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From: mykland@netcom.com (Robert and Terri Mykland)
Subject: Art/Technology Exploration Group Forming
Message-ID: <myklandD3oCps.G7t@netcom.com>
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1995 09:22:40 GMT
Lines: 42
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.ai.philosophy:25313 comp.human-factors:12210 comp.multimedia:29637 comp.society.futures:4732 sci.philosophy.tech:16756

I'm organizing a weekly meeting of people interested in the collision 
between art and technology and what can come of it.  Engineers, artists, 
philosophers, and futurists, whether professional or amateur, are 
invited.  The first meeting will be held in Scotts Valley, California, 
but subsequent meetings may be happening anywhere in Santa Cruz or Santa 
Clara counties depending on where interested people are concentrated.

The meeting will be a place to try out ideas, get technical and artistic 
advice, and collaborate.  We'll make up the rules as we go along.

Even if you're out of the area, contact me if you're interested.  An 
electronic or paper newsletter is likely.

I'm a twelve year veteran engineer with a broad background.  I studied 
physics at Cal, designed servo drives as an electrical engineer, and 
have in recent years been creating applications for Windows and the 
Macintosh.  Seven months ago, I decided I didn't have to choose between 
being a geek and being related to people, that I could express myself 
artistically using technology and automation itself as my medium.  Thus 
my particular form of geek art was born.

Have you noticed that all these labor saving devices we surround 
ourselves with don't really seem to save labor?  Despite endless 
marketing and herculean engineering, it seems pretty obvious that 
gadgets don't equate with a better life.

The challenge and the promise of the art I'm proposing is to break the 
vicious cycle of gadgetry for gadgetry's sake.  The cell phones and 
faxes and VCRs that surround us today are like a noise that sucks our 
energy into figuring it out enough to survive another day.  Not good or 
bad, but a distracting noise.  What I'm proposing is that we completely 
alter our relationship to technology by inventing music from that 
unfocused noise.

Art expressed in the way things work.  A future where technology is 
shaped artfully to be in tune with humanity and nature.  A future where 
humanity sees this harmony as a birthright.

Hope to hear from you.

-- RM.

