As accessibility and understanding of electronic media grows, its use by artists becomes more widespread. Yet the art world, both critically and practically, was initially slow to accept this emergence - new technology is potentially alienating and esoteric. Edward A. Shanken gives a lucid evaluation of the subject, contextualizing it in a broader art-historical and political framework. A comprehensive survey, his essay also addresses the reaction, development and future of artistic practice in the face of new technology, and how art can 'humanize and mythologize' science. Divided into seven thematic sections, the book follows a broadly chronological approach. The seven sections of this survey include: light, space, motion, time which lays the foundations in the early twentieth century, artists introduced motion and light into their work, defying the traditional concept of art as static, lit object - the jump-off point for interactive art incorporating digital media; Coded Form and Electronic Production which shows how the emergence of computer graphics and electronic photocopying (1950s and 1960s), and high resolution digital photography, printing and rapid prototyping (1980s and 1990s) expanded the possibilities for artistic production and reproduction, challenging notions of originality and creativity; Simulation and Simulacra which describes the interactive exchanges allowed by virtual reality, engaging audiences with simulated forms and environments, playing on the trompe-l'oeil verisimilitude of art history. Sections also include Electronic Environments which is distinctly different from virtual reality outlines performances enacted in electronic environments that enable audience feedback to influence the unfolding of various elements or demonstrate the politicized contexts in which the media (and the mass media in particular) operate. This work also includes sections such as: Networks, Surveillance, Culture Jamming which discusses public access cable television, satellite transmissions, and especially the union of computers and telecommunications, and how these have led to exchange, transfer and collaborative creation; Bodies, Surrogates, and Emergent Systems which questions the distinction between real and artificial, as artists join their bodies (and/or those of their audiences) with electronic media, creating cyborgs and robots in order to examine human existence; and, Exhibitions, Institutions and Communities which looks at how technical requirements and financial overheads demand close collaboration between artists, scientists and engineers, shaping production, reception and historicization.
I like to think of my work as creating and disseminating knowledge. I'm especially interested in the way artists envision the future and create models of it in the present. Throughout the history of art, artists have often employed emerging technologies and scientific ideas in this pursuit. I believe that art, at its best, offers deep insight - a type of knowledge that Gregory Bateson likened to wisdom - that can help build a more compassionate and peaceful future.
As a little boy growing up in the late 1960s, some of my most vivid memories are of the US space-program. I had models of rockets and the lunar landing module, and a plastic space-helmet. I was so excited when the Apollo XI reached the moon! On my little record-player, I endlessly played a recording of Neil Armstrong saying his immortal words, "One small step for man, one giant step for mankind." I drew lots of pictures of rockets and imaginary space vehicles, including a self-portrait in my space-helmet with a rocket, with the letters "N A S A," in the background. Little did I know that my childhood fascinations would lead to my vocation as an art historian whose research focuses on the entwined histories of art, science, and technology!
I hope you enjoy my books and I'm grateful for your feedback and reviews. You can see more of my work at www.artexetra.com
