[spectre] Press release

[Dominique Fontaine]

Pour la version française: 
http://www.fondation-langlois.org/f/informations/nouvelles/index.html


[ Apologies for cross-posting / veuillez excuser les envois multiples ]

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**Press Release**

THE DANIEL LANGLOIS FOUNDATION AND THE 
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM LAUNCH THE BOOK PERMANENCE THROUGH CHANGE: THE VARIABLE
MEDIA APPROACH


Montreal, May 7, 2003 - The Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and
Technology and the Guggenheim Museum held a book launch at Ex-Centris today
for PERMANENCE THROUGH CHANGE: THE VARIABLE MEDIA APPROACH. This bilingual
publication was produced as part of a research partnership on variable media
and published under the supervision of Alain Depocas, Director of the
Foundation's Centre for Research and Documentation, Jon Ippolito, the
associate curator of media arts at the Guggenheim Museum, and Caitlin Jones,
a Foundation fellow working to preserve variable media at the Guggenheim.
The book contains the proceedings of a conference held at the Guggenheim in
New York in the spring of 2001 as well as texts by such authors as Bruce
Sterling, Jon Ippolito, John Handhardt, Steve Dietz and Nancy Spector. It
presents viewpoints, methods and case studies concerning the preservation of
artwork created using non-traditional material, tools and technologies.
Among the works explored are Nam June Paik's TV Garden, Meg Webster's Stick
Spiral, Ken Jacobs' Bitemporal Vision: The Sea, Felix Gonzalez-Torres'
Public Opinion, Grahame Weinbren and Roberta Friedman's The Erl King, and
Mark Napier's net.flag.

Those attending the book launch included Jean Gagnon and Alain Depocas for
the Daniel Langlois Foundation and Jon Ippolito and Caitlin Jones for the
Guggenheim. They presented the variable media concept for preserving artwork
created using non-traditional means and also spoke about the Variable Media
Network. Mr. Gagnon emphasized that one of the Foundation's key interests is
research into preserving our digital artistic and cultural heritage, in
other words, artworks commonly produced today via new technological means.
"That's why we wanted a hand in developing a variable media network," Mr.
Gagnon said. "The book marks the first milestone in this project."

A Web site, *www.variablemedia.net*, has been created to inform people
interested in the variable media concept. The site offers the book
Permanence Through Change: The Variable Media Approach in PDF format. Also
available are texts outlining the main aspects of the concept as well as
full transcripts and video excerpts from the 2001 conference. In addition,
video interviews with artists and answers to a questionnaire on variable
media will later be added.

As part of the same research, an experimental database is in the works and
will be available to members of the Variable Media Network. This database
will help preserve and share information taken from a questionnaire that
artists are invited to fill out. Starting this fall, a version of this
database will be offered on the variable media Web site.

*About the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Technology*

The Daniel Langlois Foundation's purpose is to further artistic and
scientific knowledge by fostering the meeting of art and science in the
field of technologies. The Foundation aims to nurture a critical awareness
of technology's implications for human beings and their natural and cultural
environments and to promote the exploration of aesthetics suited to evolving
human environments. The Centre for Research and Documentation (CR+D) seeks
to document history, artworks and practices associated with electronic and
digital media arts and to make this information available to researchers in
an innovative manner through data communications.

- 30 -

Sources
Alain Depocas, adepocas at fondation-langlois.org
Director, Centre for Research and Documentation, Daniel Langlois Foundation 
(514) 987-7177
www.fondation-langlois.org

Information
Marie&June Inc. 	
(514) 270-5005 	
Marie at mariejune.com
 


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