Chris Joseph

Becks Canvas 2008 Overview

Becks Canvas UK TV Advert

Simon Cunningham Interview

Tom Price Interview

Riitta Ikonen Interview

Charlotte Bracegirdle Interview

A Computer in the Art Room: the origins of British computer arts 1950-80
by Catherine Mason

with a Foreword by Professor Clive Richards, Coventry School of Art & Design

published by JJG: 2008

This book uncovers the little-known history of early British computer arts. An amazing story, it is hard to comprehend that before the onset of personal computers, propriety software and the internet there was a real struggle for access which touched off an explosion of true British pioneering spirit. The art schools which played a crucial role in fostering these important cross-disciplinary digital collaborations are described for the first time here, along with over 140 illustrations, many not seen in print before.

Based on four years of research and numerous interviews with practitioners, the book introduces British artists in the post-war period who were inspired by science and began to consider the use of computing. They found the requisite technology and expertise at innovative art schools including the Royal College of Art, the Slade School of Art and regional polytechnics. The battle for acceptance may have been won but the provenance of computer arts and its direct links back to cybernetics in the 1950s and 1960s is a unique and previously unpublished period of art history. These pioneers had a real vision of the arts and sciences coming together for greater understanding and creativity on both sides. With the opening chapters titled “White Heat” and “British Art Postwar” the nine chapters conclude with “Computer animation” and include biographical essays on the likes of Roy Ascott, Richard Hamilton, Edward Ihnatowicz, Darrell Viner, Stephen Willats and other protagonists. This develops into a scholarly source book laced with exciting elements of artistic adventure.

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About the author: Catherine Mason began researching the history of British computer arts at Birkbeck, University of London, funded by the UK’s Arts & Humanities Research Council. In 2006 she produced Bits in Motion, a screening of early British computer animation, at London’s National Film Theatre. She has contributed to Futures Past: Twenty Years of Arts Computing published by Intellect, 2007 and White Heat, Cold Logic: British Computer Art 1960-1980, to be published by MIT Press, 2009.

From Marcus Bastos:

Lately, a number of institutions, based on more or less conventional models, seem to be focusing on fomenting art and culture created with digital, networked and portable devices. This is not a new phenomenon, but there seem to be different approaches, and a variety of unfoldings that shift away from the classic MediaLAB models, as the convergence of art, science and technology no longer seems to be dominant on a field nowadays diverse enough to range from social and educational perspectives to artistic experimentation of all kinds. There are mixed scenarios, on this context, in which digital culture reaches places such as China and India, while mobile and wireless networks adds layers of complexity to our connected society. At the same time open source communities grow, as well as approaches to alternative / recycled devices, and a number of organizations seem to provide air for those developments to consolidate, despite their distance from the corporate agendas. To discuss possible models and perspectives for media centers and net art organizations, representatives from institutions or independent initiatives in Brazil, England and US will share their experiences, aiming to debate differences and similarities as well as possible challenges and / or local peculiarities. How are we reacting to an epoch when, says Ned Rossiter, “there is urgent need for new institutional forms that reflect “relational” processes to challenge existing systems of governance and outmoded representational structures”? - empyre’s guests for this month are Anne Nigten (V2, Rotterdam / Netherlands), Gabriel Menotti (Cinefalcatrua, Vitória / Brazil), Gisela Domschke (MediaLAB MIS, São Paulo / Brazil), Marc Garrett (Furtherfield, London / UK) and Sarah Cook (Eyebeam, New York / US). Later on the month, Amanda McDonald Crowley, also from Eyebeam and already an - empyre - guest on former discussions, will join the debate. To follow the discussion, subscribe to - empyre - @
https://mail.cofa.unsw.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/empyre

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by Motoko Rich, New York Times, 27 July 2008 -
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html

Early bird registration closes on 31st July for
CREATING SECOND LIVES: READING AND WRITING VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
Bangor University, 24th/25th October 2008

Read more

A wonderful post by Alex Smith considering the translation of stories into African languages and making them available in mobile formats.

