DOCSLIB.ORG

Introduction

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Introduction Introduction Yuk Hui and Andreas Broeckmann The Postmodern in Les Immatériaux In­1985,­the­French­philosopher­Jean-François­Lyotard,­together­with­the­ design­theorist­Thierry­Chaput,­curated­the­exhibition­Les Immatériaux at the­Centre­Georges­Pompidou­in­Paris.­He­had­accepted­an­invitation­by­the­ Minister for Culture­and­the­Center for Industrial Creation (CCI).­Six­years­after­ Lyotard’s­report­on­The Postmodern Condition (1979),1­the­exhibition­dem- onstrated­the­hypothesis­which­he­had­described­in­the­report.­The­objects­ and­artworks­shown­expressed­his­observations­of­what­was­happening­in­ domains­such­as­art,­science­and­philosophy,­under­the­new­condition­of­com- munication­technologies.­Lyotard’s­report­is­considered­to­be­a­response­to­ another­report­by­Simon­Nora­and­Alain­Minc,­in­the­1970s,­which­proposed­ the “computerisation of society”2.­Nora­and­Minc’s­project­lead­to­the­devel- opment­of­the­French­Minitel­system.­According­to­Lyotard,­the­new­“post- modern”­condition­demanded­a­new­sensibility,­as­he­stated­in­the­principle­ proposition­for­the­exhibition:­“The­insecurity,­the­loss­of­identity,­the­crisis­ is­not­expressed­only­in­economy­and­the­social,­but­also­in­the­domains­of­ the­sensibility,­of­the­knowledge­and­the­power­of­man­(futility,­life,­death),­ the­modes­of­life­(in­relation­to­work,­to­habits,­to­food,­…­etc.).”3­A­constant­ return­to­the­postmodern­condition­became­a­general­method­of­Lyotard’s­ philosophical­thinking­to­go­beyond­the­modern­imagination,­and­guided­the­ construction­of­the­exhibition­which­was,­in­his­own­words,­a­“manifestation”,­ a­“non-exhibition”. 1­ Jean-François­Lyotard,­La Condition postmoderne­(Paris:­Éditions­de­Minuit,­1979). 2­ Charlie­Gere,­Art, Time and Technology­(Oxford:­Berg,­2006),­p.­139. 3­ Les Immatériaux catalogue, Album (Paris:­Centre­Pompidou,­1985),­p.­26. 10 30 Years after Les Immatériaux The­title­of­the­exhibition­Les Immatériaux­demonstrates­a­form­of­resistance­ against­the­modern­conception­of­materiality.­The­original­title­for­the­project­ that­the­CCI­had­initiated­already­in­1981,­before­Lyotard­got­involved­in­1983,­ was Création et matériaux nouveaux.­This­title­was­changed­several­times:­ Matériau et création,­Matériaux nouveaux et création,­La Matière dans tous ses états,­before­it­was­finally­announced­to­the­public­as­Les Immatériaux.4 The etymological root mât­refers­to­making­by­hand,­to­measure,­to­construct.­ The­moderns­since­Descartes­conceive­a­dualism­and­hence­an­opposition­ between the res cogitans­and­the­res extensa;­the­thinking­mind­becomes­the­ foundation­of­knowledge­and­also­the­judge­of­what­is­real.­As­Lyotard­wrote:­ “In­the­tradition­of­modernity,­the­relation­of­the­human­with­materials­is­fixed­ by­the­Cartesian­programme:­to­become­master­and­possessor­of­nature.­A­ free­will­imposes­its­ends­to­the­given­sense­data­to­divert­them­away­from­ their­natural­sense.­It­will­determine­their­end­with­the­help­of­language­which­ allows­it­to­articulate­what­is­possible­(a­project)­and­to­impose­it­upon­what­is­ real­(matter).”5 Hence­Lyotard­considered­that­a­title­such­as­matériaux nouveaux would­ only­perpetuate­the­modern­conception,­while­using­the­prefix­im-­could­ introduce­a­moment­of­self-reflection:­“The­exhibition­[manifestation]­entitled­ Les Immatériaux­has­the­purpose­of­presenting­[faire sentir] how much this relation­is­altered­by­the­fact­of­new­materials.­In­this­extended­sense,­the­new­ materials­are­not­only­new­materials,­they­interrogate­an­idea­of­the­human­ who­works,­who­projects,­who­remembers:­of­an­author.”6 The immaterial is fundamentally­material.­The­point­was­not­to­appreciate­the­new­materiality­ brought­by­the­telecommunication­technologies,­but­rather­to­question­the­ relation­between­man­and­his­desire­to­become­the­master­of­matter.