Jack Tait, Turntable light drawing 14, 2011. Taitograph, dimensions variable. Copyright the artist, reproduced with permission.
The inspiration for this month’s BCS column comes from the great conceptual artist Sol LeWitt’s statement, The idea becomes a machine that makes the art (1967). Although LeWitt’s machine was metaphorical rather than literal, nevertheless this radical concept raised questions about the notion of art process and creative behaviour and challenged the notion of what art was or could be. This month we explore the history of the use of analogue mechanical systems and machines in art through the work of Jack Tait, seen above. Read the full article here: http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/43260
To mark a year’s worth of writing about the world of computer arts for the British Computer Society’s on-line journal and as an end of year special, for December we are celebrating with a quartet of images submitted by readers. The four images by Alan Sutcliffe, Ursula Freer, Mark Thorpe and Nigel Williams reveal a kaleidoscopic mixture of digital technique, complexity, happenstance, experimentation and dazzling colour.
Grayson Perry, Hold Your Beliefs Lightly, 2011. Computerised embroidery on cotton and silk, programming by Tony Taylor. 32.5 x 45cm, Edition of 250 plus 10 Artist�s Proofs, copyright the artist, reproduced with permission, courtesy ofVictoria Miro
This month’s image is by Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry and shows he has more strings to his bow than pot-making. Hold Your Beliefs Lightly is a small flag featuring Alan Measles, Perry’s childhood teddy bear and source of inspiration in his art (he even has his own blog!) This comes from Perry’s current exhibition at the British Museum highly recommended for the artist’s intriguing selection of rarely-seen objects from the BM’s collection, interspersed with his own art works to create an interesting dialogue between objects and makers throughout history. Read it here: http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/42643
Today (Oct. 7) is Ada Lovelace Day, in commemoration of the 19th-Century British mathematician who collaborated with Charles Babbage to create the early mechanical computer the Analytical Engine by writing algorithms. Because of this she is often called the first ‘computer programmer’. This Day aims to raise of the profile of women in science, technology, engineering and maths, who are still underrepresented in these professions.
Here is Ada, Countess of Lovelace painted in 1836 by Margaret Carpenter (1793-1872). The painting belongs to the British government and is currently located at the #10 Downing Street residence in London.
AND read Sydney Padua’s highly irregular , wild and wonderful webcomic about Ada’s life & times. This series has been running for over 2 years and has been hailed one of the best webcomics on the net. The amount of effort and artistry that goes into this work is truly inspiring.
Ada Lovelace Day is about giving heroines the credit they deserve, so why not visit the site FindingAda and share your story about a woman whether an engineer, a scientist, a technologist or mathematician who has inspired you to become who you are today. I’m nominating Prof. Jane Plant, one of Britain’s most eminent scientists, who offered scientific proof of dairy-free diets as a cure and prevention for breast cancer. Her first book Your Life in Your Hands was groundbreaking, daring as it did to challenge the status quo. I cannot recommend this book (and her subsequent ones) highly enough, particularly if you have a history of this hideous disease in your family. It changed the way I eat and gave me hope for a future free from disease
“It Could Be You” by Marina de Stacpoole, Lambda C-type print, 36 x 49cms, 2011. Copyright the artist, reproduced with permission
This month’s artist turns Pop art on its head and gives us a digital take on painting that forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth about modern life. British artist Marina de Stacpoole plays out a scene from popular television series Desperate Housewives against a richly-coloured backdrop of the kind more typically seen in computer games animation. Read the full article here: http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/42102
I was saddened to hear of the death of Richard Hamilton a couple of days ago. Although I never managed to meet him, his ideas were an important part of my research into the origins of computer arts & ideas in Britain. He is remembered as the father of Pop Art, but less often discussed are his early activites which had an important bearing on the development of digital art in Britain. He had a broad vision of the artist unconfined to one discipline who could think across outmoded divisions in the arts. He ran a groundbreaking course in Basic Design with Victor Pasmore within the fine art department of King’s College, University of Durham at Newcastle-upon-Tyne (early 1950s). This was the most radical and progressive art education available in Britain at the time and was of central importance in creating a context for later developments in computer arts in this Country.
This is Tomorrow catalogue for an exhibition of the same name at the Whitechapel, 1956
Hamilton was also involved with the avant-garde exhibition This is Tomorrow at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1956. The catalogue of this show contains what I believe is the first published allusion to the computer in relation to artistic practice in Britain.
Hear a good obit on BBC Radio 4, including an interview with Michael Craig Martin who says Richard was fascinated with everything to do with modern technology.
Un_Space Mountain, digitally manipulated image by Orly Aviv, 2011
A ghostly, lone figure appears out of the mist as if something half-remembered from a dream in September’s artwork by Orly Aviv. It’s an image with strong representational, even narrative elements; although the typography of the original location is subsumed the work manages to create a real sense of place. It is a reinterpretation of the Sublime facilitated by the artist’s use of digital technologies. Read the full text here: http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/41489
Alsos* (installation view) by Scenocosme, 2011. Copyright the artists, reproduced with permission.
Currently on view at Waterman’s in London is this recreation of an imaginary forest by French art duo Scenocosme (Grégory Lasserre & Anaïs met den Ancxt) which aims to turn spectators into apprentice musicians. Read the full article here: http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/41054
This month’s image is a selection of stills from an interactive digital artwork by French artist Anne-Sarah Le Meur, who is interested in questions such as: How does light behave in a virtual space, constructed only by numbers? How do these numbers allow one to play, to disturb, to possibly twist physical laws of light, when one is not looking to simulate realistic phenomena? Read the full text here: http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/40701
Still images of Red to Come, performance (30 minutes), computer rendered, by Anne-Sarah Le Meur, 2011
A Little-Known Story About a Movement, a Magazine, and the Computer’s Arrival in Art: New Tendencies and Bit International, 1961-1973, edited by Margit Rosen has recently been published by MIT Press. I’ve long admired Margit’s work at Germany’s ZKM and this book, clearly the result of years of hard work, brings together Margit’s significant research and curatorial skills. It is a great, weighty tome that delivers a big bang for your buck, illuminating an exhibition movement that took place predominately in Europe – although its reach extended to Britiain and elsewhere (particularily seen in the work of Gustav Metzger, Alan Sutcliffe and others discussed within). Highlights include a clear and useful introductory essay by Margit, re-printed original texts by Metzger, Herbert W Franke, Joanthan Benthall to name just three and numerous photographs and illustrations. The whole publication is wonderfully clear and beautifully laid-out as you might expect from a top-class museum like the ZKM. Well worth a read if you’re interested in questions of why we are where we are today.
