I am simultaneously awed and troubled about the course of scientific
and technological research. Historically the arts kept watch on the
cultural frontier. I fear that in the contemporary
technology-dominated world they are failing that responsibility.
Historically, the arts alerted people to emerging developments,
examined the unspoken implications, and explored alternative futures.
As the centers of cultural imagination and foment of our times have
moved to the technology labs, the arts have not understood the
challenge. It is a critical error to conceptualize research as merely
some narrow, technical specialized inquiry. Recent history has
shown that the fruits of research have transformed life and opened new
perspectives on basic philosophical questions such as what it is to be
human and what is the nature of the world. Merely assimilating
the new gizmos to create new media is a timid response.
The arts have a much more profound calling. They can become an
independent zone of research - pursuing agendas ignored by commercial
interests and scientific disciplines and integrating critical
commentary with the search for new knowledge and the elaboration of new
technical possibilities. Those who believe that the arts are now
up to date because they pay attention to digital technology have
misunderstood the course of history because the research goes on -
investigating many other fields in which the arts should be proactive
pioneers rather than merely consumers of the results. Learning new
technologies, taking them apart (technically and culturally), and doing
the provocative and unexpected with them is at the core of my art and
gives me great satisfaction
As the world becomes more fascinated with the cyber and the virtual, I
have become more interested in the use of technology to celebrate and
investigate real world place, physicality, and corporeality. Thus, I
have started to explore several new areas of research in my art
including biological experimentation, body and environmental sensing,
and GPS location sensing technology. Influenced by critical
theory which questions art's claim to isolation, I have increased
my actions to create art in non art settings and with non art audiences.
rev 7/30/06