2018 Leonardo Art, Science and Technology Lecture Series Living Systems and Generative Processes in the Interactive Artworks of Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau
Date:
June 02, 2019 (Sunday)
Time:
3 – 5pm
Language:
English (with consecutive Chinese translation)
Venue:
Chronus Art Center (No.18, No.50 Mo Gan Shan Rd, Shanghai)
Co-organized by Chronus Art Center, CAFA Center for Art and Technology, CAFA Art Museum, Tongji University College of Art & Media
In collaboration with Leonardo / ISAST
About the Lecture
Christa Sommerer’s background is multi-disciplinary, as she originally studied biology and anthropology at University of Vienna, and she was then particularly interested in systematic botany and the classification of forms in nature. This comparative and systematic interest in the sciences was also juxtaposed by an interest in the metaphoric and subjective quality of Dadaism. She eventually entered art school and studied fine arts at the department of sculpture led by Prof. Gironcoli at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. The use of sculpture, installations and multi-media publications were a first step towards trying to combine systematic and scientific methods with personal and intuitive interpretations of natural phenomena.
But it was the discovery of the computer and in particular interactivity as a creative means that allowed her, for the first time, to deal with issues of development, change, generative processes and evolution. Or, as Peter Weibel defined it “Virtuality – Variability- Viability” [1]. Söke Dinkla writes in depth about the emergence of interactive art as new art form in the mid 80ies, when artists started to re-evaluate the relationship between author and audience and the notion of the artwork as a process, referring to such pioneers and Myron Krueger and others. [2]
Together with the French Media artist Laurent Mignonneau, she studied media art with Peter Weibel at the Institute for New Media in Germany in 1990. Since then they belong to the forerunners of interactive art and in particular Generative Art and Artificial Life. Sommerer and Mignonneau consider the artwork as an open system where all new inputs through the users lead to novel image results that are dynamic, non-predictable and open-ended. Creating virtual worlds on a computer and letting users or participants interact with these virtual worlds through intuitive or multi-modal interfaces allowed them to work on a new notion of an “open or living artwork” that is not static or pre-defined but instead co-created and co-evolve in exchange and interaction with the audience. [3]
In this lecture, Sommerer will present an overview of their 30 years of artistic experience, highlight the background studies and conceptual inspirations, as well as discuss related issues in media art, contemporary art and art and science collaborations.
[1] Weibel, Peter und Lischka, Gerhard Johann. 1989. “Polylog. Für eine interaktive Kunst” In: Kunstforum International, Vol. 103, Sept/Oct.1989. pp. 225-231.
[2] Dinkla, Söke. 1991. Pioniere Interaktiver Kunst von 1970 bis heute, Edition ZKM, Cantz Verlag.
[3] Sommerer, Christa and Mignonneau, Laurent. 1998. “Art as A Living System, In: Sommerer Ch. and Mignonneau L. (Eds.). Art @ Sciences, Springer Verlag, Vienna/New York, pp. 148-161.
Christa Sommerer
Christa Sommerer is an media artist, researcher and pioneer of interactive art. After working, researching and teaching in the US and Japan for 10 years, they set up the department for Interface Cultures at the University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria. Sommerer is also currently also a Visiting Professor at CAFA Central Academy of Fines Arts Bejing, she was an Obel Guest Professor at Aalborg University in Denmark, and a Visiting Professor at Tsukuba University Department of Empowerment Informatics in Japan. Laurent Mignoneau was also Chaire International Guest Professor at the Université Paris 8 in Paris, France. Sommerer and Mignonneau created around 30 interactive artworks, which have been shown in around 300 international exhibitions. They have received numerous awards: the BEEP Award at ARCO Art Fair in Madrid in 2016, the 2012 Wu Guanzhong Art and Science Innovation Prize which was bestowed by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China; the 1994 Golden Nica Prix Ars Electronica, among others.
