Diane Ludin: Converging the Body and Information
December 2004
Diane Ludin: Converging the Body and Information
Converging the Body and Information by Diane Ludin is an entry portal to a series of the artist’s signature works critiquing representations of the biotechnology and information labor industries. The featured projects include i-bpe (2002), idrunners (2001–3), data mirror (2001), genetic response system 3.0 (2000), and memoryflesh 1.0 and 2.0 (2001/2002). The works investigate the blurring of boundaries between scientific authority and cultural imagination when biology is transformed into data. Referencing projects such as DNA sequencing and the human genome database network, Ludin raises questions about the social forces and ideological assumptions behind state-run research initiatives and market-driven economies. She also examined topics like the price inflation and economic bubble surrounding biotech companies in the early 2000s and online software tools that help track information such as patents on sequencing research.
Some linked sites in this project are no longer online, but are accessible on the Internet Archive, including: i-bpe, idrunners, and memoryflesh 2.0.
Diane Ludin (b. 1967; Piermont, New York) is a user experience designer, researcher, product manager, and poet. She has studied internet publishing at the School of Visual Arts, New York, and user experience design at Brooklyn Polytechnic (New York University Tandon School of Engineering). Bridging the worlds of information and storytelling, Ludin has exhibited her solo and collaborative works in the United States and abroad at festivals such as Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria; the Next Five Minutes, Netherlands; and ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic Art). Commissioned works include internet projects for the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Franklin Furnace, New York; Turbulence.org (1996–2016); and the Alternative Museum (1975–2000), New York. She has participated in collaborative performances and broadcasts with idrunners, the Electronic Disturbance Theater, FAKESHOP, Las Fantasmas, Francesca da Rimini, Agnese Trocchi, Prema Murthy, and Ricardo Dominguez.
Gate Pages
Every month from March 2001 to February 2006, the Whitney invited an artist or collective to present their work in the form of a “Gate Page” on artport. Each page was meant to function as a portal to the artist’s own sites and projects. The Gate Pages comprise a range of artistic approaches to the format—while some of them are designed as entry points to the respective artist’s website or promote a recently launched work, others take the form of a more complex stand-alone project.
Wherever necessary and possible, these works are made functional through emulation and reconstructions from the Internet Archive. Not all of them have been restored to their original state and their conservation is ongoing. You can also view the original Gate Pages archive to see how they were presented at the time of their creation.
artport
View more on artport, the Whitney Museum's portal to Internet and new media art.