Joseph
Nechvatal: Contaminations
Beecher Center
for the Electronic Arts
Youngstown,
Ohio
Feb 27, 2006
Through Jun 25, 2006
Viral
media has taken on the connotations of videos and websites that spread
their
ideas across large demographics quickly; for Joseph Nechvatal, his
idea
of viruses and media take a more literal meaning that predates the
World
Wide Web. This is because NechvatalÕs work incorporates media that
use
live computer viruses as part of the image creation process.
Contaminations,
his show at the Beecher Center for the Electronic Arts, is a
collection
of static and dynamic works incorporating the viral process to
transform
digital collage into surreal abstractions.
What
is remarkable is that Nechvatal has been doing computer-robotic
acrylics
since 1986, that is, 20 years. Such a time span is almost
geological
in digital terms, and to maintain a continuity of work in digital
media
for the same span is equally unique. But for Nechvatal, it is perhaps
he has
found a deep vein of inquiry that he has yet to exhaust. The acrylic
canvases,
most of about 8Õx10 in span, and robotically created with wall-
mounted
apparatus that apply the paint with a process similar to pointillism
writ
large, sprawl before the viewer with a formal grace seen in few other
2D
digital artists.
The
series of ten or so static pieces constitutes a mini-survey of
NechvatalÕs
large-scale viral canvases. In these works, the piece begins as
a
digital image, which is then fed to a virus that corrupts the image over
time,
creating colored blooms and tendrils throughout the piece.
Controlling
the number of iterations that the code operates on the graphic
controls
the virusÕ effect on the image. The resulting image is then output
on
canvas with the aforementioned technique.
In
addition to the static works, Contaminations has an adjoining room where
four
6Õx8Õ projections feature live viral degradations of NechvatalÕs
interpretations
of numerous New Media theorists, curators, and artists. The
installation
complements the static works well, providing an expository
reference
to the process that created the works in the adjacent gallery.
The
viruses sparkle across the surface of the portraits, varying the colors
of the
images, snaking across the walls. The irony of some of the images
emerges
in that some personalities seem to take longer to degrade than
others.
While John Klima degraded sooner than MoMA curator Barbara London,
or IA
publisher Christiane Paul, French media theorist Edmund Couchot took
nearly
an hour for the virus to dissolve during my visit. I seriously doubt that
the
computerÕs selection of celebrity has anything to do with the length of time
for
viral
dissolution of an image, but speculation upon correlations are entertainingÉ
Contaminations
represents a fine representation of works from a long-
standing member of the New Media community who has
contributed for over two decades. It continues his work in the concept of
Viractualism, or the
realization
of the virtual, in providing references to the physical and the
electronic
in this survey. In addition, the beautiful, formal nature of the
work
meshes well with a Midwestern audience who are anxious to see the new
Digital
work, but are also interested in interpreting the work through the
vocabulary
of Western contemporary art traditions. Contaminations provides
a
solid representation of a deep body of work in the electronic arts which
spans
over two decades. It also places this body of work firmly in the
contemporary
tradition in a venue presents technological works in a region
of the
United States that is emerging as a zone for the advocacy of this
genre
of art.
Patrick Lichty is a digital intermedia designer, artist,
writer, and independent curator of over 15 years whose work comments upon the
impact of technology on society and how it shapes the perception of the world
around us. He works in diverse technological media, including printmaking,
kinetics, video, generative music, and neon. Venues in which Lichty has been
involved with solo and collaborative works include the Whitney and Venice
Bienniales as well as the International Symposium on the Electronic Arts
(ISEA). He is Editor-inChief of Intelligent Agent, an electronic arts/culture
journal based in New York City, and featured in the new documentary by the
makers of American Movie, called The Yes Men.