Pedagogy, Activism, and Research: Tactical Media in the Space of the University
09/12/2002
Center for Media, Culture and History
New York University
Friday, Dec 13 - Sunday, Dec 15, 2002
Pedagogy, Activism, and Research: Tactical Media in the Space of the University
Conference Organizers:
Barbara Abrash and Faye Ginsburg
Contact:
barbara.abrash@nyu.edu
212.998.3759
Friday, December 13
7:00 Opening Dinner
The Apple Restaurant
17 Waverly Place (between Mercer and Greene Sts.)
Saturday, December 14
King Juan Carlos Center
Screening Room
53 Washington Square South
9:30 am - 5:00 pm
THE VIRTUAL CASE BOOK PROJECT: EVALUATION OF A PROTOTYPE
Launching a Prototype, 9-11 and after: a virtual case book 9-11 and after: a virtual case book (VCB) is a prototype for a series of web publications, each focused on a specific area of tactical media, based on ideas developed at the April 2001 Tactical Media workshop at NYU. This project is part of a broader effort to introduce the ideas and practices of tactical media into the space of the university, as a tool for teaching and an opportunity for research. Conceived as a series, the case book model highlights the situated nature of tactical media, and allows a consideration of the particular ways in which it is deployed in specific social circumstances. At the encouragement of our funders, the first case book focuses on the importance of alternative networks and systems of communication on September 11, 2001 and immediately thereafter.
Moderators: Barbara Abrash and Faye Ginsburg, Center for Media, Culture and History/NYU
Morning sessions
9:30-11:00 am
How does 9-11 and after work- as an overall approach to tactical media practices in general, and as a case study of the specific circumstances of September 11? What happens to the tactical when it is filtered through academic discourse and institutions?
Discussion: Pat Aufderheide, Alison Cornyn, Ted Byfield, David Garcia
and group
11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Politics of the Ephemeral: Rethinking the Archive
The 9-11 VCB underscores the ephemeral nature of tactical media -- as well as web-based material more generally. Is it a contradiction in terms to archive tactical media? How can we best contextualize this material for pedagogy, analysis, and research? These kinds of questions - generated by the shift to digital media, the exponential growth of cyber communication, and the rapid globalization of capital as well as social movements -- are radically altering archival practices.
How can Tactical Media be preserved and made accessible without altering the value produced by its ephemerality? What are the issues in design that facilitate this process?
Discussion: Howard Besser, Sandra Braman, Meg McLagan, Randy Ross, and group
12:30 - 1:30 pm
LUNCH
Afternoon session
2:00- 5:00
COLLABORATIONS
How can we develop a productive network that links academic and activist work in Tactical Media? We have invited a number of participants who have generated projects at the intersection of pedagogy, activism, and research to present their work and to discuss the potential mutual benefits of building a collaborative network.
Discussion: DeeDee Halleck, Daoud Kuttab, Martin Lucas, Drazen Pantic, Trebor Scholz, and group
Sunday, December 15
Dean's Conference Room
Tisch School of the Arts
721 Broadway, 12th floor
10:00 am - 3:30 pm
Tactical Media and Health Activism: The Case of HIV/AIDS
VIRTUAL CASE BOOK #2
This case book is intended to provide an analysis as well as an historical document of the movements for access to HIV/AIDS medications locally and globally, activism that began in an age of video and street theater with groups such as ACT UP, and that has been greatly facilitated more recently by Internet and web-based communications. The implications of this growing movement reach far beyond the issue of antiretroviral medications, especially in light of recent developments in the mapping of the human genome; the debates about intellectual property emerging out of international trade agreements; and the increasing influence of patients who have come to redefine themselves as health activists - a shift that has been greatly facilitated by new media.
The object of this case book is 1) to collect, organize, frame and present data in a readily accessible form; 1) to facilitate connection among activist groups internationally; to 3) bridge divides between academics, activists, and artists; and 4) to enhance pedagogy on these crucial issues for HIV/AID and health activism more generally which is changing the contours of medical practice and the political economy of health care.
10:00 am - 12:30 pm
The Long View: From ACT UP to the Treatment Action Campaign (and beyond) It is undeniable that the development of network society and an information economy have changed the ground upon which a new internationalist activism can arise. The possibility of organizing unprecedented numbers of people is at hand. Surprisingly, this possibility requires that we focus on the constitution of the individual subject as it arises on a new global terrain.
Digital technologies and the development of networks have certainly made exchange and organizing among activists all over the world more efficacious. Yet, there still remain the complexities of inequity and cultural differences. What are the obstacles and limits of international organizing that technological optimism often overlooks?
Discussion: Gregg Bordowitz, Jean Carlomusto, Julie Davids, Steve Kurtz, Kendall Thomas, Paula Treichler, and group
Working lunch
1:00- 3:00 pm
Screening: Habit (Gregg Bordowitz, 2001, 53 min)
This autobiographical documentary weaves together stories of the current history of the AIDS epidemic in South Africa and the struggle for access to medical treatment there, with Bordowitz's personal odyssey as an activist media maker who has been living with AIDS for over ten years.
Gregg Bordowitz and the group will address the intentions and strategies that informed Habit, as well as its reception in different cultural and political contexts. What lessons can be garnered for developing a virtual case book on the history and contemporary practices of AIDS activism, in ways that further both knowledge and action?
3:00-3:30 Wrap-up; future plans
Funding for this conference has been provided by The Rockefeller Foundation, with additional support from The Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York.
Also:
NYU's Steinhardt School of Education and
The Department of Culture and Communication
present
AMERICA AND ITS OTHERS
Friday, December 13
New York University
Surdna North, Tisch Hall, 3d floor
40 West Fourth St (corner of Greene Street)
9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
America has always defined itself against its "Others," who have taken new shapes in the context of the media revolution we are living through. Recent events sharply pose the question: what and where is America vis-‡-vis the others it distinguishes itself from? On Dec 13, NYU will host a conference, "America and Its Others," on cultural and political histories of America as act and idea.
Time: Dec 13, 2002, 9 am to 5 pm.
PLEASE RSVP to Elena McCalla (elena.mccalla@nyu.edu) or to Arvind Rajagopal (ar67@nyu.edu) to reserve a seat. Limited availability of seats.
Speakers will include:
Talal Asad, Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center
Craig Calhoun, Sociology, NYU
Jordan Crandall, Visual Arts, UC San Diego
Jonathan Crary, Art History, Columbia University
Jodi Dean, Politics, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Allen Feldman
Randy Martin, Art and Public Policy, NYU
Toby Miller, Cinema Studies, NYU
Rosalind Morris, Anthropology, Columbia University
Fred Myers, Anthropology, NYU
Paul Passavant, Politics, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Andrew Ross, American Studies, NYU
Michael Taussig, Anthropology, Columbia University
George Yudice, American Studies and Comparative Literature, NYU
