Abstract: The author formed companies to collect technical
information. The information was used as iconography in experimental
books, installations, performances, files and other art which examines
the role of technology in our culture. The paper discusses the meaning
of technical information and describes three projects: OK Research, which
collected and studied all kinds of technological information, OK Genetic
Engineering, which was an investigation of the biotechnology industry,
and Bad Information, which collected and used information about the
computer industry.
I.
Introduction
II.
OK Research
III.
OK Genetic Engineering (OKGE)
IV. Bad Information
References and Notes
I.
Introduction
Collected information informs not only by its specific content but also
by the cultural meaning it conveys as a whole. For instance, a review
paper informs not only by telling what work has been done but also by
telling who did that work, where, by what methods. In my art, I portray
our technological society, using information from its own literature as
iconography.
Technology is as influential and pervasive in our culture as religion,
humanism, the landscape or royal families have been in other cultures.
It has usurped the arts as imitator of nature, maker of things, intimate
to those in power. [1]
Technical information is produced with seemingly unlimited funding in
astounding amounts and variety. Just as Brueghel made composite pictures
using pictorial information about his society's activities, I make a
kind of composite art, using both written and pictorial technical
information as artist's material. The things I make are experimental
books, installations, performances, databases and files. These works
use molecular units, such as 3x5 cards or file folders full of
information, to build a whole. In addition to collected information,
they incorporate my own writing, photos and drawings. I also make
xerox multiples, which I distribute as widely as possible.
To gather the information for the projects discussed in this paper, I
formed my own research and development companies. Not only was it
easier to acquire vendor information as President of OK Research, OK
Genetic Engineering, and Bad Information, but also, by becoming a part
of the subject myself, I was able to look at and describe it as an
insider. In the way court painters became a part of the court, I have
tried to become a part of the technical community.[2]
II.
OK Research
OK Research (1980-1982) was my first technical information project. It
was a general investigation of the role of technology in our society.
As President of OK Research, I collected over 1,000 pieces of
information by contacting scientific equipment vendors, visiting
companies in Silicon Valley, going to trade shows and consulting
technical libraries, [3]. the information included vendor literature,
articles from technical journals, charts, graphs, photographs, technical
reports, etc. These things were meant to serve as a source of ideas and
materials not commonly considered by artists and others outside of the
technical community, as well as a collection of source documents that
would reflect the habits, resources and products of makers of technology.
I used some of the information in an installation called Technical
Information at Site [4] in San Francisco in 1981. The information
encircled the space, displayed on over 200 feet of slanted shelving. In
the center of the space, I built a six-sided structure that contained
art I had made by combing photos and text from the technical information
with drawings, text and photos I had made during the course of the
investigation.
In the outer circle, technology portrayed itself with its own literature.
The information was slick, beautifully designed. The slogans were
compelling:
LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY IS AN ART [5]
UNLOCK HIDDEN SECRETS WITH HUGHES COLOR TELEVISION THERMOGRAPHY [6]
THE RIGHT ANSWERS AGAIN AND AGAIN [7]
WE'RE EXPANDING THE WORLDS' VIEW [8]
THE AMAZING PIEZOTRON [9]
WE'VE GOT A DIRECT POWERLINE FROM THE SUN TO YOU [10]
FOR ADVENTURE I WORK AT RAYCHEM [11]
HERCULES PROFAX WILL SET YOU FREE [12]
At the start of the show I organized the information to emphasize
recurring themes, putting together, for instance, all the vendor ads
with religious language or overtones and all the adds which equated art
with technology. A table and chair were provided, and visitors could
take the information down from the shelves and read it. As they took the
information and reshelved it randomly, the order and meaning of the
external layers changed.
Artists who visited the installation were amazed at the things that they
saw in the outer circle. I suggested that they write their names and
addresses on the back of particular pieces that they were interested in.
Both visitors from the technical community and artists wrote their names
on the back of information about geotextiles, computer graphics, cloning
protocols, etc. After the show, I mailed out all the requested
information.
