Leonardo Reviews
Leonardo Reviews Lyotard argued that the postmodern con- connections. Krauss’s point is that Editor-in-Chief: Michael Punt dition is characterized by the end of a Marclay’s efforts build on a history. Managing Editor: Bryony Dalefield “master narrative,” Krauss sees in the Earlier filmmaker efforts to sync sound post-medium condition of contemporary with lip movement are also well known. Associate Editors: Dene Grigar, art a similar coherence. She writes: More recently, Bruce Nauman’s classic Martha Blassnigg, Hannah Drayson piece Lip Sync (1969) alluded to this A full selection of reviews is pub- For the most part, Perpetual Inventory technological development in terms of charts my conviction as a critic that the lished monthly on the LR web site: abandonment of the specific medium video. Nauman held the camera upside
©2011 ISAST LEONARDO, Vol. 44, No. 5, pp. 445–457, 2011 445
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 show a unitary organization of an un- ever, his process is not based on the get a feel for discrete topics and specific folding narrative. Those who know this theme of the series. The works result artists, I also felt that an educator would work would understand that it feels like through the dictates of his creative end up using some of the oversights a unified piece despite the layers of practice of drawing a bit, shooting the within the presentation to aid students its complexity. Yet, as is often the case drawing, and then drawing and shoot- in thinking about how writing most with Krauss’s essays, I am not sure that ing some more. The activity involves effectively communicates with an audi- her commentary on Video Quartet will walking between the camera and the ence. It strikes me as odd that a poor translate as effectively to a reader who is drawing and includes erasure as well as editing job could have a positive ben- unfamiliar with the artwork. the ongoing progression to the work’s efit—in this case providing a classroom The “Lip Sync” essay also shows that conclusion. Krauss also does a nice job tool for looking at how an author can Krauss, too, has a talent for layering. of relating Kentridge’s technique to the better organize a paper. One example For instance, this article references the ideas of Eisenstein, Deleuze, Cavell and of the problem is the fact that the illus- use of grids in modernist painting, Nau- others. trations are not well integrated into the man’s Lip Sync, how Nauman both paid Aside from these two extraordinary article. Rather than including in-text homage to the challenge early filmmak- essays, the book struck me as choppy. references that would lead the reader ers faced in their efforts to synchronize Although I am a big fan of Sol LeWitt’s to an image, the pictorial content sim- sound with silent films and more. Read- work, and he is one artist who comes up ply co-exists with the articles. I think it ing through the article I could not help frequently in Krauss’s writing, I thought makes more sense to walk the reader but think how fascinating synchroniza- Krauss’s commentary on him seemed over to the image so that she realizes tion is. Cable television today offers a dated. With Kentridge’s work and Mar- that there is a reference point for the good case in point, for the problem of clay’s Video Quartet, by contrast, I felt textual elaboration, particularly when synchronization periodically comes up that reading her critique enhanced my the image is not on the same page or due to the large amounts of video sig- understanding of these artists. Debating across from the text. nal processing. how to convey my overall response to All in all, the range of this volume “‘The Rock’: William Kentridge’s the volume, I am drawn to a comment demonstrates that Rosalind Krauss has a Drawings for Projection,” originally in the book itself. Krauss thanks her rich and fertile mind. Some of the lon- published in October (No. 92, Spring editor at MIT, Roger Conover, for his ger essays are thought provoking and 2000), is the most compelling essay in help and mentions that she is grate- well worth reading. Some of the shorter the book. William Kentridge is a South ful he supported the project despite essays bring to mind how little one can African artist whose animated films the “publishing world’s disapproval say in a brief critique. Taken as a whole, pursue the problems of apartheid. It of anthologies” (p. x). Reading this Perpetual Inventory highlights many of is in this essay that Krauss comes clos- volume I better understand why this Krauss’s contributions to art criticism est to articulating the idea of technical sentiment exists. To be sure, Krauss and will no doubt enhance the libraries support, because Kentridge’s work has considerably influenced contem- of contemporary art historians. mixes film, drawing, erasure and highly porary art history, and her writings charged ideas. Indeed, Kentridge is a (particularly essays for ArtForum and good example of how the narrative of October) highlight her intellectual gifts Dans l’atelier de l’art a product is not simply what a work is and legacy. Yet throughout the book Expériences Cognitives “about.” With Kentridge, Krauss shows Krauss offers minimalist explanations as by Mario Borillo. Champ Vallon, how an artist speaks through the activ- to where the essays fit within the larger Seyssel, France, 2010, 284 pp. Paper. ity of creation and, in doing so, uses body of art criticism. Thus, although no ISBN: 978-2-87673-507-1. a language of a different quality than doubt unintentional, there seemed to the narrative associated with the work. be a certain conceit in this assemblage. Reviewed by Florence Martellini, U.K. Kentridge’s term for this is fortuna, a While I can appreciate and understand E-mail:
446 Leonardo Reviews
