Perverting Technological Correctness

e 19961SAST rrlfE LEONARDO GALLERY Perverting Technological Correctness In keeping with the trend in contemporary cnlture that art critic Lome Falk calls "Technologically Correct" (TC), considerable resources are being allocated to revive the battered archetypes of the "pioneer" and "originality." Associated with this revival, the militaristic "avant-garde" metaphor, with its emphasis on conquest and progress, reappears with an obnoxious nostalgic undertone, as does the humanist logic of re-birth and universality [l]. That this white-male colonial model be resuscitated after decades ofvoodoo from feminists, deconstructivists, schizoanalysts and minority-rights activists comes as no surprise: the "maverick cowboy" who "just does his thing" has always been a necessary ingredient in the creation of new marketplaces to fuel the capitalist venture. TC ART: THE "EFFECT" EFFECT Art itself is becoming TC. In fact, media art is frequently cited to vindicate the TC trend. We are invited to marvel at computers' improved capabilities and resolution and to be seduced by their evolutionary speed. Typically, TC art empowers the user of the artwork by mapping his or her actions to causal effects in the environment-thus, TC art cannot be divorced from the desire to police the user by offering some kind of token control. The special effects themselves become the object of the artwork and the main incentive for its contemplation-a phenomenon we might call the "effect" effect [2]. TECHNOLOGY IS NOT FIRST-COME FIRST-SERVE The nine artworks chosen here pervert technological correctness: they are a testament to the inevitability rather than the novelty of technology. These pieces embrace intervention , criticism and humor. They tend to restrict the participant to certain pre-established perspectives, which is an unfashionable stance in TC art. The strength of these pieces is in the definition and affirmation of their specific limitations, rather than in the promise of their media. Here are a few strategies to pervert technological correctness. Although each artist comes under the heading of only one strategy, many are shared among them: Simulation of Technology Itself Laura Kikauka's Hairbrain 2000 simulates a head-mounted display-including tracking , display and sound-with surplus industrial and electrical parts. Half hair-dryer and half meat-mincer, this piece invites virtual reality to reflect upon itself as a moment of deep kitsch. Misuse of Technology Perry Hoberman's misemployment of bar-code technology, which was originally designed to read marketing information, gives way to stimulating interaction with virtual objects reminiscent of Rene Magritte's aesthetics. LEONARDO, Vol. 29, No.1, pp. 5-15, 1996 5 Stereotype Bending Responding to critics who claimed that he could not be making "Native" art by working with virtual reality, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun declared, "I can advance my culture in any way that I choose." Technological correctness in the context of a Native artist seems to have been defined by some anthropologists to be wood carving and other traditional aboriginal crafts. Non-Digital Approach to Virtuality Artworks that are not "wired" are readily invalidated by the TC. In spite of this, Michael Maranda's Spheroramas reconstruct space and time for an immersive telepresence experience. Spheroramas are "mutant" photographs that take the viewer hostage and frame him or her within the scene. Pain Marcel.li Antunez Roca's performance-installation Epizoo makes a direct link between virtual and real violence. Borrowing from the tradition of body art, the artist's body becomes a sacrificial repository of tele-torture as inflicted by the public. Antunez challenges the desensitization caused by simulation, mediation and repetition. Questioning Our Culture's Often Uncritical Insistence on "Progress" Myth, philosophy, science and experience coalesce in Nell Tenhaafs piece, which suggests possible parallels between our curiosity in biotechnology and Oedipus's own curiosity that led to his tragic demise. Performative Action Physically stripping the contents of his computer and wearing the case on his head, Miguel Angel Corona Alba's Macacintosh character is an amusing manifestation of the internalization of technology. In Corona's art nothing is used as it was intended to be: a spontaneous sequence of actions and interactions determines the meaning of each prop in the performance context. Adapting the Digital to Reinterpret the Analog Trimpin has been adapting digital equipment to play acoustic...