Like jenny holzer, barbara kruger and the guerrilla girls, cae is engaged in both contemporary politics and media culture, though with a specific focus on technology and its social effects. Critical art ensemble cae is a collective of tactical media practitioners of various specializations, including computer graphics and web design, wetware, filmvideo, photography, text art, book art and interventionist performance. Steve kurtz, steve barnes, dorian burr, hope kurtz, and beverly schlee as students, steve kurtz and steve barnes begin a collaboration to make lowtech videos. Critical art ensemble disturbio eletronico arquivo. Critical art ensemble cae is an american artistactivist collective.
Related by claire pentecost in a presentation at the cooper union on october 25th, 2004. Critical art ensemble, tactical media practitioners, tdr. Critical art ensemble tactical media practitioners an interview by jon mckenzie and rebecca schneider to produce this interview, schneider met with cae in new york city over the course of a weekend in june 1999, while a few days later mckenzie emailed them a series of. They use the signature critical art ensemble to credit all the people who contribute to the productions. Nomadmedia on critical art ensemble rebecca schneider when an audience member enters the performance space for critical art ensemble s flesh machine, she might think she s stumbled upon a lecture in some biology hall of her past, except for the fact that the information is extremely uptodate and delivered by artists. Title electronic civil disobedience and other unpopular ideas. Such concerns have always been a part of modern art but took on new urgency at the end of the 1960s, when.
The critical acts ensemble, cae for short, is a tightly knit group of artists exploring intersection between art, technology, critical theory, and political activism. This essay discusses the work of critical art ensemble cae, who engage directly and critically with the processes of science, exposing the performativity of. Institutional critique is an artistic practice that reflects critically on its own housing in galleries and museums and on the concept and social function of art itself. Critical art ensemble cae is a collective of five tactical media practitioners of various specializations including computer graphics and web design, filmvideo, photography, text art, book art, and performance. This conceptual game has been replayed numerous times over the 20th century, at times for very narrow purposes, as with rauschenbergs combinesdone for the sake of attacking the critical hegemony of clement greenbergwhile at. Electronic civil disobedience and other unpopular ideas. Recombinant theatre and digital resistance authors. For cae, tactical media is situational, ephemeral, and selfterminating. A collective of five artists dedicated to exploring the intersections between art, technology. These rarely seen films were intended to be parts of larger multi.
Other critical art ensemble titles from autonomedia the electronic disturbance electronic civil disobedience and other unpopular ideas flesh machine cyborgs, designer babies, and new eugenic consciousness digital resistance explorations in tactical media the molecular invasion. It was then reprinted by threadwaxing space in crash. Critical art ensemble cae is a collective of five newgenre artists formed in i987. The art of asking essential questions critical thinking. Critical art ensemble disturbio eletronico editora subta. Recombinant theatre is the definition the us collective critical art ensemble gave to his performing work. If you have access to this journal as a benefit of membership in the sponsoring organization, log in through the member link in the right column. Critical art ensemble has developed the concept of electronic civil disobedience based on the street civil disobedience model. Considering art at the center of network theory, from the rise of the electronic media age in the 1960s to the present. We have given cae a big chunk of space to present and explain their work. The dawn of the electronic media age in the 1960s began a cultural shift from the modernist grid and its determination of projection and representation to the fluid structures and circuits of the network, presenting art with new challenges and possibilities. Since that time, the group has produced artworks, events, and. Tactical media practitioners jon mckenzie bio and rebecca schneider bio to produce this interview, schneider met with cae in new york city over the course of a weekend in june 1999, while a few days later mckenzie emailed them a series of questions.
The ensembles website provides links to their tactical projects and biotechnology projects, as well as their excellent online publications in pdf format also published by autonomedia. Critical art ensemble with beatriz da costa and shyhshiun. Of all published articles, the following were the most read within the past 12 months. Cae is a collective of five tactical media practitioners of various specializations including computer graphics and web design, filmvideo, photography, text art, book art, and performance. Lectures, discussion panels, video screenings, performances and book launches, all contributed to the wealth of ideas offered and. Art in the social sphere, massachusetts museum of contemporary art, 30 may to 20 march, 2005. The version presented here is the original form with only a few modifications.
