arctic circle
main menu..................arctic circle...................tropic of cancer
email forum (Mailbox entry to the circle.)
email reading - ars digitalis HdK Berlin, April 1996
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From: felix.huber@thing.nyc.ny.us Sun Apr 23 1995
Subject: Polar Reply
Lieber Philip
du bist schon richtig in der Wildnis. Ich habe gelesen, dass es
inzwischen eher eine Touristische Sache ist da oben.
gruss Felix
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From: herbert.burkert@gmd
I am turning into a slight shade of envious pale green reading
this. Please, bring a small jar of Arctic Ice and the imprint
of a Polar Bear*s left front paw.
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From: maad@inukshuk.gov.nt.ca
Subject: internet
We should be able to give you access to a computer account.
Be prepared for all seasons. Bring shorts and a warm coat!!
Alan Fehr
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From: wolfgang.staehle@thing.net
Felix! Philip!
The list now works! It was apparently choking on the dashes.
Now what's going on up north?
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From: 102221.2120@compuserve.com Wed 09 Aug 1995
hi, we're getting close and we're wondering if there's
anybody out there?
cu, F&P
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From: schnars@umcc.umich.edu
I like your idea of physical isolation while simultaneously
maintaining a connection to the world. I guess we (my husband
and I) make an art out of traveling too, but perhaps with
more of an eye toward travel as adventure.
What are you going to do with yourselves when you reach
maximum isolation?
--Kathryn
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From:acircle@inukshuk.gov.nt.ca Thu Aug 17 1995
Subject: Returned Mail: Host Unknown
hi, we had no idea how far we went or how far we had to go
walking along the Arctic Circle. There's always the same
amount of space ahead and behind. It's the light and scale
of it all. Space becomes an impossible measure.
there's only our time walking, like our time connected.
Technology is a lonely wheel.
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From:schnars@umcc
Ok, so now you guys have gotten to the point in your journey
where you can hear various dire pre-breakdown noises emitted
from your Mighty Van, and have grown to despise the sameness
of the landscape -- that is similar to how I feel driving
through the midwestern U.S. Btw: I was surprised to hear how
warm it is at the Arctic circle.
-- Kathryn and Andreas
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From:acircle@inukshuk
Our isolation is more cyber- than geo-. You always meet
somebody on the road.
The real and virtual travels are intersecting more on a
nervous level. Scanning for potholes through clouds of fine
dust for 1500 km, hearing strange noises from the van's belly,
watching scenery that looks like a TV rerun, stopping to wash
down the dust, attach 12 cables, one of which is always acting
up, just to sit and see it all again on a laptop screen, then
wait some more uploading and losing contact.
The most fun is sitting in a silent landscape, so quiet one's
breathe is alarming.
cu, F&P
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From:jmastai@wimsey.com
Subject: you're not alone
greetings to the weary surfers:
a little loneliness is good for the soul. After all, this is
the great canadian experience. Perhaps you can help us all to
better understand how loneliness becomes political apathy.
Moshe says it's always lonely in the art world, don'tcha know.
Best, J and M
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From: iglhaut@skp.spacenet.de
Subject: Please forward
Did you really expect that you could initiate a high level
discussion from within that short time?
Tell me more.
Stefan
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From: acircle@yknet
we had to throw a few pages of preconcieved ideas out the van
window to deal with everyday vagaries like flat tires, burning
brake linings, walking across fields that are much much bigger
that they appear. If I look out our camper window, I know,
there is nothing else than nature for the next 1000 miles. The
more it gets remote, the more it is important for us to be
connected to the net.
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From: cragiw@tso.cin.ix.net
Subject: A circle
My only Inuvik experience was in '93 when I was on a bicycle
tour from Dawson City to Inuvik. The dust, lack of water, etc.
can be bad, but it's all part of the experience. If there were
a McDonald's restaurant every 50 miles, the Dempster wouldn't
be as desirable.
craig
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From:acircle@yknet
Subject: back from Tuk
Silver seas, lots of wind, a storm blew in and we had to recamp
or swim.It was 2:00 AM and almost dark.
cu, F&P
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From:schnars@umcc
Subject: 19Aug
What an adventure, you almost got swept off into the Arctic
Ocean in the middle of the night.
