Not a website, not a magazine, not a specific community or institution, not printed, not a format, not a definitive structure or a presumed set of criteria or a means to an end. Not controlled by an exterior motive, no third party to control it, it is not a play of the unmentionables and yet no agreement to the norm. It is not exempt from attack, not holier than thou or assumptive of control but still not a submissive state, free from control, it is not a free-for-all. It is not open source / It is not cynical or obsessive, it is not closed off to self-assessment, tarnation, ridicule or misinterpretation. It does not back away from a fight and yet it does not remove the space to discuss, disagree or concede / This is not theory, or passive, it is not commercial or simply ‘outside’, it is not the death of the author, or relational aesthetics, it is not Karl Marx, it is not the books on any shelf, or any sound heard in a theatre, it is not a gallery or a solution to the white wall. It is not traditional, it is not the destruction of the current in favour of an unknown new although it is not allowed to disregard the new as folly / This is a not about creating false communications or ‘interactivities’ for funding purposes, this is not a digital manifestation of a physical, this is not a pander to the constructs of consumerism, or a greed to stretch out with advertising, it is not a misguided existence for a career, it is not a stance against these things, it is not a hatred, it is not a position, it is not finite. / / This is Refutation.

Refutation is produced bi-monthly by a group of artists, writers and curators, originally conceived by Mark Tovell, Lindsay Segall, Doro Globus and Kate Bellamy.

Please leave your comments in the form adjacent or please email mail@refutation.net You can also leave your details on the refute page of this site.