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 debates generated by cognitive scien- strain cognitive science to adapt theo- mirror neurons are permanently and tists. Numerous research studies have ries to use art as a research field. automatically active when we observe looked at the social impact of artistic Jerome Dokic questions whether the actions/movements of another creation in the history of humankind, there exists a cognitive architecture person. Applied to graphics, our brain as well as that of the artists and their underlying aesthetic competence. He seems to be able to reconstruct a move- patrons. However informative these presents two theses: (1) reductionism— ment out of a series of static traces works are, they do not really bring a the aesthetic experience is the result appearing, say, in painting (brush critical scientific eye to the actual act of a mix of cognitive competences strokes) or a handwritten document. of creating arts. that are not intrinsically aesthetics (2) Hence it seems that when the traces/ Encouraging exchange between modularism—the aesthetic experience prints left by a human being are in artists and scientific researchers is is the product of standalone aesthetic the environment, in front of us, they another theme discussed in this book. responses that are cut off from reason- are automatically analyzed a posteriori Increasingly, artists and cognitive sci- ing and other underlying/existing by the motor cortex of the viewer. A ence experts realize that they can learn beliefs. The author favors reduction- study by David Freeman and Vittorio from each other, and that despite their ism, which brings together aesthetic Gallese reveals that canonical and mir- different methods and tools they have responses and meta-cognitive feelings ror neurons play an important role a perception of the world that deserves such as the sense of knowing, surprise, because they simulate embodiment that mutual collaboration. French research- fear, illusion, etc. He claims that the is relevant to aesthetic responses, thus ers and funding are to some extent aesthetic experience cannot really be offering the basis for understanding the lagging behind the rest of Europe, with considered as a process independent neural substrate of empathetic reac- American scientific approaches leading of judgment and existing belief and tions to works of art. They help bridge proudly in this research field. Given the denies the existence of an underlying visual perception movements and the variety of relevant questions, methods sense of aesthetics. Hence, it is a melt- embodiment that occurs when we look and available tools, this interdisciplin- ing pot of competences of which nature at works of art. ary research theme is very broad and contribution vary according to the Jean-François Bonnefon and Henri and requires an adventurous mind context in which it is used. The arts Prade believe that cognitive psychol- to embark on it. This book proves, are a broad cognitive field for experi- ogy helps us understand what makes us however, that a real interest in it exists ment—they bring cognitive experiences tune in with some artworks and suggest in France. The articles are very inter- but also questions about cognition two cognitive theories: (1) structural esting; however, most are not reader- itself. theory, which claims that understanding friendly for a layperson—even an artist. Jean Vion-Dury, on the other hand, art requires knowledge of the history Only one author of the 12 articles is refutes that a reductionist model, such of art, of its social context, etc., and (2) an art expert. as neurobiology or psychology, can individualistic theory, a study of the indi- Taking a closer look at some of the interpret the aesthetic experience of vidual and his or her cognitive struc- articles presented, Borillo remarks that the sublime. He claims that the sublime ture, i.e. the perception process of the a cognitive analysis of an artwork allows in art is a sort of auto-hypnosis trig- viewer in front of a particular artwork for a discussion of processes, both men- gered by an external agent that can vary and the artist’s intention of revealing tal and emotional, but can we speak of from an artwork to a landscape, human or materializing a reality hidden to the the logic of the emotions? In his article, gesture or music piece. It cannot be world. Despite being critical of Semir he examines the complexity of art and communicated by words and is a shared Zeki’s and V.S. Ramachandran’s most cognitive sciences working together. experience in which empathy is para- influential neurological theories, these The latter provides the structure of men- mount. The sublime brings also ethical authors state that “High Art” could be tal processes, and their understanding changes, i.e. changing ethos (where defined as art that offers the brain the would allow one to decide, for example, we live) and hence how we live in the most interpretations possible, all being whether someone is an artist or not. world. Art can bring such a debate to relevant. They conclude that art has This cognitive knowledge could be cognitive sciences, and it should not evolved in its relationship with view- extended to the perception process. stay at the bare level of studying works ers—today artists expect more from Cognitive researchers are interested of art and neural processes but should viewers than a mere cognitive response in the creative process itself in order also enter the field of philosophies of relating to beauty and the sublime; to get to the roots of aesthetic experi- art and of the mind. viewers must show an interest. Hence, ences. The artwork is only its trace; to Jean-Luc Velay and Marieke Long- studying the viewer’s mind is para- analyze the artist poses problems in camp look at motor-visual perception mount. Today, new technologies offer that an external observer would disturb and aesthetic judgment in particular, new opportunities to manipulate light, the process itself—the viewer can only and at how our own movement and colors and texture of copied originals bring a subjective perspective of that emotions react to visual information to allow further study of the viewer. process. Borillo reviews briefly the his- created by human movement, such as Finally, the only art expert in the tory of the cognitive sciences and dis- graphics and handwriting. book, Pascal Pique, explains that an cusses two theoretical models amongst The way we know and react to objects interest in the mind in contemporary many others in existence. He stresses around us is conditioned by how we art is making a comeback, e.g. the that defining a work of art is paramount have learnt to interact with them. Velay symbol of the brain is ever more pres- in overcoming these challenges; how- and Longcamp claim that some inter- ent. Jan Fabre, visual artist and writer, ever, within the confines of cognitive actions are learnt by repetitions, while creates pieces in which the brain is a sciences this is not an easy task. He others obey more general and universal central theme—the brain is a physical concludes that contemporary art, being laws. Awareness of our own movements organ but is also the center of thoughts, predominantly conceptual, may con- constrains our visual perceptions, e.g. imagination, the mind, etc. Pique
