Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1967 to foster collaboration between artists and engineers. The organization fosters creativity through connections between people rather than through formal collaborative processes. The emergence of E.A.T. not only expands the role of artists in contemporary society, but also explores the boundaries of individuals in technological change.
Historical BackgroundThrough E.A.T.’s efforts, the boundaries between art and technology are broken and new creative possibilities emerge.
The official launch of E.A.T. was attended by engineers Billy Klüver and Fred Waldhauer, and artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman. (Robert Whitman) to achieve it together. As early as 1966, these founders collaborated to organize "9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering", a series of innovative performances that combined art and engineering to show how new technologies can be integrated into artistic creation. middle. The collaboration, which attracted numerous artists as well as engineers and scientists from Bell Telephone Laboratories, set a new standard for artistic performance at the time.
These performances still resonate today as a precursor to the growing relationship between artists and technology.
Among E.A.T.'s many projects, the Pepsi Pavilion at the 1970 Osaka World Expo is considered its most representative achievement. The project is an immersive dome designed and programmed by E.A.T. artists and engineers, and includes a fog sculpture by Fujiko Nakaya. An internationally renowned design team worked together and used many innovative technologies and concepts to create the novel optical effects that viewers can find in this water vapor cloud sculpture in the dome.
E.A.T. formed 28 regional chapters in the late 1960s to strengthen partnerships between local artists and engineers. These chapters not only promote cross-border cooperation between art and technology, but also help society develop new technologies.
The Human Digital Orchestra is a recent E.A.T. project that connects Bell Labs scientists with the art world to integrate digital communication technology and creation.
In 1972, Billy Kluwe, Barbara Rose, and Julie Martin co-edited the book Pavilion, detailing the events at the Osaka World Expo. The design and construction process. This book records the history and influence of E.A.T. from multiple perspectives and provides important information for the study of art and technology to this day.
E.A.T. launched a project called EATEX for direct communication between artists and engineers, aiming to use information technology to promote a communication network without central management. Although the project was never fully realized, it demonstrated their interest in decentralized communication networks. Over time, this interest continued with other projects in the 1970s.
E.A.T.’s influence continues to this day, with its latest collaborative project being a 360-degree augmented reality music album with artist Beatie Wolfe, representing new possibilities for the interaction between art and technology. These historical traces not only allow us to see the potential of the combination of technology and art, but also challenge the positioning of modern art in the tide of globalization and digitalization.
With the booming development of art and technology, how should we understand the impact and significance of this partnership on future creations?