Hmmmmm.
The Label Gallery, aka A Label for Artists is a gallery at 510 Portage Avenue dedicated to music and art.
The ALfA blog is a weblog dedicated to cultural stuff(art, music, poetry, etc.) made up of a group of people who have common interests, one of which is Winnipeg.
I don't think these two things are the same thing. Are they? This site is not the Label Gallery. Or is it?
Your thoughts people?
(sky's facebook thingy made me wonder this, dan's identity is Label Gallery in facebook...can you see the confusion?)
28 comments:
In my humble opinion, I think that many of us can trace our coming together to the label gallery, and that most of us can claim some experience with the label in some shape or form. This commonality can probably explain much of the overlap. Nevertheless, I perceive the alfa blog as independent from any one of us, and free of any sort of institutional, ideological, or political attachment. I'm curious as to what others think however, because this is simply my perception.
I didn't attach too much significance to the address info on the facebook group. I concur with the changes you've made (at least, I presume it was you??), and the new pic is very appropriate, whoever put it up... I'm giving ALfA-bloggers admin rights there precisely because I never meant it to be 'my' group, just a forum for ALfA-facebookers. But someone had to create the darn thing!
I should also add that I actually thought a lot more about the group "type" than the address, since none of the choices facebook gives were precisely correct for this blog (how could they be?). I settled on "Common Interest - Beauty" as a last resort! (This can be changed, too, if anyone wants to do that).
"I perceive the alfa blog as independent from any one of us, and free of any sort of institutional, ideological, or political attachment."
I'd agree on this point. I'd also agree that there's natural overlap, since most of us met through the Label Gallery--the physical space.
Dan, and I, have both said, in print (check out Matt O's stuff, wherever it is) that there are 3 distinct "Labels"-- there is the physical building, there is the AlfA blog, and there is the community of people. Each of them exists independently and in their own right.
Beyond that, and in relation to the previous deleted post about ripping out the carpets-- the building is Dan's and no one else's. The blog is everyone's and no one's.
Frankly, I don't really care very much who "owns" what.
p.s. further thought... to paraphrase Thoreau (i think)... there's no limit to the good that can be accomplished if we don't care who gets the credit.
final thought (i swear...)
i'm at work and therefore away from facebook, so the source of this confusion is a mystery to me at present.
I can answer that, Lorne. I created an ALfA group on facebook, and put the Label Gallery address as the 'office', and the photo of the new sign and front of the building for the group photo.
My intended aim for the group was for the portion of the community who are on facebook to be able to more easily keep in touch with/message each other etc. But I'm opening it up to everyone involved in the blog, so we'll see what it turns into!
cool. a new phase of AlfA-blog-ism.
I still think all sites need improvement.
There's only one direction with us, generally, and that is up!
:)
This link might help the discussion: ALfA Facebook Group
I appreciate aky for making the group. as you said soem one had to make in eventually and i was happy to been added to the admin. i hope the group can encourage more communication on all our parts. (me especially as i am a quite person in the vertual world.)
thanks sky for creating the facebook group.
and the award for the biggest non-issue goes to....
LOL
:)
I think this is an important issue Mr. Bluemask =P.
It is important to keep them seperate. It's not a matter of taking ownership or credit so much as avoiding that. The Label gallery is Dan's, that is he owns it and controls it. I think there is no harm if we suggest or recomend certain changes to the place cause ultimately it is up to Dan what happens there. Of course the bloggspot is friends with the Label gallery, but is not owned by Dan. So, if you want to tear out the carpet and paint the blog, that's fine. Errr, except of course the blog doesn't have a carpet really, and the paint on your monitor might affect other computer functions. So there you have it. As for the new facebook thing, I guess since we are all admins it's intended to be more like the blog, a shared project, not just A Label gallery (ie:Dan's building) thing. I guess that remains to be seen. At first I was going to say that's for Sky to decide, but I get the idea he just wants us to make mutual decisions and for it to grow naturally. Good stuff. One more point, what happened to theLabel Gallery webpage? It's gonzo? As for suggestions, besides the carpet removing, green board revoving/painting... A gallery specific site would have certain uses I believe. You (Dan) could have the history upcoming shows (like the old one).
I'm sorry. Still seems like a petty debate. Even IF (who are we concerned about?)someone made the remote connection,and assumption that Dan created this whole ALFA/Label universe....who cares? and why?
I always thought it was a chicken or the egg scenario anyway.
A Label For Artists
A L F A
A Love For Art
Are you telling me the initials were pure coincidence? Or are they from the same primordeal soup?
