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Annika Hansson
(AH): Erkki - you are curating a huge upcoming exhibition at KIASMA
on the theme Alien Intelligence. What is it all about?
Erkki Huhtamo
(EH): There are two intersecting axes: The exhibition looks at the
ways in which the coming of the computer and the subsequent digitalization
of culture has been seen and reflected upon by artists. Yet because
such an approach is far too wide and general, I decided to concentrate
on ideas about the computer as somehow "alive" and "smart", a kind
of distorting and, perhaps even a self-acting mirror to the human
being, its creator. An Alien, and maybe a Double.
AH: The term
Alien Intelligence, is that the same as Artificial Intelligence?
How should we define it, or rather, how do you define it?
EH: You got
it right, the title engages in a wordplay with Artificial Intelligence
(AI). Yet this is not an exhibition about Art and Artificial Intelligence
as such. Although several artworks have certainly been influenced
by Artificial Intelligence and its more recent manifestation, Artificial
Life, the connection is more metaphoric than actual. The relationship
between "AI" and AI is left deliberately ambiguous. And there is
certainly an element of humour and parody embedded in it, too.
AH: Is the
actual exhibition concerned with the verbal definition of the theme?
EH: I have
seen many "media art exhibitions" which have been hardly curated
at all. They are like supermarkets, containing this and that. Yet
the field of media art is rapidly diversifying. Also, we should
not accept merely a technological solution like "interactivity"
as the common denominator for an art exhibition any longer. I emphasized
the conceptual side and wanted to create a tightly curated exhibition.
I did this in close collaboration with the artists.
AH: How and
when did this idea or concept come up? Where did the initiative
come from?
EH: During
the 90's I have curated many art exhibitions which have dealt with
interactivity as a new way of relating artworks and audiences. This
began to feel too obvious and I also sensed some changes in the
air. One inspiration came from the Canadian artist David Rokeby,
one of the creators of interactive art. In an e-mail conversation
in 1997 he told me, describing a change in his art: "I feel as though
the transition from Very Nervous System to The Giver of Names is
a transition naturally paralleling the shift in the sense of what
was being most challenged by the computer. In the 80s it seemed
to be the material body. In the 90s it seems to be the notions of
intelligence, and consciousness." This gave a concrete expression
to my feelings too, and partly inspired the theme of the exhibition.
Instead of merely interacting, pushing buttons and jumping up and
down, it was time to think deeper, to reflect on our cybernetic
"partners". Of course, Giver of Names is one of the artworks in
the show.
AH: As I understand
it this exhibition includes many works which have been commissioned
exclusively for this event? How many artists will be participating?
Where do they come from? Examples?
EH: There are
about 15 artists - I say about, because I am still working on some
final decisions. They come from all around the world. There are
both well known media artists, like Perry Hoberman, Ken Feingold,
David Rokeby and Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau and younger
talents like the Dutch duo Coenen and Bosma and the Australian Troy
Innocent. There are several artworks which have been commissioned
for this exhibition and will be premiered at Kiasma. In addition
to the artworks, there is also a "computer archeological" gallery
of "found objects", such as antique automata and robots, related
to the theme.
AH: How did
you go about selecting artists and works? What were the criteria?
EH: The selection
process has taken almost two years - a lot of travelling, listening
in, asking questions, hours and hours on the Net, etc. I did not
go after "big names", I was more interested in new creative ideas,
and a certain historical and cultural understanding too. At the
same time I was also thinking about the theme. As I said before,
I did not want to put together another "anything goes" -event. I
wanted to create an original exhibition concept, something which
has not been experienced before.
AH: What is
the visitor actually going to experience at the exhibition?
EH: In spite
of the rather strictly defined theme, I believe there is enough
variety to provide inspiring experiences for any kind of visitors.
There are interactive artworks, but also "automatic" works merely
to observe, without touching. Several artworks are based on state
of the art artificial life programming, but there is even a more
or less traditional floor mosaic! This exhibition is meant for people
of all ages, not just for the young.
AH: When I
think of KIASMA's fantastic approach to art & new technology it's
hard not to think that Swedish institutions have really fallen one
step behind. I ask myself why things seem to be so much easier in
Finland when it comes to this area? What do you think?
EH: KIASMA
wants to be a "meeting place", a museum for everyone. It recently
organized a highly popular exhibition of technoculture. Of course
Kiasma also exhibits contemporary art produced by more traditional
means, including painting and sculpture, but there is a strong feeling
that the latest developments in media art should not be left outside
its doors. It is a new museum which looks for a new kind of a profile.