­The­ aim­of­calling­it­“immaterial”,­like­the­designation­of­the­“postmodern”,­was­ to­liberate­man­from­the­modern­paradigm,­and­to­release­material­from­the­ prison­of­the­industrial­revolution. At­the­time,­Lyotard­had­just­finished­writing­Le Differénd,­a­book­dedicated­ to­the­philosophy­of­Kant­and­Wittgenstein,­in­which­Lyotard­wanted­to­ re-read­the­history­of­philosophy­according­to­what­was­called­the­linguistic turn.7 The differend­refers­to­an­unresolved­conflict­due­to­the­lack­of­rules­or­ metanarratives­which­are­common­to­two­different­systems­of­discourse.­We­ should­also­recognise­that­language­was­always­at­the­centre­of­his­thoughts,­ as­was­already­evident­since­his­PhD­thesis,­which­was­later­published­as­ 4­ Antony­Hudek,­“From­Over-­to­Sub-Exposure:­The­Anamnesis­of­Les Immatériaux”,­in­this­ volume,­p.­72. 5 Les Immatériaux catalogue, Album­(Paris:­Centre­Pompidou,­1985),­p.­16. 6­ Ibid. 7­ Jean-François­Lyotard, Le Différend­(Paris:­Minuit,­1983). Introduction 11 matière [referent] référent [referent] destinateur destinataire [sender] [receiver] maternité message matériel [maternity] [message] [hardware] matériau [support] code [code] matrice [matrix] [Figure­1]­Communication­diagram­(Source:­Petit Journal,­28­March–15­July­1985,­Paris,­p.­2.­ Centre­Pompidou,­MNAM,­Bibliothèque­Kandinsky). Discours, Figure­(1971).8­The­question­of­language­was­hence­fundamental­ to­Lyotard’s­conceptualisation­of­this­exhibition,­especially­since­telecom- munication­technology­had­created­a­new­materiality­of­language­between­ senders­and­receivers;­or­more­fundamentally,­it­served­as­the­basis­of­the­ postmodern­turn.­The­conception­of­language­as­a­tool­also­characterises­ modernity,­because­“modernity­presupposes­that­everything­speaks,­this­ means­that­so­long­as­we­can­connect­to­it,­capture­it,­translate­it­and­inter- pret­it,­there­is­no­fundamental­difference­between­data­and­a­phrase;­there­ is­no­fundamental­difference­between­a­phenomenon­of­displacement­in­an­ electromagnetic­spectrum­and­a­logical­proposition”.9­But­it­is­also­such­an­ equivalence­that­allows­Lyotard­to­develop­an­ontology­of­the­material­or­ immaterial­according­to­a­model­of­telecommunication:­matériau/medium,­ matériel/receiver­(destinataire),­maternité/emitter­(destinateur),­matière/ referent,­and­matrice/code­[Figure­1].­The­new­materiality­was­mapped­onto­ the­model­of­telecommunication.­The­objects­and­artworks­in­the­exhibition,­ as­well­as­the­60­sites­at­which­they­were­presented,­were­also­classified­and­ ordered­according­to­these­five­categories. Art and Science in Question Lyotard­compared­the­displacement­of­the­electromagnetic­spectrum­and­log- ical­propositions,­and­continued:­“given­this­fact,­in­this­face-to-face­relation­ to­a­universe­that­is­his­to­dominate­–­a­heroic­relation,­I­would­say­–­in­order­ to­make­himself­the­master­of­it,­man­must­become­something­else­entirely:­ the­human­subject­becomes­no­longer­a­subject­but,­I­would­say,­one­case­ among­others,­albeit­a­case­which­retains­this­privilege,­until­proven­otherwise­ 8­ Jean-François­Lyotard,­Discours, Figure­(Paris:­Klincksieck,­1971),­translated­into­English­by­ Antony­Hudek­and­Mary­Lydon,­Minneapolis­MN:­University­of­Minnesota­Press,­2011). 9­ From­Lyotard’s­report,­“Après­six­mois­de­travail”;­see­this­volume,­p.­33. 12 30 Years after Les Immatériaux (which­is­extremely­improbable)”.10 It was clear to the curatorial team that technology­was­not­the­cause­of­a­rupture,­but­rather­the­sign­of­the­decline­ of­the­figure­of­the­modern,­and­that­at­the­same­time­technology­made­ this­modern­project­reflect­upon­itself,­and­destabilise­itself.11­In­Lyotard’s­ words,­technology­places­humanity­once­again­in­a­condition­of­childhood,­ of­immaturity.­This­reference­to­immaturity­is­in­direct­contrast­to­what­Kant­ defined­as­the­project­of­the­Enlightenment,­namely­to­overcome­the­con- dition­of­Unmündigkeit. Unmündigkeit,­however,­is­not­opposed­to­maturity;­rather­it­is­opposed­ to­authority,­or­more­precisely,­to­the­authority­that­legislates­as­the­sole­ voice.