Forward from mail list Avant-Garde:
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 19:42:42 +0100 (MET)
To: avant-garde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: jnech@xxxxxxxxxxx (NECHVATAL Joseph)
Subject: Art as Research
Dear Brad, I have been thinking over your bruiser question concerning
research and art and the direction art is taking (as it seems to me here
from Europe). Art has seemed baffled about what to do in rejoinder to the
growing consequence of scientific and technological exploration in modeling
our civilization. One retort positions artists as consumers of the new
tools, using them to create new images, sounds, and video (I would place
you there); another response sees artists emphasizing the critical
functions of art to comment on the developments from the distance of time
(I would place Saul Ostrow in there); a third intersection urges artists to
enter into the heart of research as feeling participants of conceptual
design.
It is a mordant boner to visualize coexistent exploration as merely a
technical endeavor, and that is why I insist in including 'art' in the
proposition (perhaps you are a bit more anti-art than I and so would prefer
to drop the art part). When you ask, 'why not just call it research,
instead of art as research' it is for this reason: art has both profoundly
judicious and philosophical implications for culture. Western culture must
develop methods to avoid the premature snuffing out of genteel lines of
inquiry and development. I presume art too can replenish a caustic
component into technology as an unconstrained meridian of research.
Collective existence is increasingly dominated by the objects and cultural
forms created by technology. I know you agree. For example, telephones,
computers, entertainment systems, medical equipment, transportation
systems, governmental and policing systems, and product distribution
technologies shape the ways people in the developed world spend their days,
interact with others, and conceptualize the present and the future.
Theorists such as Baudrillard and Virilio have exposed the hidden
assumptions, shaping of categories and pervasive consequences of imaging
technology.
Scientific research similarly reaches beyond meager academic
questions, as you often point out. Scientific research has deep sagacious
and philosophical implications. Astronomers attempt to understand the
origins and shape of the universe. Breaking with all prior human history,
they can look at the universe using radio wave, ultraviolet, and infrared
"eyes" and see a universe quite different than what has been known.
Biologists increasingly unravel mysteries of life and invent methods for
manipulating the genetic heart of life.
Many "high tech" artists believe they have already addressed the future by
becoming computer artists who work with digital image, sound, and
interactive multimedia. They have made a critical error. They have
misunderstood the real significance of artists' work with computers during
the last decade and a half. Artists need to actively patrol the frontiers
of scientific and technological research to identify future trends that
could benefit from the artist as researcher investigation. Knowledge of
computers and the internet will be valuable assets because they will be
required tools in most areas of research, but artists who think, however,
they are in the vanguard because they work with the digital image may soon
find themselves in the backguard.
What is a befitting function for art in C21? Throughout the centuries
science and technology have been increasing in importance, while the
fucking arts have failed to advance a viable role. Often (as by and large
painting has done) art has tried to ignore these developments and treat
them as peripheral to the core of culture. Even when artists did attend to
these developments, they did so as distant commentators, sniping from the
audience, often without a deep understanding of the world views and
processes of scholarly research.
I believe there is a much stronger role for the arts to play when artists
integrate critical commentary with high level knowledge relevant to the
science and technology worlds - and I am seeing it quite often here in
Europe and I am encouraged for I too (as Saul I presume) am worried that
the invisible hand of the marketplace might not be so sagacious as many
would like to believe. The judgments that make short term reasoning for
stockholders do not make sense for the culture at large most often.
Many righteous ideas are orphaned, depreciated in the wasteland of BS.
I want to participate in art actions where the arts can function as an
unrestrained area of examination. Art could become the site where forlorn,
discredited, and nonconformist inquires could be pursued for example.
Art might very well assess research according to criteria quite
divergent from those of the marketable and measurable worlds. The roles of
artists could consolidate other roles such as researcher, designer, hacker,
and producer. Even within research labs, artist's apportionment within
investigation squads could annex a standpoint that could foster the
research operation - but artists must again broaden their definitions of
art materials and contexts.
They must become curious about scientific and technological research and
acquire the skills and knowledge that will allow them to significantly
participate in these worlds. They must expand conventional notions of what
constitutes an artistic education. At the same time they must keep alive
artistic traditions of iconoclasm, critical perspectives, amusement, and
sensual communications. We must be willing to undertake art explorations
that do not neatly fit in historically validated media.
