Lectures / 20/05/2009 7:30 pm

Can algorithmic art be generated from 2,000-year-old symbols? On disappearance, perspective and utopian projections

In 1989, when the Eastern bloc had to reinvent itself owing to the pressures of the arms race and when the symbols of this formerly powerful system were declared worthless, it was high time for Wolfgang Dorninger to cast his three most important artistic themes – Disappear¬ance, Perspective, Projection – into a three-part multimedia work. The piece on disappearance was felt by the composer not to be entirely satsifactory at the time. Nine years passed and on a trip in the South West of the United States Dorninger came across the culture of the Hisatsinom, a highly developed indigenous culture that disappeared within three generations, leaving behind a host of unanswered questions as to how this had happened. Dorninger “Hisatsinom. On Disappearing” was first performed in 2001 at the Festival 4020. It has the media savvy sound artist exploring the wide fields of archaeology and anthropology. The lecture will make clear whether this kind of knowledge has left any traces in the work of art in question and to what extent; and what cultures the artist’s insights into perspective and utopian projections are derived from.