Leonardo
Volume 29 Number 2 (1996)
April/May 1996
Leonardo is a print journal, edited by Leonardo/the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, and published by the MIT Press. Subscriptions and individual issues can be ordered from the MIT Press.
TO ORDER.
ISSUE CONTENTS
Artists' Articles
DANIELA BERTOL: Architecture of Images: An Investigation of
Architectural Representations and the Visual Perception of Three-Dimensional Space
ABSTRACT
The author's installations explore the relations between physical space and perceptual
space. The reduction of architecture---concerned with the molding of physical three-
dimensional space---to images---two-dimensional visual representations---can be
investigated as part of these relations. The author discusses her installations by tracing
the historical path that brought us to the connection between a three-dimensional world
and its two- dimensional representations. Perspective renderings, false perspective and
trompe l'oeil imagery are reinterpreted through the use of contemporary technological
media, such as computer graphics and video.
MIKE GOSLIN and JACQUELYN FORD MORIE: Virtopia: Emotional
Experiences in Virtual Environments
ABSTRACT
Many contemporary virtual environments fail to provide participants with rich and intriguing experiences. This is true not only because of limitations in display and processing power in graphics computers currently available, but also because few people create virtual worlds in the context of artistic expression. Key to providing intriguing and engaging worlds is an understanding of the power of emotional content. The authors propose that an emotive response can be elicited in a subject through strategic use of imagery and sound in a virtual environment, which will enhance the sensation of immersion in the simulation and thereby help to compensate for the inadequacies of contemporary technology. Their artwork, Virtopia, draws on psychology in its implementation of virtual-reality technologies to produce aurally and visually immersive environments that engage the participant on an emotional level.
General Articles
ADAM LUCAS: Indigenous People in Cyberspace
ABSTRACT
Although computing and telecommunications technologies are becoming increasingly integral to the work practices and everyday lives of indigenous people, these activities remain relatively unpublicized and untheorized. The author discusses a variety of computing and electronic networking projects undertaken by Australian Aboriginal and Native American people that address issues of central importance to all indigenous people---i.e. education, cultural development and self-determination. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the diversity of projects now underway and to discuss how these may be used as models for other indigenous communities wishing to undertake similar projects.
ALEXANDER VOLOSHINOV: Symmetry as a Superprinciple of Science and
Art
ABSTRACT
It has been shown that the objective laws of harmony in art, known since antiquity---geometrical symmetry, proportion, the golden section, rhythm and approximate symmetry---are nothing more than modifications of the general principle of symmetry. A unification of the well- known laws of beauty on the basis of the general principle of symmetry makes it possible to refer to symmetry as the most important principle of harmony both in the universe and in art.
Special Section
A
RADICAL INTERVENTION: THE BRAZILIAN CONTRIBUTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL
ELECTRONIC ART MOVEMENT
EDUARDO KAC: Editorial: Brazilian Technological Art in Leonardo
and on the Web
MARIO PEDROSA: The
Chromatic Plastic Dynamism of Abraham Palatnik---An Introduction to the First
International Biennial of São Paulo (1951)
ABSTRACT
One of the most interesting contributions to the first Biennial of Sao Paulo (1951) was the chromatic plastic dynamism of Brazilian artist Abraham Palatnik, a pioneer in the use of direct light as a medium of artistic expression. This article is a translated reprint of the introduction to this event, discussing the work of Palatnik.
WALTER ZANINI: A New Technique in Modern Painting<
ABSTRACT
Paint is not the only technical medium with which an artist can produce paintings---this is the thesis that artist Abraham Palatnik defended with his light-projecting machines. Palatnik's idea was born out of the desire to free the kaleidoscopic image and out of the impulse to create "kinetic painting."
EDUARDO KAC: Abraham Palatnik, Pioneer of Kinetic Art
ABSTRACT
Abraham Palatnik was the first Brazilian artist to explore the creative use of technology in art. On 14 October 1986, when this interview was first published, Palatnik had two exhibitions opening simultaneously in Rio de Janeiro. At the Aktuel Gallery he was showing new kinetic objects, and at the Gravura Brasileira he exhibited new paintings. In the interview, Palatnik discusses his work and career from the 1950s through the 1980s.
