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Good Hello Forklifters. In this announcement you will find–

1. LET’S TALK ABOUT SQUANT

1. LET’S TALK ABOUT SQUANT

Ever since an unsuspected 4th primary color, Squant, was discovered several years ago, the Negativland website has remained the only website willing or able to explain or display this astounding fourth primary color. Some still don't believe it, often treating the presentation as some form of "concept art," pretending it is all said and done for... for what? For art? Sure it's bound to play into that, of course, it's a color! But it's also NEWS!

And motive wise, that's where the social critic in me takes over and leaves the mere art esthete behind. But like a lot of news these days, it may not be clear how much of it is true and how much of it is false. Well, I would have been suspicious myself, about all of it, had I not seen it with my own eyes. However, with still only a few Squant producers in the world, practically no distribution out of Asia, and the hardware, software, and chemical lags resulting in the present scarcity of appropriate technology here in the West, this amazing new primary color generally remains a "left out" mystery to western arts and decorations, as well as to criticism and analysis.
It most often appears as default gray in this country's media, in colorful journals of concern, and, unfortunately, in most computers like this one. We can't do much about the continuing lack of chemical pigment for printing presses, but at the Squant website, we are constantly striving to assist our users on how to "plug in" Squant and see it for themselves, but there have also been continuing problems with equipment incompatibility out there in the "real" world. Many users contacting our Squant customer servicemen via e-mail have spent many exasperated exchanges in the wasted maze of hard wired contradictions they call their computers, in a vain
attempt to make them Squant capable. For others, our plug-in seems to work fine. I think these erratic hard/soft problems will correct themselves with time. Too bad too much has gone by already.

With this announcement, I hope this new exposure of Squant to a broader and hopefully more enlightened group of new subscribers will spur on others, the ones out there really in charge of color, to finally open up the color markets, take down the color barriers, lift all hue trade restrictions, and let Squant flow down. Over 96% of the Earth's people have still never seen Squant, and many of those are artists! Isn't this a little ridiculous for 2001?

Crosley Bendix
Social Critic and Cultural Commentator
Universal Media Netweb
Berkeley, CA,
2001