| Robert Atkins on Sat, 7 Jul 2001 17:10:02 +0200 (CEST) |
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| [Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> | The HISTORY of TECHNOLOGICALLY-ASSISTED ART SINCEWORLD WAR I and YOUR appropriate place in this history | |
This is pathetic when books about art from a major press are written by writers who know little about part of their subject *and* can't bother to spend the time doing real research. This is absurdly far from a solicitation for information and shockingly close to what we would consider plagiarism in our students' work. > From: JODI <7061@jodi.org> > Reply-To: JODI <7061@jodi.org> > Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 14:06:36 +0200 > To: nettime-l@bbs.thing.net > Subject: <nettime> | The HISTORY of TECHNOLOGICALLY-ASSISTED ART SINCE WORLD > WAR I and YOUR appropriate place in this history | > > > > > +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ > | | > | | > | | > | The HISTORY of TECHNOLOGICALLY-ASSISTED ART SINCE WORLD WAR I and | > | | > | YOUR | > | | > | appropriate place in this history | > | | > | | > | | > +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ > | | > | | > | | > | This message is confidential and for you only. | > | | > | | > | | > | Frank Popper has been contracted by M.I.T. Press to write a | > | history of | > | technologically-assisted art beginning with World War 1 and I have | > | been | > | asked by Frank to help him do so. My silent contribution to the | > | book | > | concerns my helping choose contemporary colleagues which will | > | represent | > | digitally-assisted art at the end of the 20th C and the start of | > | the new | > | millennium. I have placed you on this list. | > | | > | | > | As you are a living being, we want to give you the privilege of | > | supplying | > | the information on yourself and your work which you think most | > | relevant. In | > | other words, you can practically write your own entry in this | > | important | > | history book or at least assemble it from what others have written | > | about | > | you. What I am requesting from you are around 1500 words written | > | in the 3rd | > | person describing your evolution and current work. You may stress | > | one | > | particular work which we will try to include as an illustration of | > | the text. | > | Please understand that Frank will reserve the right to change your | > | text, but | > | that he will consider it primary. | > | | > | The current working title of the book is "A HISTORY of | > | TECHNOLOGICALLY-ASSISTED ART SINCE WORLD WAR I" | > | | > | Prior books by Frank Popper are: | > | Popper, F. 1968. Origins and Development of Kinetic Art. London: | > | Studio | > | Vista | > | Popper, F. 1975. Art - Action and Participation. New York: New | > | York | > | University | > | Popper, F. 1993. Art of the Electronic Age. London: Thames and | > | Hudson | > | | > | | > | | > | Please see below the entry Frank himself has written on me and my | > | work and | > | please try to adhere to this format. | > | | > | | > | | > | Also please place your work into one of the 4 categories here (I | > | know you | > | may have to chose one aspect of your work over the others): | > | 1) ENDURING DIGITAL-BASED WORK | > | 2) MULTIMEDIA - OFF LINE WORK | > | 3) MULTIM.DIA - ON LINE WORK | > | 4) INTERACTIVE and/or VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS | > | | > | | > | Does this opportunity appeal to you and can we count on you supply | > | us with | > | this English text soon? If so the text should be emailed to me at: | > | joseph_nechvatal@hotmail.com. If you send it as an attached word | > | file be | > | aware that I am on MAC format n but in general paste it into an | > | email. OK? | > | | > | Yours in increasing bifurcations, | > | Dr. Joseph Nechvatal | > | Paris/New York | > | | > | email: joseph_nechvatal@hotmail.com | > | | > | home page: http://www.nechvatal.net | > | | > | home: 143 Ludlow Street (14) New York, NY 10002 USA & 114, Rue de | > | Vaugirard | > | 75006 Paris FRANCE | > | | > | | > | | > | *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* | > | | > | PS: Here is the outline of the book as it now stands: | > | | > | INTRODUCTION | > | | > | CHAPTER I. Historical antecedents (1920-1960) | > | | > | CHAPTER II. Technological Art and Artsts (1960-1990) | > | | > | CHAPTER III. Digital-assisted Art and Artists Now | > | | > | CHAPTER IV. Multimedia Off Line Artists Now | > | | > | CHAPTER V. Multimedia On Line Artists Now | > | | > | CHAPTER VI. INTERACTIVE and/or VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS Artists Now | > | | > | CHAPTER VII. Theoretical considerations | > | | > | CONCLUSION. A resum of the key developments, aesthetic currents | > | and | > | paradigm shifts in the 20th century art that underpin contemporary | > | digital-assisted art with some basic human issues addressed here. | > | | > | | > | *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* | > | | > +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ > > > > > > +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ > | | > | | > | | > | Please try to adhere to this format: | > | | > | | > | Joseph Nechvatal, originally a painter and performance artist, has | > | worked | > | with ubiquitous electronic information and computer-robots since | > | 1986. His | > | computer-robotic assisted paintings and computer animations have | > | led to a | > | particularly original research commitment, the Computer Virus | > | Project, an | > | experiment with computer viruses as a creative stratagem. | > | | > | One way of looking at Nechvatalis development since his first | > | shows in New | > | York Cityis alternative spaces in the 1970s would be in terms of | > | the various | > | media with which he had chosen to work, making major shifts in | > | presentation | > | without markedly altering his artis complex structure based | > | primarily on | > | telecommunications and its technology. However, the succession of | > | pencil | > | drawing, photocopying, photography, sculpture and computer-robotic | > | assisted | > | painting only tells part of the story. In fact, in order to | > | understand | > | fully Nechvatalis most recent artistic options one has to make | > | allusion to | > | Nechvatalis progressive attitude towards technology in general and | > | his | > | existential commitments. | > | | > | In 1983, Nechvatal wrote: "Images of mass annihilation wrought by | > | technology | > | now provide the major context for our art and our lives. With | > | profoundly | > | disturbed psyches, modern people encounter their existential fear | > | in the | > | atom, for when technology relieved much of manis fear of nature it | > | replaced | > | that fear with one of technology itself". Three years later, | > | Joseph | > | Nechvatal accomplished the first decisive step in his career by | > | adopting | > | frankly the latest infomatic technology into his works before | > | introducing | > | from 1993 onwards the biological/medical/aesthetic concept of the | > | computer | > | virus as a leading idea into his art work. | > | | > | Before analyzing in more detail this option let me make an | > | allusion to | > | another aspect of Nechvatalis aesthetic commitment. He himself has | > | stated | > | that the focus of his painting is the interface between the | > | virtual and the | > | actual, what he terms the "viractual". The basic premise of his | > | computer-assisted robotic paintings is the exploration of | > | "omnijectivity", | > | the metaphysical concept stemming from the discovery of quantum | > | physics | > | which teaches that mind and matter are inextricably linked under | > | the | > | influence of todayis high-frequency, electronic, computerized | > | environment. | > | | > | For Nechvatal, art is then a matter of inventing aesthetic | > | sensations linked | > | to concepts of technology, a mental prosthetic. And the function | > | of this | > | prosthetic art is to create by extenuation different | > | technological-aesthetic | > | percepts. Thus his art is about a personal investigation into the | > | conditions | > | of virtuality - conditions which are not quite historically | > | assessable yet. | > | | > | Nechvatalis highly original computer virus project first exhibited | > | at the | > | Saline Royale in Arc et Senans, France in Nov ember 1993, is | > | closely linked | > | to the spread of biological viruses, notably HIV. The artist has | > | digitized | > | his pictorial work, adjusting the images on the computer screen | > | before | > | introducing a computer virus unto the iconographical database. The | > | images | > | are then subject to alteration. | > | | > | At the end of the year 2000 Nechvatal took a further important | > | step. At that | > | moment he finished the