and more...
Wolfgang Staehle wrote:
> Simon Biggs wrote:
> >
> > tina wrote:
> > >in the artforum dialogue wolfgang mentioned two exhibitions which
> > >were seminal to 'new media' : les immateriaux - mid-80's paris and
> > >welt aus sprache - mid 70's berlin...
> > >having not seen either exhibitions or exhibition related catalogues
> > >i'd like to further understand why these shows may be significant in
> > >relation to network art practice (and the public presentation of
> > >such) today
> > >was it the curatorial/theoretical approach? the selected artists and
> > >their works? the flow of works in relation to eachother, the physical
> > >site and audience? etc...
> > -----
> > I am not familiar with the Berlin show, but Les Immateriaux was certainly
> > very important. Curated by one of the then defining voices of contemporary
> > thought (Lyotard) it was of direct relevance to the development of new
> > media art (especially art that uses "the media") for several reasons.
>
> Dear Simon,
>
> thank you for answering Tina's question in such a comprehensive manner.
> I could never have done the job so well.
>
> The "Welt aus Sprache" show (1972) was organized in a similar manner.
> Unfortunately I lent my catalog to Marshall Blonsky and he lost it,
> so I have to rely on my fading memory. The show dealt with signs
> and sign sytems or what we today call Semiotics. But it wasn't very
> didactic at all, it was presented more like a fun house. When you
> walked into the show you had to pass a dark corridor, one wall of
> which was coated with flourescent material. While you walked through
> there, three flashes went off in sequence imprinting the contours
> of your body's posture on the wall. It was amazing to see how
> you could immediately discern different "types," just by looking
> at this isolated aspect of body language. Another piece I
> remember was a heap of signs from outdoor advertisments, some in
> neon or backlit letters from logos, kind of like a Jack Pierson,
> well no... exactly like the big brother of the small Jack Pierson
> piece I saw last week at Massimo Audiello.
>
> Anyway, the similarity with Lyotard's approach was that the
> artists (and I believe also students from the HfBK) did not only
> present art works, but tried to create visual (and aural) essays
> that fit the overall topic. And this was combined with literary
> essays in the catalog... and damn, I wish I hadn't given it away.
> (If anybody knows where I can locate a copy, let me know.)
>
> When I thought about the problems of representing digital culture
> and net culture (rather than net art - whatever that means), I
> couldn't help thinking that something along the lines of
> these shows would have been the better approach...
>
> Best regards,
>
> Wolfgang
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