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Loughborough University & Loughborough College of Art & Design
Loughborough, England
Chair: Prof. E.A.Edmonds
30th April, 1996Arthur I. Miller
Department of Science & Technical Studies
University College London
We are struck by parallelisms between developments in modern art and modern
science, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By this
I mean the shift in representation in art from the extremely figurative
or naturalistic, to the increasingly abstract art of the late 19th and 20th
centuries. These shifts in art happen to be coincident with increased abstraction
in physical theory accompanied by transformations in intuition. Was this
merely coincidence? As a case study of the interplay between art and science
I will discuss the rise of Cubism in the hands of Pablo Picasso and Georges
Braque and compare and contrast it with Albert EinsteinÕs explorations of
space and time during the same period.
Panel: Two Artists Meeting the ComputerChair: Frieder Nake, Department of Informatics, University of Bremen, Germany
Panel:
Manfred Mohr, Artist, New York
Michael Kidner, Artist, London
Lecture: The Artist and the ComputerErnest Edmonds
LUTCHI Research Centre
Department of Computer Studies
Loughborough University
In January 1996 four artists who had not previously used a computer in their
art practice spent a week at an artists-in-residence on the Loughborough
Campus in order to explore the potential of the computer for their art.
The artists were Jean-Pierre Husquinet of Lige, FrŽ Ilgen of Eindhoven,
Michael Kidner of London and Birgitta Weimer of Cologne. Each artist was
paired with a technical expert who helped them identify computer applications
and support tools that might be appropriate and drew in other experts when
necessary. By the end of the week, Birgitta Weimer had produced computer
generated prints to her artistic satisfaction. FrŽ Ilgen was making virtual
sculpture that resided in a void and was not subject to gravity. Michael
Kidner and Jean-Pierre Husquinet had not completed new works but both had
begun explorations into new ideas and realisations that have continued since.
The lecture reports upon the activities and personal artistic processes
of the week which were recorded on audio and video tape and which included
both pre and post interviews with each artist. The nature of the interchanges
between artist and technologist as well as the artists' perspectives upon
the use of the technologies and what they gained from it are described.
Both positive and negative aspects can be observed but, in all cases, the
nature of the art practice involved was illuminated. One example of the
results to be reported is that, despite the apparent straightforward nature
of the artists' demands, it proved to be a technological challenge to provide
the computer support needed. It seems that very few standard computer systems
can support adequately established artists such as those participating.
The positive side of this observation is that, bearing in mind the technical
support provided, one week was sufficient to overcome the initial problems
that were faced.
Chair: James Alty, Department of Computer Science, Loughborough University,
UK
Panel:
Roy Kowalsky, Professor of Virtual Reality,Loughborough University, UK
Helmut Bez, Senior Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, Loughborough
University, UK
Fré Ilgen, Artist, The Netherlands
Mike North, Artist, UK
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