Two way postcards, another miracle of the Internet.
bye, kathryn & andreas
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> Date: Tue, 22 Aug 95 19:46:26 EST
> From: wjm@MIT.EDU (william j mitchell)
> To: jmastai@wimsey.com (Judith Mastai)
> Subject: Re: Arctic Circle
>
> Judith:
> Thanks for thir URL. It's a very interesting project in concept
> and content. I wish they would pay more attention to layout and
> interface design, though; the clutter and confusion doesn't help
> to engage a viewer.
> There seem to be a few projects of this sort going on. John
> Fraser, an architect from the University of Ulster, visited me
> the other day -- digital camera in hand -- as part of a Web
> documented trip.
> Best, Bill
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From:towoli@fh-pforzheim.de
Subject: Pingo
so by the way have you seen any of my big-foot friends
there in the region.
cheer-e-o, igor
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From:acircle@yknet
hello kathryn and andreas, actually the storm was not as
dramatic as all that. Waking up at dawn I saw the underside
of a large seagull through the tent roof, and realized where
all the stains had come from. Our visit provided the Inuit
with their equivalent of a soap opera. They were especially
interested in the love interest that was fading between the
2 young transients Norah and Nicolas.
To answer your question:
There are no trees in Tuk. I was told by our host here, that
Eskimos fear big forested areas, they feel uncomfortable in a
landscape that does not offer a completely unobstructed view.
F&P
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From: 72077.1442@compuserv.com
Subject: WOW
Took in the MIT guy's comments. Sure, you were doing an
improvisation-exploratory-installation etc.
Philippe d'Ottawa
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From:drdog@yknet Sun 10 Sep 1995
Subject: (no subject)
The girl you saw with the dog team at Labarge was Mandy.
She's 18, my receptionist and took the Silver Medal at the
last Arctic Winter Games in mushing.
jim & micki
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From: lkutny@inukshuk
Subject: NO SNOW IN THE ARCTIC
It is still early to have snow here at Inuvik. I just dug my
potatoes out of the ground. I still have peas in blossom as
well as several kinds of flowers that have not been hurt by
our one frost, Les
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From:mgrind@awinc
Subject: hey hey hey hey
I need money now, so I jumped off my ride at an orchard
yesterday. four hours, alone in the trees.
I am alive today, and hopefully tomorrow. I have hands to work
with and a voice to sing with.
norah
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From: base@berlin.snafu
hallo, Berlin has become autumnish. The sky is bruised and
tender. The old whore that she is can really be a bitch.
Rebeccah
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Letter from Norah, October 9th,
Yes, a letter from me! I tried to email the web site but some
computer blip wouldn't let me SEND??
I met up with nicolas last week. It was great to see him again.
I had forgotten how kind and true he really is. We talked about
the monk thing -> it's more of a Dharma Bum than Catholic for
sure, basically leaving material stress for the clear and simple
life of poverty and compassion. Nicolas has no plan of celibacy
or leaving marijuana and a good cold beer.
Nicolas and I "watched" the Arctic Circle Project together.
Transient Love is beautiful. Together we remembered our first time
to meet, that hazy blur of attraction. He was very surprised at
how many details I remembered. The tree picture in his room; he
didn't even know I had noticed it. we felt a little in love again
seeing it.
Nicolas is a pan-image of beauty in the Midway Lake shot. He was
uncomfortable with it, not the nudity (he is a Nudism advocate!)
but having his body computerized. He's got a bit of a voodoo-fear
of computers.
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Letter from Norah, October 26th,
I am Norah Mary Wheating. I am real. On the web site, my image
is manipulated. I appear without any real lapse of time. I have
no control over this character, she ressembles me in only a few
flat ways.
