Strange Loop

Misuser

The act of discovering and displaying digital art created for 20th century computing and telecommunication environments places the character of these systems in stark relief. Most exhibitions require an archeological undertaking and an enormous effort to execute a single artifact from forty years ago.

The software I feature in this talk operated at the edge of digital systems. Artists often behaved like hackers: working off hours, pushing a system beyond its specification, and inventing new possibilities for human interaction along the way. They were some of the most eager practitioners of early computing but often found it difficult to obtain access. Their work often saw limited distribution and few updates.

These challenges exasperate the difficulty of building a retrospective of digital art. The software's brittle nature reflects the environment within which it ran. The engineering decisions that lead to these systems were often informed as much by culture as science. "Misuer" will illustrate this connection and build a framework to examine the value of conventions and what we can learn by working outside of them.

David Schmudde

Beyond the Frame

D. Schmüdde is a computational artist and storyteller who creates experiences that examine the everyday realities of our post-digital society. Over the last fifteen years, he has installed interactive work at the Center for Holographic Arts in New York City, projected video art in the Schusev Museum of Architecture in Moscow, performed at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, screened at the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, and given talks around the world. He's always ready to discuss big ideas - find him at http://schmud.de.