In the inner circle, the hexagonical structure, which I had built with
wood and large sheets of heavy-duty cardboard, was buttressed with 18
wooden newspaper racks. Each rack held a rice paper newspaper covered
with drawings, photos, and text. Some of the images used in the
newspapers were taken from the information and some were from my own
work. FOr example, in one newspaper, drawings of cathedrals were
juxtaposed with photos of satellites and big antennas. Visitors could
take the newspapers down and read them at the reading table.
Inside the structure, I built a table on which I placed all the things I
had made. they included an electromechanical book, which was read by
pushing buttons. Its 'pages' consisted of xerox prints made by placing
small scientific instruments on a black-and-white xerox machine. [13]
There were also plexiglass boxes with readable contents: a flask full of
tiny color xerox prints made from photos I had taken in laboratories at
the University of California in Berkeley and card catalogs which combined
words, photos, drawings, and objects. One book, called Bumps on the
Chips, used pictures and writing to tell the story of how I watched
an apricot orchard be plowed under when I was married to a semiconductor
engineer and living in Silicon Valley. The pictures and writing were
pasted on a signal trace sequence computer printout used to check the
wiring of electronic circuits.
Some visitors looked at only one part -- only at the art or only at the
technical information. Others spent time in both areas. By contrasting
the homemade art about technology with the commercially produced
technicalinformation, this installation emphasized the shifting roles or
art and technology and provoked cultural crosscurrents.
III.
OK Genetic Engineering (OKGE)
Recombinant DNA technology is one of the most important issues of this
decade. It seems more important that art, and in fact, may be art as
defined traditionally: "Human contrivance or ingenuity, as in adapting
natural things to man's use." [14] But if technology has the power to
change the world for better or worse, or, as is probably the case, for
better and worse, artists -- as the new philosophers and as effective
users of information in an information society -- have the vision to
temper, interpret and channel these changes.
As President of OK Genetic Engineering (1983-1985), I collected
information about genetic engineering research and development. I used
that information to make a series of reports and products -- small
reproducible combinations of words and images that were distributed as
free handouts or by mail.[15] The reports and products were experimental
books that distilled and displayed information.
"If you are young," J.D. Watson said, "there is really no option to be a
molecular biologist.[16] I found that being president of a genetic
engineering company was very satisfying. Also it insured that my queries
were answered, gave me access to equipment shows and put me on mailing
lists.
In the first months, as publicity for the project and to find out how
people feel about genetic engineering, I drove a company car and produced
OKGE matchbooks, [17] which I left on tables in restaurants or at art
events throughout the Bay Area. The company car was a 1973 Chrysler
Town and Country station wagon with "OK Genetic Engineering - Quality
Clones Since 1984" painted on its side panels. [note that it was actually
1983 when the car took to the streets of Berkeley] Typical reactions
were: "Can they really do that?", "What's that stuff you do that begins
with a 'C'?" "Do you have any jobs?"
I wrote a lot of letters on my OKGE letterhead requesting information on
DNA synthesizers, cloning vectors, monoclonals, etc. Although the
stationary read "Go All The Way With DNA" on the bottom, there were no
questions from vendors. I got most of the information I requested.
However, I attended only one trade show to collect information because,
while as president of OK Research nobody noticed me, as President of
OKGE, I was deluged by representatives wanting to know where my facility
was.
OKGE put out three products and five reports. The products were HLIV
(Human Lust Inducing Virus), SH gene (Shrinkage Hormone Gene) and NFD
bacteria (Nuclear Fuel Devouring Bacteria). the five reports dealt with
various aspects of the biotechnology industry. Some used slogans from
the information. Others were based on my personal experience as
president of OKGE.