I think my proposal, developed in collaboration with Kiasma's radical
media art curator Perttu Rastas, fits well into that scheme.
AH: What's
your experience of the attention that the Finnish media gives to
art & technology?
EH: Contemporary
EU Finland wants to be seen as a leading high-tech society, rather
than a nostalgic backlands as represented by the films of Aki Kaurismaki.
This new image of "cyber-Finland", epitomized by the global success
of Nokia, one of Kiasma's sponsors, was recently featured in Wired
magazine in a 17 page article, with Nokia's CEO Jorma Ollila on
the cover. In the eyes of the media, media art seems to fit well
into this vision, although it is premature to say anything about
the reception of Alien Intelligence. To be honest, the Finnish media
art scene is still fairly narrow in its scope - there are no Finnish
artists in Alien Intelligence.
AH: And if you
compare it to international press? Which I believe you have some
experience of from the projects you've been involved in abroad?
EH: Internationally
media art is only beginning to attract wider attention, and even
then it is mostly video art. Yet video art began 25 years ago! Computer
art is still often considered as something esoteric, a fad rather
than a thing to be taken seriously. It will change gradually; perhaps
exhibitions like Alien Intelligence will be able to speed up the
process a little bit.
AH: You´ve
been around in this area of art and new technology for a good number
of years now. How has this part of the art world changed along the
years? With the advent of PC:s in almost every home for example?
EH: One of the
early utopian ideas was to take media art out from museums and galleries
and bring it to both public places and homes. This has not really
taken place, although artists like Nam June Paik have been able
to create permanent public media artworks. Video art never became
popular in the home in spite of VHS videotapes and playes. Multimedia
art on CD-ROM's distributed to the home is very much a marginal
activity. The contemporary art museum still plays an important role,
in good and bad. If video games will eventually prove to be a new
popular art form maybe we will see a change. And there is certain
some promise in net.art .
AH: Let's talk
a bit about you, Erkki, and your profession. What is your background
and why where you chosen to curate this exhibition?
EH: I have been
working with audiovisual media for years as a researcher, teacher,
writer, TV director and curator. I have never been able to concentrate
on just one thing, and at some point I realized that it is best
to let my different interests interact with each other. With Perttu
Rastas, the current media art curator at Kiasma, I have been responsible
for many media art events in Finland over the years, particularly
within the framework of the MuuMediaFestival. Curating Alien Intelligence
is a logical continuation of this collaboration. Actually, in 1994
I curated with Asko Makela and Paivi Talasmaa another large media
art event for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, the ISEA
94 exhibition. It took place in the museum's former venue at the
Ateneum.
AH: Your profession,
focusing on art & technology, is quite unique. There must also,
all together, be a relatively small community in the world? Is there
a network where people like you can exchange experiences and ideas?
How and where and when?
EH: The international
field of media art - I would not say it is a "community" - is still
fairly small, and I believe I know about 80% of the active players.
The Internet has proven to be a valuable means of sharing information,
although I still have to spend a lot of time in airplanes and hotel
rooms. Events like Ars Electronica in Linz and Siggraph in the United
States are important meeting places. I have recently began to spend
a part of the year in Los Angeles as a visiting professor at the
University of California (UCLA), so that helps me to keep in track
about what is happening in the United States.
AH: An exhibition
like this must demand a lot of preparation in terms of research,
planning, technical resources? What are your tasks on a "normal"
working day - if there is such a thing?
EH: Curating
an exhibition is not a full-time work for me, even on this scale.
I work on it beside my other activities. The exhibition could not
have been realized without the day-to-day impact of the Kiasma staff.
They keep the things rolling, my role is more impulsive and intermediary.
As the opening date gets closer, I find myself spending more and
more time on the Internet. I (physically) visit Kiasma once a week
or so - after all, I live in another city, Turku.
AH: After "Alien
Intelligence" - what are your plans/projects?
EH: I am working
on another exhibition for the Helsinki2000 cultural city program.
It is titled "Phantasmagoria. An Archaeology of the Moving Image"
and will take place at the recently opened Museum of Cultures in
the center of Helsinki between September 2000 and January 2001.
This exhibition deals with the pre-20th century developments of
visual media (some people speak about "pre-cinema", which concept
I don't like) and is completely based on my private collections.
I will exhibit my collection of magic lanterns, peep boxes, zoetropes
etc. for the first time in public. I am also working on another
media art exhibition titled "Circu(it)lation" for the Art Center
College of Design Gallery, Pasadena, California, for the autumn
2000. I also have a couple of book and television projects etc.,
enough to keep me busy well into the next millenium.~
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