Archive of FurtherStudio Critical Forum with Replic**t
21st July 2004
The Panel
Replic**t
FurtherStudio artist in residence
Helen Sloan
Director of SCAN
Charlotte Frost
Net art historian and Editor of Furthertxt.org
Chaired by Marc Garrett of Furtherfield.org
Present at 18.33 GMT : Replic**t Ltd, marc garrett , Helen (Sloan), ruth (from Furtherfield), James, patrick, Neil (from Furtherfield)
Arrivals and Introductions:
Charlotte just joined the room
Helen : Hey! hi
marc garrett : hello Charlotte :-)
Replic**t Ltd : hey charlotte
Charlotte : hey, just burnt my finger on the oven!
Replic**t Ltd : welcome to the ultimate boardroom
Charlotte : you wish
Replic**t Ltd : lol
lisa just joined the room [18:36:07]
marc garrett : 3 minutes
marc garrett : are we ready, is everything set up?
Replic**t Ltd : and counting
Helen : Yep
Replic**t Ltd : yep
Charlotte : I am getting aloe vera gel on my keyboard! ;-)
Replic**t Ltd : yuck
marc garrett : ok - give some others a chance to log into the discussion
marc garrett : for the time mentioned
replic**t Ltd just joined the room [18:37:25]
Replic**t Ltd : ahh a franchisee
biggles just joined the room [18:38:07]
Charlotte : or one of the disenfranchised?
Replic**t Ltd : ;]
gary human just joined the room [18:39:00]
Ali just joined the room [18:39:03]
marc garrett : Firstly - everyone, welcome to the Critical Forum, part of the FurtherStudio Residency.
marc garrett : thanx to everyone who has shown up
marc garrett : Also, a big thanx for Helen Sloan and Charlotte Frost for finding the time to join us this evening.
Replic**t Ltd just joined the room [18:40:23]
replic**t Ltd just joined the room [18:40:25]
marc garrett : This forum will firstly start with us all observing the critical discussion between Helen Sloan and Charlotte Frost, with Replic**nt - our Resident Artist. After 40 minutes we can all go into the public chatroom with everyone else and continue the Forum ...
replic**t Ltd just left the room
RObert just joined the room [18:41:12]
marc garrett : ok - the floor is open for charlotte & helen & and replicc**t :-)
Critical Forum
Charlotte : To accrue value in the corporate dominated art world, you need provenance, what is your provenance replic**t?
Replic**t Ltd : you mean reference charlotte?
Replic**t Ltd : my origin?
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Charlotte : your origin, your tradition your site of worth that you expect us to value too?
Helen : What is the provenance of the artist?
rich just joined the room [18:42:56]
Replic**t Ltd : in a sense i dont have an origin, it all begins with my incorporation
Replic**t Ltd : and accruing value from that point on
replic**t LT just joined the room [18:44:11]
Helen : Part of your business orientated value is to sell consumables but you are also selling yourself. Is there any other value?
Replic**t Ltd : the ultimate thing of value here is me, the artist as a brand
replic**tltd just joined the room [18:44:52]
Replic**t Ltd : essentially the value is in the idea
Replic**t Ltd : sorry idea
Replic**t Ltd : and then that brands attitude is projected onto extraneous items
Charlotte : I was hoping to see you as the Jordan of net art, but I find you more of a Jodie Marsh, was this in fact your intention?
Replic**t Ltd : who is jodie marsh ?
Replic**t Ltd : lol
Helen : Do you want to be a celebrity or a recluse?
replic**t Ltd just joined the room [18:46:14]
Replic**t Ltd : i want to be a celebrity who is absent
Replic**t Ltd : who celebrityness is dependent on lack of visibility
Replic**t Ltd : perpetuating a myth
Replic**t Ltd : invisibility means that
Replic**t Ltd : desire is created
Charlotte : Would be the perfect candidate if the art establishment was to introduce an Art Idol competition, and if so, what characteristics would you seek to portray for your fans to ultimately replicate?
replic**tltd just left the room
Replic**t Ltd : art idol, well that would be me
Replic**t Ltd : and characteristics
Replic**t Ltd : well those would all be in line with my branding research
Replic**t Ltd : which suggests
Replic**t Ltd : that customer loyalty is dependent on emotional arousal
Replic**t Ltd : therefore its all about charisma
replic**tltd just joined the room [18:49:02]
Charlotte : Starbucks use the local market saturation model to great effect, but all I have seen from you is direct marketing and arrogance and unless you make the FTSE 100 you wont make a dint in the commercial sector what other strategies should we expect to see you use?
