Artists' Use of Telecommunications Conference

LIVE INTERNATIONAL VIDEO AND AUDIO LINK, February 16, 1980

TEXT OF THE ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CONFERENCE AND EVENT:

"The conference brings together internationally known artists working with telecommunications to discuss and explore ideas pertaining to satellites and slow-scan video. The conference will be presented in "telecommunication space" with participants located in San Franscisco, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Vienna and Tokyo. Participants include, among others, Robert Adrian, Bill Bartlett, Liza Bear, Douglas Davis, Sharon Grace, Carl Loeffler, David Ross, Aldo Tambellini. Organized by La Mamelle Inc. and San Franscisco Museum of Modern Art".

The on-line part of the "Artists' Use of Telecommunications Conference" was organised by Bill Bartlett for "La Mamelle" (an artist-run space in San Francisco) and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMMA).
The project was organised with the help of the I.P.Sharp computer timesharing network who provided free user accounts for participants which not only facilitated project coordination but also functioned as an art- communications medium during the event (an on-line chat and text exchange)
The "Conference" was also the first global use of Slow-Scan TV (video images transmitted over the telephone) by artists. Slow-Scan equipment (Robot Research 530 transceivers) was in use in many, but not all, locations.

Locations / Participants:

CAMBRIDGE (USA): Center for Advanced Visual Studies/M.I.T. (Aldo Tambellini etc.)

HAWAII: University Art Department (John Southworth etc.)

JAPAN: Tsukuba University (Michael Goldberg etc.)

NEW YORK: 1. Alternative Media Center/New York City University (Douglas Davis, Martin Neisenholtz etc.)
2. Center for New Art Activities (Willoughby Sharp, Lisa Bear)

SAN FRANCISCO: La Mamelle & San Franscisco Museum of Modern Art (Bill Bartlett, Carl Loeffler (Org.) with Liza Bear, Sharon Grace, Gene Youngblood)

TORONTO: Trinity Video and Ontario College of Art (Norman White etc.)

VANCOUVER: Western Front Society (Hank Bull, Kate Craig, Glen Lewis etc.)

VICTORIA (Canada): I.P. Sharp Ass. (Mike Powell etc.)

VIENNA: Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts (Robert Adrian, Grita Insam (Org.) with Ernst Caramelle, Valie Export, Karl Kowanz, Richard Kriesche, Helmut Mark & Peter Weibel.)

Source: http://kunstradio.at/HISTORY/TCOM/SFMMA/sfmma.html

Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Vienna.

The Vienna participation in the "Artists' Use of Telecomm" conference was organised by Robert Adrian and Grita Insam as the closing event of the exhibition by Robert Adrian at the Modern Art Galerie, 16. Jan. - 16 Feb. 1980.

This exhibition included the mail art exchange (WIENCOUVER II) between Vienna and Vancouver (Push Art Gallery). The communication between Vienna and Vancouver during the conference was the first telecommunication event in the "WIENCOUVER" series.

TRANSLATED FROM THE VIENNA ANNOUNCEMENT:

"In the program of the exhibition "Video Made In Austria" (Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts), a station will be installed to make participation in a world-wide computer conference possible. The conference will take place on Saturday 16. February at 19:00 (San Francisco 10:00, Tokyo 03:00). A computer terminal for access to the time-sharing system of I.P.Sharp Associates and equipment for LIVE Video (slow scan) will be installed in Vienna for communication with Tokyo, Vancouver, Hawaii, New York, Boston etc. The idea of the organisors is to create a "Telecommunication Space" in which all the participating stations are simultaneously present and able to communicate with each other. During the conference data will be exchanged about the use of telecommunications technology (tv, satellites, computers, video, audio and other electronic systems) in contemporary art. Vienna, as the only station in Europe, must present the problems confronting European artists working with the new communication technology."

source: http://kunstradio.at/HISTORY/TCOM/SFMMA/wien.html

References:
Communication Art

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