The Null Device

21C is back

Remember 21C, the glossy, graphically impeccable cyberculture magazine of the 1990s, which followed in the footsteps of MONDO 2000, coming from a combination of the inner suburbs of Sydney and the cyberculture Petri dish of the Bay Area? (Come to think of it, remember the heady, optimistic futurism of early-90s cyberculture, when it was about more than new ways of making a buck and the latest titanium-plated gizmos?) Well, it's back, at least in the online sense. (The glossy, coffee-table-proportioned dead-tree edition may still be some way off.) And they've got articles, such as this one on bootleg remixes, and this slightly pomo celebration of the mythology of pimp culture.

There are 7 comments on "21C is back":

Posted by: Graham http://grudnuk.com Sun Jan 12 14:16:08 2003

Actually, it's not the same 21C. This one's been instigated by DJ Spooky. And I blogged it six months ago.

http://grudnuk.com/vm/arch/2002_07_17.html

Posted by: mitch http:// Mon Jan 13 06:27:43 2003

No, this 21C really is descended from the original 21C (which in turn was descended from a late-1980s newsletter released by Barry Jones's long defunct Committee for the Future). Alex Burns of disinfo.com gave me the whole turgid story once, but I forget the details.

Posted by: Graham http://grudnuk.com Mon Jan 13 07:55:41 2003

Really? Hmm. They don't seem to mention their mythic origins in the "about" page.

Posted by: mitch http:// Mon Jan 13 09:14:31 2003

"We are proposing the relaunch of the successful Australian magazine 21C."

Posted by: Alex Burns http://www.disinfo.com Mon Jan 13 12:38:27 2003

Let me clarify this: After Gordon & Breach ended their funding for 21.C in early 1998, publisher/editor Ashley Crawford went onto a stint with the New York-based magazine Artbyte (amongst other projects) and I became Disinfo.com's editor at the invitation of cofounders Richard Metzger and Gary Baddeley. Crawford and I have continued discussing several potential magazine proposals, including a revamped 21.C. He wrote a proposal, and discussed it with DJ Spooky, Mark Dery, and several others. During this time DJ Spooky registered the domain 21cmagazine.com. The "about" page quotes from Crawford's proposal document. Roy Christopher, who edits FrontWheelDrive.com, also read the 21.C anthology "Transit Lounge", and became involved in the project. DJ Spooky and Roy Christopher have taken the project in a different direction---very much the mixology influence of their own work. It's a creative outlet with some interesting things to say, and we wish them good luck. But it's not a 'relaunch' in the classic sense of th

Posted by: Alex Burns http://www.disinfo.com Mon Jan 13 12:42:09 2003

But it's not a 'relaunch' in the classic sense of the word, as different people are involved to the original team, and have their own vision. Another perspective is offered by Australian Foresight Institute professor Richard Slaughter in his essay "Lessons from the Australian Commission for the Future": http://www.foresightinternational.com.au/07resources/Lessons_of_CFF.pdf

Posted by: kenny http:// Tue Jan 14 03:03:08 2003

hasn't been updated in six months either.. hopefully it doesn't fall into oblivion like the thresher http://www.thethresher.com/

otoh, blackboxmagazine looks promising! http://www.blackboxmagazine.com/

and there's always bad subjects :) http://eserver.org/bs/