Helen : There is a tension between this and what is actually on your website. There is a lot that is patently uncharismatic. And as Charlotte say pretty unsaleable
Replic**t Ltd : i cannot make the FSTE 100 as a private company, you've got to start small
Replic**t Ltd : what is saleable, literally are little bits of merchandise
Replic**t Ltd : the rest is about generating value
Charlotte : starting small doesn't sound very impressive
Replic**t Ltd : and suggesting that a lot of that value is arbitrary
Replic**t Ltd : not based on objects
Replic**t Ltd : but located in an economy of objectless trade
Charlotte : and how are you going to generate this value??? - what strategies???
Replic**t Ltd : invisibility is one of the strategies im looking at
Replic**t Ltd : coupled with add on visibility through company gifts
Replic**t Ltd : and so on
Replic**t Ltd : marketing
Charlotte : But these are not corporate strategies!
Replic**t Ltd : infiltrating the public realm
Replic**t Ltd : via corporate strategies
Replic**t Ltd : what is not corporate about merchandise?
Helen : If you were doing this without referencing back to the art world so blatantly, it might work better. You are only reaching a very few of the public realm with these tactics
Charlotte : absolutely
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Replic**t Ltd : but the commercial sector is inherently more public than the art world
Replic**t Ltd : this is where i want to be located
Replic**t Ltd : why cant we marry art and business
Replic**t Ltd : and reference art in a commercial context
Charlotte : but you are only reaching the net art public
Charlotte : that is a small sector
Replic**t Ltd : this is true
Charlotte : do you think you are thinking too small?
Replic**t Ltd : ideally i would outsource my marketing campaign
Replic**t Ltd : i am developing ways and means to take it to these contexts
Charlotte : But as a net artist you must be very good at marketing
Charlotte : don't outsource skills you have, that is Bad business
marc garrett : (a note to visitors) 24 minutes left of critical interview between helen sloan, charlotte frost & replic**t - then we can all discuss together :-)
Replic**t Ltd : outsourcing is a corporate strategy and collaborative in some sense
Replic**t Ltd : i find that more interesting
Charlotte : but not wise if you can deal with it in-house
Replic**t Ltd : skills i have would be limited to a net art world
Replic**t Ltd : this is thinking big
Charlotte : so you are thinking bigger then???
Replic**t Ltd : lol
Replic**t Ltd : this is a real situation here,
eric etcetera just joined the room [18:56:31]
Replic**t Ltd : the inland revenue is my new mother
Replic**t Ltd : a life long commitment
Helen : What happens when you go public in all senses of the word. You make yourself visible ie setting up in a gallery space as you have suggested
Replic**t Ltd : i intend to peruse very carefully
Replic**t Ltd : i have been thinking about this scenario
Helen : NOt expand too quickly then
Replic**t Ltd : given my strategy of invisibility as a
Helen : That is good business sense
Replic**t Ltd : means of generating desire in an economy of attention
Charlotte : But could you expand a bit quicker so we have more to look at?
Replic**t Ltd : i think i will be hiring company reps to attend these kinds of physical events
Replic**t Ltd : legally no
Replic**t Ltd : there are certain corporate laws i have to adhere to
Replic**t Ltd : but i like the tensions this presents
Replic**t Ltd : this is a real situation
Helen : It seems to me that you are running the risk of buying into the very things you wish to critique. I know you are appropriating their means but what happens when you forget your origins and provenance
Replic**t Ltd : yes there are contradictions here
Replic**t Ltd : what started as satire...
Replic**t Ltd : is becoming very entrenched in using the real methodologies on offer
Replic**t Ltd : ie corporate strategies
Charlotte : Is there a point at which, life imitating art and art imitating life, that pastiche becomes indistinguishable from original and work becomes just a little banal, is banality your ultimate goal?
Helen : Bringing in some perhaps comparable artists in different ways, where would you position yourself against people like Yes Men, RTMark et al
Replic**t Ltd : but there is no reason these cant be detourned
Replic**t Ltd : i like the ambiguity of the indistinguishable
Replic**t Ltd : and working with the tensions it produces
Replic**t Ltd : the ultimate goal is that life becomes art or art and life connect
Replic**t Ltd : if the result is banal i think thats interesting
Replic**t Ltd : and a point of departure for any project
Replic**t Ltd : Yes Men etc...
