Living and Working with Rauschenberg - a conversation.

On October 26, the Museum of Modern Art honored the life contemporary artist Robert Rauschenberg, who passed away earlier this year. The evening consisted of a panel discussion of "Bob's" close friends and collaborators, each of them with artistic legacies of their own. Panelists were as follows:

Glenn Lowry- Panel moderator and current director of the MoMA.
Barbara Rose- Art historian and critic
James Rosenquist- Contemporary artist
Julie Martin- Artist, produced 9 Evenings (married to Billy Kluver)
Trisha Brown- Choreographer (including "Set and Reset," of E.A.T.)
Merce Cunningham- Choreographer
Susan "Sue" Weil- Artist once married to Rauschenberg
Brice Marden- Contemporary artist, once assistant to Rauschenberg
Dorthea Rockburne- Artist
Darryl Pottorf- Artist, former assistant

The discussion began with Barbara Rose's thoughts on artistic greatness. She explained Rauschenberg's admiration of Leonardo da Vinci, and how both 'personalities' lived and worked in the right moment for their ideas to fully take effect. Each artist's intent was not to merely produce physical works, but to inspire the hearts and minds of the public and challenge our thoughts on politics, society, and the world.

In his early career, Rauschenberg attended Black Mountain College in North Carolina. The school focused on art education with a liberal arts background. During its operation between 1944 and 1956, notable alumni and teachers included Rauschenberg's idol Willem de Kooning, Cy Twombly, Susan Weil, Dorothea Rockburne, Merce Cunningham and John Cage. Relationships formed here influenced many of these artists' later work.
A collaboration between Merce Cunningham, composer John Cage, and Rauschenberg resulted in the first happening, Theatre Piece #1 staged in 1952. Later Rauschenberg would collaborate with Cy Twombly, on a happening performance in which the two rewrote the play Hamlet. One notable work created in part by a Black Mountain connection is "Erased de Kooning" (pictured, left). De Kooning was both a professor at the school, as well as one of Rauschenberg's main influences. For this piece, Rauschenberg asked De Kooning for a drawing which he would then erase. De Kooning complied with an especially difficult work.


E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology) was a 1966 collaboration with Bell Laboratories engineer Billy Klüver, Robert Whitman, Fred Waldhauer, and Robert Rauschenberg which used new technologies in a series of exhibitions around the world. Their intention was not to simply showcase technology with art, but to encourage audience participation where their actions influenced the work, much in line with the non-hierarchial and cooperation values of the 1960s. In effect, these experiments could create a societal revolution by humanizing technology previously unavailable to the public, where its uses and implications could change the way we live and think.

One of the first E.A.T. exhibitions was the "Machine That Destroyed Itself" (1960), Klüver's collaboration with Swiss artist Jean Tinguely in which a kinetic sculpture machine destroys itself in the Museum of Modern Art sculpture garden. Another example is "Oracle," (1962/65) or five radios embedded into sculptures which the viewer can "orchestrate" through interaction. For this piece, Rauschenberg demanded radios without wires, three years before this technology was invented. As a result of this artistic vision, Klüver was forced to come up with this technology. "9 Evenings" (1966) theater and engineering performances at the Armory in New York brought together over thirty artists. "Soundings" (1968) relied on the audience's clapping or yelling to trigger lights that illuminated works behind a series of plexiglass panels.


Pepsi Pavillion at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan is viewed as the culmination of the E.A.T. project, where they designed and programmed a multimedia immersive dome (pictured, left). The dome's design is an origami rendition of a geodesic dome. The exterior is shrouded in a fine mist sculpture, that changes with the weather. Inside, the exhibition predates experiments in virtual reality and audience participation. Installations included laser beams and a 210-degree spherical mirror inside an airtight vacuum, that reflected what looked liked hologram images. In addition, a multi-channel surround-sound system played real-time music compositions. Floats by Robert Breer roamed the area, emitting various sounds like sawing or singing humpback whales, and would reverse direction when pushed.

