record

Thesis Info

LABS ID
00441
Thesis Title
From networked art to programmed drifts : "art as experience" today
Author
Karen O'Rourke
2nd Author
3rd Author
Degree
Habilitation à diriger des recherches
Year
2011
Number of Pages
157 pages + 7 volumes
University
Université Paris 1
Thesis Supervisor
Bernard Guelton
Supervisor e-mail
bernard.guelton AT archifiction.net
Other Supervisor(s)
Jury: Roger Malina, Sean Cubitt, Jean-Louis Boissier, Anne-Marie Duguet
Language(s) of Thesis
French
Department / Discipline
Arts plastiques
Copyright Ownership
Karen O'Rourke
Languages Familiar to Author
English and French
URL where full thesis can be found
Keywords
networked art
Abstract: 200-500 words
This habilitation thesis reports on over thirty years of creative research in the visual arts. It consists of the synthesis report, a volume showing the evolution of the artistic process, a volume consisting of articles published in books and research journals, many of them peer-reviewed, and three interviews, a forthcoming book to be published by the MIT Press (Collection Leonardo Books) and an interactive multimedia CD-ROM title produced by the author. This set is completed by an edited volume and an exhibition catalog directed by the author as well as a folder containing a selection of archives of past exhibitions (invitations, posters, reviews) . The synthesis report looks closely at three artistic experiments conducted by the author, chosen for their exemplary nature. "Write a network”, "Explore a map" and "Plant a garden": these themes will serve as "intuition pumps " to illuminate some of the processes involved in artistic creation. A body of work entitled " Paris Network " provides an opportunity to explore the possibilities of networked art using protocols and instructions. This project was developed in several stages that all shaped the final form. Originally conceived as a performance, it quickly developed beyond the real time experience to build and reflect on its own archives. The following chapter describes the implementation of "Partially Buried University ", an interactive 3D environment, in order to reflect on artistic practice in a collective research project involving artists, scientists and industrialists. The third experiment is part of an "aesthetics of reception". Here, the goal was to experiment works and protocols developed by other artists. The author is both a pedestrian who follows the paths traced by these artists and a cartographer who constructs a representation that lend them a new relational form. Finally, in order to interpret these "field data", a final chapter outlines the problems that underlie all of these practices. Can we take advantage of the instability of digital media to design a "robust" art that is not limited by a single presentation device? What is, what can be the role of the onlooker in the resulting artistic experience? What conclusions can be drawn for teaching?