Douglas Davis . The Last Nine Minutes. Live performance for international satellite telecast, documenta VI, 1977

Douglas Davis

Art of the Third Kind (or, Beyond the Future in Media, Gender, and Society)

Date 11/18/98

Affiliation Artist, New York

Abstract

As a unique artist, critic and performer, New York-based Douglas Davis has played an integral role in the evolution of the contemporary electronic arts. For this lecture, Davis offers a new theory of the destiny of the arts in the next century with specific references to the beginnings of video and performance art in the 60's and web art in the 90's. At the center of his lecture will be reference to two radical early works of his own--"The Santa Clara Tapes" and "Two Cities, A Text, Flesh and the Devil"—executed in northern California.


Bio

A pioneer video artist, Davis deployed various interactive technologies to question the passivity of television. In 1977, he joined Nam June Paik and Joseph Beuys for the first international satellite telecast by artists, transmitted from Documenta 6. More recently, he advanced upon the World Wide Web with "Metabody: The World's First Collaborative Visions of the Beautiful." Among his books are "Art and the Future" and "The Museum Transformed." An outspoken critic, Davis' lecture promises to be witty, provocative and brimming with curious prognostications about the art of the future.

-- As of 11/18/98