Leonardo Reviews 447
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 asserts that contemporary art has never Enfoldment and Infinity is a fast-paced been as productive as it is today. And scholarly tour de force. Marks’s depth because art no longer has boundaries, of understanding of Islamic culture philosophy has difficulties in analyzing and the various philosophies that his- and classifying art in the way that it did torically have been used to produce when the notion of “beauty” was the its art—including poetry, architecture, reference point. Pique acknowledges utensil decoration, music and of course that art and creation are paramount carpets—is quite profound. Perhaps to the permanent reinvention of our more than in any other religion, an relationship to the world. Cognitive understanding of the political influ- sciences must avoid reductionism, and ences involved is as important as under- the scientist Francesco Varela opened standing the various scriptures and a new door by claiming that the brain their interpretations. Marks considers is an organ/limb that builds worlds these factors and describes clearly how rather than reflects them. Hence, the and why the various forms of Islamic human being and the world intercon- art were created the way they were. She nect, exchange. The philosopher Alva argues “that new media art, considered Noë suggests that we should look at Western, has an important genealogy in the relationship of the artist and the the aesthetics, philosophy, and science artwork not in terms of what they rep- of classical Islam” (p. 149). resent but rather of how they interact The book has a center color-plate sec- the 1950s and 1960s. This chapter pon- with their external realities. Artist Bas- tion together with numerous black-and- ders whether networks are the haptic serole believes that artists show us how white illustrations. As Marks mentions space of our age. Chapter 6 proposes a our perception of space and time has herself, the photographs cannot do historical parallel to new media in art changed—it is broader, to the scale of justice to the texture and relief features of the Sunni world from the 10th and the cosmos. Does this transformation of carpets and the domed ceilings of 11th centuries that privileged geometric already affect our physical and psycho- mosques. There are 10 chapters, fol- forms. Chapter 7 is mainly devoted to logical makeup? Cognition creates new lowed by an extensive notes section and atomism, a brief and fascinating move- worlds in continuity. There is a need to an excellent index. The chapters are as ment in 9th-century Iraq, which holds rethink the “science and art” relation- follows: that the world consists of accident and ship and to reintroduce a symbolic fluctuation, changing at God’s com- dimension, which suggests that the 1. Getting Things Unfolded mand. Chapter 8 looks at calligraphy scientist and the artist be more open to 2. Islamic Aesthetics and New Media whereby letters and words start to look each other’s mindsets. Art: Points of Contact like bodies. While Chapter 7 shows that 3. The Haptic Transfer and the Travels in some contexts the point or pixel is of the Abstract Line, Part I thought to be the inner limit of thought, Enfoldment and Infinity: 4. The Haptic Transfer and the Travels Chapter 9 examines the infinitesimal An Islamic Genealogy of of the Abstract Line, Part II dimension—the idea that the smallest New Media Art 5. The Haptic Transfer and the Travels point has an inside. Chapter 10 explores of the Abstract Line, Part III the idea that unfolding is like life itself. by Laura U. Marks. MIT Press, 6. Baghdad, 830: Birth of the Algo- This chapter is devoted to another fasci- Cambridge, MA, and London, U.K., rithm nating commonality between new media 2010. 392 pp., illus. Trade. ISBN: 7. Baghdad, 1000: Origin of the Pixel art and much Islamic art: qualities of 978-0-262-01421-2. 8. Cairo, 972: Ancestor of the Morph nonorganic life, self-organization or 9. Herat, 1487: Early Virtual Reality autopoiesis (pp. 33–35). Reviewed by Rob Harle, Australia. 10. Karabagh, 1700: Seeds of Artificial Marks covers a huge amount of E-mail:
448 Leonardo Reviews
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 the book to fractals; however, given the from philanthropy to business, it is also invited to get themselves exposed to main subject concerns—enfoldment, quite fascinating in itself. What Lupkin religiously tainted activities, but this immanent infinity, aniconism and the is most interested in is the social, politi- invitation was never an obligation. The expansion from the point to infinity— cal, ethical, ideological and commercial Y rapidly became a social center repre- I think a chapter itself devoted to an aspects of what the YMCA buildings senting “honest” activities rather than analysis and comparison of fractals (a actually stand for. The answer to this a place of indoctrination or manipula- purely new media phenomenon, not question proves to be very complex, tion. Initially, it was strongly opposed realizable without computers) would since the meaning of the Y has changed to modern entertainment, at least in add depth to her thesis of the connec- dramatically over time. comparison with competing entertain- tion of new media art with Islamic art. Broadly speaking, the main changes ment forms such as the saloon and the Perhaps this and a far more detailed were twofold, yet each of them had to brothel. Later, the Y had to negotiate its discussion concerning quantum do with the necessity of adapting the place in the new market of mass culture theory—especially field theory and the organization to new forms of urban and commercial entertainment, hence zero-point field—could