…Africa is a continent of talent, dynamic people and rich resources, at the rate other countries are destroying their environments, we will soon be the most precious continent on earth, provided we take care of what we have. The best way to secure and protect what we have, is to re-vision ourselves as magnificent, is to educate. With technology the children of Africa can make the world their world. In today’s computer/Internet age, reading and writing is key. To use technology the children of Africa must be literate and more, they must be avid readers and great writers, so they can communicate their hearts’ content with scintillating deftness…

www.furtherfield.org

Furtherfield receives regular submissions inviting us to feature and review artworks and projects from artists and artist groups from all over the world. We have an excellent team of reviewers working with us. Yet, because we are receiving more innovative and high quality artworks for review than we ever have before, it is not easy keeping up with the workload. So, we need more reviewers.

We are interested in writers who understand and know about (new) media art, net art, software art, social networks, live networked art, live Internet tv, opensource, tactical media, art blogs, net films, media art connected- self institutions, psychogeography, hacktivism, video game culture, activist games, as well as publictions/books, events, projects, exhibitions online and in physical space, and related conferences. And like us, are passionately and critically engaged in investigating the constant shifts and reinvention of the creative, digitally related vista as we know it.

We welcome contributions from all kinds of writers - and are always interested bi-lingual reviewers who are able to introduce/translate work created by artists in non-English-speaking cultures. We also want reviewers who are writing about ‘media art and ecology’ and the contemporary ideas and work coming out of this emergent genre.

If you are interested in becoming a reviewer at Furtherfield and wish to know more and how to join the crew, please contact marc garrett - marc.garrett [at] furtherfield.org

Note: Please do not apply unless you are sure that you are definitely interested.

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“Bring your own lists”

Ripped, honed, years of preparation, for that moment, when all your competitors are beaten. Yes, its the arts awards season. Booker wil beat Orange, Cannes will beat Oscars, Brat will beat Brit, brave reporters will struggle amongst the fighting to comment on frocks, and at the end, the awards speech…… Amongst the plethora questions come - how can a book be better than another, what makes a film more worthy than another; isn’t it all personal and subjective. Are creative types selling out by seeking prizes? Should art itself not be its own reward? Why mark out of ten? Why not have an award for everything, best thing this year?

Tuesday 5th August 6:30 - 8:30 LCB depot Leicester

JavaMuseum - Forum for Internet Technology in Contemporary Art
http://www.javamuseum.org

is happy to publish new interviews on JIP - JavaMuseum Interview Project
http://jip.javamuseum.org

Alexander Mouton (USA)
http://jip.javamuseum.org/jipblog/?page_id=98

Henry Gwiazda (USA)
http://jip.javamuseum.org/jipblog/?page_id=99

Edited by Caroline Bassett (University of Sussex, UK), Maren Hartmann (University of the Arts Berlin, Germany), Kate O’Riordan (University of Sussex, UK)

http://journal.fibreculture.org/issue13/

After convergence: what connects? Making this question the subject of this special issue we set out to address two questions at once. The first was: ‘Are we after convergence?’ and by this we meant to invite explorations of the exhaustion of the original convergence model. The second was: ‘What kind of convergence are we after?’ Which is to say what kind of convergence do we want?
–

Adrian Mackenzie - Wirelessness as Experience of Transition

David M. Berry - A Contribution Towards A Grammar of Code

Jonathan Sterne, Jeremy Morris, Michael Brendan Baker and Ariana Moscote Freire - The Politics of Podcasting

Caroline Bassett - New Maps for Old?: The Cultural Stakes of ‘2.0′

Teodor Mitew - Repopulating the Map: Why Subjects and Things are Never Alone

Aylish Wood - Proliferating Connections and Communicating Convergence

Helen Thornham - Making games? Towards a theory of domestic videogaming

The Fibreculture Journal is affiliated with the Open Humanities Press - http://openhumanitiespress.org/