Information Arts by Stephen Wilson, MIT, £34.95, ISBN 026223209X
WHICH of the following were developed by artists, and which by technologists
or scientists? A system allowing users to control the movement of a subject’s
body remotely; a device that is sensitive to hugs; and a strain of mice bred to
munch computer cables. The fact that the answer isn’t obvious is the key to the
appeal of Information Arts by Stephen Wilson. The intellectual space
opened up by new information technologies, above all else, led to a flowering of
weird and wonderful collaborations and cross-discipline dressing.
Wilson, professor of conceptual and information arts at San Francisco State
University, has bravely tried to survey the entire intersection of the arts and
the sciences. He namechecks more than a thousand artists in 900 pages. Some get
a couple of pages, but most only a sentence sketching one of their works.
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But what counts as “art”? Wilson’s job title is revealing. Art too low or too
traditional is out, but aren’t disco, electric funk and all their
descendants—from trance to nu garage—some kind of information art?
Professionally engaged in a head-on conflict between cultural criticism and
science’s general claim to special knowledge, he is sometimes uncritical of
artists’ and technologists’ particular claims. But make sure your library has a
copy for stimulating reference.