form the basis culture in which the original WASP the progressive opening to athletics of further investigation. values were no longer at home. In each (the swimming pool and the gymna- Because of its wide scope, this book case, Lupkin describes very well how a sium were not present in the first YMCA will appeal to a fairly wide range of change of function corresponded with buildings) and new forms of urban scholars, especially critical theorists, a change of meaning (and vice versa). culture (the billiard pool soon replaced art historians, new media artists and, First, from an ideological point of the lecture hall, at least in the eyes of clearly, those interested in metaphysics. view, Lupkin analyzes the gradual shift the visitors). In a still-later period, the from a half-social, half-religious cen- ideological dimension of the Y faded ter to a merely social center in which away, as the religious dimension had anhood actories M F : (more and more) athletics, social done, and the organization’s function YMCA Architecture and activities and (less and less) religion became purely social (in that later the Making of Modern were blended. In the former model the period, the YMCA also started to rent Urban Culture initial customers were invited to train rooms, a decision that, of course, had by Paula Lupkin. Minnesota University themselves in typically WASP ideals a strong impact on the structure of the Press, Minneapolis, 2010, 312 pp., illus. such as honesty, hard work, self-control buildings). ISBN: 978-0-8166-4834-4; ISBN: 978-0- and paternalistic responsibility—it was Second, Lupkin examines the in- 8166-4835-1. still possible to transfer these values in creasing tension between the original the first decades of the Republic from aims of the YMCA from a manage- Reviewed by Jan Baetens. E-mail: the sphere of family life to the different ment and financial point of view. Two
Leonardo Reviews 449
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 cally oriented, others no less explicitly legal definition of fraud in science strains and expectations that have to defending a policy of neutrality. and codes of conduct for researchers. be met in order to enter into and suc- The great merit of Lupkin’s book, Richly contextualized with fascinating ceed in the highly competitive world of however, is not that she offers a case studies and written by an intimate research and publication. Then come very readable and interdisciplinary insider, a physicist of repute and senior the case studies, and there the reader approach to a crucial social phenom- university administrator, it is a study will learn more about particle physics, enon that until now had escaped seri- in caution and good measure. In addi- molecular biology, immunology, virol- ous scholarship, but that the volume tion, it is of historical import for science ogy and the like than one could have introduces some important hypotheses writing, considering both its elegance imagined possible. And while that in on the exceptional success of the and the high-profile cases of fraud and itself is a fascinating and unexpected YMCA. Ideological and social adaptabil- alleged fraud covered therein. Indeed, experience adding enormous value to ity is certainly one of the major factors the way in which Goodstein makes the book, this is above all a first-hand that explains the incredible expan- complex issues in advanced science account of how the Caltech policy on sion of the Y over the whole U.S. (and accessible and the way in which he deals research misconduct came about. On even abroad). Management culture is sensitively with such compromising the latter issue alone, the book consti- another and perhaps a less expected and tragic circumstances is a testament tutes an indispensable classic on creat- one. Indeed, urban development and to the author’s skill as a writer and his ing policy and on scientific fraud or planning proved to be a decisive fac- level-headed compassion. All in all, for “ffp” with “‘fabrication’ being defined tor, each city being eager to host a Y undergraduates about to embark on as making up results, ‘falsification’ as that was bigger, more original or better a career in science, it makes for indis- changing and omitting data or results, situated than that of comparable cities. pensable reading. and ‘plagiarism’ as the appropriation of (If Richard Florida would have written What will be surprising to the lay ideas without credit” (p. 67). his book on the creative class a century reader is how it could be possible to In the opening discussion on the ago, he would certainly have stressed read so effortlessly about what would nature of science, Goodstein revisits the role of a well-equipped YMCA to otherwise be overly complicated top- Bacon and Popper, falsifiability and attract and keep promising young ics to even consider engaging. Take theory building. He describes the real- people!) Finally, image-building and for instance, the elegant way in which ity versus the ideal nature of scientific mass communication are included in Goodstein revisits the famous posthu- research in generating new hypotheses this volume. For instance, there is a very mous case against Robert Andrew Mil- and the authority and reward structure illuminating analysis of the postcard likan (the author of The Electron [1917] within which scientific advances and fashion that invaded the U.S. after the and Nobel laureate) for data manipula- careers are made. More specifically, in invention of that new medium (first tion in determining the charge of the the course of the subsequent discussion launched at the Chicago World Exposi- ion—and for anti-Semitism and male in each chapter, he underscores the tion of 1893). chauvinism in addition. Goodstein importance of protocols and guide- Lupkin succeeds in presenting her settles these accusations deftly for the lines for pursuing charges of fraud, subject with a perfect mix of sympathy record. In a masterfully illustrated especially in universities, and of the and critical distance. The iconography chapter reproducing the original pages importance of not rushing to judgment. of the book is gorgeous and used in a from Millikan’s laboratory notes testing As noted above, the study itself is an way that is both efficient and