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netsauna
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the genuine Finnish sauna supplied by a local
Austrian company: the net.sauna base for
the duration of the 1997 Ars Electronica
"flesh factor" festival in Linz, Austria.
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Under the influence of the digital media, the idea of the artist
as an autonomously creative individual has become increasingly irrelevant. Together
with the self-conception of the artist, the mode of work has also begun to change
radically. The work has come to be replaced by the process. The renunciation
of the authority of the creator over creation linked with the possibilities
of processing creations has been followed by a focus on these possibilities
with technology as a vehicle. This working method has been radicalized by "net-workers",
as can be seen in the project openX. openX is coupled with the intention of
making this new art practice accessible beyond its theory or partial experience
as a participant in a wider field of network projects.
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theory.sauna
Theory
Sauna: the idea behind a dialogic space in contrast with a spectacular
and representational space was the spark for the whole idea of "Theory
Sauna", which in turn led to the idea of "Net.Sauna".
In
various conferences and exhibitions, the dialogic space is not in the
center, but rather in the margins: the coffee breaks, the cigarette puffs,
the fractures in between programs and agendas. I want to generate discussion
on studying these dialogic spaces in order to slow down the process of
theoretical and metaphorical consumption, to reach a moment where hyperthinking
becomes possible also in the physical space.
Dialogue with event organizers: Toshiya
Ueno, Andreas Broeckman (DEAF/V2, Rotterdam), Mike Stubbs (ROOT/hTBA,
Hull)... open floor.
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sexual.sauna
Who is Who in the Sauna?
Meet the other players:
HEAVY HEATER
the person responsible for the temperature getting higher
or lower, also keeping the conversation going on
VICE-KEKKONEN
politician, a powerful figure in post-Kekkonen age
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
cannot stand the heat, needs cool showers
to take the information out
LOUT
politically incorrect or indiscreet intruder
V.I.P. SAUNA GUESTS
people being invited for the conversation beforehand
RANDOM VISITORS
you and your friends
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public.sauna
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dialogue.sauna
Justifications, rationalizations. Life rolls on into uncertainty and paradigm-free
spaces constructed by the fragments of Other and self that fling and are
flung on high-gravity trajectories, parabolas increasing in curvature
not under laws of acceleration but through the relative actions of relationship.
Guttural groans arrest all motion momentarily, keeping selves in a state
coming-to-know, on the brink of being, ready to burst into the NOW. BE
HERE NOW! Be calmly, with attention to the self and to the Other. Enjoy
the heat, the steam, and the sharing of life with that Other. friend and
stranger alike are reduced to sweating bodies and focussed minds in the
ritual of net.sauna.
There were once eight
dialogues. a core to begin from, a first stretch into the actual network
space of being-as-word. where mediation of language, the first mediation
of system-structure. stretch of tongue, vocalization, taut cords in the
throat move from scream to knowing word. and that act of recognition in
eyemind. resolving an Other in the mist of self-being. and through the
electricity of each day before sleep, and the dreams of wakefulness and
daydreams between hearings and speakings and after. Dialogue is a Place
to Be, a space of immediate and irreducible Presence.
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net.sauna is a space for genuine
dialogue. As a metaphor it is a
culturally specific yet inclusive space
that contrasts globalized constructions
such as museums, theaters and
broadcast media. Body and politics
intertwined are rescued from the mere
field of rhetoric and brought into a
small, warm, quiet place.
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