TECHNOLOGY IN THE 1990S: THE HUMAN/MACHINE INTERFACE
Video Viewpoints Symposia on Video and Digital Media
April 8 & 15, May 13 & 20
Artists are in the forefront of the current technological revolution—pioneers
in designing video games, producing original work for the Internet,
writing computer software, and creating robots and other forms of artificial
intelligence. As part of the Video Viewpoints program this spring, The
Museum of Modern Art presents Technology in the 1990s: The Human/Machine
Interface, a series of symposia that showcase several pioneering new media
artists, organized by Barbara London, Associate Curator, and Sally Berger,
Curatorial Assistant, Department of Film and Video.
In this Monday-evening series, held April 8 and 15, May 13 and 20, Jane
Veeder, Benjamin Weil and Julia Scher, Jim Campbell, and Simon Penny present
and discuss their own work as it elaborates on the fusion of art and
technology.
"Artists have been swept into the maelstrom of technological development,"
says Barbara London. "They enjoy unique abilities that are important in
shaping society's technological future. Technology in the 1990s brings
to the public the work and ideas of five acclaimed artists and thinkers."
April 8, 6:30 p.m.
Jane Veeder, "The Digital Artist and Tool Development Trends"
Digital artists are creatively involved in developing new art forms within a
rapidly evolving
electronic environment. In this symposium, Jane Veeder traces the role of the
digital artist within the entertainment economy, and its ever advancing
technological basis. She recaps the history of 3D animation, outlines the
development of multimedia tools, and elucidates new trends, such as
object-oriented scripting environments for interactive media—and explains
how all of this affects the work of individual artists.
Veeder also presents her work-in-progress, JG3D (Jane Goes 3–D),
computer animation that weaves personal history into a formal investigation
of three-dimensional space and motion.
April 15, 6:30 p.m.
äda'web with Benjamin Weil and Julia Scher, "The Artist and the Internet"
äda'web is a group that works with artists to create artworks for the
Internet, and presents these works on its World Wide Web site. It functions as
a research and development resource, enabling artists to explore the Internet
as a new medium and participate in its artistic definition. In presenting
these projects, most of which are works-in-progress, äda'web offers Web
site visitors exposure to the evolving ideas of the artists and the creative
process.
äda'web was founded in 1994 by John Borthwick, a business consultant, and
Benjamin Weil, a writer and curator. They were joined soon after by artist and
computer programmer John F. Simon, Jr., and launched their site in May 1995
with Please Change Beliefs, a project by Jenny Holzer, which was
followed by Julia Scher's Securityland.
In their presentation at the Museum, Scher and Weil delve into the intricacies
of creating artwork for the Web and elaborate on the way they collaborate with
cultural
institutions—including, notably, how äda'web is presenting on its Web
site a bulletin board discussion on the Museum's Technology in the 1990s
series.
May 13, 6:30 p.m.
Jim Campbell, "Delusions of Dialogue: Issues of Control and Choice in
Interactive Art"
Jim Campbell's installations use live imagery and computer memory to create
environments in which the viewer's response becomes an essential element of the
work. During his discussion, Campbell examines various interfaces used in
interactive art—where interactivity is defined broadly as a dynamic spectrum
with responsive systems at one end and controllable systems at the other—and
invites speculation on issues of objectivity and subjectivity in electronic
art.
Campbell's artwork is exhibited widely in North America and abroad, and is in
the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the University Art
Museum, Berkeley, as well as several corporate and private collections.
Campbell is also an electronics engineer who holds patents in the field of
image processing.
May 20, 6:30 p.m.
Simon Penny, "Reflexive Engineering, Embodied Agents, and Culture as a
Domain"
Simon Penny employs robotic technologies to produce quasi-intelligent artworks.
In his presentation he screens a video of his latest robotic project, Petit
Mal, in which an autonomous creation serves as an actor in social space.
Petit Mal, a work of "reflexive engineering," embodies a critique of
conventional engineering. Penny discusses this
critique and examines the aesthetic and theoretical issues that arise in the
artistic use of autonomous agents and self-organizing systems.
Penny is an Australian artist, theorist, and teacher in the field of
electronic and interactive art. He is associate professor of art and robotics
at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, editor of Critical Issues in
Electronic Media (SUNY Press, 1995), and curator and producer of "Machine
Culture," an international exhibition of interactive and robotic art, at
Siggraph93 in Anaheim, California.
Technology in the 1990s: The Human/Machine Interface programs will be
listed on the bulletin board of äda'web.
The Museum's video programs are made possible by grants from The Contemporary
Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, the New York State Council on the
Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the MacArthur Foundation, and
with the support of the Sony Corporation of America.