endur- Stokes’ Law, he concludes that a care- outcome of the creation of the Caltech ingly surprising. Finally, the style of ful contextual reading of the data and campus policy governing the process of her writing is elegant and smooth from publication at issue “greatly diminishes investigating and handling fraud. Writ- the very first page through to the very their apparent significance as evidence ten by the author in 1988, the policy last sentence. This book is a must-read of misconduct” (p. 47). From allega- was put to the test soon after he had for all those interested in American tions of fraud in the discovery of the completed the final draft [2]. Having cultural history and for all those who charge of the ion to the same issue as been appointed as a member of the are looking for what interdisciplinarity it concerned the discovery of the AIDS ethics committee dealing with the cases in cultural studies may represent at its virus, one finds oneself so quickly at against Caltech immunologists Vipin best. the end of the book that one wonders Kumar and James L. Urban, Goodstein how one could have read about such provides us with an inside view of the high science so easily and with so much problem and how it was dealt with on n act and raud O F F : pleasure. Surely the answer lies in its campus. These cases were of particular Cautionary Tales from presentation. There is not an unneces- importance to Caltech’s reputation, the Front Lines of Science sary word or comma. In essence, then, having taken place in the famed labora- by David Goodstein. Princeton for science writers above all, this book tory of Leroy E. Hood, the university’s University Press, Princeton, Oxford, presents the ultimate Strunk and White most prestigious biologist. 2010, 168 pp. Trade. ISBN: 978-0-691- experience [1]. And again, no less In Kumar’s case, a figure had been 13966-1. important is the ethical value of the text faked in the Journal of Experimental as an exercise in compassion and judi- Medicine. In Urban’s case, fake data had Reviewed by Jonathan Zilberg, University cious good measure. been submitted in a manuscript to the of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A. The first chapter sets the stage by journal Cell and then replaced with the Email:
450 Leonardo Reviews
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 Laboratory of Autoimmunity at the Tor- ture superconductivity, reproducibility cases, considering the arguably unnec- rey Pines Institute of Molecular Studies, was expected and was not forthcom- essary trauma involved. Cases such as Urban’s case was different. Disgraced, ing. In addition, it was mercilessly Schön and Nimov are exquisitely farci- he disappeared. and quickly publicly demolished by cal but exceedingly rare. In Urban’s A similar tragedy of a ruined career Lewis, Barnes and Koonin of Caltech case, claiming that one is sure what happened in the astounding case of as theoretically impossible and, thus, the results for an experiment would John Hendrick (Jan Hendrik) Schön, a pronounced “effectively dead” early in have been, despite the contention in brilliant young experimental physicist the scandal. Yet, perhaps out of defer- this case turning out to be correct, working in carbon-based semi-conduc- ence to his eminent and good friend is hardly an excuse for submitting a tor research who published a paper Franco Scaramuzzi, Goodstein goes to fraudulent scientific paper to a pres- every eight days between 1998 and great length to show how a scientist of tigious journal. Interestingly enough, 2001. Shortly after he was offered the such repute could have found himself Urban would have gotten away with it post of the Director of the Max Planck in a deeply compromised situation had the material not surfaced during Institute, his paper “Field Effect Modu- and, furthermore, concludes that in the Kumar investigation. While that lation of the Conductance of Single his opinion, the verdict is not yet final case had minor consequences for the Molecules” for Science and a similar on cold fusion. He also shows how field at large, the consequences of the article for Nature were found to be Scaramuzzi’s laboratory continues cold fusion saga were more long-lasting. fraudulent [4]. The ensuing investiga- to struggle to maintain the research Stanley Pons and Martin Fleishmann, tion showed that there was no raw data agenda and, in so doing, contributes to who announced the discovery of cold and there were no original samples. technical advances in the field driven fusion, became “scientific outcasts” in a The problem had only been noticed by on by the occasional inexplicable bursts “pariah field” of “pathological science” Lydia Sohn and Paul McEuen because of energy. It does not, however, come and, most memorable of all of Good- the data was “too perfect”—the same to the same thing as the all-important stein’s pithy choice of words, evidence curves were given for different experi- vindication of the virologists Mikulas of a “sincere delusion”—although he ments and the background noise on Popovic and Thereza Imanishi-Kiri is at pains to illustrate that the issue the curves was identical. These two respectively in David Gallo’s and David here was a matter not of fraud but of instances turned out to be only the tip Baltimore’s laboratories, the principals bad science. In thus addressing such of Schön’s iceberg. As Goodstein duly having in the process also experienced entirely different allegations and cases notes, the “ethical fulcrum” of peer the full, if partial and temporary, pro- of real and alleged fraud and their review works well at “separating real fessional consequences of allegation of consequences, Goodstein provides us science from nonsense” but not as well fraud by the mere fact of hierarchical with unexpectedly rich insight into a for detecting fraud (p. 17). Schön, a responsibility. wide range of experimental science golden boy and almost God-like figure Thereza Imanishi-Kiri was accused that probably could not have been so in condensed-matter physics, was fired by a postdoctoral student of falsifying effectively addressed had it not been for from Bell Labs, and his doctorate from published immunological data based the unifying theme. Hence, we learn the University of Konstanz and a num- on the