Report no. 5, the OKGE banner, was a fold-out pennant that was made by
taping three xeroxed heavy paper sections together. Written all over it
were slogans from the advertisements I had collected. Some of the
slogans were:
"READ ANY GOOD DNA LATELY" [18]
"MEET SAM THE DAN SYNTHESIZER THAT WORKS...SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO" [19]
"BIOLOGICALS BRINGS YOU SAME DAY DNA" [20]
"THE INVESTMENT IN GENETIC ENGINEERING IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE THE
POTENTIAL REWARDS TO THE FIRMS INVOLVED AND MANKIND IS STAGGERING" [21]
"EMBRYO TRANSPLANT, THE ONLY INVESTMENT PROGRAM YOU SHOULD INVEST IN THIS
YEAR" [22]
"ORTHO-MUNE MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES IN ONLY TWO YEARS GENERATED MORE THAN
100 PUBLISHED PAPERS" [23]
"SEND IN THE CLONES...WE HAVE THE BUFFERS" [24]
Several hundred copies of HLIV were made by pasting xerox copy on
matchboxes. On the top, each package read:
HLIV - Human Lust Inducing Virus -
developed by OK Genetic engineering
to solve an important world problem -
what to do when he/she just wants to be friends.
IMPORTANT - OK GENETIC ENGINEERING has no idea
how this product will affect the ecological balance
in Northern California.
DO NOT OPEN THIS BOX without reading the warning on the back!
One of the sides read:
This box contains at least 220 HLIV
virions in culture.
The other read:
OK GENETIC ENGINEERING
J.P. Malloy, Pres.
Quality Clones since 1984
The back read:
WARNING - OK GENETIC ENGINEERING
has not received permission to release this organism from NIH. We used
a Stanford patent without paying the license fee, and we do not know how
to file an Environmental Impact Statement. We are distributing HLIV
free. Please make your own decision whether or not to release these
organisms.
Inside each box was a label on which the words:
uh oh
were typed.
I distributed over 400 [handmade] boxes of Human Lust Inducing Virus and
had quite a few favorable reports about its efficacy. It appears that
most people do not worry about disturbing the ecological balance when it
concerns a product they feel they really need. I know of only two people
who choose not to open the box. One, a rock musician, was motivated by
environmental concerns. The other, a gentleman in his eighties, said
that he was old enough to know when he had enough of a good thing.
The OKGE Reports and Products were combined in the OKGE Files, a
painted metal file box with black painted file folders inside it. Some
of the letters to vendors, copies of materials received from vendors and
other collected information, copies of all the reports and products,
source documents such as classic genetic engineering papers and other
papers that explained the concepts used in the reports and products, and
letters or mail art from people who had received the reports and
products. [25]
IV.
Bad Information
I believe, as does critic Jack Burnham, that "with increasing
aggressiveness, on of the artist's functions....is to specify how
technology uses us." [26] My new company, Bad Information (1986- ), is
producing a series of databases about the impact that computers and the
information explosion are having on our society.
Bad Information Base No. 1 (BIB1) is a computer database made up of over
400 quotations from computer literature. [27] As President of Bad
Information, I selected the quotes from information I gathered by going
to computer shows, reading computer magazines and computer manuals,
searching commercial electronic databases and writing letters to computer
companies asking, on Bad Information letterhead, for information about
their products. [28]
BIB1 can be searched by any word or by keywords, like ELECTRONIC WARFARE,
TRUTH, SEX, JOB INSECURITY, ANSWER YOU WANT, REVENGE, BEER, ROBOTS, BAD
DATA. For instance, a search using the keyword ROBOTS produces 10
quotes. Some of them are:
Sony engineers theorize that in a factory with no human respiration and
none of the hair and skin cells humans continuously shed, they could
achieve near-perfect control over dust, and very low reject rations on
VSLI-chip production. [29]
Through an incredible genetic experiment, all of the surplus electronics
have mutated into Colorbots, a hyperintelligent race of robots who are
capable of thinking on their own. The Colorbots have concluded that
according to their alien logic -- man is inferior and must be
destroyed.[30]
Now I think that the biggest justification for buying a robot is that it
can become a friend -- to our children and to us.
And if it can't become a friend, at least it can become a pet. [31]
The database is meant to be a kind of 'portrait' of our computer-and
information-dominated society. Although BIB1 presents a somewhat
negative view of computerization, the information it includes could not
have been organized as effectively as it was without the use of a
computer.
