Art, Technology, Consciousness: Mind@Large (review)

It is nearly impossible for proceedings of a conference to capture the excitement of the event itself—the rapid exchange of ideas and opinions or the moments when an insight seems to be nailed down—if only someone could preserve that moment! The uneven quality of this collection of essays is explained in part by its origins as the proceedings of the Third International CAiiA-STAR Research Conference, "Consciousness Reframed," at the University of Wales College, Newport. It also covers such a wide range that it could hardly be developed as a cohesive whole. The conference seems to have been an invitation to speculation, not all of it well thought out or well expressed. Add to that the lack of editorial polish on some texts, and the apparently awkward translations of others, and you have a volume that serves less as a reference than as a historical marker. It may yet prove useful to persons with an interest in the collisions of art and science, art historical detectives, or anyone with a love of speculation.

Organized into five sections covering, roughly, technobiology, meaning and emotion, transmodal perception and art, the experience of space, and the theory of mind, the proceedings do include a number of essays that stand out as fully developed ideas, and others that are less developed but nonetheless provocative. Roy Ascott's essay, which opens the volume, seems emblematic of the latter: peppered with neologisms and ranging all over the map, it nevertheless conveys a sense of excitement that succeeds in penetrating our skepticism. Other essays, such as Michael Punt's historical framing of the critical value of technobiological art, Kathleen Rogers's investigation of the role of maize in Mayan society as paradigm for an ethical approach to biodiversity, or Ted Krueger's sharp critique, "There Is No Intelligence," induce us less to speculate than to launch into argument—as surely occurred at the conference.

Unfortunately, some of the essays here become bogged down in verbal collage or obscure jargon. These are largely redeemed by the artists' presentations, including Eduardo Kac's brief but precise description of his techobiological artwork Genesis, Tiffany Holmes's careful descriptions of her various interactive works, or Greg Garvey's statement on his split-brain interface to the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings in the U.S. Senate. In keeping with the speculative nature of the conference, a number of the artist essays describe works not yet created. Like so many of the ideas expressed in this book, they may yet materialize, or they may remain forever imaginary.