MacClassics (the immaculate machines) All works
in a new show of digital art at Postmasters Gallery have one common
denominator: the archetypical one piece Macintosh personal
computer.
The projects on display also address one of the paradoxes of new media. According to curator Tamas Banovich, "In the rush to try to be on top of the minute-by-minute advances of the digital medium, there is seldom time for reflection. With the pace of technological change, the creative process becomes one of reacting to all the latest developments in programming. All too often, the exhilarating sense of freedom to communicate, coupled with the latest and showiest techniques, plug-ins and engines, seem to determine the concept and aesthetic of content." Each of the participants in "MacClassics" - Nam Szeto and Stephen Cannon (i/o 360), Thomas Muller, Ervin Redl, Eric Adigard (M.A.D.), Kevin SawadBrooks, John F. Simon Jr., Perry Hoberman, Terbo Ted (TerboLizard), DavidKaram (Post Tool design), Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans (jodi.org), David Oppenheim, Andy Deck and others - was presented with one of the early, one-piece Macintosh computers (512K to Macintosh Classic) and asked to create a work using this machine. The resulting works reveal wildly different approaches. Some pieces rigorously analyze the basic elements of the medium, its parameters, or the graphical interface; others integrate the machine as object. Yet another approach is to stretch the limits of the machine, subvert its system, and "hack" it to do something unexpected. [Back] |