In October 1987, I used continuously printed searches of all the keywords
in BIB1 in an installation called Bad Information at SOMAR Gallery
Space in San Francisco. [32] I built a Bad Information Shrine using a
black media cart mounted on a black pedestal. A gray painted computer
shipping box containing the printed searches was mounted on the media
cart. All the keywords in the Bad Information Base were painted on the
pedestal.
Several thousand pages of computer-printed bad information
emerged from the Bad Information Shrine and streamed across the floor to
a lack trash can. A sign in front of the trash can said:
REACH INSIDE THE TRASH CAN.
PULL PAPER FORWARD.
TEAR OFF A SHEET.
TAKE IT HOME
OR THROW IT IN
THE TRASH CAN.
At the opening, as visitors to the installation tore off sheets of Bad
Information, the stream of paper flowed continuously out of the box and
across the floor. For the most part, visitors kept their information.
Some came back for more. As visitors compared and traded information,
the bad information circulated around the space.
Bad Information Bases no. 2 and 3 (BIB2, BIB3), databases of wrong of
misleading information, are a kind of satire of our tendency
to take anything that comes 'from the computer' as true. The information
for these data bases, information like "Libya is a South Sea Island," is
being collected online on Art Com Electronic Network (ACEN) on the WELL.
Anyone who logs on to ACEN can enter bad information in a topic that is
being collected. I have now collected over 400 pieces of bad
information, which I am putting into a database that can be searched
online by users of ACEN. Bad information in -- Bad Information out! [33]
References and Notes
Photo:
Bad Information, Somar Gallery Space, San Francisco, 1987
The original print article includes figures of the OK Genetic
Engineering (OKGE) Company Car; the Bad Information installation at
SOMAR, the Technical Information installation at
Site and the OK Genetic Engineering Files that were installed at
Works in San Jose. Some of these photos are available at
http://www.judymalloy.net/artistsbooks/artbooks3.html
1. My ideas about the shifting role of technology in our culture are
discussed in Judy Malloy, "Any Way You Look at It...ADM Has Your
Antenna," in The Un/necessary Image, Peter D'Agostino and Antonio
Muntadas, eds (New York: Tanam, 1982) pp. 76-79, and in Carl Loeffler,
"The Art of Information is OK: Judy Malloy in Conversation with Art
Com", Art Com 8(1) No. 29. Art Com is an online
journal available on Art Com Electronic Network (ACEN) on the WELL.
2. Many aspects of this work, in particular the knowledge of whom to
approach for information and how to make that approach, as well as the
ability to organize information, were facilitated by over 20 years of
supporting myself [while I was a single parent] by working with technical
information, including jobs as a technical librarian and a library
assistant for several research and technical companies. Although, like
most artists, I would much prefer to work full time on my artwork,
without a doubt these jobs have increased my understanding of the uses of
information.
3. The libraries I used most were the engineering, chemistry and physics
libraries at the University of California at Berkeley. I got several
bags full of information at the 1980 National Electronics Packaging
Conference (NEPCON) held in San Mateo, California. Jim Malloy, the
Marketing Manager at Fairchild Semiconductor Hybrid Division, contributed
a great deal of information. Several boxes of information were left on
my doorstep by University of California, Berkeley astrophysicist, George
Smoot.
4. Site (1976-1983) was an alternative space in San Francisco that
allowed artists to conceive and present work in whatever way they chose.
Technical Information was partially funded by the National
Endowment for the Arts. The following people helped me install
Technical Information: Richard Alpert, Penny Dienes, Bill Seely,
Shirley Stuart, and the director of Site, Jill Scott.
5. Gilson advertisement, American Laboratory 12, No. 8, 16
(1980)
6. Hughes advertisement, Industrial Research and Development 23,
No. 12,77 (1981)
7. Brochure for Bausch & Lomb Spectronic (r) 2000 spectrophotometer
(received 1980)
8. Fusion advertisement, Military Science and Technology 1,
No. 1, 53 (1981)
9. Kistler Advanced Dynamic Instrumentation Brochure (received 1980).
10. Solarex advertisement. IEEE Spectrum 18 No. 11 n.p.
(1981)
11. Raychem advertisement. Chemical and Engineering News
58, No. 43, 14 (1980).
