<nettime> Rodney King died, the man whose beating up in 1991 triggered this mailing list: Nettime

[Tjebbe van Tijen <tjebbe@imaginarymuseum.org>]

Rodney King died today under still unclear circumstances


The man whose beating up by LA police was documented - by chance - by an amateur video camera user, which footage reached within a short time span, a local, national and international audience. It heralded the moment in which main stream media became a channel for local activist material. 

His case not only triggered a local and national uproar, but also a new ideology of what was soon to be called 'tactical media'. Grass root activism explained away by post-modern media theorists. It became a social movement with often more high brow theories than down to earth actions, with its first conference in Amsterdamin 1993: Next 5 Minutes. 

The - yet - unclear death of Rodney King, is a marker in time that challenges us to look back and see the same events with other eyes, now, almost twenty years later.


Tjebbe van Tijen
Imaginary Museum Projects
Dramatizing Historical Information
http://imaginarymuseum.org
web-blog: The Limping Messenger
http://limpingmessenger.wordpress.com/


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