“We are looking for work that considers the global earth in some fashion or another. It can be work that addresses global social, political economic, spiritual, etc. issues. It can be work that physically or metaphorically lies in multiple locations on the planet, it can be work that may have personal relationships to multiple locations on the planet. Or anything else that loosely falls along the concept of being "global" in nature.” – LEA call for entries.

Introduction
The idea for this show came out of an email exchange between myself and Nisar Keshvani, LEA's Editor-in-chief. The Leonardo Journal had recently published an article on my ongoing global memorial artwork called The Crying Post Project

In the time between writing it and publication I had put up some more posts and had thought that LEA would be a good venue to update the article. Nisar suggested putting together an internet exhibit of other artworks that were somehow global in design or content. Nisar also brought in Kok Kee Choy as a co-curator to participate with the review process.

Before considering the artists that have been included in this exhibit, I’d like to consider a number of artists we were unable to include, and the implications of their artwork to a new networked global art and economy.

One artist wrote:

"Hello there,

My name is Scott Wesly am a local artist from austria

i will like you to do me a favour. the favour is that my agent is to pay me some money for the art award which i won from mr erick benjamin in usa for the jobs i model for him, Now he is owing me some money and he has decided to pay me with USPS Money Order and i cannot cash the money over here because it is USPS Money Order or CANADA money order. so now am looking for any US or Canada CITIZEN that i can trust in helping me to cash the Money Order and i don't mind in paying the person 10% of the money because this has been a problem for me so i want you to help me out of the problem.

I will be very greatfull if you can help me out in cashing this money order. I will be waiting for your urgent response ASAP today. Here is the full name and address of the agent owing me if you will like to contact him for confirmation

MR ERICK BENJAMIN
206-338-5690”

The global component here should be apparent: Austria, the USA, and perhaps Canada. Additionally there is a provocative subtext – global monetary practices; perhaps the abuse suffered by people on the wrong end of the new global economy. Unfortunately the artist failed to supply us with the necessary website or attached information.

Mr Wesly was by no means the only artist dealing with global monetary practices, and their aesthetic implications. Several artists including Mr Aroh Edy (Nigeria), Mr Serge Mitev (Russia), Dr Debbie jerry [sic] (also Nigeria), Mr Wong Du (China), Mr John Savimbi (Angola), and Mrs. Luisa Loi Ejercito Estrada (Philippines), all submitted interesting collaborative project ideas. In general, each project consisted of a request to a collaborator to supply banking information and/or money in order to transfer larger sums out of their respective countries.

There was some variation in the socio-political subtexts. In some cases they dealt with different funereal practices, i.e. the relationship between money and the dead (Edy, Du, and Savimbi); in others they dealt with power relationships and the significance of protected resources (Mitev, jerry, and Estrada). I was intrigued to see that this common aesthetic was shared by artists from what we would generally consider to be wildly differing cultural traditions. It may be true, as some have suggested, that the global economy is leading to a shared global culture.

Nonetheless, this seems to me to be an important new aesthetic development which goes under-reported by the traditional art press. Perhaps owing to the nature of the Leonardo Electronic Almanac, artists that would normally go unrecognized felt comfortable enough to respond to our call for entries. Unfortunately, it was difficult to get the full details of these projects from either the artists or their global collaborators.

The Works

The artists in this show have addressed the global concept with variety. It should come as no surprise that several took a socio-political approach (Mike, Chung-Yan, Mishra, Mazza). Three might be considered more of a technological/(pseudo)scientific approach (Holmes, Hohl/Huber, and Doyon/Demers), and two a multicultural communications approach (Goksch and the Gao Brothers).

Mike, Chung-Yan, Mishra, and Mazza all consider what it means to be a global citizen. Mazza and microRevolt have created a global community dedicated to raising issues of the sweatshop treatment of women throughout the world, particularly as it relates to Nike. Much like the AIDS quilt and certainly just as serious, small squares are knitted by people all over the world and are being collected for use as a blanket to present to Phil Knight, the Chairman of Nike. In this project the Internet is the format for publicity, but not the actual artwork.

Chung-Yan also looks at the darker side of global control with her Surveillance project, in a piece that could only be created and displayed via the Internet. In her case, she points out how much of the world is now both public and easily accessible, raising the usual questions of just how far the information revolution will go, and how little control we have over it. I personally would like to see this raised to a higher level of engagement than a “things as they are” presentation. Perhaps into an artwork that allows for some form of public engagement as does the Nike Blanket Petition.

