1 Reflections on Conceptual Art and its relation to New Media, a month long conversation at Empyre Eduardo Navas eduardo@navasse.net Revised November 15, 2005 I was a guest speaker on Empyre during the month of April 2005. The following text is a revision of two particular postings on Conceptual art, which were part of a long debate that took place between Raul Ferrera Balanquet (CU/MX), Kate Southworth, Patrick Simons(UK), and myself. Other invited guests included Lucrezia Cippitelli (IT), Heidi Figueroa Sarriera (PR), Raquel Herrera Ferrer (ES), Lucas Bambozzi (BR), Andres Burbano (CO), and Joeser Álvarez. This text is also part of a larger essay which will be published at a later date in its entirety. The theme of the month: “Do conceptual art and curatorial practice merge in post digital cultural production? How are new media art, criticism and curatorial practice a ‘transgressive’ ecology”? To be precise, I will focus on the relation of Conceptual art to new media. While it is true that artists part of the net.art group were influenced by a certain type of conceptualism, the premises of conceptual art as it is understood according to its origins in the New York scene is practically irrelevant in new media practice. When it is brought up it is often in allegorical form. In relation to this, we can consider MTAA’s One Year Performance, [1] which allegorizes one of Sam Hsieh’s performances. In the original project Hsieh did not leave an enclosed space for one whole year. A person brought him food and took away his refuse. A lawyer notarized the performance to give it authenticity. T. Whid and M. River, who collaborate under the name of MTAA (M.River & T.Whid Art Associates) have extended Hsieh’s concept of committing to an activity for one year on to the web by presenting themselves in a room apparently spending time alone in 1 Year Performance Video (samHsieHupdate). At first glance they mimic Hsieh’s activities in the cell, as the artists appear juxtaposed in two video feeds, doing simple things that always correspond with the time of day when the