The Art of Rebecca Allen
"Very early on, when the computer still seemed such a foreign thing, I had an interest in inserting human presence into the computer -- human motion, human behavior -- so that the computer would have a human face and form." This statement sums up the long and prolific career of Rebecca
Allen, a visionary artist who has been pushing the limits of artistic
creativity by tirelessly exploring the unknown territories of new
audiovisual technology. During a career that already spans three decades,
Allen has tried her hand on a wide variety of forms: 3-D computer graphics
and animation, music videos, logos for TV, video games, large-scale
performance works, artificial life systems, multisensory interfaces interactive installations, virtual reality and mixed reality.
Allen describes her relationship with innovative
technology as "passionate": where there is something new, most likely there is Allen as
well, exploring unused creative possibilities. She never does it just for
the sake of technology, although her classic works (like the music video
Musique Non Stop for Kraftwerk) have helped giving technoculture "a face", becoming icons of postmodernity. Far from being a "nerd" (a typical product of the 20th century's romance with technology), Allen is highly concerned about the artistic quality and the conceptual integrity of her creations. Although exploring cutting edge technologies is essential to her art, in the finished pieces technology itself has a subservient role: it merely provides the starting point, an impetus for the perceptual and cognitive processes that happen in the viewer's / interactor's mind.
Allen is highly concerned about the fate
of the human in the turmoil of contemporary reality. "At this time, the main interest in my work is not in making computers smarter or emotional. I am interested in the ways that technology can make us smarter or more capable of understanding our emotions, to help us deal with the onslaught of information and to expand our human potential", she says. Whether creating complex digital characters, or setting up situations where digital realms and physical realities merge into unforeseen configurations, or exposing audiences to experiences where carnal "meat bodies" and virtual "data bodies" co-exist and interact, Allen has been true to her vision. We cannot (and don't need to) escape the realm of the technological, but we need to adjust it to serve our needs as humans. (Erkki Huhtamo)
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Biography
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Curriculum
Vitae
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The
Art of Rebecca Allen
» by Frank Popper
» by Erkki Huhtamo (Short)
» by Erkki Huhtamo (Long)
» Work
Highlights (PDF)
» Exhibitions (PDF)
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