student’s inability to reproduce as much about science here as about ber of articles were revoked [5]. the results. And even though David Bal- fraud and the proven lack or mitigation The case studies serve to illustrate a timore, the head of the laboratory and thereof. wide range of fraud, real and alleged. then President of Rockefeller Univer- To end, this text should be required Goodstein presents each in the most sity, was never charged or even directly reading for all young scientists. The precisely measured and yet interest- involved, he lost his job there. Subse- case studies will be of particular value ing way. Despite the detail—scientific, quently, after the Department of Health to historians of science, science writers procedural and ethical—presented and Human Services overturned the and journalists in terms of the need to within the larger social context of previous government verdicts against be circumspect in making judgments each scientific community, he is able Gallo (and Popovic) as “meaningless,” on areas outside of their expertise, par- to consistently hold one’s attention. In he was appointed President of Caltech. ticularly for instance in the best-known doing so, he reveals fascinating aspects Similarly, while Imanishi-Kiri’s tenure case of Robert Millikan. In all of this of how experimental science differs was upheld and she was barred from it is fascinating how Goodstein is able depending on the field and how this federal funding for a decade, she was to write about complicated and highly impinges on fraud in terms of repro- duly tenured at Tufts. Rather differently distasteful matters with such simplicity ducibility, as noted above. In another to the Baltimore-Imanishi-Kiri case, in and grace. The consequence is that one case he explores, in the field of super- the case of the Gallo controversy, the comes away with an enormous respect conductivity and field-effect doping, issue devolved on whether the labora- for the integrity and common sense of it is difficult to reproduce results. In tory had claimed credit for discovering the author and of what goes into creat- fact, this instance of fraud was only the AIDS virus and whether Popovic ing such policies and applying them. noticed because of duplicated results. had misappropriated cell cultures from The lessons provided herein for future In contrast, take the case of Victor the Pasteur Institute in Paris—in addi- scientists themselves are these: No Nimov, then of the Lawrence Berkeley tion to allegations of having misrepre- matter the professional pressure one National Laboratory. Nimov fabricated sented and falsified both the data and is under, no matter the expectations the evidence for the existence of ele- the methodology. Though Gallo was of reproducibility in one’s field, even ment 118. Because he was working in a not included in the Nobel Prize, the the suspicion of “fraud” will grievously field in which precise reproducibility is careers of each of these scientists were, damage you, your superiors and your expected, his case was easier to detect. in the end, not otherwise adversely institution—unless of course you are a Similarly, in the case of the “too good affected. social scientist who does not believe in to be true” discovery of high-tempera- There is a history of tragedy in these the distinction between fact and fiction.
Leonardo Reviews 451
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 References and Notes develops. It is, therefore, a necessary but they are interwoven in ways to 1. See William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, The Ele- part of any understanding of Western provide the essence and context of the ments of Style, 4th Ed. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1999 20th-century art. It would appear that concepts involved. [1918]). Also see
452 Leonardo Reviews
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 but also by pointing toward notions of nates from the actual sculptures. This national consensus and moral choice. is not a criticism of the book; it simply The translator, Tom Conley, as an aca- highlights the perennial problems of demic and most appropriately as a fel- adequately representing immersive, low cineaste, provides further context conceptual and interactive artwork to Augé’s story in a short afterword. in the static medium of print. As an example of the in situ photograph of the work, Hive looks like a rectangular Leo Villareal panel with numerous square orange edited by the San José Museum lights—quite dead. The sequence pho- of Art. Foreword by Susan Krane; tos on the following page show just how introduction by Steven B. Johnson. dynamic and amazing this work is when Hatje Cantz Verlag, Germany, 2010. in action, so to speak (Plates 40–-41). 192 pp., illus. Trade. ISBN: 978-3- After the introductory Forward by 7757-2656-6. Susan Krane, there are five essays fol- lowed by Plates, Biography & Documen- Reviewed by Rob Harle. E-mail: tation, and Catalogue of the Exhibition.
Leonardo Reviews 453
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 of the building at Tampa Museum of edition, carries a similar potency, if Art, Tampa, Florida (p. 58 Figure 40). in more discrete, self-contained chap- One aspect of Villareal’s work that ters—twelve, in fact, which focus on is not discussed by the contributors to seminal issues dealing with the state this catalogue is the mystical quality or, and alterity, which Europe met in at least, the allusion to spiritual/astral Native America. worlds that many of Villareal’s works By his insights, Clastres revives the evoke. I am not sure that these quali- question of what alterity is and what ties are intended by Villareal, but they it implies. His vigor in questioning are there nonetheless. Threshold, a wall has also served to instill a political of ethereal colored light, is one good context within anthropology precise example of this (p. 36). Furthermore, to the culture and what we bring to it. the work Joshua Tree of Life in the Cali- From his docu-satire on tourism to his fornian desert indicates that Villareal is discussions of ethnocide, myths and familiar with the Kabbalah (concerning rituals, primitive power and economy, the mystical aspects of Judaism)—per- the forms of submission so essential haps