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out of the box: reclaiming the box
legacy is part of a body of work situated between “new media art” and
larger concerns of contemporary art. Each work employs the
kind of technology and vocabulary ubiquitous in new media
processes, but firmly establishes itself within the larger
discourse of contemporary art. legacy reaffirms the
computer as an aesthetic object; likewise, it reclaims the
set of associations surrounding the computer as fodder for
discussion of relationships within the white box.
Legacy contributes
to the dialog regarding functional objects in the white box
that began with Duchamp’s readymades at the beginning of the 20th century. Duchamp’s
readymades brought the functional object into the white box
under the precept that within the space of the museum, the
object loses its functionality. Contemporary attacks by other
artists on his most infamous readymade, Fountain,
have revolved around reclaiming the piece as functional object,
namely by pissing in it.
In the second half of the century, as artists began to bring
new technology inside the gallery walls, a new dilemma arose.
From televisions
to computers, technology was regarded simply as media, leaving
little room for the consideration of these new technologies
as objects with aesthetic impact. In the early 1960s, Nam
Jun Paik began an investigation into the possibilities of
the television screen as a sculptural object. He exploited
the aesthetic potential of the television in numerous ways,
repositioning the television in unexpected configurations,
employing multiple screens in single works and using televisions
as building blocks for sculptural objects.
While Paik’s work gave art audiences permission to recognize the aesthetic potential of the television, artists have yet to do the same for computers. Although the omnipresence of computers has given rise to an entirely new vocabulary and mode of working, the presence of computers within the gallery walls still suffers from the perception that they are no different from computers that reside in homes and offices. Attempts to use computers as integral visual elements are undermined either by an audience’s
lack of ability to reconsider these machines as objects or their refusal to see
these machines as anything less than a potential tool for work. Viewed as an
interchangeable tool of display, computers within the white box rarely become
entirely integrated as part of the work or its installation.
Exhibitions like legacy introduce
the aesthetic potential of computers, forcing audiences to
reconsider the visual elements of the computer
by destroying
totally its potential functionality. We also challenge the audience to explore
the vocabulary of computers in new ways, isolating and making concrete these
associations through our work. At the same time, we bring cliches and associations
of artistic practice into the computer world, discussing these processes
in terms familiar to the casual computer user. |
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