Costelloe-KuehnMemo45

not a big crisis of representation, just a little one. the wenner-gren fellowship folks are asking me for a title, and when i say "experimental environmental media" i'm not sure if i think it's quite "elegant" (?) enough... tomie pointed out that it's not entirely clear if the "experimental" is referring to the "environmental" or the "media." i had intended it to be the "media," but i guess its both in a way (i.e. suro's projects that put the "media" into the "environment" by projecting on walls and turning the microphones and cameras live on the audience.)... and lots more too: experimental forms of collectivity, collaboration, knowledge production, organizing, demonstratoin/protest, etc. something about the double adjectives and double "mental" ending doesn't ring with me either... it seems like a big mouthful? anyway, for now i was thinking of just using the hass title : Environmental Media Organizations: Leveraging Media Technologies, Practices and Communities in India and the U.S. but changing "leveraging" to "expermenting with,"

Environmental Media Orgnaizations: Experimenting with Media Technologies, Practices and Communities in India and the U.S.
but then does "experimenting with" seem a bit... wishy washy? to this audience (anthropologists)? it recalls experimenting with drugs in the 60s, or something. something like "innovation" seems much more "serious" (and business-like, yuck). since i've been paying attention to the word "experiment" in new ways since reading rheinberger's essay, i'm drawn more and more to the concept (and how it echoes lots of other concepts) and definitely want to keep it central to my research. also, with the front part of the hass title, i'm not sure i want to highlight "organizations" any more. i like that it signals (or does it?) my focus not just on "the media" (as object) but as the new forms of collectivity and practice that go into these products. but maybe anthropologists like more poetic/playful (and less literal) front-titles, with a bit of a description following the colon......

"experimenting with translation: articulating media and environment in India and the U.S."
lots of nice double and tripple meanings in there too.

I might get some good ideas from the [labofii] listserv. For example they have a summer camp/workshop called " ART,CULTUR E AND SUSTAINABI LITY - From the Bauhaus to Social Sculpture " and I like that the labofii calls its projects "experiments." the whole lab thing reminds me a bit of Rabinow's "collaboratory" project.

Today I'm thinking that I could play with **"media ecologies"** somehow. And maybe even **"sustainability."** I am interested in "experimenting," but also in what "works," or is "sustainable." New forms of sustainable alternative/independent economies, collectivities, organization, etc. Also, I have noticed that many great ideas and experiments end up "dissipating" if there is no "follow-up," so how can experiments be sustained but not "institutionalized," in the sense of ossified and supporting the status quo? That's actually one of my "God questions," how can forms of collectivity sustain themselves while fending off a tendency for organs of power to solidify, becoming just another "State"? How do projects become "sustainable" while remaining "radical?"