Critical art ensemble lecture by steve barnes at aksioma project space ljubljana, slovenia wed june 2012. Critical art ensemble tactical media practitioners an interview by jon mckenzie and rebecca schneider to produce this interview, schneider met with cae in new york city over the course of a weekend in june 1999, while a few days later mckenzie emailed them a series of questions. Critical art ensemble every decade seems to have a weapon around which mythic narratives are constructed about the state of the world, the legitimacy and illegitimacy of violence, and peoples relationship to security. Added to that is a critical essay by tdr contributing editor rebecca schneider. Mythic weapons and state propaganda critical art ensemble. Since that time, the group has produced artworks, events, and theory that explore and critique models of representation used in the capitalist political economy to sustain and promote authoritarian policies. Bio art nicholas lampert meatscapes nicholas lampert nicholas lampert nicholas lampert critical art ensemble. Critical art ensemble timeline critical art ensemble timeline 20001201 00. For example, the names of steven kurtz and the critical art ensemble were unknown to most until this may, when a federal prosecutor in buffalo tried to charge him under the patriot act as a bioterrorista charge as bizarre as it is chilling for all who exercise their freedom of speech. One essential characteristic that sets late capitalism apart from other political and economic forms is its mode of representing power. Collective of five tactical media practitioners of various specializations including computer graphics and web design, filmvideo, photography, text art, book art, and performance. Recently, the eu has passed fairly strict laws regarding the importing and labeling of gm foods in an effort to protectinform a concerned public about the origin and manufacture of the food on the market. The cae initially notes that since the conception and popularization of civil disobedience.
Utopian promisesnet realities critical art ensemble. Critical art ensemble is probably more famous for writing books than for making art. The third banff international curatorial institute bici critical art writing ensemble residency warmly welcomes both writers looking at art and artists with a writing practice to explore writing as both a literary reflection on visual art and as an integral aspect of artistic practices. Electronic civil disobedience and other unpopular ideas by the critical art ensemble, 1996 ch.
Given these restrictions and the general aura of caution in regard to the consumption of. The recombinant theater and the performative matrix. Tactical biopolitics suggests that the political challenges at the intersection of life, science, and art are best addressed through a combination of artistic intervention, critical theorizing, and reflective practices. Electronic civil disobedience critical art ensemble. Other critical art ensemble titles from autonomedia the electronic disturbance electronic civil disobedience and other unpopular ideas flesh machine cyborgs, designer babies, and new eugenic consciousness digital resistance explorations in tactical media. Critical art ensemble cae is a collective of five newgenre artists formed in 1987. Videos 8693 in conjunction with seized, an evening of shorts by critical art ensemble cae and a look back at the juvenilia of the collective. Explorations in tactical media, autonomedia books, 2001, p. Formed in 1987, caes focus has been on the exploration of the intersections between art. Like jenny holzer, barbara kruger and the guerrilla girls, cae is engaged in both contemporary politics and media culture, though with a. I54 critical art ensemble original and the copy implodedevery ford model t was the same as the one that preceded it and the one that followed it. Critical art ensemble cae is an award winning collective of five. Formed in 1987, caes focus has been on the exploration of the intersections between art, critical theory, technology, and political activism.
Critical art ensemble how is critical art ensemble abbreviated. When an audience member enters the performance space for critical art. Free range grain critical art ensemble with beatriz da costa and shyhshiun shyu. Critical art ensemble how is critical art ensemble. Critical art ensemble tactical media practitioners uc berkeley art. Critical art ensemble cae is a collective of five tactical media practitioners of various specialisations including computer graphics and web design, filmvideo, photography, text art, book art and performance. Critical art ensemble digital art, design and culture. It encourages the use of any media that will engage a particular sociopolitical context in order to create. Critical art ensemble transforms into a broad based artist and activist collective, expanding to include six core members. An interview between mireille astore and steve kurtz, member of the critical art ensemble cae and professor of art at university at buffalo. Electronic civil disobedience was originally written as part of a window installation for the antiwork show at printed matter at dia in the spring of 1994. Added to that is a critical essay by tdr contributing editor rebecca. Dec 01, 2000 critical art ensemble timeline critical art ensemble timeline 20001201 00. Critical art ensemble cae is an awardwinning collective of five.
Mar 21, 2007 critical art ensemble is a collective that was founded by steve kurtz, dorian burr and several other artists in 1987. Kurtz participated in home works iii, a recurring production of ashkal alwan, the lebanese association for plastic arts. Beginning with their 1994 the electronic disturbance, cae has produced a steadily growing oeuvre of pamphletsized offerings whose prescience, rigor, and readability make them required reading for generations of artists, students, and digital activists. The event that you get from molecular invasion is a more deep you searching the information that hide within the words the more you get considering reading it.
Disciplining the avantgarde, the united states versus the. Cae is a collective of five tactical media artists dedicated to exploring the intersections between art, technology, critical theory, and political activ ism. Some physicists argue that no matter how sophisticated the process may be, manufactured products are still not exact copies, and some taylorist consultants say that individual products. Critical art ensemble is a collective that was founded by steve kurtz, dorian burr and several other artists in 1987.