Norah is more than a computer cartoon. I have skin and teeth and
blood and a history. Know this. On a computer I have a small
digital identity.
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From:devron@rmci.net Sun 03 Dec 1995
Subject: Nice pictures
I just had to write to let you guys know that I love those
pictures of Chetwynd. That is my howm town. Some strange people
up there eh?
Devron Knowles
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From: chessie@tiac.net
I've tried two more times to subscribe --what do I do now???
I'm going for a walk at dawn on the beach, and will try again
later, chessie
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From: pomaga@panix.com
No Felix at this address either. Perhaps felix does not exist.
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From: fixer@thing.net Sun 28 Jan 1996
hi drdog,
sounds pretty cold up there. I am writing this in a little cabin
an hour from Acapulco. we checked out for a good running dog for
Mandi. But they hardly move, they are kind of slow.
hello from 'tropic of cancer'
It was difficult getting on line in remote villages in Chiapas.
This time, we were confronted to be western tourists in a poor
country. I'm personally not so interested in the country where
I'm going. It's more the fact of being nowhere. When we left
Mexico City, we suddenly were tourists: like 'Zum deutschen Haus'
at Acapulcos Zocalo
best, Felix&Florian&Christoph
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SITUATION 4- TRAVELGUIDE, January 30th,
The travelguide tells you what to see.
It connects the country you are visiting
to an intellectual context you are familiar with.
It is always written by strangers.
The travelguide tells you what to see.
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From: guest@cybeteria.cz
hey and hmm.
bohemia, bo he mi a. the train zoomed us out last sunday,
with our feet and maps. We stepped out into village of
stone brick clay, still ice and winter clung on the streets.
soon out of towns and in the valley, walking, and the cracking
creek there showed us who the poet is. i don't mind, i'd
rather walk than speak. resting under thin dark trees, put my
palms to the chilled ground, my body losing borders, touching
all the way to home.
see ya around, norah
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From danilowitz@aol
I don't really know how I got into this thing or even what it is
but here I am. Tell about yourself if you wish.
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From: artcompass@euronet.nl
Subject: RE: REPLY
Why don't you know how you got into 'this thing'? I wouldn't
mind telling something about myself... Who are you? and why are
you interested in me? Please introduce yourself first.
Francis
----------------------------------------------------
From: bradshaw@yknet
Subject: REPLY TO A REPLY
I might as well jump in too.
I teach heavy mechanics at a community college in Canada's
Yukon. I corresponded with Philip Pocock when he was looking
for Internet contacts in the north, and thus got involved with
this list.
I have been hanging on to see what happens next. I'm sure
someone could write a book about how NOT to run a mail group
and pull most of his/her examples from here. There appears to
be no one at the controls.
I expect it will die eventually from the effects of not belonging
to anyone, but in the meantime it provides a few chuckles from
time to time.
I'd be interested to hear - in the list - from anyone who got
anything out of their subscription.
Gord
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From: schnarz@ais.org Sat 23 Mar 1996
Subject: ANOTHER REPLY TO A REPLY
Francis,
I am not the person whom you were responding to, but am taking
up your challenge to exchange an introduction for an introduction
in this otherwise very dead list.
I graduated from the University of Michigan - Flint last summer.
Since then, I have been mainly occupied with commissioned artwork
-- portraits and such.
During Philip and Felix's trip to the Arctic Circle last August,
I got some truly pictorial descriptions of the land surrounding
them as they traveled, and some anecdotes as well. This time round
though, on the Tropic of Cancer Tour, very little has been said.
One wonders if it is due to impossible Internet connections, or
an inability to make sense of perhaps a more canned or pre-packaged
type of trip, or something else (maybe they miss Philip's input).
Felix and Florian never said!
Your turn. :)
-- Kathryn
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From: danilowitz@aol
Finally I'm replying. I didn't get much from the arctic circle
thing and since I'm a real novice I don't really know what I
expected to get out of it. But it is nice to know you. I am an
art historian and curator at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.