this is an aspect of his work that to states, the ethnocentrism of Marx- could be explored further. ist anthropology, the abstractions of This is a beautiful and interesting structuralism, and war and the warrior book, one I suggest would be a great in primitive societies, we are left with an addition to the libraries of all those evolving view that was cut off by his sud- interested in contemporary art and den death in 1977, at the age of 43. architecture and especially artists who How much of this has anthropology use computer code to control immer- taken to heart since then, and refined sive and interactive sculpture. or refuted, is not for me to say. I am societies, as he often reiterates, are no expert. But when reading Clastres based not on subsistence but affluence, I am compelled by his thought, the not in unity but differentiation, not Archeology of Violence evidence he presents, and his capacity in subservience but freedom (albeit a by Pierre Clastres. Jeanine Herman, for a kind of interpretation that raises type of freedom that we find difficult to trans. SEMIOTEXT(E), Los Angeles, issues that strike home because of their accept), and not in ignorance but with CA 90057. 335 pp. Softcover. ISBN- immanence. Primary among them is knowledge. Alienated individuality, as 978-1-58435-093-4. our need for alterity, our expectation, we know it in the West, is certainly not however problematic, that it is still pres- the point here. Reviewed by Allan Graubard, 442 W. 57th ent, and the growing impoverishment War is also a central theme for Street, #3H, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. of our world, whose diverse reflections Clastres. And why shouldn’t it be? In E-mail:
454 Leonardo Reviews
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 that relates and differentiates them and science and the chance of alternative richness of a genre; nevertheless the us, is simply a statement of fact. societal development, opening up stories of the Wesleyan anthology offer And while Clastres does not explicitly speculations and discussions that other a comprehensive outlook on SF, rang- question these differences in the essays forms of literature would have trouble ing from its roots in the 19th century that compose his “archeology,” there dealing with. (“Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel is an implicit contrast drawn between The editors of Science Fiction Studies Hawthorne, 1844, p. 1) to the more primitive and modern societies, includ- conceived and developed this robust recently published novels (Exhalation ing what we have gained and lost anthology (52 novels) with the ambi- by Ted Chang, 2008, p. 742) that dem- through our history of, and political tion to exemplify a number of themes onstrate the form’s continuing vitality. organization for, war. and styles characteristic of the genre Two approaches, historical and the- Published in books and journals and to represent, if possible, the best matic, are offered, thus a chronological mostly during his life—from Les Temps and most teachable stories in the perspective illustrates SF’s evolution Modernes and L’Homme to Encyclopedia field. The aim, indeed, is explicitly along with intersection with its most Universalis—the chapters in this new pedagogic: The anthology is thought to frequently recurring topics: “alien edition chart junctures in the author’s “serve as a bridge not only to an appre- encounter, apocalypse, dystopia, gender research whose interweaving themes I ciation of some of the best works of SF and sexuality, time travel, and virtual have mentioned. ever written but also to the world of SF reality” (p. xv). The collection includes Do we understand primitive society scholarship” (p. xvii). Ancillary material classics by authors such as Julius Verne with greater acuity because of Clastres? consists of a critical bibliography listing and Herbert G. Wells; early precursors Is our interpretation of Clastres suf- many of the most important studies in such as Edward Morgan Forster and ficient to provoke further or different the field and a teacher’s guide available Edmond Hamilton; strengtheners of unknowns for research? What can we online
Leonardo Reviews 455
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 transformation, an exercise to imagine research at Brown, MIT, San Diego, etc. in new media has shifted toward visual the future with novel possibilities of Moreover, the ambition of this book is and multimedia signs. Finally, it also action. Actually, SF may seem to have not all to criticize the research done in implies the necessity to study the spe- lost most of its fascination, as modern the U.S. or in relationship with it. Its cifically verbal dimension of digital society is heedless of the future, wholly basic stance, which in a certain sense literature in relation to literary ideas, concentrated on the utilitarian urges of is not unlike the “glocalized” project traditions, debates and models in a constant present. But the capability of defended by Leonardo (as readers may which contemporary e-texts are deeply letting issues rebound between present know, the journal has also an affiliate embedded. and future is probably the most intrigu- body publishing in French!), is rather More specifically, this reopening of ing competence of SF. Like ancient to offer a broader, i.e. linguistically and digital literature to textual and verbal myth, it can implement rationality with culturally more diverse, framework for signs takes three different forms. First imaginary consciousness, forging new the study of emergent forms of literary of all, a strong accent is put on close terms and means able to keep the will— writing. reading. Second is the highlighting of at least—out of the recurrent impasse How is this difference then made the historic density of concepts, genres of human culture. Representations of concrete and palpable in this volume? and models. When contributors to the future, like those gathered in this What strikes at first sight is of course this book use the word “poetry,” for anthology, are to be praised not so the ambition to take into consideration instance, they take care in defining much because of the positive or nega- works written in other languages— what cultural practice and structure tive