first phase of the reworked Computer Virus | > | Project | > | and brought it into the realm of artificial life, i.e. into a | > | synthetic | > | system that exhibits behaviors characteristic of natural living | > | systems - in | > | this case viruses. The new project actively propagates viral | > | attacks on | > | Nechvatalis image-files from the "ec-satyricon 2000 (enhanced) + | > | bodies in | > | the bit-stream (compliant)" series in real time and so, one might | > | say, | > | address some fundamental questions about the nature of life and | > | death by | > | simulating life/death-like phenomena on the computer. Here viral | > | algorithms | > | - based on a viral biological model - are used to define | > | evolutionary | > | processes which are then applied to the image-files from | > | Nechvatalis | > | "ec-satyricon 2000 (enhanced) + bodies in the bit-stream | > | (compliant)" show | > | which were exhibited in New York, at Universal Concepts Unlimited, | > | in 2000. | > | | > | In Nechvatalis virus project, essentially a grid composed of | > | colored cells, | > | each virus is localized on a cell and can perceive the color of | > | the cells | > | close to it. Each virus has an energy level and at each turn a | > | small amount | > | of energy is lost. If the energy of a virus is too low then the | > | virus dies. | > | A virus has its own program that defines its behavior and each | > | program is | > | initially randomly generated, employing a user-defined instruction | > | set and | > | these instructions govern the chromatic, luminous and resonant | > | behavior of | > | the virus. | > | | > | Like his earlier computer robot-assisted paintings of the | > | mid-1980s, | > | Nechvatalis current work creates immersive saturated space | > | dominated by | > | pattern. Fragments of soft human form are more clearly visible | > | now, emerging | > | from patterns of text overlay. Here the lines provide a sharp and | > | vigorous | > | opposition to the deterioration of the virtual body through viral | > | infection. | > | Such recent paintings as Viral attack: transmissioN, Viral attack: | > | the | > | cOnquest Of the hOrrible, Viral attack: regretS or Viral attack: | > | piTy | > | express fully Nechvatalis existential as well as his artistic | > | commitment. | > | | > | The gene general Fin-de-Si cle ornamental excess of Nechvatalis | > | work gives | > | to us a metaphor for the current computational conditions of | > | seeing - and | > | perhaps for our expansive conditions of technological-aesthetic | > | being. In | > | the rising and collapsing of alternative visualizations and | > | unordered | > | revelations encountered in his work, the circuits of the mind find | > | an | > | occupation exactly congruent with todayis techno-informatic | > | structures. In | > | fact, if Nechvatalis preoccupation with fears, mental anguish, | > | illness and | > | death has never entirely disappeared from his projects their | > | artistically | > | prospective realization within an up-to-date technological | > | framework allows | > | him to come to terms with present-day lifeis complexity. | > | | > | Frank Popper, 2001, Paris | > | | > | | > | *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* | > | | > | | > +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ > > > +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ > | | > | Return-Path: <joseph_nechvatal@hotmail.com> | > | | > +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ > > > +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ > | | > | Received: from hotmail.com (f6.law14.hotmail.com [64.4.21.6]) | > | | > | Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft | > | SMTPSVC; | > | Received: from 195.68.93.230 by lw14fd.law14.hotmail.msn.com with | > | HTTP; | > | X-Originating-IP: [195.68.93.230] | > | From: "Joseph Nechvatal" <joseph_nechvatal@hotmail.com> | > | To: 404@jodi.org, jodi@jodi.org | > | Subject: The HISTORY of TECHNOLOGICALLY-ASSISTED ART SINCE WORLD | > | WAR I and YOUR appropria | > | Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 20:33:02 -0000 | > | Mime-Version: 1.0 | > | Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed | > | Message-ID: <F6xMoMpXc21NgqJfhUb0001e15d@hotmail.com> | > | X-OriginalArrivalTime: 18 Jun 2001 20:33:02.0989 (UTC) | > | FILETIME=[DF4FFBD0:01C0F835] | > | Status: O | > +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold