[ISEA2017] Panel: Andrea Sosa — Julio Le Parc & the GRAV: Instability, Movement, Active Past. A Perspective Look on his Work and Ideas from the Present of Electronic Art

Panel Statement

Panel: Archiving Digital Heritage

Keywords: Pioneers, Electronic Art Digital Art, Le Parc, GRAV, Movement, Instability, Active Spectator, Participation, Latin America

The present paper examines the work of Julio Le Parc and the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV) of the 1960’s. The concepts proposed in their programmatic writings and the integration of these concepts in some of their emblematic artworks are hereby analyzed in detail. Notions that Le Parc and the Groupe introduced, such as those of the ‘activated spectator’, ‘work in movement’, and ‘instability’, could be examined through the lens of technological art they created and also the evolution of that art in later times. These concepts also anticipate some of the features present in contemporary digital art. Especially, the concept of «instability» is examined in more depth with the help of existing parallelisms between ideas and the artworks produced by the GRAV. Additionally, we focus and reflect on the tension between technique and aesthetics, and media and artistic production, in their works which were built with new media of the kind whose starting point could be located in the notions forwarded by none other than Le Parc himself.

  • Andrea Sosa, is Professor and Researcher at National University of La Plata (UNLP) / National University of the Arts (UNA) La Plata – Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Graduated in Multimedia Design (UNLP) and Filmmaking (UNLP), she works in the field of Interactive Arts. Among her artistic works in collaboration with other artists are included: ‘Sentímetro’ (2005), ‘Heroes’ (2010), `MASA’ (2014); projects selected in open calls, with the support of institutions such as Espacio Fundación Telefónica de Buenos Aires, Fundación Telefónica de Lima, Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), Escuelab, Alta Tecnología Andina and Medialab Prado Madrid. Her works on new media theory have been selected in festivals such as 404 International Festival of Electronic Art (Argentina), FILE10 (Brazil), ISEA2010 (Germany), FILE 2013 (Brazil), RE-NEW Festival (Denmark), ISEA2014 (Dubai), Computer Art Congress (Brasil), SIGRADI (Uruguay), ISEA2015 (Canada), CAC5 (France).

Full text (PDF) p. 759-762