Abstract
Theorists and practitioners in the overlapping fields of media art and Human Computer Interaction have been working together for many years to understand digital objects, which often display a kind of “liveliness”. However there has been less joint consideration of the curatorial implications of these lively objects – many of which challenge traditional disciplinary distinctions, museological categories and display conventions. This chapter examines the ongoing separation of media art from mainstream art contexts, and argues that “lively objects” call for a more integrative curatorial approach that creates connections not only with other kinds of art, but with all other kinds of objects. We examine two case studies – thelivingeffect curated by Caroline Seck Langill at the Ottawa Art Gallery in 2010, and Lively Objects curated by Lizzie Muller and Caroline Seck Langill at the Museum of Vancouver in 2015, which demonstrate two approaches to curating media art in an integrative “post-disciplinary” way. Drawing from J.J. Gibson’s concept of “an affordance” as a quality shared between the perceiver and the object of perception, we consider what a post-disciplinary approach offers for the potential meaning making generated between lively objects and audiences in their exhibition environments.
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Notes
- 1.
Norman White. Interview with Caroline Langill conducted in Durham, Ontario, Canada on May 31, 2006.
- 2.
See Marie-Jeanne Musiol’s website for further insight into her work, http://www.musiol.ca/bio-en.php. Accessed on July 31, 2015.
- 3.
In an interview with Thyrza Goodeve, Donna Haraway states “…I am fascinated with the molecular architecture that plants and animals share, as well as with the kinds of instrumentation, interdisciplinarity, and knowledge practices that have gone into the historical possibilities of understanding how I am like a leaf ” (132). Haraway’s recognition of the constellation of attributes that we share with all living beings was a key influence on thelivingeffect.
- 4.
Splish Splash II, was commissioned by the CBC in 1975 for its Vancouver offices. It remains in place and functioning within the Audience Lounge.
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Langill, C.S., Muller, L. (2016). Curating Lively Objects: Post-disciplinary Affordances for Media Art Exhibition. In: England, D., Schiphorst, T., Bryan-Kinns, N. (eds) Curating the Digital. Springer Series on Cultural Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28722-5_4
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