I'm at the London Media Fair at the London Public Library and want to share with you what's going on here right now. Don't substitute this for coming down to the Library even though its a rainy day. There's tonnes of beautiful zines, artwork, and clothing here - so that's a good enough reason than any to come by. If you're not too sure what the LIMF is read this:
2010's Indie Media Fair will commence on March 13th. Come one, come all interested in Independent Media. Expect London's best indie publications, merchandise and workshops. As always, you can find this year's Indie Media Fair at London's Central Public Library. This year's Indie Media Fair will will feature three cool workshops:
• Scholartist: a discussion on how academic and artistic work can be made to contaminate and resonate to produce new media forms. by Kane X. Faucher (1pm)
• Intellectual Self-Defense: Combating Propaganda in Our Socity. by Iconoclast (2pm)
• Convergence: The Convergence of Social and Independent Media. by Brian Frank (3pm)
You can follow this page throughout the day for updates and check the twitter feed below. If you are at the Media Fair, tag your tweets with #ldnfuse to document them below.
2:38: Kane X. Faucher just completed his discussion titled "Scholartist: a discussion on how academic and artistic work can be made to contaminate and resonate to produce new media forms".
He explored how the lines between Academia and Artistry are disappearing. The reason for this? The information that is available today.
In the past there was a rigid separation between ones work and ones play, or Academia and Artistry to protect their integrity in their jobs. Specializations in academics were created to protect their work from others scholars but with the availability of information today the ability for anyone to learn any field has opened up how people apply themselves. Kane Faucher says that this has given scholars the option of exploring their artistic experience as well. Faucher compared Arts and Academia saying that Curiosity and Exploration is what is behind both Art and Academia whether you are a Painter of a Scientist. Since I'm not in the academic field I took most of his discussion as being able to mix your "work" (your job, how you make money) and your art and one can be an extension of the other. Faucher focused a lot on how the accessibility of information had created a growingly brilliant population that can do whatever they want with the power their knowledge holds. They can't be tied down to one specialization and can afford exploring both their artistic and academic streams. An interesting model that he brought up was the Rhizome model. What was taken from the biological term can be utilized in sociology. The idea basically explores that people aren't limited to learning or exploring through a hierarchical fashion anymore which gives them an unlimited approach to new learning. I know this seems really vague and we didn't get much chance to explore it more but I encourage you to explore the Rhizome Theory and interpret through a social means.
What the discussion came down to for me: You can do both your work and your art, if they aren't already one combined.
Brian Frank hosted a discussion with a small group on the convergence between Social Media and Indie media. Right off the start, Brian asked what the difference between social media and indie media were even in a room full of intelligent people no one had an answer. It was quickly realized that there isn't much of a difference and that one can be the same. The discussion moved in several directions. We had great input from people of all different backgrounds and as quickly as we could in the hour talked about the background of some indie mediums like zines and some of the background of social media platforms. We discussed what media was and Brian described media as anything that connects people with ideas. The discussion focused mainly on the direction of digital media as the group was largely made up of digital media producers and contributors and unfortunately underpopulated with "traditional" indie media creators.
What came of the talk, discussion online is great but it needs to be backed up by brick and mortar relationships by bringing that back in to "real life." Want to help contribute to that? Join LondonFuse if you haven't and show up to PodCamp London.
...Now off to A Night at the Manor.
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