Art Out of Order
Jack Burnham, the 1970 Software Show, and the Aesthetics of Information Systems
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5155133 |
|---|---|
| Authors | W Patrick Mccray (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 63 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 689-717 |
| Publication date | 2022-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Technology and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0040-165X • E-ISSN: 1097-3729 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/tech.2022.0106 |
| PMID | 35848236 |
| OpenAlex | W4285679619 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
In 1970, curator Jack Burnham debuted the lavish exhibition Software at the Jewish Museum in New York. Conceptual artists displayed information-oriented pieces, while technical experts deployed computers, image-making, and multimedia technology in their works. Burnham's goal was to showcase contemporary techniques of computer-based command and control, allowing viewers to respond in real time to the "programmatic situations" artists presented. While critics dismissed Software as a technical and aesthetic disaster, today it stands as a touchstone for efforts to integrate technology with artmaking. This article takes us back to Software's gallery spaces and Burnham's aim of showcasing the potential of interactivity and "real-time systems." More broadly, it situates Software as a provocation to a public unfamiliar with computer technology yet at the threshold of a new postindustrial era, where the power and performative aspects of computing would predominate
Aesthetics · Art · Exhibition · Information technology · Interactivity · Multimedia · Order (exchange) · Performative utterance · Sociology · Visual arts · Art, Technology, and Culture · Artistic and Creative Research · Computer Science · Cybernetics and Technology in Society · Software
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |