Re: [-empyre-] response to Diana McCarty

[Judy Malloy <judymalloy@judymalloy.net>]

Dear Diane,

Like most such endeavors, the book is a curated approach. 

Many of the women included were selected because of  their long-time
innovative work in creating work that integrates art and technology.
I believe that it is important to acknowledge their accomplishments.

For instance: 

Steina Vasulka describes how her multi channel video compositions
evolved from the early days of video in the late 1960s.

Dara Brinbaum documents her long-time exploration
 of the fragmented relationship between viewer and televised news.

For many years, Helen and Newton Harrison have called attention to 
incursions on the environment  in works such as 
The Lagoon Cycle (1973-1985) 

Lynn Hershman created the first interactive laserdisc, "Lorna"
(1979-1983) In her film, Conceiving Ada, Ada (Augusta Ada Byron,   
Countess of Lovelace, the first programmer in history) moves 
around the film in a digital environment, which could not have 
existed without her original inventions. Hershman herself pioneered a
process for creating this digital environment, using an LHL System for
Virtual Set where PhotoShop images are used in real time as the digital
background.  

Since the mid-70's, Sonya Rapoport, has produced computer assisted
cross-cultural multi-media artworks and interactive installations. From
1994 until the present she has been creating artworks for the web. Her
artwork references scientific, biblical, and gender topics. 
In March, 2003 Rapoport presented her art concept for communicating
altruisms to extraterrestrials at the SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial
Intelligence) workshop in Paris. 

For over a decade Agnes Hegedus has created computer-mediated
interactive artworks that configure social dimensions in visual
communications systems.

Char Davis has created immersive and virtual reality environments that 
in their exploration of nature as metaphor use mediated technology
to look at the environment in ways that are both poetic and exploratory.

In 1986 I wrote the first hyperfiction - Uncle Roger - 
(a narrative of sex and politics in Silicon Valley). In 1994, as part of
a residency at Xerox PARC, I and Cathy Marshall created the collaborative
e¬narrrative Forward Anywhere. I have been at the forefront of shaping
electronic narrative, and my hyperfictions include: its name was
Penelope, The Roar of Destiny Emanated From the Refrigerator, Dorothy
Abrona McCrae, A Party in Silver Beach; and Ask for Sanctuary: A Fictive
Declassification.

For 25 years, Brenda Laurel's work has focused on experience design,
interactive story, and  the intersection of culture and technology.  
After a four-year stint studying gender and technology at Interval   
Research,  designer, writer, researcher, and performer Brenda Laurel
co-founded Purple Moon to create interactive media for girls in 1996.  

Nancy Paterson has been at the forefront of both virtual environments 
and the creation of web sites -- such as Stock Market Skirt -- that
are not only innovative but also socially relevant in the developing web 
environment.

Since 1986 composer Cecile Le Prado has worked on sound installations
for both indoor and outdoor sites.  Her chapter addresses both the 
making of the work and the listening context.  

Working primarily with voice, live electronic processing,   
and sampling technology, Pamela Z  continues to create
extraordinary solo works -- combining operatic bel canto and
experimental extended vocal techniques with found   
percussion objects, spoken word, "MAX MSP" on a PowerBook, and   
sampled concrete sounds triggered with a MIDI controller (called The   
BodySynth) which allows her to manipulate sound with physical   
gestures.  

Anna Couey, who works with communication systems as social sculpture, 
creating such works as Imagining the Information Age,
participated in the development of the Art Com Electronic Network,
an international online system dedicated to the interface of contemporary
art and new communications technologies, and was instrumental in the
development of Arts Wire, a communications system for artists and arts
organizations. 

Writer and experimental videomaker Valerie Soe's productions include
Mixed Blood,  Picturing Oriental Girls A (Re) Educational Videotape, 
All Orientals Look the Same and Beyond Asiaphilia. She is a founding member of
X-Factor, an experimental film and videomaker coalition. 

Dawn Stopiello and Mark Coniglio describe the evolution of their computer-mediated dance collaboration.

The book also includes a chapter by Mexican critic Martha Burkle
Bonecchi on Third World Woman and Developing technologies and Zoe Sofia's
chapter that sets forth the work of Australian artists Francesca da Rimini,
Josephine Starrs, Linda Dement and many others

The dialogue does need to be expanded.  I think there should be more books like
this and look forward to their publication!

But it is depressing to have a book that sets forth the work of so
many strong women called "troubling". 

Best,
Judy
 




 If you or others are considering writing a book
that expands 

At 02:48 PM 12/8/03 +1100, -empyre-owner wrote:

>Greetings Empryists,
>
>I'm new to the list, though I've followed some of the debates via the
>archive with great interest. The high quality of the exchanges is really
>impressive. Hopefully, the following will be taken as it is intended, which
>is in the hopes of exploring some of the more controversial aspects of a
>book like Women, Art & Technology.
>
>My colleague, Vali Djordjevic and I recently wrote a review of the book (we
>are waiting for the go ahead from the publisher, MUTE, to post it here). As
>both of us found the collection of texts rather problematic, I'm especially
>pleased to have the chance to pose questions directly to Judy Malloy. I
>should add that both Vali and I are co-moderators of the faces mailing list,
>which is a platform for women in media [www.faces-l.net], and that our
>colleague,  Kathy Rae Huffman, mentions the list in her text, which is also
>included
>in Women, Art, & Technology.
>
>Without going into detail, I found the book troubling. My first questions
>concern the selection criteria. Judy, you have already mentioned your goals
>in allowing for different entry points to the book, which can be picked up
>through different texts - but I'm curious to hear about how you selected
>these texts. As the discussion here is already going in the direction of
>what are women doing now, it might be worthwhile to qualify that, with which
>women are being addressed? It seems that there is a universal notion of
>woman, yet the book itself is concerned almost only with women in North
>America, a few Europeans, and then a few texts that mention or address women
>in the *third world* and *poor countries*. As there are few books that focus
>on women and media, I found it really disappointing to find texts and artist
>papers that came only from artists working in rich countries  - appearing to
>be representative of women in general.
>
>There was also the point of seminal and classic artist papers & texts - I
>just didn't understand how these terms were understood in conceiving the
>book. What was it about these works that gave them that status? How was that
>evaluated?
>
>
>All the best,
>
>Diana
>
>
>
>
>
>---
>Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
>Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
>Version: 6.0.547 / Virus Database: 340 - Release Date: 12/2/03
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>empyre forum
>empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
>http://www.subtle.net/empyre