­Scientific­knowledge­has­been­such­an­authority,­which­not­only­ demythologises­the­universe,­but­also­has­a­demoralising­impact­upon­what­ Lyotard­calls­the­problem­of­legitimation.12­The­postmodern­also­questions­ a­certain­hegemony­of­authority­and­hence­radically­opens­up­the­way­that­ knowledge­is­acquired­and­narrated.­The­arrival­of­the­postmodern­demands­ a­sensitivity­to­the­material­conditions,­at­the­same­time­as­it­gives­us­a­ new­sensibility­of­living.­In­the­1980s­and­‘90s,­we­saw­the­celebration­of­the­ postmodern,­as­a­liberation­from­the­shackles­of­rules,­codes,­oppositions,­ and­especially­of­the­modern;­a­celebration­which­was­evident­in­almost­ all­domains­listed­in­the­exhibition:­alimentation,­perfume,­architecture,­ urbanism,­art,­astrophysics­and­physics,­biology­and­genetics,­writing,­habitat,­ mathematics,­money,­music,­theatre,­dance­etc.­The­setting­of­the­exhibition­ is­probably­the­best­illustration­of­this.­It­presents­us­with­a­labyrinth­in­which­ every­object­is­at­once­familiar­and­strange.­Envisaging­the­construction­of­ the­exhibition­space,­Lyotard­proposed­to­go­back­to­an­idea­of­Denis­Diderot­ who,­when­reviewing­the­paintings­of­Claude­Joseph­Vernet­in­the­1767­Salon,­ presented­them­not­as­pictures­to­be­viewed­following­the­traditional­logic­ of­the­division­of­gallery­space,­but­rather­described­them­as­real­sites,­in­the­ form­of­disorientations­of­space. The­exhibition­arose­from­an­effort­to­move­the­concept­of­the­postmodern­ outside­of­books­and­to­find­its­support­in­other­objects,­such­as­scientific,­ industrial­and­art­objects.­This­approach­reflected­a­global­vision,­without­
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Forensics of a Molten Crystal : Challenges of Archiving and Representing Contemporary Generative Art
    This document is downloaded from DR‑NTU (https://dr.ntu.edu.sg) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Forensics of a molten crystal : challenges of archiving and representing contemporary generative art Grba, Dejan 2019 Grba, D. (2019). Forensics of a molten crystal : challenges of archiving and representing contemporary generative art. ISSUE Annual Art Journal: Erase, (8), 3‑15. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/138447 © The Author(s) (ISSUE) (published by LASALLE College of the Arts). This is an open‑access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. Downloaded on 28 Sep 2021 06:24:34 SGT DEJAN GRBA Forensics of a Molten Crystal: Challenges of Archiving and Representing Contemporary Generative Art Introduction This text addresses the questions of erasure, deletion and disappearance in new media art from the aspect of preserving, archiving and representing the emblematic line of generative art practices whose poetic qualities make them museologically problematic within the technological and institutional context of the early 21st century. Contemporary generative art often combines procedural (algorithmic) thinking with bricolage methodology and relies on the infrastructures such as the Internet or the AI systems which are becoming ubiquitous and essential but remain largely elusive, exclusive, opaque and misunderstood. We explore this interrelatedness by discussing some of the exemplar generative art projects which transcend the expressive and aesthetic limits of code-based art but prove to be difficult to preserve and are relatively underrepresented within the art world. With respect to the existing literature in the area, we show that the material fragility, the cognitive values and the educational potentials of generative art practices all stem from their conceptual, methodological and technical sophistication, pointing to the uncertain cultural status of generative art and to some general yet ambivalent issues of memory, re(cognition) and preservation.
