Windows on Creativity and Invention ed. by Jacques Richardson (review)

Paris, brought together museum professionals , art theorists and artists. The topic was interactivity as a tool for cultural transmission and creativity . The symposium was a collaboration between La Villette and the new science museum at the Villa Gualino, Piedmont, Italy. Christian Masbach, President of La Cite, opened the meeting with an appropriately pragmatic challenge. He agreed that interactive exhibits were useful tools to transmit technical and scientific culture , and he noted that his technical advisorsalways had new technical proposals ready for any challenge. However , he questioned whether at this point these technologies were effective or cost-effective teaching tools for the large numbers of visitors at a major institution like La Cite. Several other presentations addressed the use of interactivity in museum exhibit design , within the context of the short attention span (40seconds per exhibit !), and the wide range of age and experience of museum visitors. The overall impression in these Proceedings is one of cautious endorsement of interactive exhibits, with the theorists and aestheticians the most positive about the use of interactivity as an effective way to promote involvement and understanding . Phillippe Oveau discusses autonomous interaction and heteronomous interaction. In autonomous interaction, not only the interacting entities but also the rules involved can change. In heteronomous interaction , the rules are rigid and the interaction takes place within a predetermined set of potential outcomes . He discussesvarious projects and artworks that fall into each category , such as the autonomous vivarium (Alan Kay), Doraemon (Iroshi Kawano), and Memo (Phillippe Oveau) projects. Aesthetician Frank Popper reviews the use of interactivity in the arts, from the transformable artwork of the 1950sand 1960s,through participation in happenings and performance art, to the interactive installations of the 1980s.Edmond Couchot, of the Department of Art and Technology of the Image at the Paris 8 University,describes the potential of creative workswithin virtual spaces and computer simulation. Other speakers included Derrick de Kerckhove of the McLuhan Institute, Marco Stroppa of IRCAM, telecommunications artistsJacques-Elie Chabert, Fred Forrest and several other artists from the Groupe Esthetique de la Communication. The proceedings are closed by artistJeanMarc Phillipe, who describes his large “Messagedes homme a l’univers” project , which transmitted artworks into interstellar space-the ultimate in delayed interactivity. The symposium seems to have been a useful meeting of museum professionals with their near-term perspective and the visionaries with their dreams. Several computer-based technologies clearly make possible novel ways of connecting creator and user. Whether the impact of this potential will be as revolutionary as promised remains to be seen. Skeptics will remember the aborted promises that were touted for the advent of television as a tool for education. The proceedings are published in French. ART, SCIENCEAND TECHNOLOGY Special Issue of Alba, Peter Hill, ed. $30. Quarterly, Alba, P. 0.Box 102, Edinburgh EH8 940, Scotland. Reviewed by RogerF. Malina, P. 0.Box 421704, San Francisco, CA 94142-1704, U.S.A. Alba is a magazine of national and international art from Scotland. This special issue on art, science and technology was timed to appear during Edinburgh’s International Festival of Science and Technology. Several articles fall under the rubric of “Art and Psychotherapy”. Included in this category are an interview of Peter Fuller, author of “Artand Psychotherapy” and the recent ‘Theoria (Art and Absence of Grace)”,and articles on several artists, including Andrew Wiener, Paula Rego, Cindy Sherman and Ken Kitt. Several articles in the category “Artand Nature” describe the work of artists Paul Nesbitt, Sjoerd Buisman, and Andy Golds worthy (the last two artists create environmental sculptures).Under the category “Artand Science” is included an article by Howard Firth on the ideas of physicist David Bohm, as well as an article on synthetic modernism by Peter Hill. There is an article by Monona Rossol on health hazards. The strength of this special issue is its emphasis on art and science, rather than on art and technology, with dis cussions of how the ideas and discoveries of contemporary science are relevant to contemporary art-making. WINDOWS ON CREATIVITYAND INVENTION Jacques Richardson, ed. Lomond Pub., Mt. Airy, Maryland. 1988.338 pp., illus. Trade. ISBN: 0-91233E4-57-1. Reviewed b y RogerF. Malina, P. 0.Box 4217704, San...