I was born in South Africa and lived there most of my life.
Came to the USA 10 years ago with my husband (an attorney) and 2
sons (both now in college - one at U of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
This cyberspace art has me flummoxed.Is this a chat line or what?
Brenda Danilowitz
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From: schnars@ais.org
Hi Brenda, Nice to meet you!
Hi Philip and other folks on the arctic list!
I am slow in doing this but I wanted to respond to Philip's last
post. Agreed, the <> could have been shown
anywhere, it was mainly just pictures -- nothing unique -- people
might just as well have looked at a book, gallery, or grafitti
on a wall. On the other hand, <> came_much_closer
to utilizing the most distincive aspect of Internet: the
real-time-interaction between all involved, which as you pointed
out, was the Art Product.
Now I wonder, where do you go from here? Evolution of this medium
will occur, but in what direction? Imagine the textural differences
between posting from the Arctic Circle at the same time as the
Tropic of Cancer.
Go-go-go!
-- Kathryn
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From: 102221.2120@compuserv.com Sun 14 Apr 1996
Subject: Reply to Kathryn
hi Kathryn,
Your question:
> Now I wonder, where do you go from here?
is one I had in my head during the whole travel project.
What you have on the www is mainly not even as fast as fax
communication. It is still closer to television. In both
projects the main problem was to produce for an audience,
instead of travelling together virtually. It took always more
than a week to put our experience on the net and get some
response. That's almost like mail art.
You said:
> <> could have been shown
> anywhere.
Both projects, arctic circle and tropic of cancer, could be
shown anywhere, both are made in a way like a book, except for
the inputs from "readers" like you. Only, arctic circle has more
personal input, more inhalt, more passion than tropic of cancer
which is more related to the art world, to reflection about
tourism. Even if you say, "the medium is the message" as McLuhan
said, you still have different messages and for that different
audiences. And tropic of cancer was more art oriented.
The crazy thing about the net is, that people get addicted about
'real' things, to get as close as possible to live, but from the
anonymity behind the screen. To get 'real' live you could just
go around the corner to a bar and hear some strange stories or
get involved with strangers.
Art or not, the possibility to interact in a more exciting way
is coming on the net. Games, that is the thing, art games, love
games, adventure games, all interaction on a virtual playground.
When Norah (the transient girl from arctic circle) wrote us,
when she saw our web site from an internetcafe in, I don't know
where, she said:
"Maybe the movie is over, but I'm still here.
I am not a video game.
I am not a comfortable memory.
I am real."
This is a cry for real life, even, when it was great playing a
figure in play on the web. And how do you know that email was
real? Maybe it was just another dramatic turn in our virtual game
and Norah is only living in my head? And arctic circle/tropic of
cancer never happened, except on our computers. Fiction is the
opposite of the net. When Photography was the medium for the
memory of real life, is the net the medium for real live, real
time, whatever that means? But like CNN, when you intend to show
'reality' instantly, reality itself becomes fiction. On our trip
we were not really there, we were in a movie, everything we did
or looked at, was for the net, our being there was dominated by
the audience, we experienced what would be worth to see and hear.
----------------------------------------------------
NOTE: these email fragments from our listserv were read loosely
in turn by felix s. huber, philip pocock, christoph keller and
florian wuest, who wer scattered around the hall while a video
from the installation was being projected.
Links
Background I, February-May, 1995
Background Info II, "Virtual Realists", February-May, 1995
Background Info III, "Cultural Alchemy", February, 1996.
"Die Arktis und das Internet", Siemens Media Lab Talk, July 1995
"Medium bedeutet Mitte", Institut für Deutsche Philologie, Munich, July 1996
main menu..................arctic circle...................tropic of cancer
email forum (Mailbox entry to the circle.)
copyright 1996 felix s. huber, christoph keller, philip pocock, florin wüst