ICC





Preface
Admission
Works
Video Screening
Participating Artist
Related Events




Symposium "The Activities of E.A.T."
Concert David Tudor "Rainforest IV"

April 11 (Friday) - June 29 (Sunday), 2003 Gallery A, B, 5F Lobby





Preface


The exhibition "E.A.T. - The Story of Experiments in Art and Technology" will held from Friday, April 11, to Sunday, June 29, 2003 at the NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC].

The main conceptual theme that underlies all the activities of the NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC] is "future art that incorporates technology." But this does not mean an exclusive interest in works limited to one historical period. Art that incorporated technology had its beginnings at the start of the twentieth century, in the movement known as "Futurism." Further developments were made midway through the twentieth century with advances in technology, that spawned a great range of groups and activities. Of these groups, the one that comes closest to the spirit that underlies the activities of the ICC is a group called Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.).

E.A.T. was a group of engineers and artists that got together in New York in the mid-1960s. The central figure was Billy Klver, at that time an engineer working for AT&T's Bell Telephone Laboratories. The group also included artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman, and others.

The group engaged in a whole range of collaborative projects linked art and technology, spanning the gamut of arts, dance, electronic music, film, and other media. Major projects included "9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering," an event held in 1966 which involved some forty engineers; "Some More Beginnings," an exhibition held in the Brooklyn Museum of Art; and the Pepsi Pavilion, which formed part of the Japan World Exposition, Osaka, 1970. During its peak period, the group boasted several thousand members.

E.A.T. became a pioneering presence in the genre of performance art thereafter and in collaborative artworks in the widest sense. It also inspired the establishment of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967.

In the mid-1970s, E.A.T. ceased to be a major player in the art scene, but the underlying concept of E.A.T. and its philosophy had a major impact on art that incorporated technology after the 1980s.

This exhibition is the first in Japan to have the activities of E.A.T. as its central theme. It focuses especially on the legacy of Billy Klver, including his collaboration works with Rauschenberg and other artists. The exhibition also introduces new works by artists that worked under the auspices of E.A.T. The main purpose of the exhibition is to show the historical significance of E.A.T. and its direct relevance to the spirit behind the activities of the ICC today.