Replic**t Ltd : well we are using business as a medium
Charlotte : and Thomson and Craigheads Dot Store
Replic**t Ltd : and trying to detourne it ....that is our only point of connection
Replic**t Ltd : yes T & C using the ecommerce portal as a distribution mechanism
Replic**t Ltd : but selling copies
Replic**t Ltd : i like the idea of creating a dsyfunctional product line
Replic**t Ltd : its like my shares
marc garrett : (note to recent visitors) we have 15 minutes left of critical forum with helen sloan, charlotte frost & replic**t - and then we can all join together to discuss more :-)
Replic**t Ltd : they are 0.01p but there is a five pound stamp duty
Replic**t Ltd : so the whole things becomes slightly arbitrary
Replic**t Ltd : my stationary, its un writable on
Replic**t Ltd : valuing the valueless
Charlotte : Do you think you have used your residency well? It seems as though you have shown little of your process and all of your product, do you see the studio as a peepshow rather than a portal?
Replic**t Ltd : lol
Replic**t Ltd : yes its definitely been a peepshow
Replic**t Ltd : i think it been very productive, but only the embryo of the project
Charlotte : Could you have done more dancing with your time?
Replic**t Ltd : im always dancing , i thought i used it to take a break
Charlotte : There you go again thinking small - embryo - couldn't it be a catalyst???
Replic**t Ltd : i dont think its thinking small to incorporate yourself
replic**t LT just left the room
Replic**t Ltd : i think thats a catalyst for larger things to come
Charlotte : Your Avant Garde and corporate goals would suggest you will introduce something new if only to make money from it, what is your killer app.?
Replic**t Ltd : my killer app, a company that exercises the right not to produce
Helen : I've been a bit quiet - I am still struggling with your idea of art and life. It's been done a lot and I dont really see you doing it other than taking on the persona or Replic**t Ltd. That's why I've been a bit quiet. I am still wondering what you are producing and what really are your means of production
Charlotte : yes yes!!
Replic**t Ltd : replic**t is what i am producing and i am investigating way in which to do that
Replic**t Ltd : but to do it a way that remains critical
Replic**t Ltd : and detournes the structures i'm attempting to appropriate
marc garrett : (to all who have just joined) 8 minutes left of the critical forum, and then we can all be in one chat room together:-)
Charlotte : How? in many respects, net artists are always replic**ts, borrowing, simulating, appropriating, and deliberately using pastiche or subversion to question systems, and they certainly werent the first to do it either. How is your replic**t doing anything more than this?
Replic**t Ltd : replic**t ltd does just copy and paste images
Replic**t Ltd : shes surf on existing structures, structures located in the public realm, like the corporation
Replic**t Ltd : your notion of authenticity is contradictory
Replic**t Ltd : that something has been done before is surely the point
Replic**t Ltd : we continue to use these strategies
Replic**t Ltd : and try to take them further
Charlotte : But your strategies aren't quite that clear
Replic**t Ltd : im in a research and development stage ;]
Replic**t Ltd : so far i have packaged myself
Charlotte : What is the relevance of the ASCII-cam?
marc garrett : 5 minutes :-)
Replic**t Ltd : there is much much more to be done
Replic**t Ltd : the ascii cam is the peep show
Replic**t Ltd : in line with the idea of invisibility
replic**t Ltd just left the room
Replic**t Ltd : as a means of generating interest
Replic**t Ltd : and perpetuating myth
Replic**t Ltd : its erotic
Helen : The ascii cam also references gender in terms of the way you talk about these projects. Is that relevant to the website too?
Replic**t Ltd : yes gender is relevant
Helen : How?
Replic**t Ltd : one thing you know about me is that i am a women
Replic**t Ltd : i aim to inject a bit of fem attitude in the realm of business
Replic**t Ltd : proud to be a corporation
Charlotte : But you seem to want to subordinate yourself to systems
Replic**t Ltd : i want to use systems not be subordinate to them
Charlotte : Conceptual marriages? Do you think your next option might well be a brand merger or take-over? And if so, what marriage of corporate convenience would you make?
Replic**t Ltd : i want to franchise
marc garrett : 1 minute left
Replic**t Ltd : but i need to be a public company
Replic**t Ltd : with a 50,000 pound turn over
Helen : You make links to huge sites like eBay and google. Why not ask them if they will make a link to you? Could be good for business
Replic**t Ltd : perhaps merging with another artist as start up might help me do that
Replic**t Ltd : syndication is one strategy im attempting to implement
marc garrett : OK - A big Thank you everyone who has joined here tonight for the FurtherStudio Critical Forum.
Replic**t Ltd : that would be a good idea
marc garrett : lol
Replic**t Ltd : ;]
marc garrett : And of course a warm thank you to Helen Sloan, Charlotte Frost & Replic**t for discussing here this evening.
marc garrett : Could the Panellists & Replic**t please make their way to the public chat room with everyone else?
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