12. Hercules advertisement, Modern Plastics 56 No. 10, n.p.
(1979).
13. I used a battery-operated Radio Shack electromechanical address book
to make this book. The pages can be accessed either sequentially or at
random depending on which buttons the viewer pushes. I have since made
seven other books using various kinds of Radio Shack address books. My
use of information forms such as card catalogs is briefly described in
Judy Malloy, "Information Forms -> Stories: Information as Artist's
Material," Whole Earth Review, No. 57, 48-49 (1987).
14. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 5th Ed. (Springfield, MA:
Merriam, 1937)
15. My mailing list for this project had about 200 names on it and
included artists, art professionals, friends and biotechnology
professionals. Fewer biotechnologists were included than originally
intended because, in the middle of the OKGE project, public controversy
over the Lindow-Panopoulos Ice-Minus Bacteria experiment, which
originated at the Plant Pathology Dept. at the University of California,
Berkeley, where I was working as a library assistant, made me feel that I
should restrict distribution of OKGE information to the art community.
16. Watson made the remark at a conference organized by Nature to
celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the Watson and Crick paper that
set forth the structure of DNA. He was quoted in P. Newman, "Thirty
years of DNA,"Nature 305, 383-384 (1983). This quote was
used on a tee shirt printed by the Dept. of Molecular Biology at the
University of California, Berkeley.
17. These were matchbooks with pictures and slogans such as "OK Genetic
Engineering - It really works," as opposed to the matchbox products like
HLIV and SH gene mentioned later in this paper.
18. LKB advertisement (received 1983).
19. Biosearch advertisement, Nature 299, No. 5892, n.p.
(1982).
20. Biologicals advertisement, Nature, 294, no. 5842, back
cover. (1981)
21. Charles River Laboratories advertisement, Genetic Engineering
News 3 No. 2, 22 (1983).
22. International Genetics LTD advertisement (received 1983).
23. Ortho-mune advertisement, Nature 294, No. 5842, n.p.,
(1981)
24. Research Organics inc. advertisement, Genetic Engineering
News 1, No. 4, 14 (1981).
25. The OKGE files were installed with a table and chair in the show
Experimental Books, curated by Margaret Stainer at Works Gallery
in San Jose, california in 1986.
26. Jack Burnham, Great Western Salt Works: Essays on thee Meaning of
Post-
Formalist Art (New York, Braziller, 1974.) p. 38.
27.BIB1 runs on Apple II series computers with at least 48K memory. The
software I used was a Database Management System (DBMS) called VISIDEX
which was written by Peter Jennings and put out by Visicorp. VISIDEX is
no longer commercially available, and I am currently converting BIB1
to an Applesoft Basic database I wrote myself.
28. The databases I searched were the Microcomputer Index and the
Institute of Electrical Engineer's INSPEC. The database vendor I used
was Dialog's Knowledge Index. Some interesting quotes were also
obtained from a collection of over 200 computer buttons acquired at
computer shows. The buttons, which were given to me by the product
manager for Data Systems, Dave Aronowitz, have slogans like "COME BALL
WITH US" (TG Products button), "FLOPPY NOW, HARD LATER" (Computer
Business News Button)
29. G.K. O'Neill, The Technology Edge(New York: Simon & Schuster,
1983) p. 23.
30. J. R. Dondzilla, "Colorbot", Compute 6 No. 1102 (1984).
31. F.D.'Ignazio, "The Robot Teddy Bear," Compute 6, No. 1,
102 (1984).
32. Bad Information was part of a group installation show at
SOMAR (a large gallery space in San Francisco) called Monumental
Women. The show was curated by Joe Babcock and Michael Bell.
33. A detailed account of how the bad information was collected on ACEN
is available in Judy Malloy, "Bad Information In- Bad Information Out,"
Art Com 8, No 30 (1988). Art Com was an online
journal available through ACEN on the WELL.
