David Tudor

So, David Tudor has died. I read this in the UK daily paper The Guardian
(London, Aug 28, 96).

For myself, at least, he was a major influence. Not so much
artistically, I have never been that enamoured of the post-Fluxus/Cage
aesthetic. But he was a pioneer in the area of art and technology and
its potential to transform both art and the manner in which it was
encountered.

In the mid/late 70's, as I was first getting into this area
of practice, it was artists such as Tudor, Pauline Oliveros, Gordon
Pask, John Whitney (Pask and Whitney are also recently deceased) who
indicated the way forward. Living in "remote" Australia I poured over
obscure exhibition catalogues for events such as the Pepsi Pavilion at
the Osaka Worlds Fair, the Software show, Nine Evenings (NY) and
Cybernetic Serendipity (London). Tudor had a high profile in all these
events. In fact he served as the founding Chair of Experiments in Arts and
Technology (NY) in the late 60's which organised Nine Evenings and
various other seminal events.

EAT was probably the first of its kind. It attempted to bring together
artists, scientists, technicians, theorists and etc. This facilitated an
exchange of ideas, the realisation of creative and experimental projects
utilizing technology with unusual presentational strategies.

As far as I know, EAT still existed up until Tudors death (I know it still
offficially existed only a few years ago).

Unlike many other groups
(formed since) EAT members saw the impact of technology on the arts.
They didn't view technology as just acting upon the appearance of art.
Rather more profound, they thought that it could change what art is
about, how it can be "read" and the forms and temporalities it might
take. EAT really did have a
radical vision and much of that was defined by Tudor himself.

This "vision" was of course as much an expression of 60's optimism (a
passion and belief in the artists' ability to transform the world) as is
was the result of an interest technology. Later decades have seen a
rather different, less idealistic, ethic dominate artistic creation. A
greater degree of critical cynicism has undoubtedly lent later art and
technology practice a greater sophistication. But, this has also led to
a kind of work that is both formally and conceptually "safer" than that
pursued in the 60's.

The Guardian obituary went on at length about Tudors collaborations with
Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg and their collective work at Black
Mountain College in the 50's and 60's. Of course I recognise how
important that work was and that it was out of this work that EAT
emerged a few years later. I just thought it would be good to add
something about EAT and Tudor's role in that and beyond.

I notice that this years European Media Art Festival (Osnabruck, Germany) is
featuring a retrospective of the work of John Whitney (the original "father" of
computer graphics and animation). It would be good if a similar event was
mounted somewhere about Tudor's work. Although, I imagine that might be very
difficult given the more multimedia oriented and highly transient nature of most
of his work. Even so, I think it might afford a possibility to really see/hear
and assess the full impact of what he did and its influence on later artists.

His work was never given the credit it deserved during his lifetime.