Bruce Wands - Issues surrounding "process-based art"
I have read through Juliette’s introduction and gave it some thought. I
have several issues to raise. To me, the fundamental shift was away from
the object towards the experience. When digital art first emerged, it
brought with it a new tool set and associated technology. I define the
changes to the creative process as revolutionary and evolutionary.
Evolutionary changes would be digital video editing, digital printmaking
and digital sculpture. Revolutionary change examples include interactive
work, Web-based art and locative art. Not all curators agree with this.
Some say that a print, even though made digitally now, is still a print.
They argue the same with sculpture. I totally disagree. Image making and
sculpture have been fundamentally altered through the use of new
technologies and the content has new potential. I thought Juliette raised
some good points about site-specific work. This brings documentation to the
forefront as a way to archive the work. This also ties in with the
expansion of the art space from museums, galleries and public art to new
and unique venues, i.e. Web-based work and locative art. I have curated the
New York Digital Salon and there are significant differences in how people
from different cultures and of multiple generations experience art. My
final argument is the blurring of the border between art and science. To
me, scientific visualization is not art unless the elements that compose
the artwork are created with an aesthetic intent. Just because scientific
visualization looks “cool” does not make it art. I kept this brief, but
those are some of my concerns. It is difficult to pin down an exact
definition of “process-based art” because it is in the process of defining
itself. For me, the fundamental issue is the contrast between the art
object and the aesthetic experience of this form of art.
--
Bruce Wands
Artist, Musician, Writer
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Chair, MFA Computer Art
Founding Chair, BFA Computer Art
Director of Computer Education
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