Re: Mediascape
For the new media art historians it might be interesting, that
(a) Tom Krens and Heinrich Klotz, the founding director of ZKM, had been
colleagues at Williams College for a while (during which time also
MassMoca was budding and Klotz - according to his own communication - was
considered to become director of MassMoca) - so there was an existing
connection
(b) that for us at ZKM it was "incomprehensible" at the time that the
infant ZKM (at the time there was no building and Klotz had started the
collection for "his" museum which would open a few years down the road -
and he stocked Mediascape with his purchases) was a major part for an
exhibition in NYC (little did we know how things were in this realm where
we thought we were catching up ...)
and (c) a major initiative in the late nineties/early 2nd millenium by
Guggenheim - also among others with engagement by ZKM as the "new media
arts partner" - was to create THE "online portal to art events worldwide"
as part of Guggenheim's expansion also into the web (this project
basically did not take off, I think).
Johannes
On 1/7/13 7:20 PM, "Jon Ippolito" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Annick wrote:
>
>> Mentionning Documenta VII, Les immateriaux, the 1986 Venice Biennal,
>>Mediascape at Guggenheim Soho as "exceptions" is interesting as they
>>were a) the biggest art fairs worldwide (Miami was not existing) and b)
>>two of the most important contemporary/modern art museums worldwide.
>>This shows that the divide between contemporay art and media art was not
>>existing.
>
>I was intrigued that Mediascape came up in this discussion of the divide
>between Europe and America, and between "new media" and "mainstream" art
>worlds. The show may have taken place in New York, but it drew much of
>its inventory from ZKM--which would seem to corroborate the European
>pedigree of the New York art world's interest in high-tech art.
>
>However, Tom Krens, Guggenheim director at the time, agreed to host
>Mediascape--and indeed to turn the Guggenheim SoHo into a center for art
>and technology--after seeing lines snaking around the block three years
>earlier for a show entitled Virtual Reality: An Emerging Medium. Apart
>from a cameo by Jenny Holzer, the VR show drew its roster not from art
>museums and galleries but from technology hotbeds like CMU and Silicon
>Valley and their crossover artists like Eric Gullichson and Thomas Dolby.
>That, plus the fact that 1993 was the peak of hype about VR, drew in a
>lot of people who might not have otherwise visited a mainstream art
>museum.
>
>Now, of course, digital curation is all the rage among historians,
>librarians, and folks from many non-art disciplines. The University of
>Maine is capitalizing on this reality in its online Digital Curation
>courses launched last fall. We've got two more online courses starting
>later this month--I'm co-teaching the preservation course. Please email
>me or visit http://DigitalCuration.UMaine.edu if you're interested.
>
>Cheers,
>
>jon
>@jonippolito
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