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X
Joseph Nechvatal, Paris, France, Europa
http://www.cybertheque.fr/galerie/jnech
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X
--- from list avant-garde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 19:42:42 +0100 (MET)
To: avant-garde@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: jnech@xxxxxxxxxxx (NECHVATAL Joseph)
Subject: Art as Research
Dear Brad, I have been thinking over your bruiser question concerning
research and art and the direction art is taking (as it seems to me here
from Europe). Art has seemed baffled about what to do in rejoinder to the
growing consequence of scientific and technological exploration in modeling
our civilization. One retort positions artists as consumers of the new
tools, using them to create new images, sounds, and video (I would place
you there); another response sees artists emphasizing the critical
functions of art to comment on the developments from the distance of time
(I would place Saul Ostrow in there); a third intersection urges artists to
enter into the heart of research as feeling participants of conceptual
design.
It is a mordant boner to visualize coexistent exploration as merely a
technical endeavor, and that is why I insist in including 'art' in the
proposition (perhaps you are a bit more anti-art than I and so would prefer
to drop the art part). When you ask, 'why not just call it research,
instead of art as research' it is for this reason: art has both profoundly
judicious and philosophical implications for culture. Western culture must
develop methods to avoid the premature snuffing out of genteel lines of
inquiry and development. I presume art too can replenish a caustic
component into technology as an unconstrained meridian of research.
Collective existence is increasingly dominated by the objects and cultural
forms created by technology. I know you agree. For example, telephones,
computers, entertainment systems, medical equipment, transportation
systems, governmental and policing systems, and product distribution
technologies shape the ways people in the developed world spend their days,
interact with others, and conceptualize the present and the future.
Theorists such as Baudrillard and Virilio have exposed the hidden
assumptions, shaping of categories and pervasive consequences of imaging
technology.
Scientific research similarly reaches beyond meager academic
questions, as you often point out. Scientific research has deep sagacious
and philosophical implications. Astronomers attempt to understand the
origins and shape of the universe. Breaking with all prior human history,
they can look at the universe using radio wave, ultraviolet, and infrared
"eyes" and see a universe quite different than what has been known.
Biologists increasingly unravel mysteries of life and invent methods for
manipulating the genetic heart of life.
Many "high tech" artists believe they have already addressed the future by
becoming computer artists who work with digital image, sound, and
interactive multimedia. They have made a critical error. They have
misunderstood the real significance of artists' work with computers during
the last decade and a half. Artists need to actively patrol the frontiers
of scientific and technological research to identify future trends that
could benefit from the artist as researcher investigation. Knowledge of
computers and the internet will be valuable assets because they will be
required tools in most areas of research, but artists who think, however,
they are in the vanguard because they work with the digital image may soon
find themselves in the backguard.
What is a befitting function for art in C21? Throughout the centuries
science and technology have been increasing in importance, while the
fucking arts have failed to advance a viable role. Often (as by and large
painting has done) art has tried to ignore these developments and treat
them as peripheral to the core of culture. Even when artists did attend to
these developments, they did so as distant commentators, sniping from the
audience, often without a deep understanding of the world views and
processes of scholarly research.
I believe there is a much stronger role for the arts to play when artists
integrate critical commentary with high level knowledge relevant to the
science and technology worlds - and I am seeing it quite often here in
Europe and I am encouraged for I too (as Saul I presume) am worried that
the invisible hand of the marketplace might not be so sagacious as many
would like to believe. The judgments that make short term reasoning for
stockholders do not make sense for the culture at large most often.
Many righteous ideas are orphaned, depreciated in the wasteland of BS.
I want to participate in art actions where the arts can function as an
unrestrained area of examination. Art could become the site where forlorn,
discredited, and nonconformist inquires could be pursued for example.
Art might very well assess research according to criteria quite
divergent from those of the marketable and measurable worlds. The roles of
artists could consolidate other roles such as researcher, designer, hacker,
and producer. Even within research labs, artist's apportionment within
investigation squads could annex a standpoint that could foster the
research operation - but artists must again broaden their definitions of
art materials and contexts.
They must become curious about scientific and technological research and
acquire the skills and knowledge that will allow them to significantly
participate in these worlds. They must expand conventional notions of what
constitutes an artistic education. At the same time they must keep alive
artistic traditions of iconoclasm, critical perspectives, amusement, and
sensual communications. We must be willing to undertake art explorations
that do not neatly fit in historically validated media.
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X
Joseph Nechvatal, Paris, France, Europa
http://www.cybertheque.fr/galerie/jnech
X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X_X
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