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September 14, 2004
Information arts: intersections of art, science and technology
| Title | Information arts: intersections of art, science and technology | |
| Author | Stephen Wilson | |
| Publisher | MIT Press | |
| Date | 2002 | |
| ISBN | ||
| Reviewed by | John Thackara | |
| This hefty book - it’s nearly 1,000 pages long - is an example of what they call a “re-bound effect” in the eco business: digital technology promised to deliver de-materialization (“atoms to bits”) but often delivered the opposite: for example, the internet fostered and enabled more mobility of people and goods, not less. This book is another rebound effect: it’s about information arts but must weigh five pounds. It sets out to survey artists who incorporate concepts and research from mathematics, the physical sciences, bilogy, kinetics, telecommunications, and experimental digital systems such as artificial intelligence and ubiquitous computing. I cannot judge all its 945 pages but when dipping in, I was badly disappointed. When I looked up Doors of Perception, I found a weak and inaccurate text (on page 864 ) that says nothing about our themes and suggests that Doors of Perception is organized by MediaMatic (sic). (Mediamatic, our good friends then and now, were our co-organisers in 1993 and 1994, but not since then). The texts on Toshio Iwai - for me, one of the few true geniuses in the otherwise somewhat feeble world of media art - is descriptive, to a degree - but utterly lacks enthusiam or insight. Use this book as a reference but do not expect to be enlightened. | ||
Posted by Books Editor at September 14, 2004 09:33 PM