(Detail) eO feerique
fOrtune cOde stack attack, 2002, six computer-robotic
assisted acrylic paintings on
canvas, 22x10” Courtesy
Universal Concepts Unlimited, NYC
JOSEPH
NECHVATAL
eO
feerique fOrtune cOde stack attack
Using
a C++ framework, Joseph Nechvatal and his programmer/collaborator Stéphane
Sikora have brought Nechvatal’s early computer virus project (1991-2) into the
realm of artificial life (A-Life), a synthetic system that exhibits behaviors
characteristic of natural living systems.
In
this work computer viruses are modeled to be autonomous agents living in/off
"eO feerique fOrtune cOde " – a prior Joseph Nechvatal 1.0 viral
image. The 2.0 project simulates a population of active viruses functioning as
an analogy of a viral biological system. The behavior of a virus is modeled as a
generated looping activity that is typical of situated artificial intelligence
work. A virus will pick up information from its environment, decide on a course
of action, and carry it out. Viral instructions provide different possibilities
for executing instructions according to the environmental conditions in which
the virus is living. The results of such an attack are here preserved in the
stable medium of painting as six moments in the attack, which have been selected
and painted via computer-robotics onto traditional artists canvas.
Joseph
Nechvatal has
worked with ubiquitous electronic visual information and computer-robotics since
1986. His computer-robotic assisted paintings and computer animations are shown
regularly in galleries and museums throughout the world. Dr.
Nechvatal earned his Ph.D. in the philosophy of art and new technology with The
Centre for Advanced Inquiry in the Interactive Arts (CAiiA). From
1991-3 he worked as artist-in-resident at the Louis Pasteur Atelier and the
Saline Royale / Ledoux Foundation's computer lab in
Arbois
,
France
on The
Computer Virus Project, an experiment with computer viruses as a creative
stratagem. His work is held in the collections at the
Los Angeles
County
Museum
, the Moderna
Musset in
Stockholm
,
Sweden
and the
Israel
Museum
in
Jerusalem
and was
included in Documenta 8. He
served as Parisian editor for RHIZOME INTERNET (http://www.rhizome.org)
between the years 1996-2001 and now writes regularly for The THING (http://www.thing.net),
NY ARTS Magazine (http://www.nyartsmagazine.com)
and Zing Magazine (http://www.zingmagazine.com/). Dr. Nechvatal
presently teaches ŒTheories of Virtual Reality at the
School
of
Visual Arts
in NYC. He
is a founder of the Tellus Audio Art Project and served as conference
coordinator for the 1st International CaiiA Research Conference entitled CONSCIOUSNESS
REFRAMED: Art and Consciousness in the Post-Biological Era (5 & 6 July
1997), an international conference which looked at new developments in art,
science, technology and consciousness, that was held at the Centre for Advanced
Inquiry in the Interactive Arts, University of Wales College, Newport, UK.