Recovering Data from Art-technology

Abstract

The interest in art-technology in the current context has led to the research of catalogs and press releases of exhibits from the 60s and 70s. We were guided initially by Edward A. Shanken, particularly where the author examines the interrelationship between conceptual art and art and technology from the 1960s, and then the relationship between modern art and new media. Based on Jack Burnham and analyzing the cultural transformations from the industrial society to the post-industrial information age, Shanken finds that both conceptual art and art and technology share similarities that many art historians still do not recognize today, and that would change the direction of the discourses of the dominant contemporary art. The aim here is to contribute to a discussion elicited by both Shanken and Burnham through the analysis of documents of their time and of perspectives of other authors.