Poster Statement

Summary

An unsuccessful attempt to mount a major art/computer exhibition in London, the musings of a digital painter, and what this has to do with malls and tourists.

Intro

This talk is about my unsuccessful attempt to curate a major show of computer connected art in London. As a painter using computers, I sometimes feel caught up in a family squabble about who’s doing the real art, who’s living in fantasy land. So It’s been useful for me to meditate about art and its functions. This past year I’ve been photographing tourists – electronically of course -and I realise now that I identify with their hesitant curiosity, uncertain where they’re heading. I wanted to call that show Cool Heaven, conjuring up both the spiritual and the offbeat, the unattainable ideal of a pure and immaterial art. I wanted to maintain a critical perspective, the sense that dreaming about a promised land didn’t mean there wouldn’t be trouble along the way.

This talk IS about my unsuccessful attempt to curate a major show of computer connected art in London. As a painter using computers, I sometimes feel caught up in a family squabble about who?s doing the real art, who?s living in fantasy land. So it’s been useful for me to meditate about art and its functions. This past year I’ve been photographing tourists  – electronically of course – and I realise now that I identify with their hesitant curiosity, uncertain where they’re heading. I wanted to call that show Cool Heaven, conjuring up both the spiritual and the offbeat, the unattainable ideal of a pure and immaterial art. I wanted to maintain a critical perspective, the sense that dreaming about a promised land didn’t mean there wouldn’t be trouble along the way.

• James Faure Walker, UK, Painter and Computer Artist

Full text p.129-131