Mute Publishing, Unit 9, The Whitechapel Centre, London E1 1HQ

T: +44 (0)20 7377 / E: mute@metamute.org / W: www.metamute.org

PRESS RELEASE - NOVEMBER 2009

New Book

Proud to be Flesh: A Mute Magazine Anthology of Cultural Politics after the Net

Edited by Josephine Berry Slater and Pauline van Mourik Broekman with Michael Corris, Anthony Iles, Benedict Seymour and Simon Worthington

http://metamute.org/ptbf 

In late 1994, back in the days of dial-up modems and Netscape Navigator 1.0, Mute magazine announced its timely arrival. Dedicated to an analysis of culture and politics ‘after the net', Mute has consistently challenged the grandiose claims of the communications revolution, debunking its utopian rhetoric and offering more critical perspectives.

 

Fifteen years on, Mute Publishing and Autonomedia are delighted to announce the publication of Proud to be Flesh: A Mute Magazine Anthology of Cultural Politics after the Net. The anthology selects representative articles from the magazine's hugely diverse content to reprise some of its recurring themes. This expansive collection charts the perilous journey from Web 1.0 to 2.0, contesting the democratisation this transition implied and laying bare our incorporeal expectations; it exposes the ways in which the logic of technology intersects with that of art and music and, in turn and inevitably, with the logic of business; it heralds the rise of neoliberalism and condemns the human cost; it amplifies the murmurs of dissent and revels in the first signs of collapse. The result situates key - but often little understood - concepts associated with the digital (e.g. the knowledge commons, immaterial labour and open source) in their proper context, producing an impressive overview of contemporary, networked culture in its broadest sense.

 

Proud to be Flesh features a bold mix of essays, interviews, satirical fiction, email polemics and reportage from an array of international contributors working in art, philosophy, technology, politics, cultural theory, radical geography and more. Accessible introductions, a chronological arrangement of chapters and three full-colour image sections grant special insight into the evolution of key themes over time.

In its refusal of specialisation, Proud to be Flesh is unique in its field. It offers a compelling view onto the messy but exciting moment that was the turn of the millennium as well as being an incomparable sourcebook for those seeking to push forward analysis of the global crisis that has since ensued.

 

"There are precious few arenas left in which contemporary art and culture are examined from a critical perspective that is willing to challenge both the clichés of academic art theory and the techno-topian disengagement of contemporary new media discourse. Proud to be Flesh provides an invaluable guide to the past fifteen years in the evolution of art; a period during which the boundaries between art, culture and technology have been eroded and re-consolidated in ways that are both troubling and promising. Mute's writers remind us that there are always real bodies, and consequences, behind the gleaming abstraction of 'new' media. They have managed an almost impossible task: to remain both substantively critical and accessible to a wide readership."

-Grant H. Kester

Chair of Visual Arts at University of California, San Diego, and author of

Conversation Pieces: Community and Communication in Modern Art (2004)

*-*-*

Contributors and interviewees: Saul Albert / Irina Aristarkhova / The Artist Placement Group (APG) / Brian Ashton / Richard Barbrook / John Barker / Will Barnes / Caroline Bassett / Anustup Basu / Amita Baviskar / Franco Berardi (Bifo) / Josephine Berry Slater / Josephine Bosma / Marc Bousquet / James Boyle / The Bureau of Inverse Technology (BIT) / Ted Byfield / Andy Cameron / Vuk ?osi? / Gregor Claude / Eileen Condon / Michael Corris / Florian Cramer / Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) / Mark Crinson / Chris Darke / Anthony Davies / Mark Dery / Anna Dezeuze / Ricardo Dominguez / Economic Observatory at the University of Openess / María Fernández / Simon Ford / Matthew Fuller / Coco Fusco / David Garcia / Andrew Goffey / Paul Helliwell / Brian Holmes / Hydrarchist / Matthew Hyland / Anthony Iles / Kevin Kelly / Jamie King / Dmytri Kleiner / Kolinko / Arthur Kroker / Hari Kunzru / Peter Linebaugh / The London Particular / Geert Lovink / Suhail Malik / Melancholic Troglodytes / Flint Michigan / Jeff Mills / Angela Mitropoulos / Ewan Morrison / Neil Mulholland / David Panos / Luciana Parisi / Celia Pearce / Richard Pithouse / Simon Pope / Eddie Prévost / Louis Rossetto / Andreas Rüthi / Tim Savage / Pit Schultz / Benedict Seymour / Howard Slater / Keston Sutherland / Horacio Tarcus / Tiziana Terranova / Palle Torsson / Ben Watson / Stephen Willats / Steve Wright / Brian Wyrick / Soenke Zehle

 

*-*-*

 

Notes to Editors

 

Mute Publishing

Mute was founded in 1994 by artists Simon Worthington and Pauline van Mourik Broekman, who continue to contribute to the magazine as members of the editorial board, together with present Mute editor, Josephine Berry Slater, and Damian Abbott, Matthew Hyland, Anthony Iles, Hari Kunzru, Demetra Kotouza, Benedict Seymour and Stefan Szczelkun. Earlier members of the board were Tom McCarthy, James Flint, Daniel Jackson, Jamie King, Suhail Malik, Paul Miller, Tina Spear and Melancholic Troglodytes.

Proud to be Flesh is co-edited by Josephine Berry Slater and van Mourik Broekman with Anthony Iles, Benedict Seymour, Simon Worthington and editorial associate for this project, art historian Michael Corris. Proud to be Flesh draws upon Mute magazine content generated between 1994 and 2007.

Mute has, throughout its history, experimented with format and publishing models. This story is documented in a companion volume, available from Mute Publishing and Eight books, entitled Mute Magazine Graphic Design (2008).

 

Press and Marketing

For review or inspection copies, image material and sales information, please contact Lois Olmstead on lois@metamute.org or +44 (0)207 377 6949.

 

Editorial

For editorial information, please contact the editors Josephine Berry Slater and Pauline van Mourik Broekman on josie@metamute.org and pauline@metamute.org or +44 (0)20 7377 6949

 

Book information

Proud to be Flesh: A Mute Magazine Anthology of Cultural Politics after the Net is available in both softback and a limited edition hardback

 

Published by Mute Publishing in association with Autonomedia

 

Publishing date: October 2009

 

Book cover artwork http://metamute.org/ptbf-press 

 

Softback

ISBN: 978-1-906496-28-9

624 pages, 78 colour illustrations, 229mm x 152mm

Price: £24.99

 

Hardback

ISBN: 978-1-906496-27-2

624 pages, 78 colour illustrations, 229mm x 162mm

Price: £44.99

 

Proud to be Flesh: A Mute Magazine Anthology of Cultural Politics after the Net can be purchased at all fine bookshops and online at http://www.metamute.org/ptbf

 

Mute is supported by Arts Council England. Proud to be Flesh has been supported by ACE and the British Academy.