1. SO... WHO ARE YOU? TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF! SOME CORE OF TRUTH WOULD BE NICE, BUT PLEASE FEEL FREE TO BE COLOURFUL…
Amon Zero, front for techno-industrial outfit Arkam Asylum, among other things. If you know me by a different name, then you're either a relative or running an old version. I'm also the author of this list of questions, so don't be surprised if I have a lot to say in response...
2. WHAT DOES POLIS MEAN TO YOU, IF ANYTHING? GO ON, GUESS, EXTRAPOLATE...
From the Greek for city or community, although I'm told that the term refers to the collective of citizens rather than the hardware. More recently, appropriated from the Greg Egan novel Diaspora. Polis is a think tank and work in progress... a group of writers, artists, scientists, and other ne'er-do-wells who share an interest in matters of virtual and urban space (and related issues). In theory, Polis will also eventually refer to the sum of the virtual spaces and related works created by the members of the group.
I'm just interested by the amount of energy & enthusiasm flying around, and am curious how this thing will evolve...
3. DO YOU HAVE ANY PARTICULAR INTEREST IN VIRTUAL REALITY/VIRTUAL WORLDS, OR GENERAL THEMES/DEPICTIONS OF URBAN SPACE?
Yes. Virtual space and new media, theories of simulation and AI/VR hybrids (intelligent architecture), soundscapes, urban decay, Gibson's interstitial spaces, appropriation of official spaces by subcultures for their own ends, temporary autonomous zones and civil disobedience, you name it...
4. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE AN ARTIST, EITHER PRINCIPALLY OR AMONG OTHER THINGS?
I'm both an artist (primarily techno-industrial music, intend to expand into full-blown hypermedia/VR) and a scientist (cognitive science, AI; the dayjob).
5. IF YOU ARE AN ARTIST, DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR ART WORKS (OBJECTS, ACTIONS, WHATEVER) THAT WOULD EXPLORE POLIS THEMES OR IDEAS?
Currently working on the weapons grade EP, which will include a video; current ideas for the video have a protagonist entombed in a cell of sorts, witnessing nuclear holocaust and other nightmares on TV screens. The cell protects him, but is simultaneously eating him alive. The plan is to build up the images from hybrid animated Photoshop frames and live-action video. I'll be putting some preliminary sketches on the AA website this weekend.
I'd like to put the video online, or at least a depiction of the cell depicted in the video, and eventually project such environments at gigs. Ideally, such projections would be online & realtime, so Polis members could influence the live show from anywhere around the world. Introduction of interactive video material into the show would blur the line between the virtual world evoked by the videos/website, and the live experience.
6. WHAT ARTFORMS DO YOU CONSIDER MIGHT BE RELEVANT OR OF INTEREST TO POLIS?
All of them. Digital media strike me as particularly relevant, but of course anything can be documented, scanned, uploaded... my personal interests lean toward performance and conceptual works. Shamanic rituals, not unlike those performed by Joseph Beuys.
7. WHAT IDEAS FROM ANY NON-"ART" FIELD DO YOU THINK MIGHT BE RELEVANT OR OF INTEREST TO POLIS?
Oh, too many to choose from, but here's a thought for the day...
Quantum Physics; non-locality. When a particle is split in two, the remaining halves will always act in equal and opposite ways, instantaneously, over any distance. If one half hits a mirror and bounces left, the other half will bounce right. At first blush this appears to be faster-than-light communication between the two halves, which Einstein ruled out (don't get me started on that one). An alternative explanation is the non-locality theorem, which suggests that there is no FTL communication, but a nonlocal link (called spooky action at a distance by Einstein). This means that if you affect any particle that has in the past been a part of a greater body, then you also influence the other parts of that body, wherever they may be. Add that to the apparent fact of the Big Bang, when all matter in the universe was condensed to a singularity, and suddenly you have a situation where affecting any single part of the universe affects every other part.
8. DO YOU KNOW THE DADA, FLUXUS, OR BEAT MOVEMENTS? DO YOU SEE ANY PARALLELS BETWEEN THOSE AND WHAT POLIS MIGHT BECOME, OR ANY INTERESTED LESSONS THEY MIGHT HAVE TO TEACH US?
Breaking rules in a meaningful and constructive fashion is a noble cause, and much harder to do than most people realise.
9. ANY OTHER MOVEMENTS WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT? THEY DON'T HAVE TO BE "ART" MOVEMENTS...
The situationists (Guy Debord, Paris May 1968 etc). Transhumanist Arts (Natasha Vita-More). Existentialism.
10. IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT PLACE DOES ORGANISED LINEAR MUSIC HAVE IN POLIS SOUNDSCAPES, IF ANY?
Aha! The trick question! I'm rather partial to the idea of AA using soundscapes to evoke an otherworld. The artist is shaman, necessarily mediating all access to and understanding of this virtual dimension. That sounded a bit elitist, didn't it?
Like Marcus, I'd like to lose the "linear" aspect, just as soon as audiences can get their heads around interactive audio...
11. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE POLIS MANIFESTO? DO YOU THINK THE MANIFESTO SHOULD BE TEXT ONLY? MULTIMEDIA? SUGGESTIVE OR EXPLICIT?
I agree with Esther that the manifesto should be suggestive rather than explicit, and am particularly encouraged by the text-fragments that have been transmitted by cnawan & Charles. As I've said before, I like the idea of the manifesto as an object with a faint air of mystery; something that leads by example... that said, a collection of all these "20 questions" responses from the various founder-members would probably hit all the right buttons. Democratic, multiplicitous, oblique.
12. NAME ONE THINKER (OR DOER) WHO YOU FEEL SHOULD BE OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO POLIS? HELL, NAME A BUNCH OF THEM IF YOU LIKE...
Jaron Lanier, Albert Speer, Joseph Cornell, Jean Baudrillard, Plato, Hans Moravec, Max More, Nietzsche, Hakim Bey.
13. DOES POLITICS HAVE ANY PLACE IN POLIS?
Yes, although dogma does not. Political passion is a passion for life, but Polis should never express a single unified political front. That would be a sign that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. We are not here to build consensus.
14. DO YOU THINK THERE SHOULD BE A DEDICATED POLIS WEBSITE, OR A DISTRIBUTED NET? OR BOTH? OR SOME OTHER ALTERNATIVE?
I like the idea of a hybrid system; distributed nodes, modular, but with a dedicated front door site as our acceptable public face (even if it is one that says "f*ck off"). Mr Serpentine was looking into .org URLs and the like, but in the meantime we have:
www.geocities.com/azazil.geo/polis.html (now www.polis-group.co.uk)
This hub needs more links; both from the hub, and back to it from the member sites. I'm currently maintaining the hub, so email me URL details and a link pic. You know it makes sense.
cnawan|ametsus has identified data archiving as an important activity of Polis. I dig that, and am particularly into the idea of sharing the data around, assigning responsibility for various aspects of Polis among the members. If you've read William Gibson's "Virtual light" this should sound very familiar ...and it would have the added bonus of giving Polis limited protection from nuclear strike! ; )
15. DO YOU KNOW ANY PROGRAMMING/SCRIPTING LANGUAGES? PARTICULARLY JAVA OR VRML? IF NOT, WOULD YOU LIKE SUPPORT IN LEARNING FROM MEMBERS OF POLIS?
I know BASIC, Pascal, HTML, learning VRML, got the concepts of OOP down but yet to learn C++ or Java. Happy to share the knowledge.
16. DO WE CARE ABOUT THINGS LIKE HACKING, AS A GROUP? SHOULD WE BE ENCRYPTED FOR ANY REASON?
I mentioned this because the topic has come up in the past, rather than out of some a priori concern. That said, I'm no fan of big government, so encryption would be fine by me. Practical hassles would loom large though, I imagine... not a good idea for a fledgling community to cut itself off from the world.
I'm interested in hearing news about hacks from around the world (and to a lesser extent, cracks). Polis should not collectively condone denial of service attacks and the like, unless you like the idea of the thought police taking away your computer (I live in the UK, where new anti-terrorism laws make this a very real possibility).
17. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN TRANSHUMANISM, OR EVEN KNOW OR CARE WHAT IT IS?
I'm a transhumanist, although I'm not a dues-paying member of any organisation. Wouldn't join any club that would have me (and suspect that most of you feel the same way... strange basis for a collective!)
For those of you who asked; think post-enlightenment humanism. i.e. the human condition is the moral and pragmatic centre of our world, rather than any God or ideology. Science, art (as we know it), and rational thought are the products of humanism. "Transhumanism" is the same thing, but throwing out any necessary limitations of the human condition, and replacing them with technologically-inspired optimism. It's the kind of belief in Progress that was nearly wiped out by the two World Wars, but with a cynical/nonlinear/postmodern edge.
Oh, and it's about replacing body parts until you become a Gundam robot ; )
If you know Greg Egan's books, you'll see the connection between Polis and transhumanism. If you don't know Egan and want to know more, feel free to ask.
18. DO YOU KNOW ANY OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE INTELLIGENT, CREATIVE, AND MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN JOINING THE POLIS GROUP? IF SO, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO TELL THEM ABOUT US, TELL US ABOUT THEM, FORWARD THIS MAIL, WHATEVER SEEMS APPROPRIATE...
Now why would I want to expose my friends to the surly likes of you lot? ; )
19. HAVE YOU SEEN "EVENT CITIES" 1 OR 2 BY BERNARD TSCHUMI (THEY'RE OBLIQUE ARCHITECTURE COFFEE-TABLE ART BOOKS)
Imagine some 600 pages of sketches and computer-aided designs of airports and malls, but with no explanatory text, so much attention to detail that the images are abstract, and everything printed on b/w rough-grain paper. Would make a good Polis manifesto.
20. ANY OTHER THOUGHTS, ANYTHING YOU'D LIKE TO ADD?
Send links for the hub. Put fragments, sketches, half-remembered dreams online. I'm going to do that now.