photo's: my teachers at the AKI from the AKI appointment-diary 1994/1995:
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and Joel Ryan
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- about the Media Art Department of the AKI, during my time of study there:
René Coelho:
"In de laatste decennia van de vorige eeuw bevond ik me in de situatie dat ik docent was aan de AKI in Enschede aan de Afdeling Mediakunst en tegelijkertijd een vertoningsruimte runde in Amsterdam: MonteVideo. Als het over zaken of geld zou gaan zou men kunnen spreken van een afkeurenswaardige stapeling van functies. Maar het gaat hier over kunst en dan nog wel over Mediakunst.
In die jaren was het noodzakelijk om deze nieuwe kunstvorm apart te behandelen, zowel in het kunstonderwijs als in het aan de man brengen van de producten van de kunstenaars. En aangezien er bijna nooit wat werd verkocht, behalve dan incidenteel aan een paar musea, hoefde ik me niet bezwaard te voelen over mijn functiecombinatie. Het ging over van alles, behalve over geld.
De AKI was in die tijd een bijzondere academie, niet alleen voor wat betreft de Mediakunst. (...) Aangezien ik parallel aan de AKI ook nog een paar jaar doceerde aan de Gerrit Rietveld Akademie aan de Afdeling Voorheen Audiovisueel, was ik in staat om de verschillen in de beide opleidingen waar te nemen. Op de Rietveld was het als student zaak om op te vallen. Als je dus met een hanenkam en op rolschaatsen door de gangen zwierde was je al bijna geslaagd. Zo niet op de AKI. Vaak hadden de AKI-studenten een provinciale of agrarische achtergrond en had het de aankomende kunstenaars veel moeite gekost om het thuisfront te overtuigen dat het nut had om aan zo’n merkwaardig instituut te gaan studeren. Een gevolg daarvan was dat er in Enschede in het algemeen aanmerkelijk serieuzer, harder en vaak ook inventiever werd gewerkt.
Een ander fenomeen en wellicht als consequentie van het voorgaande, was dat er op de AKI-afdeling Mediakunst regelmatig werk werd vervaardigd (...) met eenvoudige middelen, met humor en liefst zo ver mogelijk verwijderd van de gladde televisievormen."
In die jaren was het noodzakelijk om deze nieuwe kunstvorm apart te behandelen, zowel in het kunstonderwijs als in het aan de man brengen van de producten van de kunstenaars. En aangezien er bijna nooit wat werd verkocht, behalve dan incidenteel aan een paar musea, hoefde ik me niet bezwaard te voelen over mijn functiecombinatie. Het ging over van alles, behalve over geld.
De AKI was in die tijd een bijzondere academie, niet alleen voor wat betreft de Mediakunst. (...) Aangezien ik parallel aan de AKI ook nog een paar jaar doceerde aan de Gerrit Rietveld Akademie aan de Afdeling Voorheen Audiovisueel, was ik in staat om de verschillen in de beide opleidingen waar te nemen. Op de Rietveld was het als student zaak om op te vallen. Als je dus met een hanenkam en op rolschaatsen door de gangen zwierde was je al bijna geslaagd. Zo niet op de AKI. Vaak hadden de AKI-studenten een provinciale of agrarische achtergrond en had het de aankomende kunstenaars veel moeite gekost om het thuisfront te overtuigen dat het nut had om aan zo’n merkwaardig instituut te gaan studeren. Een gevolg daarvan was dat er in Enschede in het algemeen aanmerkelijk serieuzer, harder en vaak ook inventiever werd gewerkt.
Een ander fenomeen en wellicht als consequentie van het voorgaande, was dat er op de AKI-afdeling Mediakunst regelmatig werk werd vervaardigd (...) met eenvoudige middelen, met humor en liefst zo ver mogelijk verwijderd van de gladde televisievormen."
Trevor Batten:
"The term "Media Art" is of course a rather silly term. All Art is "media" Art. (...)
(But) by placing the concept "medium" central to art practice, one becomes immediately confronted by the traditional problem of "Form and Content".
Essentially the problem arises when the duality becomes separated: There is no "Form" without "Content" (i.e. meaning) and there is no "Content" without "Form". Both Meaning and Form are based on relationships: Relationships between actions and materials within a complex nexus of definitions and interpretations.
Form leads to Meaning and Meaning leads to Form. By creating Definitions we create mental patterns of related phenomena. Commonalities of function, construction or sensory nature in perceived phenomena lead to the construction of conceptual categories and the formation of labeled concepts.
(...) Variations in relationship between phenomena determine definitions. However the way phenomena are perceived (or interpreted) also affects the relationships that can be discovered between them. For example, the characteristics of a person will change depending on how we view them: as figure of authority, member of family, enemy, friend or lover. So the way we perceive things affect the formal relationships between them but may also have emotional, practical, logical or interpretational implications, possibly leading to conflict and paradox. It is surely one of the tasks of "Media Art" to explore the implications of variation in formal relationships.