I still stand by the award.
i stand by nothing, but sit for several things, and sometimes lie down for others.
i dunno what that means either.
i'm half in the waterboy/man camp, half in no camp, half in the camp that says they all should and must be kept seperate.
i mean... we do intend to publish this blog in a book, or at the very least win some kind of blogger awards for it, don't we?
i sure do. :)
Totally think this disuc...word too big to type write now,...discussion..yes that's rioght..too drunk ex[plain much, but I do think that this this discussion is worth having. Not petty. Every attachment comes with its attachments and representations. It's important to know what those are, if you're going to be a willing participant.
God I feel like Jpseyu rioght now. JOSEY. Jesus christ my fingers are jello.
Even when I'm drunk I have an opinion.
:)
i should get into politics.
or typing. that was great.
i'm up late working. yawn... sigh... no drunking for me tonight, but lots of yerba mate.
your fingers may be jello, but yr brain is nimble. every attachment comes with its attachments and represenations, you say. wise jibberish, indeed.
On second thought...(sending my comment)
I had already read your deleted post macro. You had made some valid points, you should've kept it up. I didn't realize that the future expectations of this blog were so high.
I'm sure that it was not Sky's intent on blending the entities. My point is that they are so closely related that this is not the first, or last time that people may not make the distinction. Maybe a "not affiliated with..." sign on both the blog, and the gallery might ease some of the confusion.
However, I'll take your advice and bow out to let you "hash it out."
I'd like it rolled all into one, but I think I'd feel more comfortable about the whole thing if in all areas we decided things as a collective. And at this moment from my point of view, there is neither a commitment nor a feeling of partnership/community in the physical space, although I think we have attained it in the virtual space.
Here's what I'd like to have us discuss doing:
1. Reguarly meet/talk about the future of all entities (in essence, that's what we're up to now), and schedule/plan the development of each facet of the group. Maybe quarterly...
2. Talk about stock options in the Label(it sounds so ridiculous), or something like that where people contributing can feel that they're part of a co-op or credit union or that an investment of time/money can translate into goodness. so vague, but up for discussion...
Or.......
Consider changing the http address of the ALFA blog to make it a seperate entity.
Consider having Dan change his Facebook identity from Label Gallery to Daniel Saidman, and have Sky's group AlfA become the Label Gallery group...
Holy confusing! We should have a meeting this week-end, in physical form to bring everything to the table. This will take us to the next level. (MAcro and Ren on speakerphone)
I really hope that we can do this as a group and keep all facets joined and then grow grow grow.
I didn't mean to describe those as expectations, merely possibilities. Speaker phone sounds interesting (msn thing is free). But maybe, Justin's right. What can we really do at this point? The sign he suggests is clearly a ridiculous idea meant to mock us, and is the http thing possible without starting over? I think a co-op is a great Idea, but honestly I couldn't see us matching Dan's investment so it would never be a co-op at the label. We could start another gallery though maybe. is that crazy talk?
Interesting thoughts, all.
Re: the facebook group, I was merely trying to set up a means for everyone who is on facebook AND associated with this blog to be able to communicate via facebook more directly/collectively. That is all. I don't intend to 'run'/'own'/'manage' the group at all, other than making sure that anyone who joins up AND is a blogger here gets admin rights there. After that, everyone with admin rights can do all of the same things on the group (including remove members - even me! - or delete the whole thing, I believe). I hope no one actually kills the group, but as I said I don't intend to be the final authority by any means. Think of it as an extension of this site and the associated community (at least, those who have decided to access facebook).
Perhaps I should have explained all this fully at first, maybe in a post on the blog here before I did anything. BUT... I don't take facebook groups all that seriously! (Or facebook itself, for that matter...) I don't think anyone else should either. It DOES allow anyone in the group to instantly message all of the other members, and carry on a group email conversation, which I think is very cool (and you get notices about new messages vs. skimming through the comments sections of the posts here). This could also facilitate the discussion you guys are proposing re: the Label Gallery itself.
That's about it for me!
Don't mean to stir the pot or anything but...
I personally use facebook for fun things, such as sharing silly pictures that don't realy have any value in terms of "art" and writing friendly messages on "walls".
I like the aesthetics of the blog better for posting pictures and writings that pertain more to the artistic side of expression for various reasons that I'm sure you can all see without me articulating them. ( I could if you want but it would just be too lenghtly and it would probably bore the reader even more than what I'm writing right now).
Anyway, all this to say that this debate is very amusing to me. I'm sure a social psychologist or an anthropologist could relate this debate to some concepts of the organization of a society in a lord of the flies kind of way. Especially when someone wrote about the credit union thing. too funny.
P.S. All this to say that I like the facebook thing, it's fun and I know how much you all like fun, right? And I like the blog thing. No problems here.
I'd have to agree with Anita re: asesthetics.
I just recently joined that facebook and can now safely say that it's not as good as a blog.
agrees with the ladies 2 statements
(I had to check in).
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