[-empyre-] welcome jill scott

[Felix Sattler <felix@querformarte.de>]

Dear -empyreans-

throughout the stages of her practice Jill Scott has been able to 
create both universal and at the same time intimate messages towards 
(the feminin) body, science&technology and society.

When I came to be one of her students at the Bauhaus-University in 2000 
her art and its surroundings (i.e. the ZKM, the CAIIA-STAR-Programme) 
were like a revelation.
I think we were most impressed by the way she implemented scientific 
methodology into the research process involved with media art:

"My process of making media artworks is actually scientific in nature. 
It flows from having an idea (hypothesis), conducting research 
(experiments and prototypes) and drawing conclusions (proof - the final 
artwork). Actually, I have often placed myself in the role of a 
satirical scientist - sometimes decoding and classifying information."
(Jill Scott in an interview with Robert Atkins in "Coded Characters - 
Media Art by Jill Scott, Hatje Cantz Verlag 2003)

While her pioneering efforts have led many younger artists to include 
this methodology into their work she has always remained conscious 
about the need to further question the relation of art and science and 
to seek for an extended & updated role (media) art can play nowadays.

In the context of her mentioning the "satirical artist" (interview 
above) and her further stating

> Currently I think the future of media art lies in the fact that our
> perceptions of time, space, object, body and the represented 
> character, can
> be more influenced by the discoveries and ethics of science, than by
> advances in technology itself. How will Media Art be effected by these
> influences? How might explorations into natural and cognitive sciences
> serve to further shift our definitions of Media art and body, as well 
> as
> our representations, audience roles and interactive responses?
(Jill Scott, introductory statement on -empyre-)
and
"They (science journals) don't always raise essential ethical questions 
about the manipulation of nature and the utopian concept about 
aesthetic representation of the body, and this is where media art might 
find a role (e.g. DIGITAL BODY AUTOMATA, my work at ZKM)." (Jill Scott, 
Coded Characters)

I would like to ask her and the list's members to discuss what future 
possibilities exist for media arts here? Besides being affected (i.e. 
reacting/commenting/criticising) by  scientific&technological 
achievements may there be a chance of (once again) advancing this field 
and our reception of body, identity and (multiple) reality?

We are very happy to once again welcome Jill here for the remaining 
weeks of the month and hope this will be an as fruitful discussion as 
the NRM has been so far.

Felix