ideological elements they represent French and Portuguese for instance. of feeling lie behind or underneath but rather as imaginative efforts to roll However, this expansion of the field a word that is deceivingly simple. Yet the human mind out of the precarious remains superficial (although impor- it makes a crucial difference if one constraints that since the dawn of time tant and necessary, of course) in com- accepts or rejects the idea that poetry, have incessantly affected its evolution. parison with the real breakthrough although being a “machine,” is also aim- This book is apt for everybody. proposed by all the contributors, ing at “producing emotions.” French namely the conviction that even works poet and theoretician Paul Valéry, produced for the global market and whose reflections on poetry still play a egards roisés R C : with the help of such universal tools as paramount role in French culture, said Perspectives on Digital the modern digital media are deeply both, but contemporary critics of digital Literature rooted in local cultural and linguistic poetry, who may like to quote Valéry’s edited by Sandy Baldwin and Philippe traditions and can only be understood statements on the machinic aspects of Bootz. West Virginia University Press, when referred to them. Hence, the poetry-writing, will tend to discard or Morgantown, WV, U.S.A., 2010. 128 overall emphasis on the importance of simply ignore the flip side of Valéry’s pp., illus. Paper, eBook. ISBN: 978-1- language in electronic literature, and poetics. Given their attempt to disclose 933202-47-1; ISBN: 978-1-933202-48-8. the subsequent claim that the visual the cultural background of writing turn and the multimediatization of and literature in specific historic and Reviewed by Jan Baetens. E-mail: the (hyper)text do not suffice when geographical contexts, the essays in this
456 Leonardo Reviews
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 this approach can be discovered in the Octopus Time: Bellmer Painting by Her- edited by Steve Anker, Kathy Geritz and stimulating rereading of certain too- bert Lust. Reviewed by Michael R. Steve Seid. Reviewed by Mike Leggett. well-known concepts, such as the mix of (Mike) Mosher. closeness and remoteness in Benjamin’s La science (n’)e(s)t (pas) l’art: Brèves aura (here applied to the reading of Paris 1919: Inside the Peace Talks That rencontres by Jean-Marc Levy-Leblond. digital literature in the essay by Philippe Changed The World by Paul Cowan. Reviewed by Jacques Mandelbrojt. Bootz) as well as in the innovative theo- Reviewed by Jonathan Zilberg. retical hypotheses that are defended in Transdiscourse 1: Mediated Environments, various articles (such as the analysis of A Touch of Blossom: John Singer Sargent edited by Andrea Gleiniger, Angelika the rhetoric of brevity in the essay by and the Queer Flora of Fin-de-Siècle Art by Hilbeck and Jill Scott. Reviewed by Rob Alckmar Luiz dos Santos). Alison Syme. Reviewed by Michael R. Harle. (Mike) Mosher.
U-n-f-o-l-d: A Cultural Response to Climate March 2011 Change by Museum of Contemporary Air, edited by John Knechtel. Reviewed Leonardo Reviews Photography and Glass Curtain Gallery. by Jan Baetens. On-Line Reviewed by Elizabeth Straughan, Deborah Dixon and Harriet Hawkins. Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas by Rebecca Solnit. Reviewed by Michael May 2011 April 2011 R. (Mike) Mosher. Compression & Purity by Will Alexander. New Realisms: 1957–1962: Object Strategies Reviewed by Allan Graubard. between Readymade and Spectacle, edited February 2011 by Julia Robinson. Reviewed by Stephen The Filming of Modern Life. European Petersen. Autobiography of Mark Twain. The Com- Avant-Garde Film of the 1920s by Malcolm plete and Authoritative Edition, Volume Turvey. Reviewed by Jan Baetens. Performing the Archive: The Transformation 1, edited by Harriet Elinor Smith et al. of the Archives in Contemporary Art from Reviewed by Richard Kade. Interface Criticism: Aesthetics beyond But- Repository of Documents to Art Medium by tons, edited by Christian Ulrik Andersen Simone Osthoff. Reviewed by Jonathan BioArt and the Vitality of Media by Robert and Soren Pold. Reviewed by Ellen Zilberg. E. Mitchell. Reviewed by Daniel López Pearlman. del Rincón. In Praise of Copying by Marcus Boon. Lumo: One Woman’s Struggle to Heal in a Reviewed by Amy Ione. Contemporary Chinese Art: Primary Docu- Nation Beset by War by Bent-Jorgen Perl- ments, edited by Wu Hung, with the mutt and Nelson Walker III. Reviewed Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video assistance of Peggy Wang. Reviewed by by Jonathan Zilberg. in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945–2000, Ellen Pearlman.
Leonardo Reviews 457
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021 announcement
Artists and Scientists on the Cultural Context of Climate Change
Leonardo explores the ways in which artists and scientists are addressing climate change. As contemporary culture grapples with this critical global issue, Leonardo has documented cross-disciplinary explorations by artists, scientists and engineers, working alone or in teams, addressing themes related to global warming and climate change.
Partial list of Leonardo articles and projects concerned with global warming, climate change and related issues:
Chris Welsby, “Technology, Nature, George Gessert, “Gathered from Coinci- Andrea Polli, “Heat and the Heartbeat of Software and Networks: Materializing the dence: Reflections on Art in a Time of the City: Sonifying Data Describing Cli- Post-Romantic Landscape,” Leonardo 44, Global Warming,” Leonardo 40, No. 3 mate Change,” Leonardo Music Journal 16 No. 2 (2011). (2007). (2006). Andrea Polli and Joe Gilmore, “N. Special Section: Environment 2.0, Guest Julien Knebusch, “Art & Climate April 16, 2006,” LMJ16 CD Contributor's Editor Drew Hemment. Authors include Change,” Web project of the French Note, Leonardo Music Journal 16 (2006). Carlo Buontempo, Alfie Dennen, Yara El- Leonardo group Leonardo/Olats Sherbini, Rebecca Ellis, Drew Hemment, (l'Observatoire Leonardo pour les Arts et Janine Randerson, “Between Reason Christian Nold, John Tweddle and Brian les Techno-Sciences),
Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/LEON_r_00253 by guest on 01 October 2021