of the works? > The principle of judging ourselves is quite interesting, especially with a subject such as 9/11. People have a tendency to compete in many areas of everyday life -- but when it comes to humanistic issues, competition tends to be demoted or looked down upon. This is perhaps due to moral principles instilled in us at the beginning of our childhoods. The fact that we, the participants, need to judge the work of our own peers, exposes how hard it is to reflect on weakenesses and strengths of a community. If people around the world were pushed to look at their own communities, as we have been asked to do so in this exhibition, then perhaps communities would develop a better understanding of their principles and how such principles may be misunderstood outside their main peer group. Judging is not easy, and people who are uncomfortable with it (I am among them) hopefully will realize that it is good for a better understanding of the (now beginning to be problematic) term "diversity". Tuesday, October 15th, 2002 at 13:49

Re^3: finding time to judge well by phil   it is hard to define what isn't a waste of time other than basic survival and making money and benefiting from consumer credits or polishing my eternal soul whilst altruistically bringing on lesser spirits... being a judge isn't my job... if you want me to judge then give me the job and a job description and pay me for it with fringe benefits... you are all guilty as hell... my judging was irresponsible justified only by how little time I had to give to it but so what? it isn't my job... I made a choice of 7 just to get my piece shown... I've been asked to "judge" a few times mainly by students doing projects so that they can avoid personal creativity and I have noticed that every time I bothered my "judging" has been irresponsible because I couldn't really be bothered... I want to have a gallery selling me and critics promoting me and delude myself ecstatically with my own overblown ego and wallet and not fill in space for student pieces... art stuff costs me money and is what I do in the absence of being able to find another role that can lead to achieving "normality" and perpetuation of my genetic strand via gathering consumer credits and improved social status... the notion of a winner seems quite ridiculous... the job of a curator is to survey a territory and represent it according to whatever agenda using critics to PR whatever is selected to advance the sponsors wishes... the curatorship here is passive because it is an open competition but why did it need to be a competition hopefully it will all get shown anyway... most art competitions are pre-arranged to fulfill an agenda and most entries included are just there to add numeric and "diversity" credibility to a prearranged plan to advance or sustain an admin clique... did the curator actually survey the internet for pieces referring to 9.11 etc as a counter balance to the works entered here...? if the net was surveyed would the curator have found or included the entries here...? it was a total "accident" that I found a link for the expo entry... all I seem to get from the net is links to porn sites and weird special offers to buy or invest in getting younger and richer with a larger penis... with regards 9.11 one way or another outside of the massive news overload the net presented me mainly with joke stuff even though I don't like most web humour but I guess I am mostly a passive surfer... there are a few christian expressions I like... anyway this is just a rant I guess and what I mean to say quite simply is that I have my evolving opinions but my perspective is more that of a victim than of a judge and when asked to judge I feel severely constrained to not actually say what I think because what I think is affected by marginality and likely to aggravate that situation... as the ocean accepts the fish that swim in her so I accept you all... hehe (misquote from I don't know who) Tuesday, October 15th, 2002 at 18:36

Re^4: finding time to judge well by Eduardo Navas   Phil Wrote: my judging was irresponsible justified only by how little time I had to give to it but so what? it isn't my job... _________________________ I guess this is a personal position that must be respected. But I will say that we all judge things and situations everyday. We make choices as to what we like or dislike based on internalized preconceptions -- also known as biases. The process that we are asked to perform in this exhibition is simply to reconsider our naturalized judging methods. This is not really a job but a must from anyone with a desire to understand why such disturbing things, such as 9/11, happen. If anyone does not see any value in criticism, then perhaps those individuals are better off as empty tools for the bigger machine we call pop-culture. It is easier not to judge and live in constant self-deception. Wednesday, October 16th, 2002 at 02:29

Re^5: finding time to judge well by phil   fine by me... let us all get dna and revenue credentials from everyone involved and lets make a special sincerity machine just in case there might be cheating... hi guys lets get it out there who is really responsible for the toilet and who gains most from it... hehe Wednesday, October 16th, 2002 at 19:27