[Reader-list] Re: Documenta11's New Delhi

[philip pocock]

Okwui at aol.com wrote:

> I come presently to Mr. Pocock, on whose postings, I frankly do not want to
> expend much thought or energy. Suffice it to say that Mr. Pocock seems
> clearly avid to play the game of hubris which only the most tin-earred,
> self-appointed minders of the gates against imperialism, colonialism, or
> other such nonsense he espouses, can adopt. But what makes his ludicrous
> attempt at pompous indignation unsavoury is his sudden swerve into that
> crooked road of race baiting. Like all intolerant demagogues and bigots his
> suggestion that the invited Indian speakers are government appointees flies
> in the face of the facts and makes little sense. However, what is truly
> remarkable is the fact that members of Sarai as hosts of this forum shy away
> from the fundamental issue of challenging Mr. Pocock’s idea that the
> diasporic Indian speakers (there are in fact only two) like my colleague Dr.
> Sarat Maharaj and Prof. Mahmoud Mamdani are " foreigners of Indian origin
> with questionable roots".

hello all

BTW: okwui enwezor quotes my words out of their questioning context. after all,
no 'glocal' access was/is available and i was unable to attend physically or
medially. the words okwui enwezor lifts are from this context as i wrote them:

"let me ask, are they not government appointees
with aligned politics, as well as foriegner of indian origin, with
questionable roots or access to activist movements such as the very
valuable sarai initiative in dehli?"

the intent was "roots or access to activist movements". racism is a terrible
reality. one ought to be careful using that term lightly as an insult. clearly
my intent was to question participation locally and glocally, and to suggest to
the new media initiative sarai through their list that they actively, should
they choose to address my question, participate and glocalize documenta so it is
a dehli platform and not a platform in dehli.

imagine, were the vienna sessions available on-line already, not after the fact,
so that participation could be ingrained in that platform and passed on to the
second?

imagine that the lecturers had been listed on the documenta site so that one
might see who was speaking and when. and imagine that their topics, abstracts
and texts were available to inform audience members so that they might ahead of
time proto-form questions and opinions to inform their watching a live webcast,
with the opportuinity of debating with the speakers and the local audience
members via telnet for example?

imagine all the political science, cultural theory, urbanism, art and other
students in calcutta, bangalore, uttar kashi for that matter, all over vast
india and vaster south east asia and everywhere on this new new continent able
to attend and participate in the platform?

clearly the notion of the global applied by documenta 11 to this point is 18th
Century and easily confused formally - if not intended, and i believe that to be
the case - with colonialism. it could have been a time event, a glocal event as
ongoing as the issues it raised, and participatory to boot.


i regret any disturbance my or anyone's mail can brought your
cyberthoughts.

concerning okwui enwezors last mail, i was worried about a tokenist
presence in dehli, in light of no information on the documenta website. i
hoped to awaken the media culture group - sarai - whom i visited and
respect very much to help the platform in dehli avoid the pitfalls of
colonial media (one way media) and reach a 'glocal' audience.

i hope that puts it to rest. i forgive okwui enwezor for his tough
words, and i hope he forgives me. it's the World Wild West sometimes in
here.

i truly wish you all the best and hope something positive - i.e. a
global approach to media which leaves the 18th - 20th Century ideals of
geotemporal travel, of closed discussions, and post-broadcasting behind, in
favor of anyone, anywhere, all the time, traveling-past-moving,
participatory aesthetics that breaks through old podiums and fosters a 'glocal'
approach to debate and discourse.

i believe the documenta 11 has pinpointed a very crucial problem - the
crisis of exhibiting in a 'glocal' environment. i wish you good energy
and much success.

best wishes, philip pocock