Spectral Choreographies: Electromagnetism after Conceptual Art

This article navigates between several conceptual artworks. The first is Robert Barry’s ‘0.5 Microcurie Radiation Installation’ – an object buried somewhere in New York’s Central Park since 1969. The second is Walter De Maria’s ‘Lightning Field’ installation, erected in New Mexico in 1977. The two artworks are separated by eight years and 2,200 miles. The former is concerned with electromagnetic transmission (or its lack), the latter with electromagnetic reception (or its potential). Between the two resides the vastness of a non-ocular spectrum without which aesthetic experience, art, and human communication would be impossible. The lineage connecting them, as much physical as it is conceptual and imaginary, is explicated in this article alongside ideas about art and artifactuality, as present in and presented by our series Spectral Choreographies.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Yanai Toister

Nimrod Astarhan

Conference

Publication date: September 2021

Publication date (Print): September 2021

Pages: 190-195

Affiliations

[0001]Shenkar College of Engineering, Design & Art

Ramat Gan, Israel

[0002]School of the Art Institute Chicago

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/POM2021.25

SO-VID: 386730f1-213e-41fc-af2a-5323bdcc33b5

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of Politics of the Machines - Rogue Research 2021

Conference acronym: POM 2021

Conference number: 3

Conference location: Berlin, Germany

Conference date: September 14-17, 2021

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: debate and devise concepts and practices that seek to critically question and unravel novel modes of science

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1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/POM2021.25

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

R. Aldrich (2017) You Can Go Your Own Way. In: K. Atkins and K. Kivland (eds). Artists on De Maria. New York: Dia Art Foundation.
L. Berland (2016) The Commons: Infrastructures for Troubling Times. Society and Space, 34 (3). 393-419.
P. Eleey (2009) Thursday. In: P. Eleey (ed.). The Quick and the Dead. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center.
D. Kahn (2013) Earth Signal Earth Sound. Berkley: University of California Press.
F. Kittler (2010) Optical Media: Berlin Lectures 1999. Cambridge UK: Polity Press.
K. Malevich (1958) The Non-Objective World. Chicago: Paul Theobald & Co.
H. Sheets (2013) A Tribute for Turning Light into Art. The New York Times. Available from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/arts/artsspecial/paying-homage-to-james-turrell-who-turns-light-into-art.html (15 January 2022).
R. Smithson (1968) A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects. Artforum 7 (1). 82-91.
M. Wark (2004) A Hacker Manifsto. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
T. Winters (2017) Field Work (for Hayden). In: K. Atkins and K. Kivland (eds). Artists on De Maria. New York: Dia Art Foundation.

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[1] R. Aldrich (2017) You Can Go Your Own Way. In: K. Atkins and K. Kivland (eds). Artists on De Maria. New York: Dia Art Foundation.

[2] L. Berland (2016) The Commons: Infrastructures for Troubling Times. Society and Space, 34 (3). 393-419.

[3] P. Eleey (2009) Thursday. In: P. Eleey (ed.). The Quick and the Dead. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center.

[4] D. Kahn (2013) Earth Signal Earth Sound. Berkley: University of California Press.

[5] F. Kittler (2010) Optical Media: Berlin Lectures 1999. Cambridge UK: Polity Press.

[6] K. Malevich (1958) The Non-Objective World. Chicago: Paul Theobald & Co.

[7] H. Sheets (2013) A Tribute for Turning Light into Art. The New York Times. Available from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/arts/artsspecial/paying-homage-to-james-turrell-who-turns-light-into-art.html (15 January 2022).

[8] R. Smithson (1968) A Sedimentation of the Mind: Earth Projects. Artforum 7 (1). 82-91.

[9] M. Wark (2004) A Hacker Manifsto. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

[10] T. Winters (2017) Field Work (for Hayden). In: K. Atkins and K. Kivland (eds). Artists on De Maria. New York: Dia Art Foundation.

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