Special Section
"THE INSPIRATION OF ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA:" CONFERENCE PAPERS
RAYMOND E. WHITE: Selected Papers from The Inspiration of Astronomical
Phenomena, A Conference on the Influence of Observed Celestial Events upon World
Culture
AMY BAKER SANDBACK: Prologue
GUY J. CONSOLMAGNO: Astronomy, Science Fiction and the Popular Culture: 1277 to
2001 (and Beyond)
ABSTRACT
Historically, developments in astronomy and changes in social environments have inspired new styles of science fiction. In return, popular culture has gained from science fiction an understanding of astronomy and of humankind's place in the universe. However, approaches to plot and character in science-fiction stories color the presentation of astronomical discoveries, altering the way that popular culture views science fiction's message about the universe and the self in sometimes subtle ways.
STEVEN J. DICK: Other Worlds: The Cultural Significance of the Extraterrestrial Life
Debate
ABSTRACT
The extraterrestrial life debate has greatly influenced science, popular culture and both secular and theological worldviews. Today it comprises a non-anthropocentric worldview of its own, here termed the "biophysical cosmology." This cosmology is still unverified, but if extraterrestrial intelligence is discovered, the cultural impact of the debate thus far will have been but a minor prelude.
RON MILLER: The Archeology of Space
ABSTRACT
The origins of space art are traced to the first realization that there are worlds other than the earth--- a time when speculation was rife as to just what the nature of these other worlds might be. The first artwork that tried to realistically depict interplanetary space and the surfaces of other planets did not appear until the publication of Jules Verne's classic novels. The subsequent burgeoning of both astronomical knowledge and the new literary genre of science fiction increased the need for artists specializing in realistic depictions of outer space, other planets and spacecraft. Space art proved to be a major influence on the public's perception of the universe as well as on the development of space exploration. Today's space artist is considered by astronomers and space scientists to be a valued colleague.
JOZEF PACHOLCZYK: Music and Astronomy in the Muslim World
ABSTRACT
In the Muslim world, the relationship between music and astronomy can be seen on two levels. On one level, the connection is indirect, involving an underlying system of symbolism in numbers, proportions and geometric figures that penetrates most areas of Islamic art and scholarship, such as mathematics, geometry, alchemy and medicine. It can be understood as a unifying element within Islamic culture. On another level, the connection between music and astronomy is direct, with astronomical concepts directly applied to music and some musical concepts applied to astronomy. In both cases the relationship can be understood only in the context of the Islamic culture, its philosophy and art.
WILLIAM R. STOEGER: Astronomy's Integrating Impact on Culture: A Ladrièrean
Hypothesis
ABSTRACT
The author summarizes the framework that Jean Ladrière
has proposed for describing and understanding the impact that science and technology have on cultures and employs this framework to characterize the cultural influence of astronomy and cosmology. The author hypothesizes that astronomy and cosmology are similar to other areas of science and technology in their contribution to cultural and social evolution and change at the level of destructuration. However, at the level positive restructuration, they play a unique integrative role in a number of ways---by restoring a more open-ended and uncontrollable sense of the future and of temporality, by acting as an invitation to self-transcendence and by disclosing new horizons and limits.
Artists' Statements
TERRY ROSENBERG: Projections
DONALD SANDERS: As Above, So Below: The Manifestation of the Universe as a
Mirror to Consciousness
JADZIA DONATOWICZ: Symbolism of the Cosmic Dance of Shiva in the South-Indian
Temple Dance Tradition
Art/Science Forum
CHRIS ILLERT: The Australian Supercomputer Graphics Exhibition and First
International Conchology Conference
IRINA L. VANECHKINA: Applications of New Technologies in Culture and Art
IVAN DRYER: The International Laser Display Association
Reviews
MIT MITROPOULOS, V. V. BAZOV, BULAT M. GALEYEV, IRINA PRESNETSOVA
Endnote
FRED FOREST: Against Official Contemporary Art, For an Art of the Present
