By Susan Siegl
While browsing on the website of the upcoming CeBIT event, I came across an interesting cultural award, the Künstlerpreis. On the weekend of March 8 and 9, eight nominated artists of various categories will give performances as part of the programme, each focused on a specific IT area.
The Arts and information technology have developed a strong relationship over the past few decades, particularly as artists explore the new possibilities on offer. Initially, computers were only used for digitilisation of existing works, colour changes or the creation of illusions. Later, images started to be created on the computer, leading to virtual realities with interactive elements being built. Nowadays, the internet can connect communities of artists or producers, enabling them to create a joint work.
However, I believe that the Arts have only just begun to explore the options that technology offers. Yet even some of the most well-known museums for modern art such as MOMA in New York still mainly rely on the classical styles. Only occasional shows – for instance the annual festival Ars Electronica – highlight new media arts.
Of course, information technology has influenced not only fine but also performing arts. For film producers, the possibilities that CGI have created are practically limitless. It's almost sweet to think now of the mechanical King Kong or the rubber shark in Jaws, which can still be admired at Orlando's Universal Studios. Imagine the herd of Jurassic Park dinosaurs we could have visited if only they hadn't been digitalised!
One innovation I recently came across is the creation of artwork out of internet security threats. The Romanian artist Alex Dragulescu has developed with his Malwarez technique a way to display spam, phishing mails, spyware and viruses as graphic objects, based on the codes provided by a security service provider he cooperates with. Take a look here at how deceptively beautiful these images are!
So next time my mailbox is jammed with spam, I will just try to see these messages as nice, flowery, fragile creatures...
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