Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965–2018
Sept 28, 2018–Apr 14, 2019
Signal, Sequence, Resolution:
Liberating the Signal
5
The artists in this grouping use electronic or digital signals as their material but subvert the signals’ intended function, thereby “liberating” them from their original purpose. In doing so, they draw attention to the potential for signals to be carriers of instructions and visual information. Nam June Paik’s Magnet TV creates visual effects by distorting a television’s electronic signal, while digitally manipulated signals are an element of Cory Arcangel’s Super Mario Clouds for which the artist reprogrammed a Nintendo cartridge to erase the sound and all visual elements except for the clouds from the iconic video game. Signal and image resolution are explored by Jim Campbell, who programs LEDs to create cinematic and spatial images in both a room-sized installation and screen-based works.
Jim Campbell, Tilted Plane, 2011
Jim Campbell (b. 1956), Tilted Plane, 2011. Custom LED light bulbs and electronics, dimensions variable. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of The Lipman Family Foundation, Inc. 2012.22a-f. © Jim Campbell
Tilted Plane, part of Jim Campbell’s Exploded View series, expands a two-dimensional moving image into three-dimensional space. Campbell handcrafted hundreds of hanging LEDs from standard 100-watt light bulbs by removing the glass filament from each and replacing it with a custom-made LED stem designed to perfectly fit the bulb envelope. Connected to a circuit board with custom electronics, the light bulbs function as an array of pixels and a tilted, low-resolution video display. When viewed from the front of the installation, the flickering LEDs register as birds taking off and landing. As one moves closer or off-axis, the flickering becomes abstract and seemingly random. With Tilted Plane Campbell takes his earlier experiments with resolution from the screen into a room.
Artists
- Josef Albers
- Cory Arcangel
- Tauba Auerbach
- Jonah Brucker-Cohen
- Jim Campbell
- Ian Cheng
- Lucinda Childs
- Charles Csuri
- Agnes Denes
- Alex Dodge
- Charles Gaines
- Philip Glass
- Frederick Hammersley
- Channa Horwitz
- Donald Judd
- Joseph Kosuth
- Shigeko Kubota
- Marc Lafia
- Barbara Lattanzi
- Lynn Hershman Leeson
- Sol LeWitt
- Fang-yu Lin
- Manfred Mohr
- Katherine Moriwaki
- Mendi + Keith Obadike
- Nam June Paik
- William Bradford Paley
- Paul Pfeiffer
- Casey Reas
- Earl Reiback
- Rafaël Rozendaal
- Lillian Schwartz
- James L. Seawright
- John F. Simon Jr.
- Steina
- Mika Tajima
- Tamiko Thiel
- Cheyney Thompson
- Joan Truckenbrod
- Siebren Versteeg
- Lawrence Weiner