Clearly, the artistic process centers around the ability to use a medium for the generation of Images. In other words, the medium functions as a construction-kit for the production of Images. (...) A medium consists of a collection of materials, or basic (elemental) objects, plus a set of operations or procedures which allow the basic elements to be modified, connected or transformed in some way or another. (...) From the dawn of time mankind has learned to manipulate Media to produce and modify Images in order to produce and modify Concepts, Thoughts and Feelings. (...)
Concepts are not static Ideas like "God is good" or "Racism is bad", but are dynamic clouds of elemental "mental categories" which in fact form the basic parameters of mental space. (...) Concepts are like a mental "Medium" which allows us to develop Ideas.
Concepts and Ideas are to be explored, not to be expressed. (...) Interesting questions are: How do Concepts get abstracted (created) from our experience of the external world, which Concepts are relevant to an understanding of Media and how important are Media in determining the way we develop our concepts and view the world around us?
(...) Art can be seen as a game in which the Image is the Medium for a game between the artist and the viewer. (...) However, the most important (and critical) viewer must always be the artist themselves.
Art is not about communication of ideas, this is for designers and propagandists.
Art is about using a medium to explore the internal and external world (...). The Conceptual Medium and the Physical Medium in an Image generating dialogue. (...) Aesthetics is not about academic rules of superficial beauty. (...) The definition of art is of vital importance to the artist. (...) It is the art that should make the artist and not the artist that should make the art. (...)
Perhaps the artistic process can be seen as a metaphor for the teaching process. The teacher as artist, the final student as the art work and the starting student as the medium.
Just as the art work must be found within the medium, so must the potential artist be found within the student. Just as the artist should use their experience and vision to develop the work without forcing it to express their a priori dogmas, so should the teacher refrain from forcing their dogmas and curricula on the student. Perhaps the most important role for teachers is as a viewer, to help the student to understand how others view the work and to integrate these views into their own viewing process. (...)"
(But) by placing the concept "medium" central to art practice, one becomes immediately confronted by the traditional problem of "Form and Content".
Essentially the problem arises when the duality becomes separated: There is no "Form" without "Content" (i.e. meaning) and there is no "Content" without "Form". Both Meaning and Form are based on relationships: Relationships between actions and materials within a complex nexus of definitions and interpretations.
Form leads to Meaning and Meaning leads to Form. By creating Definitions we create mental patterns of related phenomena. Commonalities of function, construction or sensory nature in perceived phenomena lead to the construction of conceptual categories and the formation of labeled concepts.
(...) Variations in relationship between phenomena determine definitions. However the way phenomena are perceived (or interpreted) also affects the relationships that can be discovered between them. For example, the characteristics of a person will change depending on how we view them: as figure of authority, member of family, enemy, friend or lover. So the way we perceive things affect the formal relationships between them but may also have emotional, practical, logical or interpretational implications, possibly leading to conflict and paradox. It is surely one of the tasks of "Media Art" to explore the implications of variation in formal relationships.
Clearly, the artistic process centers around the ability to use a medium for the generation of Images. In other words, the medium functions as a construction-kit for the production of Images. (...) A medium consists of a collection of materials, or basic (elemental) objects, plus a set of operations or procedures which allow the basic elements to be modified, connected or transformed in some way or another. (...) From the dawn of time mankind has learned to manipulate Media to produce and modify Images in order to produce and modify Concepts, Thoughts and Feelings. (...)
Concepts are not static Ideas like "God is good" or "Racism is bad", but are dynamic clouds of elemental "mental categories" which in fact form the basic parameters of mental space. (...) Concepts are like a mental "Medium" which allows us to develop Ideas.
Concepts and Ideas are to be explored, not to be expressed. (...) Interesting questions are: How do Concepts get abstracted (created) from our experience of the external world, which Concepts are relevant to an understanding of Media and how important are Media in determining the way we develop our concepts and view the world around us?
(...) Art can be seen as a game in which the Image is the Medium for a game between the artist and the viewer. (...) However, the most important (and critical) viewer must always be the artist themselves.
Art is not about communication of ideas, this is for designers and propagandists.
Art is about using a medium to explore the internal and external world (...). The Conceptual Medium and the Physical Medium in an Image generating dialogue. (...) Aesthetics is not about academic rules of superficial beauty. (...) The definition of art is of vital importance to the artist. (...) It is the art that should make the artist and not the artist that should make the art. (...)
Perhaps the artistic process can be seen as a metaphor for the teaching process. The teacher as artist, the final student as the art work and the starting student as the medium.
Just as the art work must be found within the medium, so must the potential artist be found within the student. Just as the artist should use their experience and vision to develop the work without forcing it to express their a priori dogmas, so should the teacher refrain from forcing their dogmas and curricula on the student. Perhaps the most important role for teachers is as a viewer, to help the student to understand how others view the work and to integrate these views into their own viewing process. (...)"