FC: Annoy.com invites Politech members to SF reception Jan. 3

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Subject: Annoy.com Exhibition
Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2001 13:25:44 -0800
From: "Clinton D. Fein" <clinton.fein () apollomedia com>
To: <declan () well com>

Declan:

Please feel free to forward to Politechbot listees who may be in San
Francisco. It is likely to be quite an interesting exhibition. I hope
you are in San Francisco in January. It would be a fun venue to meet you
in person finally.

Clinton

++++++++++++

EVENT:

Clinton Fein's
ANNOY.COM
Exhibition

WHEN:

Opening Reception: January 3, 2002
5.30pm - 7.30pm
(Exhibition continues through January 2002).

WHERE:

Toomey Tourell Gallery
49 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA 94108

(415) 989-6444
www.toomey-tourell.com

DETAIL:

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd called it obscene and illegal,
corporate trademark attorneys bristle over it, and renowned artist Lynda
Benglis has dubbed it "Press Art." In April 1999, the United States
Supreme Court weighed in, issuing an affirmation that upheld the basic
premise of annoy.com: indecent communications intended to annoy are
protected by the First Amendment of America's constitution. Clinton Fein
insists that the fundamental right to annoy, even if indecently, is one
of the most effective tools we have to counter apathy and challenge
complacency, and annoy.com proved the ultimate test.

Fein's annoy.com is a visceral response; nothing more than an
in-your-face, bitterly ironic and unapologetically wry interpretation of
the events, politicians, consumer brands and media onslaught that are
packaged to relentlessly permeate our consciousness and intoxicate our
senses.

Originally spawned in a digital realm at the dawn of Internet
commercialization, annoy.com brazenly trashed the distinction between
content and conduct by challenging the constitutionality of an insidious
provision of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that criminalized
any "indecent" computer communications intended to "annoy" another
person. The provision in question made criminal, constitutionally
protected communications among adults, including public officials.

In 1997, the launch of annoy.com mocked the oppressive attempts to limit
electronic expression by linking provocative imagery to a suite of
proprietary web tools designed to inspire and facilitate a dialogue that
continues to test the limits and definitions of "decency" and
"annoyance" today. With freedom of expression in one of the most
exciting and promising mediums since the turn of the century at stake,
Clinton Fein challenged Bill Clinton and his administration that
ratified the Communications Decency Act by filing a lawsuit against
Attorney General Janet Reno, which would wind itself all the way to the
United States Supreme Court.

The images in this exhibition are the direct manifestation of that
challenge, extracted from their interactive context, adjusted and
translated into a static medium using a Color Cruse Camera process to
create archival quality, state-of-the art color photographic Type C
Prints. The images selected for the exhibition represent a snapshot of
the events, people and brands that are rooted in annoy.com's already
formidable history.

For more information, visit: www.annoy.com/exhibition/




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