Carl Loeffler

Carl Eugene Loeffler
Born ... , died February 5th 2001.

1974: beginning of Art Com
1980: Artists' Use of Telecommunications Conference
1986: ArtCom Electronic Network

"At that point stuff like video and performance was not discussed at all, so I [decided to] start "Art Com" in 1974/75, and began creating lots of art and organizing projects.

I founded Art Com as a site for advanced art, and it still exists today. Art Com is active in 14 countries. Nowadays [1995], it has a low profile in SF. The space was a gallery. Actually, in those days it was called an "artist run space" or "alternative space." Art Com was one of the first handful of such spaces in the U.S., such as the Kitchen in NYC. We had fun. Art Com is a non-profit organization, but nearly 90% dependent on earned revenue a path I put them on in 1983, and they are really happy about it now.

Art Com never exhibited paintings or other more traditional art. It exhibited books as art, mail art, video, concept, performance, and sound poetry. We did a lot of electronic stuff, like transcontinental satellite performance events in 1977. In 1978 we got involved with slo-scan video and computer networking projects with similar Canadian art spaces.

The Art Com organization had a kind of retrospect exhibition at SFMMA (San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art) in 1979, and I directed a project called "Artist's Use of Telecommunications" — it took 2 years to set it up, and it was over in 2 hours! Essentially, a two way audio and slo-scan video link to Australia, Japan, Canada, Austria, and points in the U.S. This was the first time a slo-scan networked project found its way into a museum. It was neat to connect up like that. The organization was conducted over computer networks, largely the I.P. Sharp system, a Canadian teleconferencing company that donated connect time. We also used Atari computers that had acoustic couplers, built-in modems, and just printed out on paper, no screens! [On that project] I worked with Robert Adrian (Austria), Bill Bartlett (Canada), Liza Bear (Japan), Willoughby Sharp (NYC), and others. "

Resources:

http://www.cyberstage.org/archive/cstage12/carl12.htm

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