[-empyre-] Marc Böhlen : Resolution for Digital Futures

[Timothy Murray]

My new year's resolution is to let acts precede 
intentions wherever possible. Resolutions hardly 
work for me, unfortunately. But after having been 
abroad (East Asia) for several weeks and 
realizing that I did not drink a single cup of 
espresso during that time I decided upon my 
return to shun the Starbucks coffee shop. No need 
for that stuff. Would the proper term for this be 
actolution, maybe?

Some times the term 'digital' comes across as a 
fashion statement or a Che Guevara T-shirt. 
'Digital art' seems an appropriate historical 
term because it was/is understood what (digital 
art) people mean by it. Nonetheless, it does not 
quite sit right. Putting it into a larger context 
helps (for me). Digital art as we know it is a 
cultural phenomenon that paralleled 
computerization of the masses. This in turn is 
due to (at least) three important vectors:

- a system that allows one to represent ideas in 
a short form which is Boolean logic that is 
capable of describing a large swath of things of 
use to us (but surely not everything).
- a process that allows the basic element of this 
system to be translated into the material world. 
This basic element is the silicon transistor 
(1947, Bell Labs). The transistor can see 
multitudes on one side (the rich and messy 
analogue world) and generate a binary output (the 
clean cut digital dictatorship) on the other 
side. It is the translator between the two 
domains. And it can be combined in myriad ways to 
form larger entities to (scalable) circuits that 
arrange the signals pulsing through them along 
convoluted pathways until they meet our eyeballs 
or ears.
- A global industrial process that improved these 
elements on all levels until they became reliable 
and produced them in large numbers to make them 
cheap enough for the masses (us).

The term digital (finger) is an important part of 
this event sequence, of computability and of 
computer culture, but it is not the only one and 
really the easiest animal to recognize in the 
zoo. It is a bit like discussing painting as 
"woven art" because the canvas is of woven fabric 
(which usually does not matter much). It is not 
wrong to speak of 'digital art' as such. But it 
is also not terribly significant unless the work 
queries (in an interesting way) the flow of 
charge in the bowls of the machine - laptop 
undervolting, anyone?

The most interesting part (that I have said 
nothing about here) is this: why was the computer 
embraced by the masses with enthusiasm (over 
time) before there was any 'need' for it ? I 
would like to blame someone (smile). Equally 
interesting is the meme (maybe) that made someone 
think: "I can do that with a computer machine 
thing, yes !" Or maybe that historic moment was 
one of actolution.

Bio: Marc Böhlen (US) offers the kind of support 
technology really needs by contributing since 
1996 to diversity in machine culture 
<www.realtechsupport.org>.  Marc is the Director 
of the Media Robotics Lab, Department of Media 
Study, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York.

-- 
Renate Ferro and Tim Murray
Co-Moderators, -empyre- a soft-skinned-space
Department of Art/ Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art
Cornell University