    [Show full text]
  • The Art of Regeneration: the Establishment and Development of the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, 1985–2010
    The Art of Regeneration: the establishment and development of the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, 1985–2010 Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Jane Clayton School of Architecture, University of Liverpool August 2012 iii Abstract The Art of Regeneration: the establishment and development of the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, 1985-2010 Jane Clayton This thesis is about change. It is about the way that art organisations have increasingly been used in the regeneration of the physical environment and the rejuvenation of local communities, and the impact that this has had on contemporary society. This historical analysis of the development of a young art organisation, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT), which has previously not been studied in depth, provides an original contribution to knowledge with regard to art and culture, and more specifically the development of media and community art practices, in Britain. The nature of FACT’s development is assessed in the context of the political, socio- economic and cultural environment of its host city, Liverpool, and the organisation is placed within broader discourses on art practice, cultural policy, and regeneration. The questions that are addressed – of local responsibility, government funding and institutionalisation – are essential to an understanding of the role that publicly funded organisations play within the institutional framework of society, without which the analysis of the influence of the state on our cultural identity cannot be achieved. The research was conducted through the triangulation of qualitative research methods including participant observation, in-depth interviews and original archival research, and the findings have been used to build upon the foundations of the historical analysis and critical examination of existing literature in the fields of regeneration and culture, art and media, and museum theory and practice.
    [Show full text]
  • Striving to Persist: Museum Digital Exhibition and Digital Catalogue Production
    =m≤≥Title Page Striving to Persist: Museum Digital Exhibition and Digital Catalogue Production by Aisling Quigley BA, Carleton College, 2009 MLIS, University of Pittsburgh, 2014 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the School of Computing and Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2019 Committee Membership Page UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION This dissertation was presented by Aisling Quigley It was defended on April 9, 2019 and approved by Sheila Corrall, Professor, School of Computing and Information Dr. Erin Peters, Joint Lecturer and Assistant Curator, History of Art and Architecture and Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh Dr. Stacy Wood, Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Information Dissertation Director: Dr. Alison Langmead, Clinical Associate Professor and Director, Visual Media Workshop, History of Art and Architecture; Associate Professor, School of Computing and Information ii Copyright © by Aisling Quigley 2019 iii Abstract Striving to Persist: Museum Digital Exhibition and Digital Catalogue Production Aisling Quigley, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2019 Although museum automation emerged in the mid-1960s, American and British art museums continue to have a difficult relationship with digital technology. Indeed, within the broader cultural heritage network, art museums have been particularly reluctant to disseminate their missions online. Particularly since the eighteenth century, art museums have remained beholden to certain perceptions of authority that are tied to the authentic object. Yet, as new technologies offer more efficient and cost-effective ways to store and disseminate information and promise greater accessibility, these museums have continued in their efforts to incorporate digital methods into their practices.
    [Show full text]
  • British Computer Art 1960-1980
    White Heat Cold Logic British Computer Art 1960–1980 Edited by Paul Brown, Charlie Gere, Nicholas Lambert, and Catherine Mason The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England ( 2008 Birbeck College All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. For information about special quantity discounts, please email [email protected] .edu. This book was set in Garamond 3 and Bell Gothic on 3B2 by Asco Typesetters, Hong Kong. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data White heat cold logic : British computer art 1960–1980 / edited by Paul Brown . [et al.]. p. cm.—(Leonardo books) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 978-0-262-02653-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Computer art—Great Britain. 2. Art, British—20th century. I. Brown, Paul, 1947 Oct. 23– N7433.84.G7W45 2008 776.0941—dc22 2008016997 10987654321 Index 010101: Art in Technological Times, 415 Air Force Office of Scientific Research, 192 2000 AD, 307 Air Loom, 412 2001: A Space Odyssey, 171, 224 AISB. See Society for the Study of Artificial 20th Century Fox, 201, 223 Intelligence and the Simulation of Behavior A&L. See Art & Language Alan Stone Gallery, 422 AA. See Architectural Association Albers, Josef, 265 AARON, 4, 134, 145, 147–150, 276– Aldeburgh Festival, 182 277, 396, 422 Aldermaston March, 164 Abel, Robert, 399 ALGOL, 328 Abstract expressionism, 249–250, 291 Alien, 188–189, 199, 201, 315, 326 Abstraction, 4, 32n18, 122, 124, 248–249, Alife.
