Conference Abstract

australian artist and curator linda wallace will discuss two of the studio works from her current PHD (art -- studio practice) at the Australian National University, Canberra.

linda is on scholarship with the advanced computational systems cooperative research centre (ACSys CRC), an organisation with partners from the Australian National University, CSIRO and the IT industry.

the first work she will discuss is PROBE: explorations into Australian computational space. this was an exhibition of australian new media art curated and coordinated by wallace at the australian embassy in beijing, peopleís republic of china in October 1999.

PROBE was extraordinarily popular, both with audiences and media, as so little information to do with the idea of art and technology is available in mainland china.

the exhibition featured over six artists working in a range of media from low tech (ie 2d wall works produced in photoshop) to more sophisticated technology-based artworks, including installation, supercomputer generated imagery, interactive and internet works.

linda will show a video tape of the exhibition, featuring the artists speaking about

their work.

for more info on PROBE goto www.machinehunger.com.au/probe

the second work linda wallace will discuss is her recently completed video lovehotel lovehotel, formula for the emergence of the new, is based on the online adventures of <gashgirl> a.k.a australian artist francesca da rimini, as detailed in her forthcoming book, "fleshmeat"

shot entirely in new york and tokyo, the video uses multiple narrative strategies to evoke a sense of the kind of internet space <gashgirl> was living suspended inside, in the years from 1994 to 1997. lovehotel gives insight into the kind of relationships that the <gashgirl> entity was involved in, particularly those of the Home of the Puppet Mistress at lambdamoo.

lovehotel is a single screen video which approaches interactivity in a particular way. It aims to provide numerous narrative pathways for the viewer to follow as they might want, all the while maintaining a deceptively strict and coherent narrative direction over its 7 minutes.

for more info including images and the essay "lovehotel: formula for the emergence of the new" goto www.machinehunger.com.au/lovehotel