TopoPhonien: On the interaction between art and technology

Prof. Dr. Detlef Schmid

On the Interaction Between Art and Technology

When art uses new media, it may disclose totally new fields of activity and discover new possibilities of expression. At the same time it will make itself strongly dependent on technology. The specific qualities of technology place it in a decisive and central position, and managing and controlling its problems becomes essential to the creation of a work of art. Technology becomes a more important part of the artwork itself, to some extent constituting the foundation upon which the artwork as an independent phenomenon can develop and display its effects.

These conditions are very well visible in the artistic works of Sabine Schäfer, as they could hardly have been realized in this form without the technological devices and resources created by Sukandar Kartadinata.

Definitely some form of technology has always been essential to artistic realization and therefore to artistic expression. And especially in music this condition is evident. But because of modern electronic technologies, especially information technology, this dependency of artistic realization on its founding technology takes on a totally new dimension and a totally new quality. An entirely new relation is established between technology and the work of art itself, and the former fertilizes this development as much as it is fertilized by this connection itself. New things are therefore not only created on the artist's side, but on the technological side as well.

Therefore, it has to be considered a case of remarkable good fortune that in Sukandar Kartadinata Sabine Schäfer found an assistant and a partner in informatics, who not only is in complete control of the technological side - though maybe he sometimes is himself fully controlled by it - but who at the same time has a remarkable sense for the artistic work with its specific side-conditions and problems. He has this special obsession that is essential for the creation of extraordinary things. The devices he developed with support of both the Institute for Computerdesign and Error Tolerance of the University of Karlsruhe and the Center for Art and Media Technology (ZKM), the most important of which, the "Topoph 24", he is presenting here in his own article, are a fine example of this necessary interaction between art and technology, which is essential to outstanding artistic achievements. Only by using special hard- and software the artistic work could have been realized, but only through the artistic idea the corresponding hard- and software could have been created. Only by way of a dialogue between the composer and the informatician, new and special devices and resources are developed, creating new working conditions for the realization of a work of art.

At the same time this creative cooperation is a delightful example for the fact that two very different institutions like the University and the ZKM are able to create an environment in which remarkable artistic ideas can be developed in an adequate way. And it is especially pleasing to see that this support and cooperation are based upon the catalyzing role of the interfacultory Institute for Applied Cultural Science, that recognized and promoted the work of Sabine Schäfer and Sukandar Kartadinata already in its early stages.

Dr. Detlef Schmid, professor of informatics, director of the Institute for Computerdesign and Error Tolerance of the University of Karlsruhe. Since 1986 member of the direction of the Research Project for Applied Cultural Science, resp. the Interfacultory Institute for Applied Cultural Science of the University of Karlsruhe. From 1991 until 1993 he was the Institute's executive director.