Chronology and Working Survey of Select Telecommunications Activity

Chronology and Working Survey of Select Telecommunications Activity Compiled byCarlEugeneLoefflerand RoyAscott Tefollowing isap~. tial, working survey of telecommunications activity in the arts, highlighting North American and European projects. The chronology is not complete, and it is hoped that it will be expanded upon to more fully reflect the wide range ofactivity in the field. The editors invite artists to bring to our attention other projects that should be added to this chronology for publication at a later date. Telecommunications is hereby defined as electronic transmission of information through computer networks, radio, slow-scan video, telephone, television and satellites. The projects listed here are important because they were interactive, establishing two-way communications. 1977 Send/Receive Center for New Art Activities, New York, and Art Com/La Mamelle, Inc., San Francisco. Organized by Liza Bear and Willoughby Sharp in New York and Sharon Grace and Carl Loeffier in San Francisco. The project employed aCTS satellite and featured a I5-hour twoway , interactive transmission between the two cities. Ground distribution on cable television in New York and San Francisco. Satellite Arts Project NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, and the Educational Television Center, Menlo Park, California. By Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz, presented in conjunction with NASA. This was the world's first interactive composite image satellite dance perCarl Eugene Loeffler (artist, critic. historian. curator, art administrator), Art Com, P.O. Box 3123, Rincon Annex. San Francisco, CA94119-3123. U.sA. Roy Ascott (artist. educator}, 64 Upper Cheltenham Place, Bristol BS65HR, United Kingdom. formance between performers on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of the United States. The performance included the first time-delay satellite feedback dance, three-location live feed composite performance, and flutist Paul Horn playing his time echo. 1978 Slow Scan Video Open Space Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia, with transmission to the Center for New Arts Activities, New York, and the California College ofArts and Crafts, Oakland, California. Participants : Mary Arnold, Bill Bartlett, Susan Corman, Gail Johnston, Jim Lindsay and Jim Starck. The project utilized a Robot digital scan converter to send single video frames in 8-sec pulses over voice telephone lines. The experiment was a preliminary for the Sat-Tel-Comp Collaboratory. Sat-Tel-Comp Collaboratory Open Space Gallery, Victoria, British Columbia. Organized by Bill Bartlett. The project consisted of an installation of reference material, photographs , equipment documentation, public forum, workshops, discussions and the display and implementation of related hardware. It featured a series of slow-scan video transmissions between Open Space Gallery and the following: Camosun College (Victoria, British Columbia , Canada); Hillsdale Shopping Mall (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada); And/Or Gallery (Seattle, Washington, U.SA.); Worldpool Centre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada); Sundance School (Victoria, British Columbia , Canada); Artspace (Peterborough, Ontario, Canada); University of Colorado (Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.); as well as between Victoria Community Video and York University (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), The collaboratory also featured a 6-week experiment involving computer communications. Utilizing the I. P. Sharp (APL) International Network, interactive computer exchanges were made between Toronto and Victoria. Participants included Ken Atkinson, Bill Bartlett, Norman White and the Worldpool Group. Later in the project New York and the University of Coloradojoined the exchange with the help of Liza Bear. Peggy Cady organized workshops and made future arrangements for extensive use of slow-scan video via satellite from local Victoria schools to groups in remote Pacific Islands. 1979 Interplay: Computer Culture/ Interactive Communications Communications hosted by the Computer Culture Exposition, Toronto, Ontario. Coordinated by Bill Bartlett. A communications workshop was presented through the IPSA network involving 22 centers and individuals from Australia, North America, Britain and Europe. Pacific Rim Identity Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia. A project of Direct Media Association, by Bill Bartlett, Peggy Cady, PennyJoy andJim Starck. This featured an installation of slowscan video and its use overATS satellite, ham radio and telephone for interactive communications. It included point-to-point and multipoint transmissions from the Vancouver Art Gallery with participants in Seattle, Victoria, Santa Cruz (California), San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Fiji, Cook Islands, Papua (New Guinea), New Zealand, Australia, Alaska, New York and Toronto. 236 LEONARDO, Vol. 24, No.2, pp. 236-240,1991© 19911SAST Pergamon Press pic.Printed inGreat Britain...