    [Show full text]
  • 2012 the Fibreculture Journal Celebrated Ten Years of Open Access Scholarly Publishing with the Publication of Its 20Th Issue
    The Fibreculture Journal DIGITAL MEDIA + NETWORKS + TRANSDISCIPLINARY CRITIQUE Issue 22 : 2013 Trolls and The Negative Space of The Internet edited by Glen Fuller, Christian McCrea and Jason Wilson The LOCKSS System has the permission to collect, preserve and serve this open access Archival Unit This Isuue of the Fibreculture Journal by The Fibrecul- ture Journal Incorporated is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The Fibreculture Journal is published by The Fibreculture Journal Incorporated in partnership with Open Humanities Press. ISSN: 1449 – 1443 , Published in Sydney, Australia Fibreculture Journal Inc. in partnership with The Open Humanities Press 2013 The journal is peer reviewed as per section 4.3.4 of the Australian HERDC Specifications. About the Fibreculture Journal The Fibreculture Journal is a peer reviewed international journal, first published in 2003 to ex- plore the issues and ideas of concern to the Fibreculture network. The Fibreculture Journal now serves wider social formations across the international community of those thinking critically about, and working with, contemporary digital and networked media. The Fibreculture Journal has an international Editorial Board and Committee. In 2008, the Fibreculture Journal became a part of the Open Humanities Press , a key initiative in the development of the Open Access journal community. In 2012 the Fibreculture Journal celebrated ten years of open access scholarly publishing with the publication of its 20th Issue. The journal encourages critical and speculative interventions in the debate and discussions concerning a wide range of topics of interest. These include the social and cultural contexts, phi- losophy and politics of contemporary media technologies and events, with a special emphasis on the ongoing social, technical and conceptual transitions involved.
    [Show full text]
  • New Media in the White Cube and Beyond
    020 Paul Pt 1 (11-48) 7/10/08 10:21 AM Page 13 CHARLIE GERE 1 New Media Art and the Gallery in the Digital Age n this essay I am concerned particularly with the representation in art galleries and museums of work created by using new technologies Isuch as computers. For convenience’s sake I shall call such work “new media art,” even though this term is both problematic and, for at least some of my discussion, anachronistic. The early work I discuss would not have been defined in such terms. Nevertheless, it is useful shorthand for a range of practices and names, including “art and tech- nology,” “computer art,” “systems art,” and so on. The question of this kind of work’s representation in institutions such as galleries and muse- ums is important in relation to the work itself and how it is received and understood, but, at a broader level, also indicates how galleries and museums can engage with our increasingly technologized society, in particular the ubiquity of new media and new technologies such as the Internet. As little as twenty years ago, the Internet was hardly used outside sci- ence departments, and interactive multimedia were only just becoming possible, CDs were a novelty, mobile phones unwieldy luxuries, and the World Wide Web nonexistent. Since then, these technological develop- ments have begun to touch on almost every aspect of our lives. Nowa- days, most forms of mass media, television, recorded music, and film 13 Copyrighted Material 020 Paul Pt 1 (11-48) 7/10/08 10:21 AM Page 14 14 NEW MEDIA ART AND THE GALLERY are produced and even distributed digitally; these media are beginning to converge with digital forms, such as the Internet, the World Wide Web, and video games, to produce something like a seamless digital mediascape.
