Women,
Art & Technology
by Judy Malloy
(Ed.)
The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2004
530 pp., illus. 59 b/w. Trade, $39.95
ISBN: 0-262-13424-1.
Reviewed by Stefaan Van Ryssen
Hogeschool Gent
Jan Delvinlaan 115, 9000 Gent, Belgium
stefaan.vanryssen@pandora.be
There are many reasons why a book with
this title should not be published at
all, the main one being that no one would
think of writing or editing its mirror
image 'Men, Art & Technology'. For
some decades, women have been at the forefront
of developments in art and technology,
as they have been in diplomacy, politics,
gardening, and medicine. Yes and no. The
facts are there, the names as well, but
perception is different and recognition
appears to lag behind. Although art and
technology and their common ground may
be the playfield of women and men alike,
women seem to be absent in the public
eye, or at least in the public image at
large. As is the case in many fields,
women are underrepresented or misrepresented
in the media and in public debate. No
doubt it will take a few more generations
before this situation is corrected, if
ever. Meanwhile, books such as this one
are necessary. Annoying as it may be for
the reader who acknowledges and appreciates
the contribution of women in the field,
it is important that this contribution
is documented, inventorised, published,
and critically evaluated so as not to
let memory fade and public opinion hide
what is clearly visible for the knowledgeable.
The book originates from a Leonardo
Journal project of the same name, trying
to do exactly what it takes to put the
work of women artists and creators of
technology in the spotlights. It is a
compendium of the work of women artists
who have played a central role in the
development of new media practice.
The book has a series foreword, a foreword
properly, a preface, and an introduction,
of which we shall say nothing more. In
the essays of the first section, 'Overviews',
five authorswomen, obviouslydeveloped
the main threads that hold together four
decades of artistic creation by women.
From the very beginnings in the '60s and
'70s up to the more recent works in the
realm of telecommunications art and the
web, the reader gets a well-informed overview
of factual history and landmark works
by groundbreaking artists and curators.
It is not surprising to see how in so
many new areas of development in art and
technology, the first explorative steps
have been taken by men and women alike,
even though the names of the women may
have faded faster than those of their
contemporaries.
The second and largest section of the
book has 26 contributions by women artists
about their work, their goals, their obsessions,
and their successes. In my opinion, this
is undoubtedly the most important part
of the book and the real rationale for
its publication, because most of these
previously published writings are hard
to come by today. Moreover, most of these
short pieces are delightfully written,
giving evidence of the clarity of vision,
the enthusiasm, the necessity and the
'drive' behind these artists' works. There
are contributions from Steina and Dara
Birnbaum, Donna Cox and Judith Barry,
Nell Tenhaaf and Char Davies, Linda Austin,
and Dawn Stoppiello, to name but a few.
And the ones that I cannot list for the
sake of brevity are just as interesting
and necessary as these.
The third part has another five essays
that shed light on the subject from a
slightly different angle. Jaishree K.
Odin does some cartwheels in a deconstructive
reconstruction of Shelley Jackson's Patchwork
Girl and this approach obligingly
quenches the thirst for any postmodern
jargon. Simone Osthoff and Martha Burkle
Bonecchi wrote some very interesting pieces
on the contributions from Brazil and the
situation of women in developing countries.
Carol Stakenas connects the politics of
the web with the fight against HIV/AIDS,
and finally, Zoe Sofia peeks into a future
that may be post-historic, trans-human
and extra-terrestrial but will have to
acknowledge the existence of the many
voices and many visions of women artists.
As I said before, this is a necessary
book because it brings together so many
important artists. Its weakness, however,
lies in the essays of the last section.
Though interesting in themselves, more
space could have been given to the historical
overviews of the first section, possibly
integrating some of the ideas and facts
from the final ones. Why, indeed, tell
the Brazilian story separately from the
main "herstory", and why give a separate
section to activist artists unless, of
course, the authors of the main overviews
have for some reason or other overlooked
those aspects. Anyway, this is an important
book, just like the artists and their
works it illustrates.