This expo helped show the world how it is possible to interact with technology, and how in a multitude of ways it can alter our perceptions of ourselves and surroundings, ultimately changing our preconceived notions of how we live and collaborate.

Robert Rauschenberg dedicated much of his later career to philantrophic efforts. He passed away on May 12, 2008 on Captiva Island, Florida after making the personal decision to be taken off of life support. He was 82.

A memorial on the following Monday was held for Rauschenberg at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which included a brief speech by former President Bill Clinton.

new media reader pp 230-300

Hans Magnus Enzenberger's essay, Constituents of a Theory of the Media, exactly predicts the beginning of the end for the entertainment industry. He argues that big media conglomerates push their messages down our throats, and make us accept an unjust society. Television advertising, especially during the 1970s became obsessed with what you didn't have, and played off of fear for you to buy it, contradicting the earlier model of just selling a product by praising its uses. Advertising began to be something like, "if you don't buy this whitening toothpaste, you'll look ugly and have no friends," essentially inventing a 'need.'

Enzenberger says that the only way for the media conglomerates to fall would be to pick up our own camcorders and begin documenting, or creating our own media, of the injustice ourselves. Fast forward thirty years later and the YouTube generation is doing just that. The internet is rampant with piracy and self-produced (free) content that is becoming more popular than big-business produced media. The big guys can't get their heads around a business model to make this stuff profitable, and "joe the plumber" types are getting their fifteen minutes of fame. The years of skepticism and resentment toward standard tv programming and movies for that matter are experiencing the backlash of money-hungry people they make themselves out to be. $12 each for a theater ticket plus snacks is not a casual date anymore.

Hopefully this trend away from big media companies will teach them a thing or two. Maybe they'll lower their prices or create some content that's not just a safe sell.

new media reader pp 177-229

This passage in the New Media Reader brought us into part two of the textbook, titled "Collective Media, Personal Media." The first of the three selections is "Oulipo," a sonnet written while adhering to algorithmic techniques, and followed by part two's Marshall McLuhan excerpts and a passage on Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.). In Gallatin classes prior to this course, Marshall McLuhan has served as the go-to guy for new media studies. He is remembered for saying "the medium is the message," but he saw beyond the fascination 1960s America had for television, and outlined its effects. The tv set was seen as something dangerous for its one-way stream of information, one in which provided no sort of engagement or discourse. This is just one example, but I'm going to veer away from McLuhan since many of us are familiar with his work.

Chapter 14 profiles the Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), of which I was previously unfamiliar. To combine art and technology seemed like a pivotal step in advancement (for both fields) during this time period, and the group was founded by artists and engineers Robert Rauschenberg, Billy Kluver, Robert Whitman and Fred Waldhauer. Together they staged a series of performance pieces, exhibitions, and open discourse. Their exhibition "9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering" which introduced new inventions like wireless microphones embedded into tennis racquets during a match. I googled this particular exhibition, and was amazed by the futuristic, ominous sound of the echoing balls, and the inspiration behind the integration of new technologies into art such as this.

Check it out here:

new media reader pp 109-176

The article that stood out to me the most in this section of the New Media Reader was "The Construction of Change" by Roy Ascott. Inspired by Wiener's cybernetics views, Ascott decided to reinterpret the way art was made and taught. He introduced "procedural technology" to the art making process, from inspiration through creation, and the interaction throughout. This participation by the audience, or behavior, becomes an integral part of the work. Ascott designed teaching situations where Cybernetics are involved, or by paying attention to the behavior of the environment and how each element acts within this realm.

