Leonardo
Volume 31, Number 2
April/May 1998
Leonardo is a print journal, edited by Leonardo/the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, and published by the MIT Press. Subscriptions and individual issues can be ordered from the MIT Press.
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Pages 81-86
The Leonardo Gallery
Aurinko---Sun: Solar Art at the Rauma Art Museum, Finland
Curated by Janne Koski
Artists: Joan Webster Price and Herbert Price; Antti Maasalo; Allan Giddy; Jorma Ponkala; Tamiko Thiel
Pages 87-92
Special Section
The Planetary Collegium: Towards the Radical Reconstruction of Art Education
Introduction by Guest Editor Roy Ascott
Carol Gigliotti
Bridge To, Bridge From: The Arts, Technology and Education
Abstract
The author investigates the theories and practices of contemporary education influenced by U.S. legislation of school reform, the political agendas driving that reform and the conflicts this current scenario creates for artists, art educators, art students and arts administrators working on projects involving the arts, education and interactive computer technology.
Pages 93-102
Steve Mann
"Reflectionism" and "Diffusionism": New Tactics for Deconstructing the Video Surveillance Superhighway
Abstract
The recent proliferation of video surveillance cameras interconnected with high-speed computers and central databases is moving us toward a high-speed "surveillance superhighway," as cameras are used throughout entire cities to monitor citizens in public areas. As businesses work alongside governments to build this superhighway and expand it into private areas as well, there is a growing need to develop methodologies of questioning these practices. The goal of this paper is to stimulate inquiry into both surveillance and the rhetoric used to justify its use. "Reflectionism" is proposed as a new philosophical and tactical framework that takes the Situationist tradition of appropriating the methodology of the oppressor one step further by targeting that methodology directly against the oppressor. The oppressor then becomes the audience of a performance resulting from this new use of his or her own methodology.
Pages 103-109
Andrea Polli
Virtual Space and the Construction of Memory: Installation and Performance Work
Abstract
In this article, the author presents the theoretical perspectives behind her artworks. Contemporary theories related to the structure of human memory are the inspirations behind all of the works, which use computer multimedia, electronics and/or robotics. She describes influences, background and production for several interactive installations and performance works. The artist's work explores conceptually the relationship between physical space and the virtual space of the mind.
Pages 111-117
Celso Wilmer with Cristiana Lara Resende
Kinetic Experiments
Abstract
This article concerns the application of visual communication to the process involved in reading Benesh Movement Notation, an important system for writing dance scores. The goal of this project was to complement Benesh Movement Notation with other visual information so that a score could be read even by ballet students not familiar with this notation. In order to do this, the authors have created a system of ballerina figures (L-W Illustrations for Dance) and a system of ciphers for ballet positions (L-W Nomenclature Stave).
Pages 119-123
Tomás García Salgado
Geometric Interpretation of the Albertian Model
Abstract
Alberti's treatise Della Pittura has always been controversial because it does not contain a single drawing. Theoreticians and historians have offered different interpretations of Alberti's method of perspective, with some substantial differences between them. The interpretation presented here is based on a geometric analysis of the method described by Alberti, starting from the premise that all the geometric elements and principles employed by him have one and only one meaning---that is, there is no ambivalence, inconsistency or ambiguity between them. Thus, it is possible to define the geometric structure of what I refer to here as the Albertian model. The order in which Alberti introduced the definitions (14 in all) as he required each one is notable, and this made it possible to reconsider and apply the definitions, in the sense of associating some of them with the description of the Albertian model presented here.
Pages125-132
R.R. Kadesch
Classification of One-Color and Two-Color Rosette Patterns
Abstract
A precise geometrical transformation of one-dimensional one-color strip patterns is described that endows the rosettes with the same seven symmetries as those possessed by the strip patterns. This means that one now has seven distinct rosette symmetries rather than just two according to current notation. For two-color patterns the increase is even greater. Currently, three two-color rosette patterns are identified while, according to the proposed classification scheme, there are seventeen when in the n-fold description of rotational symmetry n is even and ten when n is odd.
Pages 133-138
Nik Semenoff and L.W. Bader
Intaglio Etching on Aluminum and Zinc Using an Improved Mordant
Abstract
The authors describe the use of an etching bath containing copper sulfate, salt and a partially neutralized acid for use on aluminum or zinc plates. The bath, which works at a pH between 2.2 and 4.0, is less likely to harm skin or clothing than traditional mordants are because it does not contain strong acids.
Pages139-140
Art/Science Forum
Tulla Lightfoot: Society for Imaging Science and Technology
Pages 141-144
Artists' Statements
Johannes Birringer: Lively Bodies, Live Machines: Split Realities
Bulat M. Galeyev: Russians Leave Europe
Gwyneth Thurgood: "Landscapes" from Sulfanilamide: An Artist Experiments with Microcrystals to Reveal Fractal Order
Page 145
Leonardo On-Line Bibliographies
Pages146-149
Commentaries
Page 150-151
Leonardo/ISAST News
Pages 152-159
Reviews
George Gessert, István Hargittai, Yury Nazarov, Annick Bureaud Roger F. Malina, Irina Presnetsova
