Lance Sero Court - Media Artist/Curator - plumesociety.com

City Hall Rotunda, Law Society Osgoode Hall, Toronto, Canada.


This National Aboriginal Day exhibit has been running on-line since June 4th, 2001
and has recently been removed as of August 18, 2001. Neekawnisidok has been
broadcasted from plumesociety's site since its beginning due to the organization
that claims responsibility of Neekawnisidok did not possess the appropriate means to
host it. The exhibit sized up at well over 50 megabytes, the targeted site had less than 25.

Regardless of the requests from artists to have thier pages remain online with links
attached to thier personal email accounts with any other information the artist chooses to leave.
The exhibit was requested to be taken down despite of this and any artist wishing to repost
new work may do so for free upon your request.

If you should experience any difficulty viewing your art, the exhibit, or difficulty
retreiving your artwork from last springs exhibit. Please feel free to contact me at ...
plumesociety@hotmail.com where I'd be happy to answer any of your questions.
In the meantime, artists are encouraged to continue with thier submissions for upcoming
exhibits or, inquire for free world wide web posting and advertising!
If you are of Native ancestry and inspired to reach out to the world with the messages
of your work then please submitt ! This will be offered for free, it is also open to
non-artists or people simply related to the arts industry, are also encouraged to submitt
to post thier information. Submissions from the likes of Curators, Hair Stylists, Videographers,
Lighting/Sound Technicians etc., are welcome and very much part of the Native Arts communities.

This year I had the opportunity to produce the exhibit not only
in its physical sense, but also as a 'digital cultural collective' of indigenous
artists and designers... a New Media presentation! I have been proposing to create
a Digital Network of all Indigenous artists, one that can be built and controlled
by themselves. A community to find each other and develope thier own network and
environment. Our own Center for Indigenous Digital Cultural & Artistic Content with
an outlook not so much influenced by mainstream internet !

In the pilot project Neekawnisidok, without having the equipment, or people,
it was impossible to mark the site however this exhibit generated three times
the attendance as the actual walkin attendance over the course of the three weeks.
There were queries on-line about the artists, but interests were mostly
for the Digital Representation; the gratitude for having the opportunity
to view and interact with an Indigenous art exhibit in another part of the world.
The e-mail and online interaction response was overwheming; since many of
our artists are from distant territories, this production made it possible
for them to not only gain information on the exhibit, but also submit work.
Any general user would be entertain by the experience of digitized events
through streaming audio/video, or to attend an on-line chatroom.

Some very important questions need to be asked about New Media such as;

1. If funds are available for development, who desides where funds should go,
to a qualified artist or to an association.
2. In what ways can digital collectives and collaboratory sites serve to EDUCATE and
to preserve culture?
3. How can digital initiativies leverage job creation, training and therefore, eoncomic
development?
4. Can we define and develop global digital collectives using collaborative technology
that will enhance sharing, stimulate knowledge creation, and provide new venues for
research?
5. What are the appropriate roles for associations of social memory and how might they
work; 1.Do they decide and appoint someone within their own administration
or 2. Should they undiscriminately choose a qualified educated artist?
6. What are the major issues for indigenous people in creating and accessing digital
resources?

The posibilities of such a new age is very difficult for people to imagine, when I
first seriously looked at a computer in grade 9 (1972) there were many myths I thought,
these myths have changed so many times into reality that it gave me new faith
to the word 'myth'. A similar definition was given to our sacred drawings of our past.
Who would've thought that it was an artist; who made you what you are today?


Please take note that this site's architecture, authoring, and
interface design is protected under copyright by plumesociety.com
This New Media project is under the same rights as those of an artists
submission! However, this presentation can be used for promotional
purposes only, with the direct written consent of artists only !
As an artist, not as an administrator I've taken the same care and
respect to artists work as I do my own. Countless hours of my
free time is set aside for the development and exposure of Native
Artists not just to the community but to the world!