    [Show full text]
  • Drawing on Text
    DRTP 3 (1) pp. 3–12 Intellect Limited 2018 Drawing: Research, Theory, Practice Volume 3 Number 1 © 2018 Intellect Ltd Editorial. English language. doi: 10.1386/drtp.3.1.3_2 Editorial Charlie Gere lancaster University Doris rohr liverpool Hope University Drawing on text This special guest-edited journal investigates the relationship of drawing to writing, and the idea that drawing forms one of the many possibilities and realizations of text, beyond an exclusively verbal definition (Derrida 1993; Farthing and McKenzie 2014; Rohr 2016). By implication, the word, or the verbal, has a long-standing association with intellect, whereas sense appreciations (aural, haptic, acoustic, olfactory) are associated with the ‘base’ body. Writing – in print in particular – hastened the departure from the physically experienced to primarily visually apprehended text (Ingold 2016; Ong 1982). The analysis of the separation of the kinaesthetic from the intellect forms part of a wider critique (Jay 1995; Pallasmaa 2005b; Paterson 2007; Pattison 2007). Mark Paterson’s concept of haptic vision (2007) is of relevance to aid in an understanding of drawing as a mediator 3 00. DRTP_3.1_Editorial_3-12.indd 3 3/29/18 9:50 AM Charlie Gere | Doris Rohr between traditional conceptions of text as the written (printed) word and a wider appreciation of (drawn) text as a polyphonic entity. When text is performed the word becomes pronounced, spoken, sung, enacted and thus embod- ied and emplaced. Handwritten text and manually rendered drawing are also intimately connected with the originator whose hand performed the word and committed it to paper or some other support, ground or surface.
    [Show full text]
  • Documentation Art and Korean Bunche Painting
    Documentation Art and Korean Bunche Painting: An Investigation of Deleuze’s Transcendental Realism through the Painting Process Hyeyoung Maeng December 2017 This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Contemporary Arts Lancaster University – Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts Documentation Art and Korean Bunche Painting: An Investigation of Deleuze’s Transcendental Realism through the Painting Process Hyeyoung Maeng December 2017 This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Contemporary Arts The complementary component of the submission is in the form of an exhibition of Documentation Art installed at the Peter Scott Gallery. The exhibition will be documented through photographs compiled on a DVD included in the permanent binding of this thesis. Lancaster University – Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts i Declaration of Authorship I declare that the thesis is my own work, and has not been submitted in substantially the same form for the award of a higher degree elsewhere. Hyeyoung Maeng December 2017 ii Acknowledgements I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Beth Harland and Dr Richard Rushton, for their constant emotional and academic support throughout my PhD research. I also would like to express thanks to my academic advisor, Dr Linda O Keeffe, for her valuable advice, and to the LICA technicians who have always been helpful and supportive. I also very much appreciate the valuable feedback from my PhD examiners Professor John Ó Maoilearca and Professor Charlie Gere.
    [Show full text]
  • Situating Internet Art in the Traditional Institution for Contemporary Art by Karen A
    .art Situating Internet Art in the Traditional Institution for Contemporary Art by Karen A. Verschooren B.S. Communication Sciences K.U.Leuven, 2004 Master Cultural Sciences V.U.B., 2005 SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JUNE 2007 © 2007 Karen A. Verschooren. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Signature of Author: ______________________________________________________ Program in Comparative Media Studies May 11, 2007 Certified by:_____________________________________________________________ William Charles Uricchio Professor of Comparative Media Studies Co-Director, Comparative Media Studies Thesis Supervisor Accepted by: ____________________________________________________________ Henry Jenkins Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities Professor of Comparative Media Studies and Literature Co-Director, Comparative Media Studies 2 .art Situating Internet Art in the Traditional Institution for Contemporary Art by Karen A. Verschooren Submitted to the Department of Comparative Media Studies on May 11, 2007 in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in Science in Comparative Media Studies. ABSTRACT This thesis provides a critical analysis of the relation between Internet art and the traditional institution for contemporary art in the North American and West-European regions. Thirteen years after its inception as an art form, the Internet art world finds itself in a developmental stage and its relation to the traditional institution for contemporary art is accordingly.