Mike takes a more positive - some might even say utopian- approach with The Face Of Tomorrow. Here Mike creates composite images of men and women created by combining multiple pictures of the populations of cosmopolitan cities throughout the world. What is interesting is how similar these composites appear even from wildly differing locales. There are however, some structural issues that ought to be considered. For example, Mike does point out the difficulty in getting photos of women in Muslim countries, but this leaves a noticeable and questionable gap in his presentation. Additional issues include the fact that the photos are overwhelmingly of young people, which certainly skews the composites. I also would have been intrigued to see this carried even further into gender-neutral composites. Finally, the google ads for smiley faces and other products and services may have been an economic necessity, but it distracts from the presentation.

Mishra looks at the children of immigrants from India and other East Asian countries, and displays their often poignant and wise comments on living in Great Britain. Although I appreciate the range, depth and subtlety of her photos and quotes, I think that the piece overall would benefit from a more technically savvy and aesthetically sophisticated presentation. Such an interface design could enhance the content, and be an even richer experience for the participant.

Holmes takes a serious and scientific approach to global water pollution in Floating Point. In this piece she creates multiple methods of visually representing data pertinent to specific water components at specific locations. Although it might be dismissed as “simply” information design, there are both aesthetic and interactive components to many of the locations, which are quite interesting independently of its informational value.

Hohl and Huber have crafted a project, which in addition to its informational value seems to be just plain fun. In Radiomap participants (and ultimately collaborators) walk on a physical representation of the globe projected onto the floor, and based on their “global location” different radio stations can be heard. Each station is taken from the “real” location. This is a complex piece, which in addition to bringing people into “contact” with other parts of the world, also can allow for a variety of collaborative and other experiences.

Capture Site by Doyan and Demers is a piece which in some ways is the inverse of Radiomap. Here, the two artists are suspended above ground in a large net, with all sorts of sensors in place that communicate local environmental information throughout the world.

Additionally, the two performers engage in a performance/conversation that is also streamed throughout the Internet.

Intermundos, created in Colombia by Vanessa Gocksch (Pata de Perro), has as its goal the representation of local youth culture, and its connection to youth cultures worldwide. It has a range of funky elements and does a good job of capturing both visual and conceptual aspects of their cultural environment. At this point it is still mainly focused on Colombia, but there are enough segments that look elsewhere, that I have hope for the growth of what is described as an ongoing project.

Some may discount the World Hug Day project by the Gao Brothers as both simple, naïve and aesthetically uninteresting. And to tell you the truth, I would have a hard time discounting that critique. However, perhaps because of my “flower power sixties” imprinting, I see it as both a powerful statement, and a social sculpture not dissimilar to that of Christo and Jean Claude, or Fluxus artists such as Yoko Ono. The image of thousands of people throughout the world in a simultaneous hug is quite striking.

So if you’re not out there hugging, please stop reading this and start exploring the world.

Curators Biographies

Dennis Summers
The multimedia installations, bookworks, digital animations, performance and conceptual works of Dennis Summers have been inspired by his readings in quantum physics, philosophy of science, anthropology, linguistics and information theory. He has worked and exhibited artwork internationally for the past 20 years. More recently his interest in environmental issues, current theories on mapping, and language extinction has lead to a variety of artworks including his ongoing global conceptual artwork called “The Crying Post Project,” begun in 2001. In addition to the physical posts placed around the world as part of “The Crying Post Project”, other components include a series of digital prints and an interactive 3D website. In contrast to this sort of work, a recent series of abstract digital “color field” videos have been described as mesmerizing, beautiful and complex. His artists' books and videos are in the collections of several major museums.

Choy Kok Kee
Choy Kok Kee holds a Masters of Art degree in Design for Interactive Media from the Centre of Electronic Arts, Middlesex University, London, UK. Prior to that, he was trained in advertising art/applied art and fine art. He has worked in the creative industry for more than two decades as an art director and creative consultant. Kok Kee is also an academia and advisor to tertiary institutions and art colleges. As an artist, Kok Kee first exhibited his works at a tender age of 11 in the late 1970s after being spotted as an art prodigy. Since then, Kok Kee has exhibited and won numerous art awards both abroad and locally. His works are acquired and collected by both foreign and local commercial institutions, government bodies and educational establishments. He is also a member and chairperson of governmental, educational, art and design advisory committee and professional bodies in areas concerning political matters, media, education, creative design and arts development. Kok Kee is also a noted pioneer digital media artist in Singapore and an ex-mensa international. He is also the founder and mastermind behind the brand - Cult Of Creatives.