Hello Everyone,
Sorry I have been offline recently. SVA’s graduation events were late last
week. I’ll respond to Beryl’s recent post and then catch up this week.
Regarding collecting, museums and galleries, this is still in the early
stages and challenging. The collection of digital prints has gained good
momentum, particularly through Doug Dodd’s work at the Victoria & Albert
Museum. One can get a gauge on collecting new media installations and other
works by taking a look at video installation and art that pre-dated and
continues to overlap digital art, i.e. works by Nam Jun Paik, Bill Viola,
and others. There are many issues to consider. I agree with Beryl that
festivals provide a valuable forum for this kind of work and they are
proliferating globally. Due to the radical differences in venues, most of
the new media installations need to be site specific. One of the things
that has held digital installation back is the relentless progress of
hardware and software. One upside to collecting these works is software
emulation, where newer operating systems are used to keep older one’s
functional. One good example of this is mid-1990s net art, which thrived
during the rapid rise of Internet technology, but suffered from frequent
browser upgrades. One downside is that early work created on old machines,
which were slow and limited, often gives the impression that the early
works were somehow “less evolved” than new media installation today. For
me, it is the role of the curator and art historian to look beyond the
technology and into the concept and aesthetic intent of the artist. More
later.
--
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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T: 212-592-2530
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