global

The World in 24 Hours

Robert Adrian X (CA/AT)

In 1982 this telecommunications program attempted to combine SSTV, computer communication and telefacsimile in a global multimedia telecommunication project. The conceptual intention of The World in 24 Hours focused on demonstrating the global nature of electronic networks—as well as the fact that most of the globe was missing from the network (all of Africa and South America and most of Eastern Europe and Asia), and to challenge the hegemony of the one-to-many broadcast media by using the telephone system for one-to-one multimedia interaction. Another aspect was the attempt to make a statement about a new role for the artist in the age of electronic media as a creator of the space for art rather than as a mere a producer of objects. During the project artists around the world connected in a non-stop series of dialogues beginning at 12 noon on September 27 and ending at 12 noon on September 28, 1982 (Central European Time).

Device Art Chronicle

Machiko Kusahara (JP)

The term “device art” is already part of the vocabulary of contemporary art. The Device Art Chronicle demonstrates how the concept was developed within the Device Art Project, aiming to explain the prehistory of media art, and how local and global features are connected. We were able to define features that characterize Japanese media art (e.g. playfulness), which can be better understood by relating them to earlier cultural traditions. Nevertheless, the essence of device art is also international and its features are shared by many works of media art.