Week 3

E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology) Reviews

Is the meeting of technology and art a 'destiny'? As technology develops, curious artists have dreamed of more free art through technology. Sometimes it is possible to achieve 'artistic achievement' irrelevant to the use of technology. Just to move people's heart and to impress. In this sense, this exhibition feels meaningful as the beginning of dealing with the 'encounter of technology and art'.

This exhibition highlights major activities of 'E.A.T.', a collaborator of artists and engineers based in New York in the 1960s. The exhibition will feature 33 works by contemporary artists who have led Robert Rouschenburg, Andy Warhol, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and Robert Whitman, and more than 100 archives.

E.A.T. is an organization created by artists and engineers such as American pop artist Robert Rouschenburg and Robert Whitman in 1966 and engineers Billy Klüver and Fred Waldhauer at the Bell Labs to seek collaboration between art and technology. At one time, the number of members increased to 6,000, causing a stir in the art world.

A total of four sections, including 'The Age of Collaboration', 'Establishment of E.A.T.', 'Nine Nights: Theater and Engineering', and 'Extended Interaction', all cover the history of E.A.T. In particular, the second section, "Establishment of E.A.T.", introduces their work in detail. Hans Haacke Ice Tables (1967), which melts and cracks the ice on the stainless steel table with cooling system, and Robert Whitman's Red Line (1967) using laser technology catch the viewer's attention. The most impressive work is Jean Dufy <Heartbeat Dust: Cone Pyramid>. The heartbeat of the visitor is picked up by a stethoscope, and the red pigment, which is piled up like dust, shakes with the beat. This work, which looks like a red blood spatter, is the result of collaborating with Ralf Martel in 1968.

The use of 'old' technology 50 years ago to resonate with modern audiences may be due to the expectation of a modern society that will be further enhanced by the technology that E.A.T. sought. At the heart of the value that E.A.T. sought was a vision of a new world where technology can not be replaced by humans and their collaborations. In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is a place to reflect on the possibility of fusion art.