He poses problems to students which test their ability to perceive, reinvent, and interpret. Logic and behavior are also prompted in assignments that test the student's ability to answer abstract questions, and how they react and communicate with their peers. In the second year course, students are asked to change their personality for ten weeks, (i.e. changing from a shy personality to outgoing). Throughout this experiment they must create a visual documentation of the process. This challenges the resourcefulness, awareness, and creative ability of the participants. In so doing, science's study of analyzation and subsequent synthesis is not foreign or unrelated to art, leading to Ascott conducting one of the first studies on 'new media.'

ken perlin lab tour

Ken Perlin, tech genius whose work we continue to see and use on a daily basis, invited our class to his lab last week. With the help of two of his assistants, he showed us two projects he's been working on. The first project is kind of like a mouse pad, a cheaply-manufactured plastic pad that senses pressure. When touched, a digital representation of pressure is shown on screen. Running your fingertips across the pad generates small moving mounds, while a firm and unmoving press will create a mound that builds higher and higher. Ken pointed out that this technology could be used to create computer graphics, especially landscapes or terrain. It can also be used in architecture to detect how a building's weight is distributed. The same goes for a person who may need special shoes or orthodics. Because it's so cheap to use and manufacture, the applications are limitless.

The second invention he's working on is a gaming controller made of two handles attached to resistance cords which you pull down on from the ceiling. You put one in each hand and pull on them independently, controlling your character on the screen. It can be used for flying games, skiing, or anything that requires this type of pose. The example game was a bird you had to steer through floating circles. It looked fun, though I'm not sure how you can put the controller box on your ceiling at home. Ken pointed out that he could only show us work that is being done in collaboration with NYU, so I'm sure he has more tricks up his sleeve.

It was fun getting to see what his lab looked like, and to hear his thoughts about technology in the future. I was pleased to find someone more down to earth and well-spoken than what I imagined a famous computer innovator/inventor to be.

new media reader pp. 73-108

Chapters five through eight in the New Media Reader are organized chronologically, taking place in the early 1960s. What I found within this section is that each new media artist or innovator had an underlying theme of creating something democratic, something that brings us closer to equality and is free for anyone to use.

The first chapter is about J.D. Licklider's idea of computers as facilitating human interaction with speech and handwriting recognition, for more effective and efficient communication. Next, is "The Happenings," or arranged performance events which aim to gather people and artists and break down the performer/audience dichotomy. This is followed by Gysin's Cut-Up method, a form of artistic literary expression that points out, "anybody can make cut ups." The eighth and final chapter discusses Douglas Engelbart's creation of computer interfaces, which are designed to help the user understand how to use the computer and to operate all of its functions.

So although these creators of new media and technology are predicting a heavily technologized, computer-reliant society, their basic aims are on a purely societal level. Each author values the importance of the computer-user, their ability to use and understand the machine, and ultimately their ability to participate in a collective.

to the letter born

I remember reading this article when it first appeared in the Times. I've admired Barack's stately and dignified yet very 'of the moment' style, and I think his brand managers have perfectly portrayed this through his campaign images. The liberal space on the page gives it a sense of freshness and light, and the serif capitalized OBAMA is very official. My one concern is that the typeface for CHANGE, Gotham bold, is exactly the same face that Chanel uses, and both words share the same four letters. Every time I see CHANGE I think of CHANEL. I like how he uses Comic Sans as an example of making a word seem lightweight and silly. I don't trust anything written in Comic Sans.

helvetica

I'd always wanted to see this movie, so I was excited when it was presented in class. I've always been interested in graphic design and typography, and enjoy doodling new typefaces of my own. I've noticed how Helvetica has risen in popularity, and is often used as the norm or standard, creating somewhat of a blacklash to find the newest simplistic, most modern typeface. Watching the subtitles at the bottom of the screen was distracting for me, because the interviewees are constantly talking about type, it's hard to ignore the horribly crowded, skinny white letters outlined in black on the bottom. It's exactly what the designers hate.

I liked the interview with Massimo Vignelli, who recently redesigned the NYC subway map for Men's Vogue. His design is easier to read, and the stations are spaced graphically rather than geographically, like most metro maps outside of New York. Here are some examples of his work:
http://www.mensvogue.com/design/slideshows/2008/05/vignelli

The current NYC Subway map was based on a Vignelli design, but reinterpreted by Michael Hertz. Here's the link: http://gothamist.com/2007/08/03/michael_hertz_d.php