Dear Colleagues,
Josephine Bosma wrote,
"It seems wiser to me to look at the histories of art, culture and
science (and politics) as a whole, instead of trying to analyse or
understand art in any kind of media from the history of the
development of these media most of all. Which is what I think Simon
is suggesting? I think we can go back further then 50 years though.
So: look at the way these histories are connected, where they have
seperated, and where their relation needs reinterpretation. Looking
at media art from the development of technology alone narrows the
scope of art we then still manage to see quite a lot. It narrows down
the discourse, as it has now been doing for years. The computer is
part of art practices and art contexts in as many ways as there are
ways of working of artists. This means we might need to focus more on
the construction of art histories and on what technology means for
us."
While I appreciate the comment, I think there may be a
misunderstanding of the nature (and value) of media histories.
In many cases, this IS a larger investigation of media, technology,
and culture than it is an investigation of "art in any kind of media
from the history of the development of these media."
One can see models of this inquiry in the work of Harold Innis (1950,
1951, 1980), James Beniger (1986), Carolyn Marvin (1988), or Patrice
Flichy (1995).
The point, as Flichy notes, is that every technology is a social
technology. Unless the cultural, social, and artistic networks in
which these technologies are embedded requires multiple approaches.
My interest is three-fold. First, it is in the large-scale cultural
and social effects of these technologies rather than their mechanical
or technical function. Second, it is a matter of curiosity of lost
histories and an interest in mapping media possibilities. Third, it
also involves what may turn out to be useful probes into art media.
In the latter half of the twentieth century, however, it is worth
recognizing that some groups of artists have also worked
experimentally to develop media. This development has not simply been
to make their own work. It has sometimes involved consciously
creating media (tools, vehicles, methods) that can be adapted or put
to many uses by many people.
The computer art experiments of Dick Higgins and Alison Knowles in
the 1960s function as innovations in the arts. They ALSO - and more
importantly - were experiments that developed media that others could
use for other purposes. Another good example of this was Nam June
Paik's early experiments with television in the 1950s and his later
work with video in the 1960s. Paik's (1976) work for the Ford
Foundation and the ideas of his video work (as distinct from the
specific content of his video tapes and installations) has been
widely useful.
Please do note that I have not written about "new" media. The time
span of my inquiry begins with prehistory. I have trying to inventory
all forms of communication media, including primitive and prehistoric
media. The largest group of these is obviously to be found within the
past ten thousand years, but most developed well before the past
fifty years. (Some are surprisingly old. The earliest plans for a
telegraph system date back to the 1600s, for example, and the first
working telegraph was in operation by the late 1700s.) Artistic media
are a sub-set of communication media, but my interest is not in
developing a narrow history of art through media forms.
Within the work, I have been pursuing four approaches: general
communications media (Friedman 1998b), media embedded in cultural and
social life (Friedman 1998a), a large-scale inquiry that may be
labeled philosophical as well as cultural (Friedman 1998c), as well
as a more specific inquiry into art. My view of art, however, is far
from narrow.
At any rate, it seems to me the inventory of media - eventually to be
accompanied by a time line - has many uses.
Again, I welcome references and citations to the multiple histories
of media - new and old - written by or known to readers of this list.
I will compile the citations sent to me and post the compilation to
this list.
Best regards,
Ken
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References
Beniger, James R. 1986. The Control Revolution. Technological and
Economic Origins of the Information Society. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Flichy, Patrice. 1995. Dynamics of Modern Communication. The Shaping
and Impact of New Communication Technologies. London: Sage
Publications.
Friedman, Ken. 1998a. "Cities in the Information Age: A Scandinavian
Perspective." In The Virtual Workplace. Magid Igbaria and Margaret
Tan, eds. Hershey, Pennsylvania: Idea Group Publishing, 144-176.
Friedman, Ken. 1998b. "Digital Convergence and Multimedia: A Cultural
and Technological Inventory." Beyond Convergence. Proceedings of the
Twelfth Biennial International Telecommunications Society Conference.
Stockholm, Sweden: ITS, Center for Information and Communications
Research, Stockholm School of Economics, and the Swedish Transport
and Communications Research Board.
Friedman, Ken. 1998c. "Information, Place and Policy." Built
Environment. 24: 2/3, 83-103.
Innis, Harold. 1950. Empire and Communications. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Innis, Harold. 1951. The Bias of Communication. Toronto: University
of Toronto Press. (Reprinted with an introduction by Paul Heyer and
David Crowley. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995.)
Innis, Harold. 1980. The Idea File of Harold Adams Innis. William
Christian, editor. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Marvin, Carolyn. 1988. When Old Technologies Were New. Thinking About
Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Paik, Nam June. 1976. Media Planning for the Post-Industrial Society.
(Reprinted in The Electronic Superhighway. Nam June Paik and Kenworth
W. Moffett, editors. New York, Seoul, and Fort Lauderdale: Holly
Solomon Gallery, Hyundai Gallery, and the Fort Lauderdale Museum of
Art, 1995, pp. 39-47.)
--
--
Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Leadership and Organization
Norwegian School of Management
Visiting Professor
Advanced Research Institute
School of Art and Design
Staffordshire University
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