Telematic New World
Telematic New World
Time sharing was one of the first attempts to connect several terminals to a central computer. This pre-internet system enabled multiple users to access a single computer, a distributed structure that increased overall computing capacity. Although the technology quickly lost importance when the PC was introduced in the 1980s, it revealed the potential of a shared electronic space. Driven by the idea of interactive communication, so-called telecommunication art emerged out of 1960–70s conceptual and mail art. One of the earliest fax performances was realized in August 1981, when Tom Klinkowstein and Robert Adrian X transmitted information between Amsterdam and Vienna. Using the data network of Canadian time sharing company I. P. Sharp, they produced image collages that were assembled in several steps. The pioneers of telecommunication art pursued the vision of an open, global exchange of information outside university and commercial networks. The films selected for Telematic New World tell this story and extend it to the present day, focusing on the artistic examination of the internet as a mirror of society.
Subsequently, a Q&A will take place with Cana Bilir-Meier and Ismaël Joffroy Chandoutis, moderated by Florian Wüst.