    [Show full text]
  • We Do We Begin
    [E[dition 5: Tate Encounters Shiny and New: Reflections on ‘Resolutely Analogue? Art Museums in Digital Culture’1 Peter Ride “I will buy you a new car, perfect shiny and new…I will buy you a new life” (Cuthbert, Eklund & Montoya) “You make me feel, shiny and new” (Madonna) Sitting alongside the tangible material benefits of technology is the question of its effect, both definable and undefinable. What does it mean to be a recipient, a user or consumer of technology? What response does it evoke - how does it make us feel? Shiny and new, maybe, but what is it to have ‘newness’? These are not arbitrary questions. The issue of ‘newness’ runs deep through discussions about new technologies. Concepts collide and overlap. Is newness the same as innovation? What is relevant in the new: the technology itself, our way of working with it, or its effect upon us? Can we critically address how much we are stimulated by notions of newness? More rhetorical than the song lyrics of Everclear or Madonna, the forward paragraphs to the government’s Digital Britain report in 2009 by Gordon Brown mines the value of ‘newness’ in terms that present a sweeping conflation of the personal and the socio-political:.’Only a Digital Britain will secure the wonders of an information revolution that could transform every part of our lives. Only a Digital Britain will enable us to demonstrate the vision and dynamism that we have to shape the future.’ 2This gives an important framing context of technological change to the discussions that took place in the Tate Encounters’ Resolutely Analogue? research, dealing with aspiration and expectation in economic policy as well as the social.
    [Show full text]
  • Contents Career Moves Whilst Raising Her Family
    u tin 82 ill For information on advertising, membership and distribution: February Association of The Administrator, 70 Cowcross Street, London EC1M 6EJ; Art Historians Tel: 020 7490 3211; Fax: 020 7490 3277; <[email protected]> 2003 Registered Charity No. 282579 Editor: Jannet King, 48 Stafford Road, Brighton BN1 5PF; <[email protected]> www.aah.org.uk Sue Ward - Editor Extraordinaire MET SUE in the lounge of DeVere's Grand Hotel in I Brighton - a town where skateboarders, antique dealers and tattoed, braided and pierced young women running dot-com businesses share tall, skinny lattes. The Grand Hotel was an appropriate place at which to meet her: it's sophisticated and charming, with a natural air of graciousness about it. Sadly, the devastated pier was on full view from the window, and I wondered what Sue thought of its demise, brought on by years of procrastination by the Council and the commercial sector. She regrets the architectural loss to the country, but wonders whether, in a city with the social needs of Brighton, the millions needed to rebuild it could not be better used in other ways? Sue Ward created The Art Book in 1993 and has been its Editor ever since, notwithstanding the buy-out from Blackwell Publishers and the AAH five years ago, which enabled its further growth and international expansion. This year The Art Book celebrates it 10th birthday - a tremendous moment. Among the year's celebratory festivities will be an elite gathering at the Century Club in New York. I asked Sue whether she had made a conscious decision to mix the heavy workloads of motherhood and career woman? Her immediate response was that she had always wanted both and had never imagined either life-style to be mutually exclusive.
    [Show full text]
  • Digital Transformations MOOT 19 November 2012
    Digital Transformations MOOT 19 November 2012 A GUIDE TO THE DAY Foreword – Professor Tim Hitchcock The digital and the online have quite simply changed and where new conversations can take place. It will how arts and humanities practitioners work, and the be a success if participants come away, not just better “The digital and the online have AHRC is committed to supporting that change. informed, but better able to cross and re-cross that awkward boundary between the technical and the quite simply changed how arts and This Moot, this event, represents one small space where humanist; the humanist and the technical. humanities practitioners work, and the transformations implied by these developments will the AHRC is committed to supporting actually occur. It is a fragment of the Council’s programme Professor Tim Hitchcock that change. This Moot, this event, of funding and activities under its Digital Transformations theme, and reflects the AHRC’s commitment to supporting Chair, Digital Transformations Advisory Group represents one small space where the research community in its conversation between the the transformations implied by these shockingly new, the universal and the timeless. developments will actually occur. ” The AHRC has already made some eighteen Research Development Awards under the broad umbrella of PROFESSOR TIM HITCHCOCK the theme, covering everything from the electronic PROFESSOR OF EIGHTEENTHCENTURY HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE; CODIRECTOR OF THE OLD BAILEY ONLINE AND CHAIR OF representations of dance to the creation of a common THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONS THEME ADVISORY GROUP internet archive for 1948 Palestine. Working in a responsive mode with the Arts and Humanities community, the Research Development Awards have helped us map out the wide and open landscape of innovation that already exists.
    [Show full text]