Jim Brown reviewed Networked Art by Craig J. Saper
Networks of Mail Art
This book is of interest to anyone who is interested in how social networks operate over and beyond digital networks and also to those who are interested in thinking about how artists can develop alternative political approaches and orientations. These artists (Fluxus and others) were/are doing more than mailing zines and art - they were modeling alternate network designs and situations.
The book shows how Fluxus and other groups created "intimate bureaucracies":
"An intimate bureaucracy makes poetic use of the trappings of large bureaucratic systems and procedures (e.g., logos, stamps) to create intimate aesthetic situations, including the pleasures of sharing a special knowledge or a new language among a small network of participants." (xii)
It also develops the term "sociopoetics" to understand how artists "score" situations:
"The term sociopoetic describes artworks that use social situations or social networks as a canvas; intimate bureaucracies are a type of sociopoetic work...I employ …
This book is of interest to anyone who is interested in how social networks operate over and beyond digital networks and also to those who are interested in thinking about how artists can develop alternative political approaches and orientations. These artists (Fluxus and others) were/are doing more than mailing zines and art - they were modeling alternate network designs and situations.
The book shows how Fluxus and other groups created "intimate bureaucracies":
"An intimate bureaucracy makes poetic use of the trappings of large bureaucratic systems and procedures (e.g., logos, stamps) to create intimate aesthetic situations, including the pleasures of sharing a special knowledge or a new language among a small network of participants." (xii)
It also develops the term "sociopoetics" to understand how artists "score" situations:
"The term sociopoetic describes artworks that use social situations or social networks as a canvas; intimate bureaucracies are a type of sociopoetic work...I employ a theoretical approach that involves examining how situations function poetically (or sociopoetically)...my focus